Writing an article

Well, as you know, you must write an article before Christmas holidays, and in this post you'll find the necessary information to do it.

First of all, you have available the contents in How to write an article. That's the document we saw together in class.

Secondly, you'll need to use a wide variety of linkers to make your text nice and more entertaining for the reader. At the end of this post, you'll find more resources related to that, but next, you have basic linkers you are going to use a lot, extracted from El blog para preparar el "writing" de la EOI.

Structuring your composition

As you know, you need your text to be structured, clear, with the different ideas adequately organized and separated. For this, dividing the text into paragraphs is a must. And also, you'll need to connect these paragraphs to establish connections.

a) Introduction

b) First paragraph

At first sight: "A primera vista"
First of all: "Antes que nada"
In the first place: "En primer lugar"
To start with: "Para empezar"

c) Second paragraph

In the second place: "En segundo lugar"
Second
Secondly
Third
Thirdly

d) Conclusion

Finally,
In conclusion,

To conclude,
Lastly,

Last, but not least: "Por último, pero no menos importante".

Linkers depending on their use

Linkers can connect paragraphs or sentences. They are needed to make the text more fluid, so it is enjoyable to read. They've got several uses, and you'll find them divided according to that:

Adding information

and eventually: "y finalmente,"
apart from + noun: "aparte de + sustantivo"
besides: do not confuse it with beside (meaning next to). Besides means "además".
in addition to + noun: "además de + sustantivo"
in addition: "además"
moreover,
furthermore
also 
on top of that: "además de todo eso"
what's more: "es más"
another point is that + subject + verb:  "habría que añadir que..."

Expressing similarity

Similarly: "Igualmente, de forma similar"
Likewise: "Asimismo, del mismo modo"
In the same way: "Del mismo modo"
In the same manner: "De la misma manera"
In a similar way: "De forma similar"

Establishing contrast between ideas

however: "sin embargo"
instead of: "en vez de"
neverthelesss: "no obstante"
on the contrary: "por el contrario"
whereas / while: "mientras que..."
though / although: "aunque". Use although/though at the beginning of a sentence.
On the one hand... On the other hand: "Por una parte... Por otra parte"

Explaining a cause/reason

because of + noun: "A causa de + sustantivo" (The children couldn't play outdoors because of the rain).
due to + noun: "Debido a + sustantivo" (The flight was delayed due to the rain).
due to the fact that + sentence: "Debido a que + oración" (The flight was delayed due to the fact that it was raining.)
for this/that reason: "Por esta/esa razón"

Explaining results

as a result,
consequently,
therefore, "Por lo tanto"

Expressing an idea with different words

in other words, "en otras palabras,"
in short, "en resumen,"
that is (to say), "es decir,"

Explaining facts

actually: "En realidad"
as a matter of fact: "De hecho"
in fact: "De hecho"
really: "En realidad"

Expressing personal opinion

as far as I’m concerned, "por lo que a mí respecta"
from my point of view
I agree / disagree with
In my opinion
In my view 
I think / feel (that)
It is true that 
Personally,
To be honest,
To tell the truth, 

Modifying what is being said

above all,  "sobre todo"
at least, "al menos"
basically,
especially
essentially
in general 
By and large, "Por lo general,"
Generally speaking, En general,
in particular
more or less
on the whole, "en general"
to a certain extent, "hasta cierto punto"

Giving examples

and so on, "etcétera"
and so on and so forth, "etcétera, y así sucesivamente"
for example,
for instance,
such as 

Summing up

All in all, "En conjunto, resumiendo"
In brief, "En resumen"
In conclusion,
In short, "En resumen"
On the whole, "En general"
To sum up, "Para resumir"

Arranging the composition in sequence

after that
all of a sudden: "de repente"
finally
first of all
in the end
in the meantime, "mientras tanto"
meanwhile: "mientras tanto"
next
suddenly
then
while

You can also check these resources:

• BBC Linking words.
• BBC Linking words 2.
• Linkers.

Prepositions of place and movement

Today I'll share some material with you. First, the list of the prepositions of place and movement, with explanation, examples and pictures illustrating them.

