Debates, debates...

Week 24^th – 26^th

Hello! How are you doing?

Not so bad, although I hate this change of the hour! It takes me about two months to get used to (to get accustomed to) it!

We started last week reading how to move around in San Francisco.

BART, which stands for Bay Area Rapid Transit, started running from the airport to the city in 2003.

Taking a taxi means giving a tip of 10% of the fare (the cost of the ride).

We went on (continued) talking about children’s diet.

Do you think they’re overweight because they don’t do much exercise?

·         Is it because parents don’t have many meals in family?

·         Or is it because there are too many food adverts on TV?

It seems to the writer that playing computer games isn’t good for children, but Carlos disagrees. According to him, and his IT (Information Technology) professor, computer games help to develop three- dimensional visual perception.

I don’t know why, but we ended up (starting talking about something but finally we talked about something completely different) debating about:

·      What age should somebody start learning English? When they are   

     children? When they are adults?

·      Is it good to study science in English and not in Spanish in Spanish schools?

·      Is it good to do homework with your kids?

·      Is it good for them to have an adult sitting next to them while they do their homework?

It was really interesting because we shared our opinions.

It was a week for debates! Because we ended the week with some more tricky issues:

Who talks more about…

…sport, work, clothes, health, cars, politics, family the opposite sex…men or women?

We started doing a test (an experiment).Guys, talk for two minutes about clothes, shopping, losing weight.

Girls, talk about sport, cars, computers.

Unfortunately we ran out of time (time finished) and we couldn’t complete the experiment. We’ll continue tomorrow.

See you!

And remember: “The earliest bird catches the worm!”

A, An,The no article

Listening indefinite article
Listening definite article

How Old is Your Body?

Week 17^th -19^th March

Hello!

We started the week going through some acronyms…

Remember that you shouldn’t use abbreviations or acronyms if you write a formal email.

Do you remember what these ones stood for? (stand for: meaning of the initials)

GL -  NM – IOW  -  JAS  -  HF  -  AOB  -  IMO  -  GA  -  GBH  -  LOL  -  ASAP

…and spelling.

How do you say ¿(¡*ñ@ü)?

Well, when those symbols or letters don’t exist in English, the only option left is trying to describe them or explain what they are like.

Last week we also talked about health and lifestyle.

We learnt that our body age is not usually the same as our calendar age.

This, according to scientists and nutritionists, depends on several factors: exercise, diet, lifestyle, personality and social life.

·         How much do you walk a day?

·         How much sport and exercise do you do a week?

·         Do you eat too much fast food?

·         How many portions of fruit and vegetables do you eat a day?

·         Do you eat too much fat? And too many sweets?

·         Do you drink enough water?

·         Are you too stressed or quite relaxed?

So, there’s somebody in the class whose body age is 14! Good for you! I, on the other hand (on the contrary), would be a 150 years if I took the test today!

Study the chart below:

		Big Quantities	Small quantities
Singular / uncountable nouns	+	A lot (of) /plenty (of) /Lots (of)	(a) Little /(very)little
	-	much
	?	How much?
Plural / countable nouns	+	A lot (of) /plenty (of) /Lots (of)	(a) Few/ (very) few
	-	many
	?	How many?

“Much” and its compounds for singular; “many” and its compounds for plural.

·          “Too” before an adjective. He is too young to drive. He’s only 16.

·          “Too much” singular/uncountable nouns. There’s too much milk. Don’t buy more. It’ll go off!

·          “Too many” plural/countable nouns. There are too many chairs in this room. Take two to the other room, please.

·          “enough” before nouns. Are there enough photocopies for everybody?

After adjectives. Are you hot enough? Shall I turn the heating up?

“very”, just an opinion. “too”, often with a negative connotation.

·        That boy is very tall.

·        That boy is too tall. If he continues growing up like that, he may have problems with his bones in the future.

/too much / too many / enough

And that was all!

Tomorrow we’ll learn more things!

Asking for and Giving Directions /Writing Emails

Week 10^th -12^th

Hi again!!

We started the week learning how to give directions.

 I hate this lesson because I have difficulties in making the difference between right and left!

But I can tell you that I’m not the only one!

Different ways of asking for directions.

·        Excuse me, can/could you tell me the way to the station?

·        Excuse me, do you know where the station is?

·        Excuse me, can/could you tell me how to get to the station?

Turn right/ left, go straight on/ahead, go over the traffic lights, take the second /third turning on the right / left, it’s on / at the corner.

Go out of the hotel and turn right. Go straight ahead, down Sutter Street. Turn left at Stockton. Union Square will be right in front of you.

We finished talking about present perfect, so this is the summary:

·         Use present perfect for general experiences without saying asking “when”

Have you ever been to New York?

She’s been to China twice.

·         Use present perfect to link past with present. To say how long something has been happening or to talk about duration.

I’ve known my best friend since we were children.

(We met when we were kids- past. We know each other- present)

I’ve lived in Madrid for ten years.

·         To talk about actions recently finished.

He’s just left the office, sorry.

