Lesson 1 05/10/09 author : Mercedes
1. PREPOSITIONS IN/ON/AT
We looked at the use of in/on/at as preposition of place, we revised their basic meanings:
IN: It's used for an enclosed space.
ON: It's used for a surface.
Both of them just explain the position
AT: It's used for a point, a specific place, and usually suggests you're there for a specific purpose.
Some examples:
IN: in the class / in the park / in the world
ON: on the table / on the sofa / on the beach
AT: at the mirror / at the board / at the school
We compared IN and ON:
in the dunes (in the middle) / on the dunes (on top)
in bed (under the covers) / on the bed (on top of the covers)
in the street ( when we think of the street as surrounding us or the object ) / on the street (we think of the street as a surface, when we're walking on it)
We also compared IN and AT:
in the school (describes the position of a person or object, “Where's John? He's in the school somewhere, but I'm not sure where”) / at the school “Where are the kids? They're at school” (because they have to study)
And ON and AT:
on the table / at the table (people are sitting next to the table, not on top of it).
With TRANSPORT we usually say on the bus / on the train/ on the plane / on the ship / on foot / but in the car / in a taxi / in a boat
Then in pairs we wrote the list of places where we spent time last weekend, some examples: at my mother's / at home / in the restaurant / on a stage, …
I've added some common expression:
in the newspaper / in the book / in a queue / in a picture / in a photo
on television / on the radio / on a page / on a map / on a menu
at the doctor's / at a party / at the side
2. NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC VIDEO: Kolkata's Rickshaws.
After the break, we saw a video about the rickshaw pullers of Calcutta and we talked about their hard lives.
We learnt some new words:
Rickshaw: A small vehicle with two wheels used in some Asian countries to carry passengers. It is pulled by somebody walking.
Man-powered transport: A vehicle propelled by human muscular effort.
Cardboard: A material similar to thick paper used for making boxes.
Pavement: A part at the side of a road for people to walk on (sidewalk – USA).
Tyre: A thick rubber ring or band on the circumference of the wheel of a vehicle.
Naked: Not wearing any clothes.
To flood: If a place floods or something floods it, it becomes filled or covered with water.
Monsoon: A period of heavy rain in summer in Southern Asia.
Lesson 2 12/10/09 author : Julieta
BECAUSE VS BECAUSE OF:
I was really glad when it rained because i really wanted to just stay at home and do nothing.( The reason why we did or felt something)
Because of the rain, I stayed at home and did nothing (introducing a situation; because plus noun).
VOCABULARY:
Adjectives:
Fun (divertido, entretenido, divertirse) or funny(gracioso, cómico)
Tiring
Boring
Weak (débil, endeble)
Painful
Busy
Depressing
Nice
Interesting
Cheerful (alegre)
Lovely
Stressed(estresado)
Rushed(precipitado) feel rushed (sentirse estresado)
Hassled (lío, rollo)
Hurried (apresurado)
Rest:
Online/ offline
Downtime (noun)(inactivo)
Unplugged (adj)(desenchufado)
Deliver/ hand out/ distribute (repartir)
Record/ film (videocamera)
Hang on (esperar, agarrarse)
Hold on (wait!!!, conversation on phone)
Skyscraper (huge buildings in new york for example)
Protestants
Job fair
Sideburns (patillas)
Mackarel (caballa)
PRONUNCIATION:
Cough (cof)
Laugh (laff)
Sore Throat ( can anyone help me with this pronunciation??) I noted in my workbook but...I didn´t understand later) [sore is like four - throat is like note, or boat - Ceri]
Skyscraper (skaiscreiper)
Lesson 3 19/10/09 author : Fernando
First we've talked about Manga conventions when Juliet showed us two pictures that were taken in two different years, in one of them she was dressed up as Princess Amidala and in the second one she wasn't dressed up. Mercedes told us that her son dressed up as Darth Vader in the Manga convention of this year.
In the second part of the class we talked about the iPhone and its useful applications for blind people. We read a text about two of these applications which are very useful for the day-to-day life of blind people. One of them was being able to write a text with the sound of the voice, when you receive a message the iPhone alerts you, and when you swipe your finger over the mobile screen, the mobile reads the message. The second application identifies colors using the phone´s camera, and speaks the names of colours, very surreal names like "horizon" or "outer space".
In this text we found some new vocabulary:
-Pull out: sacar
-To swipe: pasar (algo por...)
-In blurs: borroso
-Light sources: fuentes de luz
-Color cues: refernecias de color
-To roam: vagar
-Yard: a little garden: jardin
-My mind felt blown: (You say that when you suddenly feel some amazing new experience, don't you? Ceri - yes, that's right)
-To enhance: to improve: mejorar
-Shed: a little house in the garden: cobertizo
Then we talked about the noums and the verbs related to the senses:
Noums: taste, sight, hearing, smell, touch
Verbs: taste, see, look, watch, hear, listen, smell, touch, feel
And which of these verbs are related to conscious actions or are part of nature.
Conscious: listen, watch, look, touch
Part of the nature: see, hear
Or both: feel, smell, taste
Verbs for describing a thing, for example: That (smells, feels, tastes, sounds,looks) good!
We use the verb "watch" when we are seeing a thing with attention (TV, movie, a football match of some friends, etc)
When do we use the verbs "look" and "see"? [Ceri - see is to be able to perceive somehitng with your eyes, the natural, innate ability, look is a conscious decision]
Lesson 4 27/10/09 author : Montse
1) For a start we have learnt two common phrases:
- third time lucky
- finger crossed
2) The topic of the lesson was colours:
Ceri showed us some photos and wetalked about the main colours in them:
Blue / Green / Yellow
shades of blue: bluey green, blueish, turquoise, sea blue
shades of green: greeny blue, greenish
Yellow: desert landscape, banana, chick, sunflower, bin
3) What does the colour red remind us of?
Red reminds us of: Red eyes (photos), phone box, double-decker bus, danger / warning sings, tomato, water-melon, strawberry, poppy, demon / devil, blood, heart, clown’s nose
Vocabulary:
Armchair surfer
Buoy
Photographer / Photograph (photo)
Boogie / body boarding
Recycling / wheelie / litter bin
Container
Skip
Crop (e.g. of sunflower)
Field (e.g. of sunflower)
Remembrance poppy
4) We also looked on the screen at a picture of several images with different shades of red and orange (Ceri will send it to us)
We had to guess the image chosen by the other group. To explain we used:
- I think / guess / suggest
- It could / might be
- Is it possible…..?
- Perhaps
- Maybe
Vocabulary:
Taken from the top
Cog
Corrector
Roadwork
Handset (phone)
Maze
5) We’ve learnt how to write on the interactive board (by the way….so difficult). Each of us wrote a short sentence on it.
- Be water my friend
- Don’t worry, be happy
- Be or not to be
- That’s all folks
- Be yourself, no matter what they say
Vocabulary:
To make you feel better / to lift you up / to keep you going / to cheer someone up (cheer up)
A line of Hamlet
Line
Role
I sing so badly
5) What does this photo make you feel? A photo of the sand (We can see it on her blog).
The name of her blog is Close Up (a picture for example, taken from a very short distance)
We have referred to the sense verbs that we learnt in the last lesson:
Smell: seafood, fishy, seaweed
Hearing: bingo, children playing, waves, wind
Sight: brownish, yellowish, golden / white / dark / black sand
Taste: salty, unpleasant, crunchy
Touch: coarse / fine sand
Vocabulary:
Fishy
Seaweed
Coarse
Unpleasant
Crunchy
