Subject Index: Grammar lessons, videos and exercises

4th December 2020

Grammar

Correct the grammar game // Level 1 // 23rd November 2021: https://thaypaulsnotes.com/2021/11/23/is-grammar-important/

Adjective absolute // Grammar // 6th January 2023: https://thaypaulsnotes.com/2023/01/06/absolutely-about-adjectives/

Adjectives // Daliiiiiiiiii ! // Young Learners 4 // 26th October 2019: https://thaypaulsnotes.com/2019/10/24/young-learners-level-4-daaaaaaaallliiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii/

Adjectives and sentence building // Young Learners, Level 6 // 15th October 2021: https://thaypaulsnotes.com/2021/10/15/young-learners-level-6-sensational-sentences-a-great-game/

Adjectives for Young Learners // Level 1 // Basics // 24th June 2022: https://thaypaulsnotes.com/2022/06/24/adjectives-for-young-learners-level-1/

Adjectives for Young Learners // Amazing Adjectives // 9th August 2021: https://thaypaulsnotes.com/2021/08/09/young-learners-amazing-adjectives/

Adjectives for Young Learners // 2nd August 2021: https://thaypaulsnotes.com/2021/08/02/young-learners-sentence-building-and-zoom-warm-up-games/

Adjectives – adding adjectives, adding interest // hair styles, clothes, new vocabulary // Adult Speaking Class, Level 1 // 14th October 2019: https://thaypaulsnotes.com/2019/10/14/adding-adjectives-increasing-interest/

Adjectives & Grammar Review // present continuous // 5th July 2022: https://thaypaulsnotes.com/2022/07/05/young-learners-level-6-adjectives-and-grammar-review/

Adjectives and their opposites // Young Learners, Level 3 // 14th October 2022: https://thaypaulsnotes.com/2022/10/14/young-learners-level-3-using-new-adjectives/

Adjectives: adding interest // (describing appearance) // Adult Class, Level 1 // 14th October 2019: https://thaypaulsnotes.com/2019/10/14/adding-adjectives-increasing-interest/

Adjectives: order // Adult Speaking Class, Level 2: Describing clothes // 19th March 2020: https://thaypaulsnotes.com/2020/03/19/adult-speaking-class-level-2-describing-clothes/

Adjectives: clothes and materials // Adult Speaking Class, L 2: Describing clothes // 19th March 2020: https://thaypaulsnotes.com/2020/03/19/adult-speaking-class-level-2-describing-clothes/

Adjectives: describing people // Adult Speaking Class, L 3: Describing people // 27th May 2020

Adjectives: personality // Adult Speaking Class, Level 2: What type of person ? // 19th June 2020

Adjectives: personality // Adult Speaking Class, Level 2: Extended exercises // 20th June 2020

Adjectives: personality // Adult Speaking Class, Level 3: // 21st June 2020

Adjectives // Adult Speaking Class, Level 3, Personality adjectives // 7th June 2020

Adjectives: people and hair // Adult Speaking Class, Level 1 // 14th October 2019: https://thaypaulsnotes.com/2019/10/14/adding-adjectives-increasing-interest/

Adverbs // Young Teens // 21st February 2019: https://thaypaulsnotes.com/2019/02/21/young-teens-deeply-madly-truly/

Adverbs & adjectives // Young Learners 4 // 16th November 2019: https://thaypaulsnotes.com/category/young-learners-level-4/

Adverbs of frequency & new adjectives // Young Learners 6 // Cadburys Gorilla // 8th April 2021: https://thaypaulsnotes.com/2021/04/08/young-learners-level-6-adjectives-and-adverbs-review/

Adverbs of degree // Adult Speaking Class, Level 3, Part 4 // 27th January 2020

Adverbs of frequency // Adult Speaking Class, Level 2, Quick review // 7th June 2020

Adverbs of frequency // Adult Speaking Class, Level 1, How often do you … ? // 16th August 2020: https://thaypaulsnotes.com/2020/08/16/adult-speaking-class-level-1-how-often-do-you/

Adverbs & expressions // Adult Speaking Class, Level 2: Adverbs // 26th June 2020: https://thaypaulsnotes.com/2020/06/26/adult-speaking-class-level-2-adverbs-and-expressions/

Adverb exercise // IELTS: use adverbs frequently // 3rd July 2020

Adverbs of manner // Young Learners, Level 4 // 28th February 2023: https://thaypaulsnotes.com/2023/02/28/young-learners-level-4-adverbs-of-manner/

Adverbs of manner exercises // Young Learners, Level 4 // 9th March 2023: https://thaypaulsnotes.com/2023/03/09/young-learners-level-4-using-adjectives-adverbs-and-your-imagination/

