Thursday, August 2, 2012

goodbye blog!



I'm no longer teaching in Canada so this blog will not be updated anymore!
Take a look, I hope it's useful for you in some way, either as a teacher or a student.

Wednesday, August 1, 2012

UppInt A: Conditional Structures

EVEN IF/ONLY IF/UNLESS:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/grammar/learnit/learnitv122.shtml
http://www.grammar-quizzes.com/9-7.html
http://esl.about.com/od/grammaradvanced/a/adverb_clauses_3.htm

UppInt A: Phrasal Verb: GO

to go out
1.to leave your house, especially in order to enjoy yourself
"Let's go out tonight!"

2. to have a romantic relationship with someone
"Tina used to go out with my brother."
"They've been going out for two years now."

3. Fire/Light- to stop burning or shining
"The lights suddenly went out."

to go over s.t. -to review/examine s.t.
"Before the test, she went over her notes."

to go through s.t.- to experience a difficult or unpleasant situation, feeling etc
"He's going through a divorce at the moment."
"She went through a lot last year and she was quite upset."


to go through
1- Law:  if a law goes through, or goes through Parliament, it is officially accepted
"The smoking ban in public places went through without any opposition."

2-Deal/agreement- if a deal or agreement goes through, it is officially accepted and agreed

"After months of negotiation, the deal finally went through."


3-Read/Discuss- to read or discuss something in order to make sure it is correct 
"We'll go through the details of the contract tomorrow."

4-Search-  to search something in order to find something in particular
"John went through his pockets looking for the keys."

to go through with s.t. - to do something you had promised or planned to do, even though it causes problems or you are no longer sure you want to do it
"I had no choice but to go through with it."

to go under -if a business goes under, it has to stop operating because of financial problems
"After only a few months, the business Rob started went under."

to go off- if an alarm goes off, it makes a noise to warn you about something
"The fire alarm went off at 3am."

IntUpp D: Describing people: character- Answers

38.1
1.clever- half-witted
2. extroverted-introverted
3. rude-courteous
4. cruel- kind-hearted
5. generous- tight-fisted
6. unsociable- gregarious

38.2
1. likes
2. likes
3. likes
4.dislikes
5. dislikes
6. dislikes
7. dislikes
8. likes

38.3
1. Di's very stingy
2. Molly's usually brusque/blunt.
3. Liz is quite unprincipled.
4. Sam can be assertive.
5. Dick's quite assertive.
6. I find Dave self-assured.
7. Don't you think  Jim's inquiring?
9. Jill is peculiar

38.4
1. sociable
2. pessimistic
3. assertive
4. inquisitive
5. extravagant
6. argumentative
7. sensitive

38.6
1.self-confident, self-centered, self-indulgent
2.bad-tempered. good-tempered, quick-tempered
3. narrow minded, single-minded, open-minded

IntUppD: Used To vs. Would


USED TO/WOULD
Adapted from Michael Swan’s Practical English Usage


Used to= past habits and states which are now finished
                I used to eat McDonald’s for lunch every day.

-refers to things that happened at an earlier stage of one’s life and are now finished. The situation has now changed.  Used to is not used to say what happened at a past time, how long it took or how many times it happened.

NOT I used to work very hard last month.  I worked very hard last month

NOT I used to live in California for three years.  I lived in California for three years

NOT  I used to go to Spain three times last year.  I went to Spain three times last year.

Would = regularly repeated actions in the past, in the same way as used to

When we were young, we would/used to go skating every winter.
When I was a baby, my mother would/used to sing me to sleep.

*BUT only used to can refer to past states

I used to have a lot of model cars. NOT       I would have a lot of model cars.
He used to be really skinny.                             NOT       He would be really skinny.

*we use used to NOT would to talk about regular and important habitual behaviour
               
Roberto used to play a lot of tennis.              NOT       Roberto would play a lot of tennis.
He used to smoke.                                              NOT       He would smoke.


IntUppD: Describing one's character

Today in class, we talked about how to describe s.o's personality and character and the positive (+) and (-) connotation that each word can carry. It is important to know which words have a positive (+) or a negative (-) connotation.  For example, we discussed the difference between ARROGANT (COCKY) & CONFIDENT.  Here are some more resources to help you expand your expand your vocabulary




 

"What is he/she like?"
A short list of personality adjectives
http://www.esolcourses.com/content/exercises/grammar/adjectives/personality/words-for-describing-personality.html






ALSO: (Describing physical characteristics)

"What does he/she look like?"
-Here is a website that talks about describing a person's physical appearance
 http://justmesuzanne.hubpages.com/hub/ESL-Describing-a-Person
-A short list of physical appearance adjectives
http://www.esolcourses.com/content/exercises/grammar/adjectives/appearance/vocab1.html


UppInt A: Wishes/Regrets-Notes


WISHES/REGRETS

WISH + Simple Past/Past continuous/could/would – Wish for the present/future (want to change a situation)

-I wish I had more free time (don’t)
-I wish I could buy a car (I don’t have enough $)
-I wish it would stop raining in Vancouver
-I wish I were sleeping right now instead of learning grammar.
 
