If only I had...

How many times have you wondered what would have happened if you had made other decisions? Third conditional help us to structure sentences that expressing ideas like this. In our past activity we used this conditional to create a story. With only the last sentence we had to imagine a creative story. It was a funny experience because we could use our imagination. There were a lot of incredible and unexpected stories. 

It was not difficult think in a good story, because I like writting things like this. But, it was complicated to structure all the ideas that we had in a short story. However, we enjoyed writting and reading the group´s stories.

Would you like to write a story about what you could be?

By: Nancy Sánchez

SAT exam: how good are you?

In a competitive world, people are accustomed to measuring our skills. It is necessary to know our abillities to get a job, to access at the school or only for self-interest. For this reason, many tests have been created to know how good we are in some knowledge areas. A common example is SAT exam. This tests measures the skills that anyone need for academic success in college. Maths, critical reading, evidence-based reading, writing and language are some of the skills that you will need at college. 

In Mexico we have exams that measure our abilities. I had solved some exams, like the test to been accepted at UNAM. But, solve exams in other language is not too easy. To me was not to complicated math section, but I realized that I must improve my skills in critical reading and evidence-based reading. However, to practice this kind of tests is very useful to improve our understanding of English. 

In this link you can practice SAT exam, and know how good you are in these knowledge areas.

Would you like to know how good you are?

By: Nancy Sánchez

Loanwords: a piece of the world

It is known that languages around the world have influenced each other. However, we seldom know the origin of many of the words we use day by day, or that several of these, we continue using them in their original language. This words are called loanwords, the speakers of a language have adopted words from a different language.

In English we find a lot of beautiful loanwords from all the world:

• French:
• Ballet
• Champagne
• Spanish:
• Mustang
• Armadillo
• Mosquito
• Taco
• Italian:
• Umbrella
• Violin
• German:
• Pretzel
• Quartz
• Russian:
• Vodka
• Arabic:
• Bazaar
• Japanese:
• Kamikaze
• Karaoke
• Geisha
• Yiddish:
• Mazel Tov
• Oy Vey
• Nosh
• Shalom

As you can see, there is a great variety of words that we take from other cultures. This nourishes our knowledge about the whole world and allow us to see the way in wich all humanity is connected. In this link you can find more loanwords that are used in English.

Do you know more interesting loanwords?

By: Nancy Sánchez

V.O.S. explained

Every day we hear many songs that help us to relax or to become happy or sad, according to our state of mind. However, sometimes we don´t pay attention to the lyrics. This time, I am going to report what V.O.S, by La Oreja de Van Gogh says.

The song explained that a girl was suffering because a breakup. She revealed that her life don´t have sense without her ex boyfriend. She described what she did alone at home. She begged him to ignore her attitude  if one day they find each other. She mentioned to him that she would deny she was crying and that she had forgotten everything.

But, at the end of the song, she admitted that she still loved him. This song is an example of feelings we have after a breakup.

Have you felt identified?

By: Nancy Sánchez

Let´s report differently!

I have been talking about how we can report what someone else says. But, when we do this, we could fall into several vices. For example: use all the time the verb "said". It is the most common verb in the reported speech, nevertheless, there are many verbs we can use to report. There are rules for the use of each of these. You can see them in this link. 

As you can appreciate, it is a very long list. So, if you use some of this verbs, you will show a better managment og your vocabulary in English and you will report in a clearer way what other people say. So be encouraged to use verbs like: admit, comment, confirm, persuade, promise, recommend, describe, etc. 

Do you like this other way to reporting?

By: Nancy Sánchez

What did he say?

I had talk about reported speech. It is necessary to be able to say what someone else told you. Questions can also be reported. There are two types o questions: yes/no questions and open or wh questions. It is very easy to report questions. Here are some examples:

As we can see, reporting questions is not complicated. However, we must remeber not to break the grammatical rules. In this link, you could find some rules.

Are you ready to report questions?

By: Nancy Sánchez

Let´s do an essay!

As university students, it is common for us to do essays to show our opinion about a specific topic. Compare and contrast essay is very useful when we want to compare conditions about two elementos from the same topic. For my Friday exam, I did an essay about working conditions in Mexico an the U.S.A. I used the basic structure: 

• Introduction: in which we write about what is going to treat the essay and our thesis.
• Body: in this part we should write the arguments that support our thesis and reflections about these. It is important to show the comparison between both elements. 
• Conclusion: Finally, we have to do a recap about we talked and write our final opinion. 

It is not complicated to do a compare and contrast essay if we do a good investigation and order our ideas correctly. In this link you will find extra information about how to do a compare and contrast essay.

Are you ready to do an essay?

By: Nancy Sánchez

Reported speech

Reported speech is a common way of speaking. We use it all the time when we tell what someone else tells us. We only have to pass the verb in present to past and the verb in past to past perfect. If we use will we have to change it for would: Dayra said she would buy a car next month. 

It is important to know how to use reported speech because we use this type of language in our everyday interactions. 

Do you have something to report today?

By: Nancy Sánchez

If I were...

"If I were a dancer, I would receive money for doing what I love." 

