Eurovision Song Contest 2016

On Saturday 14th May the singer Barei will represent Spain singing her song "Say Yay!". Watch her videoclip and listen to her song. After that, answer the questions below in this blog.







Questions

1) What do you think of this song? Do you like it? Why (why not)?

2) Do you think Barei will win Eurovision? If not, in which position will her song finish?

3) Read the lyrics of the song. What is this song about?

4) Which is your favourite line in "Say Yay!"? Why?

5) Have you heard any other songs taking part in the competition? If so, do you have a favourite one?

Here you can listen to other songs competing in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016:
https://www.youtube.com/user/eurovision

Welcome to your new KET group

Welcome to your Ket group!!!

Here's the first writing task you have to do this year.

Take a piece of paper and write down some reasons why learning English can be important for you in the future. When you are satisfied with your text, write it in this blog.

Hope to hear from all of you very soon.

Best wishes,

Your English teacher :)

Speaking part 1 in KET

In part 1 the examiner asks you questions about a number of topics. The type of personal questions the examiner can ask you are similar to the questions below:

1) What's you name?
2) What's your surname?
3) How do you spell it?
4) How old are you?
5) Where do you live?
6) Can you tell me something about... your family / your school?
7) Do you have any hobbies? What do you like doing in your free time?
8) What sports do you like?
9) What do you usually do at the weekend?
10) Why are you learning English?
11) What sort of music do you like?

There are always a number of questions where you speak about the PAST. For example:

1) What did you do last weekend? or What did you do yesterday?
2) Did you go away on holidays last year? Where did you go? Did you have a good time? What did you do while you were on holidays?
3)

There are also some questions about the FUTURE. For example:

1) What will you do after this class?
2) What are you going to do next weekend?

This month you have to select some of these questions and prepare a logical answer. Once you have written your answers on a piece of paper, check that everything is correct in terms of gramar and vocabulary.

When you are happy with the final product, record your voice asking and answering these questions. Record yourself as many times as you wish until you are happy with the recording, ok?

Finally, write an answer in this blog explaining:

a) Was it difficult to do this task? Why (not)?
b) Did you have any technological problems to record your voice? If so, what did you do to solve them?
c) Do you think you could answer these questions in the future in a natural way?

Once you have written an answer in this blog, send an email to your teacher and attach the audio files you have created with your voice recorded answering the questions. She will listen to you and give you a score for this task.

Aspects your teacher will consider for correcting:

     - Your pronunciation

     - The vocabulary you have used

     - The grammar expressions you have used (present, past and future)

     - Your fluency

     - The use of connectors and linkers to join sentences. Example: and, but, because, so, etc.

Good luck and hope you hear from you very soon!!!

Welcome to the KET group!

Hello everybody!

October has started and you are in a new KET group, getting ready to sit for the University of Cambridge Key English Test. If you work hard this year, I am sure you will be soon ready to pass this level with flying colours!

So it's time to introduce ourselves in this blog and get to know a bit about the other members of our class.

In your introduction you must include the following information:

1) Your name (not your surnames or your address!) Remember you are writing in a blog and this information is PRIVATE, ok?

2) Your age (how old are you?)

3) Some information about your family (e.g. do you have any brothers or sisters? How old are they? Do you get on well with them?, etc.)

4) Something about your school (is your school a big school or a small one? Which are your favourite subjects? Which subjects you find more difficult?. Describe a bit your school: speak about its facilities, for example)

5)  your hobbies (what do you like doing in your free time?)

6) your favourite music (do you have a favourite singer or group? Why do you like him/her/them? etc.)

7) your favourite film (what type of films are your favourite ones? E.g. romantic films, science-fiction films, action films, horror films, etc)

8) your ambitions for the future (for example: "I want to be an astronaut!").


Now you can use these 8 questions to write a short paragraph introducing yourselves.

KET Writing part 9 - Email to a friend

Question 56

You are going to meet your friend Pat at the cinema tomorrow. Write an email to Pat.
Say:

* when you will meet at the cinema
* which film you want to see
* why Pat would enjoy this film

Write between 25-35 words.

 

A story in pictures

Films tell stories, some of these stories are beautiful and have happy endings. Other stories are sad and have sad endings. There are many different types of films: romantic comedies, science-fiction films, adventure, thrillers, horror, detective films, etc.

What's your favorite film? This month choose a film you like and watch it in English (with subtitles if necessary). Write a paragraph explaining the story of this film and why you like it. Using the subtitles select 10 expressions you have learned thanks to the film.

Send these tasks to your teacher by email and also publish them online for everybody to read.

