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.

http://it.speaklanguages.com/inglese/frasi/

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

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!

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

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

http://www.usingenglish.com/quizzes/112.html

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

http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/1401/140121-sunrise.html

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

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1_B2HZ_bIsleTE3ZDdtZXpzdGs/view?usp=sharing

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

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.

http://www.listenaminute.com/t/travelling.html

Here you can the worksheets we used.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1_B2HZ_bIslTGNaUVpfUEttTWM/view?usp=sharing

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

See here for more

http://www.myenglishpages.com/site_php_files/communication-lesson-likes-dislikes.php

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

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1_B2HZ_bIslUzFPVEpGb2VJV1E/view?usp=sharing

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

Practice using this worksheet

http://www.macmillaninspiration.com/original/files/2010/07/INSP2_ws1.pdf

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

See here for more information

https://www.espressoenglish.net/common-english-words-permission-obligation-prohibition/

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

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1_B2HZ_bIslSGhRUGhfaWFWRGM/view?usp=sharing

and practise here

https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/my-drive?ltmpl=drive

For more grammar exercises on modal verbs, see this book

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

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.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1_B2HZ_bIsleU15QlFXakhKSFE/view?usp=sharing

To learn how to talk about position in a photograph see this document, pages 3 and 4

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1_B2HZ_bIslMUNSTUZkc2lwcms/view?usp=sharing

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.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1_B2HZ_bIslZllEaXhZWDR5bzQ/view?usp=sharing

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

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1_B2HZ_bIslUU45R3pDUFNsemc/view?usp=sharing

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.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1_B2HZ_bIsleURIQlM2SUI0SG8/view?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1_B2HZ_bIslWVBYbzZkRlpGRW8/view?usp=sharing

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

List form - http://esl.about.com/library/vocabulary/blwordgroups_weather.htm

Visual - http://esl.about.com/library/lessons/nblvocabtrees.htm

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.

 http://www.ujaz.feec.vutbr.cz/texty/practical_english.pdf

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

http://www.ecenglish.com/learnenglish/lessons/adjectives-describe-tastes-foods

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

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

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

http://www.cambridgeenglish.org/images/84669-vocabulary-list.pdf

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

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

FCE - http://vk.com/doc243798239_300780464 

OCTOBER 31st 18 - 20

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.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1_B2HZ_bIsleURIQlM2SUI0SG8/view?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1_B2HZ_bIslWVBYbzZkRlpGRW8/view?usp=sharing

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

List form - http://esl.about.com/library/vocabulary/blwordgroups_weather.htm

Visual - http://esl.about.com/library/lessons/nblvocabtrees.htm

This is an example with words about the city.
What other words do you know?

Another good way of learning new words is to describe a picture. To describe what you see in a picture use the phrases There is / There are or There isn't / There aren't.

See the first two pages of this document to practise.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1_B2HZ_bIslMUNSTUZkc2lwcms/view?usp=sharing

OCTOBER 31st - 16 - 18

English is an international language and so is useful in many travel situations.

Putting words into categories according to subject helps to remember them better.

Let's start with thinking of some words related to air travel.

Try to put the words in the box in the different sub categories.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1_B2HZ_bIslTk9TeHJpVTlPbTA/view?usp=sharing

You can read and listen to some airport announcements here.

https://www.englishclub.com/english-for-work/airline-announcements.htm

In part one of the Listening test there are short dialogues or monlogues in different common situations. You can prepare for this by learning words and phrases for particular situations. It is important to predict the phrases and vocabulary you will hear. 

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

Look in particular at the moderate section.

Here is a document about taking a taxi

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

Look at this situation related to train travel

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1_B2HZ_bIslTmYxbGNZUlo0NmM/view?usp=sharing

You can use these situations to review question forms.

You can also ask questions indirectly.

You can review these in Units 49 and 50 of English Grammar in Use.