INTERESTING WEBSITES TO PRACTISE PRONUNCIATION

ACAPELA.
IVONA VOICES.

 Have a look at these webpages where you can type or paste a text and  they convert it into audio. It's not as good as human voices, but it's useful to help you to practise pronunciation. 

ENGLISHCLUB.COM PRONUNCIATION FOR ESL LEARNERS.

This website offers pronunciation lessons and exercises from various aspects of pronunciation training, ranging from the basic concepts of English sound system and clear explanation of pronunciation terms to useful exercises for both students and teachers, If users have questions about English pronunciation, they can ask a question at their discussion forum.

BBC LEARNING ENGLISH.
 This website is really useful to revise the sounds in English and improve your pronunciation. It's got two sections:

Tim's Pronunciation Workshop, which shows you how English is really spoken. It'll help you become a better listener and a more fluent speaker.
The Sounds of English, a video guide to all the consonant and vowel sounds in the English language. Watch, listen and repeat. It's as simple as that!

VOWEL SPOTTING.

This programme is designed to help you learn the spelling to sound correspondences for vowels of General British English.

HEALTH

Alternative medicine describes practices used in place of conventional (mainstream) medical treatments.

Complementary medicine describes alternative medicine used in conjunction with conventional medicine.
The term complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) is an umbrella term for both branches.
Integrative Medicine involves bringing conventional and complementary approaches together in a coordinated way, addressing the whole person-mind, body and spirit-in order to achieve optimal health and wellness.


 

Click here to ckeck the pronunciation of some alternative therapies.
Click here to get a definition of those words.

And this is the video you watched in class today about INTEGRATIVE MEDICINE, which goes with the activity above.


You can check you answers here.

 Look at some useful language to use when talking about CAM:

Why people turn to alternative medicine:

·        It doesn’t have nasty side effects.

·        It works for them./ It has a placebo effect.

·        Interaction between alternative practitioners and patients is more positive.

·        The media promotes alternative medicines.

·        Their friends recommend it.

·        They don’t realise that is has no scientific basis.

·        People are prone to magical thinking.

·        Alternative medicines may be cheaper.

In favour ...

·          My mum swears by homeopathic remedies.

·      There are things that science can’t explain like love or spirituality, psychics, auras, the afterlife, and the power of prayer.

·        There’s something to be said for Reiki.

·        I’m a great believer in alternative medicine.

·        I highly recommend it. / I can’t recommend it enough.

Against ...

·          By definition, alternative medicine, has either not been proved to work, or been proved, not to work.

·          If you ask me it’s absolute nonsense/ vacuous rubbish/ bunkum/ quackery/ poppycock/ dumb.

·          They’re snake oil salesmen.

·          A fool and his money are easily parted.

·          I find the very idea of it absolutely ridiculous.

·          It’s based on theories which are highly questionable.

·          There’s no such thing as chakra.

No clear opinion ...

·           I try to keep an open mind.

·           I’m on the fence.

·           I haven’t decided one way or the other.

·           It’s hard to know.

·           No-one knows for sure.

·           I’m in two minds about it.

Differences between alternative and conventional medicine:

ALTERNATIVEMEDICINE	CONVENTIONAL MEDICINE
Based on anecdotal evidence, belief or magical thinking. Administered by practitioners. Not recognised by the medical profession . Not scientifically proven. Many date back longer than conventional medicine.	Based on scientific knowledge and evidence. Administered by doctors and nurses. Recognised by the medical profession and taught in medical school. Scientifically proven to work.

In this link you can get more information about Integrative Medicine.

MODERN TIMES ADDICTIONS

At present, there seems to be a wider variety of addictions brought about by new technologies. One of them is the so-called NOMOPHOBIA ( No Mobile  Phobia), which is the fear of being without your mobile phone. Here you are the video you watched in class.


Today you also learnt about PHUBBING ("Phone" and "Snubbing"), which is the act of ignoring people in a social setting by looking at  your phone or other digital devices instead of paying attention to people around you.

Click here  to download the listening activity about Phubbing we did in class, and here to listen to the recording again.

Another technology-related illness or disorder is what is called  FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out), which is how "screenagers" feel when they can`t check on social networking sites.


Have a look at the following article to learn about these problems.
NOMOPHOBIA.
TECHNOLOGICAL DISEASES.
BAD TECH HABITS AND HOW TO SOLVE THEM.

PRONUNCIATION: THOUGHT GROUPS.

GROUPING WORDS PRACTICE.

Audio 1.
Audio 2.
Audio 3.

THE BEST JOB IN THE WORLD

Watch this video advertising what was considered one of the best jobs in the world and answer the questions below.


Which job is offered and where?
What's the salary?
How long is it for?
What are the responsibilities of the job?
What perks are there?
How can you apply for the position?
How is the best candidate going to be selected?
How many video applications did they get?
Check the right answers here.

Now watch some of the video applications some people sent. Can you guess the winner?
  

AND THE CANDIDATE SELECTED WAS.....

Read here what the best job in the world was really like for the winner.

