School Days, Were they the Happiest Days of our Lives?

Wednesday 25^th June

Hi Isabel. How is it going?

I’m sorry for the delay in posting the blog but the last weeks of June were sort of crazy! Fortunately, I’m on holiday! Well, sort of …

You were lucky because you had a break the week of 18^th!  So, you enjoyed the beach, your time off and the sunshine and lovely weather.

You told me you weren’t attending to class in July; I agree with you, you deserve a break from English, too. But keep listening to podcasts or CDs in English. And watch DVDs or series in English, if possible with English subtitles.

In class, we started to correct the reading comprehension about school days.

“Were they the happiest days of your life?” We talked about school days and, as in the rest of memories, we recalled (remember) good and bad times.

In the text, we could read three different people’s opinions. The headings (titles of the paragraphs) are meaningful (descriptive, with a big meaning): “I left school at the earliest possible moment”, “School to me was my family...”, “My parents backed up every decision my teachers made…”

As the text was rather long and we didn’t have time to go through it thoroughly (completely), I’ll give you the answers to the vocabulary section.

WERE THEY THE HAPPIEST DAYS OF YOUR LIFE?

3- Look at the interview with Lucy Jackman.

a)    Try to guess the meaning of the following words or phrases, looking carefully at the context to help you.

·         Loathed (line 2):                hated.

·         Boarder (line 7):                a person who lives at school, (eats and sleeps   

                                           there).

·         Dormitory (line 15):           a big room with a row of beds (in a school, prison.).

·         Bunch of kids (line 17):    a group of children.

·         Petty (line 32):                  foolish, silly, unimportant.

·         A soft spot (line 44):         to be fond of.

·         Dragon (line 59):               fantastic monster with wings which spit fire.

·         Load of lines(line 63 -64): a lot of lines.

·         Drive (line 75):                  determination.

b)    Try to find a phrasal verb or idiomatic expression which is similar to each of the following.

·           Comfortable/peaceful:                                     settled down (line 14).

·           Emotionally disturbed:                                     hung up (line 21).

·           Tying:                                                              doing up (line 24).

·           Acted very emotionally:                                  freaked out (line 34).

·           Speak severely to someone about their faults:        tell off (line 41).

·           Giving out:                                                       handing out (line 43).

·           Make (someone) exasperated:                       to drive round the bend (line 50).

·           Hated:                                                              couldn’t stand (line 53).

·           Became clear::                                                dawned (line 64).

4- Look at the interview with Jillian Hall.

a)    Try to guess the meaning of the following words or phrases, looking carefully at the context to help you.

·                To slog my guts out (line 29):                         to work hard.

·                Teacher’s pet (line 30):                                   the favourite student of the teacher.

·                Got cross with (line 31):                                  got angry.

·                Cocoon (line 39):                                             shell.

·                To stand on my own two feet (line 40):          to take her own decisions.

b)    Try to find a phrasal verb or idiomatic expression which is similar to each of the following.

·                Had a good relationship:                                 got on with (line 10).

·                Was expelled:                                                 thrown out (line 25).

·                Managed:                                                        muddled through (line 27).

·                Unhurt:                                                            scraped by (line 28).

·                Isolated:                                                          left out (line 33).

5- Look at the interview with Stephen parker.

a)  Try to guess the meaning of the following words or phrases, looking carefully at the context to help you.

·                Public school (line 2):                                      an expensive, private school.

·                Wholeheartedly (line 13):                                wholly, completely.

·                Raking the money in (line 20):                        making a lot of money. (Rake: rastrillo)

·                Naïve /naı’i: v/ (line 36):                                  ingenuous /ın’dی зnjuəs/

c)   Try to find a phrasal verb or idiomatic expression which is similar to each of the following.

·                The goal to achieve:                                        the be all and end all (line 9).

·                Supported:                                                       backed up (line11).

·                At a long term:                                                 in the long run (line 19).

·                Planned:                                                          mapped out (line 25).

·                Travelling:                                                        bumming around (line 29).

I hope this helps!

Have a nice summer. See you again in class!!!!

"The Internet" an Episode from the IT Crowd

Wednesday 28^th May

Hello again!

Your essay on Athens, writing about the city and telling why you like it, was very good.

You can go to this website to bring back memories...

Athens - Greece

Together with it and a listening about ‘The World Around’, we finished the module.

·        Where would you go if your ‘golden retriever’ (a breed of dog) had health problems?

·        Where can you buy some glue and a screwdriver?

·        Where can you get rid of newspapers, old furniture and bottles and help the environment?

·        What about having your body decorated?

·        If you want to open a savings account or withdraw some money, which place would you go?

