Futures!

We've been revising the future tenses in class. Here's a little bit more practice:

Future simple: WILL + Verb (4 exercises, 3 tests)

BE GOING TO + Verb (5 exercises, 3 tests)

Future continuous: WILL BE + Verb -ing (1 exercise)

Future perfect: WILL HAVE + Verb -ed/3rd column (1 exercise)

Future mix: WILL, BE GOING TO, present simple, present continuous (1 exercise)

Relative clauses

Practise the relative clauses here:

• some theory
• some practise

Perfect tenses

Practise the present perfect simple and the present perfect continuous.

Can you tell the difference between

• present perfect simple and present perfect continuous?
• past simple and present perfect?

With these exercises you will!

Fashion

What to wear? That's the question every morning, because your look says a lot about you. Read this interesting text about different looks.

When you buy clothes, you should take into account the shape of your body - not all clothes will look good on you!This personalised style rule generator will tell you what suits you best.

If that's not enough, this style guide will give you some basic rules to look even better.

Finally, decide whether you are a fashion fan or a fashion slave.

End with this quiz and check your vocabulary: You are what you wear.

Revision of past tenses

Visit these websites and do the exercises to start revising for the upcoming exam...

• Past simple
• Past continuous
• Past perfect
• used to
• difference between past simple and past continuous
• difference between past simple and past perfect

Vanuatu

Today we read about Vanuatu and the Pentecost leap. Quite interesting, isn't it? Visit the country's website here and enjoy the white sandy beaches with tourquoise waters, the lush vegetation and great volcanoes.

Read some of the information and answer some questions:

- how many islands are there in the archipelago?

- how many people live there?

- how many languages do they speak there?

- what's the capital city?

- what's the weather like?

Be prepared to comment anything you find curious/interesting/funny in class.

More verbs

If you feel you need to practice the present simple and the present continuous a little bit more, try these:

• present simple - explanation + 8 exercises
• present continuous - explanation + 5 exercises
• difference between them both - explanation + 12 exercises + 3 tests
  

Conditionals

Now that the exams are round the corner, and since we didn't have much time to practice the conditional sentences, I recommend that you do a few more exercises online:

• Conditional Sentences / If-Clauses Type I, II and III Some exercises and tests


• Conditional sentences - if A long list of exercises.

And a little joke:

If you can start the day without caffeine or pep pills,
If you can be cheerful, ignoring aches and pains,
If you can resist complaining and boring people with your troubles,
If you can eat the same food everyday and be grateful for it,
If you can understand when loved ones are too busy to give you time,
If you can overlook when people take things out on you when, through no fault of yours, something goes wrong,
If you can take criticism and blame without resentment,
If you can face the world without lies and deceit,
If you can conquer tension without medical help,
If you can relax without liquor,
If you can sleep without the aid of drugs,
THEN YOU ARE PROBABLY THE FAMILY DOG!

More practice for the exam

Apart from the exercises on passive you'll find in the April posts, here come a few more:

• 10 exercises at English Corner
• 30 more exercises at EGO4U

And practise the irregular verbs here or here.

Nasubi

In Unit 6 we read about Nasubi, a Japanese comedian who spent 15 months in an appartment, trying to win 1 million yen in order to get out. During all this time, TV cameras broadcast everything he did. Here are some more facts about him and the TV show:

• he didn't know what kind of show he was in, or that he was watched by thousands of people every day.


• he was completely naked all the time. The TV show put an eggplant on screen to cover his parts (Nasubi means eggplant in Japanese).


• it took him two weeks to win some food. The first thing he ate was some jelly.


• it took him eight months to win some toilet paper.


• he won some rice, but he had no cooking utensils.


• he sent out between 3000 and 8000 postcards a month.


• he was allowed a holiday at the beach in September.


• every time he won something, he danced and sang an invented song in front of the cameras.


• after he won the contest, he had to complete a second part of it in Korea.

Read more about him here: http://www.quirkyjapan.or.tv/nasubi.html. You will see the things he won, and also the things he never won!

Here you can see photos of Nasubi in action (the site is in Japanese. Follow the links on the left).

Modal verbs

Created by Crazyprofile.com

Now that we're practising modal verbs, here's a list of some extra exercises that you can (or rather you should) do:

• Modal verbs at the Grammar Aquarium
• A grammar explanation with 4 exercises.
• Another short explanation with 3 exercises.

Dictation

Here is the correction to today's dictation:

Riding for the Disabled is an organization which takes volunteers to help run holidays for disabled children and adults. You need to be over eighteen ans experience is useful but not essential. You'll get free accommodation and they pay basic living expenses.

Here are the other NGOs mentioned in the text:

WWOOF
CBA
Earthwatch

Futures

Some exercises on the use of the future:

http://www.english-4u.de/future_tense.htm
http://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/grammar/future-mix
http://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/grammar/future-1-progressive
http://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/grammar/future-2-simple

Relative sentences

Practice the relative sentences:

http://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/grammar/relative-clauses#exercises (grammar explanation with exercises and tests)
http://wwwedu.ge.ch/cptic/prospective/projets/anglais/exercises/#int (4 exercises)
http://www.angelfire.com/wi3/englishcorner/grammar/grammar.html#interact (11 exercises)

Prepare the term exam

The exams are coming. Do you want some extra practice? For a start, try this:

http://www.oup.com/elt/global/products/stepstosuccess/?cc=es

for grammar and vocabulary in relation with the textbook Steps to Success

http://www.englishpage.com/irregularverbs/irregularverbs.html
http://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en/exercises_list/verbs.htm

to practice the irregular verbs (and learn them once and for all!)