Κυριακή 28 Μαΐου 2023

A myth for business?

 Do you enjoy telling stories? What kinds?

How important is storytelling in your culture? 

Are storytelling traditions a thing of the past or should they be preserved for future generations?

Watch Daveed Diggs acceptance speech in Tony Awards. What do you notice about his use of a story?


FOCUS ON
When telling stories, jokes, and anecdotes, Present tenses might often be used instead of past tnses. This can help the listener experience the story as it was happening right now and to them, thus making it more engaging. 

Read the following Aboriginal fable. Change the verbs to an appropriate present tense.
Rainbow Serpent: Aboriginal Story from Australia 

One day, it started to rain. And it rained like it had never rained before. Rain fell for days and days and the world was becoming flooded with water. Two young men, Bil-bil, or the Rainbow Lorikeet brothers, had no shelter, so they came to Goorialla, the Rainbow Serpent. They asked for help sheltering from the rain. The rainbow serpent was hungry and tricked the young men, '1 have no shelter, but you can hide in my mouth. You'll be safe from the rain in there.' The young men climbed into Goorialla's mouth and he closed it shut, swallowing both men. 

He soon realized that people would notice the young men missing and come looking for them. He knew they would find their tracks leading right into his mouth. He didn't want to be caught and so decided to hide in the only place he knew he would be safe: the sky. He saw people's sadness at losing these two young men, so he decided to try and make them happy again by turning his body into big arc of beautiful colours. 

Now, just after it rains, you can see the Rainbow Serpent sharing his beautiful colours with the people on the ground as his way of saying sorry for taking those Rainbow Lorikeet brothers.

 VOCABULARY


OWN IT!
Now, using the tips we explored today, turn your childhood story into an inspirational one to promote your company's message.




Τετάρτη 24 Μαΐου 2023

A natural or a hard worker?

 What have the masters achieved? To what extent are their achievements due to natural talent or hard work in your opinion? 


 

So how did Judith become so good ____chess?
She had a long-term commitment _____ becoming the best.
So, from a very early age, she focused ____ the game and pracised.
Where do Stephen's amazing abilities stem ___?
Already as a child, he had a passion ____ drawing.

Practice prepositions

https://create.kahoot.it/share/prepositions-advanced/20ca120f-311c-4ae7-a6f9-30c426e8afb5


Circle all the /dj/, /tj/ and /sh/ sounds in the tongue twisters (1-8). 
Practise saying the tongue twisters in pairs. 

1. I'm sure 1 saw Sheila selling seashells on the seashore, but I can't be sure she sold seashore shells. 

2. Julia, George, Jean and Joan joyfully jumped down the jagged hill. 

3. Chester the Cheetah chewed a chunk of cheap cheddar cheese. 

4. Fresh fried fish, 
Fish fresh fried, 
Fried fish fresh, 
Fish fried fresh. 

5. If a dog chooses to chew shoes, whose shoes does he choose to chew? 

6. Jenny just got jeans and a jacket for graduation in June or July. 

7. Jump then touch your chin, jaw and cheek. 
Jump then touch your jaw, cheek and chin. Jump then touch your cheek, chin and jaw. 

8. She saw Shirley's shoes on the sofa, but was she so sure she saw Shirley's shoes on the sofa? 

B Discuss the questions in pairs.
1. Which of these sounds exist in your language?
2. Which of these tongue twisters did you find the most challenging? Why? 
3. Did you find any of these tongue twisters easy? Which, and why? 

YOUR TURN


Find a person you know for being a master in his domain (business, sports, etc). Prepare to talk about them using the words from the exercise above and the vocabulary of the lesson.

Τετάρτη 17 Μαΐου 2023

It must have been invented by...

 When and where do you think there were invented?

brain surgery, concrete, eye make-up, water sanitation systems

Read the text and check your predictions


Which information did you find the most surprising? 

How certain is it that the sentences are true? 
Write certainly true (CT), possibly true (PT) or certainly not true (NT). 
1 Egyptians invented make-up.  
2 Both men and women in ancient Egypt wore make-up. 
3. Our ancestors knew about bacteria. 
4. It was a bad idea to perform brain surgery.
5. Roman concrete was good as modern concrete. 
6. Roman concrete was very strong. 
7 The people in the Indus valley were safe from dangerous diseases. 

Find the sentences in the text that told you the answers to Exercise 3. Match the modal structures with their meaning (1-4). Then read the Grammar box to check. 
1 It's very probable or certain that something happened 
2 It's quite possible that something happened. 
3 It's impossible that something happened. 
4 It was wrong to do something. 

GRAMMAR Speculating about the past 
You can talk about possibility and certainty in the X past using the structure: modal verb have X past participle
  • Use must have if it's very probable or certain that something happened. 
Some of these operations must have been successful. 
  • Use may have or might have if it's possible that something happened. 
Egyptians may/might have been the first to use make-up. 
  • Use can't/couldn't have if it's impossible that something happened. 
Roman concrete can't have been as strong as modern concrete. 
  • Use should/shouldn'"t have to talk about mistakes or express criticism. 
They shouldn't have been doing surgery then.





Τετάρτη 3 Μαΐου 2023

Social media sharing

LESSON GOALS Formal and informal English distinction
Omit pronouns and auxiliaries to make writing more informal 
Use informal quantifiers, expressions and phrasal verbs 
Write and respond to social media posts 

SPEAKING Work in pairs. Look at the infographic and discuss questions. 
1 Which social media platforms do you use? If you don't use any, why not? 
2 What content would you be most and least likely to share on social media? Why? 
3 Which type of social media person are you? Are you sometimes a different type depending on what and why you share? Why? 


READING FOR WRITING
Read the three social media posts. Match them with a type of content and a personality type from the infographic. Explain your choices to your partner. 

Work in a group Discuss the questions. 
1 Which of the social media posts would you be most likely to read in real life?
2. What comment would you leave below each post?



Look at the Writing skill box. Find two examples of each type of informal language in the social media posts and comments.
 
WRITING SKILL
Informal language
When writing on social media. we tend to be more informal. Some common examples are
Omitting pronouns and auxiliary verbs
Have you ever. seen a bear doing yoga?
Informal quantifiers
after a bit of a nap
got a ton of comments
Phrasal verbs
She's quite into yoga
What have you been up to?
Informal expressions
I might give it a shot myself!
You'd love it! It's right up your street.


Change the expressions in bold to make them more informal. 
Use the Writing skill box and social media posts to help you. 
1 I've just got back from the city. There's a large amount of air pollution there 
2 I think I' ll try yoga. I've never done it, but it looks fun 
3 The benches can be installed in many different places. 
4 Have you got any thoughts on this? 1 would love to hear your opinion 
5 1really hate people who always postpone things 

WRITING TASK
Write three social media posts. Use your own ideas or choose from the table. Write about 200 words in total and leave room for comments underneath. Find or describe any photos or links you would like to include with your post. 
Things you've read about (interesting articles/ funny stories/ important news)
Personal stories Places you've visited, frustrations and complaints)
Recommendations (a film, book, product you liked) 

CHECK Use the checklist. I have ... 
written posts that are engaging  and/or aldor useful to other people 
used informal quantifiers 
replaced formal verbs with phrasal verbs 
omitted unnecessary pronouns and auxiliary verbs. 

REVIEW Stick your posts up around the classroom. Walk around the room and read your classmates' posts. Leave a comment below at least two of the posts. 

SPEAKING 
Discuss the questions as a class. 
1 Which post did you find the most interesting? 
2 What new information about your classmates did you learn from their posts? Based on the posts, what sort of social media personality from the infographic are your classmates?