The tenses line

Hello everyone!

In today's entry I will try to make you learn (well, revise or clarify) something about verb tenses. During my years of experience, I have noticed that many students have problems with verbal tenses. This may be due to several reasons. However, today I want to focus on the problems you may have when hesitating between one tense and another because you don't know for sure where you need to place the action in the line of time. As this can be a very abstract notion, I have tried to clarify it through this drawing which I call the Tenses Line. 

I find this way of reviewing the tenses really visual and practical and it has usually worked for my students and that is why I would like you to know how it works. First of all, the line is divided in Past, Present and Future sections, each one of them written in a different colour to activate photographic memory. Then, if a verbal tense is Simple we will only find a line; however, if it is Continuous we will find a little rectangle to show that it is an action that takes some time to be done. If you take a good look at Will, you see the line is broken, and I decided to put it that way because we do not know if this action is actually going to happen or not. 

After this explanation I want to make a little summary of the verb tenses. Please, take into account that this is an explanation for beginners!

1) Past Perfect Continuous: we use it to talk about an action that happened before another action in the past. If we use this tense we want to emphasize that the action took some time to be done. Some words that you may find with this tense and actually, all the perfect tenses, are just, already, never, ever, yet, since, for. 

Ron had been reading this saga before the teacher recommended it.

2) Past Perfect Simple: It is similar to the previous one, but in this case we do not want to highlight the time the action took to be done. 

                                       I had already seen the film when she told me about it.

3) Past Continuous: we use this tense to talk about an action that was developing in the past. Some words that you may find with this tense are at this time (yesterday, las week...).

At this time yesterday, Marta was reciting a poem.

4) Past Simple: we use this tense when we want to talk about an action that took place in the past. Some words that you may find with this tense are yesterday, ago, last (week, month, year...). 

Yesterday I read my favourite book.

5) Present Perfect Continuous: it is used to talk about an action that started in the past (that is why the line begins in the past section) and continues in the present or to talk about a past action whose consequences are palpable in the present. Same as before, this tense adds the emphasis of time.

The author has been writing detective stories lately.

6) Present Perfect Simple: this tense is used in the same was as the previous one but without emphasizing duration.

Berta has bought 15 novels this year.

7) Present Simple: we use it to talk about habits, routines, preferences, timetables and so on. Some words that you may find with this tense are always, usually, often, rarely, seldom, hardly ever, never...

Tom usually goes to the teather once a month.

8) Present Continuous: we use this tense to talk about an action which is happening at the moment or we can give it a future meaning to talk about arranged plans. Some words that you may find with this tense are at the moment, tight now, now...

Right now, Bella is organising her bookshelves.

9)  Be going to: we use it to talk about future plans and also to make predictions with present evidence. Some words that you may find with this tense are next (week, month, year), this (summer, month...).

In the summer, I'm going to acquire the book's special edition.

10) Future Continuous: we use this tense to talk about an action that will be developing at some time in the future.

Tomorrow at this time, Lucy will be doing her literature exam.

11) Will: we use will to talk about future predictions without present evidence and also to make spontaneous decisions. Some words that you may find with this tense are in the future, in X years...

In the future, books will have holograms.

12) Future Perfect: we use it to talk about an action that will be finished in the future.

By this time next year, Samara will have read all the stories by Edgar Allan Poe.

So that is the end of it, a piece of cake, isn't it?

Wardrobe or closet? Differences between British and American English.

Hello everyone!

It's been a while since the last time I posted something but these have been busy weeks for me. In today's entry I would like to talk about some differences between British and American English. Sometimes, when speaking we hesitate between one word and another. You don't know if you should say I've just seen a fantastic movie or I've just seen a fantastic film. But it is the same, isn't it? Well, it is the same but to a certain extent. None of the sentences is wrong and we have to keep that in mind. However, the difference is in the English you are speaking: American or British. 

As everything in life, we have to be coherent and consistent when speaking, writing and so on. Thus if we are performing a discourse in British English it is not coherent to say I got lost in the highway, when we should say I got lost in the motorway, because it would be the same as introducing a word typical from Catalonia in a Valencian discourse. The word would be probably correct but the Valencian speaker would notice there is something fishy in that sentence. 

