Present perfect or Past simple?

Let´s practise some grammar now.
Try these quizzes!

http://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en/exercises/tenses/simple_past_present_perfect.htm

http://esl.about.com/library/quiz/bl_pastorperfect1.htm

http://web2.uvcs.uvic.ca/elc/studyzone/330/grammar/upperf2.htm

When September ends ...

September is about to end. Do you know there is a song called "When September ends"?

Have you ever paid attention to its lyrics? Yes .... No ....

Never forget to pay attention to the lyrics of the songs you listen to. It's one of the best ways to learn new vocabulary ...

Hallelujah - a beautiful song. Try this quiz

I still haven't found what I' m looking for...

This is a great song to revise the present perfect.

The present perfect is a verb tense that many Portuguese students have difficulty with.

Pay attention to the lyrics and try to memorize the sentences where the present perfect is used.

Look at these examples:

e.g. I have climbed highest mountains - An action that takes place at an indefinite past.

e.g. I still haven't found what I'm looking for - An action which started in the past but continues up to the present.

Whenever you study grammar, try to associate it to something you hear ... It's easier this way ...

For more information: http://esl.about.com/library/grammar/blpresperfect.htm

It's time for lessons...

Lessons started on Monday. I ‘ve already had the opportunity to meet my new students (except for one class). It is going to be a tough year since I have a lot of students ( about 140).
For most of them this is a totally new school. They have come from many different schools in this region. This year they are starting their Secondary Education and consequently they feel a bit anxious. In fact, many changes are taking place at the same time.
Today I’ve presented the syllabus for this year and the evaluation criteria:
• Reading and Writing: 60%
• Listening and speaking: 30%
• Attitudes (behavior, commitment, punctuality, organization): 10%

They also had the opportunity to introduce themselves to the class and to the teacher. This activity helped me to know them and their language level. After doing this, they wrote a text about themselves, which they delivered to me.
Finally, we did a brainstorming exercise related to the word : Teens, and before we left we had the opportunity to listen to the song: "I still haven’t found what I am looking for" by U2.

P.S: Temperature are still high (above 30 degrees). The Summer doesn't want to leave us ...

Speaking about the summer, I had the chance to know wonderful places. Look at this photo!
Pego do Inferno-Tavira

Freddie Mercury Biography - Biography.com

Freddie Mercury Biography - Biography.com

Back to Work!

The new school year started on the 1st September 2010.In these first days of September many meetigs are taking place, so that everything is ready for the students' arrival on the 10th September. Lessons are going to start on the 13th September(a Monday).

This year I am going to teach students in the 10th grade (six years of English). I don't know how many students I will have, but they will surely be a lot. I don't know what sort of skills they will present, but I'll try to do my best to motivate them to learn and improve their language skills.

My school has changed so much! We have much more space and better conditions to work. We also have many more students than last year.

Last year was a very difficult one, because the school was under reconstruction. We had little space, much noise and dust, but everything turned out well in spite of the available conditons.

This year I hope to have more access to technologies, and consequently be able to do different things.