All the time we are thinking about hypothetical situations. It is normal for the human being. This kind of sentences is called second conditional. An imaginary situation form the if clause and the result or consequence is the outcome. We always have to use a verb in simple past for the first clause and the modal would or could for the second. 

This kind of sentences is very useful and funny because is a way to show the power of our imagination. We can imagine incredible situations in our life or what we would do if we were someone else. The possibilities are endless. 

If you could do wherever you want, what would you do?

By: Nancy Sánchez

How to speak louder?

Most of the time, when we are learning a new language, we tend to speak at a low volume. In English, and in any language, this is not good because it shows that we are not confident in talking. For that reason it is important to have a lou volume. How can we speak louder? There are a lot of tips for this. In Dick  Massimilian´s page, this guy gives some recomendations, but I am going to give you some else:

1. Breathe deeply and use your abs. This will give you more energy and strength to your words.
2. Project your voice on the other side of the room. In this way you make sure that all members of the audience can hear you.
3. Open your mouth more than normal. This will help you to pronunce clearly each word and letter.
4. Sing in all the places you can. This will gives you confidence and you will practice your pronunciation.
5. Read in loud voice. This will help you improve your pronunciation an also you will learn more vocabulary. Read poetry could be very funny. 

All this tips could help you to speak louder, but yo should remember that the most important is have confidence and practice all the time, beacuse this is going to be reflected in your tone of voice. 

Is your voice volume loud enough?

By: Nancy Sánchez 

How to use "the"?

When you are learning a new language it is common make mistakes. In English, one of the most common is the use of "the". In my last English class I made this mistake. In this case "the" must be used like a definite article. To indicate something or someone in particular. We are talking about specific things. It is for that reason that always, before U.S.A.we should writing "the": the U.S.A.

Did you learn how to use "the"?

By: Nancy Sánchez

Fighting against stereotypes

We live in a globalized world. In all countries we interact with people from different cultures. This causes a cultural richness, but also, intolerance problems. Bullying because your origin, your skin color and even for the way you speak, is found in many places. This two videos show the levels of intolerance that we see or replicated, consciously or unconsciously. 

It is important to think about this. About the stereotypes which we are accustomed. It is relevant to know the consequences that this kind of thinking causes. It is time to be more tolerant and empathic. 

What kind of stereotypes do you know?

By: Nancy Sánchez

Correcting mistakes

Writing is a basic skill when you learn a new language. It is complicated writing without mistakes. We can regularly make several mistakes. In my case, I had some problems with this little paragraph.:

1. I wrote a misspelling in the word abilities. 
2. I forgot tath my text is in past and I wrote in present in the third line.
3. I used principal but is an informal text, so I should write main.
4. I didn´t remember that adverbs of degree are placed after the verb.

Finally I must write the letters well, because it could confuse lust with last! It is necessary to learn writing well to convey the idea that you want to spread correctly.

What mistakes do you make?

By: Nancy Sánchez

How to learn easier?

To learn a new language could be difficult. Each language has different combinations of sounds and structures that we don´t know. But, learning a new language is an exciting experience. If you are a concerned person about learning you could attend this suggestions that you can find in TEDx page:

1. Make mistakes.
2. Scrap the foreign alphabet.
3. Find a strickler.
4. Shower conversatios.
5. Buddy formula.

This suggestions are incredible tools to remember at the moment in wich you feel stressful. I have other tips, like listening music in the language that I am learning. Reading a lot of novels, poetry and fables to expand your vocabulary. Finally you could learn a new word from a dictionary and practice it all day long. 

It is important don´t forget that learning a new language is an activity that keep us constantly tested. Is an ability in wich we can meet a lot of people, understand the way of thinking of other persons and a tool for your entire life. 

Are you ready to learn a new language?

By: Nancy Sánchez

FLO-JOE Practice tests Multiple Choice

When you study a new language, it is important to know at what level you are. For those of us who study English, this information is vital because that determines how good we are talking and understanding the language. Certification exams can be scary but there are tools that help us to prepare for these. Flo-joe is one of this tools.

This website offers readings and multiple exercises so you can practice English nd know what level you are. To me is an incredible tool because I know what are my weaknesses and strengths. For now I am doing the practice tests form the advanced level. In the first exrecise I read a story and answered some questions with multiple choice. The website tells you if you were wrong or not inmediately, which is a great feedback. I hope very soon I can advanced to the next level.

Would you like to try it? You can do it entering to Flo-joe

By: Nancy Sánchez

LEARNING STYLES RESULTS. How good you are learning?

All the people have different ways to learn somethinng. Some people are better watching, other prefer listening an some of us are better reading information. This are my learning styles results. I discovered than I have balanced learning styles. Is a fact that I am more reflective than active, that am a person more verbal than visual and that I learnt faster of a sequential form. But, I know that I could learn of many different ways. However, I discovered too that I am not intuitive enough and this thought me that I have a opportunity to improve myself to be a better student. This survey could be a helpful tool for that people that is interested in know which are their learning skills, because, who would not want to know how good is learning?

By: Nancy Sánchez