Photos, Memories of the Past!

Week 17^th – 19^th February

This week we talked about famous photos.

We describe and commented three photos by Harry Benson.

There was a photo of The Beatles when they were in a hotel room in Paris. Nothing much was happening, but suddenly they found the inspiration for the song “I feel fine.

 In another photo we can see a lot of people attacking (they were attacking) the wall with stones. It was the knocking down of Berlin Wall in 1989.

The third photo was taken in 1974. President Nixon was saying goodbye to his cabinet after the “Watergate” scandal.

 I can’t believe you don’t have a 

favourite photo! 

Or at least a photo you like

 because you are

 with friends or

brings back memories!

 It doesn’t have to be a famous one!

Make an effort and tell me about one:

Who took it?

What was happening at the time?

Why do you like it?

This a photo that I like.

http://rebeccaplotnick.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/img_3466.jpg?w=348&h=522

We learnt different ways of talking about the past.

Past Simple	Finished / completed actions in the past.	She worked in London for five years.
	Actions that happened one after another.	He opened the door, took off his shoes and sat on the sofa.
Past continuous	To set a story.	The sun was shining and people were happy that spring afternoon.
	An action in progress at some time in the past.	The kids were studying for the exam in the kitchen.
Used to + infinitive	States or repetitive actions in the past that are no longer true.	Her daughter used to have long black hair. (Now, she is blonde) I used to go to the cinema once a moth. (Now, I don’t usually go)

Remember that “used to” grammatically acts like any other ordinary verb in the past.

·           Did your friend use to wear glasses?

·           My friend used to wear glasses when she was a child.

·           She didn’t use to wear contact lenses.

And also that, in the same way we use “am/is/are going to” for the future, we can use “was/were going to”, to express a future action in the past!

They were going to (unfulfilled future plan in the past) study abroad but they didn’t because they didn’t get the grant.

We revised the use of “in/on/at” to refer to time.

And we learnt about the use of “the” with geographical names.

	With “the”		Without “the”
Continents	Africa, Europe
Countries	France, England	Some countries (plural or acronyms, usually)	The U.K., the Netherlands, the Philippines, etc.
States, regions etc.	Central Europe, Tuscany,
Islands	Corsica, Sicily	Groups of islands	The Canary Islands, the Bahamas…
Cities, towns, etc.	Cairo, New York, Berlin
mountains	Everest, Etna	Mountain ranges	The Alps, the Pyrenees …

This was all!

Happy Birthday, Alberto!!!

You can listen to this radio listening.

Africa through the view of a photographer. Listening

Symbols of Power

Week 10^th – 12^th February

This week we finished talking about Edinburgh. We watched a video and did a listening comprehension.

We read about “Symbols of Power” and did a listening quiz.

·        Did you know that the name of “ballot” comes from ball? At one time voters used a small black ball to vote in the elections.

·        Directions are used as symbols for political views.

·        Colours: blue is the colour of the U.N. (United Nations). It’s used as a protective sign so as not to be mistaken for the enemy. Red is the colour for socialism or communism. The colour green is related to the environment.

·        Government buildings are massive so as to remind the public of the great power of the state.

·        The five-pointed star is a very common symbol of military power.

·        Animals. Lions and eagles are very popular symbols because they represent strength.

As for grammar, we learnt that:

We don’t use the article with names of individual people. But we use the article with positions and organizations.

·        Did President Mandela meet the president of Tanzania?

·        Where’s the headquarters of the United Nations?

·        What’s the name of the president of the USA?

And don’t forget that we pronounce /ði:/ before vowel sound and /ðə/ before consonant sound.

The European Union                              The United Nations

/ði:/                                                       /ðə/

The Irish people                                    The president of Ecuador

/ði:/                                                       /ðə/

We made predictions and gave opinions about the year 2020.

·        You think that most people will do most of their shopping online.

·        Planes might be able to fly without pilots, although that sounds scary for some of you.

·        People may have computers inside their heads.

·        But you don’t think that robots will take over (assume control of)the world!

Will is used for predictions. May for possibility. Might is also used for possibility but it’s more tentatively (less certain) than may.

You may want to know more about politics in the UK., so you can follow these links

General Elections in the UK - Reading Quiz

Gap Filling text

I’ll see you on Monday!

How Long does it Take to Get to Edinburg? What's the City like?

Week 3^rd – 5^th

Another week went by (passed)!

This week we reviewed the pronunciation of the group “-ed”.

No matter how many times we go through it, everybody keeps making mistakes. And it’s only because we are a bit too lazy to take the time to pronounce /t/ or /d/. It’s easy for us – although it sounds awful (horrible) – to read letter “e”. NO!!! NATIVE PEOPLE WILL PROBABLY DON’T UNDERSTAND US. SO, WE HAVE TO MAKE THE EFFORT OF NOT PRONOUNCING “e”; ONLY AFTER /t/ OR /d/!!!!

We learnt to give directions.

Different ways of asking for directions.

·        Excuse me, can/could you tell me the way to the station?

·        Excuse me, do you know where the station is?

·        Excuse me, can/could you tell me how to get to the station?

Turn right/ left, go straight on/ahead, go over the traffic lights, take the second /third turning on the right / left, it’s on / at the corner.

Go out of the hotel and turn right. Go straight ahead, down Sutter Street. Turn left at Stockton. Union Square will be right in front of you.

We practised the expression “How long does it take to get from London to…by train/coach/plane?

·        How long does it take to drive from Madrid to Barcelona?

·        How long does it take to get from Madrid to Seville by train?

·        How long does it take to fly from Madrid to the Dominican Republic?

·        How long does it take you to come from your house to English class?

And we finished the week by listening about Edinburgh.

·        What’s Edinburg like?

·        What’s the weather like?

·        What are the people like?

What do you know about Scotland?

·        What’s a kilt? What’s a tartan?

·        What languages do they speak?

·        What are bagpipes?

·        What’s haggis?

·        When’s the Edinburg festival?

·        What’s Hogmanay? 

Video and Listening: the Edinburg Festival

Scottish food and drinks

Scottish Food - images