Steve's story - narrative tenses in the past

Steve had a very stressful time trying to get to his exam on time. When he woke up, he was shocked to find he had overslept. He had been studying the night before and had not gone to bed until 3 a.m. He got up really quickly and went to the bus stop. He waited for a while, but the bus didn’t come so he got a taxi. Unfortunately, the traffic was terrible and they got stuck in a traffic jam. Steve decided to walk but when he looked for his wallet to pay the driver, he realised he had left it at home. The taxi driver was shouting at him, but he got out of the taxi and ran to the college. When he arrived at the college, the exam had already started and the other students were all writing. Steve had only written half a page when the invigilator told them to stop.

How many different pasts can you find in this short anecdote?

Try and write a similar short anecdote like this that happened to you.

Gerunds & Infinitives

It's about time we started looking at some new grammar aspects. We're going to start with a selection of verbs that are followed either by a gerund or an infinitive. Click on the icon to see the list.

Then we have some verbs that have one meaning when they are followed by a gerund and a different one if an infinitive follows. This is a presentation explaining each case.

And finally, here is a video of Jennifer explaining the use of Gerunds and Infinitives. It's a very clear explanation with examples, though rather slow. Just in case you didn't come to class the day we saw this.

Country and city life

Living in the city versus country from Orven Bregu

Stages in life

This is the presentation we used in class to talk about life. It includes the structures and vocabulary that Emmi used in her own speech. What I recommend is that you write an overview of your life, just as Emmi did, so as to make sure you integrate all the new words and structures in your everyday speech. This way they will come easily to your mind when you need them!

Money, money, money by ABBA

Listen to this song and complete the gaps in the worksheet.

Westfield shopping centre

A trip to India - a listening

This is a very good example of the type of interaction you may have to perform in the oral exam. So take your time to listen to it carefully and read the script. Following it as a way of example, and using the prompts given in the "Real World" section in the following up exercise, you will be asked to role play a similar conversation in class.

 

Brands in English

LISTENING "ACCIDENTS" , pg. 109

COLLOQUIAL EXPRESSIONS- FREE TIME

Click here to download the doc

PRESENT PERFECT CONTINUOUS

In unit 4, section Grammar: Duration, the present perfect continuous is mentioned and a few examples given. For a more thorough,detailed explanation and practice exercises, download this pdf file and print it out.

CLICK HERE TO START DOWNLOADING

Next, you can check the Grammar Challenge from the BBC and take the quizzes they suggest. CLICK ON THE IMAGE

PRONUNCIATION: CONNECTED SPEECH

The BBC Learning English website has a good pronunciation section, where you can find a page about one of the most important features of spoken English: connected speech. You can find a reference to this in unit 4 page 26 of the Outcomes  textbook.

They analize different features of connected speech and give examples. You can download the text and the audio together with the examples.

CLICK ON THE IMAGE

WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE: TRAVEL,JOURNEY,TRIP,CRUISE...?

Check what the BBC says about these travel-related words. Click on the cartoon.

Top five regrets of the dying

What do you think will wish had been different in your life when you see your life coming to an end? Apparently, most of the dying regret similar things. Read this article by a palliative care nurse and find out what they are.

 Top Five Regrets of the Dying

Some study tips

Read this website with tips for studying English. Which of those things do you do regularly? Would you like to share any your tips?

 top tips for learning English