Intermedio b

Introduction

Welcome to this new level of your personal, educational, and professional

development. Globalization is no longer a thing of the future.

Nowadays, boundaries regarding educational and professional

opportunities that offer cross-cultural experiences have nearly disappeared.
Technology has played an important part, because now it is possible to work,
study, or do business abroad, even without leaving your own country. All you
need is a computer, an internet connection, and linguistic and
communicative abilities -among others- to negotiate, learn from, and share
with people from over the world, whatever you have to give to the world.

That has brought two more issues to observe. First, you need to be able to
communicate in at least more than one language in an effective way,
depending on your context. Second of all, since institutions need to validate
your competencies, you will be evaluated according to an international
framework and international standards, so that you can obtain an important
certificate.

For that reason, UVEG has expanded your possibilities for you to develop
more competitive skills. The objective of the course is to facilitate the linguistic
elements for you to be able to exchange information and communicate
appropriately with regard to those situations related to your life, such as
personal information, routine, current experiences and projects.

To achieve that, you will be provided with the necessary information, as well
as the gradual practice to develop your language skills through your UVEG
platform and your pdf booklet with printable worksheets. In addition, you will

1
be given a wealth of online resources, vocabulary lists, learning tips and
strategies to empower your self-learning process.

This course consists of 6 lessons that will be evaluated for you to get the credit
for the course. Such evaluation will be through a quiz.

Life has become fast, demanding, competitive and ever-changing.

Consequently, developing the ability to be aware and in charge of your own
learning process gives you the empowerment to take control of your
personal evolution. Now, as never before, we have a wealth of resources to
learn, practice, and use your abilities, at your own convenience in terms of
time, effort and place, and learning to learn and move ahead of your own,
will give you a great competitive advantage.

Traducción
Bienvenido y bienvenida a este nuevo nivel en tu desarrollo personal,
educativo y profesional. La globalización no es más un tema del futuro.

Hoy en día, las fronteras con respecto a las oportunidades educativas y

profesionales que ofrecen experiencias interculturales han casi
desaparecido. La tecnología ha jugado un papel importante, ya que ahora
es completamente posible trabajar, estudiar o hacer negocios en el
extranjero, aún sin salir del país. Todo lo que necesitas es una computadora,
una conexión a internet, y habilidades lingüísticas y comunicativas, entre
otras, para negociar, aprender de y compartir con gente de todo el mundo,
sea lo que sea que tengas para brindar al mundo.

De ello han surgido dos asuntos más por observar. Primero, necesitas ser
capaz de comunicarte de manera efectiva, en al menos dos idiomas,
dependiendo de tu contexto. En segundo lugar, ya que las instituciones
necesitan validar tus competencias, serás evaluada o evaluado de acuerdo
con algún marco de referencia internacional y con estándares
internacionales con el fin de obtener una certificación importante.

Por esa razón, UVEG, ha expandido las posibilidades para que desarrolles
competencias más competitivas. El objetivo del curso es facilitar los
elementos lingüísticos para que puedas intercambiar información y
comunicarte apropiadamente en cuanto a esas situaciones relacionadas
con tu vida, tales como información personal, rutina, experiencias actuales
y proyectos en los que estás trabajando.

Para lograrlo, se te proporcionará la información necesaria, así como la

práctica gradual para desarrollar tus habilidades del lenguaje a través de tu
plataforma UVEG y de tu cuadernillo de ejercicios imprimible en formato
PDF. Además, se te darán recursos en abundancia, listas de vocabulario, tips
de aprendizaje, y estrategias para potenciar tu proceso de autoaprendizaje.

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Este curso consiste en 6 lecciones que serán evaluadas para poder acreditar
el curso. Tal evaluación se realizará por medio de un quiz.

La vida se ha vuelto rápida, exigente, competitiva y en constante cambio.

Por esa razón, desarrollar la habilidad de estar consciente y a cargo de tu
propio proceso de aprendizaje, te empodera para tomar control de tu
propia evolución personal. Ahora más que nunca, contamos con una
riqueza de recursos para aprender, practicar, y utilizar tus habilidades, todo
según tus necesidades, recursos, y distancias, y aprender a aprender y
avanzar de forma autónoma, te dará una gran ventaja competitiva.

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 Module 14
Welcome to module 14 of the extended program UVEG has created to lead
you into level B1 according to the Common European Framework of
Reference. In this course, you will receive linguistic elements exchange
information regarding your projects, as well as narrations of past events.

Considering this is an asynchronous online course, you may advance at your

own time and convenience. You will also be facilitated with grammar video
tutorials, links to online self-learning exercises, vocabulary lists, audio and
reading activities, learning tips, and strategies to work effectively.

Remember practice makes perfect. The more time you spend working on
your English, the sooner and better you will complete your process.

This course has been created by UVEG for YOU to move on with your personal
evolution.

Welcome to module 14.

Bienvenida y bienvenido al módulo 14 del programa de inglés intermedio

que UVEG ha creado para guiarte hacia el nivel B1 de acuerdo con el
Marco Común de Referencia Europeo. En este curso recibirás los elementos
lingüísticos para intercambiar información relacionada con tu ocupación, tu
vida, rutina, información personal y proyectos en los que te encuentras.

Tomando en cuenta que este curso en línea asíncrono, podrás avanzar a tu

propio ritmo. Y conveniencia. Así mismo, se te facilitarán videos con tutoriales
sobre gramática, vínculos a ejercicios interactivos, listas de vocabulario,
ejercicios de audio y de lectura de comprensión, tips de aprendizaje y
estrategias para trabajar de manera efectiva.

Recuerda que la práctica hace al maestro. Entre más tiempo pases

trabajando en tu inglés, aprenderás más rápido y mejor.

UVEG ha creado este curso para ti. Para que avances en tu evolución
personal.

Bienvenid@ al módulo 14.

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 Lesson 1 Presenting your project
In this lesson we will practice with verbs in order to identify and
apply their forms appropriately when combined in a sentence,
particularly when two verbs go together, so as to talking about
projects in which you are working on at the moment, as well
as expectations.
1. En esta lección practicaremos con verbos para identificar y 16%
aplicar de manera correcta sus combinaciones de forma de
verbos, cuando dos verbos van juntos en una oración, para
explicar sobre el sentido de su trabajo, hablar de proyectos en
los que se esté trabajando, y hablar de objetivos y
expectativas.

Lesson 2 The right moment, the right place, and the right
attitude
In this lesson we will practice structuring sentences correctly
2. according to time and place expressions. 16%
En esta lección practicaremos estructurar oraciones de
manera correcta, de acuerdo con las expresiones de tiempo
de lugar.

Lesson 3: Company Trends

In this lesson we will identify the correct article a, an or the, with
countable and uncountable nouns.
3. En esta lección identificaremos el artículo correcto a, an or
17%
the, con sustantivos contables singulares y plurales, así como
sustantivos incontables.

Lesson 4: How did the robbery happen?

In this lesson we will learn and practice the correct form to
narrate an event in the past, using the past simple.
4. En esta lección conoceremos y practicaremos la manera
17%
correcta de narrar un evento en el pasado, aplicando el
pasado simple.

Lesson 5: Welcome
In this lesson we will learn and practice the correct form to
narrate an event in the past contrasting the simple past and
5. the past continuous. 17%
En esta lección practicaremos diálogos en restaurantes, sitios
de interés y recomendaciones a visitantes.

Lesson 6: Developing Skills

In this lesson we will learn and practice strategies for listening
6. and reading comprehension. 17%
En esta lección conoceremos y practicaremos estrategias de
comprensión lectora y auditiva.

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 Lesson 1
Welcome to UVEG English Program, Module 14.
In this module we will learn to identify and apply
combinations of verb + infinitive or verb + ing,
when two verbs go together in a sentence, in
order to explain about the sense of your work,
talk about projects in which you are working at
the moment, and talk about goals and
expectations.

We will correctly apply verb conjugations based

on time expressions, and place, using
prepositions correctly. We will practice the use
of articles within a working context.

