All - Preparing for oral exams

Hi everybody!
This is an old post I keep re-posting at the end of every academic year:

Here is a link to interesting pages that can help you prepare for the oral exam. You will find audio exercises and vocabulary.
And one more page to check conversation strategies here.

Please remember the following important aspects:
- Do not forget to include any of the points you're given, even if you organize them in the order you wish.
- Try to build your monologue around some kind of structure (temporal development, advantages and disadvantages, comparison and/or contrast, etc.)
- Link the different sections of your monologue with connectors (cause, consequence, contrast, finality, concession, etc.)
- In the dialogue, remember that you should be able to make suggestions, agree and disagree with people, and to reach some kind of conclusion, even if you cannot reach agreement.
- Forget about the presence of the examiners, we will be just virtual shapes and ears in the room ;-) If you feel comfortable by looking at your partner, do so and "ignore" the examiners.
- Try the best of your pronunciation, pleeeeeease. I've insisted too much on those "l"s in could, should, etc.; those "z"s in zoo, those "c"s in center, certainly, etc., the pronunciation of the past and participle in regular verbs, etc., etc... ;-)

Hope that helps!

Attend University in English ... without leaving your home

Hi there!

I just checked the blog of a colleague from Asturias and saw a great link posted there. If you want to listen to English while learning about some academic subject, you can visit www.academicearth.org

Thanks, Javier!

Brit vs. US movies

Hi there!

esp. dedicated to those of the NA1 who want to create a group to go to the movies... (thx Philipp!)

All - Sing along (good for pronunciation)

Hi there!
My colleague Yolanda has given me a very good recommendation: a web page where you can listen to the songs, see the videos and read the lyrics of different bands and singers.

Thanks a lot, Yolanda! I'm sure the students will appreciate it ;-)

Ken Lee

Hope you don't do "Ken Lees" in the oral exams!

All - Eco-friendly cleaning products

Clean Green: How To Clean Your House Without Harming The Environment

Check this video out!

Relative Clauses

Complete each sentence using a relative clause with a preposition. Choose from the list below:

we went to a party last night
I work with some people
you can rely on Gary
I applied for a job
I saw you with a man
we were invited to a wedding
you told me about a hotel

Example: Are these the books you were looking for?

2. Unfortunately, we couldn't go to the wedding ........
3. I enjoy my job. I like the people ........
4. What's the name of that hotel ......?
5. The party ........... wasn't very enjoyable.
6. I didn't get the job .........
7. Gary is a good person to know. He's somebody ..........
8. Who was that man .......... in the restaurant?

(Source: English Grammar in Use. Intermediate. OUP)

I Need to Relax...