The Big Issue
Category: Writing 1 Date 2009-05-29 19:08:26
At the centre of this work is The Big Issue Magazine, it’s a new magazine written by professional journalists and sold on the streets by vendors looking to overcome the crises surrounding homelessness.
I think that selling The Big Issue magazine could help to end homelessness because that is a job just for homeless people. However, I think about some of the vendors when I am in the city centre and that they have to sell a lot of magazines before making any money.
Maybe, they could do other jobs though. They could clean places, like cinemas. Although a lot of employers might say that how can they clean as a job when they can't even keep themselves clean?
Big Issue is very popular in some countries of the world, like U.K,
There are some people that say: “When I see the vendors working hard to sell the magazine, it gives me so much energy which encourages me to work hard too, even when I feel tired.”
However, I don’t think very well about this spanish magazines like “
A strange light in the sky
Category: The four skills Date 2009-05-29 17:15:00
Look at the pictures and listen to the commentary. There are some differences. What are they? Look up in the dictionary these useful words: top, side, square, round.
1. Everybody _____ up.
2. The light _____ from a strange machine.
5. They _____ green suits.
6. Now they _____ across the field.
7. He _____ him over to the spaceship.
8. He _____ him inside.
9. It _____ out a gun.
10. It _____ it at me.
TAPESCRIPT
… a beautiful afternoon here at Wembley, with the score at
…Excuse me, sir, er, madam, er, sir –I’m Brian Carter of BBC radio news. I wonder if I might ask you a few questions. Oh –it’s taking out a gun. It’s holding it up in his left hand –its top left hand –it’s pointing it at me –Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh!
KEY
Pictures
The score is
The flying saucer is square.
The door is in the side of the saucer.
The things have four arms and four eyes.
They are wearing red suits.
Two of them take hold of Evans, not one.
The thing is holding the gun in its top right hand.
Sentences
1. ‘s/is looking
2. ‘s/is coming
3. ‘s/is opening
4. ‘s/is getting
5. ‘re/are wearing
6. ‘re/are walking
7. ‘s/is pulling
8. ‘s/is taking
9. ‘s/is taking
10. ‘s/is pointing
A letter of complaint
Category: Writing 1 Date 2009-05-28 19:13:00
Segundo de Chomón 17
50015-Zaragoza. Spain
21 Watson Rd
31080 Atlanta GA
USA
Dear Sir:
I am writing to complain about the allowance that your government gives to the trade of powders sent for quasi-medicinal purposes.
I have found out that these products are made from tiger’s bones. As you will know, this trade has been banned by the UN convention on International Trade in Endangered Species.
Since tigers are an endangered species, I would appreciate if your government could suspend the trade made with any part of these animals. Apart from that, it should be necessary to find all those who has been dealing with this, so far.
If I do not hear from you within the next weeks, I shall be forced to contact the UN convention which I have mentioned before. Furthermore, I shall contact all the International Organizations which deal with protection of environment and wildlife, to let them know about your illegal practices in this area.
I look forward to hearing from you and to solve this question as soon as possible.
Yours faithfully,
Juan José Luis
Reading Comprehension exercise: ARMCHAIR SPORT (low intermediate students)
Category: The four skills Date 2009-05-27 23:28:00
If you wish some advice about how to do a cloze test, read the tips. Be careful not to read the answers to the exercise!
Read the text below and fill in the gaps with ONLY ONE word. If you need some help, at the bottom of this page you can find the part of the speech necessary for each gap.
These days people have more spare time for leisure activities and there are more to choose (1) _________. When I was a child, most people worked (2) ________ Saturday mornings, if not (3) ________ day, and in the afternoon the choice was between going to a football match (4) _________ a cinema, or staying at home and (5) __________ to the radio, though even then there were people who climbed mountains (6) _________ weekends or got on their bicycles and (7) _________ away somewhere. Nowadays it is more difficult to decide (8) _________ to do. Yet there is still a division (9) _________ those who would play and those who are more passive. Occasionally, you can mistake one for the other. A friend of (10) _________ said one Friday afternoon: “I’m playing golf at
(2) preposition
(3) adjective
(4) preposition
(5) verb
(6) preposition
(7) verb
(8) wh-question word
(9) preposition
(10) pronoun
(11) adjective
(12) auxiliary verb
(13) superlative
(14) verb
(15) preposition
· First, slowly read all the text without filling any of the gaps. Read it two or three times until you have a clear understanding of what the text is about.
