Clothes! Going Shopping!

Week 9^th -11^th February

Hello!

Another week went by (finished)

Last week we read about the founder of Zara shops.

According to the text, the reason for the success of these shops is that the store reacts quickly to the latest designer fashions. They can produce fashionable but inexpensive clothes. Zara can make a new line of clothes in three weeks. Besides, they change the clothes from week to week.

But, to be able to do this, it’s necessary to have a good team behind - according to Raquel.

According to Juan, the reason for their success is that Amancio Ortega had a good idea and he was able to put it into practice becoming an entrepreneur. And working hard!

We read about clothes with a tradition.

·         Do you know what a ‘balaclava’ is? It’s a woollen hat.

·         Did you know where it got its name from? From the battle of Balaclava, in the Crimea war.

·         What did you know about ‘wellies’? Not much; but now you know that they are the traditional rubber boots that we wear when it rains. And that they are named after (had their name from) Wellington, a British soldier.

·         What’s a ‘cardigan’? It’s   a short woollen coat with buttons. It got its name after another British soldier, Lord Cardigan.

Do you want to learn more about fabric(textile) materials?

 Click here: Clothing Materials              

Remember

·        Wear. You wear clothes, glasses, make-up and jewellery(a ring,a watch, bracelets, a necklace, earrings…)

·        Carry. You carry objects (an umbrella, a book, a bag…)

·        Hold. You hold something in your hand.

We went shopping for clothes.

Buying a T-shirt

C: Hello!

S: Hi! Can I help you?

C: Yes, please. Do you have this T-shirt in blue?

S: What size are you?

C: Medium.

S: yes. This is a Medium.

C: Can I try it on?

S: Of course. The changing rooms are over there.

________________________________________

S: How is it?

C: It’s fine. How much is it?

S:It’s £24.99

C: Here you are.

S: Your change. Thank you.

C: Bye.

Buying a pair of trainers

C: Hello!

S: Hi! Can I help you?

C: Yes, please. I’d like a pair of trainers.

S: What size are you?

C: 39.

S: What colour would you like?

C: White

S: These are Nike, these ones are Adidas. Which ones do you prefer?

C: Nike, please.

S: How are they?

C: They’re fine. How much are they?

S: they’re £49.99

C: Here you are.

S: Your change. Thank you.

C: Bye.

Click here for Kinds of Shops

We also described people. Go to this link for a review on appearance vocabulary. Physical Appearance

 

We finished the week reading about famous photos.

Do you have a favourite photo? Why is it your favourite?

 Find one of these favourite photos and

 be ready to talk about it tomorrow.

Carnival Traditions

And that was it! Enjoy your weekend!

We're off to Cairo! And Now, Let'sTalk about Clothes!

Week 2^nd – 4^th February

Hello everybody! How’s your weekend going?

It looks nice because it’s sunny, but don’t let it take you in (to be fooled)…it’s freezing (very cold)!

We have a new student. Her name is Violeta. Nice to meet you!

Last week, we finished the arrangements for our trip to Cairo.

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.

We finished talking about present perfect, so this is the summary:

1.    Use present perfect for general experiences without saying asking “when”
Have you ever been to New York?
She’s been to China twice.

2.    Use present perfect to link past with present. To say how long something has been happening or to talk about duration.

     I’ve known my best friend since we were children.(We met when we were kids- past. We know each other- present)      I’ve lived in Madrid for ten years.

3.    To talk about actions recently finished.
He’s just left the office, sorry.
I’ve already fed the dog. 

Remember:

•  He’s gone to London. (He hasn’t come back yet)
• He’s been to Paris. (He went there and he’s back)
•  I’ve been in Madrid for 10 years.(I am in Madrid now)

We also reviewed vocabulary on clothes.

And that was it! See you tomorrow!

Have you Packed your Suitcase Yet?

Week  26^th – 28^th January, 2015

Hello again!

It was nice to see Mónica again. It’s good to see that you have got over (recovered) from the flu (typical winter illness)

Last Monday we continued talking about ‘present perfect tense’.

We revised the use of present perfect for experiences. And follow-up questions in the past, because we mentioned ‘when’.

·         Dani has been to a concert. He went to Sabina’s concert last December.

·         Mónica has also been to a concert. He went to Duncan Dhu’s  concert last October. But it rained and they couldn’t act.

Mónica and I haven’t eaten raw (without cooking, uncooked) fish. Mónica is a vegan, she doesn’t eat any animal products. As for me, I don’t like fish! Dani has eaten raw fish. He likes sushi.

Then, we studied the use of already,just, 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. (We are studying standard British English. There are some changes in US English)

Study these sentences:

·         ?   Have you finished the exercise yet?

·          -    I haven’t finished yet.

