Chocolate cake (by Cristina Belver)

Thanks for sharing the recipe with us, Cristina. Here it goes:

I’LL TELL TOU HOW TO MAKE A CHOCOLATE CAKE

YOU’LL NEED:

1/2 cup of dark cocoa

1/2 cup of boiled water

1 teaspoon of sodium bicarbonate

100 g of softened butter

2 cups of sugar

2 eggs

2 ½ cups of flour

1 teaspoon of baking powder

¾ cups of milk

INSTRUCTIONS

• Preheat oven to 180 degrees
• Grease a cake recipient
• Put cocoa, boiled water, salt and bicarbonate in a little bowl
• In a separated bowl beat the eggs, butter with sugar, mix with flour and baking powder
• Mix all this with the cocoa
• Pour into prepared recipient
• Bake at 180 º C until a knife inserted in centre comes out clean, approximately for 30 minutes
• When the cake has room temperature, place cut in half horizontally and whip with dulce de leche.
• Put chocolate on the top and around the cake
• Put the cake into the fridge for one hour.

If you prefer you can add rhum to the dulce de leche and chopped walnut on the top

Work on your pronunciation

What? Are you saying that you don't understand the phonetic symbols yet? That you find English pronunciation difficult? That there's no way to guess how to pronounce a word?

No more excuses!

Now you have YAKIToMe! A wonderful site that speaks back to you. All you have to do is:

- register (it's free)
- type (or copy and paste) a text and push the PLAY button.
- or upload a file (doc., pdf., txt.) and push the PLAY button.
- and listen! They will read your text aloud with a nice, understandable pronunciation.

Finally, if you want, you can also convert it into an audio file and take it with you in your mp3 player. Isn't it great?

Hope you make the most of it.

Modal Verbs: let's play!

Hi again!

Today we'll revise modal verbs.

Some of you were asking for a sort of summary or table about modals. Here you can download a very complete one.

Do you prefer a complete lesson? Click here to access one.

Would you like to test yourself? Here and here you have some exercises. Also here and here.

Enjoy!

Songs to improve your English

Do you like songs? Do you use them to improve your English?
Here is a site where you have lots of quizzes arranged by levels. Have an example to see if it's useful for you. Select the right word in each question, and finally click on "See how you did" to check your answers. Finally, you can also look at the transcript to read the lyrics of the song.



Enjoy!

The world of Prepositions

Are prepositions a nightmare for you? Never more! I'll try to help you, but you also have to work hard to learn them once and for all.

You can start by reading a general summary here.

IN, ON AT: Are you never sure about how to use IN, ON and AT? Here you have a very good explanation and an exercise. Would you like to try the BBC's Grammar Challenge to see how these prepositions are used to talk about TIME? Then click here.

MOVEMENT: You can read about prepositions of direction here and do an exercise too.

Do some more EXERCISES about prepositions of time and place here. You have more exercises here and here.

GAMES: Listen and pick the right picture in this game. Another game about prepositions here. A very nice interactive game here. Would you like to play basketball and practice your prepositions? Then go to this site to try.

Good luck!

Vaughan TV and radio: your teachers at home

No time to practice English? No opportunities to learn it at home? No teachers available?
Enough!

No more excuses not to learn English: why don't you try Vaughan TV?


Click here and register (you will have to sign up for an account). You'll have access to lots of short English lessons on many different topics and with different teachers.

Remember: you can also try Vaughan Radio.

Both sites are updated on a regular basis. Keep visiting them from time to time!

Hope you have a wonderful Easter holiday. Take care.

Invitation

Hi everyone!

We're nearly through unit 4 and ready to get started with unit 5. Today we'll mix content from both units:

- giving directions
- and party language

Can you guess what we're going to do? We're going to invite our classmates to a party at home. Click here to access the page and follow the instructions. Remember to include directions on how to get to your flat / house!

By the way... Who's cooking? (I can already imagine a person or two)

Language in Ads

Have you ever noticed the amount of COMPARATIVES and SUPERLATIVES we get in ads?

Try to match the following slogans with their corresponding products. Good luck!

“Coffee at its best”	Gillette razors
"Probably the best lager in the world"	Disneyland
“The best a man can get"	Apple Computer
"The happiest place on Earth"	Maltesers
"Be the best"	Coca Cola
"The toughest job you'll ever love"	Carlin Black Label lager
“Keeps going and going and going."	CNN
“No battery is stronger longer."	Maxwell House coffee
“Think different"	Peace Corps
“The lighter way to enjoy chocolate"	Energizer Batteries
“The real thing"	Nescafé Gold Blend
“Your best bet for a fuller flavour"	Carlsberg
“The most trusted name in news"	British Army
"Good to the last drop."	Duracell Batteries

Present Perfect Vs. Past Simple

Hello everyone, it's time to revise the verb tenses...

Would you like to listen to the explanations from the BBC? Then visit their Grammar Challenge page here.

If you prefer to read, click here to access a thorough explanation of the Present Perfect.

You can also do exercises here and here.

Enjoy!

Fashion fundamentals

I know you are all looking forward to listening to Kool Keita again. Who is Kool Keita? The stylist we listened to in class the other day! Don't you remember? He spoke about what is HOT and what is not.

Listen again and feel free to explore other videos too. Click on the following links to access them:

- Fashion fundamentals.

- Fashion Dos and Don'ts.

- And your favourite: All about Shoes.

But remember! It's dangerous to become a fashion victim.

Clothes vocabulary

Where to find more clothes vocabulary? In online shops, of course.

Please browse through the following shops and answer these questions:

1- What's a hoodie?
2- What's denim?
3- What's a waistcoat?
4- Why do we end these words with "wear"?: swimwear, knitwear, leisurewear, nightwear, footwear...

Men's catalogues
Burton
Marks & Spencer
JcPenney
Saks Fifth Avenue
Bhs

Women's catalogues
Debenhams
Top Shop
Saks Fifth Avenue
Dorothy Perkins
Next

Reading is fun

Hello everybody!

With all these exams going on, we sometimes forget to have fun. Why don't you go and check the following websites? They were created for children, but can also be useful for you:

1- Stories for children: you can read and listen to the story at the same time, karaoke-style!

2- Story Place: an interactive site to create your own stories.

3- I'm Reading!: this lovely website has lots and lots of different stories to choose from.

All you have to do is try these stories and feel like a child again.

Enjoy!

How to speak better English

Hello my dear students,

For those who are anxious about the speaking test this week (and for those who aren't!)... I found an article in a colleague's blog that you'll find interesting. It's called "Cómo ganar fluidez al hablar inglés" (the article is in Spanish!), and it has nice tips for you.

Click here to read it.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend!

Happy New Year presents

Hello everyone! I hope you had a wonderful Christmas break.

I would like to give you a couple of presents to start the year:

- The first is a fun website that can help you write stories in English. Click here to access the page: all you have to do is click on a story, follow the instructions and start creating!

- The second is an online game in which you have to find objects for your backpack and words for a secret journal. You will learn English and have fun at the same time!

See you tomorrow...

"Going to" Vs. "Will"

Did you enjoy the BBC's Grammar Challenge last week? Well, you have a new one now. Click here if you want to read their explanation about the difference between GOING TO and WILL.

Click here if you want to listen to the whole programme, and here if you want to do the quizzes they have prepared for you.

Summary: "GOING TO is used to talk about plans that we've decided to do, whereas WILL is used to talk about decisions which we make at the moment of speaking."

WILL is used in other situations too. Would you like to know when? Then come to class next week! See you there...