Thursday morning CAE

Hi everyone,

Thursday rolled around pretty quickly, didn't it?
We started the class with a discussion about the pieces you looked at in the gallery yesterday. A lot of the pieces there are new hangings so they didn't have any information about them on the walls but I'm impressed at the lengths you went to get the information! And I'm also very impressed at how in-depth your analyses were, great work. Here's a picture of one of the pieces that I know a few of you looked at.

China and Japan (1902) by Sir William Orpen

We moved on to look at words with similar meanings then, as I mentioned, the British National Corpus is a good place to check words - you put one word in to the search box and it will return 50 random examples that you can look at for yourself and draw your own conclusions. In relation to the word formation exercise we did, try looking up doubtless and undoubtedly and see what you get.

We moved on then to verb patterns, infinitives or gerunds - similar meanings or not? This is a great exercise to practice once you've finished the homework! Find it here.

We also talked about graded readers today, here are the websites where you'll find them:
Penguin
Oxford
Enjoy!

Homework: 

• Verb pattern cloze
• Chapter review

Wednesday morning CAE

More than halfway there already! Atsuco, I know you're tired but good work on coming in! And as I left the gallery ar 1.10pm you were still looking through the catalogue,  I hope it was worth getting up!

Because we did a quick phrasal verb workshop yesterday we started today with some group writing. Creating a monologue using a group of phrasal verbs all related to a topic. Context combined with particle knowledge to help you decipher any new ones you came across and the stories were great. We had Mr & Mrs Smith morph into Brangelina in one, an insurance broker who actually answered his phone but then had a possible heart attack and finally a trip which almost never happened but resulted in true love!

We discussed future forms next in conjunction with elephant artists and a six year old boy artist. Don't forget, we use will in the following ways: 

We'll talk about this some more tomorrow. Here's an exercise on the future tenses - future simple, future continuous and future perfect - click here.

For the last part of the class we went to the Hugh Lane Gallery. They have free tours there every Sunday at 3pm, it would be great to go there and hear more about the exhibits if you have time. I hope you enjoyed discussing some of the pieces and I look forward to hearing about them tomorrow.

My favourite piece was The Talkers by Jack B. Yeats. His style is typically on the boundary between abstraction and figurative work. The Talkers is so full of vivid colour and energy, it really spoke to me today. I can't find an image of it but here is another of his pieces.

The Cat Among the Stars, Jack B. Yeats

Homework:

Future forms grammar exercises.

Tuesday morning CAE

Hi and welcome to Tuesday's blog post.

We started today with a 'mini-gallery' exhibition. We looked at four pieces of art work and compared and contrasted them using vocabulary from yesterday. The painting which at first seemed most innocuous and plain turned out to be the one which you were most disturbed by! 

Here is the painting and here is its page on the Saatchi Online gallery.

Tranquility

Lauren Hunter

United States

We moved on to a debate about the art form of computer games, about whether it is in fact an art form at all and what makes it so. We picked up some useful pieces of vocabulary and discussed the topic in depth.

Following this, we continued on with the topic of phrasal verbs from yesterday. I gave you a brief insight in to the world of particles and we talked about how this can help us begin to decipher them once you have a context to work with. Here is the whiteboard when we were finished. We'll talk about this some more tomorrow!

Homework:

• Read about Hugh Lane Gallery on the class Facebook page.
• Create a short story using the phrasal verbs I gave you today.

See you tomorrow!

Monday morning CAE

Monday again, how quickly the weekend flies!

Hi and welcome to week 4 of the CAE course. I know there aren't any of you taking the exam but as I mentioned in class today, all the exercises that we do have relevance to your English language progression or skills that will benefit you in a working environment. See the text on the right if you have any doubts (*Why take and exam or study in an exam focussed class?*)

We talked about the Cow Parade first - I want you to find articles on when the Cow Parade came to your country and where you can see it in 2013. Maybe you can arrange a trip some weekend?

John Rocha's Waga Moo Moo

We spent some time looking at colloquial phrases to express taste, ways of expressing opinion and also some vocabulary to describe pieces of art. What's your preferred style of art, figurative or abstract? Do you like tranquil pieces or do you prefer works of art that disturb you?

