Irregular verbs

We have started with past simple and we have seen there are 2 big groups:

• REGULAR: verbs in which you add -ED to the infinitive; e.g. work - worked - worked
• IRREGULAR: you have different forms in past and past participle; e.g. find - found -found

If you want more information, click on these links: here

The problem with regular verbs is the pronunciation because it's a bit difficult:

• / d / : the most usual one; e.g. played, studied, preferred (ending in vowel sound+-ED);listened, changed, travelled, lived  (ending in voiced the consonants) 
• / t / : with voiceless consonants; e.g. asked, washed, stopped (remember the trick: PeTaKaSh)
• / id / : ending in /d/ or /t/; you have an extra syllable; e.g. end - ended

For irregular verbs, look at the list with the pattern (A-A-A, A-B-B, A-B-C, A-B-A) : clikc here

How to learn irregular verbs? There are many activities, but try to do it orally better than writing:

• the alphabet: verbs starting with...
• by topics: senses; habitual actions; money; learning, etc.
• by pattern: tell me 5 verbs A-A-A, A-B-B, A-B-C, etc.
• by groups of pronunciation: /i:/  /e/  /e/ (read, read, read; feel, felt, felt)  or --- /ot/  /ot/ (buy, bought, bought; catch, caught, caught) 
• by mimic: you show your partner the action by mimic (e.g. swim, eat, write, read, think...)
• What did you do yesterday? (in the morning, in the afternoon, in the evening) 

If you want to work with written exercises, go to these links:

• exercise 1      exercise 2     exercise 3 (a list of exercises)

To help you with the pronunciation you can go to this link where there are videos to know how to say the most common irregular verbs.

1B: Present Simple (A2)

This lesson is about Present Simple but I prefer to call it "habitual present" because it gives you a clue (pista) about how to use it. The verb is formed with the infinitive verb (except the verb to be) and it takes an -S for the 3rd person in singular. In many ocassions we use a frequency adverb wtih this tense (tiempo verbal). You need to use the auxiliary DO/DOES for negative or interrogative sentences. These are some examples:

• I study English  ---   I don't study Japanese   ---  Does she usually eat meat? No, she doesn't . She never eats meat because she's a vegan.

On the Internet you can find some videos about habitual present and daily routines:

• this video is with the 1st person in singular and the 3rd person in singular: click here
• A video with grammar explanation: click here

In class I explained the 3 pronunciations of -S and -ES (which are usually used in 3rd person in singular of present, plurals and some contractions or saxon genitive) . This video can help you to remember what I said about it: click here. You can use the mnemotechnique rule (PeTaKaSh) for voiceless consonants and also remember that any vowel sound (-y, -er, -o) is always voiced. The extra syllable is after a "sybillant" sound (sonido silbante).

Now do these exercises to practise with present simple or habitual present:

• The Queen's routine: click here
• As a curiosity, this is the routine of a Canadian teacher: click here (more difficult than the others!)

Grammar exercises:     exercise 1 (this is the exercise we saw in class)     exercise 2  (this is a link with exercises)     exercise 3  (this is a test to check you've understood present simple)

To finish with, this is the video woth the song Eternal Flame

See you in class!

Welcome to the School Year 2020-2021! (A-2)

Welcome to the new school year 2020-2021. Here are we to start with English after a very hard time without practising it but we are ready to start again.. This year has some changes because of the pandemia the pandemia but we'll solve any problem we could have, you'll see.

Our class is Nivel Básico 2 (A2-F) so most of the activities will be oriented to this level. Nevertheless, I'll include other levels if necessary and if you want to review something, in this very blog there are entries for A1 as well son you can have a look. Last Thursday we saw the alphabet and the numbers in class and you can use the previous entry for revision.

We also started with the textbook but we only worked with QUESTIONS. This is some useful information if you don't have the book yet or if you want to refresh this grammar point :

