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!!!!