Adverbs of probability // Adult Speaking Class, Level 2 // Coffee Shop Chat // 11th June 2020: https://thaypaulsnotes.com/2020/06/11/adult-speaking-class-level-2-coffee-shop-chat/

Creative writing // Adult Speaking Class, Level 3: Storytelling part 2 // 30th March 2020

As … as // Adult Speaking Class, Level 3, Part 5 // 4th February 2020

Auxiliary (helping) verbs // Beginners’ English: Sentence Building // 16th March 2020

Auxiliary and infinite verbs // Teaching Notes // 9th March 2021:https://thaypaulsnotes.com/2021/03/09/students-hate-to-be-corrected-but-teachers-like-to-address-issues/

Can, could, be able to // Adult Class, Level 3 // 12th December 2019

Can, can’t, is, isn’t // Young Learners, Level 2: Senses working overtime // 3rd October 2020

Collocations // Adult Speaking Class, level 2: https://thaypaulsnotes.com/2020/01/18/adult-speaking-class-level-2-collocations/

Collocations // Adult Speaking Class, level 2: More collocations // 16th May 2020

Comparisons and superlatives // Young Learners, Level 5 // 19th October 2020: https://thaypaulsnotes.com/2020/10/19/young-learners-level-5-amazon-rain-forest-quiz-and-comparisons/

Comparisons and superlatives // Young Learners, Level 5 // 9th December 2020: https://thaypaulsnotes.com/2020/12/09/young-learners-level-5-superlatives-and-superheroes/

Comparisons // Young Learners, Level 5 // 24th August 2021: https://thaypaulsnotes.com/2021/08/24/young-learners-level-5-comparisons/

Contractions (video) // Beginners’ English, Part 2

Discourse Markers // IELTS // 18th February 2022: https://thaypaulsnotes.com/2022/02/18/ielts-discourse-markers/

Discourse Markers // IELTS 5-6.5 // 25th September 2019: https://thaypaulsnotes.com/2019/09/25/ielts-5-6-5-all-you-need-is-love-and-relative-pronouns/

Discourse Markers // IELTS // 7th January 2019: https://thaypaulsnotes.com/2019/01/06/ielts-4-5-speaking-class/

Discourse Markers // IELTS 5 – 6.5. Writing example // 15th March 2020: https://thaypaulsnotes.com/2020/03/15/ielts-5-6-5-writing-example/

First & second conditional // Adult Class, Level 3 // 22nd April 2019

Future plans Signs // Young Learners 4 // 22nd June 2019

Future plans // Young Learners 4 // 9th November 2019

Future plans // Adult Speaking Class, level 1: What will you do ? // 24th April 2020

Future tense // Adult C, L 3 // 6th November 2019

Have to or must ? // Adult Speaking Class, level 2 // 20th December 2019

Have to or must ? // Beginners’ English // 1st July 2020

Idioms // IELTS 5 – 6.5. Writing example // 15th March 2020

Idioms // Adult Speaking Class, level 2: In order to improve // 30th June 2020

IELTS

Pre-IELTS challenge: creative writing, plan a day, pronunciation // Adult Class L 3 // 30th May 2020

IELTS: Adverb exercise // use adverbs frequently // 3rd July 2020

IELTS: Mindset first day warm up // IELTS: Mindset // 23rd June 2020

IELTS: warm up games // https://thaypaulsnotes.com/2019/02/25/ielts-warm-up-games/

IELTS: vocabulary building // IELTS: Vocabulary activities // 24th April 2020

IELTS // idioms and vocabulary games // Preparing for speaking test // 15th May 20202

Modal verbs // Adult Speaking Class, Level 2 // 25th July 2020

Modal verbs // Adult Speaking Class, Level 2 // 25th January 2020: https://thaypaulsnotes.com/2020/01/25/adult-speaking-class-level-2-part-6-2/

‘ness’ or ‘ment’ ? // IELTS // 28th January 2019

Past continuous // Young Teens // 17th January 2019

Past continuous // Adult Class, Level 3 // 23rd September 2019

Past continuous exercises // Beginners’ English, Part 2 // 7th July 2020: https://thaypaulsnotes.com/2020/07/06/beginners-english-past-tense-exercises/

Past perfect // Adult Class, Level 3 // 23rd September 2019

Past simple // Adult Class, Level 3 // 23rd September 2019

Past simple & past continuous exercise // Adult Speaking Class, Level 1 // 15th August 2020

Past simple & past continuous exercise // Young Learners, Level 5 // 28th October 2020: https://thaypaulsnotes.com/2020/10/28/past-simple-and-past-continuous/