I’ve already fed the dog.

And we also compared formal and informal emails.

Formal	Formal	Informal
Starting Dear Sir /madam	Starting: Dear Mr/Ms + surname	Starting: Dear + name
Closing: I look forward to hearing from you	Closing: I look forward to hearing from you	Closing: I hope to…
End: Yours faithfully	End: Yours sincerely	End: Regards Love / lots of love

Remember not to use contractions, abbreviations or acronyms in formal letters or emails. Be polite. Use “could”, “would like” etc.

And that was about it!

See you!

Giving directions- video                        Directions - Vocabulary

Going Shopping!

Week 3^rd- 5^th March

Hi everybody!

Sorry for the delay in posting the blog.

What did we do last week?

We studied the use of already, yet and just with present perfect, as well as the use of for, since and ago.

 Already and yet have the same meaning, but their position in the sentence is different. Yet, goes at the end of the sentence whilst already has a mid-position, that is, it goes before the main verb – the same position as adverbs of frequency.

Study these sentences:

?   Have you finished the exercise yet?

 -    I haven’t finished yet.

+    I’ve already finished.

The structure, to have + just + participle refers to an action that has been completed a short time ago.

I’ve just arrived home. (Right  now. A short time ago)

Use of the prepositions, for, since, ago with present perfect or past simple.

 ·          Since is only used with perfect tenses.

He’s lived in Madrid since 2006.

 ·          Ago is only used with past simple.

He moved to Madrid 8 years ago.

 ·          For can be used with both tenses but the meaning of the sentences is different.

He lived in Santander for six years.         He doesn’t live in Santander.

He’s lived in Santander for six years.      He’s probably living in Santander                           

                                                                  now.

How to greet someone you haven't seen for ages

Still/ Already/ Yet/Just

We went shopping.

 ·            Can I help you?

 ·            Yes, please. I’m looking for a green sweater.

 ·            What size are you?

 ·            Medium.

 ·            Here you are.

 ·            Can I try it on?

 ·            Yes, the changing rooms are over there.

________________________________

 ·            Is it Ok?

 ·            Yes, perfect. I’ll take it.

How much is it?

 ·            It’s £24.95

 ·            Can I pay by credit card?

 ·            Yes, of course.

Here’s your card and your sweater.

 ·            Thank you. Bye!

And we finished the week with our communication game: “Find the differences”

So as to practise vocabulary on clothes and to revise vocabulary on appearance.

See you tomorrow.

How long have you had your ...?

Week 24^th – 26^th

We started the week reading and talking about teenage children and problems with them.

The Serrano’s family had problems with their children aged 18 & 20 because they took everything for granted (they thought they could have or do anything they wanted without giving anything else in exchange) without collaborating at home or looking for a job. So, their parents decided to teach them a lesson and take them to court (place where trials take place).The judge (the boss of the court) sentenced them to leave their parents’ home!

In our debate, María said she wouldn’t tell her kid to leave home. On the contrary, Juan and Raquel thought they would do it, so as to teach the kids a lesson.  Sometimes it’s good to teach your kids they can’t take everything for granted and they have to respect their parents, keep the rules and try to collaborate at home. Either doing housework or helping to the household (home) economy.

·      We continued talking about experiences.

·         None of us have ever been to a fashion show.

·         Carlos has worn a fancy dress. He dressed as Peter Pan.

·         Raquel has met somebody who was wearing the same clothes as her. It was at a wedding!

·         Jorge has ruined clothes in the washing machine. He mixed white and colour garments and the colours went off! The white clothes became pink!

·         Loli has danced in uncomfortable shoes! And she keeps doing it!

Remember: general questions, present perfect. Follow-up questions, asking about details in the past, past simple.

·          We learnt that we can also use “present perfect” to link the past with the present and to talk about the duration or how long something has happened.

Another use of Present Perfect is linking past with present, talking about duration.

She has lived in the countryside for nine years

Moved to the countryside                                               

    2005                                                                                  2014

                                                                                               Lives in the countryside

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

·      We talked about possessions that are important to us.

How long have you had your car? I’ve had it for four weeks.

How did you get it? My parents bought it for me.

Where did they buy it? They bought it at a car dealers’ in Madrid

Why is it important to you? Because I need it for travelling and to drive to work.

How long has she had her earrings? She’s had it for a long time.

How did she get them? They were a present from her granny.

Why are they important to her? Because they belonged to her grandmother.

At one point in the class, I told Carlos to leave the classroom.

 Where has he gone?

Carlos: “I’ve been to the loo (toilet).

Remember:

        ·            He’s gone to London. (He hasn’t come back yet)

        ·            He’s been to Paris. (He went there and he’s back)

        ·            I’ve been in Madrid for 10 years.(I am in Madrid now)

Video - How to greet someone you haven't seen for ages

And we also talked about the last time we…

·          When did you last go to the theatre?

·           When did he last see her best friend?
·           When did they last fail an exam?


Pronunciation of Irregular Verbs

Tomorrow we’ll finish talking about present perfect!

See you tomorrow!