28 marzo, 2008

Key Cloze Tests

Key Lost Luggage
16. some 17.a 18. Whilst 19.less 20. themselves 21. Into 22. Again 23.or 24. From 25.the 26. back 27.their 28. after 29. One 30. Which.
key Memories
1 C of 2 D walking 3 A memorable 4 B having 5 C slipped 6 A recall
Key Bad weather
1 whether 2 although 3 such 4 otherwise 5 until 6 once 7 because 8 as 9 nevertheless 10 much

Key Past Tense Exercises

Unit 11
11.1
cleaned. 2. Opened 3. Started, finished 4. Wanted 5. Happened
6. rained 7. Enjoyed, stayed 8. Died.
11.2
1 got 2 saw 3 played 4 paid 5 visited 6 bought 7 went 8 thought
9 copied 10 knew 11 put 12 spoke
11.3
1 flew 2 got 3 had 4 left 5 drove 6 got 7 parked 8 walked
9 checked 10 had 11 waited 12 departed 13 arrived 14 took
11.4
2 she lost her keys last week.
3 she met her friends yesterday evening
4 yesterday I bought two newspapers
5 last Sunday we went to the cinema
6 yesterday I ate an orange
7 this morning he had a shower
8 they came to see us last Friday
Unit 12
12.1
didn’t work
didn’t go
didn’t have
didn’t do
12.2
2. did you enjoy...?
3. did you have...?
4. did you finish...?
did you sleep...?
12.3
2. got up or didn’t get up
3. had or didn’t have
4. bought or didn’t buy
5. ate or didn’t eat
went or didn’t go
12.4
2. did you arrive?
3. did you win?
4. did you go?
5. did it cost?
did you go to bed late?
did you have a good time?
Did it break?
12.5
2. bought 3.did it rain yesterday? 4. Didn’t stay 5. Opened
6. I didn’t have time 7. How did you do that? 8. I didn’t know about it.

The past tense of BE and HAVE
Reporter: Where were you? And where was the monster?
Henry: I was here. It was a great shock. It wasn’t very nice.
R: What was the monster like?
H: IT was a very large animal. It had a large body, but it had a small head. Its eyes were blue and round. It had teeth, but they weren’t very big. It didn’t have any ears.
H: I didn’t have my camera with me. And it was very quick.
The simple past tense (positive and negative)
He didn’t repair a broken window.
He didn’t book a holiday
He wrote to the bank
He didn’t phone the sports club
He paid the electricity bill
He tidied the garage
He didn’t paint the gate
He didn’t clean the windows
The simple past tense (positive)
stopped, got. 2. had 3.held 4. threw, smashed 5. took, put
6. happened, stood, watched 7. jumped, drove 8. run, called.
The simple past tense (questions)
1 Why did she disappear?
2 did she leave the country?
3 How did she travel?
4 did her friends hide her?
5 What did she do in all that time?
6 Did she read the stories about her in the newspapers?
7 Why did she come home?
8 did her husband find her?

How to get help
B1 gave, felt, went, said, took, got.
Secret message: don’t worry, be happy.
2 grammar: Pas tense
1 felt 2 gave 3 was 4 didn’t 5 did 6 gave 7 said
B2 unscramble the sentences and answer the questions.
I felt angry with my brother
Tim went out with my friend. Yes, she did.
My sister said I was fat. No, she didn’t.
He gave the photo to my girlfriend. No, he didn’t.
He got upset with his brother. Yes, he did.
Grammar practice: past tense
Say- said
Give- gave
Feel- felt
Get-got

27 marzo, 2008

e-mail and text messaging

Hi fourths,
on Tuesday we wre talking about text message language. Read this issue, you may find it interesting.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3125891.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/1060952.stm