Enjoy your films!!! :)

LET'S INTRODUCE OURSELVES!

Write a short paragraph where you introduce yourself. Mention the following:

- your name (not your surnames)
- your age
- something about your family
- something about your school
- your hobbies
- your favourite music
- your favourite film(s)
- your ambitions for the future. For example, "I would like to be an astronaut!" :)

Eurovision Contest

In May the whole Europe celebrates a song contest. It is called Eurovision and many countries in Europe take part in it. This year the competition is celebrated in a town called Malmo which is in Sweeden.

In Spain professionals and normal people can both vote for their favourite song and group or singer to participate in this song contest. This year the group "El Sueño de Morfeo" will sing a song called "contigo hasta el final" (With you until the end).

In this website you can find more information about it: http://www.eurovision.tv/page/history/by-year/contest?event=1773 and http://www.rtve.es/television/eurovision/

Listen to some of the songs there. You can also watch the videoclips that have been created for the songs. Once you've done so, write in this blog a post where you express:

          1) Your opinion about the Spanish song. Do you like it? And the video? And the group?
          2) Your opinion about some of the other songs. Which song is your favourite? Which song is the one you don't like that much?
          3) Who do you think will win?

Make a poll:

1. The winner will be: _______________ (write the name of the country)
2. The country which will not get any points will be: ___________ (write the name of the country)
3. Spain will finish the competition being number: _____________ (write the number you consider)


Well, and that's all. Hope you like some of the songs!

And the Oscar goes to...

After the night of the Oscars, don't you feel like watching a good film? I am sure you do. So this month you have to think about a film that you have recently seen and particularly enjoy and answer the questions below. Remember you must answer all the questions in order to pass this writing task.


TASK 1

You are going to go to the cinema this weekend. Your friend Alex is going with you. Write a note to Alex.

Say:

* what FILM you are going to watch
* where you are going to watch the film
* what TIME the film will start

Write 25-35 words

TASK 2

Think of a good film you have recently seen. Your friend Chris wants to know about the film.

Say:

* the title of the film
* who the main actor/actress is/are
* why you particularly like this film

Write 25-35 words

My favourite season

2013 is here and with it the first writing of this fantastic year!

The topic is "seasons" (you know: spring, summer, autumn and winter) and this is the writing task:

Write a paragraph about your favourite season and also say why you don't like other seasons as much.

Remeber to use comparatives and superlatives and words such as enough and too.

A November full of Halloween Stories

Dear students,

During November you wrote fantastic and beautiful stories to celebrate Haloween. Most of them can be now read at our English4KET website at this link http://www.palimpalem.com/5/English4KET/

Once you are inside the web click on "Our Texts", which is towards the end of the page on the left menu.

Read the stories and vote for your favourite ones.

The person with more votes will have a surprise :)

Enjoy the reading!

Welcome to KET 2012-2013!

October is round the corner and your KET lessons are about to start. Congratulations! Remember this year is YOUR YEAR, that is, this year you will be ready to sit for the official KET exam if you do all the things we will invite you to do both inside and outside your English classroom.

Take some time to have a look at this blog and don't forget to try the different links you will find in some of its entries. I am sure they all will be really useful for you.

But before we really start our year together, I would like to know something about you. So why don't you introduce yourself? You can find some information about me by clicking on my profile, too. Let the other people know who you are and what you like or hate, for example.

Use the questions below to write a short introductory paragraph and, when you are ready, publish it so that everybody in class can read it.

1. Tell us your name (only your name, no surname, ok?).
2. How old are you?
3. Tell us something about your family: do you have any brothers or sisters? Do you get on well with them? Why or why not?
4. Do you have any hobbies? If so, tell us a bit about them.
5. Tell us something about your likes and dislikes. For example: I like pop and rock music a lot but I don't like rap much. Sorry, perhaps those who like rap could recommend some really good rap songs to encourage me to listen.
6. Do you have any pets?
7. Is this your first, second or third year preparing for the KET official exam?
8. What do you expect from this school year?
9. Enumerate three things you would like to do in class. E.g. listening to songs...

You have one week to write your paragraph. To do so, simply click on "comentarios" and write your paragraph. Remember to select the gmail option before publishing, ok?

Once everybody has written his or her paragraph, we will play a game in class. It is important that you read the paragraphs of your partners to do well in the game, ok?

Well, and that's all so far. Once again, welcome back to school! I am really looking forward to meeting you in person so that we can get to know each other.

Best of lucks with your KET class.

Your English teacher.

Extra practice before KET Mock Exam

This month we are going to focus our attention on the different parts of the KET exam. Therefore, you will find a number of activities to be prepared for the big day.

