Institutions

Week 31^st – 2^nd April

Hi again!

We finished talking about differences between men and women.

Yes, women remember every outfit they have worn for the past two years. Men can’t remember what they were wearing yesterday.

Men appreciate the importance of a 42-inch plasma screen TV. Women do not. A man can choose and buy a pair of shoes in 90 seconds!

And etc.etc.

Yes, I know it isn’t easy to know which prepositions go with which verbs or adjectives.

It’s just a question of learning the verb together with the preposition. Don’t try to translate from Spanish because most of the times we use different prepositions.

·               What are you thinking of doing at the moment?

·               I’m not good at names. What about you?

·               He’s very different from his sister.

·               They definitely disagree with each other all the time.

·               She’s going to apply for a job. She wants to work as an interpreter.

·               How are they going to pay for their new car? They don’t have any money.

We read about “Symbols of Power” and did a listening quiz.

·        Did you know that the name of “ballot” comes from ball? At one time voters used a small black ball to vote in the elections.

·        Directions are used as symbols for political views.

·        Colours: blue is the colour of the U.N. (United Nations). It’s used as a protective sign so as not to be mistaken for the enemy. Red is the colour for socialism or communism. The colour green is related to the environment.

·        Government buildings are massive so as to remind the public of the great power of the state.

·        The five-pointed star is a very common symbol of military power.

·        Animals. Lions and eagles are very popular symbols because they represent strength.

As for grammar, we learnt that:

We don’t use the article with names of individual people. But we use the article with positions and organizations.

·        Did President Mandela meet the president of Tanzania?

·        Where’s the headquarters of the United Nations?

·        What’s the name of the president of the USA?

And don’t forget that we pronounce /ði:/ before vowel sound and /ðə/ before consonant sound.

The European Union                              The United Nations

/ði:/                                                       /ðə/

The Irish people                                    The president of Ecuador

/ði:/                                                       /ðə/

General Elections in the UK - Reading Quiz

Gap Filling text

We’ll learn more tomorrow! Bye!