Exams

Exams my old friends 

I've been studying English for 10 years (and I also studied biology) and every time I have to sit for an exam I go through the same stages: the planning stage, the re-reading stage, the “I do not even know what I don’t know” stage, the “I’m going to fail” stage and finally, the “We have a make-up anyway” stage. I should be used to exams by now, but, if truth be told, I am not. Sometimes I think I am not going to be able to study everything (even if I have a month to do it). 

In secondary school, I used to study everything by heart, and that helped me. The thing is, there are some subjects that you cannot study only by heart (Hello, Maths, Physics, and Chemistry) you need to find another way to do it. Apart from that, the problem with studying by heart is that if you forget a word of a definition, you forget everything.

A technique that I use a lot is to tell everything I’ve studied to another person. I have 5 brothers, so if I have to suffer for my exams, they must do it too (that’s what younger brothers are for). I try to explain everything I know about the topic. When I started studying English everything change because they don’t understand the language. So, I imagine myself in front of a lot of people who really want to know everything about The French Revolution and its stages.  I have imaginary people asking questions about the different topics.  Did that help me? Of course, it did.

Get together with friends for a study session never work for me. I know a lot of people learn a lot by studying with friends but I just can’t. I need to study alone and then yes, with a nice cup of tea or milkshake in between, I can sit in a round of questions and answers with my friends. 

I don’t think an exam can tell you how much a person knows about something but you know…life. I used to worry a lot about my exams at the point of getting ill because of them. Now, I see them as part of the process of learning. I plan my time to study and to relax. I read everything before my lessons, I ask everything I don’t understand, and I prepare all the summaries beforehand. 

After the exam, there’s nothing I can do, so I try to relax by eating chocolate, watching a Harry Potter marathon or listening to Scottish music. My motto now is “exams and grades are temporary, but education is permanent.”

Learning English with Friends

I love this video! A very nice way to learn English with the sitcom Friends. In the YouTube channel you have more videos to practise your pronunciation, connected speech, cultural references, fluency and vocabulary.
“You have a son” I'm still cracking up.

First language acquisition

         Here you have an interesting video about some of the things We've read in Pinker's chapter. 

Noam Chomsky on Language Acquisition

A very good video about  some of the things we saw last class related to first language acquisition. 

Accents in Harry Potter

Hi there! I've found this great video about two of my favorite things: accents of English and Harry Potter. I hope you enjoy it! 

English and its teaching III 2017

Select a target task and develop your own instructional sequence using this six- step procedure as a model.

Step 1	Look at different brochures from different courses of English in Europe. Identify key words and expressions. Match different types of students with the courses the best suited for them.
Step 2	Listen to a model conversation of two students who want to study in Europe about the course options they have and practise the conversation. Practise again with the information from the brochure in step 1. In the final practice, try to give spontaneous answers and comments.
Step 3	Listen to different native speakers inquiring about the different courses and identify the description of the courses to their brochures.
Step 4	Listen again to conversations and note intonation contours involving yes/no questions. Use the brochures to write complete questions and answer using there is/ there are.
Step 5	Pair work: information gap role play. Student A plays the part of a student who wants to study abroad. Call a representative from one of the institutes in Europe and speak to him/her about the services. Student B plays the part of the representative of the institute. Answer the student’s questions using the brochure as guidance. Offer courses according to the interests of the student.
Step 6	Group work discussion and decision making task. Compare and contrast each course according to the different features they have pointed out. Look at the brochures and decide on the best course to take.

English and its Teaching III 2017

Select one or two pedagogical tasks and elaborate them in terms of macrofunctions, microfunctions and grammatical exponents. 

Tasks	Macrofunctions	Microfunctions	Grammar
You are in Scotland making an English course with other students from other countries. Introduce yourself to your new classmates.	Socializing	Exchanging personal information	Stative verbs Yes/no questions
You and your partner are in Inverness and want to go to Culloden Battlefield. Your partner has a map in his tablet. Ask your partner for directions.	Exchanging goods and services	Asking for and giving directions	Wh- questions Yes/ No questions Imperatives