El enigma de Shakespeare

Watch this video about the most famous British writer, and check different "theories" about his personality, the authorship of his works and his mysterious life.

BELLE

Next Thursday we are going to see "Belle" a British film which tells the real story of Dido Elisabeth Belle, the illegitimate daughter  of a British Navy Officer, who is educated as a lady in England by her grandparents, but -due to the fact that her mother was a negro slave-, suffers from discrimation as slavery was still vigent in Britain.

Thanksgiving With "Friends"

Have a look at this video from the sit-com "Friends"; it's really funny and I'm sure you are going to have a great time watching it. remember that Brad Pitt and Jennifer Anniston were married at that time.

USED TO

Do you need some practice before your test? try and do some exercises I hope you find useful.
And here yo have some more exercises with more links to easiy confused expressions.

past perfect and past perfect continuous

Try and click here to practice these two verbal tenses.
Then, try this other link to check grammar and do some more practice.
And last, but not least, try this one I have taken from your grammar bank .
Good luck and let me know how you find it.

Rikki-Tikki-Tavi (3 of 3)

Rikki Tikki Tavi Part 2 of 3

Mongoose vs. Cobra

Reread Kipling's description of the fight between Rikki-tikki and Nag and watch the video.

Rikki Tikki Tavi Part 1 of 3

A brief history of money: key

KEY

1.    Who is James going to see?
A CURATOR AT THE BRITISH MUSEUM
2.    What is Irving Finkel showing James?
A PIECE OF CLAY.
3.    How were workmen paid, according to the document from question 2?
IN A QUANTITY OF BARLEY.
4.    What goods have been used as currency, according to the documentary?
BARLEY, GOLD, SILVER, COWRY SHELLS, ETC.
5.    What were people happy to use in exchange for other goods 2.500 years ago?
IRON
6.    When does the early coin which James is showing us date back to?
7th CENTURY B.C.
7.    What were these early coins made of?
GOLD, SILVER OR ELECTRUM (A MIXTURE OF BOTH).
8.    What did coins become useful for?
FOR SPREADING MESSAGES.
9.    Why did historical leaders have their faces put on coins?
TO PUBLICIZE HOW POWERFUL THEY WERE / TO PUBLICIZE THEIR POWER.
10.    What does Catherine Eagleton use to make a coin?
A LOG, A HAMMER, A DIE AND A PIECE OF METAL.
11.    Why did people start using paper money?
BECAUSE COINS WERE MORE DIFFICULT TO MOVE AROUND: THEY WERE RISKY, MORE DANGEROUS, INCONVENIENT.
12.    What is required for something to be used as money?
IT IS REQUIRED FOR SOMEBODY TO TRUST IT IS WORTH A CERTAIN AMOUN

Young explorers: a brief history of money

What the video, and try and answer these questions.

YOUNG EXPLORERS: A BRIEF HISTORY OF MONEY
1.    Who is James going to see?
2.    What is Irving Finkel showing James?
3.    How were workmen paid, according to the document from question 2?
4.    What goods have been used as currency, according to the documentary?
5.    What were people happy to use in exchange for other goods 2.500 years ago?
6.    When does the early coin which James is showing us date back to?
7.    What were these early coins made of?
8.    What did coins become useful for?
9.    Why did historical leaders have their faces put on coins?
10.    What does Catherine Eagleton use to make a coin?
11.    Why did people start using paper money?
12.    What is required for something to be used as money?

The tell-tale heart

Here a short video  you have by Jules Dassin.
I hope you find it useful and entertaining.

PET exam

Here you have some links for you to practice the different parts of the PET exam.

Grammar topics
Vocabulary test
Vocabulary topics

And now, exercises for the different parts of the exam
Part1-signs and messages
Part 2 - matching
Part 3- text true /false
Part 4- long text
Part 5- text with gaps

Writing part 1
Writing part 2- short message
Writing part 3 - informal letter


Have a try and let me know how it was.

