Past Continuous- one of the simpler tenses in English- hurray!

Dear students!

I have some good news for you! Past Continuous, which you've been learning recently, is one of the easier tenses in English! It is very similar to Present Continuous in form and usage so you shouldn't have any problems with understanding it. Have a look at the following presentation that explains the basic rules:

Here are some links where you can find more explanation & some exercises:

Past Simple & Continuous explained + an interactive exercise

Make sentences out of words (Past Continuous)

Make negative sentences out of the words given

Make questions in Past Continuous

Put into correct tense: Past Simple or Past Continuous

Explanation + a lot of exercises (Click on the right)

I didn't use to wear glasses!

Hello students!

In this post we're going to deal with 'used to'. As we mentioned in class, 'used to' expresses a habit or a state in the past that is no longer true now. How to better show this but to look at some pictures from the past and present!

In the picture on the left, you can see that I used to have long hair and I used to have a fringe. And I didn't use to wear glasses. But that was long time ago! Now, I have short hair and I wear glasses. 

You very often need to use this construction to refer to old habits from your childhood, e.g.:

• I used to play football with my friends every Sunday morning. 
• I used to be in bed by 9 o'clock.
• I used to ride my bicycle all day.
• I used to play hide and seek.  

All those sentences mean that you did those things in the past but you don't do them any more. 

Of course, 'used to' can refer to any past time in your life, not just your childhood, e.g.:

• I used to live in London when I was younger.
• I used to work in a supermarket. 
• I used to drive to work.
• I used to go out a lot. 
• I used to hate cheese.
• I didn't use to go to bed before 11 pm. 

All those sentences mean that you no longer do all those things, To get clearer understanding, we can add some sentences about your current circumstances:

• I used to live in London when I was younger. Now, I live in Newcastle. 
• I used to work in a supermarket. Now, I work in a bank. 
• I used to drive to work. Now, I walk because my work is a short distance from my house.
• I used to go out a lot.  Now, I don't go out any more. 
• I used to hate cheese. Now, I love cheese. 
• I didn't use to go to bed before 11 pm. Now, I am fast asleep at 10 pm every night. 

'Used to' can show how the habits of humanity have changed. Look at the following slides. 

                          People used to live in caves.                   Now they live in houses. 

Take a look at some more slides and try to create sentences like the ones above. The picture on the left of each slide will show a situation from the past, and the picture on the right will show a situation now. You have some words on top of each slide to help you create sentences/.

For more practice on 'used to' go to the following websites:

Choose the correct option

Video + exercises

Create sentences

ESOL Nexus presentation & exercises

Reported Speech- My teacher said that reported speech was easy!

Dear students!

For the past 2 weeks we've been talking about reported speech. I have prepared a presentation for you that explains reported speech. Below the presentation, you'll find some links to extra activities.

Change sentences to reported speech (easy)
Change tenses and time words
Listen Dong Jun from Korea talking about reported speech
Select the correct option

The link below will take you to a video. Before you watch, scroll down half page and click on 'Preparation' tab. Later, watch the video and do the two tasks.

Your boyfriend is a slob

Question tags- you understand them, don't you?

Watch the presentation below about question tags to recap what you've learned this week:







Follow these links for more practice on question tags:

http://www.ihbristol.com/free-english-exercises/test/esol-smc-question-tags
http://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en/exercises/questions/question_tags3.htm
http://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en/exercises/questions/question_tags2.htm
http://www.englishgrammarsecrets.com/questionstags/menu.php
http://www.usingenglish.com/quizzes/233.html
http://www.englishexercises.org/makeagame/viewgame.asp?id=2100

Phrasal Verbs

Phrasal verbs are everywhere. You wake up in the morning. Then, you get up and put the make-up on (if you are a girl!). You get out of the house and hop on a bus because you want to get to work on time. You write up emails and go to meetings. Finally, after a hard day's work you come back home, put the TV on or listen to the radio. You just need to relax! Phrasal verbs overload!

There are a couple of things that you need to know about phrasal verbs:

1. They always consist of a verb (e.g. put) and a preposition (e.g. on) or a particle (e.g. away)

2. They can also have an object (e.g. 'it', 'her', 'the word') either in the middle or at the end (e.g. put it out, phone her back, look the word up // look for it, look after her, look for the word). 

3. The position of the object can sometimes change (e.g. Can you fill in this form. = Can you fill this form in. // I'm going to throw away these old shoes. = I'm going to throw these old shoes away.)

