KEY to Gerund or Infinitive Revision

11. WALKING

12. HELP sb (to) DO sth.

17. GET sb TO DO sth. = Convince.

21. STOP TO DO = stop in order to; STOP DOING = Not do it any more.

25. Would you mind + V-ing.

26. Suggest + V-Ing.

C1 Gerund or Infinitive Revision

Key tomorrow

Do You Know the History Behind Black Friday?

After Thanksgiving meals come Black Friday sales. But, where did Black Friday come from?

C2 120 Most Important Verbs in English Language for IELTS | TOEFL | PTE

                                                         

Watch this video and look up the meaning of the verbs you don't know. 

Remember to pause it every 90 seconds or so. You needn't watch it all. Do it little by little. 

International Day of Persons with Disabilities

Join some of the activities scheduled by Cartagena Town Hall. Check them here. From 29th Nov. to 4th Dec.

For more info about this day check here. (UN)

Feeling Hungry? Take Our Thanksgiving Food Quiz

How well do you know Thanksgiving food? If you gobble up every fact about Thanksgiving feasts that you come across, this is the quiz for you! Our quiz will let you know if you’ve digested a full stomach of Thanksgiving food knowledge or if you need to go back for seconds. (From Dictionary.com)

C1 Compound Adjectives (2) | Advanced Vocabulary for IELTS, TOEFL, and PTE

Watch this video and look up the meaning of the adjectives you don't know. 

Remember to pause it every 90 seconds or so. You needn't watch it all. Do it little by little. 

Compound adjectives most commonly end in an adjective (e.g. homesick), or in an -ing or -ed adjective form (e.g. ground-breaking, short-sighted).

Try to use some of them in your next piece of writing and in your speech.

Oral Mediation Activity

Your Language Assistant (Harriet / Tim) received this document on their email and has asked you to advise them on where to spend their New Year's Eve. Their only condition is that they'd rather travel to a non-English speaking destination. Which two places would you recommend them? Tell them, giving your reasons, in 3-4 minutes. 

Prepare the task for next Monday (C2) / Tuesday (C1) 

Yesterday's Idioms Test KEY

Infinitive and gerunds verb patterns

  Do these activities

Role Play Activity in JOB Environment

Role play these prompts. Use 1 minute for each of them. Pay special attention to your intonation and the words you choose when telling your co-worker about the issue.

What to do during Building Evacuation Drills

In an effort to demonstrate fire safety awareness and preparedness in compliance with the fire code, our school (EOI) conducts fire evacuation drills. During the fire evacuation drills, you will hear a bell/siren and/or voice command announcement to evacuate. We ask for your full cooperation during the drills. The expected duration of each drill will be approximately 5-10 minutes. We recognize the drills may interrupt your schedule and we apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. Please adhere to the directions found in your Aula Virtual when the fire alarm sounds to safely evacuate the building. 

Check Instrucciones Alumnos and Instrucciones Emergencias.

Idioms Test (12 Questions)

Key tomorrow

International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women

Eliminate violence against women!

On International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, UN Women draws attention to femicides.

“Every 10 Minutes, a woman is killed.”

News in English EL PAÍS

Biden changes policy on US weapons in Ukraine

Dear readers,

‌U.S. President Joe Biden this week has been hastily lifting restrictions on the use of weapons sent to Ukraine, amid fears Donald Trump will reverse his administration's policy on the invaded country. He authorized long-range missiles to strike targets in Russian territory, approved the use of anti-personnel mines and is also accelerating the delivery of equipment to Kyiv.

Meanwhile, there is growing concern over Trump's latest Cabinet picks, specifically, Pete Hegseth, a Fox host accused of sexual assault, as Secretary of Defense, and anti-vaxxer Robert F. Kennedy as Health Secretary.

In other news, we looked at the story behind Portugal's Mafra Palace, the main setting for the 1994 movie ‘Queen Margot,’ spoke to DeepMind CEO

Demis Hassabis about the future of artificial generative intelligence, and talked to cartoonist Daniel Clowes, of 'Ghost World' fame, about why he is thinking of leaving the U.S.

We hope you enjoy this selection of articles from EL PAÍS USA Edition.

