Monday 19 December 2016

WEDNESDAY 14 DECEMBER 18 - 20

In English we make a difference between finished and unfinished time. When thinking of the past we must think about the time in which the action happened. 

When we talk about a past action in a past time, we use the past simple. When we talk about a past action in an unfinished time we use the presesnt perfect have / has + past participle.
The uses of the present perfect are 
1. To talk about a past action in an unfinished time - I have drunk two coffees today
2. To speak about an experience at an unspecified time of the past - I have been to America

Here you can find a list of irregular verb forms

https://www.englishclub.com/vocabulary/irregular-verbs-list.htm

Irregular verb forms can be hard to remember. You can try putting them in groups of verbs that change in the same way.

Try these worksheets

or watch these videos


WEDNESDAY 14 DECEMBER 16 - 18

In English we make a difference between finished and unfinished time. When thinking of the past we must think about the time in which the action happened. 

When we talk about a past action in a past time, we use the past simple. When we talk about a past action in an unfinished time we use the presesnt perfect have / has + past participle.
The uses of the present perfect are 
1. To talk about a past action in an unfinished time - I have drunk two coffees today
2. To speak about an experience at an unspecified time of the past - I have been to America
3. To speak about something that started in the past and continues now -I have lived in Italy for 8 years
4. To bring something from the past closer to the present because it is news, or because there is a consequence now.
You have cut your hair!
This is a good book for grammar, Units 7 + 8 and 13 + 14. - http://vk.com/doc8069473_202956457?hash=5ce925651868f7ad3c&dl=aa922cf229371819a9

Irregular verb forms can be hard to remember. You can try putting them in groups of verbs that change in the same way.

Try these worksheets

or watch these videos

Then complete the questions on Page 3 on this document.

There is also the present perfect continuous that we use to highlight the action that continues now and in the future instead of the result.

Read the explanation here and try the exercises here

and on Page 1 of this document
 For more practice try the exercises on englishpage.com


This tense is common in job interviews when talking about your current and past work situation.





MONDAY DECEMBER 12 18 - 20

Reading can be an excellent way to learn new words and review grammar in a natural context. However reading a book in the original version can be difficult. There are books, by famous authors or biographies or non fiction books written in simplified English so that they are not to difficult to understand. One publisher is Macmillan.

Here you can read sample chapters from their books before you decide what you want to buy.


For example here is the first chapter of Princess Diana

http://www.macmillanreaders.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Princess_Diana_chapter_1.pdf

You can but the book with a CD on amazon


Or you can sometimes find them online.


I have some books in pdf format. Ask me if you are interested.

We looked at the first page of Princess Diana to identify regular and irregular verb forms.

You can try some exercises on affirmative, negative and question forms in the past tense in the grammar book, Units 11 + 12.

MONDAY 12 DECEMBER 16 - 18

Today we spoke about sport, which is a very interesting subject because it requires specific vocabulary.

Remember to use Check your Vocabulary for PET. On Page 88 you can find an exercise for learning sports vocabulary.

https://ymerleksi.wikispaces.com/file/view/Check+your+vocab+for+PET+Book.pdf

There is another here

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Df8YlThIrV17yIegVP_H7DoCLfuJNdCa07QL_Tv6nxg/edit?usp=sharing

We also tried the reading exercise on Page 44 of PET Result.
In this kind of exercise it is very important to read the questions, underline the key words and think of different ways of saying the same thing.

For more practice in this type of exercise, see here

http://www.examenglish.com/PET/pet_reading3.htm

Sport is also a frequent topic for conversation.

Think about your answers to these questions

http://www.esldiscussions.com/s/sport.html



Monday 12 December 2016

WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 7 16 - 18 and 18 - 20

Watching films is a great way of learning more informal English, that can include -

- contractions e.g. I'm, I'd

- phrasal verbs - get on, get off

- abbreviations - CDs,  ATM, ASAP

- informal phrases - catch you later!

- incomplete sentences - got the time?

