Idioms

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Idiom of the day:

A necessary evil.

Something that you do not like but which you know must exist ot happen.

Exams are a necessary evil, they are the best way to make people learn!

B1 class 21/12/2015

Merry Christmas everybody!

Last day of the course before the Christmas holidays. We started the lesson with the idiom of the day: a necessary evil. An example of this could be exams, and that's why for homework students must write an essay discussing the importance of exams.

Then we corrected the exams discussing the solutions and we concluded the class wishing everybody Merry Christmas!!

B1 class 16/12/2015

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Good evening dear students!! We've finally had the first exam today and remember that it only counts 10% of the overall mark so do not worry too much if you think you'll get a poor result.

What's the importance of examinations? Some people think that exams make students study and therefore, they can prove they are learning. Other people believe that exams are not effective and usually demotivate students.

What do you think? Please share your opinions about the importance of exams in the comments section below.

Composition 3: The best way so as to know continents of the world ? Arturo

Most people spend time in order to travel around the world. People enjoy going on trips around unknown places.

On the one hand, some people use guide books in their journeys. They believe that using a guide book they can choose the most interesting places to visit. Furthermore, they watch different points of view in Internet blogs. Guide books include the landmarks of different places. Therefore, guide books is are a tool to go abroad.

On the other hand, some people don't prefer using guide books. They enjoy discovering unknown places. In addittion to this, in some guide books the info is not up to date. However, you need a map of the city so as not to get lost in big cities.

From my point of view, I prefer travelling with the guide books but I like medium level guide books. Besides, I enjoy visiting a lot of places without missing fun.

B1 class 14/12/2015

Monday was the last day before the exam and we spent most of the class solving doubts about how the exam was going to be and which things students should pay more attention to.

We also checked the homework, which was quite a lot. First of all the rewriting exercise; this is a complicated type of exercise but with some practice students shouldn't have big problems doing it.

Then we checked the letter with the missing words that had to be filled in with the words from the box. This exercise was more complicated because there were too many gaps.

Finally we checked the exercise about derivation on page 27: how to form adjectives from nouns and nouns from adjectives.

See you all next Wednesday in the exam.

Improve your skills: Listening

Watch and listen to the interview with Tony Wheeler, co-founder of the Lonely Planet travel guide books. Choose the best option that finishes each statement.

Rewriting II

Loading Rewriting Units 1-3 extra practice

Idioms

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Idiom of the day:

While the cat's away, 
the mice will play.

This idiom is frequently used in the context of work or class. It means that when there is no one in authority present (the cat: the boss or the teacher), people (mice: employees or students) do whatever they want, usually not related to what they are supposed to do (work or study). 

Guidebooks: a travel book required or outdated?

Is it necessary to purchase a guidebook or we can we get similar information from other resources? Has “the digital era” made the guidebooks outdated or are they still required?

Ten years ago, when someone planned an independent trip, they went to the bookshop to pick up travel guidebooks because they provided us with a lot of information about our destination but, with the arrival of the Internet and the applications (apps) for smartphones, things began to change. 
Travel guidebooks created websites (for instance, “The Thorn Tree” by Lonely Planet) for travel advice, maps, … In this way, we can read and print out the information to for our travel instead of buying guidebooks.

In spite of that, travel guidebooks are in the bookstore. Why? Let’s take a quick look at the  their advantages and disadvantages of theirs.

On the one hand, travel guidebooks offer us a lot of information about historical, cultural and geographical references of the country where we are planned planning to go. Besides, we can learn some phrases that we can use during our travel, and guidebooks provide us information about where to eat, what to see as well as where to sleep. What is more, they are very easy to use because they have an index and follow a logical format. In addition, a travel guidebook, which may be a paperback or e-book, comes in handy while we are travelling. We can have easy access to these books because they don’t require batteries, internet access or cell phone coverage! We shouldn’t forget that in a rural area or in a developing country there isn’t internet access.

On the other hand, the information provided in guidebooks is limited; for instance, we (can) might want to know something that may not be in the guidebook. For that matter, travel guidebooks can be outdated and we might be using outdated information about timetables, hotels, restaurants, shops or any information relevant for us our travel plans. Moreover, guidebooks are heavy to carry them everyday and besides, they can be expensive compared with travel websites or free information available on line.

In conclusion, I believe the key aspects are what kind of information we need and if we are willing to pay for it. If we need only basic travel information it isn’t necessary to purchase a guidebook but if we want detailed and oriented information, we may be need one or two guidebooks. Moreover, in spite of travel websites and apps, I think travel guidebooks nowadays are an important and essential information source.

