PATRICK - FCE MASTERCLASS

Hi Students,

Here are the final class activities of the course.
We will correct everything in a few days.

ACTIVITY ONE

Do the Review of unit 11 on page 140 (some of you have done exercise 1 already).


ACTIVITY TWO

Do the unit 12 Reading activity of page 142 and 143, exercises 3, 4, 5.


ACTIVITY THREE

Do the listening in unit 12 on page 146 (exercise 3).
Here is the audio:

Teacher · Track 19

PATRICK - C2

Hi Students,

How are things?
We are reaching the end of the course!

Here are the final class activities.


ACTIVITY ONE

Continuing the theme of childhood, here is a TED talks video about how information is collected about children on the internet.
Watch it and think about these issues. In the next class we will talk about it:

ACTIVITY TWO

Do the activities on page 76 in the book 2, 3 and 4.
The second one is a listening test, here is the audio:





ACTIVITY THREE

Find five or six new words or expressions we have seen in recent months and make a simple question to ask the other students in the next class. A vocabulary quiz! Questions like: "Tell me a word which has the same meaning as ****** "

PATRICK - C1

Hi Students!

How is everybody?

We are nearing the end of the course!

Here are the final class activities!


ACTIVITY ONE

On page 152 there is the final REVISION of the book.
Do all activities apart from number 5 and I will post the answers in a few days.


ACTIVITY TWO

Do the listening on page 80 of the workbook.
Here is the audio:

Teacher · Track 12

ACTIVITY THREE

Here are the instructions for a writing activity (an essay).
Remember, it's formal English, so keep that in mind.
You can consult the reference section at the back of the book to help you.
Send me it by email to be corrected:

PATRICK - FCE - Monday and Wednesday

Hi Students,

We are getting close to the end of our course!

Here are the class activities for this week.
We will correct them in the next Zoom Class.


ACTIVITY ONE


Do the reading activity in unit 11on page 131 exercise 3.


ACTIVITY TWO 


On page 133 do the sentence transformation (rewrites) exercise 15.


ACTIVITY THREE


Do the listening activity on page 136.
Here is the audio:

Teacher · Track 16

PATRICK - C2

Hello Students!

Hope you are all well this Monday morning!

Here are the class activities for this week.


ACTIVITY ONE


We are going to continue a little with some more conditional forms.
Look at these sentences:

- We decided to move our business, otherwise it would have been affected by the floods.

- They would have gone to Paris, but the Covid 19 virus began.

- It would have been impossible for her to get through that difficult time without your help.

In the above sentences you can see that there is NO "If" clause but a conditional is still implied and we use a conditional clause. These are typical examples. We often use Otherwise, But and Without like this.

On page 73 of the book do activity 3 to practice this.

Then do exercise 4 (more general conditionals).


ACTIVITY TWO

Do the vocabulary exercises 5 and 6 on page 73.
Do the vocabulary exercises 1, 2 and 3 on page 74.


ACTIVITY THREE

Read the text on page 75 to find out what the "Age of the Goldfish" is and do the vocabulary exercise on page 75.  Think about the ideas in the text. What do you think? We will discuss this issue in the next class.

PATRICK - C1

Hello students,


Hope you are all well!

We are nearing the end of the course and about to do the last activities in our book.

Here are the activities for this week.


ACTIVITY ONE


On page 146 there is a listening activity, just like one of the activities in the CAE exam.
Do exercise 2 and 3.

Here is the audio:

Teacher · Track 32

ACTIVITY TWO


Here are some extra exercises to practice Inversions. These structures are important to know for C1 level, especially for your more formal writing skills. We will correct them soon:

ACTIVITY THREE

On page 148 there is a multiple choice text from the USE OF ENGLISH part of the exam.
Do this activity and we will correct it in the next class.

JOHN and PATRICK - FCE Schools

Hello everybody! 

Here are the exercises for this weekend. 

We are getting close to the end of the course, so keep going it won´t be long now.

ACTIVITY 1

Do these exercise on ing or to + infinitive, in order to practice a little more.

ACTIVITY 2

Do the listening on page 132 of the students book, i will give you the answers in the next class.

