IRREGULAR VERBS

This is a very quick blog that will allow everyone to practice irregular verbs: http://www.usingenglish.com/reference/irregular-verbs/

APP Time

So, we are feeling very technological at Wall Street Nice today. Therefore, we have a review of all the best English Learnign Apps you can find online. We hope they are helpful. of course, all our selections are free!

WALL STREET INSTITUTE

Where else would we start. Our app is really good and fun. There are huge amounts of exercises for you to use and practice with for both grammar and vocabulary. It is available here on Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.wsi and here on IPhone: https://itunes.apple.com/fr/app/apprendre-langlais-avec-wall/id415659416?mt=8. This really is a great app and I cannot recommend it enough. It is great for you to practice with at home on your phone or tablet.

PRACTICE ENGLISH GRAMMAR

This site is also very good for grammar. it is very detailed and very thorough. it covers lots of different points. On Android there are two levele https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.testsstore.app.peg0 and https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.testsstore.app, but I can only find one on Apple https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/practice-english-grammar-2/id490759167

These are two great apps to start with. I am going to look out for more good ones and will share some next week.

SOME GREAT SURVIVAL QUIZZES

This is some great practice for Survival students. here are a lot of quizzes from the site Using English. 

1. These two quizzes practice a/an/the http://www.usingenglish.com/quizzes/21.html and http://www.usingenglish.com/quizzes/561.html
2. This quiz practices the Present Simple http://www.usingenglish.com/quizzes/65.html
3. This quiz practice the Present Simple and Continuous http://www.usingenglish.com/quizzes/66.html

THANKSGIVING

This is a quiz that I put on the blog for our new teacher Alethea, who is American. It is a basic vocabulary quiz about Thanksgiving, the American holiday that will take place in November. I hope you like it. If you are interested ask Alethea to tell you about it. http://www.esolcourses.com/topics/thanksgiving.html

ENGLISH AT WORK

The following activity is from the website esolcourses. com and is a very good class for those of you who want to use English at work. It is a vocabulary quiz with lots of basic but very importnat pieces of vocabulary: http://www.esolcourses.com/content/englishforwork/functional-skills/starting-work/grammar-gap-fill.html
I hope you find it useful.

INTERACTIVE QUIZZES ... about Britain

Hi Guys

here are some really cool interactive quizzes about life in England from a fanastic website called www.esolcourses.com. Please have a look and pay some of the games. they are vocabulary games, but they have lots of pictures and are really fun:

This first on is a video quiz about English food http://www.esolcourses.com/content/topics/food/video/fishandchips.html
The second is a video about Buckingham palace http://www.esolcourses.com/content/lifeintheuk/jobs/butlering.html

IRREGULAR VERBS

I have found here four activities that are a great way to practice yur irregular verbs. They do not help with the meaning of the verbs, but are great for the forms of each verb:
http://a4esl.org/q/h/irv001-ck.html
http://a4esl.org/q/h/irv002-ck.html
http://a4esl.org/q/h/irv003-ck.html
http://a4esl.org/q/h/irv004-ck.html

PRONOUNS

Pronouns are words like he/she/you/I. We have two activities here to practice these. they are very good for lower level students. http://a4esl.org/q/h/vm/pronouns.html

This second activity is for possiessive pronouns his/her/my etc http://a4esl.org/q/h/vm/pronouns.html

COUNTABLES & UNCOUNTABLES a4esl.org

So, this is an activity that is good for Survival level but is also very good for every level. I have selected three online activities from a4esl.org. They are very good for practising countable and uncountable nouns. 

The first one is very simple. The activity will give you a noun and you must decide whether it is countable or uncountable. It is very simple, but good practice.http://a4esl.org/q/j/ck/ch-countnouns.html

The second activity helps you to practice words like so/many/any. You will get a sentence and must choose the correct word to go with the countable or uncountable noun. http://a4esl.org/q/f/x/xz37mpk.htm

The final activity is the most difficult. You need to select the right phrase for countables and uncountables http://a4esl.org/q/j/km/mc-noncount.html

MORE SURVIVAL PRACTICE

Here are more exercises using all kinds of verbs. this is great practice for survival students.

http://www.englishforeveryone.org/PDFs/Present_Tense_Exercise_1and2.pdf
http://www.englishforeveryone.org/PDFs/Present_Tense_Exercise_3.pdf
http://www.englishforeveryone.org/PDFs/Present_Tense_Exercise_4.pdf
http://www.englishforeveryone.org/PDFs/Present_Tense_Exercise_5.pdf
http://www.englishforeveryone.org/PDFs/Present_Tense_Exercise_6and7.pdf

I hope you like them.

SURVIVAL STUDENT PRACTICE englishforeveryone

This is for Survival students. We are practicing the verb 'to be'. It is very simple, but very importnat grammar:

http://www.englishforeveryone.org/PDFs/To_Be_Exercise_1.pdf
http://www.englishforeveryone.org/PDFs/To_Be_Exercise_2.pdf
http://www.englishforeveryone.org/PDFs/To_Be_Exercise_3.pdf
http://www.englishforeveryone.org/PDFs/To_Be_Exercise_4.pdf
http://www.englishforeveryone.org/PDFs/To_Be_Exercise_5.pdf

I hope you like them.