Bienvenidos y bienvenidas al módulo 14 de

inglés UVEG. Durante este módulo
aprenderemos a identificar y aplicaremos de manera correcta las combinaciones
de verbos, ya sea con “to” o con “...ing” cuando dos verbos van juntos en una
oración, para explicar sobre el sentido de su trabajo, hablar de proyectos en los
que se esté trabajando, y hablar de objetivos y expectativas.

Aplicaremos de manera correcta conjugaciones de verbos con base las

expresiones de tiempo y lugar, utilizando preposiciones de manera correcta.
Utilizaremos los artículos A/ An, y the, dentro de un contexto laboral.

Let’s get started with Lesson 1.

In English, when you have two verbs together, it is necessary to consider the form of
the verb you will use. For example:

Comencemos con la lección 1. En inglés cuándo tienes dos verbos juntos, es

necesario considerar la forma del verbo que utilizarás.
Por ejemplo:

It is correct to say:
• I enjoy working.
But it is not correct to say
• I enjoy to work.

It is correct to say
• I want to work (some verbs are followed by infinitive form verbs)
But it is not correct to say
• I want working

Although, with some verbs like love, like, hate, prefer it is correct to say:
• I like working
or
• I’d like to work

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Both forms are correct without a difference in meaning.

Aunque con algunos verbos como love, like, hate, podrían, es correcto decir:
Utilizarse cualquiera de las dos formas sin que haya cambio en el significado.

But with some verbs you can say:

• I stopped drinking (I don’t drink any more)
or
• I stopped to drink (I was doing something different, and I stopped it for a
drink)
There is a change in meaning.

Pero hay algunos verbos con los que puedes decir

• I stopped drinking (no bebo más)
o bien
• I stopped to drink (Dejé de hacer algo para beber)
Existe un cambio en el significado.

The only way to remember these changes is to memorize. Here we will supply for a
list of verbs that should be followed by a gerund (verb + ing, e.g., “being”), by an
infinitive (to + verb, e.g., “to be”), or either of them.

La única forma de recordar estos cambios es memorizar. Aquí entregaremos una

lista de verbos que deben de ser seguidos por un gerundio, por un infinitivo, o por
cualquiera de los dos.

Vocabulary Lesson 1
It is time to review the vocabulary of the Lesson.
Es momento de revisar el vocabulario de la Lección.

Verb + To + Verb
She can’t afford to lose this job at the moment.
afford permitirse No puede permitirse perder este trabajo en este
momento.
estar de Do you agree to pay for the damage?
agree
acuerdo ¿Estás de acuerdo en seguir las reglas?
I’ve decided to move into the city.
decide decidir (se)
He decidido cambiarme a la ciudad.
Don’t forget to feed the dog before you leave!
forget olvidar (se) ¡No te olvides de alimentar al perro antes de que
te vayas!
She promised to come.
promise prometer
Prometió venir.
I hope to leave before 10 p.m. tonight.
hope esperar
Espero salir antes de las diez de la noche.
Loui learnt to speak German when he was nine.
learn aprender
Loui aprendió a hablar alemán a los nueve años.

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 Do you need to go to the store?
need necesitar
¿Necesitas ir a la tienda?
Tim offered to give me a ride.
offer ofrecer (se)
Tim se ofreció a darme un aventón
We’re planning to visit New York next summer.
plan Planear Estamos haciendo planes para visitar Nueva York
el verano que viene.
Lucy pretended to be a foreign student.
pretend Fingir
Lucy fingió ser alumna de intercambio.
They promised to come back next summer.
promise prometer
Prometieron volver el próximo verano.
He seems to be happy at his new job.
seem Parece
Parece que está contento en su nuevo trabajo.
He wants to take up piano class.
want Querer
Quiere meterse a clases de piano.
I’d really like to be part of your team.
would like Gustaría
Me gustaría muchísimo ser parte de su equipo.
I enjoy presenting new products.
enjoy disfrutar
Disfruto de presentar nuevos productos.
Finish preparing the presentation.
finish terminar
Terminen de preparar la presentación.
Can you imagine having your own business?
imagine imaginar
¿Te imaginas tener tu propio negocio?
Do you mind holding this for me?
mind importar
¿Te importa sostenerme esto?
She spends a lot of time surfing the internet.
spend (time) pasar (tiempo)
Pasa mucho tiempo navegando en internet.
She suggests installing solar panels
suggest sugerir
Ella sugiere instalar paneles solares.
Avoid spending too much on your social networks
avoid evitar Eviten pasar demasiado tiempo en sus redes
sociales.

Review the text and identify the verbs in infinitive or gerund from the vocabulary list.
Revisa el texto e identifica los verbos en infinitivo o gerundio de la lista de
vocabulario.

Now that I’ve just finished setting the necessary conditions to start our green
project at school, I would like to tell you a bit about our project.
Our team chose to develop the idea of using solar panels to power the
school, for two reasons. First, we agreed to work along with local authorities,
since they have spent years developing a Solar-Panel system to start
exploiting the 330-sunny days we have in average in our city. We suggested
taking advantage of this momentum to collaborate with the government
support. This project promises to promote a 78% saving in the electricity
expense every month. By using this solar panels, we will avoid using electricity
produced by the federal commission and, therefore, set examples of

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 environmentally friendly practices by private institutions. The second reason
is that the project has been received with great enthusiasm by students who
have volunteered to work on the installation of the panels. With their help we
offer to complete the preparations by the end of the year.

Ahora que acabo de terminar estableciendo las condiciones necesarias

para iniciar nuestro proyecto ambiental en la escuela, me gustaría contarles
un poco acerca de nuestro proyecto. Nuestro equipo escogió la idea de
utilizar paneles solares para generar la energía de la escuela, por dos
razones. Primero, estuvimos de acuerdo en trabajar con las autoridades
locales ya que han pasado años desarrollando un sistema de paneles
solares para empezar a explotar los 330 días soleados qué tenemos en
nuestra ciudad en promedio. Sugerimos aprovechar este impulso para
colaborar con el apoyo del gobierno. Este proyecto promete promover un
ahorro del 78% en el gasto mensual de electricidad. Al utilizar estos paneles
solares evitaremos usar electricidad producida por la Comisión Federal y por
lo tanto dar ejemplo de prácticas ecológicamente amigables por parte de
instituciones privadas. La segunda razón es que el proyecto ha sido recibido
con gran entusiasmo por los estudiantes, quienes se han ofrecido como
voluntarios para trabajar en la instalación de los paneles. Con su ayuda,
ofrecemos completar los preparativos antes de fin de año.

Some verbs can be followed by either a gerund or an infinitive, but the meaning
changes.

Forget
Forget doing something.
Olvidar haber hecho algo en el pasado.
• He will never forget arriving in Paris for the first time.
Forget to do something.
Olvidarse de hacer algo en el futuro.
• She won’t forget to lock the door this time.
No olvidará cerrar la puerta esta vez.

Mean
Mean doing something.
Significa que hay que hacer algo.
• Buying a car on credit means paying twice as much for the car.
Comprar un carro a crédito implica pagar casi el doble por el carro.
Mean to do something.
Tener la intención de hacer algo.
• I am sure she didn’t mean to hurt.
Estoy seguro de que no tuvo la intención de lastimar.

Regret
Regret doing something.
Olvidar haber hecho algo en el pasado.
Now she regrets braking up with him.
Ahora, ella se arrepiente de haber terminado con él.
Regret to do something.

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Lamentar tener que hacer algo próximamente.
• I regret to inform you that her project was not accepted.

Remember
Remember doing something.
Acordarse de haber hecho algo en el pasado.
Remember to do something.
Acordarse de hacer algo en el futuro.
• I remember locking the door.
Recuerdo haber cerrado la puerta.
• Remember to lock the door.
Recuerda cerrar la puerta cuando salgas.