KET exam

Here you are going to find links for the diffeent parts of the test.
have a try to practice.

Matching exercise
Gapped sentences
Conversations
Comprehension
Test with gaps
Gapped sentences test 2
Comprehension test 2
Word completion
Test with gaps
Fill in a form

And here yo have a link to practice different grammar topics
Click

And last, but not least, some vocabulary topics for you to practice

Hope you find these links useful

Personality adjectives

Here You have a webpage to learn and practice adjectives describing personality; have a go and let me know if it's useful.
 Drawing by Ana Galindo

Oral exam

Here you have an example of two people taking the oral test; have a look at it.

Oral exams

Here you have some pieces of advice for the oral exam. Have a look at it.

Oral exam: tips for the second part

Here you have some tips for the second part of the oral exam. Have a look at it and try to use them when you practice

Macbeth (part III)

Machbeth (part I)

Machbeth part II

Shakespeare: fact files

William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare was ____________ in Stratford-upon-Avon in Warwickshire and was __________a few days later on 26 April 1564. His father, John Shakespeare, was a glove maker and wool merchant and his mother, Mary Arden, was the daughter of a __________landowner from Wilmcote, South Warwickshire. It is ___________ Shakespeare was educated at the local King Edward VI Grammar School in Stratford.

Marriage
The next documented event in Shakespeare’s life is his marriage at the age of 18 to Anne Hathaway, the daughter of a local farmer, on November 28, 1582. She was eight years ________ than him and their first child, Susanna, was born six months after their wedding. Two years later, the couple had twins, Hamnet and Judith, but their son died when he was 11 years old.
Again, a gap in the records ___________ some scholars to refer to Shakespeare’s life between 1585 and 1592 as 'the lost years'. By the time he reappears again, ___________ in a London _________- , Shakespeare has made his way to London without his family and is already working in the theatre.

Acting career
Having gained ____________ as an actor and ___________Shakespeare had clearly ruffled a few feathers along the way – contemporary critic, Robert Green, described him in the 1592 pamphlet as an, "upstart Crow".
As well as belonging to its pool of actors and playwrights, Shakespeare was one of the __________ partners of the Lord Chamberlain's Company (renamed the King's Company when James succeeded to the throne), whose actors included the famous Richard Burbage. The company acquired interests in two theatres in the Southwark area of London near the banks of the Thames - the Globe and the Blackfriars.
In 1593 and 1594, Shakespeare’s first poems, 'Venus and Adonis' and 'The Rape of Lucrece', were published and he _________ them to his patron, Henry Wriothesley, the Earl of Southampton. It is __________  Shakespeare also wrote most of his sonnets at this time.

Playwright

Shakespeare was prolific, with records of his first plays beginning to appear in 1594, from which time he produced __________two a year until around 1611. His hard work quickly paid off, with signs that he was beginning to prosper emerging soon after the ___________ of his first plays. By 1596 Shakespeare’s father, John had been granted a coat of arms and it’s probable that Shakespeare had commissioned them, paying the fees himself. A year later he bought New Place, a large house in Stratford.
His earlier plays were mainly _________and __________  such as 'Henry VI', 'Titus Andronicus', 'A Midsummer Night's Dream', 'The Merchant of Venice' and 'Richard II'. The tragedy, 'Romeo and Juliet', was also published in this period. By the last years of Elizabeth I's reign Shakespeare was well established as a famous poet and playwright and was called upon to __________ several of his plays before the Queen at court. In 1598 the author Francis Meres described Shakespeare as England’s _________ writer in comedy and tragedy.
In 1602 Shakespeare's continuing success enabled him to move to upmarket Silver Street, near where the Barbican is now situated, and he was living here when he wrote some of his greatest __________such as 'Hamlet', 'Othello', 'King Lear' and 'Macbeth'.