 

You can also read:

• Germany is ‘kaput’: Why the economic model no longer works in the proud country of automobiles
• The new cheating: How WhatsApp and social media have us all sneaking around
• Why Bluesky is different: The freedom to choose content vs the dictatorship of the algorithm
• José ‘Pepe’ Mujica: ‘I dedicated myself to changing the world and I didn’t change a damn thing’
• Arrest warrant puts Netanyahu in orbit of disgraced leaders
• Workers fear the age of robots: Will a machine take my job?
• ‘At work, I was a machine, more productive’: Why do people take drugs in the office?

Next Week Talks

Don't miss them!!!

Which do you prefer?

prefer /prɪˈfɜː(r) / verb [T] -rr- CHOOSE to like, choose or want one thing rather than another

[ + -ing verb ] He prefers watching rugby to playing it.

[ + to infinitive ] I'd prefer not to discuss this issue.

formal I'd prefer you not to smoke (= I would like it better if you did not smoke), please.

·  to prefer sth TO sth;           

I prefer cats to dogs;    I prefer reading to watching TV

·  to prefer to + INF                

I prefer to live alone;     I’d prefer to stay at home;

·  preferir QUE algo/algn + SUBJ; I’d prefer it to rain now rather than during the game; I won’t go if you’d prefer me to stay;

·  to prefer THAT preferir QUE + SUBJ; they prefer that it should not be discussed; I’d prefer it if you went now

C1 & C2 Collocations with intensifying adverbs

Check here to have a reference list of intensifying adverbs and their collocations...

Remember the adverbs in bold must always be stressed!!!

Do this activity to practise (if you get 8 out of 8, you are a genius!!!)

Remember the hyphen is there just to keep them together --it is never written!!!

C1 Compound Adjectives (1)

 

English Idioms and Idiomatic Expressions

Find  more than 50 lists of well-known English idioms with their meaning categorised by themes on Learn English Today.

Have a look at a different topic every other day; e.g. at the moment we are dealing with jobs. Next month we'll be studying health ...

Enjoy it!

Infinitive or Gerund?

C1 Talk about Jobs

C2 Precise Words EDUCATION

Do this Learning English activity to revise C1 - C2 Vocabulary from Cambridge English

C1 Speak English at Work (by Lucy)

 

Read it in pdf. format!

FICC53

FICC53 Festival Internacional de Cine de Cartagena. See all the activities here. 

C2 Education Idioms

Hit the books (Am. E.):

• I can't go out tonight. I need to hit the books.
•  I have to hit the books this weekend — I have two exams next week.

Crack the books (Am. E.):

• He hardly ever cracked a book.
• He believes that if you want to learn something, go crack a book and do it.

Burn the midnight oil (Br. E.):

• A short while back he was ever poring over (=read in detail) the written page and burning the midnight oil.
• Do you write best in the morning or do you burn the midnight oil?

News in English EL PAÍS

Jumping on the Trump Train

Dear readers,

After more than a century of ironclad Democratic control, Starr County in Texas has voted for a Republican president for the first time due to economic discontent and the immigration crisis. We visited the county and talked to local leaders to find out why they feel that Donald Trump best represents their interests.

As Spain continues to grapple with the fallout of the flash floods that killed over 200 people two weeks ago, we focused on one street in Catarroja, Valencia, whose story encapsulates all the problems faced by thousands of people as they struggle with grief, cleanup, and rebuilding efforts.

Our correspondents also traveled to Akkar, a poor and forgotten region of Lebanon that is the breeding ground for the only popular institution of the nearly absent government: the Lebanese Armed Forces. And they were in Naples, where the death of a 19-year-old at the hands of another youth highlights the worsening problem of armed teenage gangs.

We also took a private tour of Pompeii to uncover some of its darkest secrets, and explored what science reveals about our natural tendency to corruption.

We hope you enjoy this selection of articles from EL PAÍS USA Edition

You can also read:

• Flooding in Spain: The homes that became death traps in a small Valencia town
• Readers prefer ChatGPT poems over Shakespeare and Sylvia Plath
• ‘Gladiator II’: Sequels are almost never better. Confirmed
• ‘X doesn’t offer me anything anymore’: Trump’s win triggers mass exodus to other platforms
• Alice Schwarzer, journalist: ‘We are facing profound changes in the relationship between the sexes. It’s dangerous’
• All the drama of Spain’s flash floods, contained in one street: ‘Deaths could have been avoided’

Training workshops with Adrian Underhill in 2025

Hello everyone

Here are the face-to-face teacher workshops I (Adrian Underhill) will be running in July and August 2025.

