CRY, CRY (BY OCEANA)

Here you can see and listen to Oceana singing 'Cry, Cry'. I hope you enjoy it.



Here you have the activities and the lyrics.
Cry, cry

BOOKING A ROOM IN A HOTEL (FACE TO FACE)

Here is an example of a dialogue that takes places in a hotel between a receptionist and a guest. It can be used a as template for you to practise speaking.

R: Good evening madam.

G: Good evening, my name is Jackson. I have a room booked for tonight.

R: Oh right, I´ll just check…..What was your name again?

G: Jackson, Elizabeth Jackson.

R : Jackson? Er….. well there is no record of a reservation here. Did you make your booking by phone?

G: No, by email. I´ve got a copy of your reply here, look.

R: I see. Well there´s nothing on the computer.

G: Well, do you have a room?

R: I´ll just check……Oh! Yes, we seem to be half-empty tonight.

G: Well , can I have a room then?

MAKING A RESERVATION (FACE TO FACE)

Have a look at the following website where you will be able to practise and to listen to a dialogue that takes place in a hotel between a guest and a receptionist.
http://www.audioenglish.net/english-learning/english_dialogue_hotel_booking_a_room_2.htm

Here are more dialogues and listenings for you to practise.

http://www.audioenglish.net/english-learning/efl_hotel.htm

PROJECT: TOURIST ATTRACTIONS QUESTIONNAIRE

Here you have the document with the guidelines you need to do the project.
Good luck! =)

PROJECT

A TOURIST ATTRACTIONS QUESTIONNAIRE

Assignment: This project should be carried out at one of the top tourist attractions we can find in Madrid. You must interview two people and ask for permission to video-record the interview. If not, at least ask permission to record the sound. Do it in pairs. Some interviews will be published on the blog www.agr8tourblog4u.blogspot.com for educational purposes.

Aim: To use English as a tool for communication and to get to know the people who visit our country (nationalities, reasons for travelling, accommodation chosen, opinion about tourist attractions…)

Assessment criteria: It will be graded from 1 to 10 and will be part of the mark of the oral skills.

Deadline: By Friday 4th February 2011.

You can begin like this:

Good morning/afternoon/evening. I’m a student of Hotel Management / Tourism at Hotel Escuela High School, Madrid. We are doing a project about tourist attractions in Madrid. Would you mind answering a few questions? If you don’t mind, we would like to record the interview as a class practice. Thanks a lot.

POSSIBLE QUESTIONS:

1. Where are you from?
2. How long are you staying in Madrid?
3. What is the purpose of your visit?
4. Where are you staying (type of accommodation)?
5. What monuments or places have you visited so far?
6. Which one did you like most? Why?
7. Could you give us a short description that summarises its main features?
8. Did it fulfil your expectations? If not, why not?
9. From you point of view, which are the top five visitor attractions in Madrid?

Student recommends one or two more places to visit (one of them has to be a ‘natural attraction’).

         Thanks for your help. Enjoy your stay.

NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTIONS

HELLO EVERYONE AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Have you got any New Year's Resolutions? A 'resolution' is a promise to make a change in your life.
Read the following extracts taken from the books 'The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole aged 13 3/4', by S. Townsend and 'Bridget Jones's Diary', by H. Fielding. Then answer the questions that follow.

This is what Adrian Mole wrote down:

Thursday January 1^st

Bank Holiday in England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales

These are my New Year’s resolutions:

1. I will help the blind across the road.
2. I will hang my trousers up.
3. I will put the sleeves back on my records.
4. I will not start smoking.
5. I will stop squeezing my spots.
6. I will be kind to the dog.
7. I will help the poor and ignorant.
8. After hearing the disgusting noises from downstairs last night, I have also vowed never to drink alcohol.

(From Townsend, S. (1988) The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13¾. Methuen, London. p. 11).

Here are some New Year’s resolutions Bridget Jones wrote down in her diary:

New Year’s Resolutions

I WILL NOT

• Drink more than fourteen alcohol units a week.
• Smoke.
• Waste money on: pasta-makers, ice-cream machines or other culinary devices which will never use; books by unreadable literary authors to put impressively on shelves; exotic underwear, since pointless as have no boyfriend.
• Spend more than earn.
• Get annoyed with Mum…
• Bitch about anyone behind their backs, but be positive about everyone.
• Sulk about having no boyfriend, but develop inner poise and authority and sense of self as woman of substance, complete without boyfriend, as best way to obtain boyfriend.

I WILL

• Stop smoking.
• Drink no more than fourteen alcohol units a week.
• Reduce circumference of thighs by 3 inches (i.e. 1½  inches each), using anti-cellulite diet.
• Give all clothes which have not worn for two years or more to homeless.
• Improve career and find new job with potential.
• Save up money in form of savings. Poss start pension also.
• Be more confident.
• Be more assertive.
• Make better use of time.
• Not go out every night but stay in and read books and listen to classical music.
• Give proportion of earnings to charity.
• Be kinder and help others more.
• Eat more pulses.
• Get up straight away when wake up in mornings.
• Go to gym three times a week not merely to buy sandwich.
• Put photographs in photograph albums.
• Learn to program video.

(From FIELDING, H.(2001). Bridget Jones’s Diary. Picador. pp. 2-3)

QUESTIONS:

1. Have you made any New Year's Resolutions? Which ones?
2. Are they similar to the ones made by Adrian Mole and Bridget Jones?
3. Did you stick to the resolutions you made last year?
4. Do your resolutions have to do with personal appearance, behaviour, school, home, hobbies, voluntary work or any other aspects? Which ones?
5. When do you make your resolutions: at the beginning of the school year or when the New Year begins?