Sara Ribotta's English Corner

BBC Learning English

BBC Learning English is a great website for learners at an intermediate level and above. If you are interested in improving your English by yourself, go and visit it.

On 11th Febuary it is scheduled a mock exam. It is not a real exam ... it is just some practice for the real one.

You are taking the "Use of English" mock exam consisting of 60 questions in multiple choice format that will check your knowledge of the grammar and vocabulary dealt with in the set books and during the course. There will be 30 questions on grammar and 30 questions on vocabulary. Please revise all the topics (grammar + vocabulary) we have discussed so far (Units 1-4).

You are also doing a dictation which will be read three times. The first time it will be read without pauses (you should just listen). The second time it will be dictated with punctuation; after 2 minutes there will be a third and final reading with short pauses at the end of each sentence.

For further information on the 1st Year Lettorato exam programme 2013-2014, click here.

Apps for Learning English

Learner's Dictionaries: Oxford University Press Apps or The Free Dictionary App (free)

Communication Skills: BBC English: Words in the News

Grammar: LearnEnglish Grammar or English Grammar in Use Tests (€ 3.99)

Graded Reading: Oxford Bookworms

Vocabulary Game: Word Challenge (free) or MyWordBook 2

Pronunciation: Pronunroid (free)

Exam Window Winter 2014

There will be NO LESSONS during the exam window. Our first class after the exam break will be Tuesday, February 11th. For further information http://www.dipartimentolingue.unito.it/Contents/os-didattica-calendarioaccademico.asp

Lesson 8 [Tue., 7th Jan. 2014]

Topics discussed UNIT 4
Vocabulary: crime (p46), stranger and foreigner (p47), usual and unusual (p48)
Grammar: modals of deduction (p47, p97), indefinite pronouns (p49)

Homework for Tue., 11th February 2014

Study your notes.
Study «Grammar Focus» Unit 4 (page 138) and Unit 8 (page 146) and do #5-6 on page 139 and #5 on page 147 on a separate sheet of paper.
Do # 1-2 (Vocabulary) on page 53

TIPS on Learning English: Practising Listening!

Each Tuesday, EnglishClub (click here) publishes a short audio news report in easy English from the previous week. With this resource you can practise your listening, reading, writing and even speaking.

Preview the vocabulary and read the gapfill text.
Play the news report and try to fill in the blanks.
Answer the comprehension questions by writing full sentences.
Use the discussion question to write an essay or discuss the story with other students.
Pretend to be a news anchor by reading each story out loud.

Study the news story each week and watch your English skills grow!

Christmas Break

Christmas Break 2013-2014: 23rd December 2013 - 6th January 2014

Our last class before Christmas break will be Tuesday, December 17th and our first class after Christmas break will be Tuesday, January 7th.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Lesson 7 [Tue., 17th Dec. 2013]

Topics discussed UNIT 4
Vocabulary: adjective suffixes (p43)
Grammar: present perfect tense (p42, p44)

Homework for Tue., 7th January 2014

Study your notes.
Study «Grammar Focus» Unit 4 (page 138) and do #1-4 on page 139 on a separate sheet of paper.

Lesson 6 [Tue., 10th Dec. 2013]

Topics discussed UNIT 3
Vocabulary: metaphors with the word cold (p35); words to describe statistics (p36)
Grammar: so & such (p34); conditional sentences (p37, p93, p94)

Basically, in English there are four conditionals:

ZERO CONDITIONAL to talk about a general situation, or something which is always true.
If you heat ice, it melts.
IF-CLAUSE: PRESENT TENSE
MAIN CLAUSE: PRESENT TENSE

Using this conditional suggests that we are 100% sure of the result.

