Lesson 4
In our fourth lesson we looked at ’12A What are you going to do?’
For vocbulary we spoke about geography. For grammar we looked at how to use going to to talk about future plans.
Here is a video which explains how to use going to to talk about future plans:
For homework I asked you to read the information for 12A on page 158 and complete the exercises for 12A on page 159. You should also complete the exercises for Unit 12A in the Online Workbook.
That’s all for today.
Steve
Lesson 3
Hello again.
In our third lesson we looked at ’11B I bet you’ve never been to the opera’.
For vocabulary we spoke about music.
For grammar we looked at the difference between Present Perfect and Past Simple.
Here is a short video that looks at the difference between Present Perfect and Past Simple:
Here is a a more detailed video that looks at the difference between Present Perfect and Past Simple:
For homework you need to read the informtion for 11B on page 156 and complete the exercises for 11B on page 157. Then you should complete Unit 11B in the Online Workbook (or from the photocopy that I gave you).
That’s all for today.
Steve
Lesson 2
Welcome back to the blog.
In our second lesson we looked at ’11A I’ve heard she’s really funny’.
For grammar we looked at the Present Perfect tense, and for vocabulary we looked at Irregular Past Participles.
Here is a detailed video that explains Present Perfect and Past Participles:
For homework you need to complete exercise 5e on page 111. You should then read the informtion for 11A on page 156 and complete the exercises for 11A on page 157. Finally, you should complete Unit 11A in the Online Workbook (or from the photocopy that I gave you).
That’s all for today.
Steve
Lesson 1
Hello and welcome to the course blog.
This blog will help you get the most out of this course. After each lesson I will update it with brief details of what we cover in each lesson, as well as tell you what homework has been given. If you were not in the previous course, I recommend that you scroll to the bottom of this blog so you can see what topics have already been covered.
In our first lesson we looked at ’10B What’s the most beautiful language in the world?’.
For grammar we spoke about Superlative adjectives. For vocabulary we spoke about languages, and for homework you will read about high numbers.
Here is a detailed video which explains superlative adjectives:
For homework you need to complete exercise 4a and 5a on page 103. Next, you should complete the exercises for 10B on page 165. After that, you need to read the information for 10B on page 154 and complete the exercises for 10B on page 155. Finally, you should complete the exercises for unit 10B in the Online Workbook (or on the photocopies that I gave you).
That’s all for today.
Steve
Lesson 7
Hello and welcome to the final blog for this course.
In our seventh lesson we looked at ’10A A smartphone is better than a tablet’.
For vocabulary we spoke about smartphones, tablets, and some I.T. collocations.
For grammar we looked at comparative adjectives.
Here is an excellent video which gives a detailed explanation of comparative adjectives:
For homework I asked you to complete all of the Listening exercises on page 101. Then you should complete all of the grammar exercises for 10A on page 155. Finally, you should complete unit 10A in the Online Workbook.
Thursday will be our final lesson for THIS course. Please click here if you want to register for the new A2 course that will start next week.
That’s all for today.
Steve
Lesson 6
Welcome back.
In our sixth lesson we looked at ‘9B Everyone’s dancing in the street’.
For grammar we spoke about the difference between present continuous and present simple. For vocabulary we spoke about clothes.
Here is a detailed video that looks at the difference betweeen Present Simple and Present Continuous:
For homework I asked you to complete the listening exercises on page 93. You should then complete the grammar reading for 9B on page 152 and do the exercises for 9B on page 153. Finally, you should complete all of Unit 9B in the Online Workbook.
If you feel like doing some extra study, I recommend also completing 9C (pges 96-97) and 9D (pages 98-99). If you would like me to check your writing, you can send to me in a new email your work for exercise 4c on page 97.
That’s all for today.
Steve
Lesson 5
Hello again.
In our fifth lesson we looked at ‘9A We aren’t buying anything’.
For vocbulary we spoke about shopping, and for homework you will look at money and prices. For grammar we spoke about the present continuous.
Here is a short video that explains the present continuous tense:
For homework I asked you to complete all of the listening exercises on page 91. You should then complete the vocabulary exercises for 9A on page 164. Finally, you need to read the information for 9A on page 152 and do the exercises for 9A on page 153.
That’s all for today.
Steve
Lesson 4
Welcome back.
In our fourth lesson we looked at ‘8B How easy is it to get fit?’.
For grammar we spoke about have to and don’t have to. For vocabulary we looked at exercise, parts of the body and appearance.