LISTENING PRACTICE BBC Sport

This is a great activity for those of you who want to practice their listening. It is about sport and comes from the BBC. I think it is very intresting. There are videos as well as vocabulary explanations and worksheets:

• http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/talkingsport/2012/06/120612_ts_47_alistair_brownlee.shtml
• http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/talkingsport/2012/05/120515_ts43_rio_rugby.shtml
• http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/talkingsport/2012/05/120508_ts42_mary_kom.shtml
• http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/talkingsport/2012/04/120417_ts39_bader_uugan.shtml

I hope you like them all.

VOCAB PRACTICE - ANTONYMS englishforeveryone

An antonym is a word that had the opposite meaning. For example:

• Good/Bad
• Big/Small

They are a great way of improving and expanding your vocabulary. The more antonyms you can remember the wider and more diverse your vocabulary will become. Here are five exercises to help you:

http://www.englishforeveryone.org/PDFs/Level_1_Antonyms_1.pdf

http://www.englishforeveryone.org/PDFs/Level_1_Antonyms_2.pdf

http://www.englishforeveryone.org/PDFs/Level_1_Antonyms_3.pdf

http://www.englishforeveryone.org/PDFs/Level_2_Antonyms_2.pdf

http://www.englishforeveryone.org/PDFs/Level_2_Antonyms_3.pdf

The exercises come with questions and explanations.

PREPOSITIONS englishforeveryone

As I have said many times on this blog. Prepositions are one of the most difficult pieces of Englisgh to master. they are very difficult to understand and difficult to predict. The site englishforeveryone has three very good activities that you can use to practice:

http://www.englishforeveryone.org/PDFs/Prepositions%20of%20Time.pdf
http://www.englishforeveryone.org/PDFs/Prepositions%20of%20Time.pdf

They are to practie using prepositions for both time and place. i hope you like them.

Listening Practice BBC

So, here is some practice from the BBC for listening skills. They are all stories that have been in the news recently. We hope that you like them.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/language/wordsinthenews/2013/10/131021_witn_bushfires_story.shtml

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/language/wordsinthenews/2013/10/131007_witn_iran_nuclear_story.shtml

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/language/wordsinthenews/2013/09/130920_witn_saudi_women_story.shtml

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/language/wordsinthenews/2013/09/130930_witn_olympic_torch.shtml

PREPOSITIONS Esl Cafe

One of the most common problems that students have at WSI Nice is prepositions. Everyday, lots of students ask me about these and say how difficult they find them. Therefore, i thought I would post this article to show how to use some of them. I have put them in different categories. 

TIME
http://www.eslcafe.com/grammar/prepositions01.html
http://www.eslcafe.com/grammar/prepositions02.html
http://www.eslcafe.com/grammar/prepositions03.html

PLACES
http://www.eslcafe.com/grammar/prepositions04.html
http://www.eslcafe.com/grammar/prepositions05.html
http://www.eslcafe.com/grammar/prepositions06.html
http://www.eslcafe.com/grammar/prepositions08.html

We hope that you like them.

As ... as ESL Cafe

One of the most difficult pieces of grammar in Waystage level is As.... as. We use it as a type of comparison or to say something is the same. These links are from the website eslcafe and focus on using as...as in everyday conversation. They give a lot of interesting examples of how we can use the language:

http://www.eslcafe.com/grammar/figurative_expressions01.html
http://www.eslcafe.com/grammar/figurative_expressions02.html
http://www.eslcafe.com/grammar/figurative_expressions03.html
http://www.eslcafe.com/grammar/figurative_expressions04.html
http://www.eslcafe.com/grammar/figurative_expressions05.html
http://www.eslcafe.com/grammar/figurative_expressions06.html

BBC VIDEO NEWS - Great listening practice

For those of you who find listening to English difficult. here are seom exercises from the BBC that are very good. The level is high quite high - UW or above. However, each video comes with text to help you follow what is said. it is a great way to improve your listening.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/language/wordsinthenews/2013/09/130911_vwitn_masks.shtml
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/language/wordsinthenews/2013/09/130904_vwitn_train.shtml
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/language/wordsinthenews/2013/08/130828_vwitn_massage.shtml
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/language/wordsinthenews/2013/09/130918_vwitn_escape.shtml

FIRST CONDITIONAL englishgrammarsecrets

This is another activity from englishgrammarsecrets. We have four different ways to practice the First Conditional, which is a piece of grammar we use in Waystage and Upper waystage.

http://www.englishgrammarsecrets.com/firstconditional/exercise1.html
http://www.englishgrammarsecrets.com/firstconditional/exercise2.html
http://www.englishgrammarsecrets.com/firstconditional/exercise3.html
http://www.englishgrammarsecrets.com/firstconditional/exercise4.html

REPORTED SPEECH englishgrammarsecrets

These are a selection of activities from the fantastic website englishgrammarsecrets. they help you to pradctice Reported Speech. This is the type of langauge where we use:

1. He said
2. He asked me
3. He told me

There are three activities that are very good and help you practice in different ways.

