Wednesday April 1, 2020

Hi everyone,

Did you know that April 1st is also called April Fool's Day ? Sometimes it's fun to play tricks, or "pranks" on someone...and then say: April Fools !

  

Get the idea ? Play a trick on someone and then say: April Fool's !

Read about April Fool's Day here.

Here is a video about April Fool's Day in the U.S.

Lesson for Wednesday April 1st

Today let's do a reading from our Workbook - pages 38-39. Have you ever heard of a "blind spot" when you are driving ?

"Blind spots are the areas to the sides of your car that can’t be seen in your rear mirror or side mirrors- to make sure these spots are clear before changing lanes, you'll have to physically turn around and look to see what kind of crazy stuff is going on out there." (from aceable.com) 

1. Read page 38
2. Do the sequencing exercises on page 39.
3. Check your answers at the bottom !

Listen to Diane read the article above.

Here are the answers:

Tuesday March 31 Lesson

Hi class,

So fun to see you on Zoom yesterday. Here is our lesson for today !

1. Go over the phrasal verb exercise from yesterday. Read and listen.
2. Look at pages 58-59 in our book.
3. Look at the 511.org transportation website.

Here are the answers to the phrasal verb exercise - once again.

Part 2:

Use one of the phrasal verbs above to fill in the sentences.

1. You should always pull over to the right side of the road when an ambulance is coming.

2. The driver ran into a tree and damaged the front of the car.

3. He is such an aggressive driver. He always cuts in in front of other drivers. It makes me very nervous. 

4. Can you flag down that taxi for me ? I want to go home.  

5. You need to watch out for drunk drivers on New Year’s Eve. Many people drink too much and then drive home.

6. Can you drop off my prescription at the pharmacy  ?  I’m too sick to go myself.

7. I’m going to top off my drink. Can I get you a refill ?

8. She needs to pick up her children after school.

9. I hope my car doesn’t break down again. I don’t have any money to get it fixed this month.

10. My mechanic tunes up my car every year or so.

Listen to Diane read the sentences.

Part 2: 

Look at page 58 in your book. The map shows a bridge closure. ("closure" is the noun for the verb "close")

Look at the vocabulary words in exercise C and listen:

1. alternate: this means another way to go somewhere or do something

2. closure: to close something

3. detour: to go around and use a different route to get someplace

4. legend: a chart to show you what each symbol on the map means

5. primary: the most popular route or way to go that most people use

6. route: the streets and directions you use to go somewhere

Listen to Diane say the vocabulary words.

Look at page 59. Read the notes in exercise A and answer the questions in Exercise B

Here are the answers to page 57 Exercise 3....look at Possible Answers.

Part 3:

Do you ever use 511.org for transportation updates ?

Click on the link above to go to their website.

Click on Map Options. What color means traffic is moving fast ? What color means slow ?

Lesson: Monday March 30

Hi students,

I hope everyone is doing well during this time of "shelter-in-place" in San Francisco. Do your best to take care of yourselves and those you live with. We all hope we can come back to school soon. But, for now, let's continue our class remotely !

I sent these materials to you through email. I'll also post them here and see if you prefer getting handouts through email or through this blog.

Here is the lesson plan for Monday March 30, 2020

Do a warm-up exercise with phrasal verbs.

Look at pages 56-57 in our textbook.

Watch two videos about being "pulled over" by the police.

Warm-up exercise with phrasal verbs:

Part 1:

Look at the list of phrasal verbs from Unit 3

	Phrasal verbs	Meaning
1.	top off	add a little more to make something full
2.	tune up	check basic things in a car to make sure everything is OK
3.	pull over	drive to the right side of the road and stop
4.	break down	when a car stops working
5.	flag down	wave at other drivers so they stop for you
6.	run into	hit or drive into a person or object
7.	watch out	pay attention, be careful
8.	pick up	go get someone or something and bring home
9.	drop off	take someone or something to a place and leave
10.	cut in	quickly drive in front of another car in a way that is dangerous

Part 2:

Use one of the phrasal verbs above to fill in the sentences.