Past simple & past continuous exercise // Young Learners, Level 5 // 4th November 2020: https://thaypaulsnotes.com/2020/11/04/young-learners-level-5-what-were-you-doing-when/

Past Tense // Starting Past Tense // Young Learners, Level 4 // 4th May 2021: https://thaypaulsnotes.com/2021/05/04/young-learners-level-4-starting-the-past-tense/

Past Tense // Exercises, common verbs, pronunciation omnibus // 21st October 2020: https://thaypaulsnotes.com/2020/10/21/past-tense-various-exercises-2/

Past Tense: Get Back to basics // Beginners’ English // 9th November 2021: https://thaypaulsnotes.com/2021/11/09/get-back-we-spoke-in-the-past-tense/

Past tense // Beginners’ English // Beginners’ English Part 4 // 20th January 2020: https://thaypaulsnotes.com/2020/01/21/beginners-english-part-4/

Past tense exercise // Adult Speaking Class, L2 Part 2 //

Past tense exercises // Beginners’ English, Part 2 // 7th July 2020: https://thaypaulsnotes.com/2020/07/06/beginners-english-past-tense-exercises/

Past tense exercises // Teaching Notes // 12th July 2020

Past tense sentence building // Young Learners, Level 3 // 24th August 2022: https://thaypaulsnotes.com/2022/08/24/young-learners-level-3-sentence-building-using-the-past-tense/

Past tense pronunciation // Beginners’ English: The past is passed // 7th July 2020: https://thaypaulsnotes.com/2020/07/05/beginners-englishthe-passed-it-past-pronunciation-guide/

Past tense review // Young Learners Level 2 // 26th October 2022: https://thaypaulsnotes.com/2022/10/26/young-learners-level-2-basic-simple-past-exercises/

Past Tense and Tet vocabulary // Young Learners, Level 3 // 7th February 2023: https://thaypaulsnotes.com/2023/02/07/young-learners-levels-3-4-putting-words-into-practice/

Past tense & past continuous // Adult Speaking Class, Level 2: Grammar quiz // 27th June 2020

Past tense & past perfect/ // Adult Speaking Class, L 2: Grammar – perfect form // 25th May 2020

Phrasal verbs // Adult Speaking Class. Theme: Love & marriage Part 3

Phrasal verbs & collocations // Beginners’ English Part 4 // 20th January 2020: https://thaypaulsnotes.com/2020/01/21/beginners-english-part-4/

Phrasal verb exercises // Teaching Notes: Phrasal verbs // 16th June 2020

Possessives // Young Learners 3 // 7th September 2019

Present continuous (house plan) // Adult Speaking Class, Level 3, Part 4 // 27th January 2020

Present perfect exercises // 6th September 2020 // Beginners’ English // Adult Speaking Class Level 1: https://thaypaulsnotes.com/2020/09/06/present-perfect-exercises/

Present perfect exercises // Adult Speaking Class, Level 2 // 4th July 2020

Present perfect exercises // Beginners’ English

Present perfect // Adult Class, Level 3 // 23rd September 2019

Present perfect (have you ever ?) // Adult Class, Level 1 // 26th February 2019

Present perfect (for & since) // Adult Class, Level 3 // 21st November 2019

Present perfect review // Adult Class, Level 1 // 5th March 2019

Pronoun declension // I Me Mine // 3rd December 2021: https://thaypaulsnotes.com/2021/12/03/i-me-mine-pronoun-declensions/

Regular & irregular verbs // Beginners’ English Part 4 // 20th January 2020: https://thaypaulsnotes.com/2020/01/21/beginners-english-part-4/

Reflexive verbs // Adult Speaking Class, Level 2 Part 2

Relative clauses & relative pronouns // Adult Class, Level 3 // 5th November 2019: https://thaypaulsnotes.com/2019/11/05/adult-class-level-3-business-icons/

Relative pronouns // IELTS 5-6.5 // 25th September 2019:

Relative pronouns quiz // IELTS Review // vocabulary, discourse, sentence building // 25th June 2020

Relative pronouns // IELTS // 1st July 2020

Reported Speech // Adult C, L 3 // 8th October 2019

Reported Speech // Adult Speaking Class, Level 3, Part 5 // 4th February 2020

Review (irregular verbs, adverbs) // Adult Speaking Class, Level 2, Quick review // 7th June 2020

Sentence correction (basic) // Young Learners 4 // 15th November 2019: https://thaypaulsnotes.com/2019/11/15/young-learners-level-4-can-you-hear-me-major-tom-2/