http://www.englishgrammarsecrets.com/reportedspeech/exercise2.swf

http://www.englishgrammarsecrets.com/reportedspeech/exercise3.swf

http://www.englishgrammarsecrets.com/reportedspeech/exercise4.swf

WHO WHOSE WHOM

Almost every week in the Ask Paul grammar class, someone asks me about who/whose/whom. This is almways a difficult piece of grammar for students. So, I thought it would be good to give you an area to practice with. This exercise is w worksheets from learnenglishfeelgood. The answers are at the bottom of the sheet to help when you have finsihed the exercise.
http://www.learnenglishfeelgood.com/which-word-who-whom1.pdf

COUNTABLES learnenglishfeelgood

This article is mainly for Survival students, but it is useful for everybody. It focuses on countable and non-countable nouons. please take a look:

http://www.learnenglishfeelgood.com/countable-noncountable1.pdf
http://www.learnenglishfeelgood.com/countable-noncountable3.pdf
http://www.learnenglishfeelgood.com/countable-noncountable4.pdf
http://www.learnenglishfeelgood.com/countable-noncountable5.pdf

GERUNDS & INFINITIVES learnenglishfeelgood

The following activities are worksheets that you can prijnt out and do at home. They are from the website learnenglishfeelgood. They are to practice a difficult piece of grammar. gerunds and infinitives:

http://www.learnenglishfeelgood.com/verbs-gerund-infinitive1.pdf
http://www.learnenglishfeelgood.com/verbs-gerund-infinitive3.pdf
http://www.learnenglishfeelgood.com/verbs-gerund-infinitive4.pdf

I hope you like them.

VISUAL LEARNING - Survival

I am really excited about this website that I found. it is called visualesl and gives lots of activities based on pictures to help you learn visually. this means there is no need for writing, reading or translation. It is fantastic. here are some activities that are great for Survival level students:

FAMILY  http://www.visualesl.com/pages/en/tests/373/family_members_1
POPULAR VERBS http://www.visualesl.com/pages/en/tests/368/common_verbs
FRUIT http://www.visualesl.com/pages/en/tests/135/basic_fruits_quiz
COLOURS http://www.visualesl.com/pages/en/tests/122/colors_american_spelling

So/Such Englishpage

One of the most common questions students ask me in Ask Paul grammar clases is the difference between so and such. It is actually really simple, but lots of students find it difficult. So, I thought a great way to practice it would be with an activity from the very good website Englishpage:
http://www.englishpage.com/minitutorials/sosuchexercise.htm

You can also practice it using our own wsinice blog entry here:
http://wsinice.blogspot.fr/2012/12/so-and-such.html

IN SPITE, EVEN THOUGH, ALTHOUGH

This entry is for higher level students. It focuses on some grammar that we use in Upper Wasystage and in Threshold. I have taken some activities from the excellent website speakspeak.com. The grammar we are focusing on is:

• in spite
• even though
• although

The website gives you a great gap fill activity with which you can check your answers. It also gives you a small grammar guide about each piece of grammar. It really is very useful.

http://speakspeak.com/english-grammar-exercises/upper-intermediate/upper-intermediate-grammar-exercise-despite-in-spite-of-although-even-though

http://speakspeak.com/english-grammar-exercises/upper-intermediate/despite-in-spite-of-although-even-though-2

PHRASAL VERBS Cambridge esl

This is an activity that is good for most levels, but particularly for higher levels. It is to practice phrasal verbs. these are little verbs that everyone hates because they are so difficult. This is an activity from Canbridge ESL. They are worksheets that you can print and complete. they come with the answers, so they are good to use:

http://www.cambridge.org/servlet/file/store7/item620211/version1/EPhrVrbIU_LI-A_TEST_PhrasalVerbsQuiz.pdf

HOTELS englishformyjob

This is another great exercise from the website englishformyjob. It is again full of pictures to help you lear visually. It is really useful for holidays if you are staying hotels:

http://www.englishformyjob.com/english-hotel-visual1.html
http://www.englishformyjob.com/english-hotel-visual2.html
http://www.englishformyjob.com/english-hotel-visual3.html
http://www.englishformyjob.com/english-hotel-visual4.html
http://www.englishformyjob.com/english-hotel-visual5.html

We hope you like it.

VOCABULARY GAMES Cambridge esl

These are a few games for Survival and Waystage level students to help you practice your vocabulary. 

These first three activities are pairs games. you have to click on the cards and match the picture with the piece of vocabulary. It is very simple. We have three different types of vocabulary:

1. http://cdextras.cambridge.org/funfor/games/popup.html?dir=word_match/starters_sports Sports
2. http://cdextras.cambridge.org/funfor/games/popup.html?dir=word_match/starters_school At School
3. http://cdextras.cambridge.org/funfor/games/popup.html?dir=word_match/starters_myhouse Houses

These second activities are based on vocabulary and also spelling. They are very simple, so anyone can do them. they help you improve your knowledge. 

1. http://cdextras.cambridge.org/funfor/games/popup.html?dir=word_jumble/starters_animals Animals
2. http://cdextras.cambridge.org/funfor/games/popup.html?dir=word_jumble/starters_mybody The Body

BUSINESS VOCABULARY Cambridge esl

Ok, this is not an activity for survival students. It is very difficult. however, it is very useful for students in Upper waystage and above and for students who want to learn English for use at work. 

The website is designed by Cambridge ESL. It is very good and very interactive. It is a little complicated to use, but it is worth it. You should:

1. Choose a unit
2. Click on each word to see the definition (In Enlgish)
3. Click on the button 'Presentation'
4. Drag and drop the vocabulary into the box with the correct definition.

