Food for Thought!

Hello Dear Students,
    I hope you have had a relaxed and nice weekend.  Here are some inspirational thoughts to start a new week with a positive attitude and lots of energy:

Success:

Happiness:

Have a very productive week!

Miss Ramos

Gerunds vs. Infinitives

Hello Dear Students,
   If you want to practice when to use gerunds and infinitives correctly, here are some quizzes and an interactive game.

Hope you find it useful!

Miss Ramos

Modals

Hello Everyone!
    I wanted to let you know that it was AWESOME to have you as students during these past months.  I may not be teaching your group during this year, but I will be around whenever you need me.
   Just today we were talking about Modals, thanks to Dianelsa's and Enedelsy's questions.  Here is some information that may be useful.   Click here to go to the website where there is more information.

Here is also the video of the song we listened today.

Good luck and keep working hard!

All the best,

Miss Ramos

Some Food for Thought

Hello Dear Students,
     Here is one inspirational quote and one inspirational story.  I hope you like it.

From zenpencils illustrating J.K. Rowling: The Fringe Benefits of Failure.  Click here

See you in class!

Miss Ramos

Simple Present vs. Present Continuous

Hello There!
   I hope you have enjoyed your day off to the max!    I am sharing here some of the things I have used in class to explain the Simple Present and the Present Continuous tenses.    I am also including extra materials for you to practice, whenever you have time.

A- Songs used in class:
1.  Thriller by Michael Jackson with verbs in both tenses:

2. Singing in the Rain, the famous song, sung and danced by Gene Kelly  in the film with the same title from 1952:

It seems we went down the memory lane to practice the simple present and present continuous.  Well, good music never grows old.

B- Grammar Explanation
C- Quiz   Quiz 2
D- Funny Video  ( British English video for those who would like to practice their listening skills)

I hope you find the information useful!

Have a TERRIFIC weekend!

Miss Ramos

Collocations: Speak

Hi everyone!
 One of the things that as Spanish speakers we always have problems with is to decide which preposition the verb takes or how to construct a correct sentence.   The Oxford Online Dictionary of Collocations is a very useful tool for that.
   Dianelsa asked me about in which instances could we use speak and with which preposition.  Here are good examples of how to use the verb "speak" correctly. Click on the picture below:

Whenever you have doubts, please feel free to use this great dictionary.

Regards,

Miss Ramos

Video: The French Roast

Hi there!
    Here I am sharing the video that I used to describe what was happening using past continuous and simple plast.   I know that some of you found it amusing and interesting.

Have fun!

Regards,
Miss Ramos

Some useful online dictionaries

Hello Dear Students,
    I am truly sorry for not updating the blog lately.  I will be posting all the materials that we have covered so far.   Some useful dictionaries where you can find not only the definition in English, but the pronunciation of a word are:
TheFreedictionary
Dictionary (it even has a word of the day section)
The Famous Merriam Webster  (It not only has different sections, but it offers also some features like games and quizzes.  You can also find there the link to download the dictionary app in your smartphone.

Hope any of these dictionaries is useful for you.

Regards,
Miss Ramos

Past Continuous: Jealous Guy

Hello!
   I am sharing with you the two versions of the song Jealous Guy written by John Lennon.  The first one is the original sung by Lennon, the second video is Gavin DeGraw's version of the same song.   Lots of sentences in Past Continuous, right?

Hope you enjoy the songs, while learning this tense.

See you on Monday!

Miss Ramos

Past Continuous vs. Simple Past

Hello There!
   What do you think of the cartoons above?  Were they funny or not funny at all?

Yesterday, we just started to learn the past continuous tense.

Here is the PowerPoint I used to introduce the topic.

It is important to remember when do we use the simple past and when do we use the past continuous:

Just a quick reminder on when to use WHEN and WHILE in the past continuous tense:

As a good reference, please feel free to visit the English Page website to have a better understanding of this particular tense.

Hope the information and links are useful.

See you in class!

Miss Ramos

Phrasal Verbs

Hello Dear Students,
      I hope you liked the song from Gavin DeGraw that I used to introduce the topic Phrasal Verbs.   Here is a video with the lyrics that I found just today.  I found this one to have a greater quality that the one I showed in class.

Here is also a great video practice about phrasal verbs related to love and relationships:

Click on this link, Play the audio and listen to the conversation that uses many phrasal verbs, similar to the one we have seen in class.

Have fun!

Miss Ramos

Passive Voice Materials

Hello Again,
    Here is the PowerPoint I used to introduce the Passive Voice topic.   Click here.  The other two, I will be sending them to your emails.

Regards,
Miss Ramos

 

Gerunds or Infinitives

Hello Again!
     Last week, we also reviewed when to use gerunds or infinitives using this video.  I hope you review them while singing the lyrics.

Enjoy!

Miss Ramos

Song of the Week: You've got to be by Des'ree

Hello Dear Students,
    On the first class, I encouraged you to write some adjectives from this song.  I hope you enjoy the video, while learning some new English words.

Sing along!

Miss Ramos

Welcome Class!

Hello Dear Class!
   It is really a pleasure for me to teach English to such a great group of teachers and learners.   I hope we all enjoy the process, as we work together moving forward in your language development.  
   You have my sincere admiration for all the hard work you are putting into to finish this course.

Kudos to you!

All the best,

Miss Ramos