Final years
Shakespeare spent the last five years of his life in New Place in Stratford. He _________ on 23 April 1616 at the age of 52 and was buried in Holy Trinity Church in Stratford. He left his property to the male heirs of his eldest daughter, Susanna. He also bequeathed his 'second-best bed' to his wife. It is not known what _____________ this gesture had, although the couple had lived primarily apart for 20 years of their marriage.
The first collected edition of his works was ______________in 1623 and is known as 'the First Folio'.



 COMEDIES         MANAGING         SIGNIFICANCE       BAPTISED        PUBLICATION        TRAGEDIES    WELL-TO-DO      THOUGHT       LIKELY           LEADS    PUBLISHED PLAYWRIGHT      MENTIONED          DEDICATED  PAMPHLET          DIED    PERFORM   BORN        OLDER    RECOGNITION      ROUGHLY       HISTORIES        GREATEST


HERE YOU HAVE THE KEY

Captain Scott

Read the text and complete the chart below with a word from the list that comes after the text. Every word can only be used ONCE. There are five words that you do not need to use. Question 0 has been answered as an example.

Robert Falcon Scott (1868 – 1912)

‘Scott was a naval officer and explorer, who died 0) __________ to be the first to reach the South Pole.
Robert Falcon Scott was born on 6 June 1868 in Devonport. He became a naval cadet at the age of 13 and served on a number of Royal Navy ships in the 1880s and 1890s. He attracted the notice of the Royal Geographical Society, which appointed him to command the National Antarctic Expedition of 1901-1904. The expedition – which included Ernest Shackleton – reached 1) __________ south than anyone before them and Scott returned to Britain a national hero. He had caught the exploring ­­­­2) __________ and began to plan an expedition to be the first to reach the South Pole. He spent years 3) __________ funds for the trip.
The whaling ship Terra Nova left Cardiff, Wales in June 1910 and the expedition set 4) __________ from base the following October, with mechanical sledges, ponies and dogs. However, the sledges and ponies could not 5) __________ with the conditions and the expedition carried on without them, through appalling 6) ____________ and increasingly tough terrain. In mid December, the dog teams turned back, leaving the rest to face the ascent of the Beardmore Glacier and the polar plateau. By January 1912, only five 7) __________: Scott, Wilson, Oates, Bowers and Evans.
On 17 January, they reached the pole, only to find that a Norwegian party led by Roald Amundsen, had 8) __________ them there. They started the 1,500 km journey back. Evans died in mid-February. By March, Oates was suffering from severe 9) __________ and, knowing he was holding back his companions, walked out into the freezing conditions never to be seen again. The remaining three men died of starvation and exposure in their tent on 29 March 1912. They were in fact only 20 km from a pre-arranged supply depot.
Eight months later, a search party found the tent, the bodies and Scott’s diary. The bodies were 10) __________ under the tent, with a cairn of ice and snow to mark the spot.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/scott_of_antarctic.shtml

          ATTEMPTING   COPE                  OUT                    STAYED
BEATEN             FROSTBITE        RAISING            UP
BUG                    FURTHER           REMAINED       WEATHER
BURIED              LED                     RISING               WON

0) ATTEMPTING

Books for free

Books Should Be Free
Free Public Domain Audiobooks & eBooks
Download books for iPhone, Android, Kindle & mp3 players



Here you have a webpage with 100 books and audiobooks free to be downloaded on your ebooks or mp3s. Have a look at it and then let me know if you find it useful.

Crime in the UK

CAR CRIME UK

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFNVi64j0Ms

1. There are ________________on London roads at 8.00pm.
2. A full time job for the police is to check whether drivers have the correct ________________.
3. An NAPR [1]camera has spotted a car which is listed as having no ________________.
4. The police have to find out the driver’s ________________.
5. They want to check out on ________________ and on his ________________.
6. The police computer doesn’t agree that the car is ________________.
7. The driver is ________________.
8. He has a ________________ driving license.
9. To do a more thorough [2]check of the man’s identity, the policeman will use a ________________.
10. 60% of the drivers who are stopped give ________________.
11. The man was telling the truth: he had no ________________.
12. The man has lived in England for ________________ years.