Here is a video that explains the structures and uses of have to:
For homework I asked you to complete the Vocabulary exercises for 8B on page 167. You also need to read the information for 8B on page 150, and then do the exercises for 8B on page151. Finally, you need to complete the exercises for Unit 8B in the Online Workbook.
That’s all for today.
Steve
Lesson 3
Hello everyone.
In our third lesson we looked at “8A They can do things most people can’t”.
For vocbulary we spoke about sport and exercise. For grammar we spoke about how we can talk about ability using can/can’t and could/couldn’t.
Here is a video explaining how we use can/can’t to talk about ability in the present (and the same rules apply to use could/couldn’t to talk about ability in the past:
For homework I asked you to complete the Listening exercises on page 81. Then you should complete the exercises for 8A on page 166. After that, you need to read the grammar information for 8A on page 150, and then do the exercises for 8A on page 151. Finally, you should complete the exercises for unit 8A in the Online Workbook.
That’s all for tody.
Steve
Lesson 2
Welcome back to the blog.
In our second lesson we looked at ‘7B I love going on the metro’.
For vocabulary we spoke about transport adjectives. For grammar we looked at how to use love/like/don’t mind/hate + (verb)+ing).
Click here to learn some simple transport vocabulary.
Click here for more exercises on simple transport vocabulary.
Here is a video that explains love/like/don’t mind/hate + (verb)+ing):
For homework I asked you to read the information for 7B on page 148 and then do the exercises for 7B on page 149. You also need to complete the exercises for Unit 7B in the Online Workbook.
That’s all for today.
Steve
Lesson 1
Hello everyone, and welcome to the course blog!
This blog is intended to help you get the most out of this course. After each lesson I will update it with a brief outline of what we cover in each lesson, as well as inform you of the homework that has been set. In future blogs I may also include links to videos or other web-pages to read to help your learning.
We began our first lesson by introducing ourselves to each other. It was very nice to meet you all. We have students from a variety of different countries and cultures.
As I mentioned to you all in our lesson, THIS IS A CONTINUATION COURSE. Some of the students have been studying since the start of September. I recommend that ALL NEW STUDENTS SHOULD SCROLL DOWN TO SEE THE BLOGS FROM THE PREVIOUS COURSES. THIS WILL LET YOU SEE THE TOPICS THAT WE HAVE ALREADY COVERED.
The textbook we will be using for most of this course is Cambridge English EMPOWER Elementary A2 Combo B with Online Assessment.
The easiest and quickest place to buy the book from Ferdosi International Bookshop, Odengatan 21, Stockholm.
These books have a code that will let you use the supporting website for the textbook. (The digital version already provides access to the website.) The code is on the inside cover of your textbook (You need to carefully scratch the grey material to see the code underneath). You will need to go to http://www.cambridgelms.org/empower to register your textbook. Here is a video with instructions to help you:
(You only need to complete step 1 and 2. You do NOT need to Join a Class, this is only for online courses. However, I strongly recommend you select ‘Self Study’ so you can do extra study at home. The ‘Getting Help’ section might be useful if you have any problems.)
*PLEASE NOTE: You only need to complete step 1 and 2. You do NOT need to Join a Class, that is only for online courses. However, I recommend you use the ‘Self Study’ section. Please have a look at all of this website, it is very helpful.
After our course introduction and personal introductions, we did a review of the alphabet, vowels and consonants. We then covered nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs.
Next, we looked at Chapter 7A from the textbook. For Vocabulary, we spoke about travel and transport. For Grammar, we spoke about using the Past Simple tense for negative sentences and questions.
Here are some videos that you may find useful. The first is a very short video that explains the sentence structure for the Past Simple for negative sentences and questions:
Here is another simple video that gives examples for ‘Wh-‘ questions (who, what, where, when, why, how) in the Past Simple:
For homework I asked you to do the vocabulary exercises for 7A on page 166. You also need to read the grammar information for 7A on page 148, and the do the exercises for 7A on page 149. Finally, I asked you to do the exercises for 7A on page 40 from the back of the book.
That’s all for today.
Steve
Lesson 7
Hello everyone.
In our seventh lesson we went through the homework from the previous lesson which looked at the Past Simple. This included many words that end in ‘-ed’.
Here is a useful video that teaches you the rules for the correct pronunciation of words that end in ‘-ed’:
I also spoke about Phonemic( sometimes called ‘Phonetic’) Symbols, which are symbols which represent the various sounds used in English pronunciation. Click here for a link to a website which displays the Phonemic Chart with all the symbols, and allows you to click/press on each symbol to hear the sound that it represents.
