Happy New Year!

Do you have any resolutions?

Morning at the Newseum...

Did you like going to the Newseum?  Did you learn anything new?  What was the most interesting thing that you learned?

Pm party!

(AM) Newseum

The morning class is going to go to the Newseum on Wednesday!  Come on time and wear your most comfortable shoes!   It won't cost you $$$$.

Newseum Website

Was today's class a little difficult?  Do you want to see what the other group did?

Today in class, we divided in groups.  One group read about William Hearst. Click on the arrow to listen. Click on a word to see an English definition.

The other group practiced using "there +be" with singular, plural, and non-count nouns.
Count vs. Non-count Explanation and Practice

Please come on Thursday.  We will have individual reading tests.

We will not have our unit test on Thursday.  I may include some (easy?) questions with using directions and count/non-count on our next test.  If you want to practice directions, click here, here, or go to Red Unit 5 lessons B, C, D.  I'll also include a video in which an English teacher talks while he's lost in Italy.

Simply The Best

Side by Side Shopping and Superlatives

Where are the best places to go nearby?  Where are the best places to go in DC?  Maryland?  Virginia?  The USA?  Your native country?  The world?

Black Friday

Did you shop?  Did you find good deals?  What are the best things to buy?

Children's video--compare means to show what's the same and what's different...

Are you cooking?

What are you cooking today?

I'm making a very easy sweet potato casserole.  I buy two cans of sweet potatoes, one can of pineapple chunks and a bag of big marshmallows.  I drain (pour out in the sink) most (but not all) of the liquid in the sweet potatoes.  I pour out (or drink) a little of the liquid in the pineapples.  Pour the sweet potatoes in a casserole dish, pour the pineapples (with a lot of the juice) on top, put the bag of marshmallows on top, and bake at 350 degrees for about 25 minutes.  Check at the end to make sure you don't burn the marshmallows.  They should be a medium brown, not black!  This dish is extremely easy, extremely sweet, and very popular with my children.

Peanuts Video--A Holiday Tradition

One holiday tradition we always did when I was a child is watch the Peanuts Holiday Special.

Another really common tradition with kids is watching the Macy's parade on TV.

Happy Thanksgiving!

It's tradition to think of things that you feel thankful for on Thanksgiving.  On Friday, Heber said he likes to come to class because his classmates are so nice.  I do too.  Thank you for that!!

This video is an ad from a quilt company, but it shows what my family always does at Thanksgiving.  It's fast, but I think most of you can catch most of it.

Thank you, ChengYang for sending me pictures!

Since you already (before now) thanked me, please tell me some other (not me, not the class) things you are happy about!

I'm also thankful for eating good food, being with friends, feeling healthy, wearing warm clothes, using a heating system, spending time with my patient husband that likes to cook, shopping with my son who came home from college...

Comparing & Competing

Comparative & superlative explanations and practice

Do you like to compete?  Did you ever compete with a sister or brother? What do you like to do well?  Please write me a story when you did something better than someone else.  

Great Acting!

You did a great job with the soap operas!  Did you have fun?

Song-- Pills

Do you ever have trouble with insomnia?

Practice Medical Labels

REEP world medical labels (When you put something in ABC order, you put the first letters of the words in the same sequence as the alphabet -- ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ.
Example:  apple orange banana should be apple, banana, orange

Practice Body Vocabulary

Learning Chocolate: Arm

Learning Chocolate: Body

Learning Chocolate: Face

Learning Chocolate: Midsection with arms

Learning Chocolate: Leg

Learning Chocolate Skeleton (Non-professional)

Learning Chocolate: Internal Organs 1

Learning Chocolate: Internal Organs 2

Language Guide: The Body

Language Guide: The Face

Language Guide: Internal Body Vocabulary

Easy World of English Reference Picture of a body with pronunciation

Easy Body Parts Pirate Fight Game

Congratulations Yi and Cheng Yang!

Didn't have to = not required

Practice has to/have to

Explanation for using don't have to and need not. Don't use "need not" in the USA. It's correct, but very British.

That's the Way she heard it should be....

I don't think the singer should get married, do you?  This is the most depressing "let's get married" song ever.

Should

Practice Using Should

Should you come to class when you are sick?  What should you do when you have the flu?  What should you do when you have a migraine?  What should you do when your muscles are sore?
What should you do when you are pregnant?  

Patience

Learning English takes a lot of patience.  Raising children also requires patience.  What other things require patience for you?