4. They can have literal and non-literal meaning. Take the following sentence. 

Yesterday, I picked up a girl. 

Literal meaning is this:

You actually lifted a girl off the ground.

Non- literal meaning is this:

You chatted to a girl and she liked you. 

5. They are best learn when you see/listen to them in context. It's pointless trying to memorise them because they are just too confusing!

In order to get to grips with all this phrasal verbs business, try the following exercises: 

Online game (easier)

Select correct particle/preposition (difficult)

Select correct particle (quite difficult)

Different games according to the verb

Punctuation- what's difficult about it?

It seems that everyone knows the rules of punctuation. You know that a full stop is at the end of the sentence and a comma separates two independent clauses or words in a list. So what's a big deal? Why so many students get it wrong?

The importance of punctuation cannot be overestimated. Why? Because it changes the meaning of the sentence, e.g.

And it makes the reading of texts easier.

can you imagine that there is no full stops commas apostrophes question marks exclamation marks and any other marks in the text you are reading you will find that it is very difficult to follow the text because you dont know when one sentence finishes and the other one starts and of course there are no capital letters to guide you though what a mess

To practise the use of punctuation and capital letters, please follow the links and do the exercises:

Thanksgiving
Valentine's Day
St David's Day
BBC games

Connectors vs Conjunctions

When you google the word 'connector', this is what comes up:

which, of course, has nothing to do with learning English, or has it? On the surface, it may not be so obvious, but connectors in language have the same function as connectors shown above- they are necessary to link pieces of a greater whole. In language, they help to create a cohesive whole of your longer piece of writing or a longer piece of speech. In practical terms, they are very important for your speaking and writing exam. 

As seen above, there are different connectors- they have various shapes and they link different parts within a unit. Similarly, connectors in language have different functions. The table below sumarises some connectors and their functions: 

*Adapted from Advanced Grammar in Use by M Hewings

The main feature of connectors is that they DO NOT join clauses within a sentence. They join IDEAS, i.e. they join separate sentences rather than clauses within one sentence.

For further practice, please use the following websites:

Stickyball

Flash Quiz

Scribd

So, what are conjunctions? Well, when I google them, the following images appear, meaning that conjunctions are uniquely linked to language and they don't have any other functions, like in the case of connectors.

Conjunctions, in contrast to connectors, link two clauses within a sentence. They DO NOT link separate sentences, that is why, for example, you cannot start your sentences with 'because' as it has to be attached to another part of the same sentence. On the other hand, conjunctions share the same functions as connectors, i.e. they can introduce contrast, comparison, addition, etc. within a sentence. Have a look below at the revised table of conjunctions and connectors:

*Adapted from Advanced Grammar in Use by M Hewings

*** Be careful with 'after', 'before' and 'so' as they can be both connectors and conjunctions. 

To clarify what conjunctions do, have a go at the following activities:

Conjunctions game (Easy)

ESL tower

Conjunctions II

Choose the best conjunction

Quiz

Reading exam- How to pass it?

What comes to your mind when you think of your reading exam? Do you feel confident that you'll pass? Do you have a secret method of passing an exam? Maybe you dread it altogether because you are afraid that there will be words that you don't understand? 

Here are a couple of tips that will help you to feel more confident before your reading exam. 

Know what to expect. Doing practice papers is an invaluable source of information. Not only do you get an idea of the level of difficulty of the exam, but also the type of tasks that you can expect.We did some practice tests in class, but for the future, if you don't/can't practise in class, don't forget that examining bodies (like City and Guilds) put practice tests on their websites which you can download and do in your own time. 

For your City & Guilds Literacy test you already know that there are two types of tasks:  multiple choice questions and open questions. The open questions require a specific number of answers. If you go over the limit, even if the extra answer that you provided is correct, you will still be marked down for not following the instructions. Please remember about it during your real exam. 

Read the questions first. This will help you to understand what the texts will be about. You can also underline key words which you will later look for in the text. Make a mental note of how many questions there are in total so that you manage your time effectively during the real exam. 

Use reading techniques. Reading in detail and translating words that you don't understand is the WORST thing that you can do. Many students, especially at higher levels, are scared of not understanding each and every word in text, just in case they need it to answer questions. While it might be true for a small number of questions, you will be able to answer most of the questions just by skimming and scanning. 

Skimming is when you read the text quite quickly, picking up the key words. The main idea behind this reading technique is to give you general meaning of the text, so called gist. That is why it is important to underline key words in questions to the text as you will most likely find the same words in text when you skim it. 