Below is a video which explains the Phonemic (/Phonetic) Chart in a logical manner of grouping, with an explanation of the position of the mouth and tongue when making the sounds, and whether they are voiced or unvoiced consonant sounds. ***PLEASE NOTE***: This video excludes the /i/ sound (as in ‘happy‘), because in some dialects the /i:/ sound (as in ‘tree‘) is used instead:
For homework, I asked you to complete all of Unit 4 Review and Extension on page 48.
I would like to remind you that next week is the final week of this course. If you wish to register for the continuation course, please click on this link.
That’s all for today.
Steve
Lesson 6
Welcome back to the blog.
In our sixth lesson we looked at Chapter 6B from the textbook. We spoke about using the Past Simple tense for positive sentences. We also looked at the Past Simple form for irregular verbs.
Here is a short video explaining how Past Simple is used:
Click here for a list of some of the most commonly used irregular verbs.
Click here for a much longer list that includes many higher-level English irregular verbs (in all their forms).
For homework, you need to do the grammar exercises for 6B on page 147, and also the exercises for Unit 6B in the Online Workbook.
I would like to remind you that next week is the final week of this course. If you wish to register for the continuation course, please click on this link.
Steve
Lesson 5
Welcome back. In our fifth lesson chapters 4C and 4D in the textbook. They focused on ordering food in restaurants, particularly how to use the phrases “I’d like…” and “I’ll have…”.
Here is a simple video with some common phrases that are used in restaurants:
Here is a longer video that shows language used in a variety of situations when disussing food at a restaurant:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKZobM75mk4
For homework, I asked you to complete all of the exercises for 4C and 4D. This includes exercise 4b on page 47, which should be sent to me in a NEW email so I can check it.
You also need to complete Unit 4C and 4D in the Online Workbook.
That’s all for today.
Steve
Lesson 4
Hello again.
In our fourth lesson we looked at Chapter 6A from the textbook.
For vocabulary we spoke about various relatives in a family. For homework you will also read about the correct way to talk about years and dates, and also about the verb ’be’ in its Past Simple form (was/were).
Here is a short video that explains the Past Simple form of the verb ’be’:
For homework, you will need to complete exercise 2 on page 60. Next, you need to complete exercises 3 and 4 on page 61.
After that, you need to do the reading for 6A on page 146, and then complete the grammar exercises for 6A on page 147. You also need to complete the exercises for 6A ‘Years and Dates’ on page 162.
Finally, you should do the exercises for Unit 6A in the Online workbook.
That’s all for today.
Steve
Lesson 3
Hi everybody.
In our third lesson we looked at Chapter 5B. For vocabulary we spoke about furniture. For grammar we spoke about Possessive Pronouns and the Possessive ‘s.
Here is a short video explaining how we use Possessive Pronouns:
Here is a video explaining Possessive ‘s :
For homework you need to read the information for 5B on page 144 and do the exercises for 5B on page 145. You also need to do the exercises for 5B on page 29 (or in the Online Workbook). You should also finsish the Listening and Reading exercises on page 53.
That’s all for today.
Steve
Lesson 2
In our second lesson we looked at Chapter 5A in the textbook. For vocabulary, we spoke about different places in a city. For grammar, we spoke about how to use ‘there is/there are’ to say that something exists in a place.
Here is a video that discussing the use of ‘there is/there are’:
For homework, I asked you to read the information for 5A on page 144. This explains how to use ‘there is/there are’. You then need to do the exercises for 5A on page 145.
You also need to do the exercises for Unit 5A from the Online Workbook (or on page 28 in the Black & White section).
If you wish to do extra study, I recommend doing Unit 4C and Unit 5D on pages 44-47. You can send your answer for exercise 4b on page 47 to me in an email and I can correct it for you.
That’s all for today.
Steve
Lesson 1
Hello everyone, and welcome to the course blog!
This blog is intended to help you get the most out of this course. After each lesson I will update it with a brief outline of what we cover in each lesson, as well as inform you of the homework that has been set. In future blogs I may also include links to videos or other web-pages to read to help your learning.
We began our first lesson by introducing ourselves to each other. It was very nice to meet you all. We have students from a variety of different countries and cultures.
As I mentioned to you all in our lesson, THIS IS A CONTINUATION COURSE. Some of the students have already completed a 4 week course with me. As a result, we will not be starting from the beginning of the textbook. I recommend that ALL NEW STUDENTS SHOULD SCROLL DOWN TO SEE THE BLOG FROM THE PREVIOUS COURSE. THIS WILL LET YOU SEE THE TOPICS THAT WE HAVE ALREADY COVERED.
