WEDNESDAY 28 JUNE 2017

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

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.

http://www.listenaminute.com/a/autumn.html

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. 

TUESDAY 27 JUNE 2017

We started with a general knowledge quiz.

see Unit 29 of this book

https://www.slideshare.net/beathetrix/236901188-rewardelementaryresourcebook

All the questions use comparatives and superlatives.

Here is a very clear explanation video

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

See also the grammar information on Page 126 of PET Result.

Try the exercises on page 40.

Flo joe has some interesting exercises on this and other points of grammar.

• http://www.flo-joe.com/preliminaryenglish/pet-grammar.htm

http://www.flo-joe.com/fce/students/strategy/transfrm/compare2.htm

On this site you can learning some more interesting adjectives

http://www.ecenglish.com/learnenglish/what-are-extreme-adjectives

https://www.ecenglish.com/learnenglish/lessons/extreme-adjectives

https://www.ecenglish.com/learnenglish/lessons/extreme-adjectives-0

FRIDAY 23 JUNE 2017

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)).

http://www.englishexercises.org/makeagame/viewgame.asp?id=12141

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

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.

WEDNESDAY 21 JUNE 2017

Today we spoke continued to speak about clothes and shopping with the exercises on page 34 of PET Result.

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.

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

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.

Watching films in the origianl language can be a good way to learn everyday phrases. 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

TUESDAY 20 JUNE 2017

This week we will talk about shopping.

Today many people shop online.

The bbc learning english website has some interesting programmes about this.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/general/sixminute/2011/12/111207_6min_english_online_shopping_page.shtml

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/general/sixminute/2014/01/140102_6min_showrooming.shtml

We listened to a radio programme about different websites, page 32 of PET Result.

Listening gives you the opportunity to learn new words but also to see grammar in a natural context.

In fact in the text, we can find many expressions regarding quantity.

Many of the products...

... a few different types of things...

How much money would you spend...

There are a lot of websites.... 

In English, we classify nouns as countable and uncountable. This classification is important because it determines which expression of quantity to use.

Watch this powerpoint presentation

https://www.slideshare.net/inmadom/countable-and-uncountable-nouns-4008974

The exercise on page 33 uses quantifiers.

Ask me for more exercises.

FRIDAY 16 JUNE 2017

Thinking of synomyms for words that we commonly use is a great way to build your vocabulary.

When you learn a new word, think of words that are in the same family. Are there any related verbs, nouns, adverbs, adjectives, synonyms and antonyms?

Look at this example with the verb employ.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1_B2HZ_bIslWktZNUg0M3I1Qmc/view?usp=sharing

and try to do the same with the word friend.

We practised identifying synonyms and antonyms with the Listening and reading activities on Pages 24 and 26.

If you are interested you can also try the IELTS reading tasks on pages 2 - 5 of this document.

https://takeielts.britishcouncil.org/sites/default/files/Reading_Practice_1_IELTS_General_Training_Questions.pdf

WEDNESDAY 14 JUNE

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

For more information on how to describe a photo see PET Result Page 28, exercise 1 to 3.

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

am/is/are - verb - ing

The students are doing research.
One boy is raising his hand.

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