10 Things I loved this Academic Year

1. Having fun with my advanced students. You've been such a challenging group. I loved it. 
   
   
   
2. Listening to my elementary students (A2 level) pronouncing the '-ed' past perfectly. The angels sound for English teachers. 
   
   
   
3. Teaching a reduced group of non-English teachers to help them teach their subject in English in the future. A new experience. It's always fun to try new things.
   
   
   
4. Working with Tom, our language assistant. We made a bit of fun of his Manchester accent, but it was great to have him. 
   
   
   
5. Watching adults having fun with board games, despite what some teachers may think. In our sort of non-compulsory education it's very important to motivate our students so they come to the next class. Besides, those games are pretty useful to practise the foreign language. 
   
   
   
6. Learning new things. I like teaching but I love learning and teaching advanced 2 is perfect for improving your knowledge.
   
   
   
7. Getting to know about school management, since I've been in the directing board this year. I got a hint of how things work from the inside. 
   
   
   
8. Seeing how the blog grows and knowing that my students find it useful. There's a lot of time into it and it's rewarding to know that it's useful. 
   
   
   
9. Receiving nice comments from my students, telling me how much they'll miss me, since I'm moving to a new EOI school next year. It's great to know that students are happy with you and your work. It seems I'm doing things well. 
   
   
   
10. All in all, getting to love my job one more year. Now it's time for the summer to start; time to relax, enjoy my free time with friends and family and recharge my batteries for the new year. Have a lovely summer!
    

Word of the week: Stay tuned

For the last post on word of the week before the summer starts, there you go the expression

stay tuned

which means to hang on or await more news on a subject. So, it means, there won't be any more posts during the summer, but the blog will be back in September.

All my support

A very special post to encourage all the people sitting for the competitive exam (oposiciones) to become a teacher.

Believe you can do it, because one day you will.
Good luck

Exam Time

Final exams are coming really soon. 

If you have come to class and studied at home 
you're prepared enough to succeed. 

So, no need to worry! 
Just keep calm and focus on the exam.

Sample Writing Tasks

I know, I know! You're all very worried about the exam at this point. However, you shouldn't be, since we've been working hard the whole year and you're more than prepared for it, as I told you in class.

Some of you asked about the writing exam and the possibility of encountering a writing task from previous years in the final exam. I recommended you to check all the writing tasks in the advanced and upper-intermediate books.

Besides, one of your classmates told me about a webpage with examples of writing texts for your level (B2). In fact, it's quite an interesting webpage since it includes not only the sample texts but also explanatory notes and useful expressions. So, you can have a look at it in order to study for your exam. 

Advanced Writing Tasks

Have a good study time!

Word of the Week: Down-to-earth

This week's word is the adjective

down-to-earth

which means sensible, realistic and practical, in a way that is helpful and friendly; not pretentious.

Examples:

Despite the fact that he won a lot of money, he's very down-to-earth. 

He's a down-to-earth, average guy who's turned his life round.