Lesson 1A

We have finished lesson 1A and we have studied the verb TO BE in the possitive form. For those who have a higher level, not  just starter, here you have the diagram for the use of this verb:

These are the forms of the verb TO BE in the present tense:

	IMPERSONAL FORM	AFFIRMATIVE FORM	NEGATIVE FORM	INTERROGATIVE FORM
SINGULAR	There is There isn’t Is there …?	I am --- I’m *You are -- You’re He is --- He’s She is --- She’s It is --- It’s	I am not ---I’m not *You are not --- You aren’t He is not --- He isn’t She is not --- She isn’t It is not --- It isn’t	Am I …? *Are you …? Is he …? Is she …? Is it …?
PLURAL	There are There aren’t Are there …?	We are --- We’re *You are -- You’re They are -- They’re	We are not --- We aren’t *You are not --- You aren’t They are not --- They aren’t	Are we …? *Are you …? Are they …?

 *The pronoun you (2^nd person) is used for singular and plural, like in Argentina with vos.

Special characteristics

•  It’s the only verb which is principal and auxiliary one at the same time; compare these examples: 

Is she at school?       but             Does she go to school every day?

•  It’s used in continuous and passive verbal forms; for example: 

    They are playing now   or     English is spoken here

The negative and interrogative form are in lesson 1B. See you in class!
- exercise 1: very simple; affirmative form
- exercise 2: only ffirmative form

                                                                         

The alphabet

We are working with the alphabet but we have seen it in class not in order as usual but in groups; here we have the groups according to the pronunciation:

VOWELS	A /eɪ/	E/i:/	/e/	I/aɪ/	O/əʊ/	U/ju:/	others
CONSONANTS	H J K	B C D G P T V Z /zi :/ (USA)	F L M N S X Z /zed/ (UK)	Y/waɪ/		Q W	R  /ɑ:/(UK) /ɑ:r/ (USA)

  

Remember the pronunciation of some letters in English are not the same as in Spanish; we saw t - d - p - v for example. We also saw there are letters with different pronunciation like th /θ/, /ð/.

If you are not familiar with the phonetic symbols and you want to know how to practise go to this link, although it has too many simbols. We'll use less in class. Click here.

If you want to practise with the alphabet you can visit these sites but there are more in youtube if you like:

• http://www.ciberatalayas.com/cursos/alphabet.htm : the traditional song with the alphabet.
• http://www.learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/en/songs/the-alphabet-song : another version a bit funnier.

Starting with English, starting with classes

Hello everybody!
We are starting classes on October, 15 and we are going to study the basic things in English. Let's start with numbers. This is what I'm going to explain in class.

NUMBERS

There are 3 groups of numbers:

1.  From 1 to 12 : the numbers with "proper names"

NUMBER	NAME	PRONUNCIATION
1	ONE	/wʌn/
2	TWO	/tuː/
3	THREE	/θriː/
4	FOUR	/fɔː(r)/
5	FIVE	/faɪv/
6	SIX	/sɪks/
7	SEVEN	/ˈsevən/
8	EIGHT	/eɪt/
9	NINE	/naɪn/
10	TEN	/ten/
11	ELEVEN	/ɪˈlevən/
12	TWELVE	/twelv/

2.  From 13 to 19 : the -teen numbers

NUMBER	NAME	PRONUNCIATION
13	thirteen	/ˌθɜːˈtiːn/
14	forteen	/ˌfɔːˈtiːn/
15	fifteen	/ˌfɪfˈtiːn/
16	sixteen	/ˌsɪksˈtiːn/
17	seventeen	/ˌsevənˈtiːn/
18	eighteen	/ˌeɪˈtiːn/
19	nineteen	/ˌnaɪnˈtiːn/

3. Numbers from 20 to 90 : the -ty numbers  (in Spanish we say -ta)

NUMBER	NAME	PRONUNCIATION
20	twenty	/ˈtwenti/
30	thirty	/ˈθɜːrti/
40	forty	/ˈfɔːˈti/
50	fifty	/ˈfɪfˈti/
60	sixty	/ˈsɪksˈti/
70	seventy	/ˈsevənˈti/
80	eighty	/ˈeɪˈti/
90	ninety	/ˈnaɪnˈti/

The main difference between the group 2 and 3 are:

•        The ending : -teen /ˈtiːn/ a long /i:/ (like two ii in Spanish)    -ty /ti/ short /ɪ/
•         The stress (acento/golpe de voz)       group 2 □□      group 3 □□

How to write numbers:

                Twenty-four      sixty-seven     There is a hyphen (-) between the two parts

Activities:

• Exercise 1: look at a clock and say the numbers in order and then jumping from one to another
• Exercise 2: dictation of numbers like telephone numbers or additions: 23+30 ; 47+50
• Exercise 3: you can practise with this page with listening comprenhension of numbers; click here

Videos with numbers to help you with pronunciation:

·         http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HM30Ad5nQ24 : pronunciation of mumbers from 1 to 20

·         http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7AmBGd4tmU : numbers for kids.