7 NA C1 2 Topic 1 Language & Communication

If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough. (Albert Einstein)

Grammar	Grammar antics
Language Function	Describing language
Listening	Crying + audio
Reading	The English and language
Speaking	Privacy and social networks
Vocabulary	Dictionary worksheet
Writing	ICT

6 NA C1 Topic 1 Language & Communication

Language is like wine on the lips. (Virginia Woolfe)

Grammar	Grammar antics
Language Function	Describing language
Listening	Better conversations + audio
Reading	The British and other languages
Speaking	Social media
Vocabulary	Language matters
Writing	Social networks

5 NI B2 2 Topic 1 Knowing me Knowing you

Know yourself to improve yourself. (Auguste Comte).

Grammar	Find the mistake
Language Function	Retelling/relating past events
Listening	American psycho + audio
Reading	Greeting in the age of Coronavirus
Speaking	All about me
Vocabulary	Fear
Writing	Telling lies

4 NI B2 1 Topic 1 Language & Communication

The art of communication is the language of leadership. (James Humes).

Grammar	Grammar antics
Language Function	Comprehending text or speech
Listening	Advice for exams + audio
Reading	Learning languages
Speaking	Language exchange
Vocabulary	Word building
Writing	Learning English

3 NI B1 Topic 1 Language Learning & Communication

The limits of my language mean the limits of my world. (Ludwig Wittgenstein).

Grammar	I want them to study more
Language Function	Talking about language
Listening	Learning languages + audio
Reading	Foreign exchange emails
Speaking	Learning languages
Vocabulary	Talking about language
Writing	Foreign languages

2 NB 2 Topic 1 Back to Routine

The secret of your future is hidden in your daily routine. (Mike Murdock)

Grammar	Questions
Language Function	Describing people & places
Listening	A musician's day + audio
Reading	A special day
Speaking	A restless night
Vocabulary	Travel
Writing	Letter to a friend

English 2021/2022

Back to routine ....

.... although this blog will be undergoing a few changes. Keep your eyes peeled.

Book 6 2021 Shooting Butterflies

For as long as Grace could remember, her parents had been having "words". Those words were either very quiet, seeping out from between clenched teeth, or very loud, jetting out of gaping mouths. But Grace didn't worry because her parents loved each other very much. That's what they said, every time after they had words.

Here is my sixth recommendation for the year, our first summer read. Shooting Butterflies by Marika Cobbold is a book about the dynamics of family relationships and how we stand up to what life throws at us. Here is the worksheet. 

Book 5 2021 Friends, Lovers, Chocolate

"The difficulty is that this person, this woman I've met, is not somebody I thought I would fall for. I hadn't planned it. I really hadn't."

"Which is exactly what Cupid's arrows are all about," said Isabel gently. "Very inaccurate. They fly about all over the place."

My next recommendation is Friends, Lovers, Chocolate by Alexander McCall Smith. Here is the worksheet.

NI B2 2 Topic 12 Free Time & the Summer

Summer afternoon—summer afternoon; to me those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language. (Henry James)

Reading	Holidays
Listening	Mountain-climbing weekend
Vocabulary	Holidays
Speaking	A school trip

NI B2 1 Topic 12 Free Time & the Summer

Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass under trees on a summer's day, listening to the murmur of the water, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is by no means a waste of time. (John Lubbock)

Reading	World walker
Listening	Surviving a plane crash
Speech act	Complaining
Speaking	Holidays

NI B1 Topic 12 Free Time & The Summer

All in all, it was a never-to-be-forgotten summer — one of those summers which come seldom into any life, but leave a rich heritage of beautiful memories in their going — one of those summers which, in a fortunate combination of delightful weather, delightful friends and delightful doing, come as near to perfection as anything can come in this world. (L.M. Montgomery)

Reading	Adventure travel
Listening	Problems at the train station
Vocabulary	Transport and travel
Speaking	Holidays (Dialogue)

NB 2 Topic 12 Home or Away

No one realizes how beautiful it is to travel until he comes home and rests his head on his old, familiar pillow. (Lin Yutang)

Reading	Accommodation
Listening	Holiday accommodation
Grammar	Present perfect
Speaking	Travelling

Book 4 2021 The Good Liar

Roy ventures out for a stroll, to get out of the house. Betty has commenced her fussy cleaning routine. The racket of the vacuum cleaner and the disruption of his having to move his feet while trying to sit in peace with the newspaper are usually enough to stir him.

Revenge is definitely a dish best served cold. I recommend The Good Liar by Nicholas Searle for this month's reading. Good luck with the hidden identities when identifying the characters. Here is the worksheet. 

NI B2 2 Topic 11 Spending & Ruling

The genius of our ruling class is that it has kept a majority of the people from ever questioning the inequity of a system where most people drudge along, paying heavy taxes for which they get nothing in return. (Gore Vidal)

Reading	Politics
Listening	Politics
Vocabulary	Numbers
Speaking	Fair trade

NI B2 1 Topic 11 Money & Politics

Show me a man that gets rich by being a politician, and I'll show you a crook. (Harry Truman)

Reading	Politics UK
Listening	Activist Wangari Maathal
Vocabulary	Numbers
Speaking	Being a good communicator

NI B1 Topic 11 Money & Shopping

All I ask is the chance to prove that money can't make me happy. (Spike Milligan)

Reading	Shopping
Listening	Shopping cenre visit
Grammar	have something done
Speaking	Money (monologue)