How can I improve my English outside class? (Part one)

There are lots of things you can do to improve your English outside class. Here are a few ideas:

1. Write a diary. This is good practice for writing and vocabulary. You can ask the teacher in the Study Centre to check it. Write something in your diary every day. You can write about what you did last night (in the past) or what you are going to do the next day (Tomorrow, I am going to...). You can write about something you saw, something in the news, a person you met... Anything! Two or three sentences is enough.

2. Follow a twitter account or subscribe to a website. This account looks useful for elementary students: https://twitter.com/EP_Learning You could subscribe to a BBC podcast to practise your listening skills. For example, http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/6min_gram or http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/elt_drama It is important that you listen to the podcast several times a week. These podcasts might be useful for Chinese students: http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/aab and http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/suk

3. Use songs to improve your vocabulary and pronunciation. http://lyricstraining.com/ is a good website where you can listen to the song and write in the missing words, but you can just listen to a song and find the lyrics on the internet.

Song: Yesterday

Here is a very famous song by The Beatles. Notice how the song begins with "Yesterday": the time comes at the beginning of the sentence.

http://www.lyricstraining.com/game1680.htm

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.

Song: You Don't Have To Say You Love Me

Here is a link to a song that talks about choices. This was a big hit in 1966 for the British singer Dusty Springfield. The song is about a woman begging the man she loves to come back to her.

Here is the link on lyricstraining.com: http://www.lyricstraining.com/play/22458/you_dont_have_to_say_you_love_me/dusty_springfield
Choose Beginner and listen to the song. Type in the missing words. You can only type in the letters that are in the word. If you need to listen to a line of the song again, press the backspace <----- key . Enjoy!!

Grammar: The Present Perfect

Sometimes we want to talk about things that happened in the past:

I was born in Lancaster. When I was eighteen, I went to university in Manchester. 

but sometimes we want to talk about things that started in the past and connect to the present:

I live in Manchester. I have lived in Manchester since I started university five years ago.

We use have/has + past participle to make the present perfect tense.

To talk about the length of time, we can use for or since. We use for to talk about the period of time, and since to talk about the start time.

Remember for= how long      since= start

I have lived in Manchester for five years, since I started university.
I have been in Manchester for forty days. It's really good!
I have studied in Manchester since September. It's great!

Let's try and put this into a song!

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

Song: Don't You Want Me, Baby?

Here is a link to the song we listened to this morning: http://www.lyricstraining.com/play/19249/the_human_league/dont_you_want_me

The link is to lyricstraining.com , so you can practise your listening skills and complete the missing words. When you listen, think about the story and look at how the song uses the past tenses.

Ohh- oh-oh-ohhhh!!!

Grammar: Many men, many men, many men men men.....

How many men are there?

How much cheese is there?

Vocabulary: Clothes and items of clothing

Think about these questions:

What's the difference between formal clothes and casual clothes?

Man wearing a dinner jacket

What kind of clothes would you wear to a job interview?
What sort of clothes would you wear to a wedding?
When you go shopping, how many items do you usually buy?
Do you browse, or do you know what you want before you go shopping?
When would you wear evening dress?
Look at the picture. What's this man wearing: formal clothes, casual clothes or evening dress?
How would you describe the man?
smart    scruffy    sophisticated    trendy    fashionable
well-dressed    good-dressed     messy     
     (one of these words is rubbish: which one?)
What different patterns do you prefer: Stripes, checks or spots?
Do you like pictures and patterns on your clothes, or do you prefer plain clothes?
Do you like light or dark clothes?
Do you prefer dark or bright colours?
What size are you? Do you prefer loose-fitting clothes or tight-fitting clothes? Skinny jeans are very popular and tight-fitting.

Holiday songs

There a couple of songs about holidays on http://www.lyricstraining.com/ 

Choose your Game Mode (Beginner/ Intermediate) and type in the missing words when you hear them in the song.

Use the BACKSPACE <------- key to listen to the words again. Good luck!

http://www.lyricstraining.com/play/13445/boney_m/hooray_hooray_its_a_holiholiday

http://www.lyricstraining.com/play/16731/madonna/holiday

http://www.lyricstraining.com/play/5095/green_day/holiday (I think this is really tricky, even at Beginner level!!)