Category Archives: Resources

Towards the oral exam

Resources

The oral exam is just round the corner and I thought it might be a good idea to have a look at some of the posts I have published that can help you revise , improve or practise. Remember the more you practise ,the easier you’ll find it and the more fluent you’ll become.

vozMe– This converts text into speech. You can type any word and even a text ( use the copy and paste option 😉  ) and then choose a male or a female voice.( If you want to know my opinion ,  the female voice is clearer). The text will be read to you.
Read the post here

Howjay.com- I just love this dictionary!! You enter the word and you submit it. When it appears in pink , mouse over it to hear it spoken as often as you want. You don’t have to wait a second as it is individually pre-recorded!!
You can translate the word into Spanish or any other language using the Google Translate and then get the definition for the word
Read the post here

Fotobabble– Great to practise picture description. Upload a photo and record yourself describing it. Listen to your own description and work on how to improve it.
Read the post here.

Listen a minute- Want to improve pronunciation and intonation? Dedicate one minute to listening and reading along .
Read the post here

Role-plays– a selection of role-plays for the elementary level aimed at the oral exam.
Click on the photo and it’ll take you there!

Related posts:

You’ll never forget how to pronounce “would”

Some help with the Speaking Test … or not?

False friends: embarrassed or embarazada?

Monty Python :Silly Job Interview

Talking Photos: Fotobabble

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What a great tool this is!!

The Certificación exam is  just around the corner and bumping into this little tool right now got me thinking whether some things  happen by sheer chance or by  some divine intervention. Choose the one you feel most comfortable with .

Now, as you know , in the oral part of the exam you’ll be asked to describe  a/some picture(s)  in three minutes. Well, here’s a good tool to help you rehearse for this part of the exam. It’s called Fotobabble and it looks promising.

This is what you have to do to use this app:

  • First, sign up. Don’t worry it’s free and it only takes a few seconds.
  • Upload a photo from your computer.
  • Record your voice using a microphone
  • Listen to your recording.

This is quite OK as far as you are concerned but I’d like to see what you are doing , so why don’t you send me your fotobabbles ? No idea how to do it ? Click on the link below and in  a video and in Spanish I’ll explain it all to you. No excuses now!!

http://www.screencast.com/users/cristinacd/folders/Jing/media/a9ed9e6f-4356-468f-82d9-8c10558a9a8b

Google Set Labs: a language-based experiment

freeware, Resources, The English language, Vocabulary, Word of the Day

This little tool by google called Google Set Labs has lots of potential . It helps you to produce sets of items from a few examples so if you write a few items from a list of things it automatically creates a list of items from the same group.

I’ve decided to try with sports and personality adjectives and I wrote a few related-words as you can see from the pictures  below

Then , you can choose whether you want to a large set or a smalll set and it produces a massive list of words related to this area. It’s great for teachers to try to predict what sort of words related to a topic might be used in class and also great for students to try to extend their vocabulary.

Want to have a go at it??

Another cool site to watch videos: Watchmojo

Audio, Listening, Resources, ,

This is one of my favourite sites to see and use videos for my students. It’s called watchmojo and here you can enjoy free short clips in a wide variety of categories  such as Automotive, Education, Fashion, Film, Food, Gambling, Health, Music, Politics & Economy, Space, Sports, Technology and Travel.

I have chosen a video about how social media can affect relationships to show you some of its contents.  Ready to do some listening practice??

Blinkx: a video wall

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Another amazing tool. Blinkx claims to be the largest  and most advanced video search engine. It is said to  have  an index of over 35 million hours of searchable video. Users can search for video content, create personal video playlists, or build a customized Video Wall .

This is the video wall  I got from typing the word: celebrities.

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