This is going to be
our last week of class before Christmas.
I know you will have finished
your projects by now. I hope so! But, anyway here you have some more
information. http://www.the-north-pole.com/around/
Tomorrow we’re going
to finish the listening under the heading (title)’Are
English people too polite?’ and then we’ll
definitely finish
talkingabout manners, advice,
protocol and so
on…(etc.)
Last week we only had a class
because of our long December weekend. We spent the class talking about what we
had done at the weekend and checking our homework and some other exercises that
hadn’t been corrected. Both of you worked very hard. Especially Mónica, who did
ALL the exercises, even the ones we had given for homework before her arrival!
Great!
Let’s prepare the mood for
Christmas!
This is my favourite Christmas
carol (a typical Christmas song).
On Wednesday we had a
new classmate. Welcome Mónica, nice to meet you.
We started the week commenting on the terrible news that took place (happened) on Sunday.
The supporters
of two Spanish football teams arranged
to meet near the Manzanares river in Madrid , before the football match
that as going to be played a couple of hours later, so as to get involved ina fight. The result was a dead person and a lot
of injured people. Many supporters were also arrested and taken to the police
station.
So, we started commenting onthis
piece of information. It reminded us ofother
similar tragedies that were connected with football matches. We watched a video on‘The ten biggest tragedies in football’ and their
terrible consequences. It seems that human beings never learn from their
mistakes!
After that, we turn to more gratifying issues.
We read a text written by an English woman married to a Russian. She
compared the two cultures and their different manners. She was surprised that
so few ‘thank yous’ and ‘pleases’ in Russia. Her husband thought
exactly the opposite. He thought that British people are extremely polite, even
when there’s no reason for that.
We also learnt that when having an Arab host or hostess, we shouldn’t admire any
object in their houses because they would feel they have to give it to us!
We did a listening and later talk
about presents, how to give presents abroad.
It seems that in Japan you shouldn’t give knives, scissors or anything
you can cut with because that’s a symbol of death and bad luck!
Giving presents abroad isn’t as
easy as it looks
like! (seem)
As for grammar, we studies verb patterns.
Some verbs are followed by ‘to + infinitive’;
others, by infinitive ‘without ‘to’ and others by ‘ing’
Remember that modal
verbs are followed by infinitive without ‘to’.
And so our weekly
classes ended. There’s now little left for Christmas, so work on your project.
See you next week. On Wednesday because we have a long weekend!
We learnt about
cultural differences. Different countries or cultures, different manners.
“When
in Rome, do as Romans do.” (When you travel abroad behave as the people behave
in their countries)
We learnt that it’s rude to blow
your nose in public in Japan. That you mustn’t point your feet at anybody in
Thailand. That it’s bad luck to shake hands in the doorway in Russia … so, now
we are ready to travel to these countries!!!
We worked on
pronunciation of “t” at the end of words.
·You shouldn’t arrive
late. You shouldn’t leave immediately.
·You must ask
the hostess. You must say you like the food.
·We don’t often
take food. Most British people don’t smoke.
We learnt how to use
the infinitive of purpose.
Why are you studying English?
·Because I want to find a job in the USA.
Because + Subject +Verb (a clause)
·To finda job in the USA.
To + infinitive
REWRITE THESE SENTENCES USING THE INFINITIVE OF PURPOSE.
1. I'M GOING TO THE BANK BECAUSE I WANT TO GET SOME MONEY. I'M GOING TO THE BANK TO GET SOME MONEY. 2. I WENT TO THE BEACH BECAUSE I WANTED TOSUNBATHE. 3. She went to the South because she wanted to visit her grandchildren.
4.They're going to study hard because they don't want to fail again. 5. The dog did all the tricks because it wanted to get the rewards.
6. Francis is going to Africa because he wants to go on a safari.
Last week we
continued using modal verbs for obligation, permission and advice or
recommendation.
We listened to a boy talking
about his new job.
He has towear
a uniform. It’s made up of a red cap, a name tag, a white short –sleeved shirt
and navy trousers. He has tobe polite.
He has totake the customers’ orders and fix the food. Later he
has to serve
it to the customers.
Then we listened to
Antonia, from Italy asking her friend, Polly for advice. Antonia has been invited to have dinner at her boyfriend’s parents’ and
she doesn’t want to be rude. But she isn’t sure what is polite and what isn’t,
in England.
·You shouldn’t
kiss people who you don’t know.
·You should
arrive on time.
·You should
take something for the hostess; a box of chocolate or a bottle of wine, but we
don’t usually take food when we are invited for dinner.
·You shouldn’t
leave immediately after supper. English people love to have a chat after
dinner.
We continued talking
about rules and obligation. We also
talked about advice and recommendations.
We give advice using
should / shouldn’t.
Do you have a headache? You should
take an aspirin.
You shouldn’t travel to Thailand during
the rainy season. It’s dangerous.
Instead of “should” you can use “ought
to.” “Ought to” is a little more obligatory than “should”; but the main difference is that after “ought” you need to
Song : “Should I stay or should I
go?” but in this case ‘should’ sounds more like a suggestion.
We practised the
expressions “I think you should …” “I don’t think you should…”
I think you should
book the tickets in advance.
I don’t think you should take too much luggage.
Remember:
I think I’ll go away next weekend.
I don’t think I’ll go away next weekend .I think I won’t go away
next weekend.
We only use the negative form in “I
think” “I don’t think”
And we finished the
class laughing out loud (LOL)!
We started listening to two
friends planning a trip to Thailand. We ended up talking about hangovers and
films. Why? Because Thailand reminded you of the film “Hangover 2”. Then , we
talked about film comedies such as “Scary Movie” “Airplane” “Hot Shots” “The
Naked Gun” etc.