Stop
Stop doing something.
Dejar de hacer algo.
I stopped smoking.
Dejé de fumar.
Stop to do something.
Detenerse para hacer algo.
• I stopped running, (for example) to drink water.
Dejé de correr, (por ejemplo) para tomar agua.

Try
Try doing something.
Hacer la prueba con algo.
I will try recording myself as a pronunciation exercise.
Intentaré grabarme como ejercicio.
Try to do something.
Hacer un intento.
• I will try to finish my course with excellent grades.
Intentaré terminar mi curso con excelentes calificaciones.

In this Lesson we are going to learned:

• Verb + gerund
• Verb + infinitive
• Verb + infinitive or gerund with similar meaning
• Verb + infinitive or gerund with different meanings

Bibliografía
• British Council, Teens Learn English.
https://learnenglishteens.britishcouncil.org/

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• Clare Antonia, Wilson J.J., 2016. Speak Out Pre-Intermediate, England:
Pearson Limited.
• Hughes John, Dummet Paul, 2019. Life American English. U.S.: National
Geographic Learning.
• Ireland Sue, Costa Joanna, White Susan, 2019. Target B1 Preliminary.
England. Richmond Publishing House.
• English Revealed, 2019-2021, Cambridge Exam Preparation,
https://www.englishrevealed.co.uk/index.php
• Perfect English Grammar, London. https://www.perfect-english-
grammar.com/
• English Language Centers, Learn English.
https://www.ecenglish.com/learnenglish/

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 Lesson 2
Hello again!
Welcome to Module 14 Lesson 2, where we will learn
about adverbial phrases. Adverbs are the additional
information we give about the action, regarding
place, time, and frequency.

Bienvenido y bienvenida al Módulo 14 Lección 2

donde aprenderemos acerca de frases adverbiales.
Los adverbios son información adicional que damos
acerca de la acción con respecto al lugar tiempo y
frecuencia.

Prepositions of place
Let's begin. In English, a complete sentence is compounded by two elements: the
subject and the verb.

Example:
Subject + Verb + s (present form)
• Tony works.
In this sentence we are talking about Tony, which is a subject, and we have an
action, which is works. Therefore, we have a complete idea “Tony” is the subject
and “works” the verb.

Comencemos. En inglés, una oración completa se compone de dos elementos, el

sujeto y el verbo.

Ejemplo:
Sujeto + Verbos + s (en presente)
• Tony works.
En esta oración estamos ablando de Tony, quien es el sujeto, y tenemos una acción,
la cuál es “works”, por lo tanto, tenemos una idea completa. Tony es el sujeto y
“works” el verbo.

If you want to make the idea more complete, then we can add some additional
information. For example:

Subject + Freq. adv + Verb+s

• Tony never works.

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In this case, we have a subject which is “Tony”; a verb, which is “works” but then we
have the frequency adverb saying that Tony doesn’t work.
When using frequency adverbs, it is important to pay attention to the position they
have in the sentence.

Si quieres hacer una idea más completa, entonces puedes añadir algo de
información adicional, por ejemplo:

Sujeto + Adv. frecuencia + Verbo+s

• Tony never works.
En este caso, tenemos un sujeto, el cuál es Tony. Un verbo, el cual es “works”, pero
luego tenemos el adverbio de frecuencia diciendo que en realidad Tony no
trabaja.
Cuando usamos adverbios de frecuencia, es importante poner atención a la
posición que tienen en la oración.

We can still include more additional information.

• Tony never works at the office.
In this case, we are now including information about where the action takes place;
we are using an adverbial phrase of place: “at the office.”
The aspect we should pay attention to when using the adverbial of place is the
preposition. We should make sure we use the correct preposition; in this case, the
preposition we use for the office is at.

Podemos incluir aún más información adicional.

• Tony never works at the office.
En este caso, ahora incluimos información acerca de dónde se desarrolla la acción.
Para ello estamos usando una frase adverbial de lugar: en la oficina.
El aspecto al que tenemos que poner atención cuando usamos frases adverbiales
de lugar, es la preposición. Debemos asegurarnos de usar la preposición correcta.
En este caso, la preposición que estamos usando es “at”.
Another piece of information we can add in order to make our sentence more
complete is a Time expression. Consider the following:

Subject + Freq. adv + Verb+s + Place

• Tony never works at the office on Sundays.
There are two important things to mention about adverbials of time, or time
expressions. First, it is always a good idea to keep your time expressions at the end
of the sentence; remember the English language is a bit stricter in terms of the word
order than Spanish is. Sometimes, if you change the word order, it is necessary to
make other changes in the structure. For that reason, it is safer to keep our time
expressions at the end of the sentence, and be able to remember this order: subject,
verb, place and time.

Más información que podemos agregar para hacer nuestra oración más completa,
es una expresión de tiempo. Considera lo siguiente:

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Sujeto + Adv. frecuencia + Verbo+s + Lugar
• Tony never works at the office on Sundays.
Dos cosas importantes por mencionar acerca de los adverbios de tiempo, o
expresiones de tiempo. Primero, siempre es bueno colocarlas al final de la oración:
recuerda que el idioma inglés es algo más estricto que el español. En ocasiones, si
cambias el orden de las palabras, es necesario hacer otros cambios en la
estructura. Por esa razón, es más seguro mantener nuestras expresiones de tiempo
al final de la oración, y poder recordar este orden: Sujeto, verbo, lugar y tiempo.

Something to remember about time expressions, is they are an important key for you
to decide the grammatical tense you’re going to use.

Remember whenever we talk about tenses, we are talking about present simple,
present continuous, present perfect, etc. And your decision about how to
conjugate the verb is directly connected to the time expression. For example:

Subject + Verb+s + Place

• Tony works at the office time on Fridays.
Algo importante por recordar sobre las expresiones de tiempo, es que son una clave
importante para que decidas el tiempo gramatical que vas a utilizar.

Recuerda que cuando hablamos de “tenses o tiempos gramaticales” nos referimos

a presente simple, presente continuo, presente perfecto, etc. Y tu decisión sobre
cómo conjugar el verbo, está directamente conectada con la expresión de
tiempo. Por ejemplo:

Sujeto + Verbo+s + Lugar

• Tony works at the office time on Fridays.

Subject + Verb past form + Place

• Tony worked at the office time last Sunday.
As you can see in this case the time expression is last Sunday, which is a time
expression for the past. For that reason, the verb has been conjugated into the past
form: worked

Sujeto + Verbo en pasado + Lugar

• Tony worked at the office time last Sunday.
Como puedes ver, en este caso, la expresión de tiempo es “last Sunday”, la cual es
una expresión de tiempo para pasado simple. Por esa razón el verbo ha sido
conjugado en pasado.

Time Expressions

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A tense chart including a model of time expressions for different tenses.
Time Expressions
Tense
Tense Verb Forms (Adverbial Phrases Of Used For
Auxiliaries
Time)
Do (I, you, we, Every day, on Mondays,
they) in the summer, at night
Does (he, she, It) once a day
twice a month
Do you like it? many times, a year…
Verb in Habits,
Does he work? (or no time expression
present form: Routine,
Present Yes, I do for permanent situations
play /plays Facts, permanent
Simple Yes, I like it a lot. or facts)
do / does situations.
No, he doesn’t Frequency Adverbs
work always, usually,
Yes, he works a lot. normally, frequently,
often, sometimes, rarely,
I like chocolate seldom, hardly ever,
She loves her job almost never, never.
Am / is / are Actions in progress
at the moment.
Now, right now, at the
I´m living in León
moment, as we speak,
Present these days Temporary
Verb + ing this month, these days,
Continuous situations
currently, tomorrow,
Are you taking the
tonight, next…
APA course Future
tomorrow? arrangements
Actions at
Have / Has (No time expressions for indefinite time in
past actions) the past
I´ve been to Europe Since 1986, for 35 years, Experiences.
Present Verb in past
many times already, yet just,
Perfect participle
once...twice...many Actions that
She hasn´t finished times before, ever, began in the past
yet. never. and continue to
the present
Verb Simple
Did Form. Last night, many years
or ago. finished actions in
Past Simple Did he work? Verb Past In 1968, when you the past at a
No, he didn’t work. Form called, when you were definite time
Yes, he worked… (affirmative a child.
form)
An action in
at 7 am this morning, progress at a very
….last night specific time,
Past verb + ing.
was / were ...when you called. when it was
Continuous ...while you were having interrupted, while
fun. another action
was in progress
An action that
verb past happened before
Past Perfect Had Before, by the time, by.
participle another past
action (reference)
Future Modal Auxiliaries. verb simple Tomorrow, tonight, the
Simple form day after tomorrow,

15
 will, can, may, next, this coming (year,
should, must, week), later.