For more examples of informal langauge, go to English Club

https://www.englishclub.com/vocabulary/contractions-informal.htm

In the above list, perhaps the most difficult are the phrasal verbs. These are verbs composed of one verbs and one preposition that can have literal or figurative meanings. It is impossible to learn them all, but you can start to understand them better by considering verbs that you can make matching a common verb with different prepositions

http://www.ecenglish.com/learnenglish/take-phrasal-verbs

Or by thinking of verbs to use in common situations

http://www.onestopenglish.com/community/your-english/phrasal-verbs/your-english-phrasal-verbs-in-the-news/551473.article

This is a great book for learning phrasal verbs

https://vk.com/doc177534154_437754297?hash=958f73f9bcc3b17fb3&dl=875b31c6888dbc1d77

Watching films in the origianl language can be difficult. Try watching a film that you already know in Italian, or try watching with subtitles in Italian or better in English.

On Youtube you can find a series of 30 episodes, designed for people learning English - Extra English

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a339H_aqXx0

You can also find episode summaries, written dialogues and workbooks to accompany the series.

http://www.channel4learning.com/sites/extra-english/english_teachersnotes.html

http://tobeclever.ru/download/1_episodes_1-15.pdf



Wednesday 7 December 2016

DECEMBER 5 2016 18 - 20

Today we looked at another sitaution, that is Asking for and giving Directions.

We looked at some common prepositions of place

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjL3qW7K8A_sLbMRf_qpSqZCC0QvvY5XqzALFnmMB-9pObbcSqwnHccAPp272QScBeQnLeKZyoIsmk6Ztaw1tEAkTZvv0kXHTeJowvhGgvYhE9LIVS_lg9vhkMJLq1Ehm6u48hxGcIYgGs/s640/prepositions-of-place.png

and used them to describe the location of some places around Caltagirone

http://www.carruggiu-casavacanze.com/assets/base/img/content/map-caltagirone/Mappa_Caltagirone.jpg

You can find some useful phrases for asking for and giving directions here

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B4EN8MtjAE4ddWpVM3MwWmlGZ2M/view
DECEMBER 5 2016 16 - 18

Before an important meeting or conversation, we can imagine what type of words or phrases we will hear, for example if you have an interview you can think about the questions the interviewer can ask you and you can prepare some answers. You can use the same skill for English.

Here you can read some information about how PREDICTION can help you to understand better.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1_B2HZ_bIslV0lLLW1nQnVQTWc/view?usp=sharing

You can try out this skill on listenaminue.com.


Before trying the listening gap fill exercise you can guess which words may be missing from the text based on your knowledge of the situation or of grammar and vocabulary.

Then compare your answers with the tape script. You will understand that it is not always neccesary to understand all the words to understand the general sense.

You can practise predicting and then listening on  Page 41 of  PET Result, exercise 1 and 2. 

The recording contains examples of comparatives and superlatives.

Here is a very clear explanation video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G096Jdl2XVo

Try the exercises on Page 40.

You can use comparatives and superlatives to compare ways to improve your health and fitness on Page 48.

NOVEMBER 30 2016 18 - 20

Listening is a difficult skill but you can prepare for different common situations by learning words and phrases for particular situations. It is also important to predict the phrases and vocabulary you will hear. 

Because English and Italian are very different languages, it can be useful to create a phrase book of useful phrases and words to use in everyday situations.

On this website there is also the translation in Italian and audio.


In Part 1 of the Listening Test you will hear short dialogues or monlogues in common situations.

On this site you can find pdfs that will allow you to learn several words and phrases associated with everyday situations.

http://englishpower.jp/moodle/course/view.php?id=224

In International express you can find useful phrases for talking on the telephone.

On this site you can practice listening to telephone messages and dialogues in other situations

http://www.englishaula.com/en/ket-listening-part-4-exam-1-cambridge-key-english-test-exercise.html
NOVEMBER 30 2016 16 - 18

Listening is a difficult skill but you can prepare for different common situations by learning words and phrases for particular situations. It is also important to predict the phrases and vocabulary you will hear. 

Because English and Italian are very different languages, it can be useful to create a phrase book of useful phrases and words to use in everyday situations.

On this website there is also the translation in Italian and audio.


In Part 1 of the Listening Test you will hear short dialogues or monlogues in common situations.

On this site you can find pdfs that will allow you to learn several words and phrases associated with everyday situations.


Look in particular at the moderate section.

Here is a document about going shopping

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B4EN8MtjAE4dbGhXaWl2V3BFOGM/view

On the second page, there are alternative ways to say the phrases in the dialogue.

