Xmas Homework

• Reading: "A Foreigner in Britain" (Exam on the 13th of January)
• Speaking (oral presentation): My Gap-Year (Oral presentations on the 8th and 9th of January)
• Listening + Writing: TED "Do schools kill creativity?"
• Grammar & Vocab: Workbook 5C (pages 80-81)

Happy Christmas and happy learning!

TEACHING CONVERSATION: The understatement of the year

Well, it wasn't exactly .....

Look at the pattern below:

A:   So, what did you think of Switzerland?
B:   Well, it wasn't exactly the friendliest place I've ever been to. 

Now respond to the following with an understatement. The words in brackets will help you.

1. I hear it was pretty difficult.   (easy)
2. Was it very expensive.    (cheap)
3. I suppose he's quite old now.    (young)
4. So, your car is pretty old.    (new)
5. He's the most stupid person I've ever met.   (intelligent)
6. Hasn't the weather been awful?    (fantastic)
7. It's just so small.    (big)
8. You must have been really angry about it.   (pleased)
9. Isn't it a little cold in here.   (warm)
10. This wine is much too sweet.    (dry)
11. Parisian waiters are so rude.    (polite)

Now try adding some of the following endings to the responses above:

.... I have to admit.

.... that's for sure. 

.... it's true.

Teach girls bravery, not perfection

My Gap-year

1. 

If you could travel to 11 countries in 44 days, which countries would you visit?
What would you do in each country? 

In groups, talk about what your epic trip would involve.

2. 

You are going to watch a short one-minute video called MOVE which shows clips of 11 countries visited by Andrew Lees in 44 days.

Try to name as many of the countries as possible. The clips are very fast,  you can speculate about which countries are shown using modals verbs of speculation. 

The countries are Portugal, Spain, France, Italy, Argentina, Peru, Chile, Brazil, USA, Thailand and Birmania.

3. 

Have you been to these of these countries?
Would you like to go to any of these countries?
What are they famous for?

 

MOVE from Rick Mereki on Vimeo.

LEARN from Rick Mereki on Vimeo.

 
EAT from Rick Mereki on Vimeo.

If money was not an issue, and you could take a year off, .....

• Where would you go?
• What would you learn?
• What would you eat?

Keep dreaming and practice English!

_____________________________________________________

Some useful language you might need:

2nd Conditional:

If I had a gap year and enough money, I would go to.....

Modal Verbs:

I think I should really learn to .....

Once I'm in the States, I must meet........... and tell him/her how much I admire ....

I might also enjoy a good ride on an elephant. 

Different verbal tenses:

I have always wanted to learn......


Some rethorical questions:
What could be better than this?
Can you imagine what it would be like to meet.....?
Wouldn't we all want to speak English more fluently?

Some nice expressions:

It's a must! 

It's worth going! It's worth it! It's worth trying! 

I don't want to regret anything I haven't done when I'm older. 
An unforgetable experience. 

A Motivational Video

I would like to thank our classmate Mario Maldonado for sharing this video today in class.

It was really inspiring and definitely worth watching.

I will keep it here in our blog so that other students can watch it too.

TV Mini-Debates

DEBATE PROCEDURE

In each group of four:

• Two students have to work out and note down all possible arguments IN FAVOUR of each statement, including defences against points that might be brought up by the opposition.
• The other two students have to work out and note down all possible arguments AGAINST of each statement, including defences against points that might be brought up by the opposition.

1-      Each student is allowed 1 minute to give his/her opinion and support his/her arguments.

2-      The procedure will be as follows:

student for (1 minute)    ->   student against  (1 minute)

student for (1 minute)    ->   student against  (1 minute)

3-      Then the chairperson invites the audience to ask questions or to make statements.

_____________________________________________________

You can volunteer as chairperson for a debate other than your own (personal objective)

The chairperson’s role:

1-    Control time

2-    Take the vote from the class to determine which team has presented the most convincing arguments.

_______________________________________________________

NOTE: Groups to do not need to be divided according to actual opinions. They are divided arbitrarily, so many will find themselves having to argue in favour of something they oppose, or vice-versa.  This is in fact a kind of role-play. 

Now clink on the link below and check where you are. Be prepared for the debate next class. 

TV Mini-Debates

Happy speaking!