Tuesday Recap

Guest post by our classmate Angel Quesada - Thanks Angel - Liam.

Hello guys,

This Tuesday we started the class talking about words that English has adopted or modified from another language, which was really interesting to know about.

While many words enter English as slang, not all do. Some words are adopted from other languages; some are mixtures of existing words, and some are new made of roots from dead languages.

For Example:

• Husband: The term husband refers to Middle English huseband, from Old English hūsbōnda, from Old Norse hūsbōndi (hūs, "house" + bōndi, būandi, present participle of būa, "to dwell", so, etymologically, "a householder").
  

• Alarm: From Old French alarme (14c.), from Italian all'arme "to arms!" (Literally "to the arms"). An interjection that came to be used as the word for the call or warning.

• Jean: From Middle French jean fustian "fustian (a type of twilled cotton cloth) of Genoa," the city in Italy, from Old French Jannes "Genoa," from Latin Genua.

• Genuine: From Latin genu "knee," from a supposed ancient custom of a father acknowledging paternity of a newborn by placing it on his knee.

• Orange: From Old French orange, orenge, from Medieval Latin pomum de orenge, from Italian arancia, originally narancia (Venetian naranza), alteration of Arabic naranj, from Persian narang, from Sanskrit naranga-s.

• Tennis: Most likely from Anglo-French tenetz "hold! receive! take!," from Old French tenez, imperative of tenir "to hold, receive, take" (see tenet), which was used as a call from the server to his opponent. 

In addition, we talked about Compound words with Prefixes and through the union of two words. Also English words that have certain patterns of stress which you should observe strictly if you want to be understood. 

Here are some examples for compound words (Blend):

• camcorder (camera + recorder)
• chexting (cheating + texting)
• clash (clap + crash)
• cosmeceutical (cosmetic + pharmaceutical)
• docudrama (documentary + drama)
• electrocute (electricity + execute)
• emoticon (emote + icon)

By the way, the definition for blend is:

A word formed by merging the sounds and meanings of two or more other words or word parts.

The best way to learn English stress is to listen to audio materials and to repeat them after the speaker. Generally, common English nouns, adjectives, and adverbs are more often stressed on the first syllable than on any other syllable. Verbs with prefixes are usually stressed on the second syllable. English words can't have two unstressed syllables at the beginning of the word; one of these syllables will be stressed. 

If a word has four or more syllables, there are usually two stresses in it: primary stress (strong stress) and secondary stress (weak stress). Also, secondary stress may be present (in addition to primary stress) in shorter words in the syllable in which the vowel remains long and strong.

To finish the class, Liam surprised us with a game where we had to write a verb, a thing and a well-known person, we formed 4 groups and then we tried to guess what was written on each piece of paper. It was really funny because some of the words were really rare. It was a good game to practice our English listening and speaking. 

Finally I recommend this website in order to practice your English, it's a really good one.

http://www.ego4u.com/

Monday Recap

Guest post by our classmate Ilchmaa Erdene - Thanks Ilchmaa - Liam.

Hello guys,

This Monday, we started the class with 5 riddles on the board :

A place where young children go to school – (Kindergarten)

A person who cooks food professionally – (a chef)

A nap which people take during the day in hot countries - (siesta)

A food which is commonly eaten in Italy – (pasta)

A type of entertainment where people sing popular songs – (karaoke)

These sentences introduced today's lesson which talked about the relative pronouns,         ''who, whose, whom, which, what, that ''.

We also learned some foreign words used in the English language such as muesli (german) shampoo (hindi), igloo (inuit), algebra (arabic), robot (czech), macho (spanish), tycoon (japanese), graffiti (italian) and yogurt (turkish).

There are two ways to use relative pronouns : Non Defining Relative Clause (N.D.R.C) and Defining Relative Clause (D.R.C). You can find below a resume of relative clauses with some examples that we saw in class.

Non-Defining Relative Clause - N.D.R.C:

NDRC's give extra or non essential information. They use commas before and after. DON'T use ''that'' for NDRC.

E.g I had a cake for dessert, which was a great idea. In this case, ''which'' is used to give a comment or opinion on the previous phrase and not to define.

Defining Relative Clause – D.R.C : 

D.R.C's give essential information about a subject.

