I am sorry I did not write an entry before. This is really for Eduardo, if you happen to read it.
In our last lesson we were working on a listening about Norman. The story about him was full of contradictions, so after listening, we were asking questions starting with How come.
Example: He is single, so how come his wife opened the door?

Homework
Write about yourself using negative sentences, like: I can't cook. I never arrive on time. I don't have to go to bed early.

Reading of the text: Conspiracy theories about The death of Diana. Write down 5 questions which can be answered by reading the text.

Yesterday we had our first class of the term.

Welcome Raquel and Jorge, it is really nice to have you in my class.

We started the year by talking about New Year´s Resolutions. I wish you all will achieve your targets.

Our first unit this term deals with liying and telling the truth. In this unit we study questions and negative sentences in general.

Questions:
with prepositions at the end, What were you talking about?
with auxiliary verbs: What did you make that face for?
with modal verbs: could you wait for a moment?
without an auxiliary verb: Who told you that?
with a question   word + an adverb: how long, how often, how far?
indirect questions: I wonder if she ended up buying the blue one.

Another way to ask why is how come; it is not exactly the same, though. We ask how come when we find a situation or an action surprising. Just imagine somebody in your family who has a regular job gets up one morning and says: I'm not going to work. It is unusual so you ask: How come?

In our lesson we were reading some cartoon where various characters were lying for various reasons. Then we listened to a recording of those characters saying where they were actually thinking.

Vocabulary: Antonyms: Right/wrong; success/failure; Prefixes: agree/disagree; like/dislike. Question words: How come? How often? How long? How far?



Homework: practice pages 155 & 156 New Headway Upper Intermediate. Make the questions for

the quiz answers.


If you could'n come to class last Wednesday we were working on pages 34 & 35 of the New Headway 

Upper Intermediate.

Homework

Write a note to a friend or acquaintance asking for several favors. Explain why you need help.

Example
I´m taking my boss out to dinner on Saturday and I want to make a good impression. Would you mind if I borrowed your car? I promise to drive very carefully. I also wonder if you´d mind lending me your red bow tie. Let me know, thanks.

You can write two of those notes.

I have been getting confused with this group lately, because every time the group of students is different.

Anyway, yesterday we did a lot of listening during the class. We listened to some telephone conversations. Somebody was calling all her friends to ask them for different favours, like borrowing a suitcase, a digital camera or a car.

We have been learning how to make requests. We can do it in different ways, depending on who we are talking to. The way we make a request may be more or less formal. We can say:

Can you....?
Is it OK if I...?
Could you...?
Do you mind if I...?
Would you mind if I ...?
Would it be OK if...?
Would you mind letting me...?
I wonder is I could...
I was wondering if you´d mind ...

We can also ask somebody else to request something from another person for us. In this case we would be reporting a request.

Could you ask Jeff if I could borrow his helmet?

Could you ask Jeff to pick me up at 5:00 p.m.?


Or we ask somebody to give a message for us

Could you please tell Jeff that I am unable to go to the party?

Or ask somebody a question through somebody else:

Could you please ask Jeff what kind of oil he wants me to buy?

Notice the word that is not in bold in each sentence. Those are different ways to introduce different types of clauses.

For homework

Make 10 questions like the ones above. Make sure you use all the different types of questions you see in the example.

Homework for next Monday

Write a paragraph about your childhood: try to use all the past tenses we have studied.

Example

I went to school for the first time when I was five years old and learned how to read and write. It was a small private school in the neighborhood for both boys and girls. My parents were planning to send me the year after  to the nun school where my grandmother had studied but at the end I was not admitted so I stayed at home for the whole year playing on my own. It was a most unusual year but I loved it.

Today students answered a few more How to questions, we also repeated one they had answered last Monday and I was pleased to see they could remember all the terms that were required to do it clearly.

We listened to two different stories, one about an accident when some workers were digging a tunnel for a new underground line and another one about 3 children who had disppeared and had been found well 3 days later. Students had to write questions for some given answers and correct some mistaken sentences about the first listening.

This is a link to a Miami newspaper. Check the world news, find one that you find interesting. Tell us about it. You need to open the news menu and click on world.

Every week is different. Yesterday Edu and Manuel were in class. Edu read his story: it was about Arquimedes, quite interesting.