Scanning is when you only look for a particular piece of information. For example, if a question requires you to provide a year/time/telephone number, don't bother reading the whole text. Just look around for a number and you'll find the information you need much quicker. 

Reading in detail is the last thing you do. If you stumble across a question that you have problems with, you have no other choice but to read in detail. This is fine as long as you don't spend too much time on it. Try to leave difficult questions to the end. 

Look at the whole page.  Sometimes the text in your exam will be a screenshot of a webpage or a leaflet. They contain pictures, different fonts, tabs, etc. which also give information. So, don't concentrate purely on the text itself; sometimes the answer to the question might be in a picture or a caption. 

Stay calm and carry on! Don't get too stressed if the topic of the exam is difficult for you. Just do whatever you can and follow the instructions. There is always a retake ;)

GOOD LUCK!

Skills versus personal qualities

Looking for a job is a big task! That is why it is especially important to understand job adverts. Apart from typical information like the name of the company, duties and responsibilities of the job, qualifications and experience required, job adverts sometimes specify skills and qualities that the candidates are required to have. But what's the difference between skills and personal qualities?

Look at some examples below. The words underlined in red refer to skills whereas the words underlined in green refer to personal qualities. Have a think what the difference is between them.

Generally speaking, the difference between skills and personal qualities is that skills refer to something that we can do while personal qualities refer to the way we are, our character. We can also say that we can get better at our skills, for example, the longer we use computers, the better computer skills we have. On the other hand, our personal qualities remain the same throughout our lives, for example, you can be a friendly person by nature. We can't really become 'friendlier' in time. 

Sometimes, however, the distinction isn't as clear-cut. Let's think about the word 'persuasive'. According to the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary, this word means 'able to persuade somebody to do or believe something', which would imply that it is more of a skill. This sort of skill would be sought after in a call centre where, as a representative, you often have to sell things. Let's say you have to sell home insurance. The more insurance policies you sell, the stronger persuasive skills you have. And of course, as you have to practise selling them every day, you become better at persuading people and you sell even more policies. In other words, 'persuasive' is a skill because you get better at it in time. 

On the other hand, some people are naturally persuasive. Maybe it's their tone of voice or maybe certain words that they use. Regardless of the reason, people tend to give in to their persuasiveness. That is why some of the call centre workers achieve remarkable results in selling insurance whereas other people just can't sell any insurance policies at all. So, we can say that 'persuasive' is a bit the way you are. You can't just learn it because otherwise all call centre workers would sell the same amount of policies.

Below, there is a list of skills and personal qualities that the employers look the most in  their future employees. Maybe you can use some words in your CV or an application form?

Formal letters- how to plan & write them?

From time to time we are required to write a formal piece of writing, usually a letter. We can write a covering letter to support our job application form or a letter of complaint when we are dissatisfied with service that we received. Regardless of the type of letter that we need to write, it's always good to have a plan.

Let's look closely at the following situation:

You have a direct debit of £35 set up with your mobile phone provider to pay for your phone bill every month. Last month, £335 was taken from your account and as a result you went £200 overdraft. You need to write a letter of complaint to the bank manager of your bank explaining the situation and suggesting resolution to the problem.

First, we need to have a plan for our letter. There are a few ways in which you can plan your writing. Here, you have got four examples: a list, a writing frame, a flow chart and a mind map. All of the examples show various ways in which you can plan the letter above.

List

Writing frame

Flow chart

Mind map

So once you have a plan you need to write a draft. A draft is the first version of your letter. Many students think that the first version of their piece of writing is good enough to go. That's a mistake.  A draft is just a way of putting your plan into a letter-like shape but it is NOT the letter that you can send. At this stage you just need to write and not worry about the grammar mistakes or spelling problems. You will correct them later. Below, you have an example of a draft. 

Once you have your draft, there are many ways in which you can improve it. Below you have a mind map which shows different aspects that need to be looked at when editing a piece of writing. 

by mariolahejduk

So, below you have an example of how we could correct the draft. Please bear in mind that this might not be the final version yet. You might need more editing before you arrive at a version that you are happy with.

So now it's time to write the final version of our letter. Here's an example:

                                                                                                                                Jane Smith

                                                                                                                                12 White Gardens

                                                                                                                                London

                                                                                                                                WS1 4QR

The Manager                                                                                                            22.01.14

Lloyds Bank

12 Poor Street

TS5 7RJ

Dear Sir/Madam,

I am writing to complain about an unauthorised transaction that took place on my bank account (bank account number 44123124) on Thursday 18.01.14.

