Numbers

Let's review numbers in English here

Let's practice listening to English numbers here

Let's practice writing numbers here

More exercises:

http://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/vocabulary/numbers/exercises

The date

http://www.agendaweb.org/vocabulary/numbers.html

The hundreds

http://www.nonstopenglish.com/allexercises/vocabulary/vocabulary-numbers.asp

Learn easily with a game!

English Rhythm

Let's have a look at this presentation: Click here

And now let's practice this "cumulative rhyme" The House that Jack Built

Rhythm

View more documents from TeresaLSoto.

Gender Differences

There is nothing like gender differences to have us all involved in a conversation. Let´s have a look at the following materials.

Reading

Let's do the following reading. We will practice pronunciation and will discuss about it. Just click here

We will do the same with the following collection of "facts" here

Watching

Watch the following video and describe your impressions.




Listening

Here's an interesting video

Pronunciation of the -d/-ed suffix (past tense)

Formation of the past tense & past participle

The past tense and the past participle of the verbs in English can be formed in 2 different ways:

a) Regular verbs add the suffix -ed (-d when the verb ends with "e") to the infinitive: for example, "talk" (infinitive) = "talked" (past), or "decide" (infinitive) = "decided" (past)

b) Irregular verbs change the infinitive form, there is not a rule to understand the formation here.

Pronunciation of the -d/-ed suffix

The most complicated part of this suffix is its pronunciation. We can find 3 types of pronunciation, according to the pronunciation of the last sound of the infinitive:

1) Last sound of the verb in the infinitive is VOICELESS (– p – k – s – ch – sh – f – x – h):
-d/-ed = [t]

2) Last sound of the verb in infinitive is VOICED (– l – v – n – m – r – b – v – g – w – y – z):
-d/-ed = [d]

3) Last sound of the verb in the infinitive is /d/ or /t/:
-d/-ed = [id]

Listen to a couple of videos here






PRACTICE

1) Take a piece of paper and write as many examples as possible to show the 3 different pronunciations (results at the bottom of the post)

2) Click here if you would like to practice identifying the pronunciation of the -d/-ed suffix

3) Click here to further practice

4) Read the following text (check unknown words first):

OUR ENCHANTED ANNIVERSARY EVENING

A) It happened to be our anniversary when we traveled to Barcelona, so my wife Doris and I planned a special evening out. I purchased a beautiful bouquet of red roses that smelled wonderful and a black pearl necklace that sparkled in the moonlight. I beamed as I presented them to Doris. She pinned a rose to her sequined lapel. Her auburn hair shimmered in the sunset’s bronzed glow. I called a checkered taxi and we passed many highlighted sights before we arrived in front of the restaurant. The waiter seated us as soon as we walked into the neon-signed restaurant. I noticed a secluded table. (22 verbs)

B) We positioned ourselves near an opened window and prepared to eat. My wife Doris looked at the selections listed on the menu and decided to have an appetizer. I picked the mushroom soup. A few minutes later the waiter returned. “What would you like to have?”, he asked. Doris ordered some steamed shrimp and broiled trout. I requested a tossed Cesar salad with a grilled steak and a baked potato. While we dined, we chatted and sipped a glass of white wine. Doris wolfed down her food but I savored the meal and chewed my steak slowly. When she finished, she munched on some pretzels. She soon gobbled up all the pretzels in the small bowl placed on the table. Later, we nibbled on a slice of decorated cheesecake as we talked. I wanted some coffee with my dessert. Doris preferred to drink iced tea. After the salted pretzels, Doris needed to drink some water. The waiter finally handed me the bill and I offered him a tip. We tipped him 15% of the totaled charges. He thanked us and smiled as we exited the restaurant. (40 verbs)

C) Outside the now closed restaurant, we strolled along the cobble-stoned street, stopped and laughed when we spotted a trained puppy that jumped and played with its owner. We then relaxed and watched the sunset from a padded park bench as the boats in the harbor rocked, pitched and bobbed on the water. Next, we watched a romantic movie at a new cinema that interested us. The aged couple in the movie argued and chased each other as they sailed down an unnamed river that tumbled and surged through rapids which boiled around jagged rocks. Frequently they were trapped and scared. When the colorized movie ended the two discovered that they really loved each other. Finally, at the disco, we danced, swayed to the music and hugged each other often. Whenever I kissed Doris she blushed and giggled. Both of us enjoyed our enchanted evening out together. We hope you liked our story. (41 verbs)

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Results:
1) asked
baked
brushed
cooked
cracked
crashed
danced (da:ns) + t
dressed
dropped
escaped
finished
fixed
guessed
helped
hoped
hiked
joked
jumped
knocked
kissed
laughed (læf) + t
locked
looked
missed
mixed
packed
passed
picked
pressed
pushed
pronounced
relaxed
slipped
smoked
stopped
shopped
talked
typed
walked
washed
watched
worked

