WEEK 11 24th February - 2nd March 2014

Hello students,

How are you doing?

We reviewed the chart I last gave you in which you had 24 character strengths and you had to mark them from 1-24 in order of importance for you. And you were right!!! Some of them should be number 1. It was great to see you attempt the exercise. We link the nouns and the adjectives too, so we broadened our vocabulary a bit more:

grit-gritty;

resilience-resilient

open-mindedness- open-minded vs. narrow-minded;

bravery-brave

creativity-creative

curiosity-curious

fairness-fair

gratitude-grateful

hope-hopeful

humility-humble

We went through your homework and corrected them.

We corrected and reviewed vocabulary about travelling. We had a look at collocations: to go on/to be on/ to take a holiday and some more vocabulary: package holidays, to book a flight, a long-haul flight. You did great work. Well done.

We had some listenings and we focused on stress of compound nouns.

Then we have a game “easy ride” in which you have to ask and answer some questions about travelling.

I really love your recordings, it was great to listen to them. I want to congratulate you on your work. Well done!!! For next Monday I think perhaps it could be an idea to record yourself on your daily activities to practise the endings of past simple, for example: On Monday, I got up at 7, I had breakfast, I had a shower, I put on my clothes, I kissed my mother goodbye, … etc. So you practise the ending of regular past simple and review the irregular past simple.

Also as homework you have the exercise on sentences for checking-in; on the page of rephrasing you have to do sentences 12 to 18 included; and on the page about travelling you should do the first exercise and try to do the second on adjectives.

Please, review everything we have seen in class, on Monday we will have an exercise to assess your progress.

Have a nice week. See you on Monday.

WEEK 10 17th - 23rd February 2014

Hello dear students,
How are you doing?

It was great to see that Sergio brought the assignment to class this week and draw what he has in his head and what he is passionate about. Samuel and Mario also did it well in class. We spend quite a long time making questions and asking about your interests. I learnt lots of new facts about your daily life and the things you are interested in. I really enjoyed listening to you all. It's nice to see when we talk about something we like, structures seem to be easier. Thanks for your participation in class. You all did it great!!!!!! I love it when you try your best. Here are your masterpieces, very interesting choices!!!!

Then we practiced again the structure: "How long does it take you to do something?" not only in questions but in answers using all the tenses: present simple, past simple, present perfect, future, etc.

We went on reviewing future tenses. We wrote sentences in all the futures and we realised that: When we use the future perfect or future perfect continuous we use have+past participle after will: I will have finished the book by the end of the month.

We also had some rephrasing to do, which involves changing the structure of the sentence in order to have the same meaning as the sentence given. As we had seen comparatives and superlatives the previous lessons, this rephrasing was to practice that. We did 5 sentences in class. For homework we go on with sentences 6 to 11. Don´t forget to do it, it´s just a review and it won´t take long.

I pointed out (phrasal verb, another one!!!! meaning draw attention to, observe, remark on) the difference between later and latter not only in phonetics but in usage. Check this link and try to do the exercise and bring it to class next Monday, we will be correcting the exercise on Monday in class, OK?

later vs. latter

Here it´s a link to distinguish between : late, last, later, latter, latest:

late, last, later, latter, latest

As we also have learnt the difference between former and latter, I have included a link:

former vs. latter


As required here you have a great variety of future perfect and future continuous:

future perfect vs. future continuous

Remember for homework:

1. photocopy rephrasing: 6 to 11. 
2. do the exercises of phrasal verbs : put up, put off, put out, put on, put aside.... 
3. vocabulary travel exercise 7
4. preposition and vocabulary for traveling 8 and 9
5. Record yourself practicing sentences like: how long does it take you to do something? in different tenses (remember endings in pronunciation -ed, -s)

We are finishing traveling and going into the next topic: how we learn a foreign language. As we have talked about the importance of learning I think the next link is going to be to your liking. It's a questionnaire about your type of learning. I have already done mine, we will talk about that next class.

how do I learn best?

Ok students, that's all for now. Have a nice week, enjoy yourselves and review. Bye.

WEEK 9 10th - 16th February 2014

Hello dear students,
How are you today?