Congratulations Mayte!! Very good composition in terms of structure and you have included lots of connectors as well.
The vocabulary you have chosen is very appropriate and you prove you know how to use it in the right context.
The arguments 'for' and 'against' are well supported with examples and I can see the writing flows. 

B1 09/12/2015

Hello everyone, it's been a long weekend and some of you have decided to extend it a little bit.

We started the lesson with the idiom of the day: While the cat's away, the mice will play. A couple of students got the meaning right. I'll post tomorrow the explanation for it.

Then we continued the lesson correcting rhew homework: ten sentences for rewriting. You can also do the exercise online if you click here. Also for homework we checked exercise 6 on page 25. This was related to present perfect simple or continuous. Then in pairs we did the exercise 3B on pages 102 and 107: students asked each other the questions using the present perfect simple or the past simple.

Then in pairs again students corrected the reading exercise on page 26: two young people who went on a volunteer holiday and tell their experience.

We concluded the lesson with a listening exercise about India in which two people asked for recommendations about the things to do there. We also completed all together exercise 3 where we studied different ways to recommend things.

For homework students must do exercise 5 b and d from page 27 and I gave them two photocopies with the a cloze exercise you can also do online and another rewriting exercise. You can download these exercises here.

Improve your skills: reading comprehension

Read the following interview with Tony Wheeler, co-founder of the Lonely Planet guide books. Match the questions to the appropriate answers. There is one distractor.

Hotel review

My wife and I stayed at the Wellington hotel for 3 nights. Our experience there was not completely satisfactory; the bed was quite uncomfortable and the TV had only 4 channels.

I can understand they didn’t change the bed sheets but I was hoping we would get fresh towels after the second night, the towels we had were a bit humid.

Breakfast was included in the price but just a cup of coffee with milk and a croissant is not exactly what we would expect, a little more variety would be nice from them.

On the contrary, I must admit that the staff were very helpful and we were provided with lots of information about things to do in the city.  

Please write in the comments section your own review of your last stay at a hotel mentioning the good and the bad aspects.

Improve your skills: reading & writing

Read the letter asking for advice and fill in the gaps with the correct word.

 
Now that you have completed the task, what advice would you give Fiona? Write your comments in the comments section below.

Idioms

Idiom of the day:

To have itchy feet

A very strong or irresistible impulse to travel to different places.

You have just come back from India and you're now planning your next trip to South Africa, have you got itchy feet again?

Improve your skills: Writing

When students are planning a composition the structure is one of the things students sometimes neglect, especially when they haven't had formal training and they must write an essay during an exam. The use of connectors is as important as checking the right tenses and appropriate vocabulary.

First thing that must be taken into consideration is the title of your essay; it must be appropriate for the topic and tell the reader what you are going to write about.

In the introduction give a general overview of what you are going to discuss afterwards adding a contrasting point.

In the second paragraph state the advantages. Mention a couple at least and provide examples that support your arguments.

In the third paragraph state the disadvantages. Again mention at least a couple and provide examples as well.

In the final paragraph state your conclusion giving your personal opinion about the topic.

Below you've got a sample of what a discursive composition might look like and what the position of connectors would be. You can write a for and against composition using this model on any of the following topics:

- Guide books are a thing of the past.

- Package holidays give you very little freedom.

- Mobile phones: we are too dependent.

Some of the aspects that are taken into consideration when evaluating your piece of writing are the following:

Organisation: is the organisation of your piece of writing clear for the reader? Bear in mind the number of paragraphs and the information in each paragraph.

Style: have you used in your text a level of formality in accordance to the type of writing? Bear in mind the use of contractions, vocabulary, connectors… 

Accuracy: have you used grammar and vocabulary appropriately and correctly? It is very important that verb tenses are introduced properly and the vocabulary is carefully selected.

Cohesion: have connectors been introduced correctly in order to link sentences and paragraphs so that the text has coherence?

Quality: depending on the level, the student is required to introduce certain grammar structures and vocabulary which are part of the syllabus for that particular level. 

B1 class 02/12/2015

We started the lesson yesterday with the idiom of the day: to have itchy feet. I'll publish a post with the explanation soon.

We focused the lesson on speaking and writing. First of all we checked the homework on page 24: vocabulary related to travelling. We saw which expressions go with travel, get and go on. Using this vocabulary students discussed in pairs the advantages and disadvantages of using guide books when travelling and with that information they must write a for and against composition. You can see a sample structure of a for and against composition here.

