Dreams

Wednesday 20^th May

Hi Isabel! How’s everything?

I hope your visit to the dentist was OK.

By the way, did you dream of teeth last night? What does it mean? Why do you think you did?

Just kidding! (It was a joke)

Yesterday we talked about dreams!

We continued talking about this topic and listen to the narration of a weird dream. The weird (strange, odd) thing wasn’t exactly the dream but the amazing coincidence that both, the man talking about the dream and his girlfriend, had the same dream. They dreamt that they bumped into each other while they were walking along the boy’s hometown and they kissed. The most striking (surprising) thing was that although the girl had never been to that town before, she was able to describe everywhere in great detail! The boy added that he had heard about this kind of things on a TV programme. The name for this sort of dreams is called ‘telepathic dreaming’.
We read about three dreams and their possible interpretation.

And to finish talking about dreams, you may like listening to this song by Eurythmics ‘ Sweet dreams.’ (Marilyn Mason also has a version but I’d rather listen to this one)

But, we didn’t only talked about dreaming and dreams yesterday. We had time to review the ways of introducing conditionals other than (different from) using ‘if’.

INTRODUCING CONDITIONALS
UNLESS		IN CASE
Unless means except if.		In case means the first action is a precaution: it happens because the second action might happen.
We´ll go swimming unless it rains.		I’ll take my umbrella in case it rains. (I plan to take my umbrella) I’ll take my umbrella if it rains. (I don’t plan to take my umbrella if I don’t have to).
SUPPOSING		SUPPOSE		IMAGINE
These mean the same as Imagine if…? What if…?
The condition is more improbable, so they are more often found in 2nd and 3rd conditionals. They are questions and they come at the beginning of a sentence.
Supposing you could go on holiday tomorrow, where would you go?			Imagine you were rich, what would you buy?
INVERSION (FORMAL STYLE) (The auxiliary is dropped and the verb inverted)
Were you to (if you were going to ask me) question me about the matter, I would deny all knowledge.	Had I known (if I had known) that he was a journalist, I would have said nothing.			Should the meeting (if the meeting lasts) last longer than expected, I’ll have to cancel my dinner engagement.

And that was all! See you next week!

Word Pairs

Wednesday 13^th May

Hi! How’s everything?

Long weekend, beautiful weather, what else could you long for (wish)?

We started our class last week reading about ‘What I wish I’d known when I was 20.’

·         Annette Newman wishes she had known what a hard work being a mother was! When she was twenty she used to take her mother for granted.

·         Simon Hewitt wishes she had been able to overcome (get over) his shyness earlier! He was painfully shy (terribly shy) when he was in his teens and twenties.

·         James Garner wishes he had realized earlier that not having school qualifications doesn’t mean you’re a failure. There are other things, gardening in his case, that can help you to develop a career. He is now a landscape gardener.

After that we read about Philippa Forrester and her first crash!

She was so unlucky that she crashed into the car of a new workmate for whom she had a crush (be in love, fancy, feel infatuated)! That crush turned into a crash.

Then, we continued talking about word pairs.

Finally we started reading an article about bullying. Did you know that ‘Bullied kids are at higher risk of mental health problems?’

You can listen to this article clicking here http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/1505/150501-bullying.mp3

And that was all! More on Wednesday!

'Have you Ever Wondered...?

Wednesday 6^th May

Hello again!

How are you doing?

Last week we read an interesting article entitled ‘Have you ever wondered?’ and we talked about it afterwards.

I must admit I had never wondered about what would happen if the gravity on Earth was suddenly turned off. I’m glad to know that buildings and trees, which are rooted into the Earth, would not easily fly off. Does it mean that earthquakes are more dangerous than the lack of gravity? Tornados, hurricanes and such natural disasters cause bigger damage than not having gravity?

I haven’t wondered why we dream, either. I think it’s because I have a pretty accurate idea of the reason why we dream. For most of people it’s difficult to forget their daily worries or concerns and they – we- take these troubles with us when we sleep and cannot stop thinking about them.

It was quite interesting to read about the origin of the symbol @. It confirms my theory that we haven’t invented anything new and that it sometimes feels as if we were getting back to the past. I mean there were cameras able to deliver photos instantaneously when I was a kid – over 40 years ago! Yes, it’s true that they were big, expensive and their resolution left a lot to be desired. And now, this new symbol, - @ - the symbol of IT, the internet, the technology progress, the 21^st century symbol…was invented by monks in the Middle Ages!

We learnt some word pairs. Do you remember?

 

Ifs or buts	Excuses or arguments.
Wait and see	Be patient and find out later.
Ins and outs	Exact details.
Give and take	Compromise, be flexible.
By and large	Generally speaking.
Grin and bear it	Tolerate it as best as you can.
Odds and ends	Things.
Take it or leave it	Accept it or refuse. I don’t care!

And that was about it!

We’ll continue on Wednesday. We’ll read and talk about the problems bullied kids can face, too.

See you!

Expressions with 'if' and Regrets.

Wednesday 29^th April

Hi! How are you doing?

I hope you had a nice weekend. It was an eventful (full of events) weekend, wasn’t it?

On the one hand it was International Labour Day. On the other hand, we celebrated the day of Madrid Community (remembering the Independence Spanish War against the French) and it was also Mother’s Day on Sunday.

In our last classes…

…we finished watching the film ‘In Good Company’.

I’m glad you liked it and I expect you to have learnt some vocabulary and expressions.

·         This is an important issue that we all have to face.

·         There’s no benefit to be gained from treating the employees like dirt!

·         We can’t deny the situation is a real nightmare: it can’t get any worse.

·         Everybody is worried about the layoffs: who’s going to be next?

·         We’ve already over-extended our budget, so we can’t spend any more.

The bonds between them are so strong, they’re almost like brothers.
We learnt expressions with ‘if’.

·         Would it be OK if I leave a bit earlier today?

·         If anything went wrong, I’d never forgive myself!

·         Win? What do you mean? If you ask me, they don’t stand a chance!

·         Well, if the worst comes to the worst, we can always postpone it.

·         You haven’t made much progress, if I remember rightly.

·         I don’t think he’s cold or arrogant. If anything, he’s a bit shy.

And we talked about our regrets.

·         I regret saying that to her. If only I hadn’t said that to her!

·         Why weren’t you watching the road? You should have been watching the road.

·         I don’t like it when Meg stays out so late. I wish Meg wouldn’t stay out so late.

·         I don’t want you to tell her. I’d rather you didn’t tell her.

And that was about it! See you tomorrow in class!