GRAMMAR: Past Simple (A1 / A2)

We all like talking about what we did last weekend, yesterday, last summer or when we were children. To be able to talk about our past we need the past simple tense.

The past simple tense in English needs studying since there are many irregular verbs. Take your time, go through the notes, watch the video and study the irregular verbs. Then do the activity and check your answers with the list of verbs.

Past Simple

Irregular Verbs

Fill in the blanks with the past simple of the verbs in bold.

1.     Did you have a nice trip? Yes, I ________ a very nice trip, thanks.
2.     What time did you leave the house? I ________ at 8.30.
3.     Did you fly from Heathrow? No, we ________ from Gatwick.
4.     Did you see the Jacksons? Yes, we ________ them last week.
5.     Did you think about me? Of course I ________ about you.
6.     Did you take a coat? No, but I ________ a sweater.
7.     Did you give her my address? Yes, and I ________ her your telephone number.
8.     Where did you go on holidays? We ________ to Italy.
9.     What time did you wake up? I ________ at 8.00 a.m.
10. Did you get up early yesterday? No, I ________ at 11 o’clock.
11. When did they come back? They ________ back two days ago.
12. What did you eat for breakfast? I ________ cornflakes.
13. Would you like to drink something? No, thanks, I ________ some coffee earlier.
14. Did you write the report? Yes, I ________ it yesterday.
15. Did you read the newspaper? No, I just ________ a magazine.
16. Where did you put the tickets? I ________ in my bag.
17. He always loses his car keys, once he almost ________ his car!
18. He doesn’t speak English, so he ________ to me in Chinese.
19. What did you say? I ________ his name.
20. I don’t usually run, but I ________ 5 kilometres yesterday.
21. Did I tell you about my holidays? Yes, you ________  me yesterday.
22. Did you buy a new suit? No, I just ________ a new tie.
23. I don’t often break plates, but yesterday I ________ two.
24. Why did you fall down the stairs? Because you ________ (push) me!
25. Why did you hit me? I ________ you because I was angry.
26. Where did you sit? We ________ at the front.
27. Did you have to stand on the train? Yes, I ________ near the doors.
28. What did you wear last night? I ________ a black dress.
29. How did you tear your jeans? I ________ them on my car door.
30. Did you draw that picture? No, my son ________ it.

LISTENING: Hello - Adele (A1)

Listen to the song twice and complete the blanks with the missing sentences.

Hello from the outside (x3)                     Hello, it’s me                 Hello, can you hear me?

Hello from the other side (x3)          I hope you are well             Hello, how are you?         

(1). ___________________
I was wondering if after all these years you'd like to meet
To go over everything
They say that time's supposed to heal yah, but I ain't done much healing

(2). ___________________
I'm in California dreaming of who we used to be
When we were younger and free
I've forgotten how it felt before the world fell at our feet

There's such a difference between us
and a million miles

(3). ___________________
I must've called a thousand times
To tell you I'm sorry for everything that I've done
But when I call you never seem to be home

(4). ___________________
At least I can say that I've tried
To tell you I'm sorry for breaking your heart
But it don't matter, it clearly doesn't tear you apart anymore

(5). ___________________
It's so typical of me to talk about myself, I'm sorry
(6). ___________________
Did you ever make it out of that town where nothing ever happened?

It's no secret that the both of us
are running out of time

(7). ___________________
I must've called a thousand times
To tell you I'm sorry for everything that I've done
But when I call you never seem to be home

(8). ___________________
At least I can say that I've tried
To tell you I'm sorry for breaking your heart
But it don't matter, it clearly doesn't tear you apart
Anymore, ooooohh
Anymore, ooooohh
Anymore, ooooohh
Anymore, anymore

(9). ___________________
I must've called a thousand times
To tell you I'm sorry for everything that I've done
But when I call you never seem to be home

(10). ___________________
At least I can say that I've tried
To tell you I'm sorry for breaking your heart
But it don't matter, it clearly doesn't tear you apart anymore

Now check your answers in this video.

