I’am sure most of you are familiar with this fast food slogan. In the grammar section of your textbook there is a classification of verbs that are not used in the continuous from, the so called stative verbs. the verb “love” would fall into that category. So how can “i’m lovin’ it” be expalined?
5. More migrant stories
Read in the BBC web site these four stories about migrants’ journeys and take notes.
Which story interested you most?
Omar, Staf, Ahmed, Om?
What are their countries of origin?
Why?
4. Listening Practice: listen to people talk about moving to a different country
Migration flows take place all over the world. Here you can listen to a testimonial from Najeeba, a young girl from Afghanistan who finally found refuge and settled in Australia.
The links below will take you to an excellent site, elllo, which will help you improve your listening skills. The 4 listenings have been chosen because they deal with the topic of immigration
3. Picture Description 1: Useful language and structures
In the oral exam, you will be asked to talk about pictures. You will be given a pair or a set of pics to compare. Practising beforehand will build up your confidence. Tips:
- If you practise picture description with a friend, you’ll be able to help each other by prompting, asking questions, giving feedback and interacting.
- Follow the steps, but be natural. If a pic surprises you, you can say so ! You do not have to wait until the very last stage to express your surprise.
- You can also look at the model in your textbook : page 11; check also the speaking reference page 146
- These slides will help you describe the pics we’ll see at La Caixa next Monday. The most Important thing...from photographer Brian Sokol.
David Mainwood, an English teacher and a blogger, made this excellent presentation that will surely help you improve your oral skills and face the oral exam with much more confidence. Copy the useful language that appears in slide 28 and have it at hand. You can use the pics in David’s presentation or some others of your choice. The aim is to internalise the steps in picture description until it comes out naturally. It will take you more than one try. There are 18 slides to get you started.
2 Migration: objects that tell stories
The topic of the first unit of your textbook is “New countries, new lives”. The text in the book seems frozen in the void. How can we avoid mentioning what’s happening around us? Almost 4 million people have fled Syria since the start of the Syrian conflict (you can read more about it here) . It is one of the largest refugee exoduses in recent history. Next Monday we shall visit a photographic exhibition at La Caixa that approaches the topic of refugees from the perspective of the objects they value most.
We shall use 12 stories of 12 objects narrated by people who migrated to New York to reflect on what moving to a different country means .
1. Classmates and questions
Last Monday, September the 14th was or first English session together. How much did you learn about your new classmates?
Asking questions is a good way to find out. Asking questions in English might be tougher. Read more and check if you actually remember what your classmates told you. We talked about age, family, jobs…
Are you interested in finding out more? Think of more questions.
Rudyard Kipling, the writer of “The book of the jungle”, wrote a short poem about asking questions. This is the poem:
I keep six honest serving men
(They taught me all I knew);
Their names are What and Why and When
And How and Where and Who.
From it , we learn that if you want to know something, the best is to ask questions. The more questions you ask, the more information you get.
We also need to listen actively … but that is another story
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Evening English 1 