Grammar Bubbles Game

Here is a link to the grammar game we played in class:http://gamestolearnenglish.com/grammar-bubbles/

Here is another game to practise longer sentences: http://gamestolearnenglish.com/falling-clouds/

Grammar: relative pronouns and relative clauses

Many students find relative clauses a difficult grammar point, but if you can use them correctly, you will significantly improve your writing. First, though, we need to look at relative pronouns.

There are lots of different pronouns in English and some you will already know: I, me, mine, you, yours, he, him, his etc. Relative pronouns are used to make questions and give extra information about people, places, times, things, and possessions.

Vocabulary: Holidays

There are lots of exercises about holidays here: http://www.esolcourses.com/topics/holidays-and-travel.html You can practise vocabulary, grammar, reading and listening.

Here is a short reading test: http://www.esolcourses.com/uk-english/elementary-course/travel-and-holidays/travel-and-holidays-reading.html

There are many more exercises on their homepage:
1. Elementary http://www.esolcourses.com/content/topicsmenu/elementary.html
2. Lower Intermediate http://www.esolcourses.com/content/topicsmenu/pre-intermediate.html

Listening tests: Lower Intermediate and above

There are lots of listening exercises on this website: http://www.esl-lab.com/

http://www.girlytwitter.com/source/Young_puppy_listening_to_music_on_head_phones.jpg

The actors have American accents and may use some American vocabulary. Although some listenings are labelled "easy", I think they are suitable for Lower Intermediate and above. They are quite short.

If you like the website, do tell Randall, the website owner.

Spelling: Spin and Spell

Here is a link to a website that can help you with your spelling: http://www.spinandspell.com/

Grammar: Test

Here is a useful link to a grammar test. Every time you take the test, the computer generates a different one.

Oxford Living Grammar is published by Oxford University. You can buy the book to practise. I like the book because there is always a context, a story where you can see how the grammar works in every day situations. However, I think that the grammar explanations are not always very clear.

Anyway, here is the link: https://elt.oup.com/student/livinggrammar/pre/a_test?cc=gb&selLanguage=en You can also test at other levels (elementary, intermediate). There is no explanation here of the grammar: you will need to write down or print your wrong answers and then try and find out more in the Study Centre. Good luck!

Grammar: Present simple

Welcome to Manchester! What do you know about the city?

    Manchester is nearly 2000 years old, so has a very long and complex history. It is probably best-known for its music and its two world-famous football teams. Manchester United play at Old Trafford and most students want to visit the stadium when they are here. Manchester City's home is the Etihad Stadium which is in east Manchester. Old Trafford is the larger stadium, and holds 10,000 more spectators.
    There are many music venues in the city. The area behind Piccadilly Gardens is The Northern Quarter and there are lots of places where you can listen to local bands.
    A very popular area in Manchester is Rusholme, where there are many Arabic and Indian restaurants. People go there with their friends and eat different kinds of food. Many buses go to Rusholme. During Eid celebrations, the area gets extremely busy: buses use different routes and lots of people walk along the streets and make a lot of noise.
    Most students think that the people in Manchester are friendly, so you don't need to worry about asking people questions. A lot of people think that it rains all the time in Manchester, but it really doesn't rain every day. I hope that you have a great time while you are here!


Look at the verbs in the text. What tense are the verbs?

Grammar: Countable or Uncountable Quiz

This is a link to a quiz about countable and uncountable nouns: http://a4esl.org/q/j/ck/ch-countnouns.html There are 107 questions!! All you need to do is click on Countable or Non-countable.

Song: If You Don't Know Me By Now

Here is a link to this famous song by Simply Red at lyricstraining.com: http://www.lyricstraining.com/play/3357/simply_red/if_you_dont_know_me_by_now

The song is quite slow so you may be able to try the Intermediate level.

Grammar: Modals of Obligation (Must/ Have to)

We often want to talk about choice. Sometimes we can make a choice but many times we cannot. There are rules and laws that mean we cannot choose to do what we always want to do.

The shop is closing down: the shop will not exist anymore. The shop is selling all its clothes in order to make as much money as possible. It has no choice. All the clothes must be sold. Everything must go!

We use must and have to to talk about choices.

A News Website: Reading, Listening, Vocabulary

Here is a news website which might help you:

You can read and listen to the same news article at three different levels. Read level 1 first and listen to the recording. If this is too easy, read level 2 and listen to the recording.

Then you need to read more texts at the same level. The texts use the same group of words, so the more you read at the same level, the more words you will be able to remember.

Most of the recordings use an American accent, but you may still find them useful.

If you like the website, tell the owners! I'm sure they will appreciate it.

http://www.newsinlevels.com/

Grammar: Will/ Shall/ Be going to

Read this conversation. Michael and Emily are looking at the menus in a restaurant:

Some common mistakes

We all make mistakes. Even I make mistakes from time to time.

Here are ten sentences. There is one mistake in each sentence. What is the mistake?

