lunes, 23 de agosto de 2021

8.7.- Past continuous vs past simple and Writing an article

Past Simple vs past continuous introductory video






Past continuous vs past simple online exercise

https://www.perfect-english-grammar.com/past-simple-past-continuous-exercise-1.html


The Photographers' Gallery in London video


How to write an article

WHAT IS AN ARTICLE?

An article is a text that expresses your opinion and knowledge about something. It should be an entertaining text that gets the readers attention and informs them.

 

THE STRUCTURE OF AN ARTICLE IS SIMPLE:

  • Title
  • Introduction
  • Description (develop your idea)
  • Recommendation and ending

 

WHAT DO YOU NEED TO DO?

The 2020 version of the B1 Preliminary involves writing two texts of 100 words. You need to write an email, and then either an article or a stroy. You have the choice between the two, do not write both of them. For more information on how to write an article, see this post.

 

The examiners are looking at the following criteria:

  1. Content

All of the content in the writing should be aimed at answering the question. It should be easy to understand and also take into account who is reading it. E.g. if it is a letter to a friends, it must be informal and familiar.

  1. Organisation

The organisation aspect of the evaluation refers to how clearly you present your ideas. If it is a letter, it must resemble a letter. You need to do it with paragraphs, the paragraphs must not be too short and they need to be set into separate topics. If you write a story it can be all in one paragraph but it needs to include a beginning, middle and end.

  1. Language

This part of the assessment focuses on the use of vocabulary and grammar. You need to show flexibility in their use and also include cohesive devices (X5) such as because, as, but, however, for example, like, and, in addition etc. To get a good grade in this part your grammar and vocabulary need to be accurate, appropriate and easy to understand.

  1. Communicative achievement

They are looking at communication of ideas; it must be clear, relevant to the question and the target reader, use good simple language with some complex grammar.

 

For some simple ideas on how to improve your writing, see 5 Simple Ways to Improve your Written English

 

Structure of an article:

Separate each part into a separate paragraph.

 

Beginning:

Engage the reader and make them want to read more, you can begin with a question or a general opinion

Middle:

State your main points and relate them to personal experiences and opinions

Ending:

Summarize your main points but make an overall point to make the reader think they have learned something from reading the article

 

Suggested grammar structures:

Impersonal passive: It is said that HBO makes the best movies in the world.

Modal verbs: It might be a good idea to take your time.

Conditionals: If I were you, I would watch it at the cinema.

Relative clauses: I know someone who lives in that area.

Wish: I wish I could eat chocolate every day.


Useful language: Use these key phrases to answer the questions in the task

 

Involving the reader

  • Have you ever thought about…?
  • How would you feel if …?
  • What would you think of…?
  • Are you one of those people who …?
  • If the answer is …, you should….
  • What do you reckon to …?
  • What would live be like if…
  • Just think for a moment…
  • Just imagine…

 

Try to use extreme adjectives instead of intensifiers

  • Very good = awesome, excellent, fantastic
  • Very bad = awful, terrible, disturbing

 

Making the article lively and interesting (use adverbs)

  • importantly
  • surprisingly
  • worryingly 
  • the most amazing 
  • absolutely
  • suddenly
  • amazingly
  • fantastically
  • frighteningly

 

Developing your points

  • Another advantage of …
  • On top of all that…
  • What is more, …
  • Above all,,,
  • The reason I think this is…
  • The reason I feel this way is…
  • On top of that, …
  • Let’s start with …

 

Giving your own opinion

  • In my opinion, …
  • In my eyes, …
  • To my mind, …
  • As far as I am concerned, …
  • Speaking personally, …
  • From my point of view, …
  • As for me / As to me, …
  • My view / opinion / belief / impression / conviction is that …
  • I hold the view that …
  • I would say that …
  • It seems to me that …
  • I am of the opinion that …
  • My impression is that …
  • I am under the impression that …
  • It is my impression that …
  • I have the feeling that …
  • My own feeling on the subject is that …
  • I have no doubt that …
  • I am sure / I am certain that …
  • I think / consider / find / feel / believe / suppose / presume / assume / reckon that …
  • I hold the opinion that …
  • I dare say that …
  • I guess that …
  • I bet that ….
  • I gather that …
  • It goes without saying that …

 

Justifying opinions

To begin, you can use these basic (B1) phrases to justify an opinion in English:

  • because…
  • the reason is…
  • the reason I believe that is…
  • the facts suggest…
  • the evidence shows…
  • taking into account what I have seen…

 

Making recommendations and suggestions:

  • It would be a good idea to…
  • Wouldn’t it be better to…?
  • Why don’t we…?
  • What about… ?
  • How about… ?
  • Shouldn’t we… ?
  • Let’s consider…
  • Why not… ?
Source: https://www.intercambioidiomasonline.com/2019/09/02/b1-preliminary-how-to-write-an-article/

Exercises on page 68

8.6.- Speaking part 4

Introductory video about likes and dislikes






Individual online exercise

Exercises on page 67


Conversation video about expressing preferences










Online game about prefer, would prefer and would rather

https://test-english.com/grammar-points/b1-b2/would-rather-would-prefer/2/


Vocabulary about holiday activities

My summer vacation video

Semi-restricted written and oral practice

1.- Write an interview of 5 questions for a classmate about his or her holiday-activity preferences using a different structure in each question and collect the answers.


2.- Write your interview answers in third singular person and in direct speech.


Individual online exercise about preferences

https://test-english.com/grammar-points/b1-b2/would-rather-would-prefer/3/




8.5.- Listening about best places to go for holidays

 Introductory video



Exercises on page 66

viernes, 6 de agosto de 2021

8.2.- Reading exam task

London city tour video


Exam task on page 63


Video about the Tower Bridge in London


Speaking exercise 6 on page 63


8.1.- Travelling ways

Brainstorming about the different means of transport that students know classified into air, land, sea and rail


 Introductory video





At the airport introductory conversation video



Exercises on page 62




Collocations Verb + Preposition

I go to school by bus.
I travel to Mexico city by plane.
travel
work
go         + by
tour 

I go to school in my car.
The book is in my car.
go         + in/on + a/the/my
be

When you say "I'm going by bus/car." with no article, you mean "bus/car" as a method/means/mode of transportation not as a vehicle. If you mean to refer to a vehicle, you need an article (or other determiner) and a different preposition depending on the type of vehicle: on a bus, in my car, etc., except on foot.

Prepositions with the means of transportation online exercise

https://www.englishexercises.org/makeagame/viewgame.asp?id=9014#a

8.7.- Past continuous vs past simple and Writing an article

Past Simple vs past continuous introductory video Past continuous vs past simple online exercise https://www.perfect-english-grammar.com/pas...