!. You should always ______________       _____________________ to the right side of the road when an ambulance is coming.

2. The driver _______________        ___________________ a tree and damaged the front of the car.

3. He is such an aggressive driver. He always ___________           ___________ in front of other drivers. It makes me very nervous.

4. Can you ______________   ___________________ that taxi for me ? I want to go home.

5. You need to ______________       __________________ for drunk drivers on New Year’s Eve. Many people drink too much and then drive home.

6. Can you ____________      _____________ my prescription at the pharmacy  ? I’m too sick to go myself.

7. I’m going to ___________   _____________ my drink. Can I get you a refill ?

8. She needs to ______________  ________________ her children after school.

9. I hope my car doesn’t ______________   ________________ again. I don’t have any money to get it fixed this month.

10. My mechanic _______________   ___________________ my car every year or so.

Now, look at pages 56-57 in your textbook Future 5. Take the quiz on page 56.

Look at page 57 and listen to the reading. Click on the following link to listen.

Listen to page 57 reading here

Now watch these two videos about what to do if a police officer pulls you over.

After you watch the videos, think about your own experiences. Have you ever been pulled over by the police ? What happened ? Write me an email and tell me your story.

Hope you enjoy this lesson !

I'll see you tomorrow at 12:00 on Zoom if you can make it !

Diane

Meet Avi Schiffman - a 17-year-old who developed a Coronavirus Tracker !

Hi class,

Listen to this interview ! It's really interesting !!! A young student from Seattle developed a website that tracks how many cases of Coronavirus cases there are in the world. Click below to watch the video on the Democracy Now website:

Interview with Avi Schiffman

Listen to the interview and try to answer the following questions....then read the transcript under the video and find the answers !

1. When did Avi start this website ?
2. How often does the website update information ?
3. What sparked his interest in wanting to create this website ?
4. How did Avi learn how to make this kind of website ?
5. What is "web scraping" ?
6. What kinds of information is on his website ?
7. What information did he start to include that is more positive and gives people hope ?
8. What is a vaccine tracker ?
9. How many people are using this website ?
10. Where are most of the people using the website from ?
11. How did Avi learn how to "code" websites ?
12. What does he do with his time now that his school is closed ?
13. Right now Avi calls his website ncov2019.live - what new name does he want for the website ?

Here is Avi's website:

ncovid2019.live

Watch again on You Tube:

Bringing groceries into your home...safely

Hi everyone,

Do you feel nervous about bringing your shopping items into your home because of the coronavirus ? Watch the video above to get some ideas for how to do bring in your groceries more safely and lower the risk of spreading the virus.



What do you think about this video ? Good ideas or not ?

Post a comment with your opinion !

See you via Zoom on Monday !

Diane

Homework from our workbook

Hi class,

Some of you were absent the last week we met so here is one of the handouts I gave.

It's from our Future 5 workbook (different than the textbook) pages 36-37. I'll attach 3 photos so you have both pages and the answers,

Rachel's English: Practice Pronunciation

Hi class,

I hope everyone is doing well today ! I want to share a video from Rachel's English. She teaches some new vocabulary like "stock", "stock market", "stock up", "stockpile", "take stock of", "shut down" and "lock down" and other important vocabulary you may be hearing when you listen to the news.

English Practice Coronavirus

I hope this video is interesting for you ! Tell me something you learned from watching the video. And, enjoy your weekend !

How are you holding up ?

Hi there,

This week has been stressful. There have been a lot of changes. There has been new information almost every day. How are you holding up ? Sometimes in English we say this to mean: How are you doing (in this difficult situation) ?

So, how are you holding up ? Are you doing ok ? Do you have enough food and supplies (like toilet paper) at home ?  Are you feeling bored because of staying home so much ? On Monday, San Francisco's mayor announced a new "shelter in place" policy until April 7.

Shelter in place means that people should mainly stay home as much as possible. People should go out when they need to shop for food or go to a pharmacy for medicine or other essential or important things. But, people should try to stay away from public places and large groups of people so more people don't get sick with the corona virus.

