Present continuous versus habitual present

In lesson 5B we are studying present continuous. The form is very easy:

•  TO BE (AM / IS / ARE) + ________ING

Here you have some examples:  I am playing with my children     She's writing an email

This tense is used for specific time, especially now or at the moment, but it's also possible with short periods of time like I'm a teacher but now I'm working as a shop-assistant.
Here you have a video to practise present continuous. Click here. 

There is a problem with the spelling of the -ING form: you must double the last consonant if the infinitive ends in CONSONANT + VOWEL + CONSONANT and the vowel is stressed. Let's see some examples:

• get --- getting        swim ---swimming      BUT    open --- opening     listen --- listening 

If you have problems with the spelling go to this page

Once this is clear we have the problem to choose between present simple or present continuous. Remember present simple is connected to habits or routines and you usually have it with frequency adverbs or answering the question how often?, while present continuous is referred to a precise action. Look at the example:

• I usually go to the gym but today I'm going to the swimming pool

If you need more information about these tenses go to this link. The differencse between these two tenses are in lesson 5C in our student's book.

If you want to practise here you have some exercises:

• exercise 1      exercise 2     exercise 3 

Here you have a song Eternal Falme to practise with both tenses.

the verb CAN

The verb CAN is used to speak about "poder" or "saber" in Spanish. The main characteristics of CAN are:

• it's a modal: it is used to say "poder" or "saber" . It means ability / possibility / permission / impossibility / prohibition; depending on the form and the context.
• it's defective: with NO -s in the 3rd person, NO infiniteve (to be able to) and NO past participle ( been able to)
• it's auxiliary: you use it in interrogative and negative forms Can you open this?  No, I can't

To practise with listening, here you have this song with CAN: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lpcWqecyak

Saxon Genitive

There are plenty of teachers who use blogs to teach Englsh, like me. Here you are a link to one of those with a lot of exercises to practise: http://elenacarriles.wikispaces.com/THE+SAXON+GENITIVE but you also have these links: click here or this one (but this includes past tenses)
To finish with, try to do oral exercises using this structure:

• Sara has a dog. It's black --- Sarah's dog is black
• Joe has a cat. It's white --- Joe's cat is white

Howerver, be careful with nouns ending in -S or sibilant sounds like in the following examples. The pronunciation changes a lot:

• Alice has a daughter --- Alice's daughter (you have to pronounce an extra syllable /ælɪsiːz/)

However, you don't write or pronounce the extra 'S with plural forms

• My cousins have a house --- my cousins' house ( /ˈkʌzənsiz/ )

Notice that if it's ending in -S you don't write an extra -s like in the Simpsons' dog.

See you in class.

New Year's Resolution

Here you have a couple of videos about New Year resolutions, a typical thing to do in anglosaxon countries. I hope you'll enjoy them.

• Ten new year's resolutions: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-xS5flexx0
• Two weeks later: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_sZQP36bt4

Happy New Year 2013

Here we are again after Christmas. Let's come back to class and here you are some pages to start with reading:

• simple present story with exercises: story 1 story 2
• simple stories with different exercises: click here and choose the exercise you like
• http://www.usingenglish.com/comprehension/beginner.html : stories for KET level
• http://www.newsinlevels.com/ : this webpage is about news. There are 3 levels and the first one is very simple but if you have problem, don't worry; it's normal.

If you want to read something more interesting you can do it by using the tourist information of places you like; have a look here:

• London: http://www.projectbritain.com/regions/london.htm 
• New York: http://www.nyc.com/visitor_guide/orientation__information.75830/editorial_review.aspx

You can read a lot of kind of texts, but try to do it without translations. Enjoy your reading!