---

[1] NAPR: Automatic Number Plate Recognition

[2] Thourough: /ˈθʌrə/ concienzudo, minucioso, meticuloso.




KEY
1. 3 MILLION CARS
2. DOCUMENTATION
3. INSURANCE
4. IDENTITY
5. THE MAN / VEHICLE
6. INSURED
7. IRAQI
8. PROVISIONAL
9. MOBILE FINGERPRINT SCAN
10. FALSE DETAILS
11. CRIMINAL RECORD
12. 20 OR 21

KEY: RAINFOREST CONCERN

The world’s rainforests represent a vast reservoir of KNOWLEDGE (KNOW) and hold potential for the DISCOVERY (DISCOVER) of new medicines and foods. There is no doubt that large-scale DEFORESTATION (FOREST) alters the climate – intensifying droughts in the dry seasons and floods in the rainy season. The result is fewer animal and plant species, soil EROSION (ERODE), a water supply which is UNRELIABLE (RELY) and poorer health for the local people.
By joining Rainforest Concern and sponsoring acres of THREATENED (THREAT) rainforest for the Choco-Andean Rainforest Corridor in Equator, you will be protecting one of the world’s most important ECOLOGICAL  (ECOLOGY) areas. Within these forests live an AMAZINGLY (AMAZE) high number of seriously ENDANGERED (DANGER) species of animals, birds and plants. You will also be helping to secure the SURVIVAL (SURVIVE) and culture of the Awa and Capayas indigenous people who still live in harmony with their natural environment.
For more details on this and other projects, visit our website www.rainforestconcern.com.

RAINFOREST CONCERN

The world’s rainforests represent a vast reservoir of _______________ (KNOW) and hold potential for the _______________ (DISCOVER) of new medicines and foods. There is no doubt that large-scale _______________ (FOREST) alters the climate – intensifying droughts in the dry seasons and floods in the rainy season. The result is fewer animal and plant species, soil _______________ (ERODE), a water supply which is _______________ (RELY) and poorer health for the local people.
By joining Rainforest Concern and sponsoring acres of _______________ (THREAT) rainforest for the Choco-Andean Rainforest Corridor in Equator, you will be protecting one of the world’s most important _______________ (ECOLOGY) areas. Within these forests live an _______________ (AMAZE) high number of seriously _______________ (DANGER) species of animals, birds and plants. You will also be helping to secure the _______________ (SURVIVE) and culture of the Awa and Capayas indigenous people who still live in harmony with their natural environment.
For more details on this and other projects, visit our website www.rainforestconcern.com.

A BURGLARY

When I got home, I knew __________ (IMMEDIATE) that someone had broken into my flat in my __________ (ABSENT). The signs that they had forced the locks were clear. I was __________ (WORRY) that the burglars might still be there so I rang the police first. Burglars can be __________ (VIOLENCE) and it would have been very __________ (RESPONSE) to put myself in a __________ (DANGER) situation instead of making a phone call. Two policemen came really ____________ (QUICK). Their __________ (EFFICIENT) really impressed me. __________ (FORTUNE) not a lot had been taken, but the flat was in a __________ (TERROR) mess, with things all over the floor. They wrote a report so I could send it to my ___________ (SECURITY) company.

KEY: A Burglary

 IMMEDIATELY (IMMEDIATE)
ABSENCE  (ABSENT)
WORRIED (WORRY)
VIOLENT (VIOLENCE)
IRRESPONSIBLE (RESPONSE)
DANGEROUS (DANGER)
QUICKLY (QUICK)
EFFICIENCY (EFFICIENT) 
FORTUNATELY  (FORTUNE)
TERRIBLE (TERROR)