Similes // Adult Speaking Class, Level 3, Part 5 // 4th February 2020

Speaking Grammar

Past Tense // Adult Speaking Class, Level 1 /// Adult C, L 3 // 23rd September 2019 /// Adult C, L 3 // 16th September 2019

Past-time expressions // Adult Speaking Class, Level 3, Part 6 // 8th February 2020

Third Conditional: Mr Bowditch // Adult Class, Level 3 // 22nd October 2019

Superlatives (Animals: longest, smallest) // Young Learners, Level 4 // 24th November 2020: https://thaypaulsnotes.com/2020/11/24/young-learners-level-4-longest-heaviest-shortest-lightest/

Tag questions // Adult Class, Level 3 // 15 August 2019: // 12 November 2019: https://thaypaulsnotes.com/2019/11/11/adult-class-level-3-is-was-the-butler-wasnt-it/

Third conditional compilation (various examples, lesson plans and exercises) // 18th July 2020 https://thaypaulsnotes.com/2020/07/18/third-conditional/

Third Conditional // Adult Class, Level 3 // 22nd October 2019

Third conditional // Adult Speaking Class, Level 2, Part 3 // 16th January 2020

Third Conditional exercise // Adult Speaking Class, Level 3: Third Conditional 23 Jan 2020

15 most common verbs // Adult C, L 3 // 23rd September 2019 // Beginners’ English Part 4 // 20th January 2020: https://thaypaulsnotes.com/2020/01/21/beginners-english-part-4/

Verb endings // Conjugating basic verbs // 5th January 2022: https://thaypaulsnotes.com/2022/01/05/2022-the-year-of-the-grammar-back-to-basics/

Verb ‘to be’ // Young Learners, Starter & Beginners // 24th April 2023: https://thaypaulsnotes.com/2023/04/24/young-learners-starter-beginners-the-verb-to-be/

Verb ‘to be’ // Young Learners, Level 4 // 22nd May 2023: https://thaypaulsnotes.com/2023/05/22/young-learners-level-4-to-be-verb-1-verb-2-and-infinity/

Verb ‘to have’ & Viet translation // Young Learners 1 // 16th March 2019: https://thaypaulsnotes.com/2019/03/13/young-learners-level-1-lesson-5-parklife/

Verb ‘to have’ // Young Learners 1 // 26th May 2019: https://thaypaulsnotes.com/2019/05/24/young-learners-level-1-i-spy-with-my-little-eye/

Verb ‘need’ // Adult Speaking Class, Level 1:What do you need ? // 21st May 2020

Verbs ‘want’ or ‘need’ // Young Learners, Level 6 // 13th January 2021: https://thaypaulsnotes.com/2021/01/13/young-learners-level-6-stay-healthy/

What do they like ? // Adult Speaking Class, Level 1:What do they like ? // 22nd June 2020

Which one ? // Young learners, Level 4 // 10th November 2020

Third conditional

A compilation of exercises and examples

18th July 2020

Third conditional We talk about something that happened to us in the past and how we would have changed it IF we had known some information.

A basic example: A visit a friend and it is her birthday, but I didn’t know.

If I had known it was her birthday, I would have bought her a present.

To illustrate: my friend Richard …

… is married to Ms Linh. Yesterday was their wedding anniversary … but he forgot. Ms Linh was …

She was absolutely livid (extremely angry, disappointed and heartbroken)

If he had remembered it was his anniversary, he would have bought her a present, some flowers and taken her out to a romantic restaurant.

However, it is too late NOW ! He’s in the doghouse (in trouble).

Notice all the past tense verbs. Furthermore, would is commonly used in conditional sentences.

If + Subject + had + past participle (verb 3) …… subject + would (or wouldn’t) have.

Now – your turn.

Make a story about my friend Tom, who came to Sai Gon on holiday:

My friend Tom, from London

Tom came to Sai Gon, and wanted to go to a nice bar. He heard about the Skybar in Bitexco. The bar is quite luxurious.

Panoramic views over the Sai Gon skyline.

Image result for friendly viet bar girls

Tom began to make friends, and invited them for cocktails. However, when the bill came …

And …

What do you think happened ?

Write a sentence, in the third conditional to explain Tom’s situation.

Project work

These people also came to Sai Gon. Write third conditional sentences to encapsulate their situation

Try to use some of these words or phrases:

typical / typically / obvious / obviously / insist / suggest / essential

Why didn’t she (he, they) … have a good time ?

If (he/ she / they) had known it was so (expensive, noisy, boring …)

Emma, 19 Backpacker. Likes shopping, dancing, eating street food. She didn’t book ahead and was too tired and hot to walk around looking for a cheap hotel so she had to stay in a four-star hotel and spend nearly all of her money.