EXAM PRACTICE

CTE SAMPLE 1.
CTO SAMPLE1.
AUDIO SAMPLE 1.
SAMPLE 1 ANSWERS.
CTE SAMPLE 2.
CTO SAMPLE 2.
AUDIO SAMPLE 2.
SAMPLE 2 ANSWERS.

UNIT 6 TEST

UNIT 6 TEST.
LISTENING TASK.
ANSWERS.

SPEAKING PLUS 1E ANSWERS.

ANSWERS.
LISTENING 1.
LISTENING 2.

STUDENT'S BOOK UNIT 7D ANSWERS

UNIT 7D ANSWERS.
LISTENING TRACK.

PRONUNCIATION VIDEOS

Have a look at the following videos which can help you improve your pronunciation. They also include some exercises.

SENTENCE STRESS.
WEAK FORMS VIDEO.
LINKING WORDS VIDEO.
VIDEO ON INTONATION.
ALL THE PRONUNCIATION VIDEOS HERE.

SMART CITIES

TALKING ABOUT CITY LIFE.

STUDENT'S BOOK UNIT 7A

Here you are what you have to work on for next Thursday's virtual lesson.

UNIT 7A: 

4.-Reading and Listening. Click here to get the audio.

5.- Vocabulary: Describing life in cities.

6.- Listening. Click here for the audio.

HOUSE HUNTERS INTERNATIONAL

VIDEO WORKSHEET.

KEY.

KINDS OF ACCOMMODATION

Have you ever seen the film called "THE HOLIDAY"? In that film Cameron Diaz and Kate Winslet swap their places. Here you are two scenes from the film.







Hve allok at HOME EXCHANGE, choose the place you'd like to visit and the browse all the housesavailable.

STUDENT’S BOOK LISTENING UNIT 6B

Here you are the audio of the LISTENING EXERCISE from UNIT 6B, for those of you who don’t have access to the audio from the book.

UNIT 6B LISTENING.

STUDENT'S BOOK: UNIT 6B ANSWERS.

UNIT 6B:

1. READING AND LISTENING:

b. 1. "Small languages", such as tribal languages in North Australia.

    2. An area where there are many languages, but they're spoken by very few people.
 
            Answers to the test: 1.b, 2.c, 3.c,  4.b,  5.b

2. VOCABULARY: Describing change.

 a. 1. preserve   2. be lost, die out, disappear
      3. increase   4.decrease, decline 
      5. revive   6. deteriorate

b. 1. increasing   2. decreasing/ declining
   3. being lost / dying out/ disappearing
   4. revive

c. The verbs have the stress on the second syllable; the nouns have the stress on the first syllable.

e.  1. disappearance   2. deterioration
     3. revival   4. preservation

3. READING:

a. The languages are similar in that they are very old and are/were spoken by a very small group of people. They are different in that one language has died out, one is likely to die out soon, but the other is being spoken by an increasing number of people.

b. Suggested answers: 
     
 NUMBER OF SPEAKERS     INCREASING/DECREASING     OTHER IMPORTANT FACTORS

BO             0              lost                      65,000-year link to one of the  world's oldest   cultures; been spoken since pre-neolithic times.                                                                                 
NJU          8                              decreasing            During aparthheid, peope were discouraged from speaking Nju

WAMPANOAG  about 50          increasing             Jessie Little Doe and her husband are raising their three-year-old daughter in the language;
they organise a "language camp" every summer

4. GRAMMAR: The Passive.
a. 1. c  2. g   3. f   4. h   5. a   6. e   7. b   8. d

b. a

c. One which is being brought back ( present continous passive)
   Nju is now only spoken( present simple passive)
   were discouraged ( past simple passive)
   which is attended ( present simple passive)
   is spoken ( present simple passive)
   has been revived (present perfect passive)

e. The Nju language is in serious danger because it is only spoken in a few small villages. In the past, it was spoken in a large region of South africa and Namibia. It has now been recorded and written down and it is being taught to children in schools by teachers who have learnt the language themselves.

GRAMMAR FOCUS 6B:

a. 2. was sent   3. is used   4. will be informed   5. hasn't been caught   6. had already been taken/ were already taken

b. 2. were told about this restaurant by my sister 
    3. can only be dreamt of
    4. had already been built 1,000 years ago
    5. can't always be depended of
   6. will be looked after well

c. 2. from   3. by   4. with   5.of     6.from    7. by

LISTENING SKILLS

High Level Listening

This is the webpage  I showed you in class today to practise your listening skills with naturally spoken conversations. There are some sections available for you to choose from:

Advanced English Vocabulary by Topic and Listening Practice.

English Role Plays with Listening Practice and Transcripts.

Common Expressions.

Small Talks.

TOURISM AND THE ENVIRONMENT

Here you are the video activity we worked on in class today.
Click Here to download the video-based activity if you don't have the Travelling, Transport and Tourism Worksheet.




And here you can also get the audio of the Listening Exercise 
you have on your worksheet.
Click here to get the key to both exercises.

CLOZE PRACTICE.

SUSTAINABLE TOURISM

SUSTAINING TOURISM'S GUIDE TO BEING A RESPONSIBLE TRAVELLER.
TRAVEL TIPS: CARBON CONSCIOUS TIPS.

SAFARIS AND SENSITIVITY. READING EXAM PRACTICE WITH KEY.