IEC-Summer, July 13th. Final Presentations

Dear All,
I've enjoyed being your teacher very much. I'll never forget these short three weeks that we've spent together. You've put a lot of time and effort in your exams and homework, and I hope that you've learned as much from me as I've learned from you.
Check the blog at the end of July or the beginning of August. Soon, you'll find the link to my photo site where you can see more pictures of your final presentations.
I wish I could have accepted your invitation for that well-deserved beer. I know that you had a great time. Unfortunately, I'm so busy, don't know if I can finish all I need to finish in the 11 short hours that stand between now and the moment when I HEAD OUT for the airport. Perhaps, next time, should you choose to take another class of mine ... I'd like that very much.
Wishing you all the best and least rainy summer ever.
Bianca

BEC-summer, July 13th. Final Oral Presentations

Thank you all for your hard work and effort. It's been a pleasure teaching you. We spent three great weeks. I've learned a lot from you and I hope that you've also learned something from me and each other.
Wishing you all a great summer.
Check the blog at the end of this month or the beginning of August - there'll be a link to my photo site where you can see more pictures of your final presentations.
Bianca

IEC Summer, July 11, Unit 11

Tapescript, Unit 11



A: Announcer
C: Carla
P: Pedro

A: O.K. You can open your eyes now.
C: Oh, my goodness. What a change.
P: What they have done?
A: What do you think? They’ve redecorated your living room.
P: Well, it’s certainly… different.
C: Look at the floor. There’s no carpet.
P: They’ve refinished the wood floor.. I like that!
C: Yeah, it’s beautiful. I am not sure about the red walls, though.
P: Yes. Well – it’s certainly an interesting colour. I like it … I think.
C: Not me. I liked it the way it was.
A: Oh, dear…..
P: But the new drapes look great. They’re a real nice change.
A: Yes, Cassie and John made those. They’re very proud of them.
P: And look… they’ve moved the sofa. It’s under the window now. I like that. There’s more light there.
C: Oh, look over there. Are those new armchairs?
A: No, but they look great, don’they? That was Cassie’s idea. She hasn’t bought new armchairs – just new covers and matching throw pillow.
P: Yes, but where is the bookcase?
A: It’s gone, I am afraid. The first thing that they did was throw that away.
C: I don’t mind. I always hated it. But where are the books?
A: They are inside that gorgeous cabinet over there. Your television is over there too – it’s your new home entertainment centre.
C: What a good idea!
A: So, all in all, then what’s the verdict?
P: Really nice. They’ve done a good job. I like it a lot.
C: Me too.. except for those red walls.
To study the Present Perfect Tense in Detail, click on:
http://www.englishpage.com/verbpage/presentperfect.html

IEC Summer, July 11, Exam Preparation

The Format of your final written exam will be the same as your mid-session exam.
There are three parts:

LISTENING COMPREHENSION (10 POINTS)
VOCABULARY (20 POINTS)
GRAMMAR (20 POINTS)

What should you study? EVERYTHING !!!!

That is, everything that we have covered since the mid-session exam:
Unit 7-11 + Handouts - Meal crossword puzzle and "Are you compatible or and odd couple?"

LISTENING COMPREHENSION: A familiar text that you can find either in your books or on this blog.

Remember: answer in the full sentence form!! One word and incomplete answers not acceptable.

VOCABULARY

Study the vocabulary covered in Units 7-11, plus on handouts. The summary of Unit vocabulary is found on pages 151-152.
Vocabulary testing can have any or all of the formats below:

a) as in your workbooks (please do all the vocabulary exercise in your workbooks)
b) supplying appropriate expressions for the definitions provided
e.g. bread that is heated until it is brown and crisp is _________________________
e.g. if you are not faithful to your partner you are called _______________________
c) provide the opposites or synonyms
e.g. polite ______________(opposite)
sweet _______________(opposite)
clean freak ______________ (opposite)
d) phrasal verbs , e.g. my car stopped working. My car _________________.
e) make lists
*the expressions that suggest something is easy/so-so/difficult to do

**the expressions that have to do with the taste of food/restaurant décor/service in a restaurant

f) Finish the sentence: Many famous people sign a _______________________ before they get married. At weddings many couple exchange _______________.
We hired a _____________________ to show us around London.
She ___________________ the bus at the last stop.

