Classes 23-25. Monday-Wednesday 15-17/12

This week was our last week in this trimester and this year.

On Wednesday we had a small Christmas party. 

Carolina, Estrella and Sheila prepared very interesting presentations about Australian, Mexican and Finnish Christmas. 
Well done!

Here´re our photos:

While you´re on vacations you could do some exercises. Here´re some good web pages:
Listening Tasks
Listening and Grammar Tasks
BBC English
Grammar and Vocabulary

I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Classes 21-22. Monday-Wednesday 01-03/12

Hello

Good to have a loooong weekend! But still you can study and do exercises in the blog.

So, last class we kept on talking about Future. We listened to people talking about their arrangements and making plans.
Here´s a list of listening tasks where people are talking about their plans and arrangements. Listen and pay attention to the tenses used:
Listening - Mike´s Plans
Listening - What are your plans for tonight?
Listening - Plans for the weekend

Also we started talking about one more use of future structures - to predict future.
In the future will a pen and paper disappear?
In the future will we watch TV the same as we do it now?
In the future how will we communicate with other people?

Did you notice what future structure we use to predict future?

In Aula Virtual I´ve uploaded the audio and the transcript from our listening - listen to it again, read the transcript - Do you agree with the speakers?





Listen to some people talking about future and cars - Will we still drive cars in 100 years?
Listening - Cars and the Future

Your homework: do the exercises in your copies, Aula Virtual and blog!

Classes 19-20. Monday-Wednesday 24-26/11

Hello

Last week we started a new topic "Communication". We read a text about teenage problems in communication and learnt some expressions:
to change one´s mind
to cope with
nosy
panic
last-minute arrangements
is you can´t beat them, join them

Can you think of your own examples with these phrases? Write them in the comments!

We also learnt different ways expressing future (plans):
Future Simple: will + Infinitive for decisions made at the time of speaking
Tomorrow´s our mum´s birthday! - Really? I´ll buy her some flowers!(it´s just occured to me now)

Present Continuous: for future arrangements
On Friday I´m flying to New York. (it´s already arranged - I´ve got a ticket)

going to: for future plans
What are you going to do at the weekend? - I´m going to visit my parents in the villige. (a plan)

might + Infinitive: for a plan which is undecided
I might go to the mountains this winter. (maybe I´ll go or maybe not)

Read more about Future in the link - Future Link.

Extra practice of future expressions:
Link 1
Link 2
Link 3

For more practice, here´s a link for BBC course.
BBC English - Unit 9 The Big Wedding

P.S. There are more exercises in Aula Virtual.

Classes 17-18. Monday-Wednesday 17-19/11

Hello

This week we were talking about "Telling lies" and mass media. We learnt the difference between similar and often confused verbs: say, tell, speak, talk and discuss.

These verbs also have a lot of collocations:
to say "hello"
to tell lies
to speak English
to talk business etc.

For extra practice, check for this link:
Exercise Link

We watched a video where people were talking about news and mass media. If you´re interested and want to watch it again, here´s a link:
Video Podcast Tales

Sometimes it´s important to read the partner´s body language if you want to know if he´s telling the truth. Here´s an interesting documentary about our body language:
Secrets of Body Language Video

Your homework is to revise everything and prepare for the test.

Classes 15-16. Monday-Wednesday (10-12/11)

Hello

This week we listened to your projects "My life in photos ...". Amazing and interesting stories!
The rest who are eager to talk about their presentation you may do it on Monday.

Also we talked about News and Conspiracy theories. We also revised the use of Past tenses to talk about news or stories in the past.

We practised making up our own stories - Detective Story. The task for it you´ve got in the previous blog entry.

Also we were talking about "Flashbulb memory". Do you remember what it it?
Here´s a link for several BBC sessions to practise our topic and grammar -
BBC Unit 7 Titanic

Practise the exercises on that site and listen to some audios.

Your homework is to write about one big event you wintessed. Write where you were at that moment, who with, what you were doing etc. Try to remember all the details. Use Past tenses for it.

A detective story

So, you have to write a detective story starting like that:

That rainy evening Rosy was as usual at home, she was ....

What happened? Rosy was found stabbed with a knife. There´re three suspects:

a gardener who has been working for Rosy for 20 years
Rosy´s son who leads a bit carefree lifestyle and doesn´t work
a neighbour - a student girl who rents a room next door and badly needs money

Here are the evidences the detective found:

a torn teddy bear, a corkscrew, a postcard from Singapore, a leather glove, a foreign coin, a blood-stained T-shirt, a CD, a broken flower pot, a cap, two old magazines “Vogue”, an empty whisky bottle, a white silk scarf, a bus ticket.   