· Then only complete the gaps you are absolutely sure of.
· Next try and find out what the missing words in the remaining gaps are. See which part of speech may fit in each gap (article?, pronoun?, noun?, adverb?, adjective?, preposition?, conjunction?, verb?) and pay special attention to the grammar around the words in each gap.
Many of the gaps may include the following:
- preposition following a noun, adjective or verb. (Example: good at languages)
- prepositional phrase. (Example: in spite of)
- adverb. (Example: He moved to
- connector. (Example: First, he arrives; then he sits down; finally, he leaves.)
- conjunction. (Example: Although he is five, he can speak five languages.
- auxiliary verb. (Example: He has won 2 matches)
- an article or some other kind of determiner. (Example: I have no time)
- a relative. (Example: Juan, who I met two years ago, is my best friend)
- a pronoun, either subject or object. (Example: it is difficult to know)
- is there a comparative or superlative involved? (Example: she's taller than me)
· Some sentences may seem to be complete and contain gaps that appear to be unnecessary. If you find gaps like this, you will probably need the following:
- an adverb. (Example: He is always late)
- a modal verb. (Example: They can swim very well)
- a word to change the emphasis of the sentence: She's good enough to be queen
The problems are too difficult
· A few gaps may demand a vocabulary item consistent with the topic of the text; or a word which is part of an idiomatic expression (example: Good heavens!); or a word which collocates with another one (example: do a job); or a word which is part of a phrasal verb (example: I was held up by traffic).
· If after putting into practice the techniques above you still have some gaps left, make a wild guess (adivínalo a ojo). Some teachers may award you a full mark or half a mark if they understand that your suggested word shows a good command of English grammar and vocabulary although the word you wrote in the gap is not the correct one or doesn't fully fit in the overall meaning of the text.
· Never leave a gap blank and never fill in a gap with a word you know for sure is wrong.
KEY
1 from
2 on
3 all
4 or
5 listen
6 at
7 got/went
8 what
9 between
10 mine
11 last
12 had
13 most
14 going
15 until
The importance of the family
Category: Writing 2 Date 2009-05-27 21:29:00
Nowadays, the word "family" has a different meaning than a few years ago. Today, a family can be anything from the usual one, formed by a father, a mother, and several siblings, to the newer one, established by two men or women living together and, perhaps, with a number of children under their care.
Anyway, family remains as the core of our society, and this is not a matter of religion, this is a fact that has allowed society to develop through immemorial times.
The youth of today needs support from different ways. The complexity of our modern world makes children absorb a lot of information since they are born, and this information, needs to be processed and filtered before children can take it into account.
This is the point where family plays an important role. Only family can give suitable advice to their members, as family is always the last resource and the part of our society that, finally, suffers the consequences of an erroneous decision. Friends and acquaintances always remain apart from the result of our mistakes, as they don't feel our problems as yours.
As a conclusion, I would like to remark that family must be preserved from all the possible attacks, as the youth of tomorrow depends on it.
Animals and reading
Category: Writing 1 Date 2009-05-27 19:03:00
I don’t really agree with this quotation. I’ll agree if the quotation would say something like that: “
I think that what makes man different from animals is specially our brain. Everybody has a brain, that is clear, the difference among the brains is how are they developed by people.
When people bring, everyone has the same aptitudes. When time pass, this aptitudes can be developed in a way or in another. It is the behaviour which makes the big difference among people.
I say that because those who don’t have any intention on training their brains could be compared with animals. A person who is not educated is like an animal, his behaviour can’t be correct since as we say in Spanish “those who have not got knowledge are like those who are blended”
To train the brain it is necessary to read. To read is necessary to acquire knowledge about everything. There are people that read more than others and about more things and we say that they are very well educated. Because everything you need to know is written somewhere. So, those who don’t read, how can they know anything?
When I see these violent people I think that they haven’t got any culture about anything, otherwise they wouldn’t behave like that.
I like to speak with a person who knows a lot of things that is because they have read a lot. I ‘d like to know more thinks than I know but sometimes I’m a bit lease to read, it takes time and when you are young you don’t have it because you prefer to play, to go out or you have to study thinks you need to be able to work. When you have already a job, you don’t have time to read because you are very busy or very tired.
So I admire to those who have enough time to do everything and a part from that have time to read about thinks they like.