Frequency
Example
Adverb
Always She doesn’t always work on Sundays.

Usually We normally eat out on weekends.

Normally /
Does she normally arrive late?
Generally

Often / Frequently I don’t often go to the cinema.

Sometimes They sometimes visit us in the Summer.

The manager occasionally travels to the

Occasionally
head office.

Seldom / rarely He rarely smokes.

Hardly ever /
My dad hardly ever drinks Coke
almost never

Never We never go hunting.

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It is important to observe two aspects: first, the frequency adverb is normally placed
before the verb.
Es importante observar dos aspectos. Primero, El adverbio de frecuencia se coloca
normalmente antes del verbo.
• Does she usually work on Sundays?
• She doesn’t usually work on Sundays.
• She usually works on Sundays.

Except for the verb “to be”. In this case, the frequency adverb goes after the verb.
Excepto con el verbo “to be”. En este caso, el adverbio de frecuencia va después
del verbo.
• She is usually tired

Grammar chart: Prepositions of place

Tabla gramatical: Preposiciones de lugar.

AT IN ON
At the door In the bag On the table
At the corner In the classroom On the carpet
At the traffic light In a box On the roof
On the sofa

At the top In Mexico On the first floor

At the bottom In Guanajuato On the fifth floor

17
At the end In the alps
In the world

At a party In a car On the right

At a concert In a van On the left
At the cinema

At school In the sea On the bus

At college (the university) In the river On the train
In a lake On a plane
In a swimming pool

At home In a book On the radio

At work In a picture On TV
In the newspaper On the internet
On a website

In this Lesson we learned:

• Prepositions of place
• Time expressions
• Adverbial phrases of frequency

Bibliografía
• British Council, Teens Learn English.
https://learnenglishteens.britishcouncil.org/
• Clare Antonia, Wilson J.J., 2016. Speak Out Pre-Intermediate, England:
Pearson Limited.
• Hughes John, Dummet Paul, 2019. Life American English. U.S.: National
Geographic Learning.
• Ireland Sue, Costa Joanna, White Susan, 2019. Target B1 Preliminary.
England. Richmond Publishing House.
• English Revealed, 2019-2021, Cambridge Exam Preparation,
https://www.englishrevealed.co.uk/index.php
• Grammar Monster
https://www.grammarmonster.com/glossary/adverbial_phrases.htm

18
 Lesson 3
Hello again.
Welcome to Lesson 3 in Module 14.
The need for better communication skills in
the professional and academic world makes
a thorough study of structural details in the
language a very important element when it
comes to building a professional image for
your development. For that reason, paying
attention to details gives you a great
opportunity to show your professional skills. In
this lesson, you will learn some aspects about
the use of articles “a, an, the”, and when not
to use any of them.
This fact results interesting, considering that
the use of articles in Spanish is not exactly
alike.
Hola de nuevo bienvenidos a la Lección 3 en
el Módulo 14.
La necesidad de competencias
comunicativas en el mundo profesional y
académico hace del estudio cuidadoso de ciertos detalles estructurales en el
idioma un elemento importante cuando se trata de construir una imagen
profesional para tu desarrollo personal.
Por ello, poner atención a los detalles te da una gran oportunidad de demostrar tus
competencias profesionales. En esta lección aprenderás algunos aspectos sobre el
uso de los artículos “A/ an /the”, y cuando no se usa ninguno de ellos.
Esto resulta interesante, considerando que el uso de los artículos en español no es
precisamente el mismo.

Vocabulary Lesson 3
19
 Occupations

At work
Mobile
Office space Report
Desk Home Office Meeting
Interaction Cubicle Training
Commuters Stapler Bonus
Motivation Paper Tools
PC Wi-Fi Equipment
Coffee
Lap top Search engine Machine

Grammar a or an

20
The indefinite article “a or an” is normally used when we talk about something that
is not specific in its group. For example:
When we say: “...a car”
It’s is not a specific car. It is just one car.
Since it is one car, there is an important consideration: it means that it is one of a
group.
El Artículo Definido “a or an” se usa normalmente cuando hablamos de algo que
no es específico en su grupo. Por ejemplo:
Cuando decimos “a car”
No es un carro específico. Es solo un carro.
Ya que es un carro, hay una importante consideración por hacer. Significa que es
“uno” dentro de un grupo.

You probably remember the concept of “Countable and Uncountable Nouns”.

Since the literal meaning of “a / an” is “One”, only when a noun can be counted,
and it is singular, we should use the article. In other words, singular, countable nouns
normally take articles a / an.
• A car is good investment.
*Singular countable noun.

Probablemente recuerdas el concepto de “sustantivos contables y no contables”.

Ya que la traducción literal de “a/ an” es “uno” sólo cuando un sustantivo se puede
contar debería de llevar el artículo. En otras palabras, sustantivos contables
singulares normalmente deben de llevar artículos a / an.
• A car is good investment.

• There is an apple on the table.

• A water is necessary for living.
In the first two examples we have singular countable nouns. For that reason, it is
correct to use the articles a / an.
En los primeros dos ejemplos, tenemos sustantivos contables en singular. Por esa
razón utilizamos los artículos a / an.

One more highlight. You noticed that in the first example.

• A car is good investment.
*Singular countable noun.

The first sound of the word car is a consonant, so we use A.

Una observación más. Notaron que en el primer ejemplo el primer sonido de la
palabra “car” es una consonante, por ello usamos A.

In the second example

• There is an apple on the table.
The word “apple” begins with a “vowel (a, e, i, o, u) sound “a”, for that reason we
use the article “AN”.
En el segundo ejemplo

21
La palabra “apple” comienza con un sonido vocal, por ello usamos el artículo AN.

The third example

• A water is necessary for living.
Has the noun “water”, which is an uncountable noun. Therefore, if it cannot be
counted, there can’t be “one”, so we shouldn’t use an article a or an.
En el tercer ejemplo
Se tiene el sustantivo “agua” el cuál es no contable. De ahí que no pueda ser
contado por lo que no debemos usar un o una.

Grammar
Another common use of articles which we don’t do in Spanish is when we talk about
occupations. Differently from Spanish, in English we say:
• He is an artist.
• She is a doctor.

Otro uso común de los artículos, el cual no usamos en español, es cuando hablamos
de ocupaciones. A diferencia del español, en inglés decimos:

But with plural nouns we say:

Pero con plurales decimos:
• They are doctors.
or
• A doctor works long hours.

When we want to generalize over a group of individuals, we normally use plurals

without articles. In other words, we use the article a / an with singular nouns when
we communicate something about all of its kind. We also use this article when the
noun hasn’t been used before.
• Doctors work long hours.
Pero cuando queremos generalizar sobre un grupo de individuos, normalmente
usamos los plurales sin artículos. En otras palabras, utilizamos los artículos a / an con
sustantivos en singular cuando comunicamos algo acerca de todos los de su mismo
tipo. También utilizamos este artículo cuando el sustantivo no ha sido usado antes.

“The”
The article “the” is used:
1. When the noun we are talking about has been specified for different reasons.
2. The noun has been mentioned before.
3. There is previous additional information

22
El artículo “the” es utilizado:
1. Cuando el sustantivo del que estamos hablando ha sido especificado por
diferentes razones.
2. Alguien ha mencionado el sustantivo antes.
3. Hay información adicional previa.

