3A: Grammar exercises: Speculation and deduction

 1 Quiz on verbs of speculation and deduction ( and adverbs and adjectives for speculation)


  2  Brain Teasers ( funny scenarios where you have to use your imagination to come up with the real answer) You have to make use of  speculation and deduction expressions in the present and in the past. Just speculate by using some of the expressions  used in the book for each situation.
Example:
A man lived on the twelfth floor of a building. Every day he took the elevator to got to the ground floor to go to work or  to go shopping. when he returned he took the elevator to the eighth floor and walked  up the stairs to reach his apartment. he hated walking, why did he do that, then?

Possible answers:
" he could have forgotten.... "
"He can't possibly have had...."

Video on TED.com: Shh!!SOUND HEALTH in 8 steps by Julian Treasure

A very interesting  5- minute video on "Sound Health" at  www.ted.com

Sound health in 8 easy steps

3B: Some explanations,examples and quizzes on INVERSION

Inversion of subject and verb, Inversion of particles and prepositions.

Some more examples of inversion

A useful explanation on INVERSION through a pps

18 different types of Subject/Verb inversion (very interesting!!)

short quiz on inversion

Some more stuff on inversion ( with an online quiz at the bottom of the page.)

ANSWER KEY for GRAMMAR activities from unit 2

 Hi everybody,
here's the answer KEY to the activities on the previous post I made on GRAMMAR activities for CONSOLIDATION.


ANSWER KEY to activities from UNIT 2

Grammar activities from UNIT 2 for consolidation.

 Hi guys!

Here's some hand-outs to work on grammar for Unit 2.
DO NOT do activities under  "ACTIVATION" tag.
I'll post the  KEY with the answers in  a couple of days.

Narrative tenses, USED TO, WOULD

Expression of distance

Uses of GET

bye for now
JL

BLACK FRIDAY & CYBER MONDAY!!!

Yes! It's about shopping! SHOP TILL YOU DROP is the logo of the day.

Lots of people in the U.S.A. start their Christmas shopping on this day. Chain stores and smaller shops open their doors early in the morning in the hope of making big sales and great profits.

Why is it called BLACK Friday? There are two theories to explain it:

• One considers it is due to the marks of wheels on the roads on such a busy day.
• The other one says the reason is that benefits are recorded in black ink whereas losses appear in red.

What is your opinion about a day like this?

Is there something similar in your country?

TIME collocations

TIME collocations  A three-page hand-out  from the Oxford Collocations Dictionary for Students of English, where lots of TIME  collocations can be looked at.

MARKING CODE SYSTEM for WRITINGS

 As I mentioned in class a couple of weeks ago, here's a hand-out on the symbols I'll be using when correctings your writings.

Most common abbreviations used on WRITINGS CORRECTIONS

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2B: Activities on PROVERBS and SAYINGS

Hi guys,
 Here's  some links with loads of proverbs and sayings:

1st activitiy ( a wide variety of them through matching exercises)
Conflicting proverbs (  a batch of somehow  "tricky" proverbs)
Quizzes on proverbs and sayings ( loads of them with different meanings)



Proverbs in songs  Do you think you can find songs where there are proverbs or sayings in their lyrics? Find some of them and share them with your classmates in class next day. Here's  one by SUPERTRAMP.

Have fun!!

Unit 2A:WORD FORMATION:suffixes to form nouns &adjectives

Word formation( suffixes, -less, -ness, -ly ,-ful)
book buddy (prefixes and suffixes)
Word formation(suffixes -ible, -able)
Word formation(suffixes -less , -ment)
QUIZZES:suffixes1   suffixes and prefixes(more advanced)
A variety of quizzes (register free)

When do children memories fade?

Hi guys,

As to childhood memories, here's a short video on when our memories start to slip away from our brains.
Interesting stuff,  a bit fast, though.!!

WHEN I WAS SMALL.........

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,

Hi guys,

The other day in class we were looking back in time to the days when we were little. Describe an incident from your early childhood about any of the topics in the book.
Post it as a comment under this post so that everybody can read them.
As we said, try to keep it as short as possible.

Have fun!!

KEY to Grammar activities:( HAVE & PRONOUNS)

 Hi guys,

Here's the key to the grammar hand-outs I emailed you and posted on the blog.

Key to Grammar activities on HAVE and PRONOUNS

Grammar revision: HAVE/HAVE GOT and PRONOUNS

 Hi everybody,

Here's some hand-outs on the grammar items we have been looking at in class in this unit 1.

There are copies of them on your e-mail inbox in case you can't print them out properly.

HALLOWEEN STORIES

Hi guys,

 As I said last Thursday 30th, just before HALLOWEEN, this is the place  where I would like you to post your short creepy and spooky stories to share with the rest all the groups.
Remember:
1. Keep stories short, if possible.(150 words long)
2. Be as creative and imaginative as possible.
3. Put down your full name and group at the bottom of the post.