Happy Halloween

Did you have a good Halloween?  What did you do?

http://www.elcivics.com/halloween.html

Peanuts "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!" on youtube

Another Place for Student Posts -- May be better for photos

I'm starting to make a wiki so that students can add to and edit our class webpages.  I also think I can organize grammar more logically on a wiki than a blog, but the wiki requires email addresses and a logon code.  The code for Easyesol.wikispaces.com  is MNJQX97,  If you can link your photos or picassa albums to pages on the Wiki, I'd like that!

Controversial Issues

Political Quiz 
This links to the quiz I used in class.  I don't know who made it, but if you take it, the results go to the quiz maker people, not me.  I won't see anything you do on it.

Today, I tried to give morning class students some vocabulary to talk about politics and controversial issues.  We voted in a mock (pretend) election.

voting photos from around the world

If you took the quiz, did you get the results you expected?  What issues do you like to talk about?

Morning Class Field Trip on Wednesday. Don't forget to bring $6.00!!

The Lee family was very important in US history.

This song from a musical called "1776" is fast and fun.  I'm sorry I can't make you subtitles.

The same song from the movie version...

Did you enjoy the field trip?  What did you like?  What did you learn?  Did you talk?  Did you find all your objects?

Romantic Song for the future: "I will be here"

Tell me about a time when you felt happy that someone was with you.

How did you know?

Today morning class practiced past tense.  We practiced using the base form for questions and negative statements.  We also practiced listening.  We discussed car trips.

Never write there's was.  Write "there was."

Please write about a really good car trip.  Where did you go?  What did you see?  Why was it fun?

Where are the best destinations for a car trip from this area?

This Old Guitar

Can you recognize the irregular past tense verbs?  What are they?  Do you want to practice irregular past tense verbs?  There's a quizlet set under "vocabulary" labeled 80 Irregular Verbs.  

Do you already know all of these irregular verbs?  

My Love

This song was recommended by Yun Hee.  Do you know it?  What do you think about when you listen to this song?

We say "gonna" when we ought to write "going to"

wanna = want to

oughta= ought to=visualized ideal (best in my mind)  Everyone ought to use the blog!

Review, expansion, and practice with "going to"

What are you going to do tonight?
What are you going to do tomorrow?
What are you going to do this weekend?
Are you going to celebrate Halloween on Oct. 31?
Where are you going to go the next time you travel?
What are you going to do next summer?

Like a bridge over troubled water

Using will --explanation, practice, and examples


What do you think you'll do after you have excellent English?

I don't want to be anything other than....

Is this song too fast or confusing?  Do you think the song writer is really egotistical or sensible?  Do you think many people want to pretend they are someone different?

Leaving on a jet plane

Review, expansion, and practice with present continuous (present progressive)

Do you like to travel by plane?  How often do you travel by plane?  As a child, I traveled a lot, but as an adult, I don't.  I flew to Florida last winter, and I enjoyed it.

The Rose

Try to focus on the ENGLISH lyrics.  I really don't know if the spanish is a correct translation.

We miss our Colombian women!!

Today the morning class talked a lot and started unit 2 in Ventures. (p. 18-20)  We had a small class today because our Colombian students had to go to a party.  Please tell us about it!!  What are you wearing?  What are you eating?  Are you having fun?

I hope you know

Because of you...

Is this song too angry and depressing?  Who do you think the "you" is?  What do you think is the story that inspired the song?

Songs to practice the simple present

What a Wonderful World!

The pictures are pretty, but they don't exactly match the song.  The flower when he sings "rose" isn't a rose.

Can you spot any non-action verbs?  Please comment and tell me what they are.
Non-action "stative" verb explanation and practice

What do you like to look at?  What makes you happy?

What should I study?

• Starred items on Quizlet Morning Vocabulary
• 
  
• Ventures 2 Unit 1
• 
  
• Adjective Order  Adjective Order Post in this blog
• 
  
• Using do (I,you,we,they) or does (he,she, it) with simple present--ECE english.com Do or Does a4esl do, does, or did-- check your answers
• 
  
• Present vs. Present Continuous (see next post)

to be+____ing or not to be+ ____ing?

Use be+ ______ing (present continuous/present progressive) for RIGHT NOW. 

• What are they doing?
• They are acting.  Heber is hugging someone.  Soyeun is dancing.  Maria Nelly is laughing.