·        What kind of business should you call if you wanted a quotation for moving furniture and staff to your new home?

As we have been working very hard in the last weeks, we needed an entertaining activity. And that’s why we started to see another episode from the TV series “The I.T. Crowd”. It’s called “The Internet”

This time Jen, the IT head of department, had to make a speech for the monthly meeting of the shareholders (people who had invested money in the company) because she had been named ‘employee of the month’. As usual, Moss and Roy are plotting (making plans against somebody) so as to give Jen away. To reveal that Jen doesn’t know anything about computers – not even how to pronounce the word- and even though, she’s been made manager of the IT department!

 The other story concerns ‘The boss’ of the company and a female journalist who is writing a profile on him because he has been chosen “Man of the Month” by her magazine. Soon, they’ll find out (discovered) they have many things in common. A bit too many things in common as he is soon to find out …

…but we ran out of time,(time finished) so we’ll finish seeing the episode in our next class.

Have a nice weekend! See you on Wednesday!

Used to, Get used to, Be used to

Hello! This is what we did in our class.

We talked about habit using the structures we had learnt before.

I never had problems with my brother. I guess that having sisters is a bit more annoying. My friend used to have quite some rows with her sisters when they lived at their parents’. My friend’s sisters were always borrowing her clothes without asking her. One of them would borrow clothes and put them back into my friend’s wardrobe without bothering to wash them or iron them! This infuriated (make my friend very, very angry)

Then we learnt or reviewed adjectives to describe personality.

·         She’s so sensitive! She’ll cry at the end of every film!

·         Dave is the meanest person I’ve ever met. He’d never buy you a drink.

·         She’s a really sensible girl. She’ll always think things through before she acts.

·         I’m really clumsy. I’m always bumping into things.

·         He’d pick a fight with anybody about anything. He’s so argumentative!

·         My sister will leave things everywhere and she won’t be able to get them when she needs them! She’s really absent-minded. Besides, she’ll never admit she’s wrong! She is also stubborn!

We also revised the differences between ‘used to + infinitive’, ‘be / get used to + ing’

I used to go to the cinema every Sunday. (It was a habit; repetitive action that is no longer true. I don’t go to the cinema now).

It was hard to start the new job because I wasn’t used to getting up so early. ( I wasn’t accustomed to it. It was strange for me). After six months I’m getting used to getting up at 6.00a.m.(I’m getting accustomed to it, although it’s still strange)

'Used to' listening

And that was all!

In the First Weeks of May...

Week 7th -14th May

Hello again!

Last month was a bit confusing with having lessons every one week, so let’s get restarted!

What did we do in the first weeks of May?

In the first week of May, we finished the module in the same way we had started it; that is, talking about participles and relative clauses.

We listened and read about ‘Jumbolair’ the only housing estate (residential area) where the super- rich can commute (travel) to work by plane!

But don’t be sad, remember: ‘Money can’t buy happiness’.

Jumbolair’s most famous resident is Hollywood film star John Travolta, whose $3.5 million mansion is big enough to park a row of aeroplanes, including a Gulfstream executive jet, a two-seater jet fighter, and a four-engined Boeing 707.

Travolta holds a commercial pilot’s license, which means he’s qualified to fly passenger jets.

Now that we have finished the module, don’t forget that:

There are two types of relative clauses: defining and non-defining, also called extra information clauses.

Defining relative clauses are essential for the meaning of the whole sentence. Extra information (non-defining), can be omitted without affecting the meaning of the sentence. They just “add” information.

Bear in mind (pay attention to)these differences:

Non-defining relative clauses.

·         They go between commas.

·         The relative pronoun can’t be left out (omitted).

·         “That” can’t be used instead of which or who.

Defining relative clauses.

·           “That” can be used instead of who or which.

·           The relative pronoun can be left out as long as it is the object of the sentence; that is, when it goes after the subject of the sentence.

Compare:

·           The girl who (that) is speaking is my neighbour’s daughter.

·           Is that the dog which (that) your brother gave you at Christmas?

·           Is that the dog your brother gave you at Christmas?

·           (no relative because the subject of the clause is “your brother”)

                   ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­________________________________________

·      Sue, who (that, is not possible) is speaking about the environment, is my neighbour’s daughter.

·      Mike’s new Mercedes, which (that is not possible; nor can it be omitted) he bought last year, is very elegant.

We also spent ‘A Night at the Oscars’

Yes! Your “Thanks, speech” was really moving. Obviously you were absolutely astonished and delighted to receive that wonderful award. And you were really grateful to those wonderful people who had voted for your film.

http://www.tinyteflteacher.co.uk/learning-english/FCE/adverbs-adjectives.html

So, that was about the first week of May, what about the second?