Then they discussed their experiences using guide books: the last time they used a guide book on a trip.

We finished the lesson I explained the difference between using present perfect simple and present perfect continuous.

Present perfect continuous: it's used to talk about activities that started in the past and continue in the present.

I've been studying English since 9 o'clock.

Present perfect simple: it's used to talk about states that started in the past and continue in the present.

I've had my car for more than ten years.

For homework students must do exercise 6 from page 25 and exercise 4 from page 26. And also write a composition about the advantages and disadvantages of using guide books.

Idioms

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Idiom of the day:

A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush

This idiom means that it's better to go for something that is certain than to go for something of more value but which is not sure.

A bird in the hand is yours, and it's not going anywhere unless you let it go. But if you leave it and go for two in the bush, there is no guarantee you'l catch them and you might end up with nothing in the end.

Rewriting

Loading Rewriting Units 1-3

B1 class 30/11/2015

We have started the lesson with the idiom of the day; in the last few classes we've seen different ways of giving advice so this idiom is related to that: A bird in hand is worth two in the bush.

Then we checked the homework on page 21. In pairs we acted out the conversations between Tim and Bob, and between Mia and Liz. I explained an activity that will appear in the december exam, Rewriting. Students are given a sentence and a word in brackets they must use in order to write another sentence with the same meaning:

Maybe you should send her some flowers.

(sending)

Have you tried sending her some flowers?

I will post more activities on the blog to practise rewriting.

Then we did the listening activity on page 22; I had modified the activity and turned the exercise into a multiple choice one. If you want to do it again, you can listen to the audio on the cd-rom and here are the items:

Listen to Megan and Clive talking about their jobs. Choose the correct answer.

MEGAN

1. Megan has lived in Canada…

a) all her life.

b) for a few years.

c) since she got her 1^st job.

2. Most of Megan’s clients…

a) go hiking for the first time.

b) get into dangerous situations.

c) really enjoy the experience.

3. The guy who got lost…

a) spent three days alone in the mountains.

b) didn’t have a GPS to find his way back.

c) has left the hospital very recently.

CLIVE

4. Clive admits that…

a) he is not very happy with his job.

b) he has little experience with hotels.

c) their hotel in the Lake District is quite old.

5. Clive complains that…

a) summers are difficult for the business.

b) there are lots of cars during the high season.

c) customers leave their rooms very dirty.

6. Clive explains that…

a) it’s hard to find time to go on holiday.

b) they close their hotel every December.

c) they’ve never been on holiday since they opened.

After the listening activity we checked the exercises 3d and 6 on page 23. I explained again the difference between present perfect and past simple, and the past participle of the verb go - gone/been.

To finish the lesson we had a look at the reading activity on page 24, exercises 3 and 4.

For homework students must do exercises 1 and 2 from page 24.

Vocabulary about sleep

Loading Vocabulary about sleep

My last sleeping night

Last night I was working until 1:00 because I had to meet a deadline. When I went to bed I was very tired. I had had a difficult day with a lot of mishaps and I felt absolutely shattered.

I went to bed and, fortunately, I was fast asleep but a “fascinating” travel started. I was in the cockpit of an airplane next to the pilot. I was the co-pilot, but I don´t know anything about as piloting an airplane! It was the first time that I was in a cockpit; in front of me it there was the instrument panel with many lights and buttons. We were flying from Madrid to New York. At the beginning of the fly flight, the pilot taught me to use the controls but it was very difficult to for me. After an hour, he said told me if I wanted I could sleep a few little before we arrived to in New York. I had was very tired and I took his advice and I fell asleep out of exhaustion. I don’t know how long I was sleeping but I woke up when I noticed some turbulences. I opened my eyes I looked around and I was really surprised because the pilot wasn’t in his seat! I thought, “It’s possible he’s in the bathroom”, but he didn’t come back and I decided to go to looking for him. I got up from out of my seat, I opened the door and I was absolutely amazed because there was no one… I was alone in the airplane… I was scared to death!

I came back to the cockpit, I sat down and closed my eyes, and after a few minutes I fell asleep once again. When I woke up at 3:00 I was very confused and I felt extremely strange. I was more exhausted than when I went to bed, I was very nervous and there wasn’t any plane…!? But in the pillow there were some wing badges like the ones pilots takes have in the reverse of their jackets. I didn’t understand anything… It was seven o’clock and my alarm clock rang. I had had a sleep inside a sleep. I felt absolutely worn out!