It is a really good activity and we really recommend it. http://cdextras.cambridge.org/VocabTrainer/bbav/index.htm

FOOD & RESTAURANTS

In my last blog entry, we used englishformyjob about travel and tourism. This article is exactly the same, but it focuses on food and restaurants:

http://www.englishformyjob.com/visual-english-restaurant1.html
http://www.englishformyjob.com/visual-english-restaurant2.html
http://www.englishformyjob.com/visual-english-foodbeverage3.html
http://www.englishformyjob.com/visual-english-foodbeverage4.html
http://www.englishformyjob.com/visual-english-foodbeverage5.html

TRAVEL & TOURISM englishformyjob

The website englishformyjob is great for practical vocabulary exercises. I love it because it uses lots of pictures that makes it a very communicative way to learn. here are some good ones for your holidays if you need to speak some English:

http://www.englishformyjob.com/visual-english-traveltourism2.html
http://www.englishformyjob.com/visual-english-traveltourism1.html
http://www.englishformyjob.com/visual-english-traveltourism3.html
http://www.englishformyjob.com/visual-english-traveltourism4.html
http://www.englishformyjob.com/visual-english-traveltourism5.html

The activities are very simple. All you need to do is look at the pictures, look at the list of vocabulary and type your answers in the gaps!

MOVIES FOR LISTENING learnenglishfeelgood

So far, most of the blogs I have written on placestolearn.com have been focused on practicing grammar and vocabulary. I decided now to try something different and to give you some good listening practice. I visited the website learnenglishfeelfood and founs ome great activities. It shows small clips of movies and then asks you to answer questions about each one. 

The clips are short and not too complicated, so they are nice and easy top understand. It is a good way to practice using some real-life English

GREAT GATSBY 
http://www.learnenglishfeelgood.com/eslvideo/esl_movieclip9.html

AWAY WE GO 
http://www.learnenglishfeelgood.com/eslvideo/esl_movieclip8.html

TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY 
http://www.learnenglishfeelgood.com/eslvideo/esl_movieclip2.html

THE AVENGERS 
http://www.learnenglishfeelgood.com/eslvideo/esl_movieclip11.html

ADVENTURELAND 
http://www.learnenglishfeelgood.com/eslvideo/esl_movieclip15.html

I hope you like these.

SHOULD Englishgrammarsecrets

This is an activity that practices a relatively simple piece of grammar "Should". It is from the excellent site englishgrammarsecrets. 


EXERCISE 1
http://www.englishgrammarsecrets.com/should/exercise1.swf
This activity practices using should in context. You have to match the situation/problem with the advice using you should. 


EXERCISE 2
http://www.englishgrammarsecrets.com/should/exercise2.swf
This is also a very simple activity. It is to practice whether you need to use the positive or negative form of should.


EXERCISE 3
http://www.englishgrammarsecrets.com/should/exercise3.swf
This activity is to practice the form of should. You are given some words and you must put them in the correct order.

PASSIVE VOICE Englishgrammarsecrets

This is a great article for UW and Threshold students. it practices the Passive Voice, which is a particularly difficult piece of grammar.


EXERCISE 1
http://www.englishgrammarsecrets.com/passive/exercise1.html
This activity practives differentiating between the passive voice and the active voice. It is not so difficult, but it helps you to see the difference between the two structures.


EXERCISE 2
http://www.englishgrammarsecrets.com/passive/exercise2.html
This is a simple mix and match activity. It gives you a chance to practice the passive voice in context. You must mtch two halves of sentences together


EXERCISE 3
http://www.englishgrammarsecrets.com/passive/exercise3.html
This activity is to help you practice the correct structure of the passive voice. You must put the words you are given in the correct order.


I hope you like these and they help you with the passive voice.

PAST PERFECT Englishgrammarsecrets

This is an activity that is designed for Upper Waystage students and above. It is to practice the Past Perfect. I have taken some exercises from the excellent site Englishgrammarsecrets. 

EXERCISE 1
http://www.englishgrammarsecrets.com/pastperfect/exercise1.html
This exercise is a mix and match exercise. You have to match a sentence that uses the past simple aith a sentence that uses the past perfect. This is a great exercise to demonstrate two things:

1. The structure of the past perfect - we often use it with the past simple
2. The reason we use it, to explain how two actions in the past link together

EXERCISE 2

http://www.englishgrammarsecrets.com/pastperfect/exercise2.html

This is a very modern and technological activity. However, the objective is simple, you just need to put the sentences using the past perfect in the correct order.

EXERCISE 3

http://www.englishgrammarsecrets.com/pastperfect/exercise3.html

This activity is very much like activity 1, but it also uses the past perfect in contracted form.

EXERCISE 4

http://www.englishgrammarsecrets.com/pastperfect/exercise4.html

This activity is a very simple one, you just have to fill in the gaps. it is a good way to practice using the past perfect in context. You need to look at the sentence and see which verb goes where.

EXERCISE 5 

http://www.englishgrammarsecrets.com/pastperfect/exercise5.html

This one is a little more difficult because you have to fill in the gaps, but you also have to write in the correct answer, so it involves a little more throught

If you do all of these activities it will give you a far better understanding of the Past Perfect.

