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.