Idioms

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Idiom of the day:

Move the goalposts.

To change the rules in a situation, in a way that is not fair, usually in order to make it more difficult for someone to achieve something:

My boss is never satisfied; whenever I think I've done what he wants , he moves the goalposts.

Explanation provided by thefreedictionary.com

B1 class 27/01/2016

Good afternoon everyone!! I hope exams are over soon and you return little by little to class.

Yesterday we started the lesson with the idiom of the day: move the goalposts! Since in the last couple of lessons the topic was football I thought it was the time to introduce a football-related idiom. You'll see the explanation in another post tomorrow.

British versus American English

Then we corrected the homework, exercises 3a and 5a from unit 4D, pages 36 and 37. This served as an introduction for the following discussion: a series of statements about some controversial topics such as women and sport, fast food, environment, or cheating in exams. Fortunately, it was a peaceful discussion and everyone provided their argument and acknowledge other students' arguments.

After that we started with unit 5A; this first section is related to houses and we cover the use of comparatives and superlatives. First of all we saw the vocabulary that describes types of homes, parts of a home and locations. Some of the most confusing words included detached versus terraced houses, the suburbs, a study, or a loft. With this vocabulary students then described the place where they live.

Finally I explained how British and American people have different concepts of the first and ground floors. You can see a graphic description in the picture next to this.

For homework students must do exercises 1b and 2 from page 40.   

Exams: some of the pros and cons

Examinations are formal written, oral or practical tests in an educational environment to see how much a student knows about a subject. Exams play an important role in the educational context. The importance of the exams is so high that most students are afraid of them. Below I explain, from my point of view, some of the pros and cons of exams.

On the one hand, exams can be very useful because they show how much a student has learned or understood from a subject. With examinations we, as students, are able to know our level of performance and knowledge. Examinations may be an efficient way to measure the knowledge. When a student gets low marks, it can be a signal to have of having to study harder. So, exams allow doing a self-analysis of one’s own abilities. However, if too many students get low marks, then it can be a sign to the teacher to provide more explanations or extra lessons to help the students.

In addition, exams are an incentive for learning and studying. What’s more, sometimes, exams can create a healthy competitive environment because students want to have better marks than other students in the class, and exams play an important role in getting students to study. We want to do more and to do best better. What is more, exams are excellent at revealing our strengths and our weaknesses, telling us what we need to concentrate on and where we need to improve. And, we mustn’t forget that the anxiety due to exams is good. Anxiety is a necessary part of life and with the pressures of exams our mentality becomes stronger.

On the other hand, exams test a limited range of skills. They can favour people with a good memory and techniques. Moreover, it has been argued that students may suffer from the consequences of stress and anxiety during the exam preparation so they may show poor performance in exams but when we may overcome our nerves, we are able to doing a good exam and haveing a good mark. Besides, examinations can be for some students a source of health problems like headaches, vomiting, nauseas, … Health problems and high levels of anxiety related to exams can create fear and hatred and these emotions lead students to disinterest in studies.

              In conclusion, and in spite of everything, I think exams nowadays are necessary because they may measure people’s abilities and how much we have learned. Besides, some students can have an opportunity to overcome their nerves.

Very good composition Mayte!! as always!! I have corrected a few things so let me know if your understand something. 
The composition is great in terms of structure, connectors and use of vocabulary. You have presented your arguments very well and supported them with examples. See you later in class ;-)

Idiom

Idiom of the day:

an odd bird

This idiom and its synonym strange bird both are used to describe a strange or eccentric person; Weirdo is another adjective used to describe a strange person.

James is a funny guy, but a bit of an odd bird sometimes.

B1 class 25/01/2016

The lesson started yesterday talking about the past long weekend; Friday was a bank holiday in Valencia but some students spent the weekend studying for exams.

We also had an interesting discussion about the advantages of using Apple operating systems and gadgets; I'm still not convinced it's that great but anyway... ;-)

Then I introduced the idiom of the day: an odd bird; once students knew the meaning of odd it became easier to guess the meaning of this idiomatic expression.

We continued the lesson with the listening activity on page 35 which served as an introduction for a conversation about things to do in Valencia for free. The conclusion was there are very few things you can do in Valencia for free, except for some museums, but on Sundays you can climb the Serranos and Quart towers.