We also use be+___ing for a future we feel certain about.  I'm driving home after class.  We're taking a quiz tomorrow.

Examples, explanations, and practice quizzes for present continuous=present progressive

We use simple present (ING) for

• facts--things that are true
• routines -- things we do every day, every week, every morning.  Every weekday, we drink coffee, talk to each other, and use the restroom at break time.
• with frequency adverbs like always, never, sometimes, usually, often, seldom or rarely.More explanation and practice with frequency adverbs
• non-action verbs like need, want, like, have, see, and hear  More explanations and practice with non-action verbs

More examples and explanations of simple present



BBC Grammar Challenge-- right or wrong?

simple present vs. present continuous quiz from esl blues

Plurals

We practiced pronouncing child/children, man/men, woman/women in class.

We practice pronouncing s like ssssss, zzzzz, and ez.

More Information and Practice with Plurals

Quizlet practice with Irregular Plurals

When you get many of the same thing, you have a collection.

Does the singer have a good reason to break up with his girlfriend?
Do you like the same music as your husband/wife/girlfriend/boyfriend?

Do you collect anything? What do you have a lot of?

Present vs. Present Continuous

Side by Side-- present vs. present continuous

Right Now

What are you wearing right now?  What are you doing?

Clothes

Press the link to see the video

Video--this and that

Describing hair and clothes using adjective order

When we describe clothes, we always use the order: opinion size, color, pattern.

• a large red skirt
• a beautiful blue blouse
• a black and white striped jacket
• ugly baggy gray pants

red large skirt

When we describe hair, we always use the order:  length, type, color

• long, blonde hair
• short curly hair
• wavy brown hair

blonde, long hair

Review and Expansion on Adjective Order

Do you like to shop for clothes?  What do your favorite clothes look like?  What does your hair look like?

What do you like to wear? Tell me about yourself..

We practiced saying and writing descriptions of people and clothes.

Clothing Quiz

  Here's a video about a man that is shopping for clothes.

Please make a comment and tell me about yourself.   Do you have a favorite outfit?  What do you like to wear?  Do you like to go shopping?  Where do you shop for clothes?

Eid Mubarak

This weekend Muslim people celebrate Eid al-Adhe, the festival of sacrifice, one of the most important holidays in their calendar.  It commemorates the willingness of Abraham to sacrifice his son (Ishmael) at God's command, and the generosity of God in providing a lamb instead.   It's a time to get together with the whole family, eat delicious food, pray, donate food to the hungry, and give presents to children.

Sonia says that in Lebanon, they eat delicious food including eggplant and taboula.  Taboula is a special salad with tomatoes, parsley oil and lemon juice and special spices.

Leila says that in Tunisia, they eat couscous with vegetables, tomatoes, green peppers, carrots, parsley, olive oil, and meat.  It's very delicious.

Did you celebrate this weekend?  Where did you go?  What did you eat?

Religious People Pray for Peace

This weekend many people are praying for forgiveness and peace.  All of the "Abrahamic" religions--Judaism, Islam, and Christianity--celebrate this weekend.

Yom Kippur

Tonight starts a high holy day in the Jewish religion.  Many Jewish people fast and pray during this Day of Atonement.

Well, happy 5775...

On Yom Kippur, people blow a shofar, pray for forgiveness, and work to make their soul "bigger" by doing good things.

Christians celebrate the Feast of St. Francis and World Communion Day this weekend.

St. Francis is famous for many things including his prayer for peace:  Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy.

Did you do anything special this weekend?  What did you do?  Do you think world peace is possible?

Pronouns

A pronoun is a substitute for a noun -- I/me. you, he/him, she/her, we/us, they/them.

Pronouns -- Explanation and Practice

So she dances...

A glance when you look at something for just a second.

Do you like to dance?  How often do you dance?  Do you like to watch dancers?  How often do you see dancing?  

Have you ever liked someone, but felt too shy to talk to that person?

Always on My Mind

If something or someone is always on your mind, you are constantly thinking about that something or someone.  What's usually on your mind?  

Describing People

We've started describing people.

Practice adjectives (Describing words) at http://www.learningchocolate.com/content/appearance

Please describe someone you like a lot (and/or someone you don't like at all...)

Computer Lab

Make a comment.  Tell me about yourself.  Where are you from?  Do you have a big family?  What do you like to do?

Sign up for Quizlet so I can see your progress.  Don't pay any money.