Today we have reviewed more vocabulary about traveling and we have seen it in context: double-decker, sliding doors, rack, escalator, fare, meter and the difference between conductor, inspector and driver. You did it well, because you looked them up and you knew the meaning of the words, even when most of them were new. Well done!!! 

We also had a look at prepositions referring to travelling: on a platform, in a lift, at a bus stop. We saw "get into/get out of a car" and "get on/off a bus", "set off". 

Then we had a look at compound nouns about traveling: petrol station, traffic lights, seat belts, rush hour, parking fine, pedestrian area, cycle lane, taxi rank, buffet car, baggage claim,etc.

Then I have showed you some pictures from a project called:"What´s in my head?" to talk about the things we enjoy best. You have to bring it to class next Monday. Please don´t forget to do it. It will be very interesting, I´m sure.

We have had an activity to review comparatives and we have constructed: fewer + countable nouns, and less+uncountable nouns with the help of some images. I was particularly happy because all of you tried to make sentences using the pictures I brought in and the sentences were really good: You racked your brains out!!

We have reviewed the future tense: 

• present simple in future for timetables or scheduled events We have a lesson next Monday.
• present continuous for arrangements I´m playing football tomorrow.
• to be going to for intentions and when something is likely to happen Be careful. You´re going to fall!
• future simple for sudden decisions
• future continuous/ progressive for actions that will be happening in a given time or for emphasis when we are talking about plans, arrangements and intentions: "They´ll be coming to see us next week"
• future perfect for actions that will have finished in a given time (by+time; in 5 year's time): Do you think you will have finished your assignment by next Monday?
• future perfect continuous for actions that will continue up until a particular event or time in the future. They will have been talking for over an hour by the time Thomas arrives.

As we have talked and given examples of the tenses orally I´m going to post some links for you to practice your grammar, in the first one you have to write the correct tense and then you can check online:

future progressive and future perfect

and the following is for future perfect and future perfect continuous:

 

future perfect vs. future perfect continuous

At the end of the class I have given you a piece of paper to mark your character strengths to talk about them in our next class, you have to mark them from 1 to 24: I´m sure you will find the results interesting.

Don´t forget to check the previous blog and have a look at the links. If there is any problem, please let me know and write on the comment area,  I´ll be checking the blog!!! 

Have a nice week. See you on Monday. 

WEEK 8 3rd - 9th February 2014

Hello students,
How are you?

It has been my first class in Learn & Enjoy. I´m glad to have met you all. You did it well. I´m happy all of you tried your best and hope you will go on trying. We have lots and lots of new things to do in class!!!

Today we have reviewed how to make sentences given an open or closed answer. This has helped to know more things about your new teacher!!! Don´t worry, next day it will be your turn.

We have learnt a new structure : how does it take you to ....? which we have practised with different tenses. Then we have had a look at the mind map about travelling. Great work!!! you did it well!!! We went through a lot of vocabulary, some you already know some the first time you come across. We also make questions about travelling, next day we will go on making and answering questions about this subject.

I was curious about your staying in Ireland and you told me lots of interesting things you did during your summer in Dublin!

We also talked about the Trinity exam, remember it's 10 minutes with an English-speaker examiner, 5 minutes you have to develop a speech and the other 5 minutes the examiner will ask you questions about 2 topics out of 6 possible topics you have in this level.  I´m going to post an interview for this level C6:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLQ1zGWkcko

Pay special attention to the way she interacts with the examiner (he´s  very encouraging, helping her to talk) and she is really fluent and accurate when using grammar and her pronunciation is really good. Which questions does he make?

In the C6 Trinity exam the topics are: travel, money, fashion, rules & regulations, health & fitness, learning a foreign language.

We also had a quick review of comparisons and superlatives. And we have a game for next class about comparisons.

You have some homework to do: exercises 3 and 4 and watch the following video: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tb15vFdJL9I

and say whether or not the sentences are true or false: 

a. The Oz-Bus tour lasts two months.
b. The travelers are aged 18 to 60.
c. The participants of the tour only travel by coach.
d. The participants can make lifelong friends during the journey.

Ok students. Hope you enjoy the videos. See you on Monday, have a nice week!!!