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Wednesday 25 April 2012

VERB TO BE



Personal Pronouns in English:




Now see this chart to understand the VERB TO BE




Pay attention:

 

Let's practise!! Click on each exercise to practise the VERB TO BE








 





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Tuesday 24 April 2012

RADIO DAYS


THE DESERVING AND UNDESERVING POOR

 


Presenter Chris Bowly asks whether a state welfare system should be set and distinguish between those who deserve help and those who do not.


Listen to the radio programme and answer the questionnaire

BBC Radio 4 - Analysis: The Deserving And The Undeserving Poor: 15... MP3

QUESTIONNAIRE
1. Who broadcasted this radio programme?

2.  What is the radio programme about?

3.  According to the presenter, Chris Bowlby, what happens when people asks us for money in the street?
 
4.  What does he say about the number of children people have?
 
5.  What does the Archbishop of Canterbury say about poor people?
 
6.  What has made the debate about poor people receiving welfare benefits sharper?
 
7.  What does Will Huttom's book Them and Us set?
 
8.  According to Hutton, what should people do to find a job?
 
9.  What are the so called 'squeezed middle'?
 
10.  What does Fosyth, the senior curator of the Museum of London, say about people who do not work?
 
11.  In the past, what did Trade Unions do when they gave one of their members a sickness benefit?
 
12.  Bowly says, "There is an idea of assistance as being part of reciprocity..." What does he mean?
 
13.  According to the presenter, should we consider children 'undeserving'?
 
14.  What happens with people living in more prosperous areas in south-east England?
 
15.  What should charity do?
 
16.  Express your final opinion about this radio debate.
 
17.  In your opinion, who is responsible for poverty and how much help should we provide to poor people?




Saturday 14 April 2012

READING COMPREHENSION

WORK IN PAIRS. PREPARE THIS ACTIVITY TO HAND IN The article has been retrived from www.eschoolnews.com and adapted for classroom use



-1- As technology advances and new digital tools become available to educators and students, a steady migration toward online learning has begun to take place. Many students who struggle in a traditional learning environment now have the opportunity to attend a “virtual” school, where they can learn at their own pace: Advanced students are not held back by the slower pace of their peers, while students with disabilities have more time to understand the material before moving on. Parents in rural communities who home-school their children because of the time and distance it takes to travel to the nearest brick-and-mortar school can have the support of a strong online curriculum. And students who have dropped out of school have the chance to resume their education, finish high school, and get a diploma via distance learning.

-2- But despite the potential benefits that virtual learning offers, traditional, face-to-face learning has significant strengths of its own. Students can interact in person with a teacher who can answer questions and help motivate them. Teachers can evaluate students more individually, taking into account personal elements in a way that even the best computer program cannot replicate. (They can more easily tell if a student is moody, or anxious, or depressed, for instance—and they can intervene as appropriate.) Traditional schools offer more opportunities for peer interaction and the chance to develop deeper personal relationships. They also offer a physical place where students can learn, which gives working parents the ability to leave the house for their jobs and know that their children are in a safe environment.

-3- Leah Rogers is acting head of the Chicago Virtual Charter School (CVCS), an innovative school that is a cross between a traditional school and a virtual one. Students work online from home four days a week and come to school for the fifth. Although students are working from home most of the time, they appreciate the chance to come to school one day a week to see classmates and their teachers face to face. The occasional face time is like an anchor that keeps them from drifting too far off their course of studies, supporters say. CVCS is one of a growing number of schools that have adopted a blend of face-to-face and online instruction, an approach that appears to be paying off: the school made Adequate Yearly Progress in 2008 and 2009 and has posted considerable gains in both reading and math, becoming one of 147 public schools in Illinois to win an Academic Improvement Award.

-4- In a typical school environment, all students in a classroom have to learn the same thing at same time. But at CVCS, students can work on material at their own pace, and educators can tailor their instruction to each student individually to fill the gaps in that child’s knowledge. “In a traditional setting, students are at the mercy of the teacher, who decides how fast they’re learning [and] how much time they have to spend on the subject,” Rogers said. “We give those who ‘get it’ faster the ability to move on.”




ACTIVITIES

1. Match each paragraph with the appropriate title (there is an extra title)
1. Paragraph 1
2. Paragraph 2
3. Paragraph 3
4. Paragraph 4

a. The merits of conventional learning
b. A mixture of both traditional and virtual schools
c. The drawbacks of traditional learning
d. The benefits of virtual learning
e. Comparing between the traditional and the blended models of education

2. Correct the following FALSE sentences with information from the text
a) Virtual schooling is an option only for disabled children.
b) In Chicago Virtual Charter School (CVCS), fast learners and slow ones are educated similarly.
c) CVCS has proved to be a failing experience of education.

3. Complete the following statements with information from the text
a) Teachers cannot be replaced by computers because they_________________
b) CVCS is a new model of school which consists in_______________________
c) If their children are at school,parents________________________________
d) In a typical classroom all students have to____________________________

4. Find in the text equivalents for the following defintions
a) ________(p 1) = speed at which somebody/something walks, runs or moves.
b) ________(p 2) = potential for effective action (plural)
c) ________(p 3) = something created by mixing
d) ________(p 4) = make or adapt something for a particular purpose or person.