Computer Vocabulary

Computer Vocabulary with more quizzes

Look at and practice with Ventures -------------------------------->

Song for a mom--"I often go walking"

Practicing "how often" and frequency adverbs

Frequency Adverbs videos and practice 

How often do you play sports?

How often do you travel?

How often do you go shopping?

Practice grammar-- simple present

We often use simple present in class.

Examples that use "simple present":  My name is Laurie.  I like chocolate.  She doesn't like hot weather.  Do you like to cook? She has long, wavy hair in a bun.

Do you want to practice the grammar?  Click here:  simple present grammar

Extra Credit:  Can you make a quick video similar to the examples in the English with Sound and Light?

Can you write many examples of simple present sentences?  

Happy Birthday Alvi!

How do you celebrate your birthday?  Do you celebrate children's?  Can you tell me about a wonderful birthday?

Evening September 29

Good Evening.  How's it going?  I'm fine.  How was your day?  busy.  How was your weekend?  pretty good.  What did you do?  I went to an airshow in Leesburg with my family and some friends.

We took a reading test.  Don't worry if it was difficult.  It's supposed to be difficult.  You may have a really good score even if you didn't finish it.

"Read All About It"

The "Oh's:  are a little long.  "Bite your tongue" means be quiet when you really want to say something.  "The papers" are newspapers.  "Wanna" is how we say "want to."  "Gonna" is how we say "going to"  Never write "wanna" or "gonna"  in a formal essay, but you can use this spelling for texting or for a note to a close friend.  If you like lyrics, you'll see them spelled these incorrect ways really often.

A few people practiced unscrambling sentences into Subject--Verb--Object order.

A subject is the main noun.  The verb is an action word.  The object usually receives the action.

Examples in Subject--Verb--Object order:  I ate chicken.  You took a test.  He read the book.  She did her homework.  We will study a lot in English class.  They drove the car.

Subjects: I, You, He, She, We, They.  Verbs:  ate, took, read, did, will study, drove.

Objects:  chicken, test, book, homework, a lot, car.

Auxiliary Verbs--helping verbs.  When you have a verb that's two or more words, the main verb tells the meaning and the auxiliary verb(s) usually shows the tense.  Auxiliary verbs also start yes/no questions. Do, be, have, should, can and will are common auxiliary verbs.

Auxiliary word quiz-- "should have" is an auxiliary that means ideal for the past.

Do you like to read?  Tell me about something you read.

Nice to meet you morning students!

I enjoyed meeting you today.  We met our classmates.  We talked about the class.  We talked to each other.


Some of my students improved quickly by watching lyrics videos while listening to the songs. .

A verb is an action word.  The verb tense indicates whether the action happens in the past, the future, right now, all the time, etc.  We practiced asking questions with do or did.

Today's Vocabulary

For homework, think about two small goals you want to get in this English class.
If you can, tell me about yourself in the comments.

Evening Class Homework

Please write 6 sentences.  Tell me three things you do every day.  Tell me three things you did over the summer.  If you want to write more, go ahead!

Sept. 24-- Evening Class in Review

Opening Dialog:

A:  Hey!  What's up?    B.  Not much   The weather is terrible, isn't it?  A.  Yes, it is.  I hate the rain.

C:  The weather is terrible, isn't it?  D:  Not for me.  I love the rain!

We often use negative-sounding  (isn't/aren't/don't) "tag questions" to ask for confirmation or agreement.  You're in my English class, aren't you?   (Yes, I am) Answer tags just like a positive question.

Are you reading the class blog?  Yes, I am.
You're reading the blog, aren't you?  Yes, I am.
Are you at school right now?  No, I'm not.
You're at school right now, aren't you?  No, I'm not.

Make tags with the contraction of the negative form.  Do not separate.
don't you?  do not you
aren't you?  are not you
isn't he?  is not he

Practice Vocabulary

Tonight we worked on goals.

Many students want to improve their speaking.  We'll talk a lot in this class.

"

Our second biggest group wants to practice reading.

Most students worked on dictations in pairs.  Most of you did a tremendously good job on those.
We also asked each other questions to play BINGO.

In BINGO, when we asked about something finished in the past, we asked with "Did you...." (past tense)
When we asked about preferences and habits, we asked with "Do you... (present tense)

Vocabulary

If you keep practicing, you'll be speaking really well really fast.  Chase those small goals!!

