Before the real weekly post... Here's the interim one.

This week one of the things that came up in all the classes had to do with expressions...and, interestingly enough, tongue twisters. So, I'm attaching some links so that you can see and hear some interesting tongue twisters. 

Additionally, here are some of my favourites. You have to say and pronounce them well, while repeating them 5 times, fast! Don't worry, it's hard for native speakers too! 

I'll start with a link to where you can hear some of these, but try saying them too! 
Tongue twisters.

Rubber baby-buggy bumpers.  (and if you can figure out what this is, extra points!)


How much wood would a woodchuck chuck 
if a woodchuck could chuck wood?
He would chuck, he would, as much as he could, 
and chuck as much wood as a woodchuck would, 
if a woodchuck could chuck wood.


She sells sea-shells on the sea-shore. 
The shells she sells are sea-shells, I'm sure. 
For if she sells sea-shells on the sea-shore, 
Then I'm sure she sells sea-shore shells. 

Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers,

A peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked;

If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers,

Where's the peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked?

Weekly update to come.

Oh, and P.S. What's the newest phrase or expression you've learnt this week??
Talk to you soon!
Michelle

Welcome! A review of this week.

Hello! I'll try to write this in a level that all of you can understand.

This week in the PET class we reviewed units 1 to unit 3.2 and will finish the workbook exercises for it on Tuesday. I have found some more links for you to practice, Alberto, so if you have time here they are: e-grammar, time clauses, and the British Council. You can use these as well Miryam. If you have any questions, just comment below and María and I will get your message, be sure to direct your question to one of us so that you don't get duplicated responses.

In the First Certificate Speaking class we have worked on using the past tenses, some of the modals for speculation and deduction and we will use modals of obligation and necessity later today. Later on I will upload the speaking prompts to Google-docs so that you can look at them and remember the exercise. Remember to use general expressions to start speaking and give you time to think.  Please also remember that you can do practice FCE exercises at Floe Joe at the link to the right.

In the Advanced class, José Antonio and I have done the review of Style and Register, and plan to finish Cohesion and Punctuation by the next class. Please also remember to e-mail me your essay, so that I can check it against the outline you gave me from class yesterday. I will also find a news essay topic for you to begin your next writing assignment.

Thanks for all your contribution this week and keep up the good work. You will be able to achieve your goals if we stay on top of our work and encourage each other!

Have a great weekend!

Recite this out loud...can you hear the rhyme?

We’ll begin with a box, and the plural is boxes,
But the plural of ox should be oxen, not oxes.
Then one fowl is a goose, but two are called geese,
Yet the plural of moose should never be meese,
You may find a lone mouse or a whole nest of mice,
But the plural of house is houses, not hice.

If the plural of man is always called men,
Why shouldn’t the plural of pan be called pen?
The cow in the plural may be cows or kine,
But a bow if repeated is never called bine,
And the plural of vow is vows, never vine.

If I speak of a foot and you show me your feet,
And I give you a boot would a pair be called beet?
If one is a tooth, and a whole set are teeth,
Why shouldn’t the plural of booth be called beeth?

If the singular’s this and the plural is these,
Should the plural of kiss ever be nicknamed keese?
Then one may be that and three would be those,
Yet hat in the plural would never be hose,
And the plural of cat is cats, not cose.

We speak of a brother, and also of brethren,
But though we say mother, we never say methren,
Then the masculine pronouns are he, his and him,
But imagine the feminine she, shis and shim,
So the English, I think, you all will agree,
Is the queerest language you ever did see.

The Blog is Up and Running!

Good afternoon!

I just wanted to say hello and to let you know that the blog is up and running. I still have to update some things, but for now, we're ready to go. 

Let me know what you think.

Michelle