Then we continued with the listening activity on page 36, I had modified the questions a little bit, which made the whole activity far more difficult. This listening activity also served as an introduction for the next discussion: footballers and salaries, and violence in football. It was complicated to agree on this.

For homework students must do exercise 3a on page 36 and exercise 5a on page 37.

See youy tomorrow in class.

Idioms

Idiom of the day:

Be down to earth.

This idiom is very similar to an expression we have in Spanish, it refers to someone who is sensile and practical, and who doesn't live in a dream world.

B1 class 20/01/2016

Sorry for the delay in writing this post, the last few days were quite busy back in the office and I've had to take some work home.

The lesson started with the idiom of the day: down to earth; this idiom is related to the adjectives of character we saw in unit 4B.

Then in pairs we talked about a journey following the activity on page 114, which will be the introduction for a composition.

Then we corrected the homework on page 33, the use of past simple and past perfect, and we learnt the story of Martin Strel, a swiimer who got famous after completing several incredible swims.

Afer this, in pairs and then out load, we discussed our favourite museums r building in Spain or around the world. This served as an introduction for the reading activity on page 34 and the vocabulary activity on page 35 that we corrected in class.

For next Wednesday students must write a composition about and adventure they have experienced. In the composition students must introduced past tenses (simple, continuous and perfect), vocabulary to describe character, and appropriate vocabulary to describe the situations.

Composition 4 Arturo

Composition 4: Exams: are they the best way in order to learn or memorise a lot of information in our mind?

Most educational systems use exams so as to evaluate the pupils in their classes. Teachers have been using this tool for a lot of time in our society.

On the one hand, many teachers use this tool in order to mark the students. They think pupils have to increase knowledge by stocking up information in their minds. Moreover, they believe exams are a useful tool so as to evaluate the pupils in the school.

On the other hand, in some educational systems such as in Finland and Sweden, exams aren't the main tool. In these countries, the classrooms haven't got tables and chairs. The classrooms are made to improve learning of the students. In addition to this, they support to permanent learning across these classes.

To sum up, the society should be aware of the main function of the education. Everybody should think about the future generations.

Well done Arturo!! I have made a few changes to your essay and I have added the tags. Very good structure and use of connectors. You could have added a few examples ;-)

Idioms

Idiom of the day:

Like a broken record.

To sound like a broken record refers to someone who keeps repeating the same thing again and again. This idiom is taken from record players whick keep repeating the same song when the record is scratched.

B1 class 13/01/2016

After a short break with idioms, yesterday we started the lesson again with a new one: like a broken record; you will have to wait until tomorrow to read the post with the meaning of this idiom.

After that we checked the homework, exercises 8 and 9 from page 31. In exercise 9 students asked each other the questions about a friend from the past.

Then we had a look at hte vocabulary from exercise 1 on page 32: adjectives to describe personality. The most confusing ones were reliable, stubborn, determined and mean. With this vocabulary students had to describe a member of their family, a very good friend and friend they didn't like that much, giving examples of why they would describe these people like that.

And finally we saw the explanation for the past perfect: an action that happened before another action in the past. When I arrived home, my sister had washed the dishes, which means I don't have to do it because she did it before I arrived.

For homework students must do exercises 7 and 9 from page 33, and from page 114, 4B, they must take notes about the ideas mentioned.

Note: next Monday I won't be able to go to class but another teacher will do the lesson for me.

B1 class 11/01/2016

First class of the year after the Christmas holidays and we started unit 4; this first section of the unit is about music and we saw some collocations related to music: see someone play live, release a new single, do an encore, go onstage... 

With this vocabulary students shared their experiences with concerts, the last concert, the best, the worst... The idea was to practise this vocabulary using past tenses.

Then we had a look at the two texts on page 30, one written by Nikki Williams who attended a concert by Lady Gaga and the other by Danny Breen who told his experience DJing at a club. We checked the questions on exercise 4 out loud asking each other the questions.

And finally we had a look at the use of the past simple and past continuous:

- Past simple: for single completed actions in the past, repeated actions or habits in the past, states in the past.

- Past continuous: for actions in progress at a point of time in the past, to tell the background events of a story, for actions in progress in terrupted by a shorter action (in past simple)

And also the comparison between Used to and past simple: you can use both for habits and repeated actions in the past and for states in the past.

For homework students must do exercises 8 and 9 from page 31.