The writing exercise on Page 35 of PET Result asks you to make a second phrase that has the same meaning as the first.


NOVEMBER 28 18 -20

Today we reviewed what we have done so far by doing some speaking exercises after watching this video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNjfWh3uPRs

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1_B2HZ_bIsleWFST3ZsYkc1MU0/view?usp=sharing

Then we did some exercises in the review units for Units 1 and 2 in International Express.


NOVEMBER 28 2016 16 - 18

Look here for a comparison of the Cambridge Preliminary and First exams.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1_B2HZ_bIslTEZ5VlhuVENUVDQ/view?usp=sharing

Ask for more exam practice.

The speaking tests for First and Preliminary are very similar.
You can watch videos of the speaking part on Youtube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNjfWh3uPRs

You can see an example of the tasks and examiner's words here

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1_B2HZ_bIslQnVfeUJDTDliRjQ/view?usp=sharing

Another common task is the multiple choice listening task.

Before you listen, it can be useful to think about the situation and predict what words and phrases you may hear. In a listening task, read the questions and think of synonyms or other ways of saying the same thing. This will help you to focus on the right information when you listen.

You can find more information on synonyms here

http://www.flo-joe.com/preliminaryenglish/vocabulary/pet-synonyms.htm




Monday 28 November 2016

NOVEMBER 23 18 - 20

Because English and Italian are very different languages, it can be useful to create a phrase book of useful phrases and words to use in everyday situations.

On this website there is also the translation in Italian and audio.


On this site you can find pdfs that will allow you to learn several words and phrases associated with everyday situations.


Here is a document about taking a taxi

https://is/file/d/0B4EN8MtjAE4dTGprMFBoNldQQ3M/view



In International Express there is a situation related to train travel on pages 30 and 31.
NOVEMBER 23 16 - 20

Last lesson we spoke about collocations, that are words that usually go together.

There is also information about collocation on the Flo Joe website, which is very useful for exam practice, so explore!


As it says collocations are very common in  PET Reading Part 5 and FCE Reading and Use of English Parts 1 + 2.

There is an example of this type of exercise on Page 105 of PET Result.

This exercise practises forms for expressing purpose.

You can find an exercise here


You can also read about collocations on englishclub.

https://www.englishclub.com/vocabulary/collocations-lists.htm
NOVEMBER 21 18 - 20

This article contains many examples of adverbs of frequency, but also many useful time expressions.

http://ajarncharlie.blogspot.it/2010/04/esl-lesson-day-in-my-life-adverbs-of.html

Imagine that the text composed of answers to questions.
Here are the answers, try to write the questions.

Then answer the questions for yourself.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/166MtaS0LiE2WEyrGXbANIlPr6_0CYJHfGjK1I2RllbA/edit?usp=sharing

To talk about time we use the prepositions

at - for precise time

on - for a day or dates and

in  - for long periods like months and years .

Look here for more examples

https://www.englishclub.com/grammar/prepositions-at-in-on-time.htm

You can find practice exercises on Page 21 of International Express.

Here there is another exercise

http://www.englishpage.com/prepositions/time_prepositions_1.htm






NOVEMBER 21 2016 16 - 18



Try to describe this picture
1. Where is it?
2. What is the weather like?
3. What can you see in the photo?
4. Where are things in relation in each other?
5. What are the people wearing?
6. What are they doing?
7. What do you think of the situation?

This photo is connected to an article on breakingnewsenglish.com. It is a website that everyday publishes an article about something in the news - current affairs, the environment, culture. There are many exercises that can help you learn new words and expressions and very useful to prepare for the PET and FCE exams.

You can find the article here


Scroll down and look for the BEFORE READING / LISTENING SECTION.

Exercise  2 synonym match can help you to learn the new words in the article.

It is important to know many different ways of saying the same thing for the Cambride exams, because you need to paraphrase questions to find the answers easier.

Some words just naturally go together, like for example fast food, some verbs are followed by prepositions and the next exercise Phrase match can help you with that.

One exercise on the site, Language cloze, is typical in both the PET and the FCE exams.

There is a test with some gaps and you have to chose the right word to complete the phrase.

It is a good idea to follow this method.

1. First read the text and think what word you would use to fill the gap.

2. Read the options and choose the answer that correspons most to yours.

In the article there are many examples of words that we usually put together - health and beauty, on behalf of, be in the planning stage.

