1) Vocabulary recycling (international business) BEC Masterclass workbook p. 44
2) Error correction: countable & uncountable nouns, word forms (suffixes)
3) Approaches to tenses. Aspects: simple, continuous, perfect
Homework
Find a written or spoken text (e.g. an article from the internet) and highlight all the tenses. Why do you think the writer/speaker chose to use those tenses?
Each stage is equally important - predict before you listen, don't be distracted by words you don't know while you are listening, and fill in anything you have missed using context after you have listened.
Homework
Go to the BBC or another website and download a podcast.
Podcasts about international news are useful as you can always read a report in an Italian newspaper first and then listen to how the same story is reported in English.
Choose a short broadcast (maximum 5 minutes) but listen to it 3 or 4 times. Do you understand more each time you listen? Did you find any new words?
"If you think English spelling is confusing — why "head" sounds nothing like "heat," or why "steak" doesn't rhyme with "streak," and "some" doesn't rhyme with "home" — you can blame the Great Vowel Shift. Between roughly 1400 and 1700, the pronunciation of long vowels changed. "Mice" stopped being pronounced "meese." "House" stopped being prounounced like "hoose." Some words, particularly words with "ea," kept their old pronounciation. (And Northern English dialects were less affected, one reason they still have a distinctive accent.) This shift is how Middle English became modern English. No one is sure why this dramatic shift occurred. But it's a lot less dramatic when you consider it took 300 years. Shakespeare was as distant from Chaucer as we are from Thomas Jefferson."
Taken from 25 Maps that explain the English Language http://www.vox.com/2015/3/3/8053521/25-maps-that-explain-english
Enabler or facilitator? http://2kop.blogspot.it/2011/07/teach-man-to-fish.html Homework Reading
This month Claudio Gatti claimed to reveal the true identity of author Elena Ferrante. Do you think that he was justified in doing so? Read the article below, what arguments do his supporters and detractors use? Which arguments do you believe are the most persuasive?
For Literary World, Unmasking Elena Ferrante Is Not A Scoop. It's A Disgrace
October 3, 20164:21 PM ET
Going Further: Set Texts for CPE 2016 - 2017
If you enjoy reading in English, it might be an idea to prepare for the set text question in the writing paper for the CPE exam. The set texts for 2016 - 2017 are Penelope Lively: Family Album
F. Scott Fitzgerald: The Great Gatsby (novel or screenplay to the 2013 film adaptation) Viewing Author: The J.T. LeRoy Story
Note on Tones
What tone would you use for a shopping list?
bread↗milk↗eggs↗fruit↘︎
(or fall rise if asking for confirmation = Have I forgotten anything?)
What tone would a Doctor use when checking off symptoms in a medical exam?
"cough→headache→runny nose→"A level tone makes the doctor sound more detached and less intrusive so the patient feels more confident. Homework
Find a text - any source - newspaper, magazine, internet - and print off a copy. Highlight all the tenses used. Why do you think the author has chosen these tenses?
I am a freelance teacher based at the British Council in Rome. This is a Blog for my students, not only to keep up with what we are doing in class but also to ask questions, share ideas and practise English.