Good Evening Plum Students!

September 22, 2014

Nice to meet (or see) you Plum students!

Tonight we started to get to know each other.  We introduced ourselves and interviewed partners.

We read an overview of the class and some class rules.

We practiced saying, "I do too" when we agree with positive things (in present tense.)  We say, "I don't either" when we agree with negative things.

He lives in Springfield, and I do too.
She doesn't like to wait, and I don't either.
She likes chocolate, and I do too.
You can say, "she likes watermelon, and I like it too."
DON'T say "she likes watermelon and I like too."

We practiced using to+base verb when talking about activities we like.
Don't use an "ing" form of a verb after "to"

I like to talk.  (talking)
I like to cook.
I like to listen to music.
He likes to drink wine.
She likes to eat fish.
We like to go shopping. (going)


We listened to "I won't give up on you."  It was fast for most of the students.  We went over a little of the vocabulary.

Class Vocabulary

Sign up so I can see your progress -- Don't get superpowers for $$ --


Who did you meet tonight?  Tell me about a classmate

Lyric Video--I Won't Give Up

Describe your family

Tell me about your family.
(I'll tell you about my family as an example)

I have a husband and five children.  I don't have any brothers or sisters.  My parents are 83 years old.  They work part-time because they like their jobs.  They love to watch American football on TV.  My dad loves the Washington Redskins.  My mom loves the Dallas Cowboys.  They are happily married anyway.

Sweet Child of Mine Lyric Game

My children are growing up.  Two go to college.  Two go to high school.  My sweet baby is in seventh grade.  Four of my children are taller than I am.  (I tell them it's not a big accomplishment because I'm very short.)  Four of them have light blonde hair.  My 4th child has dark brown hair like her grandparents.  Two girls have very long, blonde hair.  My brown-haired child keeps it cut to medium-length.  My older son has a crew cut.  All five of the children have pale skin and blue eyes. My girls are short and skinny.  My boys are average in height with wide shoulders.  All my children work hard at school.  They like to read, swim, sing, and play computer games.

Tell me about your family.

I love autumn weather!

(After 1:40, the video plays instruments and repeats)

Autumn is harvest time for many farmers.  If you miss living close to farms and eating really fresh food, don't be sad.  It's a little more expensive, but it's possible to get fresh produce here.

Farmer's Markets in Fairfax

Farms where you pay to pick/harvest really fresh fruit to take home

List of food festivals in all of Virginia

What is your favorite season?  I love autumn, but I like spring a little better.  I like pretty flowers better than leaves.  My husband likes autumn better because his allergies are bad in the spring.

School started for my kids, but not for us.  I'm cleaning, organizing, and getting ready for classes.  What are you doing?

Happy Labor Day!

Today, outdoor pools opened for the last day in 2014.  People had picnics and family get togethers.  Stores had sales.   Banks and federal offices were closed.  Many schools start tomorrow.  Today is Labor Day!

Morning Computer Class

Ventures Unit 6 explanation preps of time

practice prepositions of time

V unit 6 book practice

Ventures Arcade--Go to Blue 2--Lesson 6 Activities B through the end of Lesson 6

famous people -- click on the country, pick a person, and make a timeline for that person  (may need password fairfax fairfax)

Put the events from your famous person into the timeline then print it out.

practice or test irregular verbs

Write about the famous person in the timeline your classmate gave you.

Extra time?  Find and print a picture of your famous person.
Make a timeline for your own life.

Happy Father's Day!

A man sings this kids' song:

("let's" is wrong.  Write it lets --no apostrophe--in "he lets me")

A patient dad sings with his daughter:

The original song with lyrics.

A different "You Belong to Me" that's easy to follow.

Our House

Parts of a house

Chores around the house (Learning Chocolate)

Picnic is inside Plum Center

Sorry evening class -- I heard thunder.  No picnic at Mason District Park.  We have class at Plum Center.  If you have food, bring it.  I have taquitos and lasagna in the classroom.

Thank you, Fariba, for bringing pasta salad for the morning class.  I'm really, really happy you read the blog!  I also really appreciate your food!

Adverbs

Explanation of Adverbs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQPDk_fMcs0

SxS Comparative and Superlative adverbs

Anything you can do...

What can you do better than other people?  Do you like to compete?  

Better

The Best Day

In this song, Taylor Swift describes some of her best memories with her father.  When did you have the best day with someone?  Write about a very good day.