D'Amico Shipping B2 Lesson 18

Class
Future forms p. 67
(Click on the image to enlarge)

Homework
Finish exercise 4 on page 67

Notes
There is no distinct future tense in English - so we can choose from a number of forms depending on the function we wish to perform/express (prediction, intention, opinion, arrangement, intention, plan, offer, promise, decision in the moment of speaking, scheduled event, future fact)

Forms
will or other modals
going to
present simple
present continuous
future perfect
future continuous

Other Phrases
When you expect something to happen very soon in the near future:
to be about to do 
to be on the point of doing 

For a scheduled event:
To be due to do
e.g. The guests are due to arrive at 11 am.

For obligations, commands, instructions:
to be to do
e.g. Can you please tell Andrea that he is to contact the Dublin office immediately.

Future Perfect & Future Continuous
For events that will have been finished/completed by a certain time in the future:
will + have + past participle (future perfect) 
I will have finished the report by Monday.

For events/actions that will be taking place at a certain time in the future:
Will + be + -ing (future continuous)
I will be lying on the beach this time next week.
We will be landing in 15 minutes. (The event will happen as a matter of course)
I will be meeting John on Saturday (A future event without intention - I will see him anyway because we work together - I don't necessarily intend to see him)

Vocabulary
I'll get back to you (next week etc.)
Little white lies

European Commission - Series 2: Lesson 5

Lesson 5
Class
News Summaries
Regeni Inquiry http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/04/italy-warns-egypt-delays-student-murder-probe-160405110208790.html
Constitutional Reform http://www.italy24.ilsole24ore.com/print/ACM0ae0C/0

Writing 
Writing a profile for social media/CV/job application
Links:
http://www.theguardian.com/careers/careers-blog/how-to-write-outstanding-cv-profile
http://www.wikihow.com/Write-a-Personal-Profile-Outline
http://www.theguardian.com/money/work-blog/2013/dec/11/job-applications-social-media-profiles-scrutiny

To find out the top 10 overused buzzwords according to LinkedIn for 2015 go to: http://www.forbes.com/sites/susanadams/2015/01/21/ten-buzzwords-to-cut-from-your-linkedin-profile-in-2015/#6ba0b4454227
To compile the list, LinkedIn sifted through the “Summary” sections in profiles worldwide, to rank how often each buzzword appears.

Vocabulary
to set out your stall
punchy
flowery

Homework
Finish your profile.

Song of the Week - Before Too Long - Paul Kelly

This week's song is from Australian singer-songwriter Paul Kelly. The expression, before too long is an oblique or understated way of saying soon and is used here to show the writer's cynical view of romantic love. The song is deceptively cheery but really a little bit stalkerish like The Police's Every Breath You Take and shows Kelly's dark sense of humour. The lyrics also include some other interesting idioms like every dog has his day which means everyone gets a chance eventually.

Before Too Long
by Paul Kelly (1986)

Before too long
The one that you're loving
Will wish that he'd never met you
Before too long
He who is nothing
Will suddenly come into view

So let the time keep rolling on
It's on my side
Lonely nights will soon be gone
High is the tide

Before too long
We'll be together
And no-one will tear us apart
Before too long
The words will be spoken
I know all the action by heart

As the night time follows day
I'm closing in
Every dog will have his day
Any dog can win

Shut the shade do not fear anymore
Here I come creeping round your back door

Before too long
I'll be repeating
What's happened before in my mind
Before too long
Over and over
Just like a hammer inside

As the nighttime follows day
I'm closing in
Every dog will have his day
Any dog can win

Before too long

Before too long

Post CPE Lesson 21

Class
1.  Discussion: The place of archeology today.
Reading:

• UAB Space Archeologist discovers new Viking settlement that could change history http://yellowhammernews.com/faithandculture/29398/
• Palmyra after ISIS http://www.theguardian.com/world/ng-interactive/2016/apr/08/palmyra-after-islamic-state-isis-visual-guide?CMP=fb_gu

2.  Writing a profile for social media/CV/job application
Links:
http://www.theguardian.com/careers/careers-blog/how-to-write-outstanding-cv-profile
http://www.wikihow.com/Write-a-Personal-Profile-Outline
http://www.theguardian.com/money/work-blog/2013/dec/11/job-applications-social-media-profiles-scrutiny

To find out the top 10 overused buzzwords according to LinkedIn for 2015 go to: http://www.forbes.com/sites/susanadams/2015/01/21/ten-buzzwords-to-cut-from-your-linkedin-profile-in-2015/#6ba0b4454227
To compile the list, LinkedIn sifted through the “Summary” sections in profiles worldwide, to rank how often each buzzword appears.

