At a restaurant

Here is the scene from the sitcom Friends that I mentioned last class. They are at a very expensive restaurant, and three of them do not have much money. Pay attention to the phrases they use when they order food (I'll have...).

And here are other videos showing different restaurant situations!

Optional Reading and Writing Activity

Some classes ago, we dealt with hotel problems, remember?

Here is an optional reading activity connected to this topic. If you decide to do it, you can either:

a) send me the answers by email (on a Word Document)

b) bring the answers to class on Saturday and hand them in for correction

1) Read the following newspaper article about hotel problems. What title would you give to it?

An international travel site conducted a survey on hotel complaints around the world and found some unusual things. The travel website Skyscanner.net surveyed 400 international hotel staff in 39 different countries. It asked them about the strangest things guests had asked for or complained about. The site said that most of the unusual complaints were about food. Other weird requests were related to the room. Not every hotel room or the services on offer are to everybody's taste, but the complaints in the Skyscanner survey were so strange it makes you wonder how the hotel staff responded. It would be impossible for any hotel in the world to make some of the complaining guests happy.
The food-related complaints were very weird. One guest asked for 16 cucumbers a day, while another requested only the right legs of a chicken. The staff had no idea why just the right leg, or whether the left leg of a chicken didn't taste as nice as the right leg. One guest asked for something not normally found on the room service menu – crocodile soup. Other complaints were crazy enough to make staff wonder about the mental age of the guests. A man at a luxury hotel in London complained that his room did not have a sea view. The nearest beach to London is about 75 km away. Other guests wanted the toilet filled with mineral water, a bath full of honey and a discount because his girlfriend snored.


2) Read the article again and decide if these sentences are TRUE or FALSE.

a.	A nationwide website did a survey on hotel guests' complaints.	T / F
b.	The site asked 400 staff from international hotels in 39 countries.	T / F
c.	Most of the unusual requests were about the shower and bathroom.	T / F
d.	The article said it's impossible to keep all hotel guests happy.	T / F
e.	One guest wanted the hotel to give him/her 16 cucumbers a day.	T / F
f.	Another guest wanted only the right leg of chickens.	T / F
g.	A man at a London hotel complained he could see the sea.	T / F
h.	A woman wanted a discount because her boyfriend snored.	T / F

3) SYNONYM MATCH: What do these words mean? Read the article again and match the words (1 to 10) to a synonymous expression (a-j).

1.	conducted	a.	questioned
2	unusual	b.	think
3.	surveyed	c.	were about
4.	related to	d.	requested
5.	taste	e.	closest
6.	asked for	f.	carried out
7.	normally	g.	price reduction
8.	wonder	h.	liking
9.	nearest	i.	strange
10.	discount	j.	usually

4) LETTER:Write a letter to an expert on hotels. Ask him/her three questions about hotels. Give him/her three of your ideas on how to make hotel stays better. 

Present Continuous: Future meaning

Hello, everybody!

I've found this video with a complete explanation of the present continuous for future use. The explanation is in Spanish, but I think it is complete and it might be useful for some of you. http://www.blueblocnotes.com/grammar/future-tenses/present-continuous-future
The only thing that's not included on the video is the idea of ARRANGEMENTS that we talked about last class. Here's a useful explanation of this: http://www.edufind.com/english/grammar/future_arrangements.php

Here you'll find the difference between present continuous (future) and be going to: http://www.myenglishpages.com/site_php_files/grammar-lesson-future-plan.php#.U3pZX_l5OBw

I hope it's useful!

Songs!!!

Hello, how are you?

Here is an interesting webpage in which you can do listening activities with songs: http://lyricstraining.com/

It's very easy to use. It's similar to Youtube! After you choose the song you'd like to listen to, you have to select the level of the activity. I recommend 'principiante' or 'intermedio', but if you want, you can have a go at more difficult activities! 

I hope you enjoy it!

Writing: Describing a picture

Last class, we described these famous historical pictures:

TASK:

Choose one photo and write a short description

1) Who were the people in the picture? Where were they? When? 
2) What were they doing when the picture was taken?
3) Were you alive when this happened? If so, what were you doing? If not, what do you think most people were doing?

REVISION: Prepositions of Time (at - in - on)

Some explanations:

http://www.english-4u.de/prepositionoftime.htm (focus on AT - IN - ON)

http://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en/grammar/preposition_time.htm   (focus on AT - IN - ON)

Activities:

http://www.perfect-english-grammar.com/time-prepositions-exercise-2.html

http://www.agendaweb.org/grammar/prepositions-of-time-exercises.html 

Grammar Practice: PAST SIMPLE vs. PAST CONTINUOUS

Hi, again! 

Here is some grammar practice for you to do online!

PAST SIMPLE

Here you'll find a simple explanation and some practice activities: http://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/grammar/simple-past 

And here there are A LOT of activities!! Just choose what you want to revise and practice: http://www.agendaweb.org/verbs/past_simple-exercises.html 

PAST CONTINUOUS

A simple explanation and some practice: http://www.learnenglish-online.com/grammar/pastcontinuous.html

PAST SIMPLE VS. PAST CONTINUOUS 

Explanation and practice! http://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/grammar/simpas-paspro

 http://www.englishexercises.org/makeagame/viewgame.asp?id=734

Funny situations: http://www.englishexercises.org/makeagame/viewgame.asp?id=7846