Planning a Trip. Have you Done it yet?

25^th – 27^th November, 2014

Hello everybody! How is it going?

Do you remember that expression? We said it’s the same as ‘How are you?’ but more informal.

Introducing  each other.

Formal	How do you do?	How do you do?
Informal	Nice to meet you.	Pleased to meet you.

Greeting  people.

Formal	How are you?
Informal	How are you doing?	How are things?

Colloquial / slang  What’s up?

Last week we did a listening comprehension. It was a phone call between two friends.

One of the friends, Mel is going to work in Cairo and her friend called her to ask about the preparations for the journey.

Mel has already sold the car and she’s already transferred the money to her bank.

She has already renewed her passport but she hasn't got the visa yet.

She’s already booked the hotel room for the first week but she hasn’t packed her suitcase yet. She’s going to pack the cases on the same day of her departure.

We decided to organize our trip. Each one of us had a list of four things to do. We ticked (ü) two (things we had already done) and crossed (û) the other two (things we hadn’t done yet) and then we had to phone each other asking about the arrangements of our trip.

It seems that Juan’s already booked the ferry ticket for him and the car but …what about the rest of us? We were supposed to travel together! Where are our tickets?

On Thursday, as it was Thanksgiving Day in the USA, we watched a video about this celebration. Here it is.

We have to do the reading comprehension for homework, OK?

And we finish the week talking about our end of term project.

It’s going to be on Tuesday 16^th December. Because all of you will attend to class on that date.

The title of the project is “Christmas celebrations around the World”. Find information about your choice country, write a composition and talk about it on 16^th.

And if you can, bring some typical Christmas products of that country, or cook something typical if you feel like it!

Luis is going to speak about Christmas celebrations in Finland.

Laura is going to speak about Christmas celebrations in Germany.

Nuria is going to speak about Christmas celebrations in the USA.

I’m going to speak about Christmas celebrations in the UK. And we’ll ask Juan when he comes on Tuesday.
So, that was our week of class last week.

 

The previous week, Juan brought 

the projector and we reviewed present

 perfect with video exercises, video 

lessons and a practical dialogue.

You can watch the videos again here.

Enjoy the videos!!!

 

Our Most Important Possessions!

11^th – 13^th November, 2014

Hello everybody!

Are you thinking about the topic for your projects? You should…there’s very little left.

Last week we talked about possessions; our ‘most important possessions’.

I told you about a china doll which is one of my most important possessions. I’ve had it for a long time; for about thirty years. I got it on one of my birthdays. It was a present from my brother. It’s important to me because it was the first present my brother paid for with his own money!

Then, you told us about things that are important to you. We asked different questions.

How long have you had it? When did you get it? How did you get it? Did you buy it? Where did you buy it? Was it a present? Who gave it to you?

The funniest story was Luis’s Moroccan green vase! He’s had it for several years. He bought it on a holiday to Morocco. It’s a beautiful big green metal vase. It’s important for him because he had to haggle (negotiate the price) when he bought it at the bazar. And because it was very difficult to get through the airport customs with it! We had a good laugh!

Then we talked about the use of already, yet with present perfect.

Already and yet have the same meaning, but their position in the sentence is different. Yet, goes at the end of the sentence whilst already has a mid-position, that is, it goes before the main verb – the same position as adverbs of frequency.

Study these sentences:

?   Have you finished the exercise yet?

 -    I haven’t finished yet.

+    I’ve already finished.

In our next class we’ll revise all that we have learnt about present perfect with videos.

Bye! See you on Tuesday!

"How long? , For and Since with Present Perfect"

4^th – 6^th November, 2014

Hello everybody!

Last week we learnt how to use present perfect with how long, for and since.

·         We use present perfect to talk about general experiences in the past.

Another use of this tense is to talk about ‘duration’, that is, to say how long something has been happening.                         

                        She has lived in the countryside since 2005
                        She has lived in the countryside for nine years

                                                                                          
       2005                                                                             2014
Moved to the countryside                                           Lives in the countryside

Use of the prepositions, for, since, ago with present perfect or past simple.

• Since is only used with perfect tenses.

He’s lived in Madrid since 2006.

• Ago is only used with past simple.

He moved to Madrid 8 years ago.

•  For can be used with both tenses but the meaning of the sentences is different.

He lived in Santander for six years.            He doesn’t live in Santander.

He’s lived in Santander for six years.         He’s probably living in Santander now.

How to greet someone you haven't seen for ages

             Exercises with for and since

And we listened and practised pronunciation with the song by Jigsaw. We also tried to translate it so as to know what the song was about.

Start preparing your projects because December is coming fast!

Bye! See you!

Been or Gone? How long, For & Since

Week 28^th – 30^th October, 2014

Hello, how are you?

Did you celebrate ‘Halloween’?

This is a tradition that is becoming more popular every year. Although some people were reluctant (didn’t like it) at first, ‘Halloween’ festivity is more present in Spain each year. Yes, Spanish people like their traditions but we are open to everything, especially when it’s a fiesta!

You can listen to the History of Halloween in this video

 

We had to rearrange the classes because on one day only two students came.

We continued talking about books we have read and films we have seen.

And we finished our discussion or debate about films and books.

We revised vocabulary related to city and country and learnt the difference between ‘have been to’ and ‘have gone to’

Been / Gone to - Exercises

 

and we started using present perfect with 'how long','for' and 'since' but we'll continue with this next week. 

See you on Tuesday!!!