PRESENT PERFECT Vs PRESENT PERFECT CONTINUOUS

I noticed recently that there were not many activities on the blog for students in Upper waystage and higher. So, I thought that I should change that. Here is our first really specififc Upper Waystage entry. It is to identify the difference between the Present Perfect and the Prsent Perfect Continuous. It is from the website speak speak.

I like this activity because it gives you clear examples of the different pieces of grammar and then gives you a quiz to practice the different pieces. It also gives some fantastic examples of common mistakes that people make. here are the links, I hope you like them:

http://speakspeak.com/english-grammar-exercises/intermediate/present-perfect-simple-v-continuous
http://speakspeak.com/english-grammar-exercises/intermediate/present-perfect-simple-v-continuous-2

PAST SIMPLE vs PRESENT PERFECT speak speak

Every time I teach an 'Ask Paul' class or students come up to me to talk about grammar, there is one area that they want to discuss: The Past Simple and Present Perfect. We have already done some cativities here on the blog, but let me give you some more examples of activities that can help you with these pieces of grammar.

These activities are from the website speak speak and are a great way to practice the grammar. They are great execrises because the page gives you examples of the grammar and tells you what is good and what is bad. You then have to fill in the gaps for each question. 

This is a great activity for Waystage level and above

http://speakspeak.com/english-grammar-exercises/intermediate/past-simple-or-present-perfect

http://speakspeak.com/english-grammar-exercises/intermediate/past-simple-or-present-perfect-2

http://speakspeak.com/english-grammar-exercises/intermediate/past-simple-or-present-perfect-3

PAST SIMPLE speak speak

This is our second blog entry from the site speakspeak. It has some good activities that you can use to practice. These are for the Past Simple, so they are good for waystage and higher. They look at the grammar in three ways:

1. The Past Simple
2. The Past Simple as Questions
3. Irregular Verbs in the Past Simple

In all of the cativities you get examples and you can check if your answers are correct or incorrect:

THE PAST SIMPLE

http://speakspeak.com/english-grammar-exercises/elementary/past-simple-tense

http://speakspeak.com/english-grammar-exercises/elementary/past-simple-tense-2

THE PAST SIMPLE AS QUESTIONS

http://speakspeak.com/english-grammar-exercises/elementary/past-simple-tense-questions

IRREGULAR VERBS IN THE PAST SIMPLE

http://speakspeak.com/english-grammar-exercises/elementary/irregular-verbs

http://speakspeak.com/english-grammar-exercises/elementary/past-simple-irregular-verbshttp://speakspeak.com/english-grammar-exercises/elementary/irregular-verbs-3

I hope you like them

PRESENT SIMPLE speakspeak

I recently found the website speakspeak, which is a very good resource to help you practice your English. I found some very good activities here for Survival level students. The grammar is the Present Simple. There are three phases for the exercises.

1. The Present Simple
2. The Present Simple as Questions
3. The Negative Present Simple

They are all gap-fill activities where you must type or choose the correct answer

THE PRESENT SIMPLE

http://speakspeak.com/english-grammar-exercises/elementary/present-simple

http://speakspeak.com/english-grammar-exercises/elementary/present-simple-2

THE PRESENT SIMPLE AS QUESTIONS

http://speakspeak.com/english-grammar-exercises/elementary/present-simple-questions

http://speakspeak.com/english-grammar-exercises/elementary/present-simple-questions-2

THE NEGTAIVE PRESENT SIMPLE

http://speakspeak.com/english-grammar-exercises/elementary/present-simple-questions-negatives-do-dont-doesnt-practice

http://speakspeak.com/english-grammar-exercises/elementary/present-simple-questions-negatives-do-dont-doesnt-practice-2

In all of these activities the website gives examples of the grammar you are using and it gives you the chance to check yur answers.

MODALS IN THE PAST British Council

This is the last of the British Council links that I am going to post this week. It is a good exercise that practices modals in the past such as Must have and might have. These are pieces of grammat that you will use in Upper Waystage.

http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/grammar-exercises/modals-deduction-past

STILL, JUST, YET, ALREADY British Council

I have sent lots of British Council links to you so far this week. This is because its website is really good for practicing English. This exercise is great for Waystage students. It practices some of the words that you can use with the Past Simple and the Present Perfect.

http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/grammar-exercises/just-yet-still-already

QUESTION TAGS British Council

This is a great activity for Waystage students. It is a piece of grammar we use a lot and one which we see in Waystage level two or three times. The activity is from the British Council and is very interactive. It is short and quite easy. You just need to fill in the gaps.

http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/grammar-exercises/question-tags

ARTICLES British Council

This is another exercise from the British Council. It is a good one for Survival level and above. It is designed to practice articles: a/an:/the. It is very simple, you just need to fill in the gaps with the correct article:

http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/grammar-exercises/articles-1
http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/grammar-exercises/articles-2

COUNTABLES & UNCOUNTABLES British Council

I recently went on the website of the British Council, which is an organisation that teaches English all around the world. it has a great website with some very good interactive grammar exercises. If you take a look here, we have an activity about countables and uncountables. In both the activities you get a good explanation first and then there is an interactive game to play. It is a great way to practice.

