Vovô

As today we were discussing about relationships, and the topic of grandparents is introduced in the first reading of the unit, we evolved our discussion around the short film Vovô, which is "grandpa" in Portuguese.

Here you can watch the movie again, and read the transcript.

Which past tenses do you recognize in the movie?

We love idioms

Do you like idioms? I think they're quite fun to learn and use. Since I've looked for representative images that could fit the idioms on the second unit of our book, I was thinking that it would be a pity not to make a good use of them. They are easier to memorize if you have an image of what they mean.

To read someone like a book: to understand someone very well.


















To face the music: confront unpleasantness, especially the consequences of one's errors.

To let your hair down: to relax and enjoy yourself without worrying what other people will think.

Off the beaten track / path: away from the frequently traveled routes.

On a shoestring budget: with a very small amount of money.

On the house: at the expense of the establishment; free.













To be on the edge of your seat (BrE) / on the edge of your chair (AmE): to make you very excited or nervous because of the uncertainty, as you want to know what happens next.

 To paint the town red: to go on a spree. To go out and celebrate.

 To read between the lines: infer an unexpressed meaning.

To bring the house down: for a performance or a performer, to excite the audience into making a great clamor of approval.

Do you see a movie or watch a movie?

Do you remember an older post directing you to the Cambridge dictionary for the difference among look at, see or watch? Today the doubt arised again and we talked a little about it, but to make it clearer, there you have the link again, and also you can have a look at the following short YouTube video.

And speaking of which, I would like to show you again the British movie magazine where I found the Inside Out review. It's Empire, and if you like cinema, you can use it to read in English using the Lingro dictionary, which is great for reading more comfortably.

Present tenses

Hi! I hope you enjoyed the lesson today ;)
And it's been useful too.

As I've told you, on the link below you'll find the rules we've worked with in class today, plus some activities (answers included).

Present tenses - Advanced Language in Use.

For the ones who didn't come today, or you want to look at the examples and uses again, I attach here the PDF with which we practised:

Present tense sentences and uses

Have a great weekend!

Gradable and ungradable adjectives

So today we worked grading adjectives and adverbs, and consequently, I bring you the file with the explanation of this curious set of rules.

• Gradable and ungradable adjectives and their adverbs.

On Wednesday we'll correct the rest of the activities. See you then!

Look at me

I've been a little disconnected recently, but here I am again.

I wanted to share with you this terrific poem by Todd Alcott, adapted to the "small screen" into a short film titled Look at Me.

And here you have the poem if you want to have a look.

By the way, highlight these expressions as favourite ones:

fair and foul

thick and thin

sour grapes

Remember how nice is hearing sayings like those in your conversations!

Enjoy!

Escape

In this post I bring you the vocabulary seen in the introduction of the second unit.

• When talking about hobbies.

Also, I remind you to take a look at this fantastic dictionary called Lingro. As I explained to you, you onlly have to copy-paste the website adress into the Lingro box, and voilà! Whenever you click on a word, you'll have its definition or translation, depending on the configuration you choose. Here you have a tutorial on Youtube which explains how to use it (although I think it's pretty simple): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zTdj0cTqA-k&.

You can try it by reading this article about television consumption, The Lazy Medium. 

Enjoy!

Speaking with confidence!

Hello! Internet wasn't working in the teacher's room, so this comes with a little delay, but better late than never.

As seen in class, here you have the tips for the speaking exam, as well as some useful language. Maybe you've got some expressions and tips of your own, so it would be interesting if you let us know on the commentary section.

Remember that on Friday you've got the chance to volunteer and practice performing the monologue part of the sample exam. I feel it's a good opportunity for you to overcome the stage fright.

But watch out! Some of you let me know that the duration of the tasks seemed shorter than usual, and I think you're right. Although I checked the sample on the government website, it might be outdated. The monologue should last 4-5 minutes.

I hope you give it a try! See you on Friday!