FIRST CONDITIONAL to talk about possible situations in the future and their consequences.
If I study, I will pass the exam.
This situation takes place if a certain condition is met. It is possible and also very likely that the condition will be fulfilled.
IF-CLAUSE: PRESENT TENSE
MAIN CLAUSE: FUTURE TENSE

SECOND CONDITIONAL to talk about improbable situations in the present or future or imaginary situations.
If I bought a car like this, everyone would admire me. (I don't intend to buy the car - it's not going to happen!)
If I were you, I would plant some trees in your garden. (but I'm not you — this is unreal!)
IF-CLAUSE: PAST SIMPLE
MAIN CLAUSE: WOULD + INFINITIVE or COULD + INFINITIVE or MIGHT + INFINITIVE

THIRD CONDITIONAL to talk about a past condition that is impossible be fulfilled (too late!)

If I had studied harder, I would have passed the exam. (I failed the exam, because I didn't study hard enough.)

IF-CLAUSE: PAST PERFECT
MAIN CLAUSE: WOULD + HAVE + INFINITIVE or COULD + HAVE + INFINITIVE or MIGHT + HAVE + INFINITIVE

Things to remember:

1. The conditional sentences are formed in two steps. First, decide if you’re talking about a real or an unreal situation. Then, choose the correct tense. There are two choices: the present-future or the past.

2. Often the condition comes before the consequence, but sometimes the consequence comes first.

When the condition comes first, it is followed by a comma. e.g. If you don’t water plants, they die.
When the consequence comes first, we don’t use a comma. e.g. Plants die if you don’t water them.

3. In conditional type 2, we usually use in the if-clause were instead of was even if the pronoun is I, he, she or it, especially when we write. It is more formal!

Homework for Tue., 17th December 2013

Study your notes.
Study «Grammar Focus» Unit 3 (page 136) and do #3-5 on page 137 on a separate sheet of paper.
Study «Grammar Focus» Unit 8 (page 146) and do #2 and 4 on page 147 on a separate sheet of paper.
Do # 1-2 (Vocabulary) on page 41 on a separate sheet of paper.

Lesson 5 [Tue., 3rd Dec. 2013]

Topics discussed UNIT 3
Vocabulary: materials (p31); energy (p32); words that go with problem (p32)
Grammar: future forms: plans and intentions (p31) and predictions (p33)

Homework for Tue., 10th December 2013

Study your notes.
Study «Grammar Focus» Unit 3 (page 136) and do #1-2 on page 137 on a separate sheet of paper.
Read Coming in from the cold (page 35) and do #3 on page 34 and # 1 on page 35.

Lesson 4 [Tue., 26th Nov. 2013]

Topics discussed UNIT 2
Vocabulary: extreme adj (p23); prepositions (p24)
Grammar: modifiers (p22); used to & would (p25)

Homework for Tue., 3rd December 2013

Study your notes.
Study «Grammar Focus» Unit 2 (page 134) and do #4-6 on page 135 on a separate sheet of paper.
Do # 1-2 Grammar and # Vocabulary on page 29 on a separate sheet of paper.

Study your notes.
Study Grammar Focus Unit 2 (page 134) and do #1-3 on page 135 on a separate sheet of paper.
Read the extract from White Teeth (page 21) and do #3 (Reading) on page 20.

Present Simple and Present Continuous. What's the difference?

Discover it on www.perfect-english-grammar.com.

Lesson 2 [Tue., 12th Nov. 2013]

Topics discussed UNIT 1

Vocabulary: Collocations for describing places (p11); the verb to look (p10)

Grammar: Present Simple and Continuous (p9); Questions (p11 and p12)

Video on the Present Tenses in the English Language:

Homework for Tue., 19th November 2013

Study «Grammar Focus» Unit 1 (page 132) and do #1-7 on page 133 on a separate sheet of paper.
Do # 1-2 Grammar and # 1-2 Vocabulary on page 17 on a separate sheet of paper.
Read Towards a definition of cultures (page 13) and do #3 on page 12

BREAKING NEWS: NO English class on Tue., 5th November 2013

There will be NO LESSONS from 1st until 10th November 2013 for exams and public holidays.

The second class will meet on Tuesday, 12th November 2013.

English Learner's Dictionaries ONLINE

The Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary [link] [free]

Cambridge Learner’s Dictionary [link] [free]

The Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English [link] [free]