• There is an accountant in the company. (The noun hasn’t been mentioned

before)
• The accountant makes the transferences. (The noun “accountant” has been
mentioned before)
• The blue car is parked on the next block. (“Blue” and “next” make the nouns
specific)

We use the article “the” with countable and uncountable nouns:

Usamos el artículo “the” con sustantivos contables y no contables:
• There is a lot of traffic in this city.
• The traffic makes it really hard for
• Commuters to be on time to their works.

Use of “the”
We use “the” when:
Usamos “the” cuando:

Unique or Specific
We use “the” when we talk about something that is the only one of its kind in that
specific space.
Utilizamos “the” cuando hablamos de algo que es el único o la única de su tipo en
ese lugar.
• We enjoy jogging on the beach yesterday.
• May I go to the bathroom?
• Turn right and walk to number 17. Our apartment building is across from the
Irish Pub.
• My mother can’t put down the book you bought for him.

Additional information
When you give additional information about the noun.
Cuando damos información adicional acerca del sustantivo.
• The woman who directed this movie is a genius.
• I dented the motorbike parked next door.
• I rent in the top-floor apartment.
• She is the lawyer we recommend.

Unique nouns
Sustantivos que son únicos.
• The moon set at 9 a.m. this morning.
• There are more than 7 billion people in the world.

23
 • Love the color of the sky during the sunset.
• The president of my country is never popular.
• I need to talk to the manager.

Superlatives
With superlatives.
Con superlativos.
• This is the highest building in New York.
• You are the tallest person in our class.

Ordinal numbers
With ordinal numbers.
Con números ordinales.
• That was the second time I saw her.
• I’ve read the first book of the collection.

Adjectives to refer a group

With adjectives, to refer to all the members of a group.
Con adjetivos para referirse a todos los miembros de un grupo.
• The children love this game.
• The young students need thorough follow-up.
• They have worked hard for the elderly.

Decades
When we talk about decades.
Cuando hablamos de décadas.
• She died in the sixties.
• This is an invention from the 1890's.

The only
The “only”.
El “único o única”.
• This is the only month when the temperature raises so high.
• She was the only one who knew about our plan.
• The only beer I really like is German beer.

Proper names of…

Proper names of rivers, groups of islands, oceans, seas, or geographical areas.
Nombres propios de ríos, grupos de islas, océanos, zonas geográficas.
• They are flying over the Atlantic.
• Our ferry leaves the canal in 8 hours.
• I am taking a cruise down the Amazon.
• Walking across the Sierra Madre is rather challenging.

Countries
Countries with plural names.
Países con nombres en plural.
• I’d love to visit the Netherlands.
• Have you ever been to the Canary Islands?

24
Kingdoms
With the words “Kingdom”, “Republic”, “States”.
Con las palabras …” reino”, “República”, “Estados”.
• The United States of America.
• The Mexican Republic.

Famous Pieces
With names of famous pieces of art, buildings, museums.
Con nombres de lugares, obras de arte, edificios famosos y museos.
• We visited the Anthropology Museum and took pictures of the Aztec
Calendar.
• I would like to see the Golden Gate.
• I remember the Twin Towers.

Hotels & Restaurants

With the names of hotels & restaurants, except when it is the name of a person.
Con los nombres de hoteles y restaurantes, excepto cuando es un nombre propio
de persona.
• She will stay at The Alameda Inn on Reforma Av.
• We had a wonderful dinner at the Big Fish.

Names of Families
With the names of families to refer to the whole family. The family name is pluralized.
Con los apellidos de familias para referirse a toda la familia. El apellido paterno se
pluraliza.
• The Simpsons
• The Morenos

Don’t use “the” when

Don’t use “the” definite article when:
No se usa el artículo “the” cuando:

Names of Countries
With names of countries (Except for countries with initials, for example The U.S.A.).
No uses the con nombres de países (excepto los que llevan iniciales).
• Germany is a superpower.
• He's just left for Spain.

Languages
With languages.
Con nombres de idiomas.
• English is spoken in Jamaica.
• Biology uses many words of Greek.
• English is a considerably old language.

Meals
With the names of meals.
Con nombres propios de los diferentes alimentos del día.

25
 • Dinner is my heaviest meal.
• I usually skip breakfast.

People's Names
With people's names.
Con nombres de personas.
• Anatolie is stopping by later.
• Carlos Taofe is my therapist.

Titles + Names
With titles and names.
Con títulos más el nombre.
• Princess Diana is Queen Elizabeth's headache.
• President Lincoln was assassinated in a theater.

Occupations
With occupations.
Con oficios, profesiones y ocupaciones.
• Engineering is a demanding profession
• He may study Business Administration.

Names of Shops
With names of shops.
Con nombres de tiendas.
• I bought the gift at JZ Penny’s.
• Could you go to Sears for me?

Years
With years.
Con años.
• 1968 was a controversial year.
• He died in 1995.

Names of single…
With the names of single islands, lakes, and mountains.
Con nombres de islas únicas, lagos y montañas.
• Pico de Orizaba is the highest mountain in Mexico.
• She lives near Lake Chapala.
• Have you visited Skull Island?

Airports, Stations…
With most names of airports, stations, streets, and towns.
Con nombres de aeropuertos, estaciones, calles y pueblos.
• Corregidora Station is in the center of Querétaro.
• How can I get to Sunset Street?
• He is living in Barcelona at the moment.
• They're flying into John F. Kennedy Airport.

26
In this Lesson we learned:
• A / An / The or nothing

Bibliografía
• British Council, Teens Learn English.
https://learnenglishteens.britishcouncil.org/
• Clare Antonia, Wilson J.J., 2016. Speak Out Pre-Intermediate, England:
Pearson Limited.
• Hughes John, Dummet Paul, 2019. Life American English. U.S.: National
Geographic Learning.
• Ireland Sue, Costa Joanna, White Susan, 2019. Target B1 Preliminary.
England. Richmond Publishing House.
• English Revealed, 2019-2021, Cambridge Exam Preparation,
https://www.englishrevealed.co.uk/index.php
• https://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en/grammar/artikel.htm
• https://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en/exercises_list/artikel.htm

27
 Lesson 4

Hey!
How are you doing? It’s good to see you
keeping up with your English up to this
point. You are in your transition from a
basic level of English into an intermediate
level. There is something very important
you have to know: to be a real
intermediate learner of English, there is
some basic knowledge you must master,
such as numbers, directions, the
alphabet, and something very important
that will expand your communicative
competence to a great extent, which is
knowing the verbs in the past form by
heart.
In this lesson, you will be provided with a short list of verbs that will be useful; however,
we encourage you to pick up a good list of verbs from the net and get to memorize
as many as possible. The sooner the better. During this lesson, you will review the past
tense in all forms: negative, interrogative, and affirmative.
You will review the key vocabulary to decide on a past tense when communicating
your ideas, and in the long run, it will give you the possibility to exchange
background information about previous events and facts in somebody’s life. Shall
we?

¡Hola!
¿Cómo estás? Es bueno ver que sigues adelante con tu inglés hasta este punto.
Están en una transición de pasar del nivel básico al intermedio. Hay algo muy
importante que tienes que saber. Para ser realmente nivel intermedio, hay
conocimiento básico que debes manejar a la perfección, tal como números,
direcciones, el alfabeto, y algo muy importante que incrementará tus
competencias comunicativas en gran medida: saber los verbos en pasado de
memoria.
En esta Lección se te proveerá con una lista corta de verbos que será útil, sin
embargo, te invitamos a que escojas una lista de verbos de la red, y te des a la
tarea de memorizarlos tan pronto como te sea posible. Entre más pronto, mejor.
Durante esta Lección repasarás el tiempo pasado simple en todas sus formas,
afirmativo, negativo e interrogativo.
Revisarás el vocabulario clave que te lleva a decidir utilizar el pasado simple al
comunicar tus ideas, y a la larga, te dará la posibilidad de intercambiar
antecedentes de eventos y hechos en la vida de alguien. ¿Comenzamos?