I have a direct debit set up with my mobile phone provider, Vodafone, of £35. The amount is taken from my account at the beginning of every month. Last week, £335 was taken from my bank account. I called Vodafone to enquire about it but they said that they only received the usual amount. So the problem seems to be with your system.

As a result of this mistake, I went £200 overdraft and I am being charged an overdraft fee of £5 every day. What is more, last weekend I could not afford my weekly shopping and I am not able to pay other bills which are due this month. I find this whole situation very stressful and I am disappointed with the fact that your bank allowed such situation to happen.

Can you give this matter your immediate attention? I would like you to refund my money immediately and cancel any overdraft charges.

Yours faithfully,

Jane Smith

                                                                                               

Remember that writing is a process. You need to start with a plan, i.e. you generate ideas and try to write them down showing relationship between them. Then, you write your ideas in sentences in paragraphs, i.e. you create your draft. Finally, you edit your work. You check for grammar, spelling and punctuation mistakes but also you add and delete sentences and you change words so that they sound more formal. 

What's the key to success in life?

What is your understanding of success in life? Is it a career, a happy family, fulfilled goals? Maybe a nice amount of money in your bank account?
What is it that decides that you are successful in life? Is it your intelligence? Talent? Luck? Good grades at school? Character? Maybe a combination of all of them? The scientists have long thought that it could be the intelligence, but they are not so sure now. They begin to understand that the key to success is something they call a 'grit'. What is it? Watch this short video and find out.

 Key to success

Do you agree with them? Do you know anyone who has it and is really successful despite not scoring high on IQ tests? Share below

The (Present) Perfect Song!

Ah, Present Perfect! The mysterious and incomprehensible tense that gives headache to so many students of English. Rather than remembering the formulas (although they are useful sometimes!) when to use Present Perfect, see it in action!  The Irish rock band, U2, have created a perfect song in Present Perfect. It tells a story of what a person has done so far in their lives in search of their happiness.

So every time you want to talk about of what you have done so far in your life, just think about this song!

*** PS. Can you spot a mistake with past participle in the song?

To practise the use of the tense, please follow the links:

Create positive sentences
Create negative sentences
Sentences with 'never'
Create questions
Present Perfect vs Past Simple Quiz

The Passive Voice- who ate whom???

Did the cat eat the mouse? Or did the mouse eat the cat? I have never heard of a mouse that ate a cat, but you never know! :)

Compare:

The cat ate the mouse. (Active voice- we emphasize that the the cat is doing the action of eating)

The mouse was eaten by the cat. (Passive voice- the cat is still doing the action of eating but we emphasize the fact that it was the mouse is receiving the action. Poor mouse, it's dead.) 

Passive Voice is  formed by 'to be' and past participle. Remember that you need to keep the tense when you change the sentence from the Active to the Passive voice, like in the example above.

Active Voice: The cat ate the mouse. ('ate' is the Past Simple of the verb 'to eat')

Passive Voice: The mouse was eaten by the cat. ('was' is the Past Simple of the verb 'to be', we keep the tense; 'eaten' is past participle). 

Below you have a quiz. The first sentence in is the Active Voice. Select the correct sentence in the Passive Voice. Remember the tenses need to match.

by mariolahejduk

Below you have some links to practise Passive Voice:

Various tenses in Passive
Active or Passive?
Plenty of other online exercises here

Pure emotions- what are the best words to describe them?

Have a look at this beautiful video showing 20 strangers who were asked to kiss for the first time. What emotions accompany these people? Is is excitement, happiness, nervousness? Do the have butterflies in their stomachs? Are they bundles of nerves? Are they on cloud nine?

What is the first word that comes to your mind when you watch the people? Maybe you have an idiom in your own language that describes their emotions- can you translate it to English? Post your comments here to build a bank of vocabulary describing feelings and emotions!

20 complete strangers were asked to kiss for the first time

Retelling the story

We agreed that a good story teller keeps their story by including a lot of details in it. Next lesson, you are going to retell the story you'd found in a newspaper or online on a topic that interests you. When you prepare your stories you need to include the following:

• who? (Who is the main character in your story? Are they famous? What is special about them? Age? Marital status? Gender?) 
• where? (Where is your story taking place? Can you briefly describe it?)
• what? (The main events of the story in order, emotions of the characters, your own opinion)
• so what? (What happened in the end? What's the 'finale'/ 'punch line'?)

