School is back!

Hello. Welcome to a new year schoolyear on our blog. Do you want to improve your writing? Are you confused about commas or colons? Click on the title of the post and look for examples of correct usage of the punctuation marks.

Football Vocabulary

Ao carregares nesta ligação, encontarás uma página da Oxford Dictionaries na qual poderás explorar a imagem, passando o rato sobre a mesma. É tudo sobre vocabulário ligado ao futebol -football/soccer (US).
No fundo da página há mais ligações para todo o vocabulário essencial para poderes compreender um jogo que ouças narrado em Inglês.

Vocabulary practice

Para não esquecermos nada do que aprendemos durante o ano, ficam aqui algumas ligações onde poderás encontrar vocabulário, gramática, exercícios de "listening" e outras curiosidades.
Tudo o que tens a fazer é carregar onde diz aqui. Geralmente, é só carregar ou arrastar a imagem.
Aqui tens o primeiro sobre vocabulário.
O segundo é sobre um conhecido "skater" - Tony Hawk. É um texto para ler aqui e completar com as palavras que estão ao lado.
Não chega, queres mais desafios? Ok! Aqui tens um aparentemente fácil. No topo da página está um índice para vários níveis de língua. Os níveis americanos para os nossos 7º a 9º são ligeiramente diferentes. Quer isto dizer que se tens 14 anos podes estar no 9th ou 10th grade. Se precisares de ajuda de um dicionário, tens este aqui.

South African English

Hey! The football World Cup is nearly starting. This year it will take place in South Africa . As you know, there are many varieties of English. Would you recognize South African English?
Here is a video that shows some typical expressions used in that country. Listen to it carefully.
I personally liked "hundredsss"

Fashion - vocabulary

http://www.wordle.net/

Reported speech

A powerpoint presentation on the use of Direct and Indirect (Reported) speech.

Reported speech 9º

View more presentations from jopaleco.

Present Perfect vs Past Simple

-The present perfect is used when the time period has NOT finished:"I have eaten two ice-creams this week" (the week is not finished)
-The simple past is used when the time period HAS finished:"I ate three ice-creams last week" (last week is finished)

-The present perfect is often used when giving recent news:"Jack has broken his arm again" (recent news)
-The simple past is used when giving older information:"Jack broke his arm last year"

-The present perfect is used when the time is not specific:"I have already read that book" (I don't remember when)
-The simple past is used when the time is clear:"I read that book last month"

-The present perfect is used with for and since, when the actions have not finished yet:"I have lived in this city since 2000" (I still live here)
-The simple past is used with for and since, when the actions have already finished:"I lived in this city for a long time" (I don't live here now)

To practise these structures, click on the title of the post and watch this presentation.

Past Simple vs Present Perfect

View more presentations from jopaleco.

Body Image and the media

Images of perfect people and perfect bodies are everywhere. You can see them on TV commercials, newspaper ads, films,...
Many teenagers and older women and men, try to follow those models and sometimes suffer negative consequences of that intention; Eating disorders are very commom these days.
If you have problems with your body image you should talk to your friends or your parents. Your teachers will be a good help too because they deal with hundreds of students everyday.
Remember that the important thing in a person is not what you see on the outside. It's the inside that matters.
This song may give you some inspiration.



Now that you have listened to it go to this site and do the exercise called Body Image (at the bottom of the page.

A job interview

Do you know what to do at a job interview? This clip gives you some tips (suggestions) about it.
What clothes should you wear? Should you talk about your personal life story? What documents should you carry? Should you wear some perfume?

Fabricating Beauty

Do you know the expression "the camera never lies"? Well, this video is about this expression.
Os jovens têm a tendência a seguir modelos de comportamento que nem sempre são os melhores. Então quando falamos do mundo da moda, dos filmes ou da música actual e do modo como são fabricados os ídolos, quase tudo se revela uma grande mentira.
Este vídeo mostra como facilmente somos manipulados e levados a crer que as estrelas que admiramos são extraordinárias.
A beleza não tem que ser artificial. Todos nós temos beleza, é só procurá-la. Falando, convivendo, brincando e rindo, vamos conhecendo os outros. Talvez consigamos descobrir pessoas bonitas onde, aparentemente, não esperavamos.

The Present Perfect

You can check the use of the Present Perfect in this presentation.

The Present Perfect

View more presentations from jopaleco.

This a simple comparison between the use of the Past Simple and the Present Perfect.
In very simple terms, we use the Past Simple to describe actions that occured in a specific point in the past. The Present Perfect is used to describe actions that happened in the past, but we don't exactly know when.
If you click on the title of the message, you will find many exercises to practise this tense.
At the bottom of the page there is also useful grammar information about the subject.

Climate Changes

Climate changes have made their first victims: the Yup'ik Eskimos are the first climate refugees. You can read about this sad situation in The Guardian newspaper

You can read about the same subject in Portuguese in the Público newspaper

The terminal

For you people on the 9th grade. Do you remember the story of Viktor Navorsky, the man who lived in Gate 67, in the film "The Terminal"?
Well, here is a case when fantasy becomes reality: whatch this video and compare the two situations.

Wh- questions

Still having trouble with your questions? Here is a very clear explanation on how to use the wh- words.
I keep six honest serving-men
(They taught me all I knew);
Their names are What and Why and When
And How and Where and Who.
Rudyard Kipling
Read the information carefully and complete the activities.

Keep on practising

This is an interesting site with lots of useful exercises on english grammar.

The past simple - exercises

Want to practice your past simple? Just click here, download the worksheet and go for it.

Second Conditional

Hello people! Here we are, ready for another term. For those on the 9th grade, why not start with some exercises to wake up your brains? Yes, it's time to work on your conditionals! Just click here and get it right.

We Wish You a Merry Christmas

We wish you a merry Christmas
We wish you a merry Christmas
We wish you a merry Christmas
And a happy new year
(2x)

Good tidings we bring
To you and your kin
We wish you a merry Christmas
And a happy new year

We all want some figgy pudding
We all want some figgy pudding
We all want some figgy pudding
So bring some right here

We won't go until we get some
We won't go until we get some
We won't go until we get some
So bring some right here

Good tidings we bring
To you and your kin
We wish you a merry Christmas
And a happy new year
(2x)

We wish you a merry Christmas
We wish you a merry Christmas
We wish you a merry Christmas
And a happy new year
(2x)

Christmas is Here!

Chegaram as férias! Christmas holidays are here! Para começar em boa forma, toca a ouvir e a dançar! Atenção que a mensagem não é para levar à letra na sua totalidade. Depois falamos...

Human Rights Day

December 10th is Human Rights Day.
We must remember that, all over the world, many people suffer from all kinds of violence, hunger and discrimination. Many don't have food or home.
Just for today, think about them and try to change things in any way you can.