Great composition Mayte!!! very fluent piece of writing, you know how to catch the reader's attention; very good use of vocabulary: gradable and strong adjectives, adverbs, collocations, phrasal verbs... 
Check the mistakes regarding prepositions: arrive in, get up out of, difficult for; adjectives in -ing or -ed: fascinating;the difference between said and told; and the difference between few and little. 
Thanks a lot, you're doing a terrific task in English ;-)

Idioms

Idiom of the day:

A night owl.

Taken after the name of the bird that hunts at night, this idiom refers to people who usually prefer staying up til late at night. It's the opposite of an early bird.

B1 class 25/11/2015

Sorry for the delay but I couldn't post yesterday the review of the lesson; here it is.

One of the activities for homework was to find the opposite the idiom early bird and some of the students actually found it, it is night owl.

Also for homework students had to do exercise 8 from page 19. They had to complete the sentences with an adverb that was followed by a gradable or a strong adjective and finish the sentence with information about themselves. They checked this in pairs and then all together out loud.

We then had a look at the activity 4 on page 20. We learnt different ways of asking for advice, showing concern, giving advice and responding to advice. After this they did an activity in pairs in which they had to give advice to each other about different problems using the structures we had just seen.

We continued with unit 3A, phrasal verbs related to travel. Students had to guess the meaning of the phrasal verbs and then ask each other the questions on exercise 1 page 22. 

Then we had a look at different uses of the present perfect simple and past simple and the students had to match the different rules to the examples that were presented on the blackboard.

For homework they must do exercise 7 from page 21, exercises 3d and 6 from page 23, and exercises 3b and 4 from page 24.    

Idioms

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Idiom of the day:

An early bird

As we've been seeing a unit about sleep and sleep problems here comes an idiom related to this topic. It refers to people who have no problems in getting up early in the morning. Another idiom very similar to this is the early bird catches the worm which means if you do something immediately, or before someone else does it, you will be successful. 

For homework students must find the opposite of an early bird.

B1 class 23/11/2015

Again we have started the lesson with the idiom of the day: an early bird and another idiom that is similar to this one: the early bird catches the worm. For homework students must find the opposite of an early bird.

Then we continued with a listening exercise about the habits of sleep in the UK before checking the homework. The text on page 19 and exercise 6; this text is about a guy who has a very serious problem with insomnia. They also had to do exercise 7 from page 19; in this last vocabulary exercise we had a look at gradable and strong adjectives. They also had to find out the gradable adjective for awesome, knackered, terrific and humongous.

Then students talked about their last night's sleep using vocabulary from exercise 1 on page 18. We also learnt a new expression: not sleep a wink which means not sleep at all.

We continued with section 2D, about giving advice. Students discussed the three questions in exercise 1 and then we did the listening exercise on that same page.

For homework they must do exercise 8 on page 19 and exercise 4 on page 20.

Work collocations

Loading Work collocations

Idioms

Idiom of the day:

Piece of cake

This idiom is used when you find something is very easy to do or easily accomplished.

- Did you have any problems with the homework?
- No, it ws a piece of cake!

B1 class 18/11/2015

We started the class yesterday with a speaking activity to revise work collocations, modal verbs and expressions that meant permission, ability and possibility. Students were given a set of cards with different jobs written on them. They were divided in groups and the other members of the group had to ask yes/no questions in order to guess the job that was written on the card. Some of the questions asked included:

Are you supposed to meet deadlines?

Should you have a university degree?

Are you able to take time off work?

Do you have to work overtime?

After this we looked at the idiom of the day, this time related to food: piece of cake. Although no one got it right, some students came up with interesting theories.

We continued the lesson checking the homework, state verbs versus activity verbs and a text on page 17 to be completed with the present simple or continuous.

We started then unit 2C. We had a look at the vocabulary section: expressions related to sleep. 

be wide awake / snore / have a nap / be fast asleep / be a light sleeper 
You can practise these expressions doing this online exercise.

And to conclude the lesson, while students were yawning, they talked in pairs about their sleeping habits.

For homework students must do the reading exercise on page 18 and exercise 7 from page 19. They must also write about how they slept the previous night.

Idioms

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Idiom of the day:

Work for peanuts.

As we have been studying collocations related to work I have introduced an idiom related to work as well. The mening of this is a job that pays a very little salary or no money at all.
-Are you happy with your new job?
- It's ok, but the salary is terrible, I basically work for peanuts.

My Last Holidays

When I started the summer holidays last year I was very upset. I was sick so I couldn't go to the trip that I had planned with my friends. When I felt better, I decided I deserved to have a good holiday.