These are known as collocations and identifying and using them can help you to sound more natural in English.

You can read about them here


And in the book English Collocations in use that you can easily find online in pdf version.

Sunday 20 November 2016

NOVEMBER 16 18 - 20

One common conversation question is - What do you do in your free time?

We listened to Stefania and Timo speaking about their free time activities on Page 16 of International Express.

You can find the script on Page 97.

In the texts we can find many examples of adverbs of frequency that you can use for talking about how often you do something.

Try to use them to make some phrases about yourself.

Then we learnt some vocabulary for holiday activities.

Listening can be the most difficult skill. It is important to practice as much as possible.
A great website to help you with this is listenminute.com
On this website you can find 500 small texts in conversational English. These texts can help you to improve your pronunciation and identify common words and phrases that mother tongue natives use. Learning and copying these can both help you to sound more natural in English.

In the lesson we looked at one the texts about travelling.


Here you can the worksheets we used.


In the text we looked at you can find many verbs expressing likes and dislikes. 

See here for more

NOVEMBER 16 16 - 18

Look at these signs. What do they mean? How can you explain these signs to foreigners?




No Smoking
Do not smoke
You are not allowed to smoke here
You must not smoke here




Warning / Danger of death
Don't touch / enter
Keep away




Don't speed
Drive slowly
You must reduce your speed
You should drive slower




Wash your hands
You can wash your hands here
You should wash your hands


Here we see that we can give commands / orders in three ways
1. Using the imperative

For a positive command use the verb in the base form without subject

Walk! Come! Enter!

For a negative imperative, add Do not or Don't

Don't smoke!
Do not enter!

2. Using modal verbs

must - FOR ME, IT IS NECESSARY - I must call my mother
have to - THE LAW OR THE RULES SAY IT IS NECESSARY - You have to have a passport to go to the USA

In the negative form these verbs have a different meaning

must not - IT IS FORBIDDEN-  You must not smoke in public places

don't have to - IT IS NOT NECESSARY - I don't have to work on Sundays

Try to use these verbs to complete these phrases about life in Italy


Should means it is a good idea and is used to give and ask for advice.

Practice using this worksheet


3. Using alternative phrases such as - It is allowed / forbidden etc

See here for more information


Englishpage.com has a great modal verb tutorial.

You can practice these with the reading exercise on Page 64 of PET Result
NOVEMBER 14 18 - 20

Asking questions is an essential skill for travelling.

You can practise using the correct word order in questions and answers on this site.

http://www.englishaula.com/en/ket-exam-speaking-cambridge-key-english-test-video-lessons-practice-tests-exercises.php

There is more practise in Essential Grammar in Use, Unit 7.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1_B2HZ_bIslSzd0WHdOZlJhMGc/view?usp=sharing

Practise asking questions about activities using the following verbs and question words.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1_B2HZ_bIslOC1jUmtoSXNnWlE/view?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1_B2HZ_bIslN1g2Q1MyTEdWaTg/view?usp=sharing

Questions about familiar subjects are in part 1 of the Cambridge speaking test.

You can see videos on Youtube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQFiSBSFkAY

or read sample questions here, page 5 (59)

http://iltea.org/cambridge/PET/PET_HB_sampleS.pdf









NOVEMBER 14 16 - 20

Sometimes it is difficult to understand exactly what is happening.

When you describe  a picture, you can talk about facts ( The sky is blue ) or impressions ( It looks like summer (for more phrases with look ask me for a worksheet)).

Here are some more ways of talking about your impressions and opinions:

- might    e.g It might be someone's birthday
- I think   e.g I don't think they're going on holiday
- perhaps / maybe   e.g Perhaps she's tired
- probably  e.g It's probably summertime 

We can use modal verbs to describe how certain we are about something.

 100% - must - He must be a thief

50% / 60% - could - The door could be broken

30/40% - may - The keys may be lost

10/20% - might - He might be a mechanic

0% - can't - He can't be the owner

What do you think is happening in this situation?