Here is the audio:

Teacher · 3-11 Venture Into First B2

ACTIVITY 3

Do the reading in the workbook on page 70, we will also give you the answers in the next class.

PATRICK - C2

Hi students,

Here are this week's class activities.


ACTIVITY ONE

In last week's class I mentioned that we would be looking at some conditional forms this week.
In particular we will look at mixed conditionals, inverted conditionals and uses of the 'unreal past' in sentences such as this one: If only I had more free time, in which we are not talking about the past at all but the present.

On pages 64 and 65 in the student book, I'd like you to do activities 1 to 8. If you have any doubts or questions you can ask me in the group.


ACTIVITY TWO

Read this essay about the attitude towards children in modern societies. You can also listen to the text being read too which I recommend. What do you think about these ideas in text? In the next class we will talk about them and you can contribute with your own thoughts and reflections


https://aeon.co/essays/why-are-american-kids-treated-as-a-different-species-from-adults

PATRICK - C1

Hi Students!

How is everyone?

Here are this week's activities.

ACTIVITY ONE

We are going to begin the last unit of the course book which is about the environment and the world around us. On page 142 and 143 there is a reading activity. Read the text and do exercise 3. Make sure you understand all the vocabulary.

ACTIVITY TWO

On page 144, do the vocabulary exercises 1 and 2.
Think about the questions in exercise 3, we will do those in class as a speaking activity.


ACTIVITY THREE

Do the listening activity on page 146 exercise 3.
Here is the audio:

Teacher · Track 32

JOHN and PATRICK - FCE SCHOOLS

Hi students,


Here are the activities for this week.

ACTIVITY ONE 

Do the writing in the students book on page 127.

ACTIVITY TWO

Here are two exercises using the verb + ing or to + infinitive. 

PATRICK - FCE MASTERCLASS

Hi Students,

Here are the new class activities for this week.

ACTIVITY ONE

On page 63 of the work book there is a listening activity.
Do exercise 1. We will correct it soon.

Here is the audio:





ACTIVITY TWO

Do the REVIEW on page 128 of the Student book.
We will correct it in the next class.


ACTIVITY THREE

Do this writing from the book. Send it by email.
It's a review of a film. You can check the guide to doing reviews on page 183 if you need help.

PATRICK - C1

Hi Students,

Here are the class activities for this week.


FIRST ACTIVITY


Do the USE of ENGLISH (open close and sentence transformations) activities on page 136 of the STUDENT BOOK.

Exercises 1,2 and 3.


SECOND ACTIVITY

Do the review of unit 11 on page 140.
It's not a test so you can look through the unit to find the answers if you are unsure.


THIRD ACTIVITY

On this link you will find an Advanced Listening test.
Each part of the listening test is included and when you have completed each part it will give you the answers. You can listen to each one twice. Write down you results and let me know how well you did:

https://engexam.info/cae-listening-practice-tests/cae-listening-practice-test-1/

PATRICK - C2 - Proficiency

Hi Students,


Here are the class activities for this week.


ACTIVITY ONE

On page 62 in the book there are some vocabulary exercises.

First, do the Vocabulary from the text exercises 1 and 2.

Then do exercises 3 a)  and  b), then 4 a)

On page 63 do 5 a),  6 a) and b), 7, 8 a) and 9).

You can use a dictionary and for any remaining doubts you can ask me!


ACTIVITY TWO

We are going to continue with our theme of images and paintings.
Watch this video about the iconic American painter Jackson Pollock
and the controversy about a particular painting of his.

Write a short summary and give your own thoughts about the film.




ACTIVITY THREE

Choose an image, photograph, painting, print or drawing that is important for you.
It be something totally personal or be important for artistic other  reasons.
In Wednesday's class you can each talk about it to the rest of the class.

JOHN and PATRICK - FCE SCHOOLS

Hi Students,

Here are your class activities for this week.


ACTIVITY ONE

Do this exercise to practise the use of wish and if only.
We will correct it next week.

ACTIVITY TWO

On page 67 of the workbook there is a listening.
Do exercise 10 and 11.
We will correct it next week.

PATRICK - FCE MASTERCLASS

Hi Students!

Here we are again with some new class activities for this week.