http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/grammar-reference/countable-uncountable-nouns-1
http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/grammar-reference/countable-uncountable-nouns-2

PRESENT SIMPLE englishgrammarsecrets

I love the website englishgrammarsecrets.com. I think it is a great oplace to help your practice your English. These are three exercises for students from Survival and above. They help practive the Present Simple and Auxiliaries.

http://www.englishgrammarsecrets.com/presentsimple/exercise2.swf

This activity practices using the auxiliary 'do'. It is very simple, but also very good;

http://www.englishgrammarsecrets.com/presentsimple/exercise4.swf

This activity practices the Present Simple and also vocabulary. You need to choose the correct verb for each space.

http://www.englishgrammarsecrets.com/presentsimple/exercise1.swf

This activity helps you practice the Present Simple. You need to match sentences to each other. It is simple, but it is good practice.

PRESENT SIMPLE QUESTIONS/SENTENCES

This is a great exercise for the Present Simple. It is not the same as the two games I also put on the blog. It is a bit more serious. But, it is good for practising two things:

1. Asking questions in the Present Simple
2. Making sentences in the Present Simple

http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7303922934352445283#editor/target=post;postID=7637246660165610400

PRESENT SIMPLE & CONTINUOUS eslgamesworld

This is a great activity. It helps you practice two things:

1. Choosing between the Present Simple and Continuous
2. Choosing the correct verb for each situation

The game is hangman, where you have to guess the word based on the sentence and fill in the letters. It is quite easy, but it is fun and interactive

http://eslgamesworld.com/members/games/grammar/present%20tenses/present%20tenses%20hangman.html

PRESENT SIMPLE & CAN eslgamesplus

I love this activity! I like it for two reasons:

1. It is good for practising the Present Simple and Can
2. It is lots of fun and has a monkey in it!! That's right a monkey!! I love monkeys!!

It is an interactive activity where you need to fill in the gaps with the correct piece of grammar. If you get it right, the monkey dances - amazing!!!!

http://www.eslgamesplus.com/present-simple-tense-action-verbs-interactive-monkey-game/

PRESENT SIMPLE learnenglishfeelgood

A lot of Survival students recently asked me for exercises to practice. So, here we are. These exercises help you with the Present Simple. They practice using the Present Simple with:

• I
• You
• He/She
• We
• They

They are simple but useful exercises.

http://www.learnenglishfeelgood.com/esl-present-tense1.html

http://www.learnenglishfeelgood.com/esl-present-tense2.html

PRESENT PERFECT Englishgrammarsecrets

Englishgrammarsecrets is one of my favourite websites. It has lots of great activities that you can do to practice grammar. It is very interactive just like the multimedia you do at Wall Street. 

This first activity http://www.englishgrammarsecrets.com/presentperfectorpastsimple/exercise1.swf works on practicing the Present Perfect and the Past Simple. You have to slide the sentences into the correct bixes.

The second activity http://www.englishgrammarsecrets.com/presentperfectorpastsimple/exercise2.swf lets you practice each grammar tense by matching sentences together. It is good for context and structure.

The third activity http://www.englishgrammarsecrets.com/presentperfectorpastsimple/exercise3.swf is my favourite. It is a fill in the gap activity where you have to choose the correct tense based on the context of the sentence.

The fourth actiovity http://www.englishgrammarsecrets.com/presentperfectorpastsimple/exercise4.swf is really interesting. It is very much like Wall Street's multimedia. You have to pick the correct answer between the Past Simple and the Present Perfect.

There are four great activities here and if you do all of them I am sure you will understand this grammar much better.

PAST SIMPLE & PRESENT PERFECT eslcafe;com

Soooooooooo many students ask me about the Present Perfect and the Past Simple. It is the most common question asked by French students learning English. Therefore, I thought it would be gopopd to give you lots of ways to practice this. This is an activity from eslcafe that is very good.  http://www.eslcafe.com/quiz/past2.html . Once you have answered the questions, you can submit the answers and it shows you which ones you got correct.

COUNTABLES & UNCOUNTABLES eslcafe.com

eslcafe is a great website for you to practice on. There are lots of great quizzes and explanations. This is a very good activityu for Survival students (Or any students who want to learn a very importantt piece of grammar).

This activity http://www.eslcafe.com/quiz/count1.html practices using much/many with countable and uncountable nouns. It is a really good way to understand these.

MUSTN'T or DON'T HAVE TO Englishgrammarsecrets

This is a question that many many students ask me a lot. When should I use mustn't and when should I use 'don't have to'? This exercise is a great way to practice the difference between the two.

http://www.englishgrammarsecrets.com/musthaveto/exercise7.html

MUST FOR OBLIGATION Englishgrammarsecrets

This is a good activities to help you practice using 'Must' as an obligation. 

The first activity 
http://www.englishgrammarsecrets.com/musthaveto/exercise2.html gives you lots of examples in which we use must as a personal obligation. It is a simple exercise where you need to fill in the gaps with words at the bottom. I like it because it helps you see the situations in which we use 'Must' as an obligation; it gives you great context.

HAVE TO FOR OBLIGATION Englishgrammarsecrets

http://www.englishgrammarsecrets.com/musthaveto/exercise3.html is a great activity to help you practice using 'have to' as an obligation. It is very simple. You need to mix and match the sentences. I like it because it gives you a great context and allows you to see how we use 'have to'. Each sentence gives a good example of what you should do.

