For my IELTS and IGCSE classes - more on conjunctions / sentence types

He (Michael Swan) doesn't say it here, but when a sentence is made up of two independent clauses joined with coordinating conjunction (like and, but or or), that's called a 'compound sentence'. When a sentence has a clause that starts with a 'subordinating conjunction' (like because, when, that, which), that's called a 'complex sentence'.

P.S. if you'd like a copy of this grammar reference book (the best one I know of) come and ask me

Some people I noticed were getting confused between these two words:

Free online programme for making crossword puzzles

For all my EAL classes - if I set you a homework to make a vocabulary crossword puzzle, this is the programme to make it with:

http://puzzlemaker.discoveryeducation.com/CrissCrossSetupForm.asp

It's dead easy to use but I'll post a video here later to show you exactly how to do it.

Here's the video I promised:

How to make a crossword puzzle using this software

The comma story- video

http://ed.ted.com/lessons/comma-story-terisa-folaron



Funny little video from TED Ed for remembering when to use commas in compound and complex sentences. I like the trick for remembering 'coordinating conjunctions' - they're the FANBOYS (and there are only 7) that join two independent clauses (a compound sentence)


F or
A nd
N or
B ut
O r
Y et
S o


The 'Mighty Subordinates' (subordinating conjunctions), like Although, Because, Before, However, Unless, Even though (and quite a few more) join INDEPENDENT + DEPENDENT clauses (to make a complex sentence) - and need the help of the 'clever comma' whenever they try to lift a sentence from the 'front' - (or 'with only one arm')- a good trick for remembering that one too.


Watch out though - the Americans are a bit different from the British when it comes to using commas with the coordinating conjunctions (the Americans like using them with the FANBOYS- we don't!)

For all my classes- please download 'Jing'!

For everyone in my EAL classes, I'd like you all to download this software which allows me to set you speaking tasks as homework. It's called 'Jing' and I'm already using it with my IELTS class - it lets me play and replay you speaking (at home) so I can give you feedback on things to improve in your spoken language.

Once you've downloaded it, watch the tutorial to learn how to use it, then send me a 5-second sample of you speaking. Do this and I'll give you a couple of House Points for your effort!

For 10.3 IGCSE - Too much pressure to look good?

This is interesting reading on the same topic as your recent school newspaper articles- here they're presenting research that suggests children as young as 10 feel the pressure to look good. Can you believe that?


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/children_shealth/6093222/Children-as-young-as-10-feel-pressure-to-have-a-perfect-body.html

For 11.3 IGCSE - Should we test on animals?

Here are both sides of the animal testing debate presented in the same newspaper. It's interesting to see how many of the arguments here were included in your articles on the subject!


The 'yes' argument:


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/3353960/Should-we-experiment-on-animals-Yes.html


The 'no' argument:


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/3353967/Should-we-experiment-on-animals-No.html

Vocabulary for speaking

This is an excellent resource for the IELTS and IGCSE speaking tests and for vocabulary development in general, well worth checking out.


There are (currently) 16 pages of vocabulary organised by topic. Each one shows a speaking test candidate answering questions in a speaking test - using a wide range of vocabulary on that topic. The really useful vocabulary is highlighted and for each highlighted word or phrase, there's a definition given at the bottom of the page.

Vocabulary 16: Music

Vocabulary 15: Towns and Cities

Vocabulary 14: People – Physical Appearance

Vocabulary 13: Business

Vocabulary 12: People – Personality and Character

Vocabulary 11: Clothes and Fashion

Vocabulary 10: Accommodation

Vocabulary 9: Books and Films

Vocabulary 8: Health

Vocabulary 7: Work

Vocabulary 6: Education

Vocabulary 5: Food

Vocabulary 4: Sport

Vocabulary 3: Technology

Vocabulary 2: Relationships

Vocabulary 1: Holidays 

I would say the best way to use these pages would be to read through all the answer (noting down some new words and expressions you'd like to learn) and then use the same questions in a practice conversation with a partner.


PS please leave a comment once you've had a look - let us know what you think!

HELP!! Speaking Test approaching!

For our IELTS and IGCSE English as a Second Language classes - I found these functional language videos looking for stuff for the IELTS speaking test, but everything here is also really relevant for the IGCSE English speaking test. Watch these '5 Minute Functions' videos to get some really useful language for:


Confirming understanding
Agreeing and disagreeing
Expressing personal opinions
Speculating and expressing possibility
Using fillers when responding to questions
Expressing likes and dislikes


All from




http://www.ieltsspeaking.co.uk/english-functional-phrases/




According to the website, there are more coming too.

For my Year 11 IGCSE class- this article from the Guardian this week paints a very gloomy picture of our chances for reversing the effects of climate change. Have a read and tell me what you think!


http://gu.com/p/x3k69

One more great website

Still on the topic of useful websites, this is one I used to use, had forgotten about and since rediscovered. Looking at it again, it's even better than it used to be.

http://www.flo-joe.co.uk/

It's organised around Cambridge exams (KET, PET, FCE etc.) but you don't have to be preparing for one of these exams to use the activities. Start by choosing the right level material for you:

KET - pre-intermediate (A2)
PET - intermediate (B1)
FCE - upper-intermediate (B2)
and if you're feeling really confident (!)....
CAE - advanced (C1)

Have a go at some of the grammar and vocabulary exercises - they're very well designed.

Cheers,

Websites you can use to improve your English

Hi all,

I'll be using this blog to keep in touch with BVIS (HCMC)'s EAL students. I'm new to blogging so I'm learning as I go along! Here's my first post - hope you like it!

Mr Duff

5 great websites to improve your English

www.forbetterenglish.com

Knowing what a word means is one thing; being able to use it in the right way is something else altogether. Often the most helpful thing is seeing example sentences, which is what this awesome, free software gives you – lots of examples of how native speakers use the word you’ve chosen, divided by sentence type.

www.learningchocolate.com

Not sure about the difference between a sweatshirt and a hoodie? Want to boost your word power with some fun, free activities? This great website has loads of really useful vocabulary, help with clear pronunciation models and activities to test your understanding.

www.lyricstraining.com

Learn English to groovy beats. This is a superb idea supported by software that works very well. Basically, you listen to your favourite tunes and when prompted, add the missing words to the lyrics; the music will ‘pause’ while you enter these and won’t let you continue until you get it right. Of course if you get stuck, you can get help, but be careful- the more help you get, the lower your score will be at the end. Each track can be played at different levels of difficulty so it’s easy to tailor the activity to the level of challenge you want. Very addictive and great for listening and vocabulary.

www.listenandwrite.com

This excellent piece of free software works in a similar way to the lyrics training website, but uses newspaper articles rather than songs as the basis for its dictation exercises. Choose from ‘full mode’ (writing everything you hear), ‘quick mode’ (you only have to provide the first letter) or ‘blank mode’ (you provide selected missing words). If you sign up and get a log in (it’s free), you can keep a track of how fast and accurate you are as the software will track your performance over time. Again, you can choose the level of difficulty that’s right for you and challenge yourself to hit new targets.

www.onestopenglish.com

There are lots of uses for this website and a lot of it is aimed at teachers, rather than students, but for self-study I think the ‘Monthly topical news lessons’ are absolutely brilliant. Each article comes with a selection of reading and vocabulary activities you can print - with answer keys- and is available at three levels – elementary, intermediate and advanced. New articles are added every month and the old ones are available for one year after they are published. Great stuff.