ACTIVITY ONE

On page 124 in the STUDENT BOOK there is a listening exercise.
Fill in the missing information in the text as you listen.
Here is the audio:



ACTIVITY TWO

Here is the Unit 9 revision test. Try to do it without looking at the book and we will correct in the next class:

ACTIVITY THREE

Do the vocabulary activities on page 125,  exercise 2,3 and 4.
I explained these words in class but you can use a dictionary to help you.

PATRICK - C1

Hello everyone!

Here we are again with this week's class activities!
We will correct everything soon.

FIRST ACTIVITY

Do the three-part phrasal verb exercises on page 137 (exercises 1, 2, 3).
You can use a dictionary if you wish. The important thing here is to understand them
and do the example sentences.

SECOND ACTIVITY

On page 130/131 of the STUDENT BOOK there is a reading activity.
Read this text about the artist Damien Hirst and do activities 3, 4 and 5.

THIRD ACTIVITY

Do the listening activity on page 134 (exercise 2).
Fill in the missing information in the text about a Fiesta in Catoira.

Here is the audio:




FORTH ACTIVITY

Do the revision of comparatives and superlatives in the WORKBOOK on page 73 exercises 1 and 2.

PATRICK - PROFICIENCY

Hi Students!

Here we are again with some new class activities.

See you soon!


ACTIVITY ONE

I'd like you to read the text on page 60 and 61 in the book.
Check all the vocabulary and then do exercises 3 (synonyms) and exercise 5 (vocabulary).
Then write a short summary in your own words.


ACTIVITY TWO

On page 66 there is a  listening activity.
Read through the preparatory exercise 1 and do exercise 1 - C.

Now do exercise 2. Read through 2 - A and 2 - B and then do
the listening in exercise 2 - C.

Here is the audio:




ACTIVITY THREE

Find an interesting image, a photograph or painting that you like. It can be your own or something found from any source. In the next zoom class you will have to describe it to the other students in such a way that they can make a sketch of it as accurately as possible. We can then compare the sketches and discuss the images. Try and choose and image which will be interesting to describe and draw.

JOHN and PATRICK FCE SCHOOLS

Hi Students,

Here are the activities for this week!


ACTIVITY ONE

Do the  listening in unit 11 on page 122 execises 1 and 2.
Here is the audio:





ACTIVITY TWO

We have seen mixed conditionals in class.
Do this activity to practice them and we will correct them soon.

PATRICK - C1

Hello everyone!

How are you all doing?

Here are the class activities for this week:


FIRST ACTIVITY

Watch this short Irish film called 'Uisce Beatha' which is the Irish name for Whiskey and translated means 'water of life'.  Write a short summary showing you understand the story and give your own opinion about it.


'Uisce Beatha' - Multi Award-Winning Irish Short Film from Shaun O Connor on Vimeo.



SECOND ACTIVITY

Do this unit 10 test. Do it without looking at the book or a dictionary etc.
We will correct it in a few days

THIRD ACTIVITY

Do the comparative and superlative exercises 1, 2, 4, 5 on pages 132 and 133 in the Student Book.


FORTH ACTIVITY

Watch this TED talks video about the idea of a universal income. In the next class we will talk about it. Many people are suggesting this is  necessary as a result of the Covid 19 crisis. Do you think this is a good idea?

PATRICK - FCE MASTERCLASS

Hi Students,

Here are the activities for this week.

ACTIVITY ONE

Do the exercises in the WORKBOOK on page 60 about WISHES/ REGRETS and I'D RATHER.
Exercises 1 and 2. We will correct them in a few days.

ACTIVITY TWO

Do the Reading activity in the STUDENT BOOK on page 118 and 119.
Check vocabulary in exercise 1 then do exercise 5.

ACTIVITY THREE

Do the listening on page 124 of the STUDENT BOOK. Here is the audio.
We will correct it in a few days:





ACTIVITY FOUR

Do the two exam practice activities 1 and 2, on page 121 of the STUDENT BOOK.

PATRICK - Proficiency

Hi Students!

Here are your class activities for this week.


ACTIVITY ONE

Watch this short Irish film in which there is plenty of black humour, then write a short summary.What did you think of it?

Send me the writing by email.


Noreen - A Short Film - HD from EZ Films on Vimeo.