You can also use modal verbs to speculate about the past. In this case use the modal verb plus have plus past participle

See here for more examples


and practise here


For more grammar exercises on modal verbs, see this book

https://fernandamaterial.files.wordpress.com/2013/08/cambridge-grammar-for-first-certificate.pdf

Sunday 13 November 2016

NOVEMBER 9 18 - 20

Last lesson we saw that the verb have has two forms have and have got.
The verb have, like all other verbs apart from modal verbs, needs the auxiliary verb do to make the question and negative form.

We saw this form in the interview with Stefanie Debord on Page 6 of International Express, Elementary.

Here you can find the audio file.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1_B2HZ_bIslQmQ4N0QtV3JhOFk/view?usp=sharing

We studied the grammar of questions of page 7.

Before the auxiliary verb do, we can put a question verb.

See here to learn auxiliary verbs

http://esl.about.com/od/grammar/a/a_questionword.htm

Here you can try an exercise from the Cambridge speaking exams about asking questions

http://www.englishaula.com/en/ket-exam-speaking-cambridge-key-english-test-video-lessons-practice-tests-exercises.php





NOVEMBER 9 16 - 18
A good way to learn new words is to practise describing a photo.
What can you see in the photo? This photo is in PET Result Page 16.



When describing a photo you can think of different elements.
You can find them here.


You describe what the people are wearing, what they are holding and what they are doing. You can use the present continuous.

For more information on the present continuous see Page 121 and 27 of PET Result Students' book

We can also use the present continuous to talk about tendencies in society, when things increase, decrease or stay the same.

See here for more examples.


You can also describe these trends using phrasal verbs, which are verbs and prepositions.


Use these pictures to describe other trends in society.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1_B2HZ_bIslTno2RlJPcXQ5VFk/view?usp=sharing

Try describing the photos in the Speaking exercise 1 and 2, page 28 of PET Result Students' book.


NOVEMBER 7 18 - 20

Last lesson we spoke about learning new vocabulary.
Another good way of learning vocabulary is to think of English words for the objects that we see around us every day, or verbs to describe actions that we perform every day.

On this site you can find nouns and verbs for each room of your house, this page is about the kitchen.

http://www.say-it-in-english.com/inthekitchen.html

We brainstormed vocabulary for furniture and supplies in the classroom, office and at home.

Then we looked at the communication file vocabulary exercise in International Express Elementary, page 72.

We read descriptions of workplaces on Page 24, and also did the listening exercise on Pge 25, 3.1.
To describe a place we can use the expressions, it has (got) or there is / are.

Have got is British English and have is American English. Different grammar rules apply. See here for an explanation

http://esl.about.com/cs/beginner/a/beg_havegot.htm

You can practise with these forms in the grammar book, Unit 9 - in this document pages 7 and 8.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1_B2HZ_bIslSzd0WHdOZlJhMGc/view?usp=sharing


NOVEMBER 7 16 - 18

Today we spoke about education and learning, including some strategies for learning and developing your vocabulary and did some exam practice.

Formal learning after school is known as Adult Education. Are you studying anything in your free time?

We looked at different courses with the Lead in exercises on Page 24. This task is similar to the interactive task in the Cambridge Speaking exams. You can find more examples in the Cambridge handbooks that explain each part of the exam in detail

for Preliminary

http://www.liceocrespi.it/Inglese/pet%20handbook.pdf

or First

http://www.cambridgeenglish.org/images/cambridge-english-first-handbook-2015.pdf

We also tried the reading exercises.
Thinking about synonyms, or paraphrasing, are also very important in the Cambridge exams and are a good way to expand your vocabulary.

http://esl.about.com/od/learningtechniques/a/Synonyms-Antonyms-ESL.htm


How do you learn new words?

To improve your English it is important to learn new words. To remember new words it is important to be organised. Putting words into categories according to subject or word type can help you to find the words again, and memorize them through word association.

Try to put these words into categories and then add more words to each category.



You can do this in a list form or in a more visual way.



Let's make an example with the subject of food.

For food we can think of four sub categories - ingredients, methods of food preparation, adjectives to describe food and kitchen equipment.

Use the menu on Page 19 and 20 of this document to find examples of different ingredients and methods of preparation and add more.


Here are some adjectives to describe the taste of food with a quiz.


On this website you can find lots of words for actions and tools in kitchen.


For the PET exam there is are lists of vocabulary that you should know. You can find them here.


For FCE, there is no list, but the following books can help you to increase your vocabulary in some common areas.