The textbook we will be using for most of this course is Cambridge English EMPOWER Elementary A2 Combo A with Online Assessment. NEW STUDENTS DO NOT NEED TO BUY THE BOOK. FOR THIS COURSE ONLY, I WILL PROVIDE PHOTOCOPIES. However, you will not be able to access all of the homework if you do not have the book. You can buy the book if you wish, and it will allow you to look at the work covered in the previous course, as well as give you access the the website for the textbook.
If you do decide to buy the book, the easiest anq quickest place to buy the book from Ferdosi International Bookshop, Odengatan 21, Stockholm. You can ring the bookshop to order, or you can simply order the book from the bookshop’s website by clicking here.
After our course introduction and personal introductions, we did a review of the alphabet, vowels and consonants. We then covered nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs.
We then opened our books and we looked at Chapter 4B in the textbook.
For vocabulary, we spoke about food, and different ways to cook food.
For grammar, we did a quick listening exercise which looked at the use of quantifiers: much, many, a lot (of).
Here is an excellent video that explains these quantifiers:
For grammar homework you need to read the information for 4B on page 142 and then do the exercises for 4B on page 143.
For vocabulary homework you need to complete all of the exercises for 4B on page 164.
Finally, you also need to do all of the exercises for ‘4B How much chocolate?’ on page 23 (or you can do the exercises for Unit 4B in the Online Workbook).
If you have the textbook you can also complete exercise 3 and 4 on page 43.
That’s all for today.
Steve
Lesson 7
Hello again.
In our seventh lesson we looked at Chapter 4A in the textbook.
For vocabulary we spoke about food. Click here for a link to a website that has lots of useful vocabulary for food.
For grammar we spoke about countable and uncountable nouns. We lso spoke about how to use ‘a/an’, ‘some’, and ‘any’.
Here is a video that explains the difference between countable nouns and uncountable nouns:
Here is an excellent video that explains when to use ‘a’ and when to use ‘an’ (and also when to use ‘the’):
Here is a video which explains when to use ‘some’ and when to use ‘any’:
For homework you need to complete the exersises for ‘4 LISTENING’ and ‘5 GRAMMAR’ on page 41. You also need to read the information for 4A on page 142 and then do the grammar exercises for 4A on page 143. You should then do the vocabulary exercises for 4A on page 164. Finally, you need to do the exercises for Unit 4A in the Online Workbook (or in the black and white section at the back of the book).
That’s all for today.
Steve
Lesson 6
Welcome back to the course blog.
In our sixth lesson we looked at Chapter 3B in the textbook. For vocabulary we spoke about technology. For grammar we looked at ‘have got‘.
Here is a video that looks at the differences between ‘have’ and ‘have got’:
Here is a video with some basic vocabulary for technology:
For homework, I asked you to do the grammar reading for 3B on page 140 and then do the grammar exercises for 3B on page 141. You also need to do the exercises for Unit 3B in the Online Workbook (or page 17 at the back of the book). You should then do all of exercises 3 and 4 on page 33.
If you wish to do extra study, I recommend doing Unit 3C and Unit 3D on pages 34-37. You can send your answer for exercise 4c on page 37 to me in an email and I can correct it for you.
That’s all for today.
Steve
Lesson 5
In our fifth lesson we looked at Chapter 3A in the textbook. For grammar, we spoke about Adverbs of Frequency and their position in a sentence (or question). For vocabulary, we spoke about Time Expressions and some Common Verbs.
Here is a video that explains the different adverbs of frequency, and where to place them in a sentence:
For homework I asked you to do the Listening exercises on page 31. Next, read the information for 3A on page 140 and then do the exercises for 3A on page 141 of the textbook. You should then do the Vocabulary exercises for 3A on page 163. I also asked you to do the exercises for 3A in the Online Workbook (or you can do the exercises for 3A on page 16 of the Workbook at the back of the textbook).
That’s all for today.
Steve
Lesson 4
Welcome back to the course blog.
In our fourth lesson we looked at Chapter 2B: ‘Do you worry about exams?’
For vocabulary, we spoke about studying, and time.
For grammar, we spoke about Present Simple Tense for questions and short answers.
Here is a simple video explaining how to correctly tell the time:
Here is a video explaining questions using the Present Simple:
For homework, you need to complete the exercises for ‘3 LISTENING’ on page 23, and for ‘5 GRAMMAR’, also on page 23. Next, you need to read the information for 2B on page 138 and then do the grammar exercises for 2B on page 139 of the textbook. Finally, I asked you to do the exercises for Unit 2B in the Online Workbook (or you can do the exercises for 2B on page 11 of the Workbook at the back of the textbook).