24 marzo, 2008

Letters of application

2.
place W.W. post /position, advertising G advertised, year G years, liverpool P Liverpool, at G in, worked G working, highfield P Highfield, was G have been, wasted W.W. spent, interested extremely W.O. extremely interested, fuly S fully, the all W.O. all the, atend S attend, hear G hearing.
Paragraph plan
P1 Reason for writing: applying for a teaching post.
P2 Qualifications: degree in Sports Science, 2 years as a swimming coach, teaching assistant in the P.E. department.
P3 Qualities and skills: patient and encouraging.
P4 Closing Remarks: available for an interview.
3.
Information in CV that has not been included in the letter: date of birth , education from 1985- 1992, GCSE qualifications, interests and references.
Opening remarks: I’m writing with regard to your advertisement for...
Closing remarks: I would appreciate a reply at your earliest convenience.
4. (Suggested answers)
Teacher: patient, alert, open-minded, dedicated, organised, imaginative, creative, knowledgeable, kind, confident, good communication skills, sense of humour, polite, conscientious, tolerant.
Pharmacist: alert, skilful, dedicated, organised, logical, able to cope in a crisis, able to work under pressure, polite, conscientious.
Doctor: patient, alert, skilful, dedicated, organised, approachable, understanding, calm, knowledgeable, kind, able to cope in a crisis, good communication skills, able to work under pressure, polite, conscientious.
Reporter: patient, alert, open-minded, approachable, calm, imaginative, knowledgeable, confident, good communication skills, able to cope in a crisis, able to work under pressure.
Waitress: patient, alert, organised, approachable, calm, kind, good communication skills, able to cope in a crisis, able to work under pressure, sense of humour, polite, conscientious.
Computer Programmer: patient, skilful, organised, logical, knowledgeable, able to work under pressure, conscientious.
Chef: alert, skilful, dedicated, organised, imaginative, creative, knowledgeable, able to cope in a crisis, able to work under pressure, conscientious.
Nurse: patient, alert, skilful, dedicated, organised, approachable, understanding, calm, knowledgeable, kind, able to cope in a crisis, able to work under pressure, polite, conscientious.

12 marzo, 2008

cockney

Answers
Activity 1
a became important or well-known
b give prominence, rise to prominence
c the criminals in a particular community
d 1 underdog: a person, team or group that seems least likely to win a game, competition, election etc
2 undergrowth: small thick bushes that cover the ground, especially between larger trees in a forest
3 underling: an insulting word for someone who is less important or has lower status in an organization than someone else
4 understudy: an actor whose job is to learn someone else’s part in a play so that they can perform if that person is ill
5 undertaker: someone whose job is to make arrangements for funerals
e example answers
underestimate, undergo, underground, underline, undermine, underscore, undertake, underwear

Activity 2
a impossible to understand
b a person who listens to other people’s conversations without them knowing that the person is listening
c to eavesdrop is deliberate, to overhear is accidental
d a person who is kept in a prison, mental hospital, or other institution
e Warder is the odd one out. A warder is a person who works in the prison to guard the prisoners. All the other words are different words for inmate.

Activity 3
a a friend
b buddy
c to steal something
d to squeeze someone’s skin between your thumb and finger so that it hurts them; if shoes or clothes pinch, they hurt you because they fit too tightly; to arrest someone
e to do something at a pinch: to do something that is necessary and you have no choice;
to feel the pinch: to have less money than you need
f modern and fashionable
g feeling awake and thinking clearly

Activity 4
I got back to my house, sat down in my favourite chair and I read my book for a while. Then, just as I was going up thestairs to put my suit on because I was going for a few beers, the phone rang. It was my wife asking me to make some
supper for the kids.

08 marzo, 2008

Six thousand women missing from top jobs

KEY
1 Pre-reading 1
4. 6,000 women are needed to make an equal male-female balance.
2 Pre-reading 2
Britain
3 Key words
1. elected chambers
2. amalgamated
3. sidelined
4. headhunters
5. glass ceiling
6. shortlists
7. thrive
8. boardrooms
9. FTSE 100

4 General understanding
1. No. It means that even if they have a nanny, successful women still find it hard to get promotion.
2. No. In some sectors there is a decline.
3. Yes, because they also need to deal with the barriers that prevent women from progressing.
4. Yes.
5. No. Of the 33,000, another 6,000 should be women.
6. Yes, 40 elections in 200 years.
7. No, it means that it would be a good idea if the political parties had some all-female lists of
candidates for election.
8. No, the pay gap between women and men gets bigger for 30-year-olds.
9. No, again, the pay gap is even bigger for part-time staff.
10. Yes, because if men could request flexible working, too, then women would not risk losing their jobs by doing so.
5 Vocabulary development 1: Lexical sets
Findings of the study (the research, our survey, the report)
Fallen, decreased (slipped, dipped)
Government, administration (politics, parliament, elected chambers, assembly, the public sector, the civil service)
Racial descriptions (non-white, black, from ethnic minorities
Private industry (boardrooms, the private sector, companies)
The law (courts, judges, the judiciary, the legal system)
6 Vocabulary development 2: Compound adjectives
a. all-women
b. non-white
c. full-time
d. low-paid
e. under-represented
f. male-dominated
Now match the compound adjectives with the nouns they described:
1.e
2.f
3 a
4 b
5 c

7 Vocabulary development 3: Metaphorical language
1. enjoy an equal voice.
2. to fish in half the talent pool.
3. slip further down the career ladder.
4. spells career death.
Now match the expressions with the meanings below:
1 c
2 d
3 a
4 b