It's difficult when public places like the libraries and gyms and restaurants close. This has never really happened in the US before. Also, the supermarkets are very crowded and this is stressful. People are learning how to manage this new situation and there is a lot of fear.

I'll post some more information about the virus and how we can take care of ourselves. But, please write a comment below and let me know how you are holding up. How are you doing ?

I miss our class. I miss seeing everyone. I hope you all are doing ok.

Take care, stay home as much as you can, and wash your hands a lot !

Diane

Story Corps: Listen to American people interview each other

Hi class,

I want to share an interesting website with you. It's called: Story Corps. This website shares stories from many different people in the US. The idea is to record a short interview with someone who is important in your life. Some of the stories are animated. You can listen to a wide variety of people. Find one you like and let me know the title.

https://storycorps.org

Here is a link to all the animated stories:

https://storycorps.org/animation/

Here is my favorite animated video from Story Corps:

https://storycorps.org/animation/no-more-questions/

10 phrasal verbs

Here is another link from Real English Conversations to give you more listening practice.

You can listen to information about 10 different phrasal verbs and then a story that uses all 10 phrasal verbs together. Go to the following link:

https://realenglishconversations.com/free-english-phrasal-verb-story-10/

Welcome to our blog !

Hello students,

I hope everyone is doing well ! I want to share some resources with you so we can continue to study English together !

Part 1: Can you please listen to the following podcast and make a comment ? What did you learn ? What does pull over mean ? What does go over mean ? Both of these phrasal verbs have special meanings that relate to driving.

Listen to this podcast to practice the phrasal verbs: pull over, go over and get rid of

https://realenglishconversations.com/phrasal-verb-podcast-251/ 

You can find other free listening exercises on this website.

Part 2: Try listening to the conversation about driving from their conversations page. Write a comment and let me know if you find this exercise helpful.
Go to the link that says:
Listen to this conversation about driving . What new words did you learn ?

realenglishconversations.com 

Here is a transcript of the conversation:

Driving

Amy: What have you been pulled over1 for?
Curtis: I’ve been pulled over for tailgating2 an ambulance.
Amy: Oh, my God. I didn’t think that was the story he was going to pick.
Curtis: No, this is a very, very bad thing to do. I don’t recommend you doing this.
Amy: Okay. What’s tailgating?
Curtis: Tailgating is following somebody too close. So usually you have to leave a car
length in between the car in front of you and your car. And I at that point …
Amy: Had a very, very bad habit of driving way too close.
Curtis: Right. And in between–or I was in between the emergency ambulance vehicle in
front of me and a police car behind me. But I didn’t know it was a police car because it
didn’t have the lights.
Amy: Oh, it was a ghost car3.
Curtis: It was a ghost car.
Amy: Sneaky4.
Curtis: Or an unmarked car. Yeah.
Amy: Right. An unmarked car.
Curtis: And right away, he turned on his lights that were on his dashboard and the front of 
his car and his siren. And he was mad. 
Amy: He was.
Curtis: But I got lucky5 on that one too. Even though he was mad, he didn’t give me a
ticket.
Amy: Yeah. Sometimes they let you off. They–like they let you off the hook6 or I don’t
know. They give you, what is it? A warning?
Curtis: A warning7

Amy: Yeah, they give you a warning. Don’t do it again. Oh, yeah. It’s a written warning.
And it goes on record that you’ve been warned about this. But they don’t actually give
you a fine.
Curtis: Yeah. He kept track of it for sure. 

Phrase Explanations:

1. Pulled over: Stopped by the police
2. Tailgating: Driving very closely to the vehicle in front of you
3. Ghost car: A police car with no lights or markings. Also known as an unmarked car.
4. Sneaky: Doing something in a secret, unfair or not obvious way
5. I got lucky: To have good luck unexpectedly
6. Let you off the hook: When you get caught doing something wrong or illegal and you don’t get punished for it. ‘Let you off’ is the short way of expressing this.
7. Warning: An official notice that you have been warned not to do something again