2) advised (ad’vaiz) + d
agreed
allowed
answered
appeared
arrived
believed
belonged
burned
called
carried
changed
cleaned
closed
covered
cried
damaged
described
died
dried
earned
encouraged
enjoyed
entered
explained
explored
filled
followed
happened
interviewed
imagined
jailed
killed
listened
lived
loved
measured
moved
opened
planned
played
performed
pulled
realized
remembered
rained
repaired
saved
shared
shaved
showed
signed
slammed
stayed
snowed
studied
tried
traveled
turned
used
welcomed
whispered
worried
yawned

3) attended
arrested
collected
contacted
counted
decided
defended
demanded
divided
ended
expanded
expected
exported
flooded
graduated
hated
hunted
included
invited
invented
landed
needed
painted
planted
printed
presented
pretended
protected
provided
rented
repeated
reported
respected
rested
scolded
skated
started
shouted
treated
visited
waited
wanted
wasted

Pronunciation of the plural suffix -s/-es

PLURAL (& 3rd Person Singular & Saxon Genitive) PRONUNCIATION RULES

There are 3 possible pronunciations for the plural suffix -s/-es, whether it be functioning as a plural (cats), 3rd person singular simple present (walks) or Saxon Genitive (Phoebe's):

[S] [Z] [IZ]

I. The plural is pronounced [S] after the following VOICELESS sounds:
A. [p] ⇒ cups D. [f] ⇒ cliff
B. [t] ⇒ hats E. [θ] ⇒ myths
C. [k] ⇒ cooks
II. The plural is pronounced [Z] after the following VOICED sounds:
A. [b] ⇒ crabs F. [n] ⇒ fans
B. [d] ⇒ cards G. [ŋ] ⇒ kings
C. [g] ⇒ rugs H. [l ] ⇒ deals
D. [v] ⇒ gloves I. [r] ⇒ tears
E. [m] ⇒ plums J. [ð] ⇒ clothes
III. The plural is pronounced [IZ] after the following sounds:
A. [s] ⇒ races D. [ʒ ] ⇒ garage
B. [z] ⇒ pauses E. [ʧ ] ⇒ churches
C. [ʃ ] ⇒ dishes F. [ʤ ] ⇒ ages, judges

FURTHER EXPLANATION

Now, click here to read a more complete explanation on the formation of the plural ending that takes into account spelling rules.



LISTEN TO AN EXPLANATION
First, let´s listen to this explanation in a video:





PRACTICE

1. Practice the spelling here

2. Practice the spelling of compound nouns here

3. Practice the pronunciation of the plural here

Building up a story: Friends

In this activity we are going to divide the class in different groups. Each group will watch one part of a TV episode. The episode corresponds with the 1st season of the TV series "Friends", episode 4.

GROUP A will watch this part of the episode (part 1):

here

GROUP B will watch this part of the episode (part 2):

here

GROUP C will watch this part of the episode (part 3):

here

PRACTICE: Vowels

You can review the pronunciation of American vowels here

http://www.uiowa.edu/~acadtech/phonetics/english/frameset.html

Practice your listening here:

http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/pronunciation/mp3/tae_pronunciation1.mp3

SESSION NO. 3: Pronunciation of vowels (Minimal Pairs)

In English, it is very important to pronounce vowels correctly. English has an extensive vocabulary, but many words are monosyllabic. If we don't pronounce vowels correctly, we risk making a mistake in the meaning we want to infer. A minimal pair is a pair of words which have different meanings, but their pronunciation is almost the same: the only difference (minimal) is one sound.

Beat and bit are examples of minimal pairs.

Can you come up with more examples?

..................

Let´s practice minimal pairs in English here

SESSION NO. 3: Evaluating a cell phone

In this activity we are going to make decisions, share with our peers, and prepare a short presentation on the decision we have made. We will work in groups. Follow the instructions.

...................

Adam is a very busy businessman. He travels Monday through Friday to supervise different departments of his company (an international company) throughout the world. He is always on the move and needs to keep in touch with his central office for various reasons. He also needs to meet up with clients to discuss various details. On the weekends, however, Adam likes to spend time with his family. He likes outdoor activities, trekking and mushroom hunting. He likes to spend time with his little children.

....................

Adam needs to buy a cell phone, and his company gives him 3 choices: iPhone, Nokia N97 and Samsung Omnia.

...................

Pay attention to all of the specifications of these 3 types of terminals and discuss, in your group, which of the three would suit Adam's needs better. You will need to write some notes on your decision and present them to the rest of the class. Choose a "speaker" to speak in public.

....................

At home, write a list of words related with a cell phone and send them in the form of a list through the "comments" area in this blog post.

SESSION NO. 1: Homework

You can further practice at home by working on these links:

BBC Learning English .- Pronunciation Tips

Minimal pairs exercises here

"Sheep or ship" here

SESSION NO. 1: Learning Phonetic Symbols

English does not have a one-to-one relationship between spelling and sounds. That is why it is necessary to learn, if only a little bit, about phonetic symbols. With the following games you will learn some of them in an easy way.

Click here

SESSION NO. 1: Test your perception

The first thing we are going to do is test our perception of the English sounds. If we can´t distinguish English vowels, or English consonants, or English intonation, it will be difficult to improve our pronunciation.

First, take a Perception of English Test here