Pat and Junior, Sol is getting closer and closer! LOL

Open Cloze

Guys, an open cloze for you to have fun! You can find the full text on Google, but try to complete it before reading the full version, ok?

Enjoy!

xxx

Mamma Mia! The Movie will no (1)... find its audience. There will be women of a certain age who will embrace its joie de vivre. And there will be men of a certain persuasion who will adore its kitsch appeal. Beyond these two demographics, (2)..., the movie skids into the arena of cultural car crash. (3)... on stage the flimsy conceit of Catherine Johnson’s `story’ is bulked up with showbiz razzmatazz, on the big screen (4)... thinness is stretched into diaphanous toffee.

Like Across the Universe, Mamma Mia! is a collection of hit songs in search (5)... a storyline. But (6)... the former, it has established its theatrical legs, playing in 170 cities across the globe. Songs like Honey, Honey and Money, Money have been twisted and tweaked to serve new narrative ends, ending up both (7)... a vibrant paeon to Abba and a sort of Shirley Valentine on amphetamines.

Here, we have Meryl Streep as Donna, a doughty, hard-working single mother running a ramshackle hotel on a Greek island. Her daughter, Sophie (Seyfried), is getting married and, behind Donna’s back, has invited the three men that her mother slept with around the time of her conception. Sophie feels that (8)... she discovers the identity of her father, she cannot know who she really is. And so Pierce Bosnan, Colin Firth and Stellan Skarsgård roll up, (9)... to claim the daughter they never knew they had.

Watching the likes of Karen Silkwood, James Bond and Mr Darcy grapple with the familiar hooks of Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulraeus’ timeless tunes is akin to indulging in some (10)... of blood sport. While, as (11)..., Ms Streep rises dynamically to the occasion, Brosnan is laughed off the screen as he manfully butchers SOS (‘How can I even try to go on…’). The real star is Christine Baranski, who brings spit and polish to her role as Donna’s friend, Tanya.

There’s gusto to spare, but in the cultural banquet of the film musical, this is strictly choux pastry.

Back in action! Congrats!

Great site

Here goes a link to a wonderful site for our practice. There are even listening exercises. I hope you enjoy it!

http://www.english-test.net/lessons/9/index.html
Cheers,
Fatima

Speaking task

Assuming your task is to talk about the subject: "Does travel broaden the mind?" the suggested vocabulary is
To see the world
To go globetrotting
To develop cultural awareness/cross cultural understanding
To become more open-minded
To break down barriers
Cultural/national stereotypes
To have fixed opinions
To become more tolerant
To experience first hand
Mass tourism
Effect on the local population/indigenous population
Tourist trap

Expressions to offer examples:

For example
For instance
Take...for example
To give you an example
By way of example
A case in point is
To illustrate this
To show you what I mean

Business

Complete the following colloquial expressions:

1)The new owner is known to be ruthless and his first action is likely to be getting rid of any dead ......... in the organisation.

a) foliage
b) matter
c) wood
2)If I can only get my foot in the ........ somehow I'm sure I can make an impression.

a) building
b) door
c) room
3)The deal isn't cut and ........ yet but I'm pretty confident we'll agree terms.

a) dried
b) tied
c) dyed

Reflecting on the use of English paper

The skills and language knowledge that you need to pass the Use of English Paper of the new CPE are slightly different from the traditional grammar and vocabulary items that you used to be tested on when you were regular English students. Since the last time we were together we did an entire mock of paper 3, here's some food for thought.

You have heard the term 'lexical chunks', which are items of language that consist of a few words and cannot really be called 'grammar' or 'vocabulary' but are something in between. Some
examples are language items like the following:
- 'come to light' as in 'New evidence came to light during the police investigation.'
- 'go according to plan' as in 'The party went according to plan and everyone was pleased.'

How might this knowledge be tested? In Part 1 (Open Cloze) or Part 3 (Gapped sentences) you may have to supply a missing word from part of that lexical chunk. In Part 4 (Key Word Transformations) you may have to supply the whole item.

Hope this has helped you somehow, folks!
Keep on blogging!

This week's snack

Hi, guys!

I am one of the students responsible for this Friday's snack. As we have not made arrangements yet, I am thinking about taking two cartons of juice. Enough? What are the other members of "team C" taking? Keep me posted.

