A Bit of Everything! Songs, Pronunciation & Friends!

Wednesday 1^st October, 2014

Hi Isabel. How is it going?

We have done lots of things these days!

We listened to these songs: “I will survive” and “I don’t want to miss a thing”

You can listen to them again by clicking here:

I Don't Want to Miss a Thing

 I Will Survive

We read an interesting article on pronunciation and we found out (discovered) that some words can be pronounced in different ways and it’s correct. For example garage, scone, schedule, neither & either and…Byzantine which can be pronounced correctly in ten different ways!!!,

Carrying on (continuing) with pronunciation we practised the pronunciation of the third conditional, that is:

If I’d known you were ill, I would’ve visited you.

I wouldn’t’ave told him if he’d told me it was a secret.

 3rd Conditional, Pronunciation Practice

We talked about TV programmes specially TV series. We read and talk about a classic “Friends”. I must admit it’s not one of my favourite but most people obviously disagree with me! It was a great success! You told me you hadn’t seen it either. You have a little sample in here: Funny moment at Ross's Wedding- Friends

Then, we listened and practised homonyms and homophones.

Homonyms: words which have the same spelling but different pronunciation.

Homophones: words with the same pronunciation but different spelling. 

And finally, it seems we cannot get round to(find time to do) finish correcting the reading comprehension about school days.

“Were they the happiest days of your life?” so, I’ll give you the answers to the vocabulary section.

WERE THEY THE HAPPIEST DAYS OF YOUR LIFE?

3- Look at the interview with Lucy Jackman.

a)    Try to guess the meaning of the following words or phrases, looking carefully at the context to help you.

·         Loathed (line 2):                hated.

·         Boarder (line 7):                a person who lives at school, (eats and sleeps   

                                           there).

·         Dormitory (line 15):           a big room with a row of beds (in a school, prison.).

·         Bunch of kids (line 17):    a group of children.

·         Petty (line 32):                  foolish, silly, unimportant.

·         A soft spot (line 44):         to be fond of.

·         Dragon (line 59):               fantastic monster with wings which spit fire.

·         Load of lines(line 63 -64): a lot of lines.

·         Drive (line 75):                  determination.

b)    Try to find a phrasal verb or idiomatic expression which is similar to each of the following.

·           Comfortable/peaceful:                                     settled down (line 14).

·           Emotionally disturbed:                                     hung up (line 21).

·           Tying:                                                              doing up (line 24).

·           Acted very emotionally:                                  freaked out (line 34).

·           Speak severely to someone about their faults:        tell off (line 41).

·           Giving out:                                                       handing out (line 43).

·           Make (someone) exasperated:                       to drive round the bend (line 50).

·           Hated:                                                              couldn’t stand (line 53).

·           Became clear::                                                dawned (line 64).

4- Look at the interview with Jillian Hall.

a)    Try to guess the meaning of the following words or phrases, looking carefully at the context to help you.

·                To slog my guts out (line 29):                         to work hard.

·                Teacher’s pet (line 30):                                   the favourite student of the teacher.

·                Got cross with (line 31):                                  got angry.

·                Cocoon (line 39):                                             shell.

·                To stand on my own two feet (line 40):          to take her own decisions.

b)    Try to find a phrasal verb or idiomatic expression which is similar to each of the following.

·                Had a good relationship:                                 got on with (line 10).

·                Was expelled:                                                 thrown out (line 25).

·                Managed:                                                        muddled through (line 27).

·                Unhurt:                                                            scraped by (line 28).

·                Isolated:                                                          left out (line 33).

5- Look at the interview with Stephen parker.

a)  Try to guess the meaning of the following words or phrases, looking carefully at the context to help you.

·                Public school (line 2):                                      an expensive, private school.

·                Wholeheartedly (line 13):                                wholly, completely.

·                Raking the money in (line 20):                        making a lot of money. (Rake: rastrillo)

·                Naïve /naı’i: v/ (line 36):                                  ingenuous /ın’dی зnjuəs/

c)   Try to find a phrasal verb or idiomatic expression which is similar to each of the following.

·                The goal to achieve:                                        the be all and end all (line 9).

·                Supported:                                                       backed up (line11).

·                At a long term:                                                 in the long run (line 19).

·                Planned:                                                          mapped out (line 25).

·                Travelling:                                                        bumming around (line 29).

HTH!

(HTH=I hope this helps! )

See you next Wednesday! Have a nice week!