Thursday, 13 October 2011

First session of the new season and we were able to welcome back two familiar faces to our group. We are now with six women and three men.
We talked about our summer holidays with the help of a handout 'Your Last Vacation'. We practised using the past tense in pairs and with the entire group. We also refreshed asking questions in English.
We then finished Let's Talk 2 with having a look at the self-study section for unit 16. That has allowed us a fresh start with book 3 in two weeks, on October 27.

Thursday, 24 March 2011

Our very last session of the year 2010-2011 already and it is very clear that Winter has ended too. The crocuses are everywhere and we had a first week in which we could actually go outside without a coat on.
As there were only four of us, Steven took over the session by giving an account of his 28-day trip to New Zealand last year, illustrated with a map of the country and a slide show of beautiful pictures. We will tie up the final strands of Let's Talk 2 at the beginning of next season.
I did hand out the vocabulary list with unit 16 which you can also find here. Import this list, and the other Let's talk vocabulary lists I created before, to your own account at wrts. How to create an account, import vocabulary lists and use the programme to practice and/or listen to the correct pronunciation of the words, can be found here.
Next week we will have our communal end of year dinner party at 7pm. I hope to see you all there and to see you all back alive healthy and happy in Autumn.

Thursday, 17 March 2011

We started off with discussing Paul McCartney's joke with the aid of a list of words that occur in his story. We then had some more jokes in English before we moved on to unit 16B. Next week we'll finish the unit, AND the book, by having a look at activity 2 and the self-study section on pp. 124-125.
Because the people who were not present last week were curious, we finished our session with another entertaining round of the question words game.

To finish this week's blog entry a riddle for you:

Make sure you get every single word right!

Read the following passage loudly to yourself and then scroll down to the comments for further instructions.

Now read:

This is this cat
This is is cat
This is how cat
This is to cat
This is keep cat
This is a cat
This is fool cat
This is busy cat
This is for cat
This is forty cat
This is seconds cat

Thursday, 3 March 2011

We again started the session off with the past tense but this time we focused on asking questions about the past. For some extra online exercise with that go here.
We told each other jokes in English and then continued with our books in unit 16A What's so funny?
We ended with the last installment of Cat In The Hat and read up on some facts and figures about Dr. Seuss, his books and their importance in getting children, and adults I suppose, to read.

Thursday, 24 February 2011

How was your week? How was your day? We talked about travelling by train in The Netherlands and we talked about the Christchurch earthquake. Click on the hyperlink to read about that natural disaster, to see some pictures and to watch some videos.
Today we started unit 16 on Comedy and humour with unit 16A called What's so funny? British comedian Catherine Tate explains why it is important to speak your languages:



Then we had one final presentation of a Dutch tourist site and we ended our session with the third installment of Cat In The Hat.

Thursday, 17 February 2011

Two more presentations about Dutch tourist sites to start us off. We then finished unit 15 with the self study section. I handed out the printed version of the vocabulary list to unit 15 which can also be found here. Import this list, and the other Let's talk vocabulary lists I created before, to your own account at wrts. How to create an account, import vocabulary lists and use the programme to practice and/or listen to the correct pronunciation of the words, can be found here. After a short look at the next unit on Comedy and humour, we ended our session with another installment of Cat In The Hat. For next week you can underline all the past tense verbs in the text so far.

Thursday, 10 February 2011

Today we continued identifying verbs in song lyrics with Don McLean's Vincent. We then had three short presentations about tourist sites in The Netherlands. Next week we will have three more. We finished the session with reading the first bit of Cat In The Hat.

Poor Dick and Sally. It's cold and wet and they're stuck in the house with nothing to do... until a giant cat in a hat shows up, transforming the dull day into a madcap adventure and almost wrecking the place in the process! Written by Dr. Seuss in 1957 in response to the concern that "pallid primers [with] abnormally courteous, unnaturally clean boys and girls' were leading to growing illiteracy among children, The Cat in the Hat changed the way our [American] children learn how to read.

For more information, games, history etcetera on Dr. Seuss and his books, have a look at this site Seussville.

Thursday, 3 february 2011

We looked at Yesterday and listed all the verbs in the lyrics with their infinitive and both past tenses. After that we did some listening exercises from unit 15B.
Next week each one of you is going to write up six questions and answers about a tourist site in The Netherlands. The song we will look at for past tense verbs is Vincent by Don McLean.

Thursday, 27 January 2011

We had a look at Norwegian Wood and listed all the verbs in the lyrics with their infinitive and both past tenses. We then continued with unit 15a to practice talking about the past with memories and comparing then and now.
Next week we will list all verbs of the appropriately named Yesterday.

Thursday, 20 January 2011

We ended up spending the entire session on our autobiographies which turned out to be very educational. We revised sentence order, how to say dates and, of course, the simple past tense of regular and irregular verbs. For next week, listen and read along to Norwegian Wood by The Beatles, write down all the past tense verbs you can find in the lyrics and then add the basic verb (the infinitive) and, if you feel like it, the present perfect.

