That's English! - Module 6 - Unit 10: Stories and Legends

In this unit we are dealing with past tenses in different ways: past simple, past continuous, past perfect, used to and would. If you need more information about used to and would, go to this link
What is the main difference between WOULD and USED TO?

• WOULD is used in repeated actions in the past and it's only possible with static verb

• USED TO is referred to a habit in the past that you don't do any more.

When I was a little girl I used to go to the cinema with my parents and we would eat pop corn while we were seing the film.

I hope it's clear but don't worry too much; you'll be able to use it little by little.

That's English! Module 6 - Unit 9: Theatre

The title of this lesson is "The World Is a Stage" and it's about theatre. Apart from the vocabulary specific about this topic and some other shows, you can get words connected to expressing satisfacction or critisicism. As a summary here you are the principal adjectives used for doing this: 

Really possitive	Rather negative	Possitive
Amazing Brilliant Outstanding Fantastic Great Terrific Extraordinary Gorgeous	Awful Dreadful Rubbish Disappointing Dull / Plain   Boring Annoying Worthless	Nice Amusing Entretaining Witty Clever Enjoyable Pleasant Fine

Remember these adjectives can be used in other contexts or for other general comments such as literature, painting, movies, etc.

To finish with, if you want to have a good idea about how to write a review, here you have a link which is quite useful; click here. 

Education

We have started lesson 7A which is about Education. Here you have a video with a documentary about education; it's a bit long and not very easy but quite interesting: click here. If you want to increase your vocabulary, go to this link with drawings: here

Coming back after my workshop

I've got so many ideas to practise with you... We are coming back to class but we must take into account that we are finishing the course in few weeks so we should make an effort.
The other thing is that I want you to have another test at the end of this term, which means next week! so we have to hurry up this week to prepare the exam.
See you in class since tomorrow morning!

That's English! Module 6 - lesson 6

Hi, everybody!
This week we've got an important lesson because giving your opinion is a very natural way of speaking and it's pretty frequent to use it in your daily life. Let's see some pages to work with this topic:

• A list with common expressions and an exercise to practise; click here
• Another list but you can see the distinctions among ways of expressin opinions; click here
• This is to express agreement, partial agreement and disagreement; click here
• Video oriented to pass an exam but it's useful but rather long, to tell you the truth; click here
• This PDF is to show you how to use these expressions while you are writing; click here

But I'm more interested in giving you practical exercises such as these ones:

• Work with your partner (if possible)about these discussions; you must have a different point of view supported by reasons (even if you don't agree with your part in the dicussion): 
• cats or dogs for a pet, what's better, more practical, nicer...?
• a car or a bike in the city; your own transport or public transport
• a house or a flat; living in the outskirts or in the city centre.
• using cash or credit card; buying in a shopping centre or in small shops.
• You can do the same exercise by writing your point of view.

Another important point in this lesson is the use of question tags; here you are a good explanation, click here or here if you prefer a video; but if you want to practise, click here. 

The most difficult thing is to do it while speaking and to give the right entonation. You can do it at home by recording to yourself; try it and you'll see how you improve.

Just to finish with, here you have a video about body language; I think it's quite interesting so click here; this other video is also quite interesting, but a bit longer; have a try and click here

See you in class!

That's English! module 6 - unit 5: visiting places

Here you have some exercises to work with the vocabulary of this lesson:

• it's very easy but pay attention to the definitions: you'll find examples of passive voice and relative clauses; click here
• this is a very complete vocabulary list of shops and places in a town (it's in American English); click here

About grammar, you are going to work with the future form WILL; I thinks it's better if you revise the main future tenses to see how to use each one properly. Use these links:

• an explanation and exercises
• something similar: http://www.world-english.org/grammarfuture.htm
• in this link you'll find future tenses that we haven't seen yet, but there are good examples of the ones you've already practised; click here
• this exercise will help you to distinguish between WILL and GOING TO: click here
• here you'll find more links with the previous kind of exercises: go to here

If you want to see the vocabulary and what you've learnt in practise, go to any link of tourist information and you'll find lots of examples; here you have some:

• Helsinki: tourist information page, click here and if you want to see some videos go to youtube and watch videos like this or this long one
• London: here you have some videos like this one (not very difficult and short) or this one (easy but long)

See you soon!

What to do this week

As I already told you in class, this week is going to be a bit different. First of all, we'll have class on Monday but we'll do some extra activities I'll give you to do.
On Wednesday you'll have class of conversation with Eduardo, as usual but there are some exercises I need you to do to practise these skills:

READING:

• You should practise with cloze tests like the ones of this site; do at least number 2 and 3 and see the key of the exercises at the end; click here
• If you want to practise with multiple choice (a,b,c option exercise), go to this link

LISTENING

• you can practise with this exercise; click here
• if you need a higher level, you might click here 

WRITING

• write an email to a foreign friend who wants to come to visit you. This person asks you when it's the best month to come. Answer him/her and invite him/her to come but try to include all the grammar points we have already seen in class up to now such as relative clauses adn passive, past and future tenses.

SPEAKING

• For those of you who can't come on Wednesday to practise with Eduardo, you should work on an exercise you'll be asked to do on Monday 31: you should prepare a short presentation about a historical character or a device, using sentences with passive tenses such as: "Columbus was born in Italy... he was given 3 ships to go to America... Indians were taken as slaves..." or "the mobile was invented in...At the beginning it was used to... Later its dimensions were reduced ... it was sold all over the world..."

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