Category Archives: Writing

I Recorded Short Story Contest

Audio, Create your own stuff, freeware, Students' Corner, Writing, , ,

Welcome to our I Recorded Short Story Contest. Open to all my students until May 31st!
Are you willing to try your hand at writing a short story in English and then reading it? This could be your chance to be internationally known; who knows who might be visiting the blog and listening to your stories and , well, you might end up being a well-known writer !!!
Yeah! I know !, Probably too far-fetched ! But ,what is undeniable is that this activity can help you improve writing and pronunciation, and this  is what  really matters!
As in every single contest of some importance , there are RULES. These are mine:

♥Entries must be in English
♥They must be recorded using the online tool Sound Cloud (Tutorial in Spanish , here)
♥Recording should last up to three minutes
♥Stories must be entirely your own work and must be previously unpublished
♥Only one entry per person
♥There is no set theme
♥Closing submission date: 31st May 13
♥Top three prizes to be determined
♥Winner will be announced the first week of June ,online and in this blog
HOW TO SUBMIT A SHORT STORY
♥First, you need to record yourself using SoundCloud.
♥Then , go to the comments section in this post
♥Write your full name
♥Write the name of your short story
♥In the Share box of your recording Copy/paste the link provided by soundcloud (starts with https)

Good luck !! Some pictures that might inspire you ,below!!!

I got this fantastic idea from the wonderful blog -MCargobe’s Blog-Room- written by a colleague from the EOI Valencia, which I highly recommend if you are willing to practise your English. Click here to see her blog.

See the winners here and listen to their stories.

Winner of the I Caption Writing Contest

Students' Corner, Writing, , ,

And ….(fanfare of trumpets) we have the winner of our I Caption Writing Contest, Aitor Marqués, from 2nd ESO, who will be awarded a free homework pass to keep or maybe to give away as a present to someone in the class. One never knows when this pass can come in handy, not that Aitor needs it very much as he  is a  very hard-working student, but…one never knows.
Ok, let’s not beat about the bush and here, below these lines , is the winning caption . There were some very good ones, which you can read in the comments section, but my reasons for choosing Aitor’s caption have been the following:
♥Lack of  grammar or vocabulary mistakes
♥Witty and ironic at the same time
♥Very hot issue nowadays in Spain
Keep posted as there will be a II Caption Writing Contest, and you might be the lucky winner next time!!

Caption Writing Contest

General, Students' Corner, Writing, , ,

Surely you have seen lots of cartoons and pictures with a caption. Wouldn’t you like to  see your words winning this Caption Writing Contest? Well, here’s your chance! I  found this funny picture via Pinterest and I am willing to give away a Free Homework Pass to the winner of this Writing Contest.What on earth could these two dogs be saying to each other? Give me  your craziest, sarcastic, most creative, thoughtful or memorable  caption to go along with this picture and enjoy !! Be original and witty!! Deadline: 15th April (example below)

Some Things to Bear in Mind when Writing your Caption

♥It can be in any form of literary expression- prose, poetry.

♥It can be one word, a sentence, a word play

♥You may enter as many captions as you like

♥Captions have to be written in English

Some Help

When writing a comic, it might be helpful to know some common English interjections. Click here to see some of the most common

How to enter a comment

Click “Comment” and write your name, email address and your caption for the contest in the comment box, in English. Don’t forget to copy the Anti-Spam Word. Click Submit Comment.

Now this is the photograph. Good Luck and Happy Captioning!

Comparatives and Superlatives Practice

Games, Speaking, Writing, , , , , , , ,

I wanted to say Happy Tuesday but this weather is really getting me down in the dumps. You might not believe it but it has been raining nonstop for more than two months now and I feel I need some sun to cheer me up. Added to this is the fact that I’ve been working mornings, afternoons, evenings and also two weekends in a row. Only today, I am quickly writing this post to leave again to go to work .

Anyways, these are two activities I’m planning to use with my Elementary students to practise  Comparatives and Superlatives. I found them via BusyTeachers and they are just what I need right now: highly motivating activities which require no preparation . Thank you  so much for sharing,Susan. (see her profile here).

Look Around You Race
Students in groups of four compare students in the classroom. Set a time limit of about 5 minutes and on your signal each group of students should write as many comparative and superlative sentences as they can about the people in their classroom. At the end of the time period, have one group share their sentences. If another group has the same sentence as the first group, both groups should cross that statement off their list. Continue until all groups have read all of their statements and any duplicates are eliminated. The group with the most statements remaining wins.

These Are the People in Your Family
Students are given about 10 adjectives that can be used to describe people: hard-working, tall, young, old, funny, intelligent, tall, fat, happy, pretty… Then challenge them to write a sentence using the superlative form of each adjective about a person in their family. Once the sentences are completed, each person should write a list of the family members who appeared in their sentences. Students in pairs exchange the lists of people but keep their sentences to themselves. Each person should ask questions about their partner’s family and try to match each person to their superlative adjective. For example, a person might ask, “Is Lucas the oldest person in your family?” The other person should answer with a yes or an explanation. “No, Lucas is only four years old.” Give students time enough to ask each other questions, and then see who in your class figured out the most family member qualities!

Looking For a Job? Learn how to write a letter applying for a job

Writing, , , ,

Are you looking for a job?? Do you need to write a formal letter applying for a job?

In this Power Point Presentation I help my students write a simple Application Letter studying the Layout of this kind of letters, giving them some tips to take into consideration when writing them and reading a Sample Letter to have as a reference. There is also a  simple  Step-by -Step  Letter of Application to do some practise.

Hope it is helpful!