Japanese family. Like family activities, souvenirs and quiet nights. They stayed in the noisy backpacker area, with shouting and screaming and drunken karaoke all night.

Young men wanting a ‘Stag Night’ party, here to have a last hurrah ! They chose a quiet town in the Mekong Delta, but there was only one bar and it closed at 8.00 pm.

(a stag night is a wild party for a man before he gets married. There is normally a lot of drinking … and other activities)

Jewish students. They do not eat pork, or shell-fish. Want to see history and temples. Their guide keeps taking them to eat sea-food and pork restaurants because the guide only speaks Vietnamese and Chinese, and the students only speak Hebrew and English.

If these visitors came to your city or town, could you recommend places for them to visit ?

What are your suggestions?

Remember, Emma wants somewhere fun but cheap, the family want someone quiet but close to family attractions, the young men want lots of bars and clubs, while the Jewish students have strict dietary rules.

Now … some more exercises:

I was very hungry but too lazy to cook, so I went out to grab a bite to eat.

I thought I’d try the new restaurant.

I, obviously, ordered pho, (traditional Vietnamese food).

However, after I had eaten

I saw the chef !

If I had known the chef was so filthy, I wouldn’t have eaten there !

This is the 3^rd conditional.

Something that happened in the past BUT you can’t change it now.

If I had known the film was so bad, I never would have gone !

If he had bought his wife flowers, she wouldn’t have been angry at him

If they had studied English, they would have passed the test.

Finally …

… a true story that my history teacher told me back in London.

My teacher was a somewhat dishevelled gentleman in his mid-30s. Let’s call him Mr Bowditch:

Mr Bowditch, history teacher at an east London school

Mr Bowditch lived in a bedsit, which is basically renting one room in a large house and sharing the kitchen and bathroom with other tenants. His room was not particularly comfortable:

One night, Mr Bowditch was in his room and began to feel a little hungry. He wanted some chocolate so decided to go to the off-license and buy some sweets (an off-licence is a shop that sells basic food and sweets but also alcohol and cigarettes. It used to be open until 11.00pm when most shops would close around 6.00 pm). He decided to buy, among other items, some ‘Fry’s Turkish Delight’ a sort of jelly covered in chocolate:

OK, so far so good. However, Mr Bowditch lived in a rather bad part of London, it wasn’t always safe to walk alone at night. Unfortunately, on the way home, Mr Bowditch meet the following young men:

They called out to Mr Bowditch and stopped him walking. They demanded:

Mr Bowditch had none, as he had just spent his money on sweets (candy). They didn’t believe him and began to search him. He showed them:

That was all he had … a few pounds, about 100 000 VND. The men became very angry and aggressive. Suddenly, they heard a police car siren. The men tried to drag Mr Bowditch into the tunnel, away from the road but he is very tall and stopped them. As the police car got closer, the men ran away. Mr Bowditch has never eaten ‘Fry’s Turkish Delight’ again.

There are several instances of the third conditional in the above story.

If Mr Bowditch had bought sweets on his way home, he wouldn’t have gone out later and been mugged (mugged means being robbed, often with violence or the threat of violence).

If Mr Bowditch had gone to a different shop, he wouldn’t have meet the muggers.

If the police car hadn’t been passing, Mr Bowditch might have been seriously hurt.

If Mr Bowditch hadn’t been so tall, he would have been dragged into the tunnel and maybe beaten or worse.

The structure: the first clause starts with ‘If’ then using a comma before completing the sentence. The first verb can be positive or negative (in the examples, I use ‘had’ and ‘hadn’t’).

We use this to talk about things that DIDN’T happen.

Adult Speaking Class, Level 3: Third conditional

23rd January 2020

We talk about something that happened to us in the past and how we would have changed it IF we had known some information.

A basic example: A visit a friend and it is her birthday, but I didn’t know. If I had known it was her birthday, I would have bought her a present.

To illustrate, My friend Richard:

Is married to Ms Linh. Yesterday was their wedding anniversary … but he forgot. Ms Linh was …

She was absolutely livid (extremely angry, disappointed and heartbroken)

If he had remembered it was his anniversary, he would have bought her a present, some flowers and taken her out to a romantic restaurant.

However, it is too late NOW ! He’s in the doghouse (in trouble).

Notice all the past tense verbs. Furthermore, would is commonly used in conditional sentences.

If + Subject + had + past participle (verb 3) …… subject + would (or wouldn’t) have.

Now – your turn. Make a story about my friend Tom, who came to Sai Gon on holiday:

My friend Tom, from London

Tom came to Sai Gon, and wanted to go to a nice bar. He heard about the Skybar in Bitexco. The bar is quite luxurious.

