BEFORE session 21/10/2014

Things to do before the session:

• ONLINE:
• Think of a painting you like, find the image on the Internet, and a month to match the painting from October to June.
• Create a calendar page using http://www.calendarlabs.com/photo-calendar.php
• Colour-print it.
• Bring it to class and be ready to present the picture to the rest of the group, justifying your choice of month. Make notes about:
• what's happening in the painting
• the impressions/feelings you have about it
• information about the painter and/or people in the picture (you can invent this!)
• additional comments
• You are more than welcome to do the activity in pairs
• To describe the picture, also use the worksheet on Picture Description  in the shared folder and the presentation below:

• OFFLINE
• SB p.137 Grammar Reference Adjectives and Adverbs
• SB pp.12-13 READING Part 1

English Learning Strategy: Recording your own voice

Reflections on the Voicethread activity When I was on holiday 

 

 

• Record Yourself: An Easy Strategy to Improve Speaking

• Recording yourself

 

AFTER Session 14/10/2014 and BEFORE Session 16/10/2014

• OFFLINE:
• Revision AV1 Verbs of the senses [photocopy handed out in class]

 

• Revision AV1 Music [Vocabulary Builder from New English File Upper Intermediate available in the shared folder]
  

• Go through the useful language for Reviews [Worsheet handed out in class]

• ONLINE:
• Revise the presentation on Reviews

 

To prepare for your writing on Tuesday 21, you have:

• The handout
• The presentation above
• The workbook, p.7: the task!
• FOR REVISION AND EXTENSION: In the shared folder in BOX, there is a subfolder with some files that contain sample/model texts, more vocabulary, hints/advice, etc.
  

List of Topics for Monologues - 1st Term

-Language Learning

-Film/Book/Music review

-Picture description

-Entertainment nowadays

-Sightseeing in...

-Festivals / Carnivals

-Amusement/Theme parks

-An anecdote: when you once complained about goods/service

-Social/Political/Economic issues

-Sports in gen., football in particular

-Interests in gen., unusual hobbies in particular

-Health & fitness

-Risk taking as a modern trend

-An anecdote: A lucky escape

FEEDBACK AFTER session 09/10/2014

• VOCABULARY
• WORDS IN THE NEWS
• charges (vb. charge with)
• alleged
• hearing
• trial
• gang-raping
• eleventh hour plea
• lavish
• draws to a close
• instability (adj. stable/steady)
• derail

•  PHRASAL VERBS
• Go off
• Be into
• Keep up with
• Come out
• USEFUL PHRASES
• a fair bit; quite a bit
• I guess so
• all sorts
• stuff like that; what kind of stuff?
• It was ON TV
• I turned over
• a bit too weird for my liking
• As I say...
• It's not really my kind of thing
•  pretty heavy
• It's not the kind of thing you can watch and just switch off...
• I'll give it a go/a try/a miss
• a bit dull
• a bit of a nerd
• Let me write that down
• Not as a rule
• Not that keen on
• tackle issues
• I do read the occasional graphic novel
• What about you?
• It was so over-the-top, just so disgusting and then the plot!

• LEARNING STRATEGY
• Remember that to improve your spoken English you have to learn English in chunks: learn word combinations as opposed to single words. Here is an article and a video on How Words Hook Up With Each Other in Spoken English

• PRONUNCIATION
• WORDS IN THE NEWS - WORD STRESS
• control
• consolidate
• grenade
• decadent
• Communist
• financial
• microscopes
• lunar

•  GRAMMAR

• Revise the structure from AV1 I'd rather...

BEFORE session 14/10/2014 Enjoy the long weeekend!

Things to do over the weekend and before the next session:

• ONLINE: 
• Flick through the video WHEN I WAS ON HOLIDAY with all your photos and recordings.

• Pick the three photos you like best (not yours!), listen to the corresponding recordings and fill in a chart with the following information:
• WHERE?
• WHO WITH?
• WHEN? HOW LONG?
• TYPICAL THINGS

• OFFLINE: 
• Listen to one of the two podcasts in our shared folder in BOX:
• An American in Spain
• Yes, you can 
• SPEAKING Prepare to dicuss the questions in Ex. A, page 10, SB.
• SPEAKING Prepare to describe the paintings on page 11, SB.

Summarize the podcast in a paragraph.

FEEDBACK AFTER Session 09/10/2014

VOCABULARY

•  WORDS IN THE NEWS:
1. prisoner swap
2. release
3. hostages
4. siege
5. air strikes
6. civilians
7. ceasefire
8. outright
9. poll
10. bailout

• SOMETIMES, BUT NOT OFTEN:
• every now and then
• now and again
• from time to time
• Difference between BrEng (at the weekend) and AmEng (on weekends).

GRAMMAR

• Difference between used to and would to express habitual actions in the past 
• USED TO
  ·         We use USED TO + infinitive to refer to habitual actions in the past. (Remember that to refer to habitual actions in the present we use USUALLY and other adverbs of frequency + the simple present). Compare:
  This year I usually go to the library once a week whereas last year I used to go twice a week.
  ·         The negative is DIDN’T USE TO + infinitive and the interrogative is DID (you) USE TO + infinitive.
  Did you use to be a bookworm?
  I didn’t use to find reading so fascinating.
  ·         NOTE. Make sure you don’t confuse this structure with BE/GET USED TO + -ing which means BE/GET ACCUSTOMED TO. In this case, USED is not the verb, it is an adjective.
  She had got so used to living without him that she didn’t miss him anymore.
   
• WOULD
  ·         We can also use WOULD + infinitive to refer to habitual actions in the past. The difference between USED TO and WOULD is that, whereas USED TO refers to both past actions and states, WOULD refers only to repeated actions in the past, not states. Compare:
  Every single morning I would make fresh bread for breakfast.
  When I was younger, I would be more understanding towards other people’s flaws
  BUT When I was younger, I used to be more understanding towards other people’s flaws.

PRONUNCIATION

• WORDS IN THE NEWS (WORD STRESS):
• Islamic
• Islamist
• consulate
• strategic
• Pakistani
• reportedly
• Brazilians
• Nobel
• committee

• Difference betweeen doll /dɒl/and dull /dʌl/