Idioms

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Idiom of the day:

Chasing rainbows.

This idiom is used to describe someone who is trying to achieve something impossible or really difficult.

Jim really wants to be a football player but only a few become great ones, he's just chasing rainbows.

B1 class 23/03/2016

We have started the class with the idiom of the day: chasing rainbows. This one is related to what we had seen in the previous class, having objectives in life and trying to achieve them.

Then we corrected the homework, the reading exercise on page 54 and we talked in pairs about reality TV programmes. After that we continued with the homework on page 55, exercises 6 and 7. We did it out loud asking each other questions about the students' ability to do certain things.

In the next activity we saw vocabulary related to computers and practised it in conversation discussing what we do to recover a password for example or what we would do if our computer crashed.

We finished the lesson revising the first conditional and explaining the form and use of the second conditional.

For homework students must do exercises 5 and 8 from page 57, and exercise 3 from page 58.

Idioms

Idiom of the day:

Like father, like son.

This idiom is used to describe a son with similar characteristics or who behaves in the same way as his father.

"Have you heard John's son is going to become a singer as well? Like father, like son; John is a great musician".

B1 class 21/03/2016

First class after Fallas holidays so we started the lesson with a warm-up speaking exercise talking about what everyone had done during Fallas. 

Then I introduced the idiom of the day: like father like son. The reason for this idiom is that last Saturday it was Father's Day. It quite self-explanatory but tomorrow I'll write another post with its meaning.

We continued the lesson with unit 7 and some vocabulary and speaking. First in pairs students had a look at the meaning of some expressions related to goals and achievements, then they asked each other in pairs to practise fluency and finally the asked the questions out loud to practise accuracy. As a novelty we changed the position of the classroom and we used the TV to project the book and we used it as a blackboard.

After this we saw some expressions other than can and could to describe ability and the form of the verbs that goes after these expressions, either vb-ing/noun or an infinitive. Students discussed some of the things they are good and bad at in order to practise it.

For homework there's the reading exercise on page 54 and exercises 6-7 on page 55.

Preparing the speaking part

(updated)
Last Monday we had the use of English and writing parts of the exam and tomorrow Wednesday we'll do the speaking part. This post is to give an idea of how the speaking part is going to be providing some tips of how to address the topic.

Sample task
Monologue (2-3 minutes):

Watching reality TV is a waste of time.

State whether you agree or disagree.

Compare reality TV with other programmes

Discuss reasons why people like it

Dialogue (3-4 minutes):

Your partner and you would like to rent a place to live. You would like to live in a flat whereas your partner would like to live in a house.

Explain why you prefer to live in a flat.

Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of one and the other.

Decide what type of home you are going to rent

Tips

Monologue: use structures to agree or disagree and give reasons and examples that support your opinion. Use comparative and superlative structures to compare various elements. Make hypothesis using first and second conditional, and modal verbs.

Dialogue: use structures to talk about your preferences (I’d rather, prefer, don’t mind…). Use discussion language, make suggestions, give examples, provide different points of view, soften your opinions. Make a decision, agree and disagree.

I hope you find this information useful in order to prepare for the speaking part. Click here for more useful tips to prepare the speaking part.

See you tomorrow

Rewriting: units 4-6

Loading Rewriting Units 4-6

Idioms

Idiom of the day:

Flying planes

Pass with flying colours.

I've chosen this idiom because next Monday we'll be doing the exam so I thought this would encourage you all. The meaning of this is to pass an exam with great success, with very good marks and I'm sure this is what you'll all get.

B1 class 02/03/2016

Yesterday it was the last class before the exam. we started the lesson checking the homework: exercise 4 on page 52. After that we saw the idiom of the day: pass with flying colours, very appropriate for these days.

After that we did some revision for the exam; I had prepared some exercises on rewriting. We did a few of them and the rest were for homework. I'll post tomorrow the exercise to be done online so that you have the solutions and I'll send you all the solutions by email as well.

And then I explained the different parts of the exam and we did some practice for the speaking part which will be next Wednesday. We practised two dialogues in which students had to take different roles and come to an agreement.

See you all next Monday! You'll do a terrific job in the exam!

Idioms

Idiom of the day:

If you pay peanuts, you get monkeys.

This idiom is related to another one we saw some time ago, work for peanuts. This one means that if you offer a low salary then the kind of employees or services you'll get would probably be unqualified and not very professional.

B1 class 29/01/2016

First class after my paternity leave. We started with a revision of verb patterns, especially try, forget and remember.

forget + vb-ing: refers to actions that have already happened. I'll never forget living in London.

forget + to infinitive: refers to actions that haven't happened. Don't forget to take the rubbish out.

remember + vb-ing: refers to actions that have already happened. I remember bringing the keys but I can't find them.

remember + to infinitive: refers to actions that haven't happened. Remember to bring milk from the supermarket.

try + vb-ing: do something to see what the result is, as an experiment. Try turning it off and on again.

try + to infinitive: do something which requires some effort. Try to do the exercise, it's not that difficult.

Then we did some revision of conditional sentences, and future time clauses, especially unless and in case.

unless: it means if not. Don't come to the party, unless you feel better/if you don't feel better.

in case: it describes something that might happen. Don't touch the ipad in case you break it.

We practised the use of in case in a conversation about what we would take with us on holiday to show that we are prepared for unexpected events.

Then I introduced the idiom of the day. Since we were talking about conditionals the idiom follows the structure of a conditional sentences: if you pay peanuts, you get monkeys.

Finally we talked about music festivals and the best and worst aspects of festivals and we concluded the lesson with the listening exercise on page 52.

For homework students must do exercise 4 on page 52.