Panoramic views over the Sai Gon skyline.

Tom began to make friends, and invited them for cocktails. However, when the bill came …

And …

What do you think happened ?

Write a sentence, in the third conditional to explain Tom’s situation.

Project work

These people also came to Sai Gon. Write third conditional sentences to encapsulate their situation

Try to use some of these words or phrases:

typical / typically / obvious / obviously insist / suggest / essential

Why didn’t She (he, they) …

If (he/they) had known it was so (expensive, noisy, boring …)

Japanese family. Like family activities, souvenirs and quiet nights. They stayed in the noisy backpacker area, with shouting and screaming and drunken karaoke all night.

Young men wanting a ‘Stag Night’ party, here to have a last hurrah ! They chose a quiet town in the Mekong Delta, but there was only one bar and it closed at 8.00 pm.

(a stag night is a wild party for a man before he gets married. There is normally a lot of drinking … and other activities)

If these visitors came to your city or town, could you recommend places for them to visit ?

What are your suggestions?

They ALL want a typical local experience, so obviously, they should … ?

Remember, Emma wants somewhere fun but cheap, the family want someone quiet but close to family attractions, the young men want lots of bars and clubs, while the students have strict dietary laws.

Adult Speaking Class, Level 2, Part 3

16th January 2020

Contents

Grammar / third conditional

Jazz Music

Listening Practice / TOEIC

Money

Speaking practice

Speaking skills

Vocabulary

Grammar: 3^rd Conditional

I was very hungry but too lazy to cook, so I went out to grab a bite to eat.

I thought I’d try the new pho restaurant.

I, obviously, ordered pho bo.

However, after I had eaten

I saw the chef !

If I had known the chef was filthy, I wouldn’t have eaten there !

This is the 3^rdconditional.

Something that happened in the past BUT you can’t change it now.

If I had known the film was so bad, I never would have gone !

If he had bought his wife flowers, she wouldn’t have been angry at him

If they had studied English, they would have passed the test.

Listening Practice

TOEIC test:https://www.examenglish.com/TOEIC/TOEIC_listening_part3.htm#

TOEIC test: https://www.examenglish.com/TOEIC/TOEIC_listening_part4.htm

New vocabulary: accurate/ correction / administration

Money

Verbs for things you can do with money:

spend / lose / waste / save / make / invest / forge / donate / pay / worship

I go to work to …….. money.

She always ………… money to charity.

He …………. money buying property

The police caught the man who was ……….. money.

Some people think the iPhone X is a ………. of money.

King James Bible
“For the love of money is the root of all evil.”

Many people over the years have tried to buy the Mask of Tutankhamen from the Egyptian Museum, but unsurprisingly the authorities here believe it is priceless so they won’t sell it

Ebenezer Scrooge was such a stingy man, so much so that in English, we sometimes use the word Scrooge to describe people with this characteristic (who are like this). A miser is someone who hates spending any money.

He spent a lot of money on what he thought was a gold watch but when he had it valued, it turned out to be worthless.

I sometimes disagree with stall holders, so I haggle which sometimes gets the price down

Big companies like Pepsi make a killing. They should put their prices down. I sometimes like to splash out on new clothes, but not very often

When I was a student I didn’t have enough money to live on so I took out an overdraft at the bank. I paid it all off in the end (finally)

The men were sent to prison for forgery, that is, making counterfeit money

Speaking practice:

This dialogue has a lot of expressions and phrases.

Joe Hi Bill. Why so glum ? You look down in the dumps.

Bill Oh, just worrying about money. The cost of living keeps going up …

Joe And our wages stay the same. Tell me about it. I’ve had to economise.

Bill Same here; no more beer or Highlands coffee. I feel so stingy !

Joe I always haggle at the market now, try to get the price down. I hate being ripped off.

Bill I’m worried about paying off my overdraft. The interest alone is crippling me.

Joe We should invest in land. My friend sold some land recently and made a killing.

Bill But we’ll need money to invest in the first place. Then there’s always bills.

Joe Yes, my bike’s in the shop, so I’m having to use Grabbike and that ain’t cheap !

2. This is to practice wedding and money phrases.

Tom Congratulations ! You’re finally tying the knot and getting spliced.

Bob Yeah, it’s time to settle down. I’ve taken out a mortage and a loan for the wedding.

Tom It must be costing you an arm and a leg: catering, hall, flowers, photos, invitations.

Bob Absolutely, I’ve withdrawn all my saving and gone into the red. I hate being overdrawn; the interest is sky-high. And, not forgetting, the honeymoon.

