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.