In the second week we started talking about friends, friendship and social networks.

Would you use a social network or a website to get in touch with old friends you haven’t heard about for years? It seems to me you wouldn’t. Neither would I. As you said, if you are really interested in your friendship, you would never lose touch in the first place.

And we learnt how to talk about habit.

PRESENT HABIT	PAST HABIT
A simple fact	A past habit now finished
My sister works in a bank	I used to live in Rome, but now I live in Paris.
My attitude to this habit of hers	A situation which is familiar and no longer strange
She’s always borrowing my clothes without asking me.	I’ve lived next to the airport for years, so I’m used to the noise.
Characteristic behaviour	A situation which is still strange, but becoming easier
She’ll go out on Friday night and won’t be back until morning.	I’m getting used to travelling on the metro.

And this was what we did in the first weeks of May!

See you! 

Extreme Weather, Extreme Experiences

Wednesday 9^th April

Hi Isabel!

I really had to wait so as to hear your extended versions of the sentences we had. The reason was that you had cancelled the previous class! They were quite good!

You can read other options below:

1       Exhausted after a hard day’s work, a balding, middle-aged man wearing a crumpled suit, and carrying a briefcase, walked slowly along the road that led from the station to his home, pausing only to look up at the night sky.

2       Peter, who’s very wealthy, has a huge, sixteenth century farmhouse, surrounded by woods in the heart of the Devon countryside.

3       Ann Croft, the world famous actress, who married for the sixth time only last month, was seen having an intimate lunch in a London restaurant with a man who was definitely not her husband.

4       The two-week holiday in Mauritius, which we had looked forward to so much, was a complete and utter disaster from start to finish.

5       A ten- year- old boy, walking home from school, found an old, battered, leather wallet filled with £5,000 in £50 notes in the High Street.

Then we listened to two people talking about their experiences in extreme weather conditions.

Simone was living in Cairo at the time. It was extremely hot, between 40ºC and 45ºC. A friend and she decided to go dancing. They were sweating profusely because it was very hot in the nightclub. After that they decided to go to see the sunrise at the Pyramids. They took a taxi, which was stuffy and quite hot. Temperatures rise dramatically at sunrise in Egypt. After that, a boy offered them his bike and they hired it. They rode into the desert and the motorbike broke down. So, they had to walk back to the village pushing the bike. They finally got home. Simone was extremely tired and went to bed. She got up half an hour later feeling sick, confused and dizzy. She had heat exhaustion! It was really unpleasant and she has never done something so silly again!

On the other hand, Anna underwent (experimented) a terrible experience when she lived in Russia. It was absolutely freezing. The kids didn’t go to school because of the cold weather. She went to visit some friends who lived in the outskirts of the town, on her own (without help).

Although she had put on all the clothes she found, she was feeling really cold. She could hardly breathe because her nostrils went blocked by balls of ice. Her hands and her feet hurt and she couldn’t feel them. She got lost because all the blocks looked the same and she started to panic. Thanks god, she could spot (make out, see) her friends in the background; who had come to the bus stop to pick her up!

What about you? Have you ever lived a bad experience due to extreme weather conditions?

Next day I’ll tell you about the hail storm that was over our car while we were driving to the village!

I hope you have enjoyed your Easter holidays.

See you next Wednesday!

Adverb collocations

Making Descriptions Longer

Wednesday 26^th March

Hello Isabel!

How was your weekend?

Was it relaxing, amusing, disappointing?

·           Exam results can at times be disappointing. But you shouldn’t be disappointed because next time they’ll be better.

·           Challenging jobs are really interesting.

·           If you don’t feel challenged, you run the risk of feeling bored at work.

·           Holidays should be relaxing, but whenever I get back from a holiday I feel absolutely exhausted!

Remember, you feel “-ed” because something or somebody is “-ing”. Present participles, “ing” have an active meaning; whilst past participles       “-ed” have a passive meaning.

We learnt how useful adjectives, adverbs, present and past participles can be when making descriptions longer.

“A woman was sitting in her garden”

“A beautiful young woman, lost in her thoughts, was sitting in her country garden watching a bee, lazily going from rose to rose gathering honey.”

The second one is an improvement, isn’t it?

·         I’m looking forward to our next class so as to hear your extended versions of:

·         “Ann Croft, the actress, was seeing having lunch in a restaurant.”

·         “The holiday was a disaster.”

·         “A boy found a wallet in the street.”

On Wednesday, we’ll also have a listening on “Extreme experiences.”

See you!

Landslides- Video