More listening practice

Dear All,
Last week the Mo. & Wed. group did two oral comprehension exercises in class. Here are the audio files in case you want to listen to them again. The Tu. & Thur. group can also do the exercises as exam practice (listen twice and then check your answers).

Ottawa (audio)
Preparing for hurricane season (audio)

Questions Ottawa
Questions Be prepared for Hurricane Season

Key to the exercises

More listening practice

The topic is a bit old for us, because we've already heard about it in the Spanish news. But listen to this program from the NPR, which contains much of the vocabulary we're studying.

1 - Listen to the program
2 - Fill in the gaps

a) The Princess has been accused of fraud and ___________________.
b) Infanta Cristina and Urdangarín got married ___________________ after they met.
c) According to Chislett, the Infanta didn't ask about the origin of the money or _________________ .
d) Urdangarín is accused of _________________ $8 million from a foundation he ran.
e) In the royal palace, the Infanta's husband is now ________________.
f) In the satirical show "Polonia", Urdangarín is turned into ________________.
g) Only the king has ________________ from prosecution.
h) The Princess and her husband could spend six years in prison if ________________.

3 - Check your answers in the comments below.
4 - Read the transcript here.

And here's the British version of the story.

Listening Comprehension Practice

Since we're going to start a new unit, I suggest you do this exercise (9.3) as homework, instead of listening to it in class. Read the sentences from 1-8 on p. 68 of your book and listen to the recording twice. Decide whether the sentences are true or false and check your answers with the transcript.
Click here to listen

Listening Comprehension

Spring is coming in my terrace

Dear All,
I may have said it only in one of my groups, but this homework was intended for both groups. So here's the task: 
- Page 52 of your book: Do the vocabulary exercises A and B
- Page 53, Exercise A (7.2 Listening): Read the statements and match them to the texts you hear. There is one you will not need. (Exam-like)

Text 1 
Text 2
Text 3
Text 4
Text 5

And have a nice sunny weekend! 

Culture Shock

Hi!

The Tu. & Thurs. group couldn't listen to this programme about culture shock. Read the questions on page 47 and make notes to answer them. 
When you are done with the listening, think about a time when you experienced culture shock, and prepare a mini presentation where you describe what happened and the stages you went through. 
Next week, you'll do your presentations to each other or to the class.

Have a nice weekend!

The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency

Morning!

Here's the video of the pilot episode of the series based on the booked we've read. It's almost two hours long, but I guess you can watch it as you would watch any other movie over the weekend ;-) You're going to enjoy it, since you'll recognise many moments.

And here's the complete interview that we partly listened to:

Man leaps to his death

Hi! 
here's the video we saw in class, in case you want to see it again with the questions I gave you in the tiny handout ;-)

Listening Comprehension, p. 34 Student's Book

Hi!
Here's the listening comprehension exercise you have to do to complete the review of Units 1-4. (Instructions on p. 34 of your book)

Speaker 1
Speaker 2
Speaker 3
Speaker 4
Speaker 5

Have a nice weekend!

Listening to the news

Dear All, 

this is listening comprehension homework for Christmas. Go to page 28 of your Student's Book and read the social issues listed in Exercise A. Then, click on this link and listen to the news twice. You have to match the pieces of news with one of the headings (social issues). There are five social issues you will not hear about. 

You can also do Exercises B and D on that page, and check the transcript of the news on page 167.

Destruction in the Philippines

Dear NI2,
we all have heard and seen the horrible news. Here I'm directing you to Ms Bermejo's blog so that you can listen to a piece of news and do a listening comprehension exercise she has done:  http://msbermejo.blogspot.com.es/2013/11/typhoon-haiyan-destruction-in.html
Thanks, Mª José!

Music historian

Morning!
Yesterday, because of technical problems, we couldn't listen to this interview with a music historian. You've got the handout, the one with sentences with gaps to fill, so you can read the sentences and then listen twice, as we would have done in class ;-)
The key is in the comments.

