'The Amish and The Titanic'

Wednesday 28^th January

Hi! So, January is over…

Well, the first thing we did in class was finishing correcting the sentences in the auction game.

It wasn’t as funny as the auction game we played but…you didn’t have money to bide (offer) for the sentences…

 

Do you remember this sentence?

The Amish can’t to drive cars.

You didn’t know who the “Amish” are. Here you have some information about them.

Then, we talked about ‘The Titanic’.

We learnt that we use ‘how+ adjective’ to ask about distance, age, speed, number, quantity etc.

    How long was ‘the Titanic’? It was over 272m. long.

·         How heavy was ‘The Titanic’? It weighed 46,329 tonnes.

·         How many passengers were travelling First Class? There were 735.

·         How many passengers were travelling Third Class? There were 1,026.

·         How many officers and members of the crew were there? There were 885.

·         How many lifeboats were there? There were 20.

·     

   

 Why were there only 20 lifeboats?
Because they thought that the Titanic was unsinkable! (itcouldn’t go down)

After that, Jorge and Rodrigo explained us the structure of the past simple and past continuous, as well as how to use them.

Past Simple	Finished / completed actions in the past.	Very few people survived.
	Actions that happened one after another.	The Titanic hit an iceberg and sank.
Past continuous	To set a story.	The sun was shining and people were happy that spring afternoon.
	An action in progress at some time in the past.	The crew were watching for danger.
Frequently, a short action (past simple) interrupts an action in progress (past continuous)	While the passengers were having lunch, the first officer received a warning about icebergs.

 To end the class, we started talking about ‘The London Eye’ but … we’ll talk about this in our next class.

Homework: do the exercises a, b and c about the reading ‘The London Eye’ on page 71. Think about two or three things you would like to change in the place where you live; your neighborhood, your school, the academy etc. and finally, think about what activities based on Saint Valentine’s Day and Carnival you can do for our ‘Flipped Class’.

And…that’s all!

            GAME 3                 

Player 1	10
Player 2	10
Player 3	8
Player 4	11
Player 5	10
Player 6	10
Player 7	9

Enjoy your weekend!

See you next Wednesday!

Grammar Auction

Wednesday 21^st January

Hello!

How’s everything?

In our last class, we finished talking about transport and journeys.

We practised the expression ‘How long does it take / how long does it take you to get…?’

·         How long does it take to get from your house to the mall by bus?

·         How long does it take you to come to the academy walking?

·         How long does it take you to get up in the morning?

·         How long does it take you to have breakfast?

And the answer is, ‘It takes…/ it takes me …’

After that, we learnt how to talk about the future.

Different ways of talking about the future.

Will/ won’t	decisions (instant / unplanned decisions)	“We are going to the cinema.” I’ll go with you.”
	predictions (based on opinions or wishes)	It’ll rain if you have a barbecue in the garden.
	promises	“I’ll phone you tomorrow.”
	offers	“I´ll help you with your homework.”
Shall	offers (only for I, We; only in questions)	Shall I help you with your case? It looks heavy!
going to (to be + going to+ infinitive)	decisions (planned decisions or arrangements)	He’s going to have dinner with his parents next weekend.
	predictions (based on facts)	Look at those clouds. It’s going to rain.
	intentions	I’m going to boil some water to make spaghetti.
present continuous (to be + ing)	plans or arrangements (things you write in your diary. E.g.: going to the dentist, meetings, talking to your kids’ teacher etc.)	He’s having dinner with his parents next weekend.

For definite plans (arrangements) it’s better to use “present continuous”, but you can also use “going to.” Both are correct.

I’m talking to the teacher tomorrow. I’m going to talk to the teacher tomorrow.

And then, we had an auction show!

You bade for (offer money for) sentences instead of masterpieces. You had a budget (money you can spend) of €1,300. The winner was the pair who bought the highest number of right sentences. Our auctioneer (the director of the auction) was Natalia. I’m afraid that Jorge and Paula spent a lot of money on incorrect sentences. So…you wasted (spent wrongly) your money!

 For homework, finish correcting the sentences on the ‘Grammar Auction’ page.

GAME 2                  

Player 1	6
Player 2	7
Player 3	8
Player 4	11
Player 5	5
Player 6	9
Player 7	7

Enjoy your weekend!

See you next Wednesday!

When Was the Last Time you Travelled...? By Plane, by Car, by Train...

Wednesday 14^th January, 2015

Hello everybody!

It’s nice to see ALL of you again! It’s been ages since the seven of you came to class! Exams, holidays…

Some of you had better marks than others but it was ok, generally speaking.

Well, let’s get started!

In our class last week we talked about travelling and transport.

We interviewed our partner and reported to the class. These were the questions in the questionnaire.

       1.        When was the last time you travelled by plane, train, car?

       2.        Where did you go?

       3.        How long did the journey take?

       4.        Did you have a good journey? 

       5.        In general, which of the three forms of transport do you prefer? Why?

Most of you agreed that the car is the most convenient and the plane is the fastest. I agree!

Then, we read a text about two journalists that set off (started a trip) to find out (to discover) what is the best way to get to (arrive in) Avignon from London; by train, plane or car. And we listened to the third one.

These were their opinions:

London to Avignon	By plane	By train	By car
How long did it take? (from home)	5 hours 45 mins.	6 hours 45 mins.	14 hours
How much did it cost?	£63	£65.80	£200
Comfort /10 (out of ten)	5	8	6
Convenience /10 (out of ten)	5	9	10

So, getting from London to Avignon by plane only takes 5 hours and three quarters of an hour (45 mins.) the person who got there by car, gave this means of transport (10/10) ten out of ten for convenience. And getting to Avignon by train cost sixty-five pounds eighty (£65.80)

If you get from London to Avignon by car you have two forms of getting your car there, by train, through the channel tunnel or by ferry.

Did you listen to the news of the fire on the Channel Tunnel?

You can revise your vocabulary on transport in here:

Don’t forget homework! Exercise ‘d’ and ‘How words work’ on page 28 and exercises 4 &5 from page 71.

GAME 1                   

Player 1	8
Player 2	8
Player 3	7
Player 4	9
Player 5	7
Player 6	9
Player 7	8

Have a nice weekend!

See you next Wednesday!