• WHO is used to define a person.
  The woman who lives next door is a drug addict. We can use ''that'' instead of ''who'' and ''which''.
• WHOSE means 'of who' or 'of which'.
  There's my neighbour whose wife was arrested for shoplifting.
• WHOM is used after a preposition.
  That's the man to whom I was speaking earlier. We can also say 'That's the man who I was speaking to earlier'.
• WHAT is used to mean 'the thing' or 'things'
  What I like best about my teacher is his good looks, immense intelligence and astounding sense of humour.
  She told me what she had seen.

D.R.Cs can define the object. E.g. James is the man who I met at the party. When a D.R.C describes an object, we can remove the relative pronoun. E.g That's the shop (which) I told you about.

When do we use Where or Which ? 

There's a little difference between D.R.C where and which.

E.g There's the hotel where I stayed

There's the hotel which I stayed in

We DON'T SAY There's the hotel where I stayed in.

That's the building where I live

That's the building which I lived in

That's the building in which I lived (formal english)

So we have 3 possibilities to write the same sentences in different ways, more formal or less formal.

Another example with 'whom' and 3 ways to write the same sentence.

1. The police officer to whom I spoke was working on the reception desk

2. The police officer who I spoke to was working on the reception desk.
3. The police officer I spoke to was working on the reception desk

Phrase N°1 with ''to whom'' is formal English, you need to know how to use it if you want to take a Cambridge exam. The phrases N° 2 and 3 are informal and spoken English.

We learned that the Prime Minister in Ireland is called ''An Taoiseach' and that he says Ireland is the best country to do business in. But English teachers wish he would say Ireland is the best country in which to do business.

We also did many exercices to put it all in our mind. This is very important to know the relative pronouns because people use them very often and we should use them more often. For example, we should say 'The movie I saw yesterday was amazing' instead of 'I saw this movie, it was amazing'.

That's it, see you tomorrow.

Ilchmaa

Me, You and Your Mistakes

Mistakes and errors. Errors and mistakes. Why do we say "She have" when we know it's "She has"? Why do we confuse the order of words, "Usually, I don't go out on Fridays" instead of "I don't usually go out on Fridays"? Why do we make mistakes and what can we do about them? That's a question that I have to ask myself every day as I try to help you improve your skills in English. It's a tough thing to do, because we need to find a balance between making sure you're speaking or writing correctly, but also making sure you feel confident and comfortable in the language. To that end, I want to share with you some of the techniques, and the research behind them, that I use in the class to help you. 

The first thing to decide is if someone has made a mistake or an error. But they're synonyms, you might say, there's no difference between them. Well, for us English teachers they are very different things. A mistake, for us, is when you know the correct form but for some reason you don't produce it properly on isolated occasions - we'll talk about those reasons a little later. An error is when you don't know the correct form, or you haven't learned it yet - these normally cause communication problems. Let's look at the two types individually after the jump.

Thursday recap

Guest post by our classmate Sendai Zea - Thanks Sendai - Liam.

Hello guys!

This Thursday we started the class talking about advertisements. It was a good opportunity to talk about fraudulent advertisements.

In addition, the grammatical skill that we improved was linkers to express “contrast” or “purpose”. They’re so useful for writing papers, expressing our own opinion and having a fluent conversation. Personally, I think that most of them are well-known, but frequently we don’t remember to use them in our day-to-day English. 

In fact, we revised the following:

TO EXPRESS CONTRAST:

According to the structure that they follow, we can divide in two groups:

Even though

Although             + Clause 1 (Subject + verb + object) + Clause 2 (Subj.+verb+ obj)

Though

Liam wrote for us a few examples:

Although I was feeling sick, I went to work.

I went to work although I was feeling sick.

I bought a ticket for the concert even though I didn’t have much money.

Linkers are useful though they’re difficult to use.

ATTENTION:  Though is commonly used for speaking and it is used in the middle of a sentence. On the other hand, even though is more formal and is used in writing.

In spite of            + noun + -ing form

Despite                + “the fact that” + clause

e.g. In spite of his hangover, he went to the supermarket.

Despite being hungover, he went to the supermarket.

In spite of the fact that he had a hangover, he went to the supermarket.

