What are your first impressions of the man above, Mr Bob Dylan. What do you think of first – his appearance or his personality ? Probably the way he looks.
First impressions count
Today we’re having an advanced class using new words and expressions to describe both the physical and personality attributes of famous musicians.
So, as a warm up, how would you describe Mr Bob Dylan ?
Start with his looks, which are more factual, though subjective (i.e. to some young people, he will look ancient, while to older people, he may look distinguished and wise).
Then, tell me what you think he is like. You probably don’t know Mr Dylan, personally, so you can’t say, “He is incredibly friendly,” or, “He is extremely stand-offish.”
Therefore, you must employ opinion phrases:
He seems to be …
In my opinion …
I don’t know him personally, but I would say he is …
However, would it surprise you to know that Mr Dylan won the Noble Prize for Literature in 2016, and that his music has been unbelievably influential all over the world ?
Mr Bob Dylan receiving an award from President Obama
Your Turn:
I will show you some photos of rock stars, and you will practice sentence building. tell me what they look like, and what you think they are like as people. Can you explain why ? Finally, to practice complex sentence, I will give you basic information, and you have to incorporate these facts into long sentences using discourse markers and relative pronouns.
normal-looking // weird- looking // looks more dead than alive // bags under eyes
How would you describe these rock stars ?
David Bowie 1947 – 2016Keith Richards of The Rolling Stones born 1943Jerry Garcia of The Grateful Dead 1942 – 1995Robert Johnson, legendary Blues man 1911 – 1938Dolly Parton born 1946Johnny Rotten (John Lydon) born 1956
Johnny Rotten, Real name John Lydon. Born 1956. Was in the Sex Pistols from 1975 – 1978. Formed band PIL. Changed name back to Lydon. Married Nora Forster in 1979. He was going to be on the Pan Am flight that crashed in Lockerbie, Scotland. He wrote a book, published in 2008.
John Lydon, who performed under the name Johnny Rotten while he was in the Sex Pistols from 1975 – 1978, is married to Nora Forster, and has been married since 1979. After leaving the Sex Pitols, he formed a new band, PIL, and had a book published in 2008. He escaped certain death by missing his flight on the doomed Pan Am flight that exploded over Lockerbie in Scotland.
Look at how much information I pack into the first, complex sentence:
Name – John Lydon
Stage name – Johnny Rotten
Band name – Sex Pistols
Time of band – 1975 – 1979
Marital status – married
Wife’s name – Nora Forster
How long married – since 1979
Now – how does he look ? Friendly ? Sweet and quiet ? What do you think ?
Make complex sentences:
David Bowie born 1947 and died 2016. Born in Brixton, south London. First big record was ‘Space Oddity’ in 1969. Record was in the Top 5. ‘Ziggy Stardust’ was released in 1972. It was incredibly influential. Many musicians say it is one of their favourite records. In 1976 he was in a film called ‘The Man Who Fell To Earth.’ In 1977 he moved to Berlin, Germany and made two important records, ‘Low’ and ‘Heroes.’ He was married to the super model Iman. She is Somali-American. Bowie made records up until his death in 2016. He died of Cancer.
Choose a musician; what do you think they are like ?
Which one would you like to meet, and why ?
Which one makes music you would like to hear ?
If these musicians are too old for you, tell the class about your favourite modern musician. Is it …
I usually start a class with a review or warm up exercise, so here’s a selection of short activities.
Subject:
Adverbs (frequency & probability)
For / since / ago / already
Past Perfect & Past Perfect Continuous
Phrasal verbs
Re-writing sentences
Quick-fire corrections
Verbs into nouns
Vocabulary booster
Adverbs
Notice how a native speaker will alter the sound of the adverb, from a high ‘always’ to a deep ‘never’.
Encourage the construction of sentences with this exercise
always
usually / often
sometimes
rarely
never
Subject + adverb + verb + object …. when ?
I always drink coffee … in the morning
I usually read books … after work
I sometimes go swimming … in the afternoon
I rarely study Vietnamese … ever
I never play music … late at night (OK, maybe sometimes)
NOW … Your turn
Have students work in pairs, making their own sentences. Weaker students can copy the examples, but stronger ones are expected to introduce different vocabulary.
Listen out for the final -s sound, notably in sometimes
Similarly, introduce adverbs of probability
definitely
probably
possibly
unlikely
definitely not !
It will definitely rain soon
He will probably be late tonight
I will possibly go shopping after class
It’s unlikely that he will play for Barcelona, ever OR He is unlikely to play for Barcelona, ever.
I will never go back to that terrible restaurant.
Past perfect simple
Past <____X________X__________Present_________>Future
Something happened before another action BOTH in the past
Sub + had + past participle : I had seen the film before I read the book
She had finished the test before I was even half way through it !
Had you visited the museum before Jane arrived ?
BUT there is a time gap
past perfect continuous
something was happening when another thing started
Sub + had + been + verbing // I had been playing games when he called
I was playing games AND THEN the phone rang.
You had been laughing until she stopped you.
Had you been waiting long when she emailed you ?
NOW … Your turn
Write sentences using the past perfect continuous for these photos:
Man on Skype … then his daughter walks in
Just looking at the church … then a bird attacked
for / since / ago / already
I have lived in HCM … 4 years // She has been here … 2014
We came here 7 hours … // They have … seen the film
Students – make four sentences, using the four words
Quick fire corrections
Maths is / are very exciting and beautiful. History is / are fascinating
There is not many / much space in my car. Mr James has much / many fb friends
Can you buy a few / some milk and a few / some oranges ?