1. Are you speak English?
2. What means "knitting"?
3. I have made many friends from other country.
4. How often do you go to shopping?
5. The weather in Manchester, it is very wet.
6. Manchester people is very friendly.
7. British food very greasy.
8. I came to Manchester before two months.
9. There are lots of differents restaurants in Manchester.
10. I have visited Rusholme last night.

Click to find out the answers:

Song: We Are The Champions

This week, we have looked at sports. Here is a famous song about champions on LyricsTraining.

Click on the link to listen to the song and practise your listening skills: http://www.lyricstraining.com/play/3624/queen/we_are_the_champions

Song: Father and Son

Here is a song about a father giving advice to his son. The writer is Cat Stevens

Click on the link to go to the Lyrics Training website. There you can select Beginner. Listen to the song and complete the gaps while you are listening. It's quite slow and clear so, hopefully, it isn't too difficult.

http://www.lyricstraining.com/play/257/cat_stevens/father_and_son

Listening: Entertainment

This week, we spoke a lot about different types of film and TV show. What is your favourite genre of film? Why do you like these kinds of films?

There are lots of articles and interviews you can listen to which discuss entertainment. Here is a 6 minute interview with Rowan Atkinson about Mr Bean : http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/radio/specials/163_entertainment_ex/page8.shtml which also contains some useful vocabulary. You can listen to the interview online, or download and save it, and you can follow the conversation using the audio script.

For a full list of similar listenings, click on this link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/multimedia/archive_ent.shtml You don't have to listen to them all! Find something that interests you. It may be useful to listen to a couple of film reviews.

Here is a short lesson about films: http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/multimedia/london/unit3/index.shtml
There are a couple of short conversations that you need to listen to. Practise the conversations with a partner.
Then there is a film review to read and some questions. Finally, you can listen to some common phrases used to describe films and practise your pronunciation.

Try the exercises and let me know what you think. Use the new vocabulary by writing a film review. Leave a comment below.

Conversation: In the restaurant

Look at this restaurant conversation that takes place in a restaurant in Manchester:

Jane:   Is this a good place to eat?
Ryan:  I think so. I've been here many times.
Jane:   What do you recommend?
Ryan:  Well, there are lots of things to try if you like spicy food. Do you want a starter or just a main course?
Jane:    If we're ordering starters, I will have the chicken satay.
Ryan:   OK. So if you order the chicken satay, I'll have the dumplings.
Jane:    Oh, if you have the dumplings, can I have one?
Ryan:   Yeah, if we order starters, we'll share them.

Waiter: Can I get you something to drink?
Jane:    Do you have any orange juice?
Waiter: Sorry, I'm afraid not. We do have some pineapple juice, though.
Jane:    Fine. I'll have a pineapple juice unless you want to share a bottle of wine?
Ryan:   No, you go for the pineapple juice. I'll have a bottle of Kirin Ichiban beer, please.
Waiter: Of course. One beer and one pineapple juice.

Jane:    Oh dear. There's so much choice. I don't know what to have. It all looks so strange and unusual.
Ryan:   You always say you want to try new things?! If you didn't want to come here, where would you prefer to go?
Jane:    I don't know. They just have so many new things. If they had sweet and sour chicken, I would order that. 
Ryan:  But they don't, so you can't. Why don't you try the Pad Thai? It's a famous and traditional dish from Thailand. If you don't like it, I'll eat it.  Or, you could try a curry? If you ordered the curry, you wouldn't need to order rice because rice is included.
Jane:   I'll try the Pad Thai. But if I don't like it, you will have to eat it.
Ryan:  No problem.

Grammar: First and Second Conditionals

We know that it always rains in Manchester, so when it rains, you need an umbrella. Sometimes, though, we want to talk about things that are not definitely true but probably (80/90%) true. Sometimes, we want to talk about things that are possibly, but unlikely to be, true (20/30%). Look at the weather forecast for next week:

Today is Saturday. On Sunday, it's definitely going to rain. On Monday, there will probably be some sunshine. On Tuesday and Wednesday, it will be warm and sunny: it's unlikely to rain on Tuesday and Wednesday.

To talk about things that are definite,   we use a zero conditional
To talk about things that are probable, we use a first conditional
To talk about things that are unlikely,   we use a second conditional

Zero:      When it rains, people stay at home.
First:       If it's a nice day on Monday, I will go out with my friends.
Second:  Tuesday is going to be a nice day, but if it rained, I would stay at home.

Grammar: Zero conditionals

Look at this conversation:

Ryan: What do you do during the day?
Aziz:   I come to college.
Ryan:  Good answer. How do you get here?
Aziz:   On foot. But this is Manchester so sometimes it rains. If it rains, I don't walk.
Ryan:  So what happens if it rains?
Aziz:   Well, if it rains, I get the bus. Actually, to be honest, most days I get the bus.

If it rains, I get the bus. Why does Aziz get the bus? Because it rains.

There are two actions here: Aziz gets the bus and it rains. But Aziz gets the bus because it rains: this is the result of the rain, this is what happens when it rains.

When we talk about actions (it rains) and results (Aziz gets the bus), we use a conditional sentence:

Grammar: Adjectives

We use adjectives to describe nouns. Look at the two dogs in the picture. One is big, the other is small.