Thursday, April 17, 2014

Hello everyone!

Thanks to those of you who completed the tasks I assigned for Tuesday. I have corrected and commented on all of the new updates in your learner diaries. Please look at them together and let me know if you have any questions regarding my corrections.

Here in New York it was Spring two days ago and last night it SNOWED! This is the view from our apartment this morning. I hope it's not so cold in Padova. We were planning excursions for this weekend and I took Monday and Tuesday as vacation days (here in the US religious holidays, except for Christmas, are not national holidays), but if it's this cold I don't know what we'll do! 
Anyway, back to us. I won't be online during class time tomorrow or next Tuesday, but I certainly will be for our final lesson next Thursday. So below you'll see the tasks for this Thursday's lesson. In the meantime, I can't but wish you all a very happy, relaxing long weekend filled with friends, family and food (the 3 F's in English ;-) even if, of course, the last one is better in Italy!)

Remember that before any of the links below work, you must first be logged in to Learning Links.

Group 1: Let's compare
During class, or on your own time if you don't go to class, complete the following exercises in the order below.
Learning Links, A2, Module 7, "It's more laid-back here"
Grammar Reference for Basic Comparatives
Comparison Exercises 1
Comparison Exercises 2
Comparison Exercises 3
Grammar Workshop: Comparing places
Learning Links, B1, Module 1, "Things are slower than here"
Grammar Reference for Advanced Comparatives

Homework: Compare Padova and New York City. Use, for example, Wikipedia (Padova, New York). Write a paragraph (at least 5 sentences) in your learner diary comparing the two cities. Remember that both have their merits!

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Group 2: Love your auxiliary verb
Possibly one of the main indicators of proficiency in English is how well you use the auxiliary verb. We use it for:

• questions
• negatives
• short answers (Yes, I do.)
• question tags (You're Italian, aren't you?)
• showing interest (A: I went to India. B: Did you?)

Basically, the auxiliary verb needs to be your friend ;-) Work on these tasks in Learning Links. 

Learning Links, B1, Module 2, "Really?"

Learning Links, B1, Module 2, "Your mum's nice, isn't she?"

Homework: 

Copy the following statements into your learner diary and respond with interest using an auxiliary verb.

e.g. "The public transportation in New York is great!" - "Is it?"

"It snowed in New York." "..."

"There are more than 10 million people in New York." "..."

"The average person in New York speaks more than 1 language." "..."

"Housing in New York is so expensive." "..."

"Many people in New York have never been outside the US." "..."

There are several things you know about me that are in the following statements. Copy the statements into your learner diary and make statements with a question tag based on what you know about me - and remember to use the auxiliary verb as in the example.

e.g. (You know I'm American.) You're American, aren't you?

(You know I have been to India.) "..."

(You know I have two children.) "..."

(You know I came to Padova in 1996.) "..."

(You know I love Italian food.) "..."

(You know I am coming back to Padova in June.) "..."