We also looked briefly at phrasal verbs, we'll spend some time on this tomorrow and really get to the root of the particles most commonly used.

Homework:

• Finish "What is art?" Gapfill
• Written response: Do you think today’s artists are as good as those from hundreds of years ago?

Tuesday morning CAE

It was absolutely freezing this morning and yet we had a very good turnout - thanks everyone!

Today we spent a while looking at prefixes - some prefixes don't have a unique meaning but others have dictionary definitions which we looked at in detail. We then created sentences to illustrate a number of these. It's important to remember to make your illustrative sentences whole - ie, fully illustrative. Say you come across a new word, write a sentence to illustrate it and then come back to it a month or two later. If your sentence is not whole then it's quite possible you'll be left wondering even after all your hard work.

The first two sentences needed some contextualisation.

We briefly looked at some phrases to indicate agreement, partial agreement and adding a new point to a discussion. Remember, the reason we don't use phrases of disagreement is that it is simply impolite. British people hate to offend and are often overly polite. In an exam or interview situation, or a work meeting, it is also important to use these phrases to get your point across without blatantly disagreeing with other speakers.

We also spent some time developing an advertisement for a donation campaign. The preparation is done but all is yet to be revealed - see you tomorrow for the competition!

Preparing presentations close to the heater - it was snowing!

Homework:

• Diet and fitness vocabulary
• Writing - Should children be encourage to participate in competitive sports? Why?/Why not? [220-260 words.]

Monday morning CAE

Welcome to week three of CAE at Delfin!!

We lost a couple of students last week but gained two new ones today and a returning 'alien' who became legal this morning after a short battle in the office!

Today we looked at extreme sports and extreme adjectives. Initally, we listened to conversations about bungee running, boxercise and bouncy boxing and then went on to read more about some serious thrill-seekers.

It's important to put yourself under time pressure when reading from time to time, it boosts your confidence and although you may not be preparing for an exam, it is an extremely important skill for a job interview, or to keep a job for that matter.

How is your Bloglovin account going? Are you reading blogs? Post some of your blogs that you've found to the facebook page for others to see, maybe they'll be interested too.

Here's a review and some exercises on gradable and un-gradable adjectives click here to do it.

Homework:

• Use of English review exercises
• Post some blogs to the facebook page.

Thanks, see you tomorrow.
Éadaoin

Wednesday morning CAE

So Dicey's was good, was it? Six? Where are you all?!!!

Today we talked about great inventions - the internet, the mobile and the fax. Which do you think is the most amazing? We voted the mobile, because it contains the internet and puts it in our pockets.

We looked conditionals too, the basic forms and the non-standard forms.
Notes are all attached below.
** Note: Right click on the jpegs and open them in a new tab or window to save them.

Homework:

• Find the EadaoinsCAE Facebook page and post an article related to technology (for 'narrow reading purposes')
• Conditional exercises.

Tuesday morning CAE

Almost a full compliment in class today, well done!

First off I stumped you all with some phrases related to plans - I know I'm going to crash out as soon as I post this, I hope you're either enjoying Dicey's or you're putting your feet up somewhere.

Gerunds and infinitives - the common problems we discussed in class should be your priority to be sure you know the difference. Writing your own examples is always the best way of doing this. Here's an exercise to test yourself before the week is out
http://www.englishpage.com/gerunds/gerunds_infinitives_30.htm

O.k.,  I'm wrecked so I'm going to just go and crash out, see you tomorrow.
Éadaoin

And here's how to makea killer first impression - for work or life. http://www.forbes.com/sites/yec/2011/11/02/5-ways-to-make-a-killer-first-impression/

Monday morning CAE

So, it must have been a good weekend for everyone - a whole four students managed to make it in to class today.
Where are you all?! Come and see me tomorrow please!

Today we began by looking at different types of people, from acquaintances to widowers. Be careful to remember the difference between being successful and a successor. And as we were talking about them, and article on the British throne succession. Prince Charles is next in line.