MUST & HAVE TO englishpage.com

This is a great exercise from the fantastic website Englishpage.com. It is an activity that helps you practice the difference between 'Must' and 'Have to'.http://www.englishpage.com/modals/interactivemodal2.htm It is quite a difficult exerciose because you need to think about:

1. Positive and Negative such as Don't have to and Must not
2. The past had to and the future will have to.

Some of the vocabulary in the sentences is quite difficult, so I would recommend this activity for Upper Waystage students and above.

INDIRECT QUESTIONS

This is a quiz that I found on the BBC website. It is a really good quiz if you want to sound like a British English speaker. We uise lots of the phrases here. It is also really good in helping you get indeirect questions which are very useful for Upper Waystage students. Here is the link: http://wsdownload.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/pdf/2010/01/100128093738_qnet_273_embedded_questions.pdf

PREPOSITIONS

Almost every student at WSI Nice asks me about prepositions and how to use them. I always say "They are difficult" and that students need to practice. here are some great exercises from the website englishpage.com

http://www.englishpage.com/prepositions/time_prepositions_1.htm
http://www.englishpage.com/prepositions/time_prepositions_2.htm
http://www.englishpage.com/prepositions/location_prepositions_1.htm
http://www.englishpage.com/prepositions/location_prepositions_2.htm

They are good for every level from Survival to Mastery. The activitites are very simple; all you need to do is choose the correct preposition for each sentence.

THE PAST

The websiote englishpage.com is a great resource. It has lots of very good activities to help you practice. It has lots of great activities to help you practice in the past. Here are a few to look at for now:

PAST SIMPLE Vs PRESENT PERFECT
http://www.englishpage.com/verbpage/verbs5.htm
http://www.englishpage.com/verbpage/verbs6.htm
These two are great for Waystage students and help to show the difference between the Present Percfect and Past Simple

PAST SIMPLE Vs PAST CONTINUOUS
http://www.englishpage.com/verbpage/verbs3.htm
http://www.englishpage.com/verbpage/verbs4.htm
These activities are good for Upper Waystage students and are a great way to improve your understanding of the Past Simple and Past Continuous.

'GET' from the BBC

Often in our ASK PAUL classes, students ask me how to use the phrase get. The hear words like 'get drunk' and 'get dressed' and are often confused. Here is a great exercise from the BBC to help with this. http://wsdownload.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/pdf/2012/01/120117160848_67_uses_of_get.pdf

FREE RICE

This activity is fantastic because it does two very important things:

1. Helps you practice your English
2. Does good thing for poor people around the world

The website www.freerice.com works on a very interesting idea. You have to answer questions and each time you get an answer correct, the World Food Program gives ten grains of rice to projects to feed people who do not have enough food. It is a fantastic idea and is something we support totally at WSI Nice.

The activities are very simple. http://freerice.com/#/english-vocabulary/1357 They all practice vocabulary. You simply have to find a synonym to the word on the screen. There are 60 levels that start very easy and get more difficult. To choose your level you can go here: http://freerice.com/levels

There is also a grammar section http://freerice.com/#/english-grammar/1936227 in which you must choose the grammar option that is correct.

Along with practicing your English, you can also answer other questions in English. For exmaple,

• http://freerice.com/#/famous-paintings/428 art
• http://freerice.com/#/literature/716377 books

PAST CONTINOUS

Hello everyone, this is a great blof for Upper waystage students and higher. It practices the Past Continuous. To help you understand this grammar better, I have found three or four websites with good activities.

PERFECT-ENGLISH-GRAMMAR
http://www.perfect-english-grammar.com/past-continuous-exercise-1.html
This website is quite basic and the activities are not so dynamic. But it is good to help you practice the structure of the Past Continuous. You can also download the activity as a PDF so that you can save it on your computer.

EGO4U.com
http://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/tests/past-progressive-1
http://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/tests/past-progressive-2
http://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/tests/past-progressive-3
This activity is ok for practicing the structure of the grammar again. It does not help you to understand when to use it, but it does help you know how to form 

• Positive Sentences
• Negative Sentences
• Questions

The website is a bit old so the graphics and design are not so great.

ENGLISH PAGE

http://www.englishpage.com/verbpage/verbs3.htm

http://www.englishpage.com/verbpage/verbs4.htm

There are two good activities on English Page. they do not ehlp you practice the form, but they are great for the usgae of the grammar. You have to choose between:

• Past Continuous
• Past Simple

They are really good in helping you understand the grammar

ENGLISHGRAMMARSECRETS

http://www.englishgrammarsecrets.com/pastsimpleorcontinuous/exercise1.html

http://www.englishgrammarsecrets.com/pastsimpleorcontinuous/exercise2.html

http://www.englishgrammarsecrets.com/pastsimpleorcontinuous/exercise3.html

http://www.englishgrammarsecrets.com/pastsimpleorcontinuous/exercise4.html

http://www.englishgrammarsecrets.com/pastsimpleorcontinuous/exercise5.html

http://www.englishgrammarsecrets.com/pastsimpleorcontinuous/exercise6.html

This is one of my favourite websites. I like it because the system is similar to WSI's system and you because your parctice the grammar in different ways. There are six great exercises here. Some are fill in the gaps, others are mix and match. they help you udnerstand the form of the grammar and the best way to use it.