   

GRAMMAR: Possessive Adjectives (A1 / A2)

Go through the notes and do the activities below.


Possessive Adjectives

1. Complete the sentences with the correct possessive adjective.

1. Do you like .............. job?

2. I know Mr Watson, but I don't know .............. wife.

3. Alice and Tom live in London. .............. son lives in Australia.

4. We're going to have a party. We're going to invite all .............. friends.

5. Anna is going out with .............. friends this evening.

6. I like tennis. It's .............. favorite sport.

7. "Is that .............. car?" "No, I haven't got a car".

8. I want to phone Maria. Do you know .............. phone number?

9. Do you think most people are happy in .............. jobs?

10. I'm going to wash .............. hair before I go out.

11. This is a beautiful tree. .............. leaves are of a beautiful colour.

12. John has a brother and a sister. .............. brother is 25, and .............. sister is 21.

2. Complete the sentences with the correct possessive adjective.

1. She's goes to the gym with me. .............. name is Jane.

2. We're in room 5. .............. teacher is Michael.

3. New York is famous for .............. theatres.

4. How do you spell .............. name, Ricardo?

5. My friends are from Italy. .............. are Tito and Micaela.

6. This is my husband. .............. name is Steve.

7. I live in Oxford. .............. adress is 1 Ross House, Southcote Road.

8. Rita is in my class, but .............. husband is in a different class.

9. Italy is famous for .............. ice-creams.

10. We are neighbours. .............. house is next to your house.

ANSWERS: 
1) 1. your 2. his 3. their 4. our 5. her 6. my 7. your 8. her 9. their 10. my 11. its 12. his / his.
2) 1. her 2. our 3. its 4. your 5. their 6. his 7. my 8. her 9. its 10. our



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GRAMMAR: Present Continuous (A1/A2)

Have a look at the notes about the present continuous and do the activity below to practise.

Present Continuous

You might find this video from the Bitish Council Learn English useful as well.

What are they doing? Make questions and answers using the present continuous.

1. What / Mr. Goth /read?            What is Mr. Goth reading? He’s reading the newspaper.

2. What / Faun /do?

3. What / Faun /wear?

4. What / Flora /do?

5. What / Mrs. Goth /watch?

6. What / Blurt the dog / do?

7. What / Yin and Yang /do?

8. Where / Mr Goth / sit?

ANSWER KEY:

2. What is Faun doing? He is playing with his train.

3. What is Faun wearing? He is wearing a pair of jeans and a shirt.

4. What is Flora doing? Flora is playing with a ball.

5. What is Mrs. Goth watching? She is watching the news on the TV.

6. What is Blurt the dog doing? Blurt the dog is sleeping.

7. What is Yin and Yang doing? They are fishing.

8. Where is Mr Goth sitting? Mr Goth is sitting on the sofa.

What about YOUR family? What are they doing?


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GRAMMAR: Frequency Adverbs (A1/A2)

Go through the notes and do the activity below.



Frequency Adverbs

Now put the words in the correct order to make sentences.

1. go I never shopping.
2. hardly come ever to they class.
3. the she doctor goes rarely to.
4. English always he is he tells people.
5. work we never are late for.
6. on cat the always the sleeps bed me with.
7. books you do always your carry?
8. talking does never he stop?
9. often I school drive to.
10.you are they meet happy always to.



ANSWER KEY:
1. I never go shopping.
2. They hardly ever come to class.
3. She rarely goes to the doctor.
4. He always tells people he is English.
5. We are never late for work.
6. The cat always sleeps on the bed with me.
7. Do you always carry your books?
8. Does he never stop talking?
9. I often drive to school.
10. They are always happy to meet you.


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GRAMMAR: Present simple for daily routines (A1/A2)

Let's start the school year by making sure we all know how to speak about our daily routines. For this, we need to use the present simple. 
Read the notes, watch the videos from British Council:Learn English and do the activity below.

Present Simple

How to make questions in the present simple.