Also think about what tenses you're going to use and how you're going to interest your audience with your story (Will it be the story itself? Your tone of voice? The pace of your speech? Special words?). Below, I'm including the links to the audio recordings we listened to so that you have an example of a story that is well 'retold' and an example of a story that lacks details and therefore is quite boring. 

Open the links below and click on 'Download file' on a page. The file will open in a media player on your computer. 

Story that lacks details (bad example of story telling) 

Story that includes details (good example of story telling)

I am also putting an electronic copy of the chapter we are working on now. At the end of it, you'll find a tapescript of both stories on p. 17 & 18. 

Chapter 2 Level 1

Past Perfect

What a discussion we had about Past Perfect yesterday! I'm happy to see that you are so inquisitive and try to go deeper into understanding this grammar point. So the most important thing for you is to recognise it and understand why it is used.

So to recognise it you need to know that we form it by using had and past participle. 

E.g. When I arrived Ann had just left. 

You also need to know that we use Past Perfect to:

• to show that one action happened before another action in the past: I did not have any money because I had lost my wallet.
• to show that something started and continued for a period of time in the past up until another action in the past: I had already studied for two years at university by the time I was 20. 

On the other had, you need to keep it in perspective. Past Perfect is quite a low frequency tense and so be careful not to overuse it. In every day speech, when you recall events in a chronological order you just use Past Simple: 

I switched on the TV and I went to the kitchen to have something to eat. 

rather than

I had switched on the TV and  I went to the kitchen to have something to eat. (Although this sentence is correct, there is no need to use Past Perfect in the first part of it.)


For further practice with how to create it watch the video and do the following exercises.


6 exercises (practice with the use of Past Perfect)

Exercises to practise the form of Past Perfect

Want to improve your listening skills? Read on...

I know that many of you have problems with understanding native speakers. Yes, they speak quickly. Yes, they speak with an accent (north-eastern accent God forbid!). Yes, they use slang. Yes, they don't pronounce the endings in words. You might feel scared and disencouraged from talking with the natives because of that. All in all, what's the point of speaking to them if you can't understand what they are talking about. So instead of going out and listening to people on the street, you sit at home and listen to Polish/Czech/Iranian/Pakistani/youchose radio and watch Polish/Czech/Iranian/Pakistani/youchose TV. 

But I want to encourage you to use podcasts. A podcast is basically an audio file that you can download to your phone, computer, tablet or MP3 player and listen whenever you like. The benefits of listening to podcasts are enormous:

• you can do it on the go, when you do the ironing, travel on a train, walk on the beach, etc. 
• you are exposed to real language 
• you can select the level of a podcast (some websites offer podcasts from elementary to advanced levels)
• you can select topics of your podcast according to your interests (at a cafe, at the train station, etc.)
• you have some exercises that go with the podcast to help you understand the content of it
• each podcast is usually accompanied by a transcript so you can listen and read at the same time
• you don't need English friends to practise with 
• it's FREE

Remember that listening is very powerful. It's a natural method of learning a language. This is how kids learn their first language and, as you might have noticed, after a couple of years they are pretty fluent in their speech, so it works! You not only listen and learn new vocabulary, but you also get accustomed to the accent and intonation of the English language. This is how you immerse yourself with the language and this is how you can make progress. So, below I've put a couple of links to websites that offer podcasts. The main one is of course the British Council website, but there are others as well. If you do a research of your own into other podcasts available, you might find that some websites will want to charge you for their material but you don't need to use them, a lot of high quality podcasts are available for free. Enjoy listening!

http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/elementary-podcasts

http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/tae

http://teacherluke.wordpress.com/

http://www.eltpodcast.com/

http://www.podcastsinenglish.com/pages/level1.shtml

Defining relative clauses

Let's start with explaining the difference between a sentence and a clause.

We speak to the factory workers who have won the lottery jackpot. 

That's a sentence. It makes sense and can stand on its own. Within this sentence there are smaller units: clauses.

We speak to the factory workers who have won the lottery jackpot.

The first part of the sentence (in yellow) is called the independent clause because it can stand on its own (it would make sense if we put a full stop after the word 'workers'). The second part of the sentence (in green) is called the dependent clause because it doesn't make sense without the other part of the sentence. 

So clauses are smaller units within the sentence. They can either be independent or dependent. 

Relative clauses are always dependent clauses and we recognize them by the fact that they contain relative pronouns: who, whose, whom, that, which, where, when. Below is their usage:

Relative pronouns | Create Infographics

Some more examples of relative clauses are here. Can you see how relative pronouns join two sentences together?