Use Narrative Tenses: Past Simple, Continuous and Perfect! 

  

Classes 13-14. Monday-Wednesday 03-05/11

Hello

This week we revised a little bit our grammar - the difference between Past Simple and Present Perfect:
Past Simple - specific past events at a specific time that started and finished in the past.
Present Perfect - experiences at not specified time, started in the past and continues now. 

Here´s a link if you want to practise more - Grammar Link.

We use Present Perfect especially when we ask: "Have you ever ...?" about the experience in general:
Have you ever jumped with parachute? Here´s one more link to practise - Grammar link.

Also we learnt some expressions with prepositions: time expressions.
AT: at 12 o´clock, at the weekend, at night
IN: in the morning, in 2012, in July
ON: on the 4th of January, on Monday

Preposition + noun:
a book BY Dan Brown
to see smth ON TV, hear ON the radio
to go FOR a walk, a drive, a swim
to travel BY train, car, bus

Fixed expressions:
by mistake, on my own, on business, by chance, by hand etc.

We started talking about Narrative Tenses (Past Simple, Past Continuous, Past Perfect) when we tell a story or event from the past.
Grammar Link 1
Grammar Link 2

Your homework is to prepare the project "My life in film/photos". You have to talk about your past life and its different stages, bring the photos to illustrate it. Use the past tenses and expressions with prepositions.
Also practise our grammar in the copies.

Classes 11-12. Monday-Wednesday 27-29/10

Hello

This week we finally organised our debates and you were really great! You prepared well watching a video and reading the articles! Good job!

We started a new topic this week "Hollywood versus History". We talked about different genres of films and programmes (biopic, docudrama, science fiction, mystery, disaster etc.)
Here´s a link where you can read about film genres:
Film Genres Link

Choose one genre and write about a film you like of this genre. Explain why you like it. (Write in your comments below).

So, are Hollywood films accurate about history? Let´s do a quiz and find out how good you are at it:
Fact or Fiction Quiz

Choose a fact or fiction from the quiz that you find the most amusing or interesting and be prepared to tell about it in the class!

How do actors prepare for their roles when they play famous people?
Here´s a short video from Jimmy Fallon´s show where Helen Mirren was talking about her meeting with the Queen. What is "Queen-itis"?
Video Link

Your homework is to do the vocabulary exercises in your copies, revise Present Perfect vs Past Simple.

Classes 9-10. Monday-Wednesday 20-22/10

Hello!

This week we revised the vocabulary from the topic "Family" (family roots, mother´s side, inherit, godmother, classmate etc.).

We´ve also watched a short video where people were talking about their families:
What do you know about your family?
How similar are you to your parents/siblings?
What do you know about your family history? etc.

Also we were talking about gendre differences. We discussed some gender stereotypes and talked about a video. By the way, if have troubles to watch the video from the link, I´ll upload the link again:
Documentary Video
If you still have problems, here´s a title of the video that you can find in Youtube:

"BBC Horizon Is your Brain Male or Female" 

 At home you have to prepare for a Debate Class on Monday. We´re going to discuss a controversial topic: "Are our differences innate or shaped by the world around us?".

Use the vocabulary copy for it, watch the video again and prepare your arguments to defend your opinion. You may want to study some vocabulary to give your opinion. Here´re some links:

Giving your opinion  

Expressing opinions

Also study the copies with expressions for agreeing and disagreeing!

To make a point in another language is difficult. You need to express the idea, control your grammar and vocabulary and still try to sound polite! It´s important to learn to do it little by little. Here´s a BBC Learning English programme where they teach you some useful vocabulary, intonation and situations to express your point:

How To Make a Point - Listening Link

Good luck!

Classes 7-8. Monday-Wednesday 13-15/10

Hello!

This week was a tough "grammar" week. We did a lot of grammar and learnt a lot of things.
For example, stative verbs and their use, verbs that can be stative and dynamic with the change of meaning (see, taste, think, weigh, enjoy etc.).
What do you think - will the weather be good this weekend? What are you thinking of doing this weekend?
If you still have doubts or would like to practise more, here´s a link:
Dynamic and Stative Verbs Exercises

We also practised asking questions and here´s your task:
Choose a piece of text in English (an article, a story, a dialogue), prepare 10 different questions to it. Bring the text to the class and be ready to do this activity with your groupmates.