Word Order in Questions


Now to practise a little bit, re-order the words to make correct questions:

1. you / at / what / weekends / do / the / usually / do ?

2. from / are / family / where / your ?

3. in / you / house / a / live / do / a / or / in / flat ?

4.  to / prefer / what / tea / you / coffee / do / drink / or ? 

5. do / music / like / to / what / listening / kind / you / of ?

6. instrument / do / play / musical / you / a ?

7. have / children / many / got / how / you ?

8. TV / what / you / watch / programmes / do ?



ANSWERS:
1. What do you usually do at the weekends?
2. Where are your family from?
3. Do you live in a house or in a flat?
4. What do you prefer to drink tea or coffee?
5. What kind of music do you like listening to?
6. Do you play a musical instrument?
7. How many children have you got?
8. What TV programmes do you watch?

Now make correct sentences using the present simple.

1. Tom / start / work at 8 am.
2. We / go / to school by bus.
3. My grandparents / live / next door.
4. Sheila / not like / animals.
5. They / be / in your class?
6. You / eat / meat?
7. Where / Mary / play tennis?
8. They / not have / children.
9. His sister / study / with my daughter.
10. I / not like / chocolate.



ANSWER KEY:
1. Tom starts work at 8am.
2. We go to school by bus.
3. My grandparents live next door.
4. Sheila doesn't like animals.
5. Are they in your class?
6. Do you eat meat?
7. Where does Mary play tennis?
8. They don't have children.
9. His sister studies with my daughter.
10. I don't like chocolate.


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Developing listening

Hi everyone,


I thought it is necessary to speak about listening. 

Listening is usually the most difficult skill to master by foreign students. When you speak to native speakers, you don't usually have difficulties talking but the problem arises when they reply, you don't understand... 

You put on the TV to watch an American film or TV series and you don't understand. 

But how come I can speak quite fluently but I am not able to understand a single word I hear??? This is what you normally ask yourselves.

Well, the answer is very simple you don't listen enough. It's hard to accept but it's the truth, in order to be able to understand native speakers you need to practise much much more your listening.

I'll give a clear example. My 2 year-old daughter is starting to speak now, she can put together two or three words now and she can transmit very simple messages related with her needs and priorities. She's now starting to speak, however, she's been able to understand us for more than a year. She does not understand everything completely, but I dare say she understands 80 % of what we say. And when she does not understand she doesn't care, she repeats what we say and laugh and probably next time she will understand what we say.

Why am I talking about my little girl now?? 

She's also learning a language and so are you. In my opinion we should all learn from her if we want to master a foreign language. Babies start listening to the language the will learn before they are able to utter a single word, they listen and listen for around a year and a half before they actually start saying their first words. Then, they start repeating the same words over and over again. They don't miss a chance to show off and let everybody know the new words they have learnt, when they don't understand something, they don't get frustrated or demotivated, instead they repeat what they hear without even understanding what they are saying but they are confident they will pick up the new words and one day will understand them.

So what is the lesson here:

1. Start listening more (and more and more).

2. Don't be demotivated if there are things you don't understand.

3. Learn to live happily with that level of "not knowing and not understanding".

4. Practise the new vocabulary, if you learn it you will be then able to recognise it.

5. Practise pronunciation, if you know how words are pronounced, it will be easier for you to recognise them.

6. Practise your speaking, the more you'll speak the more you'll listen.

7. Enjoy your learning experience because it can be lots of fun!!


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verb "to be" (A1)

TO BE






Complete the sentenes with the correct form of the verb "to be".

1. Where __________ you from?
2. I __________  Spanish.
3. How old __________  your daughter?
4. My children __________  at school now.
5. You friends __________  very nice.
6. __________ you all English?
7. She __________  very tired so she wants to go home.
8. What __________ that noise?
9. It __________ the dog playing with the ball.
10. __________ this all yours?




ANSWER KEY:
1. are
2. am
3. is
4. are
5. are
6. are
7. is
8. is
9. is
10. is



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