·         +    I’ve already finished.

The structure, to have + just + participle refers to an action that has been completed a short time ago.

 I’ve just arrived home. (Right now. A short time ago)

·        Try this exercise Click here Still/ Already/ Yet/Just

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.

 Tomorrow, we’ll finish the topic of present perfect and we’ll move on (continue). We’re going to meet a new class mate.

See you tomorrow and enjoy your Sunday!

Bye.

Special Occasions

Week 19^th - 21^st January

Hello! How are you?

Mónica I hope you are Ok. We haven’t seen you this week.

We finished reading about ‘The London Eye’.

 

Remember that we use ‘how+ adjective’ to ask about distance, age, speed, number, quantity etc.

      ·            How high is the London Eye? (height: metres, centimetres etc.)

      ·            How far can you see on a clear day? (distance)

      ·            How many capsules are there? (number)

      ·            How long is the trip? (time)

      ·            How fast does it move? (speed)

You can practise with some exercises in here: http://www.tolearnenglish.com/english_lessons/questions-with-how-far

After that, we listened to a song: ‘Waterloo Sunset’

The singer complains about the speed everything moves in a city like London; but he admits he likes living there.

Then, we talked about festivals and celebrations.

Don’t forget that we use ordinal numbers to refer to dates in English.

 Ordinal numbers

Try this listening exercise!

We revised prepositions ‘in, on, at’ for time. Remember:

In/on/at for time. Exercise:  In, On, At ...

I was born on Saturday on25th in December in 1991 in winter in the morning at /on (American English) the weekend at 9p.m

·         On New Year’s Eve we stay up until midnight.

·         We send cards to family at Christmas and on birthdays.

·         They are sweet and we often eat them on special occasions, like Christmas. What are they?

·         Pumpkins are popular at Halloween.

·         People often put up special decorations around the house at Christmas

Let's learn vocabulary on weddings!

And we finished the week learning ‘Present perfect’.

We use it to talk about experiences in our life.

We use“Have you ever…?” because they are general experiences and we don’t ask or say “when” we had them.

The structure of present perfect is the same as in Spanish, but its use is different, so don’t translate from Spanish into English!!!!

·           Have you ever found any money in the street?

·           Have you ever won a prize?

·           Have you ever asked anybody famous for their autograph?

·           Have you ever forgotten an important date?

We use have + participle because we are asking in general.

·           How much did you find?

·           What did you do with the money?

·           What prize was it?

·           When did you win the prize?

·           How did you feel?

·           We used did (past simple) because now we are asking about the details of a past event or situation.

To sum up: Use “Have you ever…” to talk about general experiences. Use “Did (past simple)” to ask about the details, (follow – up questions).

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

This is all! See you next Monday! Have a good weekend!

First week, Revising!

Week 12^th – 14^th January

Hi! Back to normal!

After the unusual class on Thursday because of the kids still being out of school, last week was a usual week and we started our lessons on Monday.

Before going on (continue) with the planning of the course, we stopped for a while and checked the homework you did at Christmas and sorted out (solved) your doubts.

We read and answer questions about Jonny Depp.

I didn’t know he had starred in ‘Nightmare on Elm Street’. I didn’t know, either, that he had two kids with the French actress and singer Vanessa Paradis.

You can read more information about recent events in Johnny Depp’s life in here.

This text helped us revise past simple, present perfect,adverbs and adjectives.

·         Past simple is used to express a complete, finished action. He was born on 9^th June, 1963. He starred in ‘Nightmare on Elm Street’.

·         One of the uses of present perfect is to connect present with past. He has made very popular films. (He started making films in the past and he still makes them)

Adverbs modify adverbs, adjectives or verbs.

Very good, really quickly, run fast

Adjectives modify nouns.

Wonderful clothes

Most of adverbs of manner come from adding ‘–ly’ to the adjective.

They tell “how”. He ran quickly. How did he run? Quickly

Adjective	Adverb
quick	quickly
sad	sadly
happy	hapily
fast	fast
hard	hard
good	well

We reviewed the difference between “-ed” and “-ing” adjectives.

 Somebody feels “ed” because something or somebody is “ing”. In other words,  “-ed” is how you feel and “-ing” is the reason why you feel like that.

She is bored because the film is boring.

Then, we corrected a revision test.

We ended the week by reading another text, revising the pronunciation of certain sounds and with a listening comprehension.

The text was titled ‘Our little piece of pop history’.

It’s about a family that bought a house. They were surprised to see people taking photographs of their house all the time. They finally found out (learnt, knew) that the house was famous because there was a song called ‘59 Lyndhurst Grove’ and that was the reason why people took photos. Because they were fans of the pop group who made the song.

And the week was over… See you tomorrow!