Vocabulary
loot
pillage
stubble = any bristly growth or surface, especially a on a man's unshaven face.
to set out your stall

Pronunciation
mythologise
comfortable

Corrections
lose versus waste
time
to lose time refers to a watch, clock or timepiece that operates slowly.
to lose track of time means that you are so absorbed in an activity you don't notice how much time has passed.
to waste time means to spend time on a useless activity
money
to lose money means you don't have it anymore, probably through theft, accident or making a bad bet e.g. I've lost 20 euros, it must have dropped out of my jacket pocket or I lost 20 euros on that horse race yesterday. 
to waste money means that you spend it unwisely e.g. I wasted 30 euros on that English class - I didn't learn a thing. 

All Groups: Writing Skills - Target Reader

We have done a lot of work lately on how important the target reader is when sitting down to write a letter or email. Getting the tone right and using an appropriate register is of the utmost importance as this spoof letter from The Poke Website demonstrates.
(click on the image for the full view)

ANIA C2 Lesson 11

Lesson 11
Thursday 7th April
2 - 3:30 pm

Freedom of thought, conscience and religion - discussion, reading and listening. Sources: 

Reading - http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/apr/01/renee-rabinowitz-sue-israeli-airline-el-al-orthodox-gender-discrimination 

Listening - http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b074x9pf

Class Notes:

Reading

• How well did the airline handle the situation?
• What would you have done if you were Mrs Rabinowitz/the air steward?
• Would the situation be any different if the Ultra Orthodox man had complained about sitting next to a gay person?

Key Vocabulary

garb

to press someone (to do something)

to ask someone point blank

unabashedly

a gesture of goodwill

egalitarian

to do some quick thinking 

to take up the case

to seek (amount) in damages

Listening

Gay Cake 

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b074x9pf

When a Christian bakery in Belfast was found guilty last year of discriminating against a gay man, by refusing his request for a cake with a pro-gay marriage slogan on it, it became headline news around the world. It also divided people in Northern Ireland. Many there see it as a battle between freedom of conscience and the right to religious expression, and Northern Ireland's equality laws.

Listen to the discussion at 19:00 between Reverends Chris Hudson, David McIlveen and journalist Fionola Meredith. 

• What does each of them say about the case? 
• Which view do you find the most persuasive and why? 
• According to the speakers, what does the debate say about Northern Irish society? 
• Who do you think will win the appeal?
• Do you think the case is more about discrimination, religious freedom or freedom of political expression? 

Key Vocabulary

to impugn 

to flaunt (n.b. flout and flaunt are commonly confused: Flaunt and flout may sound similar but they have different meanings. Flaunt means ‘display ostentatiously,’ as in tourists who liked to flaunt their wealth, while flout means ‘openly disregard (a rule or convention),’ as in new recruits growing their hair and flouting convention. It is a common error, recorded since around the 1940s, to use flaunt when flout is intended, as in the young woman had been flaunting the rules and regulations.)

Going Further

In the introduction and conclusion of the podcast, the presenter makes a number of puns - e.g. chewing over the case, temperatures are sure to rise, stir into the mix, half baked, digest the evidence, rise to the top (of the tin). What different possible meanings do these expressions have? 

Corrections

The first thing that bumped into my mind → The first thing that came to mind/leapt (in)to my mind

bump into = collide or meet by chance

criticable → criticisable, open to criticism

interpretated → interpreted

law system → legal system 

D'Amico Shipping B1 Lesson 17

Lesson 17 
Thursday 7th April 
Noon

Class

• Discussion - jobs/status/benefits
• Language development - dependent prepositions
• Writing - job avert

(Language Leader pp. 26 -27)

Notes

• Learn phrasal verbs in context as they often have many different meanings e.g. take off 

1. lift off, leave the ground, take to the air, become airborne   ⇒ We eventually took off at 11am and arrived in Venice at 1.30pm.
2. Remove ⇒ Come in and take off your coat.
3. depart, go, leave, split (slang), disappear, set out, strike out, beat it (slang), hit the road (slang), abscond, decamp, hook it (slang), slope off, pack your bags (informal)   ⇒ He took off at once and headed home.
4. do well, succeed, thrive, flourish, progress, boom, prosper, have legs (informal), turn out well   ⇒ He met her in 1944, and his career took off.

• Learn phrasal verbs and dependent preposition not as grammar rules but as "chunks" of vocabulary e.g. depend on, look for, fluency/fluent in, responsible for, in charge of, a good knowledge of, to learn on the job.

Vocabulary

Parts of a house - attic, ground floor, cellar 

So-so versus so-and-so 

Going Further
Start or join a discussion in the comments section of the blog. You can comment below on today's lesson or, join in the discussion on the other D'Amico thread about favourite adverts. Even it's only a sentence or two, it is helpful to practice. It also gives me more opportunities to give you feedback and correction.