ATTENTION:  NEVER write or say “despite of”. It’s important to remember that the linker “despite” is itself a preposition.

TO EXPRESS PURPOSE:

According to the structure that they follow, we can divide in:

In order to             

So as to               + Infinitive form

To

e.g I went to the shop in order to / to / so as to / buy some food.

I took the bus in order not to / so as not to be late.

For       + a noun

e.g. Let’s go for a coffee.

I have to study for a test.

ATTENTION: Only use “For” + -ing verb to describe the specific purpose of something.

e.g The chair is for sitting on.

The oven is for cooking food.

So that          + subject + modal verb (can / could / would) 

It’s important to realize that we can use “so that” when we want to refer to two subjects in the clauses. 

e.g I came to class so that I could learn something

I made a note so that you wouldn’t forget.

To finish the class, Liam surprised us with an IETLS model example. It reviewed our oral comprehension. It was really tricky and had new and unusual vocabulary, but it was a good exercise to improve our English listening. 

Liam recommended us that we only take that test if we really need it for academic purposes. Moreover, he recommended that we look for podcasts on http://www.theguardian.com/uk and http://www.npr.org/.

Last but not least I leave you with this website: http://speakspeak.com/resources/english-grammar-rules/various-grammar-rules/although-even-though where you can check these issues. 

Bye. Have a nice weekend.

Tuesday recap

Guest post by our classmate Edir Barreto - Thanks Edir - Liam.


Hello guys!

This Tuesday in class we talked about things that DID/DIDN'T happen in the PAST that I REGRET.

Let's see some examples:

- I wish I hadn't ordered that tequila
- I wish I'd never been born

Here you have the formula:

wish + past perfect ----> I wish I'd done my homework
{had + past participle}

We can also replace "I WISH" for "IF ONLY" that way we've two alternatives to express regret.

- If only I hadn't ordered that tequila
- If only I'd done my homework

After the writing practice, we did a listening exercise to check if we were able to write some sentences properly through what we could hear.

- I wish I hadn't eaten all the chocolates
- I wish you wouldn't drive so fast
- I wish it wasn't my turn to cook tonight
- I wish it would stop raining
- I wish we didn't have to go the party
- I wish I'd bought that jacket I saw yesterday.

That's it partners! Now we have a new tool to express regret easily!

Monday Recap

Guest post by our classmate Bruna Barboza - Thanks Bruna - Liam.

Hello guys! 

We started class today talking about "our pet hates". 

In fact, there are several ways to express ourselves when we say that something bothers us. 

Look at some examples:

It drives me mad when...

I hate it when...

It really annoys me when...

It really gets on my nerves when...

It drives me up the wall when... 

It wrecks my head when... (this last one is used in Ireland)

After discussing each topic with our partner, Liam told us about the rules of wish + would and wish + past simple. Check out:

(1) Wish + would >> Use to express a desire for someone else to change their behaviour. 

e.g. I wish the bus would come.

(2) Wish + past simple >> To talk about situations in the present/future that I would like to be different.

e.g. I wish I were taller.

Attention: You can't use would for a wish about yourself, e.g. NOT I wish I would. 

Page 145 of our beloved book has some exercises. It is relatively simple...

The second topic was about the three different ways to talk about feelings (using a verb or by using the -ed –and ing adjective).

e.g.

It really annoys me. (verb)

That noise is really annoying. (-ing adjectives describe the thing or person that produces a feeling)

I'm really annoyed about last night. (-ed adjectives describe how a person feels)

Check out the exercises on page 101. 

Last but not least, Liam gave us a list of adjectives to describe people's behaviour. As advice he told us to think of several adjectives to say the same thing, something that native English speakers often do.

e.g.

Q: How was the movie?

A: Oh, it was awesome. Brilliant. I really enjoyed it. 

Notice that we use three different words to say the same thing. 

See the list of adjectives and their synonyms:

Careless / Forgetful

Clumsy / Graceless

Pessimistic / Negative

Outgoing / Sociable

Reserved / Introverted

Serious / Moody / Grumpy

Boring / Dull

Creative / Inventive / Artistic

Organized / Tidy / Neat / Methodical

Selfish / Uncaring

Unpunctual / Unreliable

Funny / Hilarious

Optimistic / Positive

Mean / Cruel

Modest / Humble

Easygoing / Friendly

Arrogant / Cocky / Big-headed

Stubborn / Obstinate

Tight-fisted / Mean

Emotional / Sentimental 

Well, that's all folks... See you later!

