See You Next Year!

Week 16^th – 18^th

This week we learnt how to use present continuous for future arrangements (definite plans)

We learnt how to make suggestions and invitations.

Would you like to…?

Shall we …?

Why don’t we…?

What about + ing …?

How about + ing…?

And we completed our diary for next week.

         ·            What are you doing on Friday?

         ·            I’m going Christmas shopping with my friend.

         ·            Are you free on Saturday?

         ·            Yes, I am.

         ·            Would you like to go to a concert in the evening?

         ·            Oh! I’d love to. Who’s playing?

         ·            A new band. They are very good.

         ·            Where shall we meet?

         ·            What about meeting outside “Sol” underground station at eight o’clock?

         ·            Perfect. See you then.

We also learnt the difference between going to and present continuous, for future plans.

Most of the times you can use both tenses when you refer to future plans. It’s better to use present continuous for arrangements, e.g. things you write in your diaries and going to, for future plans.

On Saturday I’m having lunch with my friend.

What are you doing on Sunday?

 (“I’m going to have lunch…” is also correct but it doesn’t sound as certain as “I’m having”)

Next summer I’m going to travel abroad.

I’m going to visit some friends in England.

And of course, we ended the class talking about Christmas and doing a “Winter Quiz” playing in teams.

I hope you learnt what Pantomime, mistletoe, First Footing, New Year Resolutions,etc are!

We had fun!

Enjoy your holidays and have a Happy New Year!

See you in 2014!!!

Happy New Year

What are they doing? How often do you ...?

Week 9^th – 11^th

This week we learnt the difference between present simple and present continuous.

We use present simple to talk about habits, customs, facts and routines. We use adverbs or expressions of frequency.

Remember the position of adverbs of frequency:

Before the main verb	Dani hardly ever does housework.	Jorge never goes to the dentist.	María usually does sport or exercise.
After the verb “to be”	Cristina is never at home in the morning.
In questions, after the subject.	Is Isabel often late for work?	Do you often buy flowers?
Expressions of frequency, at the end of the sentence.	Marilo goes to the hairdresser’s twice a year.	Cristian goes on holiday three times a year.	Alex sees his best friend every weekend.

We use present continuous to talk about actions happening at the moment of speaking or temporary situations.

I’m writing the report. (now)

She’s sharing a flat until she finds a house to rent.(temporary situation)

We described what the people are doing in our pictures so as to find the differences with our partner’s picture.

We talked about “how often” we do things.

We can also use the present continuous to talk about future arrangements. But, we'll see this use next week.

Bye for now!

Lisening exercise

Modal Verbs

Week 2^nd – 4^th December

We studied modal verbs for obligation, prohibition, permission and advice.

Obligation	Must (I must, when you impose the obligation yourself)	Have to (usually for rules  or laws)
Prohibition	Mustn’t /Can’t / isn’t- aren’t allowed to
No necessity	Don’t / doesn’t have to
Advice / recommendation	should / shouldn’t ought to / ought not to

We learnt about cultural differences. Different countries or cultures, different manners.

“When in Rome, do as Romans do.” (When you travel abroad behave as the people behave in their countries)

We also learnt what we should and shouldn’t do when giving presents in different countries. And which presents should or shouldn’t give.

We went on a tour of London. We started talking about present simple and present continuous.

 ·          The bridge is opening! It only opens once or twice a month.

 ·          We’re going up! On the London Eye! The guidebook says that you can see Windsor Castle on a clear day.

I think / I don't think - I'd rather / I 'd prefer to

Week 25^th – 27^th November

This week Mariya came back from her holidays. And on Wednesday we had a new student. Welcome to both of you.

We continued talking about rules and obligation. We also talked about advice and recommendations.

We give advice using should / shouldn’t.

Do you have a headache? You should take an aspirin.

You shouldn’t travel to Thailand during the rainy season. It’s dangerous.

Instead of “should” you can use “ought to.” “Ought to” is a little more obligatory than “should”; but the main difference is that after “ought” you need to

We practised the expressions “would rather” and “would prefer to”

I’d rather have a hamburger for dinner.

I’d prefer to have a hamburger for dinner.

(I’d = I would)

We practised the expressions “I think you should …” “I don’t think you should…”

I think you should book the tickets in advanced.

I don’t think you should take too much luggage.

Remember:

I think I’ll go away next weekend.

I don’t think I’ll go away next weekend .I think I won’t go away next weekend.

We only use the negative form in “I think” “I don’t think”


Rules - Listening -

"Rules,rules,rules..."

 Week 18^th -20^th

Another week went by! (= is over = finished)

And it was a cold one!  That’s why we worked hard, to keep ourselves warm!

And, what did we do?

We talked about rules. We recalled (= remember) the rules we didn’t like when we were teenagers.  We realized how much we have changed as adults!

The top rule we most hated was “the time to get back home when we went out with friends. It was always too early for us!”

Most of us hated to have to wear a uniform, especially girls, but we now agree that it has big advantages.

