Exams

Remember, if you are a visa student here in Ireland you really should be working towards an exam.

Even if you don't have to take an exam, it is something you should think seriously about. You might not be thinking about doing an exam right now but take a look at the website and start thinking about the possibility of getting an English qualification, it will look great on your CV and give you something to focus on, most students really benefit from the motivation of having an exam to work towards.

If you want some more information about the PET exam or any of the other Cambridge exams then take a look at this website. You can find exam information, dates and past papers on this site. Here is a link to a free test to judge whether you are ready for the PET exam. 

You can ask me in class if you need any more information or if you want some practice tests.

Take a look at this video and listen to why this English student thinks exams are a good idea...

Mondays are THE WORST!

Hi Class!

Today we started class with some vocabulary for physical appearances. Here is some of the vocabulary we covered...

After the break we looked at comparative and superlative adjectives. Remember the rules...

Comparative adjectives are for comparing two or more things...

Carrots are healthier than cakes and chocolate.

Superlative adjectives are for showing that something is the most, the greatest.

Dublin is the wettest city I've ever visited!

Have a look at the board...

And here are the rules for forming the adjectives...

Your homework is the grammar worksheet which I gave you in class. We will correct it together in class tomorrow.

Goodnight everyone!

My first Brazilian meal!

On Saturday I ate my first ever Brazilian meal! I had feijoada. I have heard a lot about this dish from my students this year so I thought I had better try it! 

It was tasty, although I wasn't sure what to do with the orange..so I just ate it as dessert!

My favourite part of the meal though was the Brazilian soda I drank called guaraná. my boyfriend says it was like a cross between ginger ale and red bull and I agree, yummy!

National Stereotypes

Hi all,

On Friday we looked at nationalities as adjectives. Here is a good list of counties and nationalities after this we talked about national stereotypes and looked at this joke...

"Heaven is where the cooks are French, the police are British, the mechanics are German, the lovers are Italian and everything is organised by the Swiss. Hell is where the cooks are British, the police are German, the mechanics are French, the lovers are Swiss, and everything is organised by the Italians." 

Remember guys, your homework for Monday is an essay of at least 150 words discussing national stereotypes. 

Here is some inspiration for you... can you guess the countries from the stereotypes??

Past Tense and Pigs

Hello Class,

Today we began out class by correcting the transport homework and having a chat about transport in your countries. 

We moved on to talk about the past simple tense. I know you guys can use the past simple, I see it in your grammar worksheets and your writing exercises, but you hardly ever use it when you speak! This must change. If you want to move up to Intermediate level you MUST start using the past simple when you are speaking about the past!

We looked at irregular past simple verbs and had a competition to see which pair knew the most, well done Vivian and Adolfo! Dream team!! Irregular verbs are a huge pain in the arse because you just have to learn them, they have no rules. Try these exercises to help you revise... here and here.

Next we looked at past simple regular verbs. There are rules for this and here they are...

Practise here 

Next I showed you a video of one of my favourite poems by Roald Dahl called 'The Pig'. It's a poem about revenge. Here is the video...

And here are the words.

We identified some past simple verbs from the poem...

...and used them to make our own past tense stories with a revenge theme.

Remember, tomorrow we have the test! Please study...

Transport Vocabulary

Past Simple Verbs

Prepositions of Time

Countable and Uncountable nouns

Quantifiers

Entertainment Vocabulary

Have a good night guys, see you tomorrow!

We studied lots of transport vocabulary and a bit of grammar

Hello everyone, 

Today we looked at quantifiers. Quantifiers are 'How much?' and 'How many?' We can use some quantifiers with plural countable nouns(chairs, strawberries, kisses), some with uncountable nouns (Guinness, patience, rice) and some with both. Here is the board...

After break we looked at transport. You brainstormed different types of transport...

We did a crossword and learnt some new transport words. For your information...

Cable car

Hovercraft

Your homework is to complete the transport vocabulary sheet which I gave you. It is due tomorrow, we will correct it together,

Have a great night!

to count or not to count, that is the question...

Hi Class,

We started off today's lesson with some discussion questions about entertainment. Conversation practise is very important because it is useful for your speaking skills (obviously!), your listening skills and also your confidence. It's also a great way to get to know your fellow classmates and your lovely teacher ;-)

Next we studied countable and uncountable nouns. You looked at some items which I had arranged on the floor and then I covered them up and you tried to remember everything...

Well done Vivian for remembering the most items! You must have a photographic memory! 

Next you worked in pairs to divide the nouns into countable and uncountable...

Try this exercise for some extra practise.

We talked about how you can use some nouns in both countable and uncountable form. Here are some of the ones we talked about in class and some sentences you made for them...

You can even use both countable and uncountable versions of the noun in one sentence! 

I am very interested in language which is why I have studied three languages!

You need a football to play football.

I have had many scary experiences in the past which have given me lots of experience coping with fear.

I studied business in university because I want to own my own business in the future.

Your homework is to finish off the worksheet we started in class, we will correct it tomorrow... have fun in Dicey's... don't get too hungover!!!