ACTIVITY TWO


I would like to try this C2 use of English practice test.
Do it without any help from the book or a dictionary etc.
We can correct it in a few days:

ACTIVITY THREE

Watch this TED talk about a universal basic income. On Wednesday we will talk about it.

JOHN and PATRICK - FCE Schools

Hi Students!

How is everyone? Well I hope!

Here are the class activities for this week.


ACTIVITY ONE

Do these conditional sentences:

ACTIVITY TWO

Do the writing activity in the student's book in UNIT 10 (on page 117).
You can send it by email to be corrected.

PATRICK - FCE - Monday and Wednesday

Hi Students,

How is everybody?

Here are the class activities for this week!
We will correct everything soon.

FIRST ACTIVITY

Do the Review of Unit 9 on page 116 (exercises 1, 2, 3).
You can look in the unit to find the answers.

SECOND ACTIVITY

Do the listening in unit 10 on page 124.
Here is the audio:





THIRD ACTIVITY

Complete these sentences to practice IF ONLY/WISH:

PATRICK - C1

Hello Students!

How is everyone?

Here are the class activities for this week:

ACTIVITY ONE

Do the Vocabulary exercise about Business and shopping on page 120 of the STUDENT BOOK:
I will post the answers in a few days.

ACTIVITY TWO

Do the REVIEW of unit 10 in the STUDENT BOOK on page 128 (do this when you have corrected all the activities in unit 10 I have given you).

ACTIVITY THREE

Unit 11 is about Culture and Entertainment.
Do the listening about modern art in the WORKBOOK on page 74.
Here is the audio:



ACTIVITY FOUR

Watch this TED video about Bill Gates. Write a SHORT summary to show you understand and to give your own view about what Bill Gates has done. Send it to me by email:

PATRICK - C2 - PROFICIENCY

Hi Students,

Hope you are all well.

Here are your class activities for this week!


FIRST ACTIVITY


Read this article online at AEON about the experience of being alone.
Then write a short summary about it showing you understand and giving your views on it:


https://aeon.co/ideas/time-alone-chosen-or-not-can-be-a-chance-to-hit-the-reset-button


SECOND ACTIVITY


Read the text on page 57 of the STUDENT BOOK and answer the multiple choice questions in exercise 1. I will post the answers at the end of the week.


THIRD ACTIVITY

Do the  listening exercise on page 58 of the STUDENT BOOK (exercise 3).
We will correct it soon:






FORTH ACTIVITY

Listen to this bucolic song by the Decemberists and try and put in the missing lyrics
I will post the answers soon:

JUNE HYMN – THE DECEMBERISTS

Here's a hymn to welcome in the day
…………….. a summer's early sway
And all the bulbs all comin' in
To begin
The thrushes' bleeding battle with the wrens
Disrupts my …………… again

Pegging …………….. on the line
Training jasmine how to vine
Up the arbor to your door
And more
Standing on the landing with the war
You …………….. all the night before

But once upon it
The yellow bonnets
Garland all the …………..
You were waking
Day was breaking
A ………….. of song
And summer comes to Springville Hill

A barony of ivy in the trees
Expanding out its ………… by degrees
And all the branches burst abloom
In the boom
Heaven sent this cardinal …………….
To decorate our living room

But once upon it
The yellow bonnets
Garland all the …………..
You were waking
Day was breaking
A ……………. of song
And summer comes to Springville Hill

And years from now when this old light
Isn't ………………anymore
Will I bring myself to write
"I give my best to Springville Hill"

But once upon it
The yellow bonnets
Garland all the …………….
You were waking
Day was breaking
A ………………. of song
And summer comes to Springville Hill
And summer comes to Springville Hill


FIFTH ACTIVITY

Find a topical article or news story to talk about in the conversation class on Wednesday. 

PATRICK and JOHN - FCE SCHOOLS

Hi Students,


Here are your activities for this week.
We will correct them in a few days:

PATRICK - FCE - Mon/Wed

Hi everybody!

Hope you are all well!

Here are this week's class activities.


