Just to let you know, especially if you did not come yesterday that we were listening to an interview about London. I would tell you to look in the Aula Virtual, but it seems we are having problems with locating these listenings.

During the lesson students compared several aspects of like in New York and London. We were adjectives in the comparative form.

Since Cristian - is this the correct spelling?- had asked me, I explained some of the uses of the verb get.
You can check in the Aula Virtual. The document is called Uses of Get.

And for homework, students have to make sentences with the following words and the verb get.

Sick

Hungry

Tired

Angry

Home

A present

A bottle of wine

Airport

Some money

Excited

Job

The other exerecise for homework is writing 5 questions about the text Global Pizza.

In the unit we are studying we learn to talk about cities we have visited: about their physical characteristics, the way o living in those cities, their people, their atmosphere, and also about the food.

We are still using some of the questions we practiced so much last week:

What is it like? (This time I am changing the subject from she/he to it, because I am talking about a city.)
What does it look like?
How is the food?

Last Tuesday we listened to an interview of an English couple who lived and worked in New York.
We learned words as: atmosphere, lane, deliver, (to) rush. The were many words related to speed: hurry up, fast, to be in a rush, quick, quickly.

They also use many adjectives in comparative or superlative forms.

Yesterday we were studying adjectives to describe food, people and town. Then we used in an exercise and read a conversation that included them a couple of times. Students role played the conversation and did very well, as usual. Some words that they need to include from now on as part of active vocabulary are starving, homegrown, disgusting, crowded, busy, junk food, wealthy, tasteless, exciting, rude.

We read the text called Global Pizza about the history of this dish. We'll be working on this text next week. For now, we remember the word toppings, which are the ingredients that go on top of the flat piece of bread and can be almost anything.

Homework

Look in the Aula Virtual for the listening called Listening London. Listen to it and write down 10 questions you would have to answer in order to summarize the interview.

We are still practicing those questions with like as a verb and like as a preposition. So in our first lesson of the week students answered the question What did you look like when you were 3 years old? Most students said they were a little plump like most young children.

We read a Thank you letter from a foreign student to a her host family in Australia. In the letter Soon/hee uses a lot of verbs followed by other verbs in various forms: sometimes in the infinitive: I want to say, sometimes in the present participle: I enjoyed meeting you all. Other possibilities, depending on the verb we are using first and also on the meaning with intend to convey are: verb+somebody+ infinitive (no to) as in: they are letting me stay with them. It is only after a few verbs: make, let, help, that we use this form.
We use another form when we want to report somebody's command, wish or intention regarding somebody else, following verbs like want, ask, tell or invite. For instance: my parents wanted me to follow a different profession. If we are reporting a negative command with the verbs ask or tell, it is the infinitive form of the verb that it will be negative as in: she asked me not to make so much noise. With want or invite we'll say: my parents didn't want me to follow a different profession. Or he didn't invite to join them.
Students filled in a chart with the above verb forms. Then we listened to a recording in which a number of people used those verbs. Students had to identify the form of the verb. They also practiced their oral skill by explaining what they had heard.

There are a few verbs which can be followed by either an infinitive or a present participle; the meaning changes depending on that choice: stop, try and remember are good examples: I stopped to visit my aunt and I stopped visiting my aunt mean different things. The latter means that I never visited again.

We studied a number of adjectives to talk about food, towns and people.Some interesting words that I noticed most students didn't know are: starving, wealthy, elderly, crowded.

Finally we listened to a recording of a couple being interviewed about their experience as New York residents and their opinions about the city. Some questions we didn't have time to work on and that are meant as a guideline for the listening are.
1.What do they think about the taxi drivers in NY?
2.How do they feel about the shops´schedule?
3. How long have they been in NY?
4.What do they like about NY?
5.What do they think about the people?
6.Have they made any friends? Is it easy to make friends in NY?
7.What do they think about the subway?
8. What do most people do for food in NY ?
9. What do they say about the working hours in NY?
10.Why do they think they will probably move back to London eventually?

Homework
Write a couple of paragraphs about a city. It could be a city you know very well or one you have visited for a short or long time. Use the questions above as a guide so you the kind of things you can talk about.

In our lesson last Thursday students answered the question:
What were your parents like as parents? 
Other questions like that could be: What's Ben like as a boss? or What are they like as a couple?

We continued practicing the questions with like that were introduce on Tuesday. Remember, like may be a verb or a preposition. When like is a verb, you can say: What does she like doing? when we are asking in general or What would she like to do? if we want to know about a specific situation.

During the class we listened to a recording of some people answering to different questions. Students had to decide what question they were answering to. Then, they had to try to remember ans say what the answer had been.

We read a Thank you letter written by the foreign student Soon-Hee to her host family in Australia. In this letter she uses a lot of verbs followed by an infinitive with to, as in I want to say,  followed by an object and an infinitive without to as in: you all made me feel, or by a gerund, as in I enjoyed meeting.
We know that choosing either one of those alternatives depends on the verb itself most of the times: that is, some verbs are always followed by to + infinitive. Some verbs are always followed by a gerund and some verbs, very few (make, let) are followed by an object and then an infinitive. In a few cases we may use either to+ infinitive or gerund and the meaning will change according to our choice. This is the case of the verb stop. In the letter  you can find the sentences I stopped feeling homesick (I wasn't homesick anymore) and I stopped to visit my aunt (I made a stop in my journey and visited my aunt).

