TUESDAY 14 MARCH 2017

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/

Try exercise 15 on Page 110 of Insight into PET.

These verbs can help you with the PET reading test Part 1. (See Page 7, 10 and 11)
In this part, as throughout the exam it is important to understand different ways to say the same thing. See exercise 2 Page 6.

MARTEDI 14 MARZO 2017

Guardate questi segni. Cosa significano in inglese?

No Smoking

Do not smoke

Warning / Danger of death

Don't touch / enter

Keep away

Don't speed

Drive slowly

Wash your hands

You can wash your hands here

Qui vediamo che possiamo dare commane / ordini in due modi 

1. Usando l'imperativo

Per un commando positivo usare il verbo alla forma base senza soggetto 

Walk! Come! Enter!

Per un imperativo negativo, aggiungere Do not or Don't

Don't smoke!

Do not enter!

Vedere qui per piu esempi.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1_B2HZ_bIslU19tQ285d2Zkem8/view?usp=sharing

Provate anche Unit 35 esercizio 35.1 in Essential Grammar in Use 

2. Usando verbi modali

Usare il soggetto piu can or could piu un altro verbo alla forma base per parlare di permesso o possibilita

You can come in

Per la forma negativa aggiungere not (can't)

You can't park here

Per la forma interrogativa invertire il can o could con il soggetto

Can you help me?

Vedere Essential Grammar in Use Unit 30 esercizio 30.4

WEDNESDAY 8 MARCH 2017

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.

Practise more here

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

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.

MERCOLEDI 8 MARZO 2017

Oggi abbiamo visto come parlare dell'ora in inglese.

Poi abbiamo letto un testo che parla del routine quotidiano e abbiamo parlato della nostra giornata tipica usando il presente semplice.

Qui sono i file

https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/my-drive

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1_B2HZ_bIslNk9pLWtmVmZ4ZzQ/view?usp=sharing

Per approfondire il presente semplice consultare il libro di grammatica, Unit 5 e 6.

TUESDAY 7 FEBRUARY 2017
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

MARTEDI 7 FEBBRAIO 2017

Per fare domande con il verbo essere, basta invertire l'ordine dello soggetto e l'ausiliare

I am Italian

Are you Italian?

Potete provare a rispondere a queste domande con il verbo essere.

Non dimenticare la risposta breve.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1_B2HZ_bIslSC1FMnlDXzd2UjQ/view?usp=sharing

Anche con il verbo avere facciamo le domande allo stesso modo.

Vedere il libro do grammatica, Unit 9.

Provate a fare e a rispondere a queste domande con il verbo essere e il verbo avere per  ripassare.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1_B2HZ_bIslNmthbS1zeTN6WTA/view?usp=sharing

WEDNESDAY MARCH 1 2017

A good way to learn new words is to practise describing a photo.

What can you see in the photo? 

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 how to describe a photo see Insight Into PET Page 85, exercise 4.

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

Use these pictures to describe other trends in society.

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

You can use different phrasal verbs to desribe trends. This is also useful for the IELTS Academic Writing, Test Part 1

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

MERCOLEDI 1 MARZO 2017

Un buon modo per imparare l'inglese e di descrivere una photo.

Cosa sai identificare in questo foto?

Per descrivere una foto puoi nominare quello che vedi nella foto, dicendo quello che c'e e che non c'e.

Puoi anche descrivere la posizione degli oggetti nell'immagine.

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

Parlando di una citta, possiamo dire quello che c'e (there is, there are..) oppure quello che la citta ha ( it has got / it hasn't got ) - pagina 3

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1_B2HZ_bIslNy1aWU5OUEpFS3c/view?usp=sharing

TUESDAY 28 FEBRUARY 2017

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?

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 and other exams, 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 

CAE - http://www.e4thai.com/e4e/images/pdf/Test%20Your...Vocabulary%204%20(Upper-Inter%20to%20CAE)%20-%2049p.pdf

IELTS - http://www.ycdc.gov.mm/download.php?pdffile=ebook-13

Here you can find a vocabulary list per CEFR level.

http://www.englishprofile.org/wordlists

MARTEDI 28 FEBBRAIO

Come impari parole nuove? 

Per migliorare il tuo inglese e importante imparare nuove parole. Per fare questo e importante essere l'organizzazione. Mettere parole in categories secondo l'argomento o tipo di parole puo aiutare a ritrovare le parole piu facilemente and memorizzare tramite l'associazione. 

Prova a mettere in categorie le parole in questo documento aggiungendo anche altre parole per  ogni categoria. 

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

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

Puoi fare questo esercizio sotto forma di lista o in modo piu visuale. 

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

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

Questo e un esempio con parole che riguardano la citta. Quali altre parole conosci?

Qui ci sono altre attivita per imparare parole sulla citta.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1_B2HZ_bIslemQxSks1VEs5MEE/view?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1_B2HZ_bIslUGlZRGVOc2w5SFE/view?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1_B2HZ_bIsldVgyUlExTE9UdHM/view?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1_B2HZ_bIslUHhNLVhiM1JqSFk/view?usp=sharing