I was in touch with someone who was organizing trips around Iceland by van and some days afterwards I prepared the backpack and I took a plane to Reykjavik.

The days before i I felt very excited. I had always wanted to travel to Iceland. I'm keen on outdoor activities and from my point of view, there are some of the most beautiful  landscapes in the world.

By the time a red van arrived to pick me up from the airport I had already met the other travelers, a young couple from Italy and two French boys who travelled on their own like me.

We went hiking next to rivers and superb waterfalls, close to cliffs and black sand beaches, glaciers and mountains. We went along lagoons full of icebergs by kayak and we climbed volcanoes....

It was an interesting experience, I felt calm and pleased. Now, when I'm fed up with work or my son gets on my nerves I try to remember it !!!

Hi Carme, I've made a few more corrections, but in general it looks great. I'm really glad you've used some of the vocabulary we've seen these last few weeks.

B1 class 16/11/2015

We started the lesson yesterday sith pronunciation again. Specifically we had a look at the pronunciation of: live / lives / leave / leaves

• Live (verb) /liv/ - My parents don't live here in Valencia.
• Live (adjective) /laiv/ - Last night we went to a live concert.
• Leave (verb) /li:v/ - Tomorrow we won't leave until 10 am.

• Lives (3rd person singular of live) /livz/ - My son lives in Alicante.
• Lives (plural of life) /laivz/ - This vaccine will save thousands of lives.
• Leaves (3rd person singular of leave or plural of leaf) /li:vz/ - Look at the leaves falling from the trees.

We then saw the idiom of the day: to work for peanuts. Most students got the meaning right and a few of them came up with interesting possible meanings.

Afterwards we continued checking the homework: exercise 5 from page 15. Students had to choose the correct verb forms.

After having seen that we started unit 2B; this section is about street food. In pairs they had a look at vocabulary about food and different ways of cooking. Some students didn't know the meaning of beans, lamb, flour, cucumber, avocado or stir fry. Other students explained to their classmates the meaning of these words. Then we all talked about our favourite food and what we usually have for breakfast and lunch.

We continued with the reading activity on page 16. It's about a photographer who travels around the world trying street food and writes about it on his blog. Students asked each other out loud the questions on exercise 3.

The text had different examples of present continuous and present simple. And we matched the different examples with the rules for both tenses. For homework students must do exercise 6 from page 17.

See you Wednesday!   

Composition 2: My last holidays Arturo

My writing about holidays Arturo

Last summer, I went to visit Cantabria. This place was beatiful and rural. My family hired a rural house in a small village called Esles. This town was on the outskirts of Santander. I felt chilled-out in this house because it was in the middle of the field. In the morning, we saw the cows and they were near to ours us. On holidays you can get away with the daily routine. I enjoyed surfing in Somo beach. I had never surfed before! In summer, I used to sail and I worked to take sailing lessons in Burriana.

Moreover, I felt so happy when we swam in puddles in the mountain. The water was so cold but so relaxing. In the evening, we rested in the rural house and I played Trivial and we watched Tv. Sometimes I was so tired in the evening.

From my point of view, I think that if you want to have good holidays, you don't have to go so far.

Well done Arturo!! I've just made some minor changes; maybe it was a matter of copying from the paper to the computer or I didn't notice the first time I checked it.
Thanks a lot again!!

Improve your skills: Listening

Watch and listen to Carl Honoré, author of the book In Praise of Slow, talking about how to live a slow life. Choose the correct option for each question.

My last holidays

My first trip to the African continent: a mixture of warring emotions warring

I was nervous about the three-weeks trip with people I didn’t know, getting up very early and travelling in a truck around Kenya and Tanzania’s landscapes, but it was one of my dreams: to visit the African continent. I was very interested in the world’s largest refugee camp and, on the other hand, I dreamed of going to the Masai Mara and Serengueti, among other, game reserves where I could see all the big animals of Africa (“the big fives”) and I could look at some of the most beautiful landscapes and sunsets. I was very happy with the idea of staying in a tented camp surrounded by wildlife, too. My first trip to the African continent was a mixture of warring emotions warring.

When I was preparing for the trip I was worried about the food in Kenya but, actually, it was delicious and it wasn’t no problem. It had hearty gingery soups and refreshing salads, and now, after these weeks in Africa I’m very keen on ginger biscuits!