GRAMMAR:

1. Present Perfect for indefinite past (e.g. I ______________(break) the glass; She ________________ (live) in Korea for four years.

2. Modal verbs for ability: can/can’t; could/couldn’t; was able to/wasn’t able to/ managed/ didn’t manage

PRESENT ABILITY TO DO SOMETHING (NOW) :

She can play the piano.

She can't play the guitar.

PAST PERMANENT ABILITY:

She could play the piano when she was 5 years old.

She couldn't play the guitar when she was 5 years old.

She was able to play the piano when she was 5 years old.

She wasn't able to play the piano when she was 5 years old.

PAST ABILITY TO DO SOMETHING AT A SPECIFIC MOMENT IN THE PAST:

(The teacher was very strict:)

I was surprised that I was able to get an A+.

I was surprised that I managed to get an A+.

BUT NOT: I was surprised that I could get an A+. WRONG! WRONG!

Other examples of wrong sentences:

My private tutor helped me a lot so I could get good grades.

(Correct: My private tutor helped me a lot, so I was able/I managed to get good grades.)

In the negative statement, all three can be used:

(The teacher was too strict:)

... so I wasn't able to get an A+.

...so I didn't manage to get an A+.

...so I couldn't get an A+

3. have/has to/don’t/doesn't have to, must, and can’t for obligation and prohibition

I have to study harder if I want to get good grades.

She doesn't have to go on a diet - she's not fat.

You must get a driver's licence before you take your car on the road.

You can't swim here - it's not allowed.

4. Too and enough with adjectives or nouns

The soup is not _________________(enough hot).

I don't have ________________(enough, soup) in my plate.

She is ____________(smart/too) drop the school and get married.

Present Simple and Present Continuous for Future:

The train _____________ (leave) at 7:00 pm tonight.

We __________________(meet) our friend for dinner tonight.

Grammar testing will have any or all forms that appear in your workbooks. Summary of grammar starts on page 143 of your student books. I strongly suggest that you should do all the grammar activities in your workbooks.

BEC-Summer, July 11th, Exam Preparation

Time: 1,5 hours (10:00 – 11:30 a.m)

Please prepare: Units 7 – 11 plus all the handouts I’ve given you:

THE MOVIE HANDOUTS
THE DATING SCRIPT HANDOUT
OCCUPATIONS

It will have three parts: LISTENING COMPREHENSION, VOCABULARY, GRAMMAR

10 points for Listening, 20 points vocabulary, 20 points grammar. TOTAL: 50 points

For the format of your final exam, please look at the guide for your mid-session exam on this blog entitled: BEC-Summer Exam Preparation (scroll down a bit).

I strongly suggest you should do all the vocabulary, grammar and listening activities in your workbook because I may decide to use some of the activities and include them on the exam.

VOCABULARY TESTING:

It may appear in any format from your workbook.
You may be asked:
*to provide the correct expression/term for the given definitions
E.g. someone who writes movie reviews is a _____________________
If you can’t keep a secret you are a _____________________________
*to provide the opposites or synonyms
Polite (the opposite) _____________________
*to make lists
E.g. make a list of at least 8 movie genres, personal traits, etc. _____________________________________


Grammar to be studied:

Modal verbs: have to/don’t have to (for obligation)
Future tense/will –will not [won’t] for predicting
Like/prefer; would like/would prefer
Indirect speech: say and tell in the past tense
Be and have with descriptions: e.g. she has long hair BUT she is average height

IEC-Summer, July 10, Unit 9, The River

You will find the tapescript for this unit if you scroll down to The Archives, click on May, then find the blog entry: "IEC May 25th, Unit 9.
You will also find useful links to the grammar unit on phrasal verbs.

BEC-summer, July 10th, Unit

The script for Unit 10. The Script is in your student book.
Also, scroll down and see the blog entry: " BEC-May 29th. More tips on grammar related to this lesson.