Tom You can put down a deposit and pay later. Cheer up ! Don’t be a Scrooge

Bob That’s easy for you to say. I’m gonna be broke and in debt … until I retire !

Sentence building

Use more interesting adverbs and linking words e.g.

although / as well as / somewhat / therefore

Rearrange these basic sentences to make more interesting ones (we use ‘one’ as a pronoun for the noun instead of repeating ourselves)

Examples:

I went to the market today. I bought fish and chicken and vegetables.

Today I bought fish, chicken as well as vegetables in the market.

Last night I stayed at home because it was raining.

It was raining last night therefore I stayed at home.

Your turn:

I saw the new action film. It was a little boring.

Peter was tired but he met his friends for a drink.

Sophie studied very hard. She passed her test.

For western people, Thailand is cheap. Vietnam is cheaper.

Speaking skills

To help you improve your speaking skills, here is a small project:

Write a short piece about something you love or adore.

Start with an introduction

Say why you like it

Maybe tell some history or an anecdote (a short, personal story)

Give some examples

End with a short conclusion

EXAMPLE:

JAZZ MUSIC

I love all types of music, but one of my favourites is Jazz. It can be exciting, or slow, but it’s always different.

Unlike other types of music, Jazz is spontaneous. This means that you never hear the same song the same way; each performance is different.

Jazz started in New Orleans but moved up to Chicago, New York and even west to California. The first records were made in 1917 and the first true Jazz genius was Louis Armstrong. If you want to hear jazz, you should listen to his records from the 1920s.

You may know some famous Jazz artists such as Miles Davis, John Coltrane or Charlie Parker. I can recommend these musicians to you as first-rate examples of Jazz.

I hope this has made you curious about Jazz, and that you go online to listen for yourself. Who knows, maybe you too will learn to love Jazz.

Vocabulary builder

Health: http://learnenglishteens.britishcouncil.org/grammar-vocabulary/vocabulary-exercises/health

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Adult Class, Level 3: If he had known it was International Woman’s Day …

21st October for 22nd October 2019. AEF 9A pp 84 – 85

Warm up: Hit the ground running (or at least talking).

As always a model is a good idea; hence my Thai friend is coming to Vietnam:

Ms Namsum is young and energetic. She’s into (really enjoy) clubs, sightseeing and shopping.

I suggest she starts the day with a traditional bowl of pho then goes to Sai Gon centre. She can walk there from her hotel in District 1 or take a taxi (Vinasun or Malin ONLY). She will be out of the heat and has a lot of shopping choices and places to eat or grab a coffee. She could rest at her hotel in the afternoon, then go to Nguyen Hue walking street when it gets cooler in the evening. She has many restaurants in this area. Furthermore, there are many English-language menus. Finally, she can go to Bui Vien street where there are many clubs and bars, as well as many tourists speaking English.

What do they students think ? Is that a good plan ? Have I missed something important ?

Language to use:

I see your point

That’s a good idea but …

If I may make a suggestion …

I’m not sure that’s such a good idea.

For example – That’s a good idea but you haven’t thought about sightseeing.

Bui Vien can be very noisy so I’m not sure that’s such a good idea for a young lady on her own.

Two of my friends are coming to Sai Gon; the students, in two groups, have to arrange a fun day including sightseeing, shopping, eating and transportation. Then they have to compare their itineraries and exchange views and opinions. The students learn how to politely disagree with each and put forward their ideas and support their choices.

Image result for two english men — Tom and David

PLAN A DAY FOR TOM & DAVID

Where can they eat ?

What could they see or visit ?

How can they travel around ?

What can they buy as souvenirs ?

Where could they go at night ?

What safety advice would you give ?

What you need to know:

Both are 45-years old. They have good jobs and a good income. They like history and culture. They really enjoy good food and wine. Neither speaks any Vietnamese. They are too old for very loud clubs but they don’t mind having a few beers and maybe seeing some live music.

The students can make a presentation, and use the computer for images or maps to illustrate their plan. Then the other team can explain what they have organised, and the reasons why. I will decide which team has made the best choice.

Tonight’s main focus is the third conditional

This means speaking from hindsight.

We talk about something that happened to us in the past and how we would have changed it IF we had known some information.

A basic example: A visit a friend and it is her birthday, but I didn’t know. If I had known it was her birthday, I would have bought her a present.

Yesterday was Woman’s Day but …

Alan didn’t know it was Woman’s Day subsequently his girlfriend, Ms Nhi, was extremely upset !

If he had known it was Woman’s Day, he would have bought her a present, some flowers and taken her out to eat.

However, it is too late NOW ! He’s in the doghouse (in trouble).

Notice all the past tense verbs. Furthermore, would is commonly used in conditional sentences.