If you would like to do some extra study, I recommend that you also complete Unit 2C (pages 24-25) and Unit 2D (pages 26-27). You can send your work for part 4 on page 27 in an email to me if you would like me to check your work.
That’s all for today.
Steve
Lesson 3
Hello again.
In our third lesson we looked at Chapter 2A: ‘She doesn’t stop for hours!’
For vocabulary, we spoke about jobs.
For grammar, we looked at the Present Simple Tense (positive & negative). Here is an excellent video that explains how to form the Present Simple Tense correctly:
For homework, I asked you to read the information for 2A on page 138 and then do the grammar exercises for 2A on page 139 of the textbook. After that, you should complete exercises 3a-g on page 21. Finally, I asked you to complete the exercises for Unit 2A in the Online Workbook (or you can do the exercises for 2A in the Workbook at the back of the textbook).
Below are some extra videos that you may find interesting if you wish to do a bit of extra study.
Here is a short video with some examples of asking for and giving information:
Here is a short video explaining when we use capital letters:
Here is a short video about punctuation. (PLEASE NOTE: The ‘full stop‘ is British English. A full stop is called a ‘period‘ in American English.):
That’s all for today. I’ll see you in our next lesson.
Steve
Lesson 2
Hello everyone.
In our second lesson we looked at “Chapter 1B: She’s a lovely person”. For vocabulary, we looked at some personality adjectives. For grammar, we looked at using the verb ‘be‘ in questions and short answers.
Here is a short video with some common POSITIVE personality adjectives, followed by their opposite NEGATIVE personality adjectives:
Here is a video about using the verb ’be’ to make questions:
And here is a video that also looks at using the verb ’be’ to ask questions and give short answers:
For homework I asked you to do the Vocabulary exercises for 1B on page 161 of the textbook. If you have registered your textbook with the website, you should also do the exercises for ‘3 LISTENING’ on page 13. Finally, you need to complete the exercises for Unit 1B in the Online Workbook (or you can do the exercises on page 5 of the black & white section at the back of the textbook).
If you feel like doing extra study, I strongly recommend that you do all of the exercises for 1C on pages 14-15 (you will need to register your textbook to listen to the audio files on the website), and for 1D on pages 16-17. Exercise 4 on page 17 can be sent to me in an email and I can check your writing for you.
That is all for today.
Steve
Lesson 1
Hello everyone, and welcome to the course blog!
This blog is intended to help you get the most out of this course. After each lesson I will update it with a brief outline of what we cover in each lesson, as well as inform you of the homework that has been set. In future blogs I may also include links to videos or other web-pages to read to help your learning.
We began our first lesson by introducing ourselves to each other. It was very nice to meet you all. We have students from a variety of different countries and cultures.
The textbook we will be using is Cambridge English EMPOWER Elementary A2 Combo A with Online Assessment.
The easiest anq quickest place to buy the book from Ferdosi Bookshop, Odengatan 21, Stockholm.
These books have a code that will let you use the supporting website for the textbook. (The digital version already provides access to the website.) The code is on the inside cover of your textbook (You need to carefully scratch the grey material to see the code underneath). You will need to go to http://www.cambridgelms.org/empower to register your textbook. Here is a video with instructions to help you:
(You only need to complete step 1 and 2. You do NOT need to Join a Class, this is only for online courses. However, I strongly recommend you select ‘Self Study’ so you can do extra study at home. The ‘Getting Help’ section might be useful if you have any problems.)
*PLEASE NOTE: You only need to complete step 1 and 2. You do NOT need to Join a Class, that is only for online courses. However, I recommend you use the ‘Self Study’ section. Please have a look at all of this website, it is very helpful.
After our introductions we had a quick revision of the alphabet, vowels and consonants. After that we had a quick revision of nouns, adjectives, verbs and adverbs. Next, we started to look at the first chapter of the textbook: “1A – I’m from France.” For vocabulary we spoke about countries and nationalities. For part of your homework, I asked you to read the Grammar information for 1A and 1B on page 136 and then do the exercises for 1A and 1B on page 137.
Here is a long video with examples and practice exercises for the verb ‘be’ in positive and negative form:
Also for homework I asked you to complete the exercises for Unit 1A in the Online Workbook (OR you can do them in the black and white section at the back of the textbook on page 4).
That’s all for today!
Steve