See the full descriptions and booking at each of the links. These courses are getting better each year, as we develop further insights and strategies for confident performance, bringing life to the whole of language learning, and the joy of expressing oneself!

Please forward to colleagues who might be interested.
Wishing you and your students creativity, joy and success! Keep in touch…

Hope to see you – again maybe! 

Adrian

School Course details dates and bookings at my site adrianunderhill.com

Cambridge: The Bell Teacher Academy
Pronunciation, Performance, Poetry and Storytelling: Mon 14 – Fri 25 July 2025
https://bellenglish.com/courses/pronunciation-poems-and-storytelling-from-phonemes-to-fluency/

International House London
Pronunciation, Performance and Poetry: Mon 28 July – Fri 1 August 2025
https://www.ihlondon.com/course/expert-series-learn-with-adrian-underhill/

Oxford University: English Language Teachers’ Summer Seminar
Pronunciation, Performance and Poetry and Wellbeing in the Classroom: Sun 3 August – Sat 16 August 2025.
Other workshops at this Seminar are offered by Jon Hird, Hania Kryszewska, Elaine Boyd, Shaun Wilden, Robert McLarty, Anna Hasper
https://www.conted.ox.ac.uk/courses/english-language-teachers-summer-seminar

I strongly recommend any course given by this distinguished, renowned scholar and lovely, talented person.

Intonation

Vote for your CONSEJO ESCOLAR Representative

Check Schedule

Mini Thesaurus

Adjectives for Workers

Could you add five extra adjectives?

How many of these Job Strengths have you got?

Tick the ones you have and cross the ones you don't have

C1 Advanced Phrases

REVISION: Present Perfect Simple vs Continuous (with Numbers)

Revise the sentences in this document and find out why some use present perfect simple and some present perfect continuous tenses.

Then do the following QUIZ.

Expressions with AS

Basic Job Vocabulary

Lucy's NEW, FREE Vocabulary Level Test

Take the free vocabulary level test!

News in English EL PAÍS

Donald Trump’s historic comeback

Dear readers,

Donald Trump is back. The Republican candidate won a resounding victory at Tuesday's election, becoming the first convicted felon to be elected president of the U.S.

EL PAÍS looked at where Trump made decisive gains, examined how the Democratic Party will move forward after the crushing defeat, and discussed how the results will affect Trump's pending legal cases.

In other news, we continued to report on the aftermath of the deadly flash floods in Spain, which have killed more than 200 people, and interviewed

Mark Thomson, who has just been selected to lead CERN, the world's largest particle physics laboratory.

We also looked at Kit Connor's rise to fame, spoke to Fontaines DC about their latest album, and probed into why marmosets and humans are the only known primates that have names.

We hope you enjoy this selection of stories from EL PAÍS USA Edition.

You can also read:

• Can electricity cure our ills?
• Mutant superbugs pose a threat to human life in space
• Why what happens at the North Pole can cause destructive storms in Spain
• Racism, sexism and LGBTQphobia tarnish the rise of women’s basketball in the US
• Searching for a missing father in the ravines and orange groves of Valencia
• Who voted for Trump? The Republican’s supporters by age, sex and race

Practice to Promote Better Pronunciation

Have a look at: Practice to Promote Better Pronunciation to improve your pronunciation [Based on: The Listening-Pronunciation Connection: Four Linked Practices for Improving “Pronunciation Flow” Written by Michael Rost THINK TANK]

Webinar HOW TO BE A BETTER LISTENER

Online Workshop for EOI Students: 

How to Be a Better Listener 

Wednesday 13 Nov. 2024, 6:00 p.m.

Even though we spend most of our everyday lives listening in one form or another, listening in a foreign language can still be a tricky business. In this workshop, we’ll explore what makes listening in English so tough before looking at a number of strategies and techniques you can use to help improve your listening skills and become a better listener.