Reading:

(part 1: matching): http://www.examenglish.com/KET/KET_reading1.htm

(part 2: gapped text): http://www.examenglish.com/KET/KET_reading_part2.htm

(part 3: conversations): http://www.examenglish.com/KET/KET_reading_part3.htm

(part 4: comprehension): http://www.examenglish.com/KET/KET_reading_part4.htm

(part 5: text with gaps): http://www.examenglish.com/KET/KET_reading_part5.htm


Writing:

(part 6: word completion): http://www.examenglish.com/KET/KET_writing_part6.htm

(part 7: text with gaps): http://www.examenglish.com/KET/KET_writing_part7.htm

(part 8: fill in a form): http://www.examenglish.com/KET/KET_writing_part8.htm


Grammar Test

http://www.examenglish.com/KET/KET_grammar.htm


Vocabulary Test

http://www.examenglish.com/KET/KET_vocab.htm


Listening Test

(part 1: pictures): http://www.examenglish.com/KET/ket_listening_part1.htm

(part 2: matching): http://www.examenglish.com/KET/KET_listening_part2.htm

(part 3: multiple choice): http://www.examenglish.com/KET/KET_listening_part3.htm

(part 4: fill in a form): http://www.examenglish.com/KET/ket_listening_part4.htm

(part 5: fill in a form): http://www.examenglish.com/KET/ket_listening_part5.htm


Remember you can use your dictionary to do them as this is only practice and NOT the real exam, ok?

If you have any doubts, contact me. :)

Enjoy yourselves!!!

Monsters of the future!!!

Christmas is just around the corner and to celebrate it let's watch a classic film: Gremlins!!!

Once you have watched the different scenes your teacher will show you, answer the following questions in this blog:

Question 1.- What is a Gremlin?

Question 2.- What are the rules to keep a Gremlin safe and sound?

Questions 3.- Do you think the male protagonist is responsible to keep a Gremlim? Why or why not?

Question 4.- How would you describe a Gremlin?

Question 5.- What are the main differences between the good Gremlin and the boss of the bad Gremlins?

Question 6.- What do you think is going to happen next?

Merry Christmas to you all!!!

Let's introduce ourselves!

The first important task this year will be "introducing ourselves", i.e. saying who you are, what your hobbies and interests are, saying something about your family, friends, the place where you live, etc. The questions below are some of the most frequent questions that a KET examiner can ask you during the first part of the oral test. Read them carefully and write a paragraph answering most of them. Then, revise what you have written carefully. If you consider the quality of your writing is acceptable, type it as an answer for the "Let's introduce ourselves" entry in this blog.

Questions to use for your writing:

1. What's your name?
2. How old are you?
3. Do you have any brothers or sisters?
4. How old are they?
5. Who is the youngest person in your family? And the oldest?
6. Do you get on well with your brother(s) and/or sister(s)?
7. What do you study?
8. Do you have a favourite subject? If so, which is your favourite subject? And why?
9. Do you have any pets? Tell me something about your pet.
10. What do you like doing in your free time?
11. Do you have any hobbies? Tell me something about them.
12. Give examples of your hobbies. For instance:

     * if you like reading (what do you like reading? And what's your favourite book and/or writer?);
         * if you like watching films (what are your favourite type of films? And who's your favourite actor or actress?);
         * if you like listening to music (what's your favourite song? Why do you like it? Who's your favourite singer or band? And why?);
         * if you like sports (do you practise any sport? Why?), etc, etc.

Remember that it's important to give extra details to sound more natural. Once you have finished writing your text, check for mistakes (capital letters, punctuation, spelling, verbal tenses, word order...). When you are satisfied with the final product write in this blog your final version.

After 2 or 3 days read the texts of the other members of the KET group. Who do you think has more things in common with you? Tell your teacher about it in the next lesson.

Can you find any mistakes in the texts of other students? If so, write the wrong sentence in your notebook and then write the correct version in your opinion. There will be a discussion in class about the mistakes found in the blog entry very soon!

Welcome to the Key English Test blog!!!

Teacher teacharachera

This blog is intended for students preparing to sit for the Key English Test (KET) of the University of Cambridge.

In each of its entries you will have the opportunity of writing about a topic suggested by your teacher and express your opinions about a number of varied topics.

Needless to say, when you express opinions in a blog you need to be respectful with other people's opinions and NEVER use language which can offend others.

I really do hope you use this blog to improve your reading and writing skills and, apart from that, you enjoy using it.

Welcome back to the English learning experience!!!