Last week we practiced questions with a question word and with or without an auxiliary.

Question words are: what, who, why, which, how, whose, when, where.

The only instance in which we don't need to use and auxiliary is when the question word itself is the subject of the question:

Who wrote that book?

What happened to your friend?

Which film was directed by John Ford?


The last example above is also an example of the use of passive voice, which we mentioned in our lessons.

Passive voice is used when the focus is on the action. It is not important or not known, however, who or what is performing the action.
We can use any verb tense in the passive voice. Active voice can be converted into passive. Here is an example of a sentence in the Simple Present in both passive and active voice.

Simple Present	Active:	Rita	writes	a letter.
	Passive:	A letter	is written	by Rita.

Some extra homework: do the exercises on this link: http://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/grammar/passive/exercises

We read a text about the song Imagine and its lyrics, which were written by Yoko Ono as well as John Lennon. Students summarized the text and wrote some questions about it. 

We listened to a phone conversations between a hotel receptionist and a customer and another one between the customer and the person in room service. We role played the dialogues.

For homework write about a band or singer of your choice. Tell us about them and their story.

This time you are going to have plenty of time to check the blog.

During our lessons last Monday and Wednesday we insisted on the use of 2 past tenses: the Simple Past and the Past Continuous.

Yesterday we had short conversations such as this one:


Where were you last Sunday Evening?

I was  in a cafe.

What were you doing?

I was having a cup of coffee and talking to my friends.


We looked at some photos - or pictures - and read about what was happening when the photographer took them.
We listened to a couple, who had been photographed many years before, talk about the moment when the photograph had been taken and what they remembered about it.

Students should remember the difference between book store and library. A person who works in a library is a librarian. 

Remember also the word near, it's a preposition and when is followed by another word, we mustn't use another preposition behind it. Many students say things such us near to or near of . You must get rid of that habit.

Next door: that's where our neighbors live.

We studied the prepositions at, in and on.
We use on before a day: On Monday, on Christmas Day, on May 10th.
We use in before a year or a month: We were in 1982. I was born in June.
We use at to talk about the time: I got up at 8:30

Students wrote about a holiday answering some questions such as: Where did you go? Who did you go with? Where did you stay? How did you book your holiday? What did you do? 

When the question word is the subject of the sentence, then we don't use an auxiliary.
Examples:

Who called you yesterday?
Which country has the best beaches?
What happened after I left?

In all those questions, the question word is the subject:who, which country, what.

For HOMEWORK students need to read a text and write 5 questions about it. Also, they must make a summary of it.

Last week we were working on the topic Holidays. In this unit we study 2 of the past tenses: Simple Past and Past Continuous. We use the Simple Past when we are talking about an action which is complete. We use the Past Continuous when we are talking about an action in progress or when we want to focus the attention on the time spent on that action.

When we combine  those tenses in a text the Past Continuous refers to an action which takes longer in time than the Simple Past. The action in Simple Past often occurs while the action in the P. Continuous is going on.

Ex: We were getting ready to leave when got the news.

Getting ready to leave takes a  while, whereas getting the news only takes a moment.

We listened to a radio broadcast where people told their horror story about a holiday. We learned some words and expressions:

going abroad: travelling to a foreign country.

nearly: almost

We need to study the past form of most irregular verbs. Here is a list of verbs you should make sure you know:

Say - said
Tell - told
Pay - paid
Buy - bought
See - saw
Make - made
Spend - spent
Put - put
Let - let
Sit - sat
Stand - stood
Understand - understood
Break - broke
Catch - caught
Can - could
Take - took
Come -came
Bring - brought
Drive - drove
Ride - rode
Mean - meant

I meant to write 20 verbs and I ended up writing 21. I guess it doesn't matter.

For Homework, as I asked you last Wednesday, please write about a holiday you took in the past. It may be your last holiday or another one. Answer the questions on pg. 17, Ex. 6. but connect all the answers to the questions to make a unified text.

This week we started working on a new unit. The topic, so far, is Going on a holiday. In this new unit we are studying the past tenses. We have started with the Simple Past and the Past Continuous.

We read the stories of a few people who went for a holiday and it did not turn out the way they would have liked. Students summarized the stories. In order to write a story about something that happened in the past we need to be able to use a variety of past tenses: Simple Past, Past Continuous, and Past Perfect.

Here are some examples of sentences that use both the Simple Past and the Past Continuous.

      While we were having the picnic, it started to rain.

        What were you doing when the earthquake started?

I was listening to my iPod, so I didn't hear the fire alarm.

You were not listening to me when I told you to turn the oven off.

While John was sleeping last night, someone stole his car.

Sammy was waiting for us when we got off the plane.

We studied the pronunciation of regular past forms. We have 3 groups:

-       Infinitives with a voiced  ending sound: the added –ed is pronounced /d/.

Ex: played, answered, listened..

-       Infinitives with a voiceless  ending sound:: -ed is pronounced /t/.

Ex: walked, talked, danced.

-       Infinitives which end with the sound d or t: -ed is pronounced /id/

If you want to listen how these different verbs are pronounced in the past go to the following link  and click on listen for each group. http://www.englishw.com/PastPronunciation.php.

You may also check this video if you have the chance and would like to practice listening questions and answers in the Simple Past.

Extra Homework 

You may also check this video if you have the chance and would like to practice listening questions and answers in the Simple Past.

http://www.real-english.com/reo/46/unit46.asp

 If you do, you may answer the questions:

1.What did Dina do yesterday?

2 What did Asker do this morning?

3.What did Charles do yesterday?

4. What did Mathew do this morning?

5.What did Roberta do today ( before now)?

Last week we reviewed parts of the body and prepositions of place. Then we were talking about a painting by the French painter Toulouse Lautrec.We listened to a recording and identified the people in the painting.

We also talked about travelling and airports and watched a video where a passenger checks in his suitcases. Students practiced the conversation between the flying assistant and the passenger. Useful vocabulary for the airport: arrivals, departures, check in, gate, window seat, aisle seat, hand luggage, flying assistant, departure lounge, passport, ticket.

We did another listening and found out how Mark and Ally met. Then we practiced question asking, which is always useful, as we need to think which verb tense we are using and which is the necessary auxiliary verb to make the question. Verb tenses that students should understand and use are: the Present Simple: do you work in Madrid?, Pr. Continuous: Are you working right now?, Past Simple: did you pack the bags yourself? Present Perfect: how long have you been here?

If you couldn't come to class and wish to watch the video about the airport, here is the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCyWGjDNPnY We only did the check in part.