Blog | Centro de Idiomas UMH

Cómo superar con éxito el speaking cuando te presentes al First

Preparar un examen oral no es fácil. Y si sumamos la presión de la certificación del examen First Certificate in English puede convertirse en un caos: vocabulario, expresiones, estructuras…son muchos conceptos que absorber. Esto junto a los nervios pueden hacer que se mezcle todo en tu cabeza. Pero ¡no te preocupes! Hay soluciones. Aquí te ofrecemos algunos consejos para que esos conocimientos pasen a ser parte de ti en el examen y que nada pueda contigo frente al speaking. Enfrentarte al First será coser y cantar.

El 32% de las ofertas de empleo en España incluyen el requisito de los de idiomas

Hace pocos meses se presentaba el Informe Adecco Infoempleo 2013 sobre empleabilidad en España, el cual incluye un capitulo sobre empleo e idiomas. De este informe se peude extraer que el año pasado casi el 32% de las ofertas de empleo en España incluían el requisito del conocimiento de uno o más idiomas, algo que toma cada vez más importancia ya que en 2011 esta cifra se situaba en torno al 28,7%.

Cómo está cambiando el inglés británico hablado

¿Está el inglés británico sucumbiendo a la influencia norteamericana? La Universidad de Lancaster y Cambridge University Press han realizado el estudio Spoken British National Corpus 2014 que revela cómo está evolucionando el uso del inglés hablado.

Aprende inglés viendo series y películas en versión original

¿Eres de los que elige versión original cuando se sienta a ver una serie? ¿la ves con subtítulos o sin ellos? ¿o eres de los que prefiere ver una película doblada al castellano? Se trata de un debate que siempre suele salir en conversaciones entre cinéfilos y seriefilos. Nosotros lo tenemos claro, si queremos aprender inglés la mejor opción es optar por la versión original.

The End is Near...!

For many, the end of the course means a period of relief and friendship bonds. It is as well when exams become more tangible, and our feeling of being under constant pressure skyrockets.

More importantly, this should be the right time to ckeck our learning experience and weighing the pros and cons: What have we learnt? What have we missed out? What can I do to imporve those questionable skills? This could be the best kick-off for next-year, new-level learning experience.

We wish you good luck during your examination period and hope to see you again next year!

A Series I Could Watch (and Learn)

At times, we wonder how we could improve our listening skills in a continuous way. Like we do in football, we could also find a topic we're keen on, or more importantly, a series that could meet our needs. There's a series online, fully available on youtube, which is ideal for beginners, pre-intermediate, or intermediate students, who can watch it whenever. It is called Extra English, and below you may find a sample episode. Enjoy it!

Do you Speak English?

The frustration felt by many when travelling abroad and not finding people who speak your language, is one of the reasons to add "learning languages" to our bucket list. However, the learning process is not a matter of one-year course or a few weeks in class: it involves full-time commitment and self-study. These are key to keep the language coming back to you when needed.

The following video is an exception of those who say not to speak English, in an attempt to get away with it.

Spoken English: Things You Should Know.

Have you ever written down (transcribed) a conversation between native or proficient speakers of English?

If you have, you will know that natural conversation is far more chaotic, far less structured than written text. It contains lots of reformulation, repetition, false starts, incomplete sentences, formulaic phrases, and unfinished questions.

Job Interview: Some Useful Tips

I know. Job interviews are probably quite scary, especially if they're in English. Hereby you'll find some useful tips:

Sing Along on SAY and TELL!

"Say" and "tell" are probably two of the most confusing verbs in English. And to help you understand the difference between them, there's no better way than singing. Pay closer attention to the expresions in which these verbs are used, and sing along!

My Co-Workers are simply the best! (or Not)

These are two hilarious videos on how co-workers cope with annoying situations from different perspective:

Catherine Tate is back! In this really funny video, she plays the part of a pesky co-worker who expects everyone to pay attention to her silliness. Check it out!

The other video takes place in an American office. Cindy Delmont is a voluptuous lady who works for a big corporate body. She claims to have been harassed by a co-worker. Her boss, nastily, gets on her nerves because he can't make out what was really going on.

Are co-workers meant to be that annoying?

One, two…ELEVEN!

Two co-workers are fascinated by the new voice-recognition lift installed in their workplace. They get into the lift, comment on the cutting-edge system, and are prepared to undergo a unique experience. But there is an unexpected (not really) problem: they speak Scottish! So the machine has a bit of a job trying to recognize the floor selected.