We did Ex. 2 on page 28, New Headway. It was a bit complicated but quite intersting: students had to connect 3 or 4 sentences and make them into one, changing the verb tenses appropriately.

We were also talking about news and learning ways to react to news.

For the students that did not come yesterday:

You may search for an interesting piece of news and tell us about it in the next lesson. To make it easier for yourself you can try to find it in a digital newspaper in English. Yesterday we were reading about the mayor of Toronto.

I am a bit confused, I thought I had published those exercises yesterday but now I don´t see them.
I apologize. I only published them for the morning group.

I see that it has been a while since I wrote anything here. Anyway, I´m glad I had 4 students yesterday. I must say that it has been a little chaotic lately. I was sick, Cristina was sick, Edu had a lot of exams...

Monday we started working on a new unit. The main grammar point is the past tenses. I am sure you have studied those tenses before, but every time you do it you should refine your use of them a little further.

We are studying the Past Simple, the Past Continuous and the Past Perfect. If we tell a story that happened to us in the past we´ll probably need to use all of them. 

Here is the exercise you need to complete for homework:

Complete the sentences for situations in the past. Decide which tense you need to use.

1. Yesterday, a plumber (come)  to our house.normal narrative past form → simple past

2. He (have)  to repair our washing machine that (break)  down a few days before.1st space: normal narrative past form → simple past|2nd space: looking back to something that had happened earlier → past perfect simple

3. Before he (ring)  at my door, he (look)  for a parking space for about ten minutes.1st space: normal narrative past form → simple past|2nd space: looking back to something that had happened earlier → past perfect simple

4. While the plumber (repair)  the washing machine, I (watch)  the news.simultaneous actions → past progressive

5. Suddenly, I (realise)  that they (show)  our street on TV.second action was already taking place when the first action began|1st space → simple past|2nd space: past progressive

6. The reporter (say)  that a car (crash)  into a stop sign just before reaching the crossroads.1st space: normal narrative form → simple past (say is generally only used in the simple form)|2nd space: looking back to something that had happened earlier → past perfect simple

7. While I (listen)  carefully to what (happen) , someone (knock)  at my door.1st space: emphasising the action's progression → past progressive|2nd space: looking back to something that had happened earlier → past perfect simple|3rd space: shorter action that started while another action was already taking place → simple past (past progressive would sound as if the person had been knocking on the door the whole time)

8. I (open)  the door and (see)  a police officer standing there.normal narrative past form → simple past

9. He (ask)  for the plumber.normal narrative past form → simple past

10.  As it (turn)  out, it (be)  our plumber’s car that (roll)  down the street.1st space: normal narrative past form → simple past|2nd space: condition in the past (after all, it was still his car) → simple past|3rd space: looking back to something that had happened earlier → past perfect simple

11.  In his haste, the plumber (forget)  to set the handbrake.looking back to something that had happened earlier → past perfect simple

You may need to use the Past Perfect Continuous too.

And some more:

1) We (walk) _______ _______ by the bakery when the smell of fresh cinnamon 

 rolls (reach) ____________ our noses. 

2) Dr. Lee (treat) _______ ________ her patient when she (get) ________ a 

 signal from her pager. 

3) Annie and Lilly (climb) _______ _______ trees when Annie (fall) 

____________ and (break) ________ her arm. 

4) While Christopher (dig) _______ _______ a hole in the sand, a 

crab (crawl) ____________ out. 

5) They (sit) _______ _______ on the park bench when the fountain suddenly (light) 

____________ up. 

6) David (ride) _______ _______ his motorcycle on the dirt road when it (hit) 

 ________ a dangerous bump. 

7) Mr. Walker (earn) _______ _______ more than anyone else in his division when 

 he (retire)__________ last year. 

8) The lost dog (wear) _______ _______ his collar when the children (find) 

 ____________ him. 

9) Marcella (hope) _______ _______ to buy a yacht; instead she (buy) __________a 

 small fishing boat. 

10) Nick (water) _______ _______ the plants in the garden when a groundhog 

You may also make a list of any words that are new for you.

And the fairy tale, don´t forget the fairy tale¡

Yesterday  we started the class reviewing "be used to" and "get used to"by answering some questions. Then students had to tell a story they had read and a classmate had to retell it.

 Later we were listening to a recording of some news: some new words and expressions we should remember from it are: get in touch, shelter, trapped, break in the system, rescue, ordinary clothes (or something else)

Enjoy your free time.