FIRST ACTIVITY


Watch this short film then write a short summary to show you have understood it and then give your own opinion about the story. Send me the writing by email:





SECOND ACTIVITY

Do the listening on page 52 of the WORKBOOK.
Here is the audio:




THIRD ACTIVITY

Look at writing activity 8 on page 115 of STUDENTS BOOK.
Follow the instructions and write a REPORT.
You can find an example on page 184 of STUDENTS BOOK.
Send it to me by email when you have finished.

Here are some TIPS:

A report includes the introduction, main body, recommendation. 

 

Before writing 

You have to make your writing plan. Spend around 5 minutes to make your plan which consists of an introduction, main body and recommendation.

 

Title

Choose a fact so that the person who reads it will get the information about report. 

 

Introduction 

– Don’t begin and end your report with Dear Sir/Madam, like a letter.

– Do say how you collected the information

 

Main body

– Do use headings because this makes it easier for the reader to find the main information.

– Do include two or three points under each heading. Make sure all your points fit with the headings.

– Do use a range oft specific vocabulary or set phrases (e.g. some thought this was a good idea… /other students said they preferred…)

– Don’t use lots of adjectives and dramatic language as you do in a story. A report gives factual information. 

– Don’t include irrelevant details or description. 

 

Recommendations

– Do use formal language

– Do express opinions impersonally. Don’t express recommendations or opinions until the conclusion. 

– Check your tense forms, the spelling, singular/plurals

—————————————————————————

Useful language

You have to make sure that your language is formal. 

 

Introduction

– The aim of this report is to…

– This report is intended to…

 

Reporting results

– Most people seem to feel that…

– Several people said/told me/suggested/thought that…

 

Presenting a list

– The gave/suggested the following reasons:

– They made the following points: 1… 2 …

 

Making recommendations

– I would therefore recommend (that we expand the library/installing a new coffee machine)

– It would seem that (banning mobile phones) is the best idea.

PATRICK - C2 - Proficiency

Hi Students,

Hope you are all well!

Here are the activities for this week.


FIRST ACTIVITY

Read this article recently published on the Aeon website.
Find words or expressions with the following meanings:

1 - infamous -
2 - good will -
3 - very obvious - 
4 - diminished - 
5 - badly damaged - 
6 - preachers -
7 - probably -
8 - motivated -
9 - lack of vision - 
10 - flourishing - 
11 - consequence - 
12 - imperfection -
13 - conclude - 
14 - criticise - 