We read some Big Brother entrant profiles looking at character adjectives to follow; adjectives such as taciturn, sympathetic and tacky came up. We also looked at nouns used to describe characters - a killjoy/ party pooper, a dark horse, a Peter Pan or a Walter Mitty were just a few.
Here's the trailer for The Secret Life of Walter Mitty:

Modals - I'll have a reference chart for you tomorrow which you'll hopefully find useful in determining which modal you need. Don't forget, for modals of obligation such as should and ought to, the difference is in its formality but can also be simply grammatical - i.e. the use of to.

Oh and that video of Aengus MacGrianna on RTE News!

Homework:

• Mulitple choice reading.
• Modals exercises.

See you tomorrow.

Friday morning CAE

Last day of the first week back, we made it!
Well, some of us did, not great attendance but let's hope we can improve it.

Today we talked about consumerism and did a lengthy tie-in listening from the book. We took the test and also prepared a writing exercise for weekend homework.

That's about it, have a great weekend and I look forward to reading your letter about trying to buy a camera on an online auction site!

And here's an article to inspire you... buying on eBay

See you on Monday, have a great weekend.
Éadaoin

Thursday morning CAE

Hi everyone, 

Today we looked at that old chestnut again, articles. I've drawn up what I hope will be a useful diagram for you - remember what I said; if it's shared information we use the, if your audience doesn't have a previous reference then use a.

Right click to open in a new window and save.

We spent some time looking at compound adjectives also, here are the lists from the book:

Homework:
Articles exercises and writing to include 10 compound adjectives.

See you tomorrow!

Wednesday morning CAE

Almost there, more than half way through the first week back. Good work people!

Today we talked about money : being broke, splashing out, tightening our belts etc. They are some very important phrases and idioms - who doesn't find themselves talking about money from time to time?
I tend to be pretty good at saving myself, I know how to tighten my belt for sure! But I do also like to splash out, particularly as a treat after a big project or just when I feel I deserve it.

Moving on then to relative clauses and the notes I promised you are attached.

And finally, a link to a good learner's dictionary here and a collocation dictionary for you to try out.
Let me know what you think of them.

See you tomorrow,
Éadaoin

Tuesday, morning CAE

Today we started by chatting about our favourite music and ways to find more new music. Head over to our facebook page to post a link from some of your favourite singers or bands.

I mentioned the band from my hometown which are doing really well for themselves recently, The Strypes - here's an article about their recent record deal signing.

And today's news on Megaupload, it seems the owner is contemplating suing the US Government...

Grammar points we looked at today were the perfect aspect and continuous versus simple tenses of the perfect aspect.

Here are some links to them to take a quick look:
[Click on the pictures to take you through to the website.]

Past Perfect 

Present Perfect Continuous

Monday Morning CAE

Hi everyone, welcome to CAE with me!

Today we got off to a flying start with the coursework; listening, reading and grammar work. I know it feels a bit busy now but we'll settle into it over the next few weeks.

We started off by talking about our own music tastes and we made a list of radio stations worth listening to in Ireland:
Today FM
Newstalk
Spin 103.8
FM 104
Lyric FM
Check them out at various times of the day, or listen to podcasts. (*If you listen to a podcast and you can't understand a word, just email me the link and time and I can let you know what they're saying.)
Some radio programs can be a bit dull but if you listen at different time, you might hear something you're more interested in - it's better if you're enjoying it!

I used to listen to Newstalk in the morning a lot, but I sort of went off it after a while, I think TodayFM is by far the best station if you want a good mix of music and chat.

The article about tribute bands mentioned a radio documentary called "Send in the clones", I tried to find it for you but I'm afraid I haven't had any luck yet, I'll let you know if I do.

After this we moved on to suffixes, the exercise from the book is here:

you can download this, try it again in a few days also.

We then read a piece about a new busking initiative in London and worked on word more formation.
And here's an article you might like to read that is related to busking, and a video about the same story:

Homework:

• Suffixes worksheet
• Word formation - finish article and complete exercise 7.