Cheers,
Carla

CPE sentence transformation exercises

Hi guys!

Hope it is useful and you have some fun!

http://www.imparareinglese.co.uk/esercizi_inglese/CPE_key_word_transformation_2.html

Missing u!

Gi.

Gapped sentences

Which word best fits the three sentences?

1. I had to spend hours to sort out all those documents – what a _________________!

2. All around her birds whistled their happy tune as they went about their ______________.

3. The manager suspected that there had been some monkey _______________ going on in the office.

FYI - ABOUT THE CPE SPEAKING PAPER

The Speaking paper, which lasts for approximately 19 minutes, consists of 3 parts. The typical arrangement is of two students and two examiners, one acting as interlocutor and assessor, the other as assessor.

Part 1: Conversation between the interlocutor and the candidates
Part 1 consists of the interlocutor asking the candidates to introduce themselves by giving information about themselves and offering opinions. This 'ice-breaker' will last approximately 3
minutes.

Part 2 Conversation between the two candidates
Part 2 consists of a two-way conversation between the two candidates who will be required to use visual and verbal prompts to carry out a task. This task will require the candidates to evaluate, compare, give opinions or speculate about a particular subject and will last approximately 4 minutes.

Part 3 Long turn plus discussion
Part 3 consists of a long turn by Candidate A during which he or she responds to written questions on a prompt card (2 minutes). Candidate B is asked to respond with their own views on the topic in question (1 minute) and then both candidates respond (1 minute). The process is then repeated with Candidtae A taking a long turn and Candidate B responding.


Post comments asking Angela Dias any further questions and earn a medal for your relevant particpation!

my apologies...

Oh, guys, I owe you an apology for last Friday. When I decided not to go to Cultura, I’d completely forgotten about the snack. It was terribly irresponsible of me not to go, so, I’ve got to atone for my sin...

Next class (17th of April, right?), even though I’m not taking part in the group who is going to provide the snack, I’m taking something to keep you sweet. =P

Forgive me, guys, and remind me when it comes closer to the date; I’ve got a mind like a sieve...

Cheers

Fifteenth medal!!! wow!

Key Word Transformation

1. Mary was fired last week.

REDUNDANT

Mary ___________________ last week.

2. If you buy me a chocolate bar, I’ll give you my phone number.

PROVIDED

____________________________ a chocolate bar, I’ll give you my phone number.

3. Your bedroom is a complete mess!

SIXES

Your bedroom ___________________________!



Enjoy!

PRACTISE PRACTISE PRACTISE

Complete each sentence with a different word.

1. I think the fact that she hasn´t had the good grace to apologise _____________ volumes about her.

2. When he _____________ round after the operation, he had absolutely no idea where he was.

3. Terry was finally brought to _____________ for fiddling the accounts.

4. Your office won´t be ready until next week, so could you use Room 11 just for the _______________ being?

All you want to know about English

Great site! I hope I can contribute to your study!

http://www.english-test.net/

See you, folks!

FYI

Your medals will continue to be constantly updated even though you won't be able to visualize them for some time, because I have just formatted my HD and it will take me quite a while to install all the back-up applications and files...

In the meantime keep up the excellent work!

Ask the Bards

Hy guys,

Lets play a CPE vocabulary game on SOPHISTICATED ADJECTIVES?

- This is a chain game that takes as long as the pot boils;
- Each one posts an adjective starting from the last letter of the previous word. Ex: good - dear - radical - ...
- Only 3-syllable (minimum) or compound adjectives are accepted (we're CPE holders to be, right?)

The first word is given below.

Have a Blast!

Why am I not surprised?

A bit of Morphology to spice your lives

Use the words given to form words that fit in each space:

It appears that hypertension has an additive ______ effect on overall prognosis in the diabetic. DELETE

The structures are based upon organic droplets in an ________ medium. WATER

Stalin's body was _________ removed from the Moscow Mausoleum. CEREMONY

GAPPED SENTENCES

Which one word fits all the sentences?

1. What is the ___________ of play in the current negotiations?
2. Their band often plays at the White House on __________ occasions.
3. Ames´dismissal had left him in a distressed _________ of mind.