Private gain must no longer be allowed to elbow out the public good

Adam Smith had an elegant idea when addressing the notorious difficulty that humans face in trying to be smart, efficient and moral. In The Wealth of Nations (1776), he maintained that the baker bakes bread not out of benevolence, but out of self-interest. No doubt, public benefits can result when people pursue what comes easiest: self-interest.
And yet: the logic of private interest – the notion that we should just ‘let the market handle it’ – has serious limitations. Particularly in the United States, the lack of an effective health and social policy in response to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak has brought the contradictions into high relief.
Around the world, the free market rewards competing, positioning and elbowing, so these have become the most desirable qualifications people can have. Empathy, solidarity or concern for the public good are relegated to the family, houses of worship or activism. Meanwhile, the market and private gain don’t account for social stability, health or happiness. As a result, from Cape Town to Washington, the market system has depleted and ravaged the public sphere – public health, public education, public access to a healthy environment – in favour of private gain.
COVID-19 reveals a further irrational component: the people who do essential work – taking care of the sick; picking up our garbage; bringing us food; guaranteeing that we have access to water, electricity and WiFi – are often the very people who earn the least, without benefits or secure contracts. On the other hand, those who often have few identifiably useful skills – the pontificators and chief elbowing officers – continue to be the winners. Think about it: what’s the harm if the executive suites of private equity, corporate law and marketing firms closed down during quarantine? Unless your stock portfolio directly profits from their activities, the answer is likely: none. But it is those people who make millions – sometimes as much in an hour as healthcare workers or delivery personnel make in an entire year.
Simply put, a market system driven by private interests never has protected and never will protect public health, essential kinds of freedom and communal wellbeing.
Many have pointed out the immorality of our system of greed and self-centred gain, its inefficiency, its cruelty, its shortsightedness and its danger to planet and people. But, above all, the logic of self-interest is superficial in that it fails to recognise the obvious: every private accomplishment is possible only on the basis of a thriving commons – a stable society and a healthy environment. How did I become a professor at an elite university? Some wit and hard work, one hopes. But mostly I credit my choice of good parents; being born at the right time and the right place; excellent public schools; fresh air, good food, fabulous friends; lots of people who continuously and reliably provide all the things that I can’t: healthcare, sanitation, electricity, free access to quality information. And, of course, as the scholar Robert H Frank at Cornell University so clearly demonstrated in his 2016 book on the myth of the meritocracy: pure and simple luck.
Commenting on how we track performance in modern economies – counting output not outcome, quantity not quality, prices not possibilities – the US senator Robert F Kennedy said in 1968 that we measure ‘everything, in short, except that which makes life worthwhile’. His larger point: freedom, happiness, resilience – all are premised on a healthy public. They rely on our collective ability to benefit from things such as clean air, free speech, good public education. In short: we all rely on a healthy commons. And yet, the world’s most powerful metric, gross domestic product (GDP), counts none of it.
The term ‘commons’ came into widespread use, and is still studied by most college students today, thanks to an essay by a previously little-known American academic, Garrett Hardin, called ‘The Tragedy of the Commons’ (1968). His basic claim: common property such as public land or waterways will be spoiled if left to the use of individuals motivated by self-interest. One problem with his theory, as he later admitted himself: it was mostly wrong.
Our real problem, instead, might be called ‘the tragedy of the private’. From dust bowls in the 1930s to the escalating climate crisis today, from online misinformation to a failing public health infrastructure, it is the insatiable private that often despoils the common goods necessary for our collective survival and prosperity. Who, in this system based on the private, holds accountable the fossil fuel industry for pushing us to the brink of extinction? What happens to the land and mountaintops and oceans forever ravaged by violent extraction for private gain? What will we do when private wealth has finally destroyed our democracy?
The privately controlled corporate market has, in the precise words of the late economics writer Jonathan Rowe, ‘a fatal character flaw – namely, an incapacity to stop growing. No matter how much it grew yesterday it must continue to do so tomorrow, and then some; or else the machinery will collapse.’
To top off the items we rarely discuss: without massive public assistance, late-stage extractive capitalism, turbocharged by private interest and greed, would long be dead. The narrow kind of macroeconomic thinking currently dominating the halls of government and academia invokes a simpleminded teenager who variously berates and denounces his parents, only to come home, time and again, when he is out of ideas, money or support. Boeing, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, Exxon – all would be bust without public bailouts and tax breaks and subsidies. Every time the private system works itself into a crisis, public funds bail it out – in the current crisis, to the tune of trillions of dollars. As others have noted, for more than a century, it’s a clever machine that privatises gains and socialises costs.
When private companies are back up and running, they don’t hold themselves accountable to the public who rescued them. As witnessed by activities since the 2008 bailouts at Wells Fargo, American Airlines and AIG, companies that have been rescued often go right back to milking the public.
By focusing on private market exchanges at the expense of the social good, policymakers and economists have taken an idea that is good under clearly defined and very limited circumstances and expanded it into a poisonous and blind ideology. Now is the time to assert the obvious: without a strong public, there can be no private. My health depends on public health. My freedom depends on social freedom. The economy is embedded in a healthy society with functional public services, not the other way around.
This moment of pain and collapse can serve as a wakeup call; a realisation that the public is our greatest good, not the private. Look outside the window to see: without a vibrant and stable public, life can quickly get poor, nasty, brutish and short.

Dirk Philipsen
This article was originally published at Aeon and has been republished under Creative Commons.

https://aeon.co/ideas/private-gain-must-no-longer-be-allowed-to-elbow-out-the-public-good


SECOND ACTIVITY

What do you think about the ideas in the article? Do you agree or disagree?
Reflect on them and this will be the theme in the next ZOOM conversation class.


THIRD ACTIVITY

Do the three word building activities on page 54 of the student's book.
I will post the answers at the end of the week.

FORTH ACTIVITY

Try the C2 vocabulary quiz on this website. There are three parts, each with 20 questions.
Let me know how many you get correct! Have fun and make a note of new words!

https://profesornativogratis.com/cambridge-proficiency-vocabulary-test/