Stories from you all are welcome.Have a try and take part in this "creepy" activity. You won't regret it!!

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How long is English going to be the LINGUA FRANCA for?

Hi guys,

This is a very interesting video by David Crystal, the foremost writer and lecturer on the English language, with a worldwide reputation and over 100 books to his name. He delivers a speech on the future of  English in the coming years.

Worth listening to it. Summarize the main ideas and  share them with all of us in class next day

Will English always be the global language?

COLLOCATIONS WITH COMMON VERBS

 Hi guys,
In relation to some common collocations in English  while reading a text in class the other day , here's some typical ones of  4 common English verbs too:

 Collocations with common verbs

An interesting video on English "fillers"

Hi everyone,

As to the listening we did the other day in class where  we could hear people say words such as "erm, urghh..", the  so-called "English fillers"( phrases we use to give us time to think what to say next in a given conversation), here's a useful video  on "English fillers" that one of your classmates wanted to share with all of us.

1B: Activities on Personality

Hi everyone!

here's a  list  on Personality links:

Personality quiz site( fun activity to test your personality)
the big five personality test
Character and personality exercises( register to do more than 1 exercise)


Personality quiz( listen and answer)
Listen & read (or just hide the text)

Personal Qualities link:
Personality traits test.(very interesting!!)

LIST OF READING BOOKS FOR THIS YEAR!!

 

 

Hi guys,
Here it comes the reading list of books I do recommend  to you for this academic year. 
 If any of you have any queries on any of the books, please do let me know , right? 

In any case, other suggestions are welcome. That is, any other books ,which aren't on the list, and you fancy reading them, ok?

 

Hope this  long list  of books doesn't put you off!!






 LIST OF RECOMMENDED BOOKS (unabridged ones, not simplified versions!!)
Click on the book you're interested in and will redirect you to the website where you can download it.

• The Suspicions of Mr Whicher, Kate Summerscale, Bloomsbury, 2009.

• The Shadow of the Wind, Carlos Ruíz Zafón, Phoenix, 2004.
• Dead Famous, Ben Elton, Black Swan, 2001.
• Intimacy, Hanif Kureishi, Faber and Faber, 1999.
• The Constant Gardener, John Le Carré, Hodder & Stoughton, 2005.
• The Cathedral of the Sea, Idelfonso Falconés, Dutton, 2008.
• The Girl of his Dreams, Donna Leon, William Heinemann, 2008.
• The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, John Boyne, Black Swan, 2006.
• Winter in Madrid, C.J. Sansom, Pan Books, 2006.
• .A Spot of Bother, Mark Haddon, Vintage Books,2007
• The Kite Runner(Khaled Hosseini)
• A Thousand Splendid Suns, Khaled Hosseini, Bloomsbury, 2007.
• About a Boy, Nick Hornby, Penguin Books, 1998.
• I am Malala,Malala Yousafzai, 2013

•  Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (Lewis Carroll)

• The Little Prince (Antoine de Saint-Exupéry)
• The Wizard of Oz (L. Frank Baum)
• Peter Pan (J.M. Barrie)
• Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Roald Dahl)
• Bridget Jones's Diary (Helen Fielding)
• Sex and the City (Candance Bushnell)
• The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (Mark Haddon)
• Any book from the Twilight saga (Stephenie Meyer)
• Adrian Mole: The Prostrate Years(Sue Townsend)
• The Ice Princess( Camila Läckberg) or any other book by her.
• Any of the three books from  the Millenium saga( Stieg Larsson)
• Firewall (Henning Mankell)
• Norwegian Wood(Haruki Murakami)
• 1Q84 (Haruki Murakami)
• Sarah's key( Tatiana de Rosnay)

          At the link below you'll find some more bestsellers which are worth a try!!!

               New York Times Bestsellers

Vocabulary: Unit: 1A Jobs & Work

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 Here's some activities related to jobs and work:

-A business English job interview  ( listen to it and then answer the questions)

10 things not to say at a job interview ( could you think of any other for the list?)

What is it like being a female bodyguard in China?  (Read through the text as you watch a video about it)

 

Just a funny note, to get started on the course!!

Hi everyone!

To begin with, let me share with you a funny videoclip about  a Japanese teacher trying to teach his students English in the Japanese way. Suppose I can do a lot better than this teacher, right?. (hahaha)  have a look and see what happens. It's a good laugh!!

WELCOME TO MY NEW BLOG!

Hello everyone! 

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This is the blog for the class! I'll be posting some activities / handouts / homework / pieces of writing and many other interesting resources. You'll be able to find some websites and other useful material. Visit it regularly, please!