Watch the following video from PodEnglish focusing on defining relative clauses…

Wait a minute! But what is a defining relative clause? You might not know this but we use them every single day, everywhere, anytime…

Would you mind please leaving a comment below and answer any of these questions?:

• A day when you made a big decision?
• A person who had a big influence on you as a child?
• Someone (whom) you hate|love and why?
• A place where you like going when you need to switch off?

And now watch the video and the clauses they use in their dialogue to define the person they’re talking about

Some theory notes available here:

Please remember the registration period for the official FCE:

12 FEBRUARY – 30 MARCH

(Centro de Formación Permanente, UPV; http://www.cfp.upv.es)

Please note that:

• Registration fee: 130€
• CDL won’t accept applications after the deadline.
• There are no late entry fees.

As you know, I haven’t blogged here for a (long) while, basically since the last time I had to teach a FCE course. I’ve been posting to my main blog,  E|FL20, instead. However, I’ve been assigned a new FCE course at Centro de Lenguas (Universidad Politécnica de Valencia) so I’ll resume my activity here.

What’s been really surprising is the fact that despite the blog inactivity, it got quite a few visits every single day. So I’m pretty happy that the blog got a life of its own and that you found it useful.

So, from now on (and at least till the completion of the course) I will start posting ideas, tips, resources, sample tests (if possible | if allowed) on FCE.

Welcome back!

I already posted here the results from my FCE courses at CDL (UPV). Here you have the ones from the B1+ Course at Centro de Lenguas (Universidad Politécnica de Valencia):

1. elenabenitoruiz_ingles-b12
2. elenabenitoruiz_ingles-b12_grupo-23

BIG THANK you, I’ll keep on working hard. I hope you liked the units on google docs and the blogs, and stuff, and that they ended up being the best companion to your CDL textbooks and materials. Thank you for the feedback.

I guess you should know already that I don’t feel embarrassed for doing this. I think I have to, first of all to thank my students for being so generous and for grading me like that. I felt it was a great group from day 1 and besides, we got a fantastic rapport. Something you feel it’s there. I’ve been pretty lucky.

Remember, faster, stronger, etc. And as someone said, sorry I can’t remember their name, “we improve ourselves by victories over ourself”. There’s only way to improvement: improving. And there’s still a lot of room for it.

Results from the course survey (FCE, Part 1, Spring 08): FCE1Spr08SurveyResults

So…what have I been up to lately? Once I finished the course, I graded the exams, left them at Centro de Lenguas, packed my stuff and set off for my first trip to Ibiza. 7 days. Not enough. I had to take the laptop with me because I’m also working as an online tutor for Instituto Valenciano de Administración Pública. I wish I could have left it at home, for a total disconnection, but somehow the escapist plan worked…and I could come back with a nice suntan and what’s more important, recharged energies…The day after I came back to Valencia: back to doctors and stuff. I definitely deserved them despite they were way too short.

Now I have to catch up…I’m teaching a course on web 2.0 and blogs next week, from 16 thru 27. Besides, there’s a pile of compositions from my online course to be marked…

You know what? I think I should go back to Ibizarre, for good.

I miss the hippy market, the shops, the opening parties, the shallow crystal clear water coves…I won’t tell you what I won’t miss here, because it ain’t politically correct…just a preview: herds of… what’s the point of going on holiday if you’re just going to ghetto yourself/”ghetiffy” and eat and behave and speak and puke in the same way you do in your own country? No more comments…

You can check some pics here.

Hi, our FCE Part A course is over. I’ve been sending you the emails with the final score (check your inbox in case you haven’t done so lately) and let me remind you that you can take a look at your exam and check the answer key at Centro de Lenguas (UPV).

It’s been a lovely experience, as usual. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.

I don’t know if I’ll be teaching FCE Part B next term (Sept-Dec) as I did last year…because I’m thinking about taking a pseudo-gap year so that I can finish my thesis, and I’d only teach ‘English for Engineers’. I don’t know if I’ll be able to survive with the pseudo-salary either…But if I teach at CDL, I’ll definitely ask them to assign me FCE Part B Fridays 4-8 pm.

In the meantime, I’ll keep on blogging here. Of course I won’t force myself to post every 2 days, but every time I find something interesting for you, FCE victims and other English language lovers. It might be daily, weekly or +.

What do I recommend? That you subscribe to the blog…By doing so, you won’t need to come here every now and then, just to check whether I uploaded something new or not. If you subscribe -it’s free- to the blog and you use a feed reader…the new uploaded content will get to you instead. That’s what we call ‘RSS’…It’s one of the greatest inventions ever…Check this out:

[And, my dear FCE students: The course is over...Thank you very much for coming and GOOD LUCK! KEEP ME POSTED...please leave your comments here on the real FCE exam...if you're taking it in June]

I’ve been kinda sick since Spring began. This tracheitis/bronchitis is getting worse, it’s been here for a month. I’ve been told I have severe neutropenia…which is the reason why I’m always getting sick: I don’t have enough white cells. At least I know why. It’s being the hardest Spring in years…So I hope I feel better next week, and remember to leave all your viruses behind or you’ll kill me! In the mean time, may the force be with me and do please…cheer me up…

Uplifting!

[Via JobMob]