If you want to attend the Workshop, find the link on Aula Virtual. 

Don't miss it!!!

Solidarity

50 Ways to Improve your Vocabulary

COLLECTIVE NOUNS: A group of ...

If you want to know more of them, click here! 

Do the activities at the end (answers provided).

Inversion in Conditional Sentences

THEATRE: Be part of the cast!

 Come to the Library this afternoon at 5!

We will devote this month to theatrical activities to break the ice, and to get to know the students. Rehearsals for the play will begin in a few weeks.

Election day in the USA

You can do this activity (thanks Helena) and/or watch this interview with K. Harris on NBC and/or read/watch BBC News: US Election (thanks Marisa) and/or do the 2024 Presidential Quiz (thanks Isabel).

Studying phrasal verbs: Skimming through and writing up

Today’s post looks at phrasal verbs and prepositional verbs relating to studying, learning, and taking exams. By Kate Woodford, from About Words (Cambridge Dictionary)

EOI CT Solidarity

As explained in the television placed in the hall, our EOI adheres to the solidarity campaigns organized by the Cartagena City Council.

The collection (cleaning and personal hygiene products exclusively) has been centralized at the following points:

1.- Ayuntamiento de Cartagena (San Miguel, 8)
2.- Palacio de Deportes (Avda. del Cantón)
3.- Parque de Seguridad (Ctra Cartagena-La Unión)
4.- Centro Cultural Ramón Alonso Luzzy (C/ Jacinto Benavente)
5.- OMITAS de barrios y diputaciones, según el enlace siguiente:

https://www.cartagena.es/plantillas/16.asp?pt_idpag=383

Donations can also be made to CRUZ ROJA and CÁRITAS:

CRUZ ROJA:

• Transfer to ES44 0049 0001 5321 1002 2225
• By calling 900 104 971
• Through http://cruzroja.es/colabora
• With an SMS with the word HELP to 28092
• With a Bizum at 33512

CÁRITAS:

• Transfer to the following accounts (Concept: DANA + DNI or CIF):

- Sabadell ES64 0081 1016 1500 0617 5629
- Caixabank ES18 2100 2166 4202 0034 8543
- BIZUM 33528

News in English EL PAÍS

US election campaign enters home stretch

Dear readers,

As the U.S. presidential election approaches on November 5, with the outcome too close to call according to polls, Kamala Harris issued a call to Americans to put “country above party” and to reject the ambitions “of wannabe dictators.” “For too long, we have been consumed with too much division, chaos and mutual distrust. It can be easy then, to forget a simple truth: it doesn’t have to be this way,” the Democratic candidate said.

Ahead of the vote to decide the next occupant of the White House, we interviewed Rosario Marin, a former U.S. treasurer under George W. Bush who intends now to vote for Harris. "There is no Republican Party anymore. Trump is the party," says Marin, who also casts doubts on the Electoral College: "The system was meant to be fair at the time, but today it is unfair for the democracy that we are. I predict Harris will win by 10 million votes. And yet she may still lose."

Also this week, we interviewed Sean Baker, whose latest film Anora has been creating Oscars buzz after picking up the Palme d'Or in Cannes, took a look at the real life successions unfolding at some of the wealthiest companies in the world, and spoke to Jane Rosenburg, who has spent four decades sketching some of the most famous faces to pass through the U.S. judicial system, from Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán to Donald Trump and Harvey Weinstein.

We hope you enjoy this selection of articles from EL PAÍS USA Edition

You can also read:

• The business magnates’ long goodbye: How the world’s richest people are planning their succession.
• The dodo was not fat and clumsy: Study debunks the image we have of the most famous extinct bird.
• Drunk butterflies and inebriated elephants: Animals also consume alcohol.
• Largest cancer atlas to date brings new treatments for incurable tumors closer.
• Why seven out of 10 entrepreneurial ideas fail.
• The singer who blackmailed Spain.
• ‘Tragedy of absolutely incredible dimensions’: Death toll continues to rise after flash flooding in Spain.

This Is How to Correctly Use Commas in All of Your Writing

Please, read the article, especially the examples, to improve the use of commas in your writing. (From Grammarly Blog)

Do this quiz to revise! [only 10 sentences] and check your score!