In my opinion, the problem we face here is that sometimes we don't know when we are using an American or a British word. But why? I think it is because at school, high school or any other academic field we are usually taught British English. However, if we watch films or series we often tend to listen to American English. That is why you might not understand the sentence I put it in my wardrobe but you do know the meaning of I put it in my closet. Most of the films and series or TV programs we see are American (or at least that is my case), but at school we are usually taught British English and maybe that is the reason why we rather spell certain words in British English but introduce some American words in our speech. If you knew that information you might not face the problem I'm talking about. Nevertheless, if you don't know about it, you may be using the "right" word but in an inappropriate context. 

That is the reason why I found this infographic so interesting, because it shows the differences between American and British words in a visual way and it doesn't only point out the difference between words but also the spelling of some words which are written differently in America and in England.

I hope you find it as appealing as I did and remember that whether you choose to speak American or British English it is okay, but be coherent!

Source: www.grammarcheck.net

By the way, if you want to practise your listening of either American or British English here I leave a list of some of my favorite films and series you can watch to be aware of the differences between one and another. (Click on the links to be directed to a film's synopsis, I don't want you to spend hours watching a film you don't enjoy!)

American English films:

1. The Dark Knight (Christopher Nolan, 2008)

2. 12 Years a Slave (Steve McQueen, 2013)

3. The Tree of Life (Terrence Malick, 2011)

4. The Lord of the Rings: the Fellowship of the Ring (Peter Jackson, 2001) (actually, I recommend the whole trilogy, extended version)

5. Finding Neverland (Marc Forster, 2004)

British English films:

1. CLEARLY, the whole Harry Potter saga (Chris Columbus, Alfonso Cuarón, Mike Newell & David Yates, 2001-2011). (Yes, I'm a Potterhead)

2. Man On Wire (James Marsh, 2008)

3. We Need to Talk about Kevin (Lynne Ramsay, 2011)

American English series:

1. The Walking Dead (2010)

2. Pretty Little Liars (2010)

3. Stanger Things (2016)

4. Modern Family (2009)

5. Awkward (2011)

6. The 100 (2014)

7. American Horror Story (2011)

8. Breaking Bad (2008-2013)

British English series:

1. Vikings (actually Irish) (2013)

2. Peaky Blinders (2013)

3. Misfits (2009-2013)

4. Taboo (2017)

5. Black Mirror (2011)

Christmas around the world.

Hello everyone!

First of all, Merry Christmas to you all! As these days are special ones, I also wanted to publish a special entry. Of course it is about Christmas. However, I am not going to tell you the same old story about why it is celebrated or what we usually do. This time I do not want to focus on how we celebrate Christmas but on how other cultures or countries do it. 

Picture by eGuide Travel from Flickr

The first country I want to explore is Australia. Did you know that their Christmas starts at the beginning of the summer holidays? For me that sounded awkward, because in Spain we relate Christmas to winter so I think it must be really different and amazing to have this festivity in the summer. 

Australians also decorate their houses with lights and Christmas trees and they also use 'Christmas Bush' a native Australian tree. Moreover, in each State capital, city carols are sung, even sometimes by famous people. These carols are broadcasted on TV. I guess that carols' lyrics must be different from the ones we sing because they do not talk about winter, snow and so on. Furthermore, Santa's clothes must be a little different too taking into account how hot it must be there!

Another country I am interested in is Canada. This is a large country and it is influenced by many cultures and so is Christmas. Many traditions of this festivity come from France, England, Ireland, Scotland, Germany, Norway and Ukraine.

Picture by Alex Indigo from Flickr

It is usual to send Christmas cards to your friends and relatives, same as in the UK. In Spain we normally open our presents on Christmas Day, but Canadians do it on Christmas Eve. They usually eat roast turkey, differently to their American neighbors who reserve this food for Thanksgiving Day. A funny tradition which takes place in Canada is one in which people wears Santa's costumes and go over the neighborhood until someone finds out who they are.