In the second place, I made a selection of videos from YouTube that you can watch at your own choice. They're very humble, but they can help you remember the prepositions thanks to the images. The first one is a more traditional lesson, with the teacher explaining and pictures. The second video is more like a story and you can read the examples every time they use a preposition. Finally, the last one is longer but I recommend you to watch it from minute 2.37 to 5.45.





To practise all this on your own, go to the new section Online exercises for further practice.

Family idioms

Idioms are a fun thing to learn, and still better if you can associate them with images. That will help you remember them. In this post, you can find the idioms we worked with last week.

Be the black sheep of the family: the worst member of the family because they have bad reputation

Be the apple of you father's eye: also the apple of one's eye (Diana was the apple of John's eye, he adored her). If you're the apple of someone's eye, this person is extremely fond and proud of you.

Be as different as chalk and cheese: to be completely different. Americans use an idiom more similar to ours: "as different as night and day".

Follow in your father's /somebody's footsteps: to do the same jobs or the same things in your life as your father or someone else, especially a member of your family.

Be as alike as two peas in a pod: when people are very similar, especially in appearance.

Be tied to your mother's apron strings: it describes someone who is so used to his/her mother's care that cannot do anything on his/her own. It also means being very influenced by your mother.

While the cat's away, the mice will play: when there is no one in authority present (as parents, boss, teachers, etc.), peple will do whatever they want, especially breaking rules.

Be your mother's daughter: this means that you are very close to your mother, and you both are very similar.

Twist someone round your little finger: to manipulate and control someone.

Blood is thicker than water: family relationships are stronger and more important than any other kind of relationships.

Lastly, if you want to have some reading, listening, and vocabulary practice around a story based on an idiom, use this lesson by the British Council called Two Peas in a Pod. Click on "instructions" and "preparation" to know how to do the task, and a pre-reading activity. Maybe it's a bit above an intermediate level, but you can try with patience and effort. So don't worry if you find it difficult.

Enjoy!

Stages of life

If you wish to revise some vocabulary related to stages of life, there is a quite easy worksheet to do from the website Lingua house: Stages of life.

And maybe you can enjoy this short movie called Sidewalk by Celia Bullwinkel, in which the author portrays the journey of a woman since childhood to adulthood.

Updated tips for speaking

As you know, rules have changed for this year and you're doing the Speaking task in pairs. That's good news!

So now it's time now for you to check the updated document showing you tips and useful expressions for conversations.

Speaking tips and useful language

Talking about past experiences (past simple, continuous and used to)

Hi there!

What a beautiful thing childhood is, isn't it? To talk about it, you'll need to use past verb tenses, such as the past simple, continous and used to.

I'll give you four different things. First, the document with the rules of these different tenses: Past tenses.

Secondly, the rules on how to pronounce -ed endings for regular verbs in their past simple form: Pronunciation of -ed endings.

Thirdly, here's the wheel for revising the irregular past forms of some verbs of the MacMillan Dictionary: Irregular verbs wheel game.

And finally, also the document with some examples of used to applied to childhood memories: I used to believe.

Do you feel like leaving a comment about something you used to believe when you were children? I used to believe that TV cartoons were drawn the same day that were on TV! So the cartoonists did an amazing job ;)

How to complain properly

In this post you will find several documents regarding formal complaints and letters of complaint. Some of them were used at class, but others (documents, activities and listening exercises) are new, so check them to have further practice.

• Structure of a complaint letter. In this document you'll find several kinds of letters, but for now we're interested in the letter of complaint.
• Formal letters. This is a nice document which summarizes the basics to write a formal letter (no contractions, opening, ending, etc.). In other words, it shows tips.
• Complaining and apologizing. This is the lesson we used in class, and the answer keys are on the last page. You can also check the listening track.
• Complaining as a customer. This is just a short file summarizing the basic information taught on a lesson by the BBC Learning English, which I include next.
• Traveller's tales. In this lesson from the BBC Learning English you'll find further information about complaining. You can listen to a conversation (and read the transcript later), checking the tips for complaining and do an activity at the end.