	Affirmative	Negative	Question	Short Answers
Obligation	I have to work long hours.	I don’t have to work long hours.	Do you have to work long hours?	Yes, I do. / No, I don’t.
HAVE TO	She has to wear a uniform.	She doesn’t have to wear a uniform.	Does she have to wear a uniform?	Yes, she does. / No, she doesn’t.
Permission	I can go out with my friends.	I can’t go out with my friends.	Can you go out with your friends?	Yes, I can. No, I can’t.
CAN / CAN’T	She can spend as much as she wants.	She can’t spend as much as she wants.	Can she spend as much as she wants?	Yes, she can. / No, she can’t.
BE ALLOWED TO	They’re allowed to stay up late on Saturdays.	They aren’t allowed to stay up late on Saturdays.	Are they allowed to stay up late on Saturdays?	Yes, they are. / No, they aren’t.
	She’s allowed to use a mobile phone.	She isn’t allowed to use a mobile phone.	Is she allowed to use a mobile phone?	Yes, she is. / No, she isn’t.

And we went on (= continue) talking about obligation at work.

Do you have to get up early?

Did you have to wear a uniform?

Make more questions and guess what the job is!

We also practised the structure

Want somebody to do something.

I want you to do your homework.

Do you remember the difference between “rent” and “rent out”?

My car’s broken down. I have to rent  another one.

Student usually rent a flat when they go to university out of their hometowns. (= the town where you were born)

When she got out of work, she rented out rooms in her house so as to get some extra money.


Have to

And…that was all!

Describing Feelings and Telling Stories

Monday 11^th – Wednesday 13^th

This week we talked about holidays.

Can you remember a special holiday?

Where did you go?

Who did you go with?

How did you get there?

 What did you do?

Where did you stay?

Why did you remember that holiday?

We listened to a song: “La isla bonita” by Madonna.

We also talked and learnt adjectives of feeling.

Remember that “–ing” has an active meaning and “–ed” has a passive meaning. In other words, Somebody is “–ed” because somebody or something is “–ing”.

He´s worried because the news is worrying.

I’m bored because my friends are boring. I’m bored because the film is boring.

And we ended the week telling stories.

We read an old story: “ The Emperor New Clothes” and a modern one : “Love on the net.”

 And that was it!

I hope you hadn’t forgotten writing a story at the weekend!

Let's Talk about the Past!

Monday 4^th – Wednesday 6^th

We started the week talking about celebrations.

Did you know that November 5^th is Guy Fawkes’ Night?

Well, you know now because we read about it.

Who was Guy Fawkes? What did he try to do? Was he successful? How do English people celebrate this date? What does it have in common with 24^th June celebration (St John’s Night) in Spain? In which way is it different?

We practised the pronunciation of  “-ed” in regular past verbs. /t/ /d/ /Id/

Look out! Don’t pronounce “e”, only after “t” or “d”, and then the pronunciation is /Id/

Keep practising the past:

	Affirmative	Negative	Question form
Present	They book the tickets on the internet.	They don’t book the tickets on the internet.	Do they book the tickets on the internet?
Past	They booked the tickets on the internet.	They didn’t book the tickets on the internet.	Did they book the tickets on the internet?

And now tell me what you did , where you were, who you visited...last week, last year, three days ago, last Saturday, yesterday night etc.

Don’t forget homework: write an essay on your last holiday or a holiday you specially enjoyed.

Pronunciation of Regular Verbs

Last Week of October

Monday 28^th

What did we learn today?

First we revised numbers for dates, years, decimals, figures and fractions through dictation and listening exercises.

We went on (=continue) speaking about sports and leisure time; about what we like and don’t like doing.

We learnt which sports are used after go, play and do.

Can you think of more sports to complete our word map?

Go                       Play                     Do

We also learnt the past of “to be”.

	Affirmative	Negative	Question form
I, he, she, it	was	wasn’t	Was I...?
We, you, they	were	weren’t	Were you...?

Remember:

Present Simple                                           Past Simple

Am, is                                                            was

Are                                                                 were

Can you answer these questions?

When were you born?                               When was your friend born?

Where were your parents born?              Where was your mother born?

Wednesday 30^th

We had a new student this evening. Welcome, Alberto!

He told us very interesting things about India and we thought…

Where would you like to travel if you could? (Money and time aren’t a problem. We have both!!!)

Somebody would like to travel to China. Others would like to go to Australia. One of our students would like to follow the coastline of different countries in a caravan. Somebody else would be happy to fly to México. And the teacher wouldn’t like to visit India because of the poverty.

Remember:

I would like to __________________ / I wouldn’t like to _________________

In/on/at for time

Look at the uses of prepositions:

I was born on Saturday on25th in December in 1991 in winter in the morning at /on (American English) the weekend at 9p.m.

Talking about the past, where were James and Silvia in 1998/ 2001/last year/six months ago/yesterday evening?

He was in…/ She was at.../they were in …

And to end the class we read about ghosts, witches, pumpkins … because it’s Halloween on 31^st October.

And that was all!Was /were