Vocabulary Lesson 4

28
It is time to review the vocabulary of the Lesson.
Es momento de revisar el vocabulario de la lección.

Irregular Verbs

Reading Exercise
Read the story and identify the verbs from the vocabulary list.

Mary was a British girl who didn’t have a happy childhood. Her father was
abusive. This led her to become a writer, which wasn’t a conventional
occupation for a young lady in London during the 1780s. Her father wasn’t a
steady person, and he exhausted his fortune in bad business projects. This forced
Mary and her sisters to stand up for themselves, so they opened and ran a school.
From her experiences there she wrote her first pamphlet called “Thoughts on the
Education of Daughters”.

29
 In 1785 her best friend passed away, which made Mary sad. She made the
decision to leave London and moved to Ireland. She didn’t feel comfortable
there, and a few years she later decided to go back to London, where she wrote
for the Analytical Review.
In 1782, she wrote the text that became her most important writing: “A
Vindication of the Rights of Woman”. It is in this work, where she shows she clearly
despises the worth given to women as fragile ornaments at home. On top of
that, she claims that men are raised to be “gentle, domestic, brutes”, whereas
women are locked down, generating frustration, but most importantly: the way
to change this is through education. In later work, she states that women had a
high sex drive and that it made no sense trying to deny such natural pulse. Back
in the 18th century, a woman like this created a lot of discomfort. Soon after,
Mary got married and became a mother. She didn’t stop her work in
consequence. She actually completed other important pieces of work at the
same time she was nursing her children.
After a trip to Scandinavia, where she wrote disturbing material for the ultra-
conservative society of her times, her husband left her. This only ignited Mary’s
mission, which supported by her high intellect, sensitivity, and sensibility to
achieve equality among people -women or men-, continues the struggle for
equality from different trenches of society that has never been as close to its
accomplishment as it is now.

Mary era una chica británica que no tuvo una infancia feliz. Su papá era
abusivo. Esto la llevó a convertirse en escritora, lo cual no era una ocupación
convencional para una dama en Londres, en la década de 1780. Su papá no
era una persona estable y agotó su fortuna en malos proyectos de negocio.
Esto forzó a Mary y sus hermanas a salir adelante por sí mismas, así que abrieron
y administraron una escuela. A partir de sus experiencias ahí, escribió su primer
panfleto llamado: Pensamientos sobre la educación de las hijas.
En 1785, su mejor amiga murió lo cual entristeció a Mary, así que tomó la decisión
de salir de Londres y mudarse a Irlanda. No se sintió muy cómoda ahí, y unos
años después decidió regresar a Londres, donde escribió para “The Analitycal
Review”. En 1782 escribió el texto que se convirtió en su escrito más importante:
Una reivindicación de los derechos de la mujer. Es en este texto donde
claramente desprecia el valor que se le da a las mujeres como frágiles
elementos de decoración en la casa. Pero principalmente, afirma que los
hombres son criados para ser amables, brutos, domésticos, mientras que las
mujeres son confinadas, generando frustración, pero lo más importante que
clama, es que la manera de cambiarlo es mediante la educación. En trabajos
posteriores, afirma que las mujeres tienen un deseo sexual elevado y que no
tiene sentido tratar de negar un impulso tan natural. En el siglo XVIII, una mujer
como ella creaba mucha incomodidad. Poco después, Mary se casó y se
convirtió en mamá. Ella no dejó de escribir como consecuencia de ello. En
realidad, completó otras obras importantes al mismo tiempo que criaba a sus
hijos e hijas.
Después de un viaje a Escandinavia, donde escribió material disruptivo para la
sociedad costumbrista de la época, su esposo la dejó. Esto sólo encendió más
la misión de Mary, quien, apoyada por su elevado intelecto, sensibilidad y
sensatez, para lograr la equidad entre la gente, mujeres u hombres, continúa la
lucha por la igualdad desde diferentes trincheras de la sociedad, que nunca
han estado tan cerca de ser completadas como lo está ahora.

Reminder
30
Remember, in English, we can differentiate three kinds of verbs. The first one is the
verb “to be”, which is different from all other verbs because, differently from the
others, it doesn’t need an auxiliary neither in the present nor in the past tense for
interrogatives or negatives.
Recuerda que, en inglés, podemos diferenciar tres tipos de verbos. El primero es el
verbo To be, el cual es diferente de todos los otros verbos, porque, a diferencia de
los otros, no necesita un auxiliar ni para el presente, ni para el pasado, en
interrogativos y negativos.

Affirmative Negative Interrogative

I was I was not = I wasn’t Was I?

You were You were not = You weren’t Were you?

He was He was not = He wasn’t Was he?

She was She was not = She wasn’t Was she?

It was It was not = It wasn’t Was it?

We were We were not= We weren’t Were we?

You were You were not = You weren’t Were you?

They were They were not = They weren’t Were they?

The other two types are similar, because both need the auxiliary “did” for the
interrogative and “didn’t” for the negative form. They are irregular and regular
verbs.
Los otros dos tipos son similares, porque ambos necesitan el auxiliar “did” para hacer
preguntas y Didn´t para hacer una negación. Son los verbos regulares e irregulares.

Affirmative Negative Interrogative

I woke up I didn’t wake up Did I wake up?

You woke up You didn’t wake up Did you wake up?

He woke up He didn’t wake up Did he wake up?

She woke up She didn’t wake up Did she wake up?

It woke up It didn’t wake up Did it wake up?

We woke up We didn’t wake up Did we wake up?

You woke up You didn’t wake up Did you wake up?

31
 They woke up They didn’t wake up Did they wake up?

Cook = cooked
play = played
Exceptions
Bake= baked
Fry = fried

The example above is an irregular verb. It is the same structure, although the
difference between irregular and regular verbs is that the first ones don’t have a
regular pattern of conjugation. The second ones only add -ed at the end of the
verb.
You can observe that if the word finishes with an e, you just add d.
When the word finishes with y, it is changed for an i, only if the y is following a
consonant.

El ejemplo de arriba es de un verbo irregular. Es exactamente la misma estructura,

la diferencia radica en que los verbos irregulares no tienen un patrón regular de
conjugación. Los regulares sólo añaden la terminación -ed al final.
Puedes observar que, si la palabra termina con una e, sólo agregas la d.
Cuando la palabra termina con y, se cambia por i, sólo si la y es precedida por una
consonante.

Regular Verbs Pronunciation

Irregular verbs have a conjugation pattern that is easy to remember. Nevertheless,
we should pay close attention to the pronunciation of regular verbs, otherwise,
when not pronounced appropriately, it sounds like a grammar error when speaking.
The pronunciation will depend on the final sound of the verb in the simple form.
Los verbos regulares tienen un patrón de conjugación que es fácil de recordar. Sin
embargo, deberíamos poner mayor atención a la pronunciación de los verbos
regulares, ya que, de otro modo, cuando no se pronuncia adecuadamente, suena
como un error gramatical, al hablar. La pronunciación correcta dependerá del
sonido final del verbo en forma simple.