5. What do the underline words refer to?
a) THEY (p 1) refers to__________________________
b) THEY (p 2) refers to__________________________
c) THEY (p 3) refers to__________________________
d) WE (p 4) refers to____________________________

6. Paragraph 1 has two links. Click and provide the information required:
a) Name why students should use digital tools.
b) Name collaborative resources for the classroom.
c) Define what online learning is.
d) Write briefly (5-6 lines) how Communication Technologies are used in E-Learning

7. Provide a justified answer for the following question:
- Think about the traditional, the virtual, and the blended model of education. Which model of education are you interested most?

READING COMPREHENSION

WORK IN PAIRS. PREPARE THE ACTIVITY TO HAND IN

FAST FOOD IN THE STATES


Fast food is cheap, easy and quick. Fast food companies spend millions of dollars each year trying to make young people believe that fast food is cool. The average American eats three burgers and four orders of French fries a week. Is it surprising that 14% of American teenagers are obese?

A Read the following paragraphs.

1.
Schools hold special education days for the food companies when fast food managers talk to the students. In March 1998, it was “Coke in Education Day” at Greenbrier High School in Georgia and some Coca-cola managers visited the school. About a thousand students went to the school parking lot dressed in red and white to spell out the word COKE. The photographer was ready to take photos when Mike Cameron suddenly showed his T-shirt which said Pepsi. The school principal immediately suspended Mike from school.

2.
Now, America is starting to fight back against the fast food companies. The two biggest states in the US, California and Texas, might stop serving fast food and soda in school cafeterias. The American government may bring in special laws for preventing and treating obesity.

3.
It’s fine to eat fast food occasionally as part of a healthy diet. But fast food is high in fat and calories. So if your favourite meal is burger and fries, you could easily become obese. Obesity could lead to other diseases such as diabetes, heart disease and arthritis.

4.
There’s no escape from fast food for American teens. Fast food companies give money to US schools to help them buy sports and computer equipment. In return, schools place advertisements for the fast food companies in their hallways and on the sides of their school buses. They also sell cheap fast food in school cafeterias and sponsor school books.

B. Match the paragraphs with their correct assertion, so that you get the text in the correct order

************************************************************************************
1. Eating fast food is a way of getting obese.
2. Schools as a place for advertisement.
3. Fast food is taking control over schools.
4. The fight against fast food.
***********************************************************************************
*

C. Are these sentences true (T) or false (F)? Correct the wrong ones.
1. It is healthy to eat fast food every day.
______________________________________________________
2. Fast food has a lot of calories.
______________________________________________________
3. Obesity is not related to other diseases.
______________________________________________________
4. There is no fast food in US schools cafeterias.
______________________________________________________



D. Answer the following questions:
1. Why is it so easy to eat fast food?
2. Why do fast food companies give money to US schools?
3. What did Mike Cameron do?

E. Match the words in US English (1-6) with the right words in GB English (a-f):

1. order (of French fries)
2. French fries
3. soda
4. parking lot
5. (school) hallway
6. cafeteria

a. soft drink
b. (school) corridor
c. portion
d. chips
e. canteen
f. car park


F. Write the words below to their appropriate meaning:

in return
disease
cool
obese
to sponsor
advertisement


1. very attractive, fashionable, interesting etc in a way that people admire ____________
2. very fat in a way that is unhealthy _____________
3. a picture, set of words, or a short film, which is intended to persuade people to buy a product or use a service ______________
4. in exchange for ______________
5. an illness which affects a person, animal, or plant _______________
6. to pay for something in exchange for the right to advertise _______________

G. Match the opposites

1. cheap
2. easy
3. quick
4. big
5. healthy
6. high

a. slow
b. unhealthy
c. difficult
d. expensive
e. short
f. small

H. According to an article in the website EzineMark.com the top-ten unhealthiest fast food eaten during 2011 in the States were the ones that you can see in the following video. Click HERE and list them. Then add two types of fast food that you consider are very unhealthy and are normally eaten in our county

Wednesday 11 April 2012

PRESENT PERFECT CONTINUOUS



Present Perfect Progressive/Continuous

Present Perfect Progressive It is used to say how long someone has been doing something.
  • I have been studying English for 2 years.
  • I have been studying English since 1997.
  • It hasn't been raining for so long.
  • Have you been talking on the phone for the last hour?!?
Present Perfect Continuous


The PRESENT PERFECT CONTINUOUS expresses an action that recently stopped or is still going on. It puts emphasis on the duration or course of the action (not the result).

examples:
I have been studying present perfect continuous up to now.
She has been waiting at the bus stop since 5 o'clock.
Terry and Mary have been dating for a long time.

FORM

AFFIRMATIVE: S + HAVE/HAS + BEEN + VERB-ING
e.g. Gary has been playing soccer for a long time.

INTERROGATIVE: (WH-) HAVE/HAS + S + BEEN + VERB-ING?
e.g. Who has Laura been waiting for?
      Have the children been studying all this time?

NEGATIVE: S + HAVEN'T/HASN'T + BEEN + VERB-ING
e.g. Hailey hasn't been doing anything for hours.

TIP Remember that NON-CONTINUOUS verbs (BE, WANT, SEEM, NEED, CARE, CONTAIN, OWE, EXIST, etc.)cannot be used in any continuous tenses. So, instead of Present
Continuous, we must use Present Perfect.
e.g. Sheilas has been wanting that car for years. INCORRECT
       Sheila has wanted that car for years. CORRECT.

If you need more explanation about the difference betweeen Present Perfect Continuous and Present Perfect, CLICK here and the video will help you.

Now it's your turn! Solve the following activities:

Exercise I

Exercise II

Exercise III

Exercise IV

Exercise V

Exercise VI

Exercise VII