WISH + Past perfect (had + past participle) – regret about the past
I wish I hadn’t drunk so much last night = I regret drinking so much last night
I wish I had been able to go outside yesterday .

Mixed Conditional: If I hadn’t drunk so much last night, I wouldn’t have a hangover now. 

If only – strong wish or regret (emphasis) - often used without a result clause
If only I hadn’t drunk so much last night!
If only I had more money!

Bus. Eng: Opening a can of worms

http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/open+a+can+of+worms







Bus. Eng: Cool videos related to the environment

This website has various videos related to environmental concerns.
http://www.storyofstuff.org/ If you go to the website, you can watch the videos with subtitles.





Varities of English

Cool parody of Beauty and the Beast!


Tuesday, July 31, 2012

UppInt A: JLo & Conditionals

1) Watch the following 1999 JLo video "If you had my love" and pay attention to the conditionals that she uses...

2) Look up the lyrics and compare your answers: http://www.lyricsmania.com/if_you_had_my_love_lyrics_jennifer_lopez.html

Monday, July 30, 2012

UppInt A: Shopping Addiction

Today we will watch a video that deals with shopping addiction.



1)VOCABULARY: Before you watch, please look up the following words that will come up in the video. Follow the links to the dictionary to find a definition

-The urge to splurge

-For many Americans, shopping is a chore
-The act of shopping is a quick fix
-You get a rush when you buy something
-That’s a red flag that you could have a problem 

2) WATCH: Watch the video and answer the questions below


 1) What are some indicators that you are a shopaholic?
 2) What statistic is provided about the power of advertising?
 3) What makes up the equation of financial trouble
 4) What does this mean: "If you eat enough lobster, it tastes like soap."?
 5) What are the steps to resolving your financial crisis?


IntUpp D: TH pronunciation

This funny and popular commerical for Berlitz language school shows you the difficulty and "life-saving'"  importance of 'TH' pronunication. Enjoy!


 

UppInt A: Conditionals!

EXTRA CONDITIONALS PRACTICE
http://www.englishpage.com/conditional/conditionalintro.html
http://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/grammar/conditional-sentences
http://www.usingenglish.com/articles/english-conditionals-an-introduction.html
http://www.grammar-quizzes.com/conditionsum.html



Meaning of the “If clause”


Verb Form in the “If clause”

Verb Form in the “Result Clause”

Examples
0 Conditional (FACTUAL): Always true in the present
Simple present
Simple present
If I have enough time, I write to my parents every week.
1st Conditional (FUTURE): True in the future

Simple present
Will/be going to
If I have enough time tomorrow, I will write to my parents.
2nd Conditional (HYPOTHETICAL): Untrue in the present/future 

Simple past
Would + base form
If I had enough time now, I would write to my parents.
3rd Conditional (HYPOTHETICAL IN THE PAST):
Untrue in the past
Past perfect
Would have + past participle
If I had had enough time, I would have written to my parents yesterday.
Mixed Conditional
(HYPOTHETICAL PRESENT as a result of HYPOTHETICAL PAST):
Untrue in the past/present
Past perfect (PAST)











Simple past (PRESENT)


Would + base form
Would + be + ING
(PRESENT)









Would + have + past participle
(PAST)
If I had finished all my work, I would be writing to my parents now.

If I hadn’t drunk that last beer, I wouldn’t be hungover now.



If I spoke Spanish, I would have gotten the job.

Sunday, July 29, 2012

My Blackberry Is Not Working!


IntUppD/ UppInt A: Phrasal Verb: CALL (me maybe)




 to call s.o back - to return a phone call, for example because they were not at home or busy when you phoned last time
"He's not here right now. Do you want to call back in an hour?" 

to call s.o up -to call/phone s.o.
"I'll call you up tomorrow and we'll set up a time to meet."

to call in

1-(sick) to phone work/school to tell them you are absent due to sickness.
"Jane just called in sick, so someone has to fill in for her."
 
2- to phone a radio or television show to give your opinion or to ask a question
"Over 2000 viewers called in to the station with complaints."

to call s.t. off - to decide that a planned event will not take place
"The wedding has been called off because the couple broke up."  
  
to call s.t. out -to say something loudly
"She called out my name."


to call s.o out on s.t.-to point out s.o.'s mistake/bad behaviour, to let s.o. know that you know about their bad behaviour and your negative opinion about this behaviour
"I thought I could get away with going to work late, but my boss finally called me out on it. "
"My mother called me out on lying to her."
"Jane's friends called her out on not breaking up with her cheating boyfriend."

Follow LONDON 2012!

http://www.ctvolympics.ca/
http://www.london2012.com/

  CTV Olympics 2012