English Spoken Here.

In this video produced by the World Economic Forum you can see which countries have the highest percentage of the population who speak English as a second language. 9 of the top 10 are in Europe so you don't have to travel far to practice your English.

D'Amico Shipping B2 Lesson 2

Class

Aglicisms - discussion and listening

1. Do you think using English words is trendy?
2. Do you think the use of anglicisms in Italian is acceptable? Why/Why not? 
3. Do you "pepper" your Italian conversations with English words?
4. Do you use any conjugated anglicisms e.g. sponsorizzare?
5. What anglicisms do you think are unnecessary?
6. Who do you think is Generation LOL? What does that name say about their use of Italian and English?
7. What do the following English words used in Italian actually mean in English: footing, lifting, beauty, sexy shop?
8. How are the following words pronounced when used in Italian and what is their pronunciation in English: report, performance, management, spray, cracker, fashion. 

Listening 

Listen to the report from Inside Europe (27/10/2016) to compare your views and answers. The report runs from 44:40 to 53:40 on the link below.

http://www.dw.com/en/inside-europe-covering-the-issues-that-shape-europe/a-19566539

Vocabulary

In fashion/trendy/to be "in" (definition 28 on the link)

Show off ( phrasal verb and noun - Show-off)

Mark up (phrasal verb and noun)

To be tongue-tied

To lose something in translation

To pepper

Dandy

Corrections

Less + uncountable nouns e.g. Less money

Fewer + countable plural nouns e.g. Fewer words

Homework

Listen to the podcast again focussing on another aspect. 

When you are doing your own listening practice listen multiple times to the same podcast working on a different aspect each time. Listen first for comprehension and then follow up by listening again for each of the following:

• Attitude/opinion
• Vocabulary (especially phrasal verbs, collocations, fixed expressions, idioms)
• Tenses and structures
• Accent, stress, intonation, tone and other features of fast connected speech

Listening Practice - all students

Why not see a film in English this weekend? Watching films in English, even with subtitles in Italian, is good practice as it trains your ear. The following films are currently showing in Rome in their original language:

Nocturnal Animals

You will hear a variety of American and British accents in this film.

Snowden

You will hear a variety of American and British accents (including Scottish) in this film. 

Fantastic Beasts & Where To Find Them

You will hear a variety of American and British accents in this film. 

Sing Street
You will hear British and Irish accents in this film.

D'Amico Shipping B1

Class

• Needs analysis
• Vocabulary - phrasal verbs

Get by  -  to survive

Fall behind -  to make LESS progress than others

Keep up with -  to make THE SAME progress as others

Pick up -  to learn easily

To catch on -  to understand 

To take up -  to start a new activity/sport/hobby

To let (someone/yourself) down - to disappoint/fail

Homework

1. Write a sentence for each of the phrasal verbs above.
e.g.  He picked up Spanish while he was living in Madrid. 

2. Search Spotify or Youtube for songs that include the phrasal verbs from today's lesson. 

Going further

A phrasal verb playlist:https://open.spotify.com/user/11142496185/playlist/5IN815vqsJHESck8r070SH

Lesson Dates
These are the dates for our lessons in December:
Thursday 1st December
Wednesday 14th December
Thursday 15th December

All lessons are from 12:00 to 13:30

After Christmas lessons will resume on Thursday 12th January.

D'Amico Shipping B2 Academic Year 2016 - 2017. Lesson 1

Class

Needs analysis

New vocabulary - Definition game. 

This September 1,200 new words were added to the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) and 1,000 entries were revised.

Homework

1. Check your definitions for the new words added to the OED go to the link here: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/2016/09/12/the-10-most-notable-entries-to-the-new-oxford-english-dictionary/
2. To find out how the OED decides what words to include read this article: https://www.theguardian.com/science/shortcuts/2016/sep/12/yolo-new-words-oxford-english-dictionary
3. Think about the discussion questions in preparation for next week's lesson:

• Do you think acronyms and slang should be included in the OED?
• Will you learn any of these new words? Why/why not?
• How do you think the OED decides which words to include?
• What “trendy" words might be included next year?

Going further

• Post-truth the word of 2016 https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/nov/15/post-truth-named-word-of-the-year-by-oxford-dictionaries

Do you agree?

• Podcasts

To help with your listening practice, get into the habit of downloading a podcast and listening to 5 to 10 minutes of it 3 or 4 times a week. There is lots of material to choose from but a goof place to start is the BBC http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/radio4. Radio 4 and Radio 5 Live offer a wide range of very popular podcasts covering a variety of topics including news, sports, film, culture and travel. More or Less, for example, is an excellent programme that investigates statistics in the news. 

NPR (National Public Radio) is the equivalent resource in America with a wide range of podcasts on all topics. 

Another good resource is DW.com whose Inside Europe Podcast provides a round up of European news each week. This week's episode features a story about an Italian family who has opened their home to a group of refugees. 

For something different try https://themoth.org/stories which features people from various backgrounds telling interesting stories about their lives.

Exam Information
BEC Vantage 
Where? Rome
When? 13/05/2017 (written) 6 - 14/05/2017 (oral)
How? Computer based
How Much? €234.00

All Groups - Song of the week - Joan of Arc by Leonard Cohen

I was deeply saddened to hear the news that Leonard Cohen had died. Cohen was one of the greatest lyricists in popular music and his songs are rightly studied as poetry. As a tribute, here is a video to one of his most beautiful songs, Joan of Arc. It is performed here by Cohen and Jennifer Warnes and features on the album Famous Blue Raincoat by Warnes. The lyrics are included in the video.

ANIA C2 Group 8 (2 pm)

Class

1. Anglicisms
2. CPE Writing Part 2

• Brainstorming, organising ideas to cover content points, turning notes into a plan, applying marking criteria. 
• Sample exam questions taken from Proficiency Test Builder (2013, 4th edition)
• For today's task you needed to talk about a favourite TV channel or Radio station. If you have trouble thinking of one to write about, cast your mind back to some of the resources we have used in class e.g.  Inside Europe (DW.com), Law in Action (BBC Radio 4), NPR.org, The Moth.org, Kermode & Mayo's Film Review (BBC Radio Live)

Homework

Use your notes on question 3 to write your review. Don't spend more than 45 minutes on writing and checking your work. Assess your effort according to the marking criteria (content, communicative achievement, organisation, language) and then email your answer to me.

Notes

• When searching for exam practice online, use the term CPE Writing rather than "proficiency writing" as the latter will lead you to another test used in U.S. universities. 

• The set texts (Part 2, Question 5) for 2016 - 2017 are: Family Album by Penelope Lively and  The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. If you choose The Great Gatsby you can base your answer either on the novel or the 2013 film version directed by Baz Luhrmann. If you are considering doing the exam next year, reading one of these books might be a good way of maintaining your level until lessons resume in January. 

Going further:

Films in English currently screening in Rome.

I, Daniel Blake

This moving film by Ken Loach won this year's top award at the Cannes film festival. The film is interesting for your language learning as it features strong Newcastle and London accents and criticises the use of business and free market vocabulary in a social welfare context.

The Girl On The Train

The big screen adaptation of this best selling thriller relocates the story to the U.S. but keeps the main character British offering an excellent opportunity to compare and contrast British and American accents.