T D ID
K sound: N sound: D sound:
Bake = baked (t) Clean = cleaned Need = needed

32
 P sound: Stop= stopped R sound: Answer = T sound: Visit = visited
(t) answered
S sound: Practice:
practiced (t) vowel sound: borrowed
X Fixed M sound
SH Washed L sound
CH Watched

In this Lesson we are going to learned:

• Past Form of Irregular Verbs
• Past Tense Affirmative Form
• Past Tense Interrogative and Negative
• Past Form of Regular Verbs
• Past Form of Verb to be, All Concepts

Bibliografía
• Biography.com Editors. (February 28, 2018). Mary Wollstonecraft. Retrieved
from https://www.biography.com/scholar/mary-wollstonecraft
• Brittish Council. (n.d.). Teens Learn English. Retrieved from
https://learnenglishteens.britishcouncil.org/
• Clare, A. & Wilson, J.J. (2016). Speak Out Pre-Intermediate. England: Pearson
Limited.
• Grammar Monster. (n.d.). Adverbial Phrase. Retrieved from
https://www.grammar-monster.com/glossary/adverbial_phrases.htm
• English Revealed. (2019-2021). Cambridge Exam Preparation. Retrieved from
https://www.englishrevealed.co.uk/index.php/
• English Language Centers, Learn English. (n.d.). Homepage. Retrieved from
https://www.ecenglish.com/learnenglish/
• Hughes, J. & Dummet, P. (2019). Life American English. U.S.: National
Geographic Learning.
• Ireland, S., Costa, J. & White, S. (2019). Target B1 Preliminary. England.
Richmond Publishing House.
• Perfect English Grammar. (n.d.). Homepage. Retrieved from
https://www.perfect-english-grammar.com/

33
 Lesson 5
Hello everyone.
Welcome to Lesson 5 in Module 14. In the
past lessons, we have been polishing up our
English, by analyzing in a more detailed
manner, some aspects of the language,
which will make our system of
communication more effective when talking
about our reality in terms of life, work,
projects, etc.
Now, is the moment to start enriching our
possibilities to give background information
when exchanging info about past events. To
do this, we will add details of additional
information to our narrations by integrating
the simple past and the past continuous
tense.
Let’s do it.

Hola, todas y todos.

Bienvenidos a la Lección 5 del Módulo 14. En
las últimas lecciones hemos estado puliendo nuestro inglés al analizar de manera
más detallada algunos aspectos del idioma, los cuales harán nuestro sistema de
comunicación más efectivo cuando hablemos de nuestra realidad, en términos de
vida, trabajo, proyectos, etc.
Ahora es el momento de empezar a enriquecer nuestras posibilidades de
comunicación al intercambiar información sobre eventos pasados. Para hacer
esto, agregaremos detalles de información adicional a nuestras narraciones al
integrar el pasado simple y el pasado continuo.
Hagámoslo.

Past progressive vs simple past

I graduated from high school in August 1985. In those days, I was enjoying a
nice, long break before joining College and sleeping long hours before I
started my daily activities. My mother always left for work at 8 o’clock. She
woke up at 6, prepared some lunch boxes, and then she spent an hour
dressing and doing her make up. That particular day, September 19th, was
not the exception. She got up at the same time as usual and did the same
things. So, at 7:15 she was dressing up and making a lot of noise while I was
sleeping. A couple of minutes later, she was screaming: “Jorge wake up. It’s
an earthquake.” I woke up and saw her in panic. I thought she was
exaggerating, for earthquakes were everyday events in our hometown. That
morning, she was particularly scared. The pictures on the walls were swinging
while the doors were banging. It was particularly long. It seemed it would
never end. After some time, it stopped. We left the house to catch our breath
after such a horrifying experience. When we stepped outside, the sun was
shining and the wind was blowing gently, the sky was blue, but people were
walking around with pale, numb expressions. Everything seemed fine in our
neighborhood, but we didn’t know we were going to see a lot more.

34
 Terminé la prepa en agosto de 1985. En esos días, estaba disfrutando de
unas lindas vacaciones largas antes de entrar a la universidad, y durmiendo
hasta tarde antes de empezar mis actividades diarias. Mi mamá siempre se
iba a trabajar a las 8 en punto. Se paraba a las 6, preparaba los lonches y
luego pasaba una hora arreglándose y maquillándose. Ese día en particular,
el 19 de septiembre, no fue la excepción. Se paró a la misma hora de
siempre e hizo las mismas cosas. Así que a las 9:15 se estaba vistiendo y
haciendo mucho ruido. Un par de minutos más tarde estaba gritando:
“Jorge, despierta. Está temblando.” Me levanté y la vi en pánico. Pensé que
estaba exagerando ya que los temblores eran eventos comunes en nuestra
tierra. Esa mañana, ella estaba particularmente espantada. Los cuadros en
la pared se estaban moviendo de un lado a otro, mientras que las puertas
se estaban azotando. Fue particularmente largo. Parecía que nunca
terminaría. Después de un rato se detuvo. Salimos de la casa para tomar
aire después de una experiencia tan espantosa. Cuando salimos de la casa,
el sol estaba brillando y el viento estaba soplando suavemente, el cielo
estaba azul, pero la gente estaba caminando con semblantes pálidos e
idos. Todo parecía estar bien en nuestra colonia, pero no sabíamos que
íbamos a ver aún mucho más…

Vocabulary Lesson 5

Time expressions Vocabulary Interpretación

In those days College Universidad
At that time To dress up Arreglarse (con ropa)
at 9:00 yesterday To make up Maquillarse
while Earthquake Terremoto
as To swing Columpiarse
when you left To bang Azotar
To catch our breath Tomar aire
el lugar en el que creces
Hometown
/vives
Neighborhood Colonia

wind viento

to blow soplar

to shine brillar

to rain llover

noise ruido

35
Contrasting Tenses

Past Simple Pasado Simple Past Progressive Pasado Continuo

Acción terminada Acción en progreso

Action finished at Action in progress
en algún en un momento
some time in the at a specific time
momento del específico en el
past. in the past.
pasado pasado.

I was fixing
Estaba haciendo el
I fixed breakfast Hice el desayuno breakfast at 7
desayuno a las 7
this morning. en la mañana. o’clock this
hoy en la mañana.
morning.

Sequence of Secuencia de
actions happening acciones
Two actions
right after another sucediendo una
happening at the
or as a después de otra, o
same time.
consequence of como
another action. consecuencia.

I woke up, saw her Me desperté, la vi She was making Ella estaba
in panic, and ran aterrada y corrí a noise while I was haciendo ruido
to the door. la puerta. sleeping. mientras yo dormía.

Combinations
We can have different combinations using the past simple and the past progressive.
Podemos tener diferentes combinaciones usando el pasado simple y el pasado
continuo.

Past progressive Past progressive

My mother was dressing up while I was sleeping.

36
With this combination we express that two actions were happening simultaneously.
Con esta combinación expresamos que dos acciones estaban sucediendo
simultáneamente.

Past progressive Past simple

My mother was dressing up when the earthquake started.
With this combination we express that a longer action was in progress when it was
interrupted by a short action.
Con esta combinación expresamos que una acción de mayor duración estaba en
progreso cuando fue interrumpida por una acción súbita o repentina.

Past simple Past simple

When the earthquake started, my mother yelled.
With this combination we can express a sequence of actions that took place one
after the other, or as consequence from the one before.
Con esta combinación podemos expresar una secuencia de acciones que se
suceden una después de la otra o como consecuencia de la anterior.

In this Lesson we learned:

• Past progressive vs simple past

Bibliografía
• https://test-english.com/grammar-points/a2/past-continuous-past-simple/3/
• British Council, Teens Learn English.
https://learnenglishteens.britishcouncil.org/
• Clare Antonia, Wilson J.J., 2016. Speak Out Pre-Intermediate, England:
Pearson Limited.
• Hughes John, Dummet Paul, 2019. Life American English. U.S.: National
Geographic Learning.
• Ireland Sue, Costa Joanna, White Susan, 2019. Target B1 Preliminary.
England. Richmond Publishing House.
• English Revealed, 2019-2021, Cambridge Exam Preparation,
https://www.englishrevealed.co.uk/index.php
• Cambridge ESOL (2011). Using the CERF: Principles of Good Practice.
Cambridge: Cambridge ESOL. Available online at
http://www.cambridgeenglish.org/images/126011-using-cefr-principles-of-
good-practice.pdf

37
 Lesson 6
Hello, dear participants.
UVEG is truly glad you have made it up to this point,
the final Lesson in Module 14. This Lesson will be
devoted to getting you familiar with some strategies
that can help you improve your comprehension skills,
reading, and listening that is. These receptive skills
feed your “computer” with software and
applications. It is a metaphor, of course. What we
mean is that the more you are exposed to and the
more you receive input information, the more
resources you will have to communicate effectively;
just like a powerful computer loaded with useful tools
and applications.
That is on one hand. On the other hand, we have to
take into consideration that in the era of
globalization, our professional skills will constantly be
tested. For that reason, it is highly recommended to be trained to take exams to
get certifications to move on in our careers. Therefore, developing reading and
listening skills to approach comprehension exercises comes as a very convenient skill
nowadays.