Thursday Recap

Guest post by our classmate Omar Lamuño - Thanks Omar, Good Luck in whatever you do next, we'll miss you in the class - Liam.

Hello guys 

Last Thursday was an important day for me because it was my last English class in ECM College. I started my English course with Liam in pre-intermediate and I finished with him in upper intermediate. The time fly!  Another cycle is about to begin. It was a great English trip. So for me it's a pleasure to write this review.

We talked about “services” and what kind of verbs we can use according to this places list:

• Bank: You can say, “PUT money IN or TAKE money OUT” Also you can use: Deposit/ Lodge or withdraw.
• Shopping Centre: GO shopping 
• Supermarket: DO the shopping “I need to DO the shopping”
• Restaurant: EAT and DRINK
• Hairdresser´s: HAVE / GET your hair CUT / DONE.

The objective of making this list was to understand and identify WHEN we should use HAVE SOMETHING DONE.  

We use have something done to mean another person does a SERVICE for us. 

Take a look at these two sentences. What is the DIFFERENCE in meaning between them?

“I cut my hair”

“I had my hair cut”

“I cut my hair” means that I do it myself. This expression is a common mistake when you really want to say, “I had my hair cut” this means: someone cuts my hair for me (in this case it´s probably a hairdresser) 

The grammar for this is pretty simple:

HAVE or GET + OBJECT+ PAST PARTICIPLE 

Now, we know the grammar structure, It's time to practice. The teacher gave us the next list:

• Dentist
• Garage
• Tailor
• Dry cleaner
• Barber
• Printer´s 
• Hospital
• Photographer 

We asked our partner if we needed to use one of these services and then implement "Something HAVE DONE" formulated questions and answers. In my case next week, "I'm going to the dentist to get my teeth cleaned"

In the second part of the class we had a lesson about QUANTIFIERS (all, very, most) It is very common to have problems with the use of quantifiers. Thus, by way of example, I mention here some cases. The examples below were conducted in class.

Use ALL (general) or ALL (of) The  (specific)+ a plural or uncountable nouns 

• All dogs go to the heaven.
• All fruit contains sugar.
• All smog is dangerous 
• All (of) the students are beautiful 
• All (of) the sand is white in the Bahamas 

 ALL can be used before most verbs, but after “be”

• The audience WERE ALL disappointed with the film.

Here's a common mistake 

1. What music do you like?
2. ALL (wrong) 

ALL kinds of music (right)

Use MOST to say the majority. MOST  (general) MOST OF (specific)

• Most people like electronic music  (general) 
• Most of the rhythms in tropical music are good for dancing. (Specific)

 Attention:  It is a common mistake to add (THE) at the beginning of the sentence.

ALL of / MOST of + object pronoun

• ALL of US are happy to be here.
• MOST of THEM were difficult.

We also talked about the correct use for NO, NONE, ANY

1.Use NO + a noun 

E.g. I have NO idea.

2. Use NONE in short answer for zero quantity.

E.g. How much tea do you want?  NONE. I don´t like it

3. NONE + of (noun object pronoun)

E.g. NONE of my friends are going to the party

4. Use ANY (and anything, anyone, etc.) and + Verb to mean it doesn´t matter when, who, etc.

E.g. what time is good today? ANY time (all times - It doesn´t matter what time)

And at the end of the class we checked some expressions with BOTH / NEITHER / EITHER

BOTH = Two positive ideas

E.g. Both John and Jim love chicken / John and Jim both like chocolate 

EITHER (options)

EITHER Sonia or Maria can go to the supermarket.

EITHER Japanese or Indian are ok for me.

EITHER black or white will be fine for me.

BOTH / NEITHER + of (object pronoun)

E.g. BOTH of US are very happy

E.g. NEITHER of THEM go to the party 

I hope this information has been useful. Once again thank you Liam for your classes, your advice and the funny English examples.

See you guys, 

Omar.