For example: I once had a girl
have had had

Thursday, 13 January 2011

Once again we started our session, the first session of 2011, with updates about the group members. What did you do during the last three weeks? Did you do anything special for X-mas or for New Year's Eve? How did you celebrate? Did you go away during the holidays?
Do you have any New Year's Reolutions? Do you believe in New Year's Resolutions?
I handed out the vocabulary list for unit 14 you can also find here. You can find information on how to import this, and the other lists, to your own wrts account so you can practice your vocabulary with it in my blog entry of 2 December 2010. We finished the unit by having a look at the self-study section and we then moved on to the penultimate unit of our book, unit 15, which deals with The Past.

Thursday, 23 December 2010

Our last session before Christmas and our ninth of this winter. Time flies when you are having fun. How was 2010 for you. What was the best that happened for you? What happened that you would rather forget? After this looking back at the year that was, we continued in our book with unit 14b on art and finished it. I have added the vocabulary list to unit 14 here and I will also hand out a printed version of it after the Xmas holidays. We finished with reading the text Controversy over Czech EU art together and we talked a bit more about what is art and what isn't.

Hope you will all have a wonderful Christmas and may the new year bring you nothing but joy, good health and happiness!

Thursday, 16 december 2010

We started with having a look at the text, Rollover Accident, I handed out last week and we talked about past experiences in driving and traffic accidents. We continued talking in the past tense discussing things that happened to us in the past week or month.
We then returned to our book to work on talking about favourite pastimes and what you consider to be art.
I ended the session by handing out a text about a controversy concerning an art work. You can read and listen to the text and vocabulary here. With this article, Controversy over Czech EU art, came a homework excercise. Next week we'll discuss what you think is art and what is not.

Thursday, 9 December 2010

How was your week? Did Sinterklaas bring you presents? Any other news you would like to share?
We finished unit 13 by having a look at the self study section which you prepared at home. We could then start unit 14 about Entertainment and Art. What do you like doing in your spare time? What do you enjoy?
We ended our session with reading Who's to blame, a poem about the difficulties and inconsistencies of the English spelling. More of those can be found at the site of The English Spelling Society

Thursday, 2 December 2010

Snow in abundance on this second day of December. We talked about the weather and the problems it causes in everyday life. Does it affect you? Do you enjoy it? We also discussed Sinterklaas. Will you be celebrating it? If so, how do you celebrate?
I handed out the vocabulary lists to unit 13 City Life. It can also be found here. You can import this list, and the other Let's Talk vocabulary lists I created, to your own account at wrts. Once imported you can add your own words and use the 'extra' option to listen to the correct pronunciation. How to import lists to you own account can be seen here.
To end our session we discussed the two texts I handed out last week and we prepared our homework for next week.

Thursday, 25 November 2010

We started off with a short review of the week. We then continued with our book, unit 13. After we finished the unit, we worked on a handout about cars and transport to help compile a wordweb or theme list about transport.
Next week I'll have a vocabulary list for unit 13. We'll finish the exercises about Cars And Transport and have a look at the text I handed out called New York City Cab Driver.

Thursday, 18 November 2010

Last week we talked about visiting a doctor and the hospital. Make a wordweb to make talking about this easier. Here's a video to help you get started:



Today's session once again started off with talking in the past tense. What is good about living in a city? Why would you prefer living in a town? We also discussed two news articles from last week.
We then did the grammar game Up, Down, Left, Right which we did before with two members of the group. Can you listen and follow instructions? Can you draw?
We ended with working in our book, unit 13.

Thursday, 11 November 2010

Welcome back to everyone! What happened? What did you do? We exchanged news from the last two weeks.
Today is Remembrance Day in Britain. We read a text about war and remembrance and poppies. You can listen to that text here. If you have difficulties with the link, you can go to the site and listen to it there.
We then finally started unit 13 on City Life.

Thursday April 15, 2010

The last session of the series for this year. We started off by looking at This link which will get you to a site which has Dutch news in English. Today we read two of their articles. One on how the volcanic eruption on Iceland today has disrupted air travel in northern Europe and the other about the dune fire near Bergen aan Zee. Had you heard about these two items? What happened? What are your views?
The Dutch News site is a great way to read English to study the language instead of just catching up on the news. Just visit from time to time, read an article and, if you like, make a word web on the subject you have read about.
We finished unit 12 and and set a date to meet for a meal out together.
I posted the vocabulary of unit 12 here at wrts and will hand out a printed list as soon as possible.
Have a good summer!

Thursday April 8, 2010

As usual we started the session with talking about ourselves. What happened to you last week? How was your holiday? How is your mother? How is your health?
We then discussed what you do at home on a daily basis to help save the environment. Do you use renewable energy, for instance?


We finally closed the book on unit 11 by having a look at the self study section on pp. 114-115.
We started unit 12a Good news! on news and current events.