Hola, estimados participantes.

UVEG está verdaderamente feliz de que hayas llegado hasta este punto. La última
Lección del Módulo 14. Esta Lección estará dedicada a familiarizarte con algunas
estrategias para mejorar tus habilidades de comprensión, esto es, tu comprensión
auditiva y lectora. Estas capacidades receptivas alimentan tu computadora con
software y aplicaciones. Es una metáfora, desde luego. Lo que quiero decir es que
entre más te expones a y te alimentas de información, más recursos tendrás para
comunicarte de manera efectiva; igual que una poderosa computadora cargada
con herramientas y aplicaciones útiles.
Eso es, por un lado. Pero, por otro lado, tenemos que tomar en consideración que
en la era de la globalización, nuestras competencias profesionales serán
constantemente examinadas. Por ello, es altamente recomendado el estar
entrenado o entrenada para enfrentar exámenes para obtener certificaciones y
así avanzar en nuestro ejercicio profesional. De ahí que, el desarrollar habilidades
auditivas y lectoras para resolver ejercicios de comprensión nos viene como una
habilidad muy conveniente hoy en día.

What do you do when you start doing the reading section of an exam? Do you go
directly to read the text and focus on it trying to understand everything? What
about a listening test? Do you seat quietly waiting for the audio to start playing and
listen carefully? If you do this, you are making a common mistake while
approaching tests.
There are different skills, strategies, and techniques you can enforce in order to
improve your comprehension and therefore your score.

38
¿Qué haces cuando empiezas a hacer la sección de lectura de un examen? Vas
directamente al texto y te enfocas en él tratando de entender todo? ¿Qué tal con
el audio? ¿Te sientas calladamente esperando a que empiece el audio para
escuchar con atención? Si haces esto, estas cometiendo el error más común
cuando realizas un examen.
Hay diferentes habilidades, estrategias y técnicas que puedes poner en práctica
para mejor tu comprensión y por lo tanto tu calificación.

Reading Skills
Predicting
It is the skill to imagine what is to come, from the most evident elements such as
pictures, title, and other logical and cultural clues we can depict immediately. This
will activate your curiosity and therefore your motivation to read the text. It will start
connecting your brain to the information you are about to receive. This step is very
useful to trigger conversation, sensitize about the topic, activate previous
knowledge and generate the need to find out about key vocabulary.
Es la habilidad de imaginar lo que está por venir, partiendo de los elementos más
evidentes, tales como fotos, título, así como otras pistas gramaticales, lógicas y
culturales que podamos captar a primera vista. Ello activará tu curiosidad y por lo
tanto tu motivación para abordar el texto. También empezará a conectar tu
cerebro con la información que estás a punto de recibir. Este paso es muy útil para
detonar conversación, sensibilizar sobre el tema, activar conocimiento previo que
ya tienes, y generar la necesidad de investigar un par de palabras que serán claves.

Previewing = Anticipation
This is a very important step. You should do this before you start reading or listening
to the text. Here, you look at headings, and go through the questions before you
are exposed to the text.
This will help anticipate the topic and be familiar with the context for better
vocabulary reference.
Este es un paso muy importante. Es muy buena idea hacer esto antes de empezar
a leer o a escuchar el texto. Aquí observas los encabezados, le das una leída a las
preguntas antes de ser expuesto al texto.
Esto ayudará a anticipar el tema y con ello familiarizarse con el contexto para tener
una mejor referencia sobre el vocabulario.

Skimming
This is a technique that fosters quick reading. It is the ability to go through the text in
a quickly fashion, just paying attention to the topic sentences (the first idea in every
paragraph), leading sentences (the last idea in every paragraph), in order to get
an overall gist of the text, the tone or intention of the author.
Esta es una técnica que promueve la lectura rápida. Es la habilidad de dar una
ojeada a la lectura de rápidamente, poniendo atención sólo a la introducción y a
la conclusión de cada párrafo, con la intención de tener una idea en general del
texto, la organización de la información, el tono o la intención del autor.

The waters of Rio Santiago

39
 Along with the growth of the Guadalajara Metropolitan Area, the
development of industrial corridors was also proposed, which due to
strategic conditions, were built in the adjacent municipality of
Juanacatlan, a settlement distinguished by the natural flow of water
that energizes production processes and attracted national and
transnational companies that should have brought competitive
advantages and progress for the population. Publicly, the use of the
water of Santiago River was vital for industrial growth by providing
energy; however, the most attractive factor is that it constitutes the
most efficient means of waste disposal with a lax and omissive
regulation that prioritizes commercial production and profits over
damage to health and the environment.

Disposal of waste in the river has unleashed a series of exosystemic and

social ruptures to which the State only responds with exhortations to
comply with regulations; and in terms of sanitation, domestic
wastewater is treated with treatment plants that cannot process all the
waste, all of it toxic, from the Industry. On the other hand, research
carried out by government programs remains confidential so as not to
undermine economic activities. Even so, a plan is currently being
carried out that seeks to establish action strategies through
governance in a social integration to recognize needs and encourage
involvement in the recovery of the river based on dialogue, Human
Rights, and a culture of peace.

Scanning
This is the ability to locate specific information within the text. In this step, it is
recommended to go through the question before going to the text, identify
keywords and scan the text for that specific piece of information. Once located the
keywords, analyze the information right after and before the vocabulary item to
complete the task.
Esta es la habilidad de localizar información específica dentro del texto. En este
paso, se recomienda revisar las preguntas antes de leer el texto, identificar palabras
clave y escanear el texto buscando esa palabra especifica. Una vez localizada la
palabra clave dentro del texto, se analiza la información inmediatamente antes y
después de la información buscada para completar la tarea.

Vocabulary Lesson 6
Fungus
Saprophytic = organism that eats organic matter

Hongo
Organismo que come materia orgánica

Fungi

40
 Fungi are saprophytic organisms, meaning that they eat organic
matter, usually in the form of dead organisms, be it microscopic algae
or huge hundred-year-old trees. They are mainly responsible for the
continuity of food chains. They are the ones who put an end to the last
level, but thanks to them the cycle can start again. They recycle the
nutrients that can no longer be used by anyone else and when they
integrate it into the soil, the fungi allow the plants to start growing again.
Generally, we confuse the fungi with mushrooms, but this is only a
reproductive structure, something similar to flowers in plants, and
instead of fruits with seeds, these mushrooms reproduce by spores. But
there are many more types of fungi that do not produce “mushrooms”,
and although they may be flying through the air over deserts and
oceans, they grow underground, that is where they do their magic,
because, in addition to their participation in the cycle of life, they
establish relationships with other organisms such as ants or plants which
they cooperate with for mutual benefit.
They can be food, and just as they can be life-giving, they can also be
life-taking. Few organic compounds on earth cannot be eaten by a
fungus and few places cannot be inhabited by them. They give
another meaning to death, are key to the existence of life and can
even be beautiful.
For this and much more, it is worth exploring our soils and learning more
about their inhabitants.

In this Lesson we learned:

• Reading comprehension exercises and Vocabulary.
• Listening comprehension exercises.

Bibliografía
• British Council, Teens Learn English.
https://learnenglishteens.britishcouncil.org/
• Clare Antonia, Wilson J.J., 2016. Speak Out Pre-Intermediate, England:
Pearson Limited.
• Hughes John, Dummet Paul, 2019. Life American English. U.S.: National
Geographic Learning.
• Ireland Sue, Costa Joanna, White Susan, 2019. Target B1 Preliminary.
England. Richmond Publishing House.
• English Revealed, 2019-2021, Cambridge Exam Preparation,
https://www.englishrevealed.co.uk/index.php

41