I was so excited when I was in the game reserves snapping away on my new camera. In a few hours, I could see zebras, buffalos, antelopes, lions, herds of elephants, giraffes and a cheetah. There really aren’t no words to describe the feelings of seeing these animals in their natural habitat.

We visited the Great Rift Valley and Lake Nakuru, where we saw plenty of baboons, buffalo and flamingos. Baboons interacted with us; they are very clever and crafty and I ended up getting fed up with them! Afterwards, we went to the Masai Mara with its vast planes plains and incredible silence. I was very pleased with the fact of staying in a tented camp surrounded by wildlife and looked looking up at the sky even though I was frightened by the howls of the hyenas.

The Mara was amazing, especially when two lions walked right in front of our truck. It was a very special moment that’s hard to describe in words. Another “magical” moment was when our first outing on the Masai Mara brought us to a cheetah sleeping on a mound of dirt. He didn’t seem worry worried about anything. He wasn’t nervous about the safari vans pulled up beside it. I was very surprised by the close proximity of our van to the mound of dirt because the Masai Mara has strict rules and vehicles can’t go off the path. Between my new reflex camera and the proximity of the animal, I managed to capture some pretty photos of this cheetah. He looked back at us in a relaxed manner and then continued to ignore us. Another vehicle came along and refused to turn off his its engine. I was so angry about that because I think that loud engine was disrupting the cheetah. The driver told our guide that he had a battery problem and couldn’t turn off his truck so we all suffered, including the cheetah. Within a few minutes the cheetah had enough and was stood up and walking walked away.

Kenya is more magical and spectacular than I had imagined. It’s a country full of warmth. It surprised me by its landscapes, by its huge plains with acacias and by its people. It was silent, it was magical and special, I fell in love with Africa’s culture and people… It’s Africa.

Great composition Mayte! and great travel too!! Very good use of vocabulary, especially adjectives followed by prepositions we have seen in unit 1.
Have a look at the form and tense of some of the verbs, -ing, past simple, past perfect...
When we use the adverb no the verb goes in affirmative. Have a look at page 9 from the book.

Idioms

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Idiom of the day:

Go bananas

This idiom is used when someone goes crazy or behaves in a crazy way.

He entered the shop and went bananas, he bought absolutely everything.

My last Holidays...

I LOVE NEW YORK

I always wanted to go to New York. Since I did have done it, I always want to go back to New York. I like urban tourism, and when we were preparing for our trip, we (saw) read many tourist guides and we spent any some time re-watching films on in which New York appears appeared.

When we arrived, we was were surprised by a very big city, with very big buildings, and very high human activity. We couldn’t imagine that it was possible. Quickly, we went to the hotel to leave our luggage and began to walk across the city. It was a wonderful week, that I hope I can repeat at in the future.

The first day, I walked around 21 kilometres, going from Midtown to uppertown until Harlem, and going later to Battery Park, in on the opposite side of Manhattan island, to see the statue of Liberty from distance, and come back to our hotel.

When I travel, I like spending the first day walking around; that helps me to decide what things I want to do the next days. At In this travel, the best visit in New York isn’t visit the museums, buildings or stores, is foot but to walk around the city.

The second day, we took our guide notes, and went with other people to make on a guided tour by car. After this, we bought some hot dogs and coke and went to Central Park to make an unexpected picnic. At In the afternoon, the Empire State Building was waiting for us. We were nervous about the lift that had to transport us to building the roof. I choosed chose the late afternoon to go up the Empire State, because we love photograhy, and we wanted to take photos of New York at in the afternoon and at evening, to compare them. Photos of Times Square are really amazing at in the evening. Lights of advertisements (made) created a very special atmosphere.

The next days, we visited a few museums, Brooklin Bridge, Central Park again and again, Rockefeller Center, and a lot shops and restaurants. I’m very pleased with good food, and a travel is not complete if I can’t taste try the gastronomy and flavours from the place I’m visiting. In that case, steak house and lobster restaurants made me feel good.

New York, I love you, I miss you…

Well done Fran!! we still have a lot of work to do with prepositions and articles. 
- In the morning / afternoon / evening but at night 
- Want to + infinitive / Like + verb-ing
- The first / second / next day
- Choose (irregular verb) - chose - chosen
- Next class we'll have a look at the difference between try and taste
A few adjectives followed by prepositions have been used (surprised, nervous, pleased). You could have mentioned something you were disappointed with, satisfied with, keen on, worried about, an embarrassing situation...
In terms of structure it is a good idea to divide the composition according to the different days you spent there. Good use of vocabulary: atmosphere, unexpected, made me feel...