IRREGULAR VERBS englishgrammarsecrets.com

In my last blog article I told you that I thought englishgrammarsecrets was a fantastic website. So, I have added a few more links here to help you practice. This time, we are looking at IRREGULAR VERBS

Exercise1
http://www.englishgrammarsecrets.com/irregularverbs/exercise1.html is a good one. It is very simple. you need to choose which verbs are regular and which are irregular. 

Exercise 2 http://www.englishgrammarsecrets.com/irregularverbs/exercise2.html is to help you practice irregular verbs in the past and in the present. It is the same as some activities you see in the Speaking Centre where you drag the right answer to the correct box.

Exercise 3
http://www.englishgrammarsecrets.com/irregularverbs/exercise3.html is to practice using the verbs in the right situation. You need to match the correct verbs to the right sentences. this is a good way to check you can understand the verbs in real life and to stop you trying to translate them. 

Exercise 4
http://www.englishgrammarsecrets.com/irregularverbs/exercise4.html is very very simple and is anothjer exercise for comprehension. You have to fill the gaps the right words.

Exercise 5 
http://www.englishgrammarsecrets.com/irregularverbs/exercise5.html is another really simple one, you just have to match the answers to each question. it is good to help you understand. It is also great to help yopu see the:

• Positive Form
• Negative Form
• Question Form

Exercise 6 
http://www.englishgrammarsecrets.com/irregularverbs/exercise6.html is more complicated and difficult. You have to fill in the gaps that are in both the questions and the answers. This means you will have to know the structure and understand the context.

Exercise 7 
http://www.englishgrammarsecrets.com/irregularverbs/exercise7.html is a simple exercise in design, but is much more difficult with grammar and vocabulary. You have to match thez questions to the answers, but the questions are longer and the vocabulary more difficult.

There is an eigth exercise that should involve audio, but it does not work very well. So, I recommend using these exercises. They are very good and you will practice irregular verbs very well.

PRESENT SIMPLE Vs CONTINUOUS englishgrammarsecrets.com

I was very excited when I found this website. I really like its design and its activities. This link is about the PRESENT SIMPLE and PRESENT CONTINUOUS so it is good for Survival and Waystage students. 

The first page: http://www.englishgrammarsecrets.com/presentsimpleorcontinuous/menu.php is an explanation of the grammar. It is a little dry and a little boring. So, I would not recommend it so much. But, the activities to practice are really good.

EXERCISE 1 http://www.englishgrammarsecrets.com/presentsimpleorcontinuous/exercise1.swf
This is an activity to choose whih is the Present Simple and which is the Present Continuous. It is really simple. All you need to do is move the sences into the right box. It is justb like your multimedia exercises in the Speaking Centre. It is also really good because you can:

• See the correct answers
• Check you answers
• See a demonstration of how to do the exercise

EXERCISE 2 http://www.englishgrammarsecrets.com/presentsimpleorcontinuous/exercise2.swf

This is a mix and match exercise. You have to match the answers to the questions. It is also similar to the Speaking Centre activities. It is very nice because it is clear and simple to use.

EXERCISE 3 http://www.englishgrammarsecrets.com/presentsimpleorcontinuous/exercise3.swf

This exercise is not so exciting. You simply have to fill in the gaps. However, It is very good for practicing the two pieces of grammar.

EXERCISE 4 http://www.englishgrammarsecrets.com/presentsimpleorcontinuous/exercise4.swf

This exercise is great to check if you have understood the grammar completely. You need to decide if the sentences are correct or incorrect.

I really like these exercises. If you do all four it will really help you to understand the PRESENT SIMPLE and PRESENT CONTINUOUS TENSES.

AUXILIARIES ego4u.com

Auxilieries are fundamental pieces of English. You cannot speak English well without them. We use them much more than you do in French. The pages selected here are great for practicing these. The first one is an explanation page: http://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/grammar/auxiliary-verbs. Unfortunately, it is a bit complicated and uses lots of difficult vocabulary. So, I do not recommend it so much.

However, the practice pages are very good.
http://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/grammar/auxiliary-verbs/exercises?ex03
http://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/grammar/auxiliary-verbs/exercises?ex04
http://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/grammar/auxiliary-verbs/exercises?ex05
http://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/grammar/auxiliary-verbs/exercises?ex06

These are all really good for your practice. In all of them you have to select the correct auxiliary for each sentence. Exercises 3 and 4 are easier than 5 and 6, but none of them are too complictaed. they are great practice, though!!! The activitues are good because you can see the answers you get wrong and the website will correct the answers if you want.

AUXILIARIES IN THE PAST learnenglishfeelgood.com

Auxiliaries are some of the most important words in the English language. We use them a lot more than you do in France, so it is very important for you to practice them and be correct with them. This is an activity to help you choose the correct auxiliary to use for the past tense. It is a great activity for Waystage students: http://www.learnenglishfeelgood.com/english-auxiliary-verbs3.html 

The activity is good and there is good grammar practice, but the website is not so modern and so bright. However, when you have answered the questions you can check which ones are correct and which are wrong. the website will not give you the answer, but will ask you to try again.