IEC Summer, July 6th, Unit 8

The script is in your book.
Some pairs:

Apples and
Night and
Bread and
Fork and
Black and
Gin and
Rum and
Salt and
Wine and
Boys and
Reading and


Famous couples:

Adam and
Romeo and
Darcy and (Pride and Prejudice)
Andre Agassi and (both tennis players)
Barbie and
Bill Clinton and
Bonnie and (famous criminals)
George and ______________Bush
Angelina Jollie and
Mickey and ____________ Mouse
Homer and _________________ Simpson
Carrie Bradshaw and ___________ (Sex and the City
Monica and
Ross and
John Lennon and ______________
Prince Charles and
Ethan Hawk and _________________(divorced)
Tom Cruise and _______________(divorced)
Fred and (flintstones)
Anthony and (Shakespeare)
Aladdin and
Shrek and
Snow White and

BEC-Summer, July 8th, Unit 8

Homeowork for today, July 8th:
Write your own personal ad for a newspaper or a dating video script.
Tell about:
1. a)your looks (age, height, weight, eyes, hair, etc)
b) personality
c) interests and hobbies/your free time
2.)your ideal (perfect) partner
Same as for you:
a)
b)
c)
***************************************
MOVIE GENRES:

Action - generally involves a moral interplay between "good" and "bad" played out through violence or physical force
Adventure - involving danger, risk, and/or chance, often with a high degree of fantasy.
Comedy - intended to provoke laughter
Romantic Comedy – a comedy about love
Drama - mainly focuses on character development
Fantasy - speculative fiction outside reality (i.e. myth, legend)
Horror - intended to provoke fear in audience
Mystery - the progression from the unknown to the known by discovering and solving a series of clues
Romance - dwelling on the elements of romantic love
Thrillers - intended to provoke excitement and/or nervous tension into audience
*******************************************
Activity:
In your groups, one person writes ona piece of paper the following headings:

Tom Hanks movies Meg Ryan Movies

1. Tom Cruise Movies 2. Johnny Depp movies
3. Brad Pitt movies 4.married /divorced couples movies
5. Jim Carrey movies 6. scary movies
7. historical movies 8. "tearjerker" movies
9.action/adventure 10. Movies with a city in the title
11.prison movies 12. animation movies
13. science fiction (Sci-fi) 14. romantic comedy movies
15. comedies
FOR EACH HEADING, name two movies that belong to that genre.
HOMEWORK: fill out the movie crossword puzzle and write short descriptions of two movies on the other handout

TO ALL SPRING SEMESTER: March-June '06 Students

Here're just a couple of pictures to give you a taste of what's to come later. Enjoy!
Hello there,
in case you've been checking the blog hoping that you'll finally find the link to the pictures of your final (and wonderful!!) presentations, I owe you a deepest apology.
I have not uploaded the pictures on my photo-site yet. I've run out of the available memory which means that I would either have to pay for more memory, open another photo site, or delete some old albums from my photo site. Alas, I haven't had time to do any of that.
As you might guess, I've been very busy with the grading and summer school - and watching soccer (truth be told!).
I'm going on a vacation soon, so I'll have the pictures for you to view either at the end of July or in August. I'm taking my laptop with me for the sole purpose of organizing the pix. You were so wonderful, you deserve to see them.
Everyone, have a great summer, and feel free to post comments on this blog.
Cheers
Bianca

IECSummer, July 5th, Unit 7

Please see a similar entry in this blog. Scroll down to the archives, click on "May 2006," scroll to find the entry with the title: "IEC: May 11th, Unit 7"
You'll find more information about food and restaurants.

BEC-summer, July 5th, Unit 7

The script for Unit 7 you can find in this blog:
scroll down all the way, click on Archives: May.
Scroll to the entry entitled: "BEC: May 8th, Unit 7"
*************************************

Dating video

About the person: Donna
“Hi, I am Donna. I think I’m beautiful, and I know I’m sexy. I’m adventurous, and let’s see.. I love to go out and talk to people – I’m not at all shy. I’m not rich either – not yet. But some day, I hope I will be.”

Her hobbies and interests

“I’m a very active person. On weekends, I like to go rollerblading and skydiving. At night, I like to eat out, go dancing, and go to parties.”

Her ideal mate: personality

“My ideal mate is fun to be with and adventurous, too. He’s intelligent, kind, and charming. He may not be rich, but he’s hardworking and ambitious.”

Her ideal mate: looks

“What do I want my ideal man to look like? Well, I really like short men. So, my ideal man is short and slim, and he has shiny brown eyes. I love brown eyes! And, I like dark hair – brown or black and a little long.”