Homework
Imagine you were the one who was studying abroad and lodging with a host family. Write your own Thank you letter. Write simple and clear sentences. And remember, when there is a direct object, make sure it follows the verb.

Tuesday we started a new unit.

We are learning to use the following types of questions, which non English speakers tend to mistake, as some of them include the word like. But remember, sometimes like is a preposition, sometimes is a verb. Sometimes the verb like must be followed by an infinitive, sometime by the verb in the ing form. We have already been using all these questions, but it is interesting to see them together so as to make sure we know the difference and learn when to use which.

1.What is she/he like?
2.What does he/she look like?
3.What does he/she like doing?
4.What would he/she like to do?
5.How is she?

Those questions can be used with any subject, of course.Possible answers are:

1. She is very nice and fun to be with.
2. He is really good looking. He´s got beautiful black eyes and and a nice Greek nose.
3. She loves travelling to remote places.
4. I am sure he would enjoy going to the races.
5. She is feeling better now that her is back.

In the lesson we were listening to a conversation between two girls who were talking about a foreign student one of them was hosting. The foreign student had just arrived so the other girl had not met her yet and wanted to know some things about her.
We also practiced those questions asking a partner about a friend.
Homework
Imagine you are looking for a boyfriend or a girlfriend and have requested the services of a mating agency. You have been given the name and telephone number of a prospective date. You call that person to establish a first contact. You have never seen him or her. Write the conversation. You must ask some of the questions above. The other person will probably ask the same questions.

Hello,

Today it was the last lesson about food and meals. Mostly because after a while everybody gets tired of talking about food. But the truth is that this topic includes a lot of things and a lot of vocabulary. It is not easy to talk properly about food.

This is a list of the main things we have studied:

Names of the Meals

Breakfast, lunch, dinner and supper. Supper is a light meal in the night. Dinner is usually the main meal.
 A snack: small portion of food you eat when you are hungry but it´s not time for a meal.

Dinner usually has three parts:
A Starter or appetizer, the main course and dessert.

Words to describe food are:

Tender and tough for meat. If you ask for a steak in a restaurant they´ll probably ask you: How do you want your steak? You´ll have to reply: rare, medium rare or well done.

Sweet, sour, spicy, greasy, oily, tasteless, tasty, crispy (poptaoe chips), soggy (overcooked vegetables), crunchy (bread), creamy, salty, etc.

Cooking methods

Bake (potaoes, bread, cakes), fry, boil, steam, roast ( meats), barbacue, grilling.

Verbs or actions related to cooking

Cut, chop, spread, mash, sprinkle, roll out, add, squeeze, peel off, pour, bread, etc.


Sentences we may use to talk about food

I have never tried....
Have you ever tried...?
The most unusual thing I have ever eaten....
What ingredients do you need to make it?
How do you make it?
Well, first you..., after that you..., then you..., next you... Finally you...
What is it made of?
What is it made from?

Remember that in English you use You to speak in a general manner.

When we give recipes we use the imperative: Chop the tomatoes, mix them with the peppers...,

In the last lesson we were working on the text Eating for Energy. For the students that were not here, you can find the text in the Aula Virtual. Have you ever logged in? You need your DNI number as a password. So, please, do read the text and do the exercises. Words we studied: carbohydrates, proteins, fat, aware, performance, label, increase, harmful, skip.  

For homework: give your own advise. Write 5 sentences like this one:

You should eat more often
And 5 sentences like this:
You shouldn´t eat foods that are high in carbohydrates.

Also, write to sentences with the words aware and performance. Here are some examples:

Once clients become aware of the rules of the new system they will look for our advice.

The old man suddenly became aware that someone was trying to open his bedroom window.


She explains how sports science support can help to improve athletic performance.

If you have trouble with your personal computer performance then read this article to know how you can fix your slow computer.

Hope to see you next Tuesday.

Hi!

This is the example for the writing I asked you to do for homework:

Next summer I am finally going to travel to Italy. And I say finally because it is a very old dream. I first thought about it when I studied art history in university and fell in love with Michael Angelo, Giorgone, Brunelleschi and some other Italian artists.

I wish I could spend a whole year in Italy travelling slowly from town to town but that´s not possible, so I´ll have to be happy with a two-week trip. Italy is expensive and that´s all I can afford, so I need to choose the cities that I want to visit. I am definitely going to spend a few days in Venice, where I´ll try to see Giorgones´s paintings. Florence is also on my list. I´m going to catch a train from Venice to Florence, I have heard it´s a beatiful journey. The problem is that once in Florence I don´t know much time I´ll need to see everything I want to see. Unfortunately I am travelling in July, like everybody else. That means I´ll probably have to stand in lines for hours to enter the most important museums. So depending on that, I might visit other places, like Pisa or Siena, which seem very interesting too.

I really hope I´ll enjoy Italy as much as I have enjoyed it in my dreams. 

Remember that difficult listening? Here is the link: weather forcast . You can listen to it several times. You´ll see how your understanding of it improves.