1st INT – latest lessons

Although I haven’t written posts for the last weeks’ lessons guide, I’ll keep you up-to-date in case you haven’t been able to come on these days but you still want to keep up with our classes in the future.

Grammar: SS have learnt  the difference between each other and the reflexive pronouns (15)

Vocabulary and pronunciation: SS have focus on learning adjectives of personality and practising their correct pronunciation. (p 15)

Listening and speaking: SS have listened to a psychologist talking about how our personality is defined by our position in the family (p 15). Afterwards, they have given their opinions basing their arguments on their own personal experiences as members of a family.

Listening: SS have listened to a song by the group Sister Sledge back in the lates seventies, and they’ve used a photocopy to do some activities on the lyrics.

Questionnaire: SS have been given a set of questions about the importance of money in their lives. They have been working in pairs comparing their answers. (worksheet Is money all you need?)

Grammar: revision of the present perfect and the past simple; a dialogue where two people were arguing about money has provided the context (p. 21). They have been given a set of photocopies with exercises for self-study.

Listening and vocabulary: SS have listened to a song about today’s money-obsssesed society and  they have learnt common words and phrases to talk about money.

For homework they have been given a worksheet to do vocabulary exercises on the topic of money.

As a follow-up activity on the blog, they have been able to do another vocabulary exercise and to listen and read the lyrics of two songs, which ,although very different, deal with the same topic of money.

Speaking: SS have practised the contrast between the past simple and the present perfect and also they have been provided an opportunity for free-speaking (ex. 3 on p. 21).

Writing (homework): SS have written about the following topic: “You have just won 2500 euros and have to spend them all on a weekend. Write about your plans for that weekend. Remember that the money which is left will be wasted.”

It’s all in the past

These are some links to help you study past tenses:

Irregular Verbs List

Simple past :     explanation exercise 1

Past continuous:    explanation exercise 2 exercise 2

Past perfect:     explanation exercise 3

Past perfect continuous:      explanation exercise 4

Mixed past tenses exercise

Money makes the world go round

In order to look at basic vocabulary to talk about money I suggest you doing this self-test exercise.

Now what about a bit of music? I’ve thought you might like to listen to two quite different songs , whose chorus I’ve used to give a title to this post:

the first song is one of the pieces of the 1972 American musical film Cabaret.

View this document on Scribd

The second song was released more than twenty years later by the American singer and song-writer R. Kelly and it appeared in his 1989 album “R”

Adjectives as nouns and adjective order links

Here you have some links to study this grammar point more in depth:

Try any or all these easy quizzes to check your difficulties using nationality adjectives:   quiz 1 quiz 2 quiz 3
If you had problems I recommend you to revise any of these lists:  list 1 list 2

To revise the use of the + some adjectives to talk about specific groups of people I suggest these links: explanation exercise

or for the use of one and ones: exercise 1

As for the position of adjectives before a noun, although it is impossible to give a clear rule which will work in all circumstances, here is an acceptable order for adjectives.

THE ROYAL ORDER OF ADJECTIVES
Determiner	Observation	Physical Description				Origin	Material	Qualifier	Noun
		Size	Shape	Age	Color
a	beautiful			old		Italian		touring	car
an	expensive			antique			silver		mirror
four	gorgeous		long- stemmed		red		silk		roses
her			short		black				hair
our		big		old		English			sheepdog
those			square				wooden	hat	boxes
that	dilapidated	little						hunting	cabin
several		enormous		young		American		basketball	players
some	delicious					Thai			food

(taken from http:// grammar.ccc.commnet/edu/grammar )

Finally I think you could try this general quiz on adjectives

2nd INT (2ºC, 2ºE, 2ºH) 1st term tests

2ºE , 2ºE

Monday 16th Nov: Listening+Reading+Writing

Monday 30th Nov: Listening

Monday 14th Dec: Listening+Reading+Writing

2ºH

Tuesday 17th Nov: Listening+Reading+Writing

Tuesday 1st Dec: Listening

Tuesday 15th Dec: Listening+Reading+Writing

1st INT (1ºC) 1st term tests

Monday 16th Nov: Listening+Reading+Writing

Monday 30th Nov: Listening

Monday 14th Dec: Listening+Reading+Writing

1st INT- Sessions 9th – 12th Nov

Sports vocabulary and listening tests: SS listen to people talking about sports they do.

Homework: think about a sporstperson who has retired. You’ll have to tell your mates about them.

Grammar revision: past forms exercise.

Speaking: Students interview each other about sport. Exercise 6, p. 10.

Reading: SS read and discuss about sporstpeople who have retired. Exercise 7 on p. 11.

Pronunciation: SS practise and contrast the long vowel sounds in sport and word. Exercise 5 , p. 10.

Vocabulary and speaking: SS revise and extend family vocabulary and discuss how the typical family is being redefined.

Grammar: the three most common future forms will be studied and contrasted. Exercise 2, p. 13.

Reading: SS read about two sisters and their relationship.Exercise 3 on p. 14.

Writing: SS read two emails, eliciting the main ideas. They correct spelling mistakes and answer some general comprehension questions.

Grammar and speaking: SS talk about their future, using some questions from a worksheet as prompts.

2nd INT – Sessions 9th – 12th Nov

Reading: SS read about medical myths. Exercise 3 on p. 11 (WB)

Listening: SS listen to 3 people who gave or received first aid. Ex. on p. 12 (WB)

Grammar: SS revise and extend what they know about the present perfet simple and continuous. Ex. 5, on p. 14 (SB)

Reading and speaking: SS read about different kinds of stress, and discuss about activities that are bad for their health. Exercise 6 on p. 15.

Grammar: SS practise perfect and present verb forms in pairs. Exercise 5 d on p. 14 from two worksheets.

Writing: SS identify and correct different types of mistakes in an email. Then they revise other useful expressions in letters/emails.

Speaking games: SS practise present perfect forms playing a  board game in groups, and then a guessing game as a whole class.

2nd INT – Sessions 3rd – 5th Nov

Speaking and vocabulary: SS’ s knowledge of first aid is tested and discussed, ex. 1a and 1b on p. 12 (SB). Then they expand their vocabulary of medical words ex. 1c

Pronunciation: the focus is on consonant and vowel sounds, and how phonetics can help them to pronounce correctly, ex. 2 on p. 12.

Speaking: SS talk about their personal experience of an illness.

Reading and listening: Ss read about two first aid cases in pairs. They tell each other about their story and then discuss if the people giving help did the right thing. Finally they try to guess the end of the stories and check their guesses listening to what really happened.

Reading and speaking: SS do a quiz and discuss what to do in medical crises.

Homework: revision exercises on p. 18.

1st INT- Sessions 3rd – 5th Nov

Vocabulary and speaking: check vocabulary worksheet exercises and interview each other about sport (ex. 70.5)

Grammar: SS revise past tenses on p. 8 and 9.

Listening: listen to J A Marín talking about the advantages and disadvantages of being a professional football referee.

Speaking: Who’s the best at cheating? SS tell anecdotes trying to cheat their partners. After listening to everybody’s anecdote, they choose the best cheat.

 

Homework: revision of sports vocabulary.