We started discussing a very interesting topic last class - male and female brains. Are they different? If yes, then how? There´re a lot of men and women stereotypes, like men are better at sciences and women - at humanities. Men can read maps better, but women can remember the details better etc.
Here´s a link of an article about some funny stereotypes that we face every day while talking about the difference between men and women:
List of Gender Stereotypes
Read it and choose the stereotypes you find funny/ridiculous or that have some sense.

Also here are two more articles with the research results that contradict each other. Read them and take notes of the main points (later you´ll need this information for our future debate class):

Men and women do not have different brains, claims neuroscientist

The differences between male and female brains: time to reconsider the value of stereotypes?

The text in our copies is based on the BBC research. Here´s a link of its full video documentary:

Is you brain male or female? - Video Documentary

Watch a video and take notes of its main points. Make up a short summary.

Classes 5-6. Monday-Wednesday 06-08/10

Hello again. Hope you´re ok, looking forward to the weekend:)

This week we were talking about relationships and family. We learnt a new concept "idiom" - expressions that are not taken literally. (If you´d like to know more about idioms, visit this webpage - Idiom Examples).
We learnt some idioms about relationships:
to put one´s foot in it
to have a heart of gold
to keep other people at arm´s length
a shoulder to cry on
to get on one´s nerves etc.
We also watched a short film "Head over heels" and discussed its message and meaning. If you´re interested in watching it again - here´s a link "Head over heels" short.

We talked about our families and family histories. Here´s some new vocabulary:
ancestors, roots, immediate family, extended family, to take after, to inherit, to be related to etc.

We read a text about an interesting project on BBC "Who do you think you are?" about different family histories of British celebrities. Here´s a link to the programme, choose a couple of videos that you like and be ready to talk about them in the class:
"Who do you think you are?" - BBC One

We started revising verb tenses and talked about four of them: Pr.Simple, Pr.Cont, Past Simple, Past Cont. What are "stative verbs"? You have to find out some information about stative verbs and find examples where they can be used in continuous changing their meaning. Here´s a useful link:
Stative Verbs Link.

Your homework is to do the exercises in the copy and write out the examples with stative verbs.
Have a good weekend!

Classes 3-4. Monday-Wednesday 29/09-01/10

Hello and welcome a new student to our class!

This week we continued talking about happiness and relationships. We read a text "Measuring Health and Happiness" and talked about different ways of measuring happiness.
What categories are important for us: How much do you earn? How safe do you feel? Do you have many friends? etc.

Here´s a link for one interesting project by Adam Shell and Nicholas Kraft "Pursuing Happiness".
Read about it and watch the videos. Which story of happy life do you like most? Why? 
(Write in the comments below).

We also learnt some vocabulary - different expressions with the word "feel":

• expresssing emotions - I feel happy/sad/angry.
• expressing physical state - I feel sick/unwell.
• expressing opinion - I feel this project will be successful.
• expressing wish to do smth - I feel like going out today.

We also revised some grammar - Past Simple, the use and pronunciation of regular/irregular verbs.
Here´s a good link of an exercise to practise irregular verbs:
Irregular Verbs Task

Your homework is to look through the copies and translate the idioms and set expressions.

Classes 1-2. Monday-Wednesday 22-24/09

Hello and welcome to our new course. Hope you´ll have fun and learn lots of things.

This week we got acquainted and revised how to ask questions in English correctly.
Remember the word order!

General questions:
Auxiliary verb + Subject + Main Verb:
Do you like football?
Are you happy now?

Special questions:
Question word + auxiliary verb + Subject + Main Verb:
What are you doing here?
When did you last go on holiday?

For further practice click on these links:
Form questions
Asking questions

We discussed a very interesting topic - What makes you happy? It´s a simple and a tough question at the same time. Here´s a short video where different people answer this question:
What makes you happy Video
What do people mostly answer? Is it easy for them to answer it?

Now I suggest you making an experiment - ask as many people as you can what makes them happy. Record it on your phone and next week we´ll listen to it! Have fun!

We also started revising some grammar - Past Simple and regular/irregular verbs.
Pay special attention to the pronunciation of regular verbs in the past. Before doing exercises in your copies, watch this video and practise with the speaker:
Pronunciation Video - Regular Verbs

In your copies with the homework you´ve got a listening link - here it is:
Listening Task

We also learnt some set phrases about relationships and found lots of phrases with "get":
get married, get divorced, get on well, get back together etc.
Here´s a link with some more expressions, there´re lots of them. Choose five that you liked, write them out and bring to the class:
Phrases with GET

Let´s see how our blog works. So, your task is to write in the blog a love story that happened either to you or to smb you know. Use verbs in the past and "get" phrases.