I met a woman. She speaks six languages. 

I met a woman who speaks six languages. 

Jack was wearing a hat. It was too big for him.

Jack was wearing a hat which/that was too big for him.

Look at the house. I grew up there.

Look at the house where I grew up. 

I talked to a girl. I can't remember her name. 

I talked to a girl whose name I can't remember. 

The pronoun 'whom' might be quite troublesome, especially that you don't hear it very often in everyday speech. Below you have a link to a website that explains the use of 'whom' in more detail. 

Whom

For more exercises on relative clauses, visit this website:

http://www.xtec.cat/~ogodoy/sac/rephrasing/relclex1.htm

Newspaper headlines- why are they difficult?

Many non-native speakers of English find news headlines difficult to understand. No wonder, there are several methods that journalists use in order to attract attention of the reader. One of them is a pun -a play on words or a double meaning of words. Check the examples below (I put some clues under both headlines to help you understand):

What's the difference between 'piece' and 'peace'?

Do you understand the word 'undies'?

Other methods that are used by the journalists are shown below:


by mariolahejduk


 As you can see, the authors 'play' with the language to achieve desired effect- the interest of the reader. They leave the words out, they use tenses differently and they exploit double meaning of words. Below, you have a quiz of some words that are used in the headlines frequently. Beware, their meaning in headlines is different from their everyday use. Can you guess the meaning of the following words in headlines?




by mariolahejduk


Finally, do an internet research into headlines that contain the words from the quiz. What can you say about the meaning of the words? Does it match the meaning of the correct answer in the quiz? Or maybe there is yet another meaning to the word, e.g. 'to axe', apart from meaning 'to cut', can also mean 'to remove'. Put your findings and the headlines you found in the comment box!

Level 1 Literacy (Introduction to the course)

Watch the clip with introduction to our course:

10 years of Facebook

Can you imagine your life without Facebook now? Do you think it has a positive or negative influence on people's lives, especially the lives of teenagers? Can you go one day without checking your status and posting on Facebook?

Below is a link to a very interesting article about the first 10 years of Facebook in numbers and the numbers are staggering! The world wide craze that Facebook caused is truly mind boggling.  Why do you think that is?

The article is here: Facebook: ten years of social networking

How to learn any language in 6 months

Do you think it is possible to learn any language in 6 months? Do you think that you need to have a special talent for languages? Where is it better to learn the language- in the country that it is spoken or in your own country? Do you have any special ways in which YOU learn a language and, more importantly, do they work?
Below is a Youtube video where the author argues that it is possible to learn any language in 6 months. He gives 5 principles and 7 actions that anyone can use in the process of learning a language and the results should appear quickly. Watch the video and think if you agree with the author. Think if YOU follow the principles and actions. Please share your comments below!

Future tenses in English

Hello students!

Today we had a discussion about different future tenses. We discovered that there are a few ways of expressing the future and sometimes it is difficult to decide which tense to use.

Below is the mindmap that I used during the lesson. It will help you to understand different uses of the tenses we discussed during the lesson:

by mariolahejduk

To practise the use of different future tenses, please do the exercises on the following websites:

Future Mix
Future tenses

After you have finished, you can check your answers by clicking 'Check Answers'. Make note of your result because it's important to know if you need more practice or not.

I also put the link to the article on how researchers try to predict future from newspaper articles. Do as many exercises as you can and remember to take note of your scores! (BTW, you can also listen to the article on the website)

News Can Help Predict the Future

In the meantime, if you have any comments regarding the lesson (what you remembered in particular, what you liked/didn't like, if there is anything that you want more practice on), please comment below!

The importance of setting goals in language learning

Hello students!

In today's lesson we discussed what English is and we shared different methods that we use to learn the language. We agreed that most of us need more practice with speaking and listening and some students said that they need to work on their writing. We also established that the preferred method of improving listening and reading skills was to watch movies with subtitles and listen to the radio. For your homework, I asked you to think of 5 things that you want to learn by the end of the course and how you are going to achieve it. It is a very important homework and I want you to think about it carefully and bring it to our lesson on Tuesday. Below, I give you some examples to give you an idea how to approach your homework: 

Welcome

Welcome to the north-east ESOL blog!

My name is Mariola and I am an ESOL tutor and this blog is for ESOL students and ESOL teachers who want to share their thoughts and ideas about learning and teaching English as a second language. Although the blog is called the north-east ESOL blog, as I live and work in the north-east of England, everyone is welcome to participate! Let's get started!