Picture by Luisa from Flickr
Roscón de Reyes

Finally, a curious thing I found out is that by the end of Christmas, in Quebec they have a celebration called La Fete du Roi in which they bake a cake and put a bean in the middle of it. Whoever finds the bean turns into the king or queen. It is curious because this is a tradition similar to one we have in Spain, this festivity is called La noche del roscón de Reyes. We do the same with a kind of cake but instead of a bean we put a broad bean and whoever finds it has to pay for the cake.

The last country I am going to focus on is the United States of America. As Canada, their Christmas are also influenced by traditions from UK, France, Italy, The Netherlands, Poland and Mexico. As said before, the traditional meal is not normally turkey but ham with cranberry sauce. 

Americans love to decorate their houses with Christmas motives and lights. The typical image of a house full on lights we see on films is not a hyperbole. Curious data: some Americans use pop-corn to decorate their Christmas tree! Another interesting fact is that in the south of Louisiana, families along the Mississippi River, light bonfires to help Santa find their way. They call him Papa Noel because that is the name he has in France, and this state has a deep relationship with the French country. Moreover, they do not say 'Merry Christmas' but 'Happy Christmas'.

In conclusion, even though Christmas is a festivity celebrated in several countries, there are many differences among them. Traditional dishes, the opening-time of the presents, the parades, the decorations are divergent. However, there is something that unifies Christmas all around the world: it is a time to spend with our family and beloved ones, it is the time of the year when you meet your relatives and friends to have dinner together, open presents and share moments. It does not matter if it is summer or winter, if you are eating turkey or roscón, Christmas is always a special time and we should enjoy it. 

Picture by Johnny Lai from Flickr

If you want to know more about Christmas traditions all over the world visit Why Christmas page, where I have found all the information of the post. I hope you liked to learn something about other cultures. 

Merry Christmas, Happy Christmas, Feliz Navidad, Bon Nadal and Joyeux Noël to you all!

All are teachers, all are learners.

Good  and rainy morning everyone!

In today's entry I'll like to share with you this inspiring video about education. This clip is done in TED talk format. These are short presentations about interesting topics. In this case, education is the main focus. There are many TED talks about education, but I found this one unique because the presenter is a teacher herself, and she starts the talk based on her experience with one student that did not want to attend her lessons. He hated school, he said.

Sadly, nowadays this is the case of so many students, and as teachers we should try to do something to fix that. It is no conceivable that, for instance, the distribution of the classes remains the same after 20 years of education, and the same for the methodologies used. Society has changed, our students have changed and so should we. 

Firstly, we live in a world made of technology. We wake up at the sound of our alarm, we cook using cooking robots, we talk with friends who live miles away thanks to our phones, and before sleeping we check our social media and email. If technology can be so useful and helpful for our everyday life, why do not we apply it in our lessons?

However, as Kayla Delzer says, we should not use technology for the sake of using it because then, our lessons would be the same but more technologic. Instead, we should leverage the advantages of technology. In spite of making our students read a history article, lets make them do a WebQuest about the topic they have to study; in spite of making them study the characteristics of an epic poem, lets make them compose an epic poem; lets make them elaborate their own project about a topic they are interested in. For these tasks, they can use technology in order to help them find information. 

We have to transform our classes, our methodologies, make them interesting for our students so they come to class wanting to learn something new. As teachers we have to change our minds, be aware that we do not know everything and we never will. We are there to teach our students but we can learn something from them too. Actually lots of things. As Delzer proposes, a good task is making them learn something so that they have to teach it later to their mates and even to the teacher. In this way, they feel they are contributing to other people's learning, they are not there merely to listen and absorb information. They can be something more than a recorder sitting on a table, because, as students, we have sometimes felt like that: we only listen and reproduce.

Living in the 21st century means something more than being surrounded by technology, it means knowing how to use it, but using it properly. We can use social media to teach our students. They can do lots of activities such as Skyping people from other countries to learn new languages and knowing new cultures, they can play ludic games, watch interesting videos, make WebQuests, look for information in to order to produce their own projects. There is a wide variety of ways of making their learning process more interesting and appealing to them.

Finally, I would like to highlight something that Delzer says at the end of her presentation. Society and education change, they get transformed all over the years, but there is something essential in education that always remains and that we should keep in mind, despite of the changes in society: 'relationships between students and passionate teachers always remain.'