Now, this example is based on a true story that my history teacher told me back in London.

My teacher was a somewhat dishevelled gentleman in his mid-30s. Let’s call him Mr Bowditch:

Mr Bowditch lived in a bedsit, which is basically renting one room in a large house and sharing the kitchen and bathroom with other tenants. His room was not particularly comfortable:

They called out to Mr Bowditch and stopped him walking. They demanded:

Mr Bowditch had none, as he had just spent his money on sweets (candy). They didn’t believe him and began to search him. He showed them:

There are several instances of the third conditional in the above story.

If Mr Bowditch had bought sweets on his way home, he wouldn’t have gone out later and been mugged (mugged means being robbed, often with violence or the threat of violence).

If Mr Bowditch had gone to a different shop, he wouldn’t have meet the muggers.

If the police car hadn’t been passing, Mr Bowditch might have been seriously hurt.

If Mr Bowditch hadn’t been so tall, he would have been dragged into the tunnel and maybe beaten or worse.

The structure is the first clause starts with ‘If’ then using a comma before completing the sentence. The first verb can be positive or negative (in the examples, I use ‘had’ and ‘hadn’t’).

We use this to talk about things that DIDN’T happen.

And so to book work and communication activities.

Adult Class, Level 3: If I had known …

25th July 2019 AEF 3, pp. 84- 85.

Tonight is a new class and experience has taught me to downplay expectations. It’s also quite a large class, about seventeen students, so I’m expecting the whole spectrum of attitudes: motivated, respectful, attentive, apathetic, disrespectful, antagonist. Be that as it may, let’s go in with a positive attitude (and see how long that lasts).

For a new group it’s best to avoid direct questions as students can be shy about speaking in front of the class. However, they DO need to speak, so I’ve prepared a basic questionnaire for them to ask each other. They will need to get up and walk around, asking three different people some basic questions. Naturally, the questions are secondary; getting the students used to communicating with each other in English is the point.

Also, I have to accept that students will be arriving 15, 20, 30 minutes, maybe even an hour late.

Judging the atmosphere in the room, I may actually start with some basic games, asking what they know about London or the UK. The students can be put into small groups to give them a safer speaking environment. If I feel it’s appropriate, I’ll show the ‘Kids Guide to London’ video on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HrJNIUp2izQ&list=PL97HViQblvdEM3zsauRxnIg1baFTNmsDM&index=24&t=20s

This may seem a little strange for an adult class, but it introduces natural speaking (how we link words together), new vocabulary and some fixed expressions. Also, an ‘adult’ class can mean students over the age of fourteen, and usually the classes are mostly comprised of students in their late teens … I’ll save my thoughts on those for another blog.

Tonight’s main focus is the third conditional

This is speaking from hindsight; We talk about something that happened to us in the past and how we would have changed it IF we had known some information.

A basic example: A visit a friend and it is her birthday, but I didn’t know. If I had known it was her birthday, I would have bought her a present.

Notice all the past tense verbs. Furthermore, would is commonly used in conditional sentences.

Now, this example is based on a true story that my history teacher told me back in London.

My teacher was a somewhat dishevelled gentleman in his mid-30s. Let’s call him Mr Bowditch:

Mr Bowditch lived in a bedsit, which is basically renting one room in a large house and sharing the kitchen and bathroom with other tenants. His room was not particularly comfortable:

They called out to Mr Bowditch and stopped him walking. They demanded:

Mr Bowditch had none, as he had just spent his money on sweets (candy). They didn’t believe him and began to search him. He showed them:

There are several instances of the third conditional in the above story.

If Mr Bowditch had bought sweets on his way home, he wouldn’t have gone out later and been mugged (mugged means being robbed, often with violence or the threat of violence).

If Mr Bowditch had gone to a different shop, he wouldn’t have meet the muggers.

If the police car hadn’t been passing, Mr Bowditch might have been seriously hurt.

If Mr Bowditch hadn’t been so tall, he would have been dragged into the tunnel and maybe beaten or worse.

We use this to talk about things that DIDN’T happen.

At level 3, the books can be very text-heavy, and reading can be boring for students. As mentioned, I don’t know the ability and level of the students. One method is to have the students read just one paragraph and underline how many words they don’t know. If the amount is very high, then I know the level is too high … and I’m in trouble. I’ll have to improvise a lesson.

If (yes, let’s use conditionals) the reading poses no problems, I could have the students working in pairs. One student reads a paragraph and then tells their partner the main information. This is then reversed.

If the students want to learn, and come with energy and motivation, it should be a great lesson. However … this is not always the case … will time fly or will it drag ?