• Questions: The general characteristic of English questions is the use of an auxiliary verb in the inversion at the beginning of the sentence. Let's see how this auxiliary works depending on the type of question you're using:
• YES/NO questions: they need this kind of answer so they are also called "total" questions. The structures is AUXILIARY+SUBJECT+VERB. These are some examples:
• Is he in our class?  -----  Yes, he is.
• Do they speak German?   -----  No, they don't
• Did you study English here last school year?  -----  Yes, I did
• Can you understand me?  -----  Yes, we can.
• Are you coming home early today?  -----  Yes, I am.
• "Partial" questions:  also called wh-questions, when you only ask something in particular, that is, a "part" of the sentence; these questions start with WH-words but you also have the inversion, as you can see in these examples:
• WHERE was he born?  -----  He was born in Murcia.
• HOW MANY children have you got?  -----  I've got 2, a boy and a girl.
• HOW MUCH sugar do you need?  -----  Just a little.
• WHY did you phone her yesterday?  ------  Because I wanted to meet her.
• Exceptions: when the WH-word has the function of the subject you don't have to use the inversion; have a look at the examples to see how they work:
• WHO is coming tonight?  -----   A few friends (THEY are coming)
• HOW MANY friends are coming?  -----  Just 3 or 4 close friends.
• WHAT happened to you?  -----  Nothing (nothing happened to me).

If you need some more information about questions you can use this link  and this other link is very useful as well. After reviewing the grammar, let's practise with some exercises:

• exercise 1 (very easy)       
• exercise 2 (to practise with HAVE and HAVE GOT as we saw in class)      
• exercise 3 (using WH-word in questions)    
• exercise 4 (do this exercise just for fun!)

If you want to practise in a different way, to listen to Are you lonely tonight? by Elvis Presley (half of the song is just the singer reciting the lyrics!)  : click here

See you in class!

Giving and asking for directions

This unit 11 deals with directions so let's start with the vocabulary. If you go to this link you'll find the main instructions: verbs and prepositions; click here

There is another link of BBC giving you some clues about how to ask for directions: typical questions and useful words. And this is for specific places in town: click here

This is a listening exercise to practise with directions: click here

This exercise is for using prepositions and vocabulary revision: click here

Usuful travel sentences about directions: click here

Here you are many videos to practise. I hope you enjoy watching them but don't try to learn them all because some are really difficult for your level; just use them as ways of practising:

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tRvWNld_t4
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5wPc_4bfbQ
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGDtIRNnCyQ
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2JFqKRUB2vc
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_YoeEY8FPM&vl=en
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKmK30rYNMU
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NvMbJjpF-94

Past simple - WAS/WERE

In class we saw past simple of the verb to be. Remember that we use it in this way:

• WAS ---- in singular; e.g. I was tired yesterday, she was very nice
• WERE ---- in plural; e.g. There were many people, we were at home
• Remember: you were a small girl   but   you were small girls

If you want to practise, there are many exercises like these ones:

• exercise 1    exercise 2    exercise 3

If you want to review present simple, this is a video that can help you.
This is another video that you can use: click here

To finish with, here is there a video with an old but beautiful song: The House of the Rising Sun

Present continuous and habitual present

In lesson 9 we start with present continuous. Remember the difference between both:

• habitual present is connected to habits, something you usually and it is used with frequency adverbs such as always, usually, some times, never...
• present continuous is something punctual or for a period of time, something particular, not habitual.

These are links with exercises to practise:

• exercise 1     exercise 2    exercise 3     exercise 4  

This link is with an explanation and exercises at the end: click here

Adjectives - A2

Adjectives are words to describe charcteristics. Let's see the most typical ones:

• Colours: here you are a link and watch this video with the pronunciation
• Opposites: exercise 1       exercise 2        exercise 3        exercise 4       exercise 5       exercise 6    exercise 7     exercise 8
• Opposite adjectives: this video is very easy. Here you are a video and here you are another video .
• There are very useful adjectives: nice, lovely, good, awful

How to learn vocabulary:

• Think of one thing to describe and try to say its characteristics: a Mercedes (big, expensive, fast, strong, luxury, German, good...) Do the same with a ring, an elephant, a coffee table, a pencil, a computer...
• Write a chart with different adjectives: in green the positive and in red the negative or the opposite.
• Think of an adjective and use it in different contexts: lovely; e.g. a lovely story, a lovely baby, a lovely picture, a lovely sandwich...

Possessive Adjectives - A2

On unit 4A we have possessive adjetives. This is a poem and a chart using them: click here.

Here you have an easy video about possessive adjectives: click here

If you like, you can practise with the Simpsons' family tree: click here

Some practice:

• Possessive adjectives: exercise 1   exercise 2   exercise 3
• Saxon genitive: exercise 1   exercise 2

See you!

Halloween: October 31st

I found this information about Halloween, which is on the 31st of October.  I hope you'll enjoy these links:

• this is a video about the history of Halloween: click here
• an easy video for kids with useful vocabulary and sentences: click here
• this video also has subtitles so it's easy to understand: click here
• here you are some children's jokes for Halloween: click here
• if you want to read short scary stories, go to this link

Happy Halloween!