Rewriting sentences
Tony started in 2010. will By 2025, Tony will have been working here for 15 years.
Pam went to Japan and is returning in June. the It’s the second time that Pam’s been to Japan
The Beach Boys exemplified the American dream of fun, fun, fun !
You are going to the USA. How will you prepare ?
Before you go
What do you need to do ? Use the following words to build long sentences with linking words (also, as well as) and adverbs (extremely, absolutely, quite):
Meeting the locals is part of the travel experience
[A ‘gap – year’ is when young people travel before, or during, their university studies. It creates a gap – a space – between school and university or between the three or four years of study.]
Make a short presentation – what do you think of the items ?
Which do you consider to be:
essential / useful / unnecessary / a waste of space ! / totally useless
You are allowed to choose five items – which would you choose and why ?
GRAMMAR
‘Have to’ and ‘must’
When packing, which items do you HAVE TO bring ? Which items MUST you bring ?
Remember: have to = requirement // must = personal choice
EXAMPLE: to travel, I have to bring my passport and I must buy some shampoo.
Travelling to USA
Make a list. Be sure to include paperwork, important personal items and non-essential personal items.
These Business English blogs are aimed at upper-intermediate level students, and will include everyday phrases, expressions and idioms relating to various aspects of conducting business and workplace conversations.
Note down any phrasal verbs or expressions that you don’t know. A great way to improve your English is to add such language elements to your everyday speech, rather than just using text-book, standard English.
Business meetings
One viewabout how to plan a meeting:
Are all meetings cost-effective ? As the seconds tick away, you’ll start to appreciate what a terrible waste of time – and money– most meetings are.
So what can you do?
Firstly, make sure everyone arrives on time. No excuses. If five people at a meeting are sitting around waiting for a sixth person to turn up, just think how much money you are throwing away.
Secondly, get most of the work done before the meeting: send round detailed agendas, telling them what they need to do to prepare for the meeting. That means the meeting itself can focus on problem-solving and decision-making rather than wasting time explaining.
Thirdly, stick to the agenda. Don’t let anyone hijack the meeting by chatting about something irrelevant. Don’t let them take over yours.
Fourthly, set a time limit and stick to it. There’s nothing worse than a meeting that goes round and round in circles with no decisions ever being finalised. A time limit can be a great way to focus everyone’s minds on the purpose of the meeting and the need to achieve something concrete … and then to go back to work and start implementing the decisions.
Of course small talk has its place, but that place is not a meeting.
This is one point of view – do you agree with it ?
To what extent does small talk have a place in meetings ?
Talk about your experiences. Does it vary from person to person and culture to culture ?
This is a contrary (opposite) opinion; how do you evaluate this viewpoint ?
If you’re serious about making your meetings more effective, you need to give the participants plenty of time to ask questions, take the conversation in new directions, say things which may or may not be relevant, and above all, get to know each other. Of course, you need to make sure things don’t get out of control, but that means finding a sensible balance between small talk and getting down to business.
A company which does not tolerate small talk may get things done more quickly, but that doesn’t mean it’ll do things the best way, making full use of the skills and ideas of its employees … and it may well find that it loses its best employees and its customers just as quickly.
Which view do you agree with, and can you explain your reasons. Alternately, you may wish to select elements from both examples and make your own plan.
Asking about current projects:
Complete using present continuous (verb + ing)
What ___ you ___ ( work) on at the moment ? // What are you working on at the moment ?
How ___ it ___ (go) with your new assistant ?
___ you ___ (make) any progress with your big project ?
Asking about recent events: (use past tense)
How ___ your presentation ___ (go) last week?
How ___ (be) your business trip ? When ___ you ___ (get) back?
Asking about news: (uses past perfect)
___ you ___ (hear) back from that potential big customer yet?
What ___ you ___ (be) up to in your department?
Asking about plans and predictions : future tense
When do you think they ___ finally ___ (sign) the contract?
___ you ___ (go) to the conference this weekend?
Now match the questions with some answers from below. Try to practise with a friend or colleague
a) A little, but it’s very slow. We’re still tied up with the financing side of things, so it doesn’t feel like we’re getting anywhere.
b) Absolutely! I’m giving a presentation! I’m really nervous about it, actually.
c) Ah, nothing, really. Nothing ever changes! Busy as usual.
d) It was useful, but really exhausting. I just got back on Tuesday, so I’m still trying to get back on top of my inbox. But I’m glad I went. I made a few potentially useful contacts.
e) Next week, hopefully, but they’re still not happy with our service charges, so it might still all fall through.
f) Not bad, actually. He’s on a steep learning curve, but he’s trying hard, and he’s got a lot of potential.
g) Really well. We had a good turn-out, and some people said nice things about it. Whether anyone actually buys the product as a result is another question!
h) We’re about to start working on the new marketing plan. It’s not due to be launched for another two months, but it takes a really long time to get ready.
i) We’ve been really busy preparing for next week’s quality inspection. We’re nearly ready, but there are still a few big jobs to finish.
j) Yes, they emailed us this morning with an order for 500 units, so it looks like it’s all going ahead. Very exciting.
Lastly, the final point on our agenda – what do you think of this list ?
It indicates what British people say and what they REALLY mean.
Thay Paul's Notes 