A virtual visit to the Tate

You are going to listen to the Tate Director, Penelope Curtis, talk about the organisation of works in the gallery. Read the following sentences before you listen, and decide whether they're true or false, according to what you hear. 

0. Example. Over the last three years, the Tate has re-hung its collection to organise the works of art according to different schools. - F (The collection has been reorganised chronologically)

1. Before the changes, the sculpture dating from 1908 could be seen together with works from the Victorian period.

2. The sculpture and the painting of naked bodies have been put together because they belong to the same artist. 

3. According to the Tate Director, the Gwen John painting makes female viewers think about solitude. 

4. The painting by Mona Hatoum speaks about how politics and democracy make us free. 

5. Sonia Boyce’s work deals with the policies made to favour the Church in Britain. 

6. The painting by Richard Hamilton refers to Northern Ireland street protests against the British Government. 

You can check your answers in the comments below, and you can read the transcript here 

Watch many other wonderful videos from the Tate here!

Finding stories in paintings

You are going to listen to a talk given by the writer Tracy Chevalier, about how she finds stories in paintings. The following sentences with gaps have been created for you to complete them during the first 8 minutes of the video.

You can check the answers in the comment section or see the whole video with subtitles in English.

Hope you enjoy this interesting talk!

After 15 or 20 minutes walking in an art gallery, Tracy Chevalier admits she suffers from _____[1]_____

Instead of paying attention to all the paintings in a gallery, Chevalier stops at those that _____[2]_____ her like a _____[3]_____

A poster of Girl with a pearl earring has been hanging in Chevalier’s house since she was _____[4]_____

Some people have suggested that the girl in the painting is _____[5]_____, 12 years old at the time of the painting

In Dutch painting of the time, painting a woman’s mouth open indicated _____[6]_____

In Vermeer’s paintings, women ususally wore sumptuous materials, like _____[7]_____, silk or _____[8]_____

Catharina’s clothes _____[9]_____ to Vermeer’s models

More videos

Dear All,

a couple of people in the Mo.&Wed. class have asked me to post the videos we saw in class, so here they are! (The Couch surfing video is no longer online, sorry!)

Singles Cruise
Home exchange or House swap
Woofing
Road trip in a camper van
Volunteering for an NGO (watch up to 2:22)

As with the "Canoeing in Scotland" video, the idea was to provide visual material to create discussion. Think of the advantages and disadvantages of each of these experiences, and you'll see how much vocabulary is activated ;-)

Alternative holidays

Hi there!
Here's the video we watched (but could not hear very well) yesterday in class, in case you want to see it again in the quiet of your home. (The Tu.&Thurs. group will see it today, so I guess you can wait until then ;-))

I'm sure you'll notice the Scottish accent of the guy who makes the introduction... Well, you don't have to understand everything; try to understand the main ideas.

If you want to know more about this remote part of Britain, check this other video out. You'll be longing for your next summer holiday after seeing it ;-)

NI2 - Listening Comprehension

Dear NI2,
here's the link to the programme we listened to yesterday in class. Listen again if necessary and read the transcript if you like. As I told you, there are loads of programmes with transcripts on the NPR, so make good use of them!

Tattoo Torment

Dear NI2, 
here's the audio file we listened to last week, in case you want to listen to it again or you didn't come to class and want to do the exercise. Ask me for the handout in class ;-)

NI2 - Arguments

Dear NI2,
here's the audio file for exercise 4 on page 58. As I told you, listen once and tick the tips the psychologist mentioned. The second time you listen, complete the gaps in sentences 1-8. The key will be in the comment section tomorrow.
Have a nice weekend!

London Markets

Dear NI2, 
here's the audio file with which you can do a listening comprehension exercise. The gaps to fill are in a photocopy I gave you in class (the one with the cloze text called "Taking Risks" on one side). You can find the key in the comments and the transcript here.
Have a great holiday!

NI2 - Listening practice

Hi there!
Here's the audio file for the homework I asked you to do yesterday. Once you've read the text titled "Japan's children play safe", listen to the interview and fill in the gaps (p. 47 of your book).
You can check the answers in the comment section below.