Lab english activities

LAB ENGLISH ACTIVITIES UPPER INTERMEDIATE 

Listening part:

KENNEDY'S ASSASSINATION

1.	From this program we learn that President Kennedy ...
	A.    came from a famous political family.B.    was the youngest president of the USA. C.    had a son and a daughter.
2.	We also learn that the President was in Dallas because ...
	A.    was on his way to meet his wife. B.    lived there. C.    was making an official visit.
3.	What do we learn about the President's death?
	A.    He died instantly.. B.    No one knows who killed him. C.    He was shot twice by one person.
4.	What do we learn about Lee Harvey Oswald?
	A.    He denied killing the President.B.    He was shot when he was arrested. C.    He was found guilty of killing the President.
5.	Why was this news item included in the radio programme?
	A.    to show the style of earlier news reportingB.    to explain the importance of the assassination C.    to look back on an important event in modern history

Mistakes are in pink :P

Multiple-choice gap-filling

ACTIVITY 1Read the text below and choose from the menus the suitable answer. Then check your answers. The first alternative [ eager - fast - important - urgent ] is already done for you. WOMEN IN HISTORY Is the history of the world in urgent need of correction? Some historians, mostly women, argue that insufficient attention has been paid to a very important group: women. These historians want (demand) history textbooks to be revised so that they show accurately the role played by women. According to the history books, cavemen provided most of the food for their families through hunting animals. But the evidence shows that 80% of the diet of prehistoric humans was vegetarian and it was collected by females. In addition, women's efforts in fighting in wars or leading revolutions have been ignored. Textbooks concentrate on men such as Hannibal or Che Guevara and neglect outstanding women such as Théroigne de Méricourt, an opera singer who led the storming of the Bastille in 1789, or Mariya Bochkareva, a Bolshevik who organised a well-trained and highly (absolutely) successful troop of 2,000 fighting women during the Russian revolution in 1917. Women rulers are also forgotten. Between 962 and 1582 there were at least 16 women rulers in countries ranging (variying)from Italy to Angola. Women make up half the human race(being). If there is no reference to their contribution to history in the textbooks, then the real story is not being told. However many male historians deny that important female figures have been kept out of( in) the history books. MY LIFE AS A BARRY MANILOW FAN 0 I at first saw Barry Manilow on a TV programme in 1979. The 00 next day I went out and bought all the records of his that I 1 could find. I have been to 115 concerts now. I went to the New 2 York for two weeks because of he was doing 10 shows at Radio 3 City Music Hall. I saw all 10. You don't go to all that way 4 and only go to two or three, do you? Some people say I am too 5 crazy, but it does not seem so excessive, if you will compare 6 me with a football supporter going to see his favourite team 7 every week. I have got more 80 videotapes of Barry and a 8 couple of hundred records. What I dream about is having dinner 9 with him. Of course, there isn't any chance that could never 10 happen. I don't think Barry understands it why thousands of 11 women feel the way they do about him. It hurts to admit it, but 12 he must sometimes to feel like running away from his fans. 13 Life can be boring, but if I will have a concert to look 14 forward to. I am excited. One day he will stop doing concerts, 15 but that is something I dare not think about it too much.

ENGLISH SPELLING

Why does English spelling have a reputation for being difficult? English was first written down when Christian monks came to England in Anglo-Saxon times. They used the 23 letters of Latin to write down the sounds of Anglo-Saxon speech (communication)as they heard it. However, English has a wider range of basic sounds (over 40) than Latin. The alphabet was too small, and so combinations of letters were needed to express(explain) the different sounds. Inevitably, there were inconsistencies in the way that letters were combined.

With the Norman invasion of England, the English language was put at (in)risk. English survived, but the spelling of many English words changed to follow French patterns, and many French words were introduced into the language. The result was more irregularity.

When the printing press was invented in the fifteenth century, many early printers of English texts spoke other first languages. They made (did) little effort to respect English spelling. Although one of the short-term effects of printing was to produce a number of variant spellings, in the long term it created fixed spellings. People became used to seeing words spelt in the same way. Rules were drawn up(handed up), and dictionaries were put together which printers and writers could refer to.

However, spoken English was not fixed and continued to change slowly - just as it still does now. Letters that were sounded in the Anglo-Saxon period, like the 'k' in 'knife', now became silent (speechless). Also, the pronunciation of vowels then had little in common with how they sound now, but the way they are spelt hasn't changed.

No wonder, then, that it is often difficult to see the link between sound and spelling. MY REAL PARENTS People tell me I take after my mother. We have    the same  EXACT blue eyes. I don't know whether there is any    SIMILAR between my birth mother and me. I have no    of her  KNOW because I was adopted as a baby.  The fact that I am adopted is of no    to me. I don't want to  IMPORTANT look for    about my birth parents. Your real parents are the  INFORM ones who love and look after you - that's what I  . BELIEF My mother is a  ; she works very hard and often comes LAW home late. She sometimes worries    that this makes her a  NECESSARY bad mother. She says her children    her life and she would  BRIGHT like to spend more time with us. My father is a    artist and  PROFESSION works at home.  They are the best parents in the world. It was the    day of  LUCK my life when they adopted me.

Reading comprehension

Papua New Guinea Reconciliation

In Papua New Guinea, the descendants of cannibals who killed and ate four Fijian missionaries in 1878 have apologised for their ancestors' actions. They held a reconciliation ceremony, which was attended by thousands of people, in the East New Britain province where they were killed.

The missionaries were part of a group of Methodist ministers and teachers who arrived in 1875 to spread Christianity. The murders three years later, by Tolai tribespeople on the Gazelle Peninsula, triggered angry reprisals. The English pastor who was head of the mission, George Brown, avenged the killings by taking part in an expedition that resulted in the deaths of a number of tribespeople and the burning of several villages.

Candles were lit in memory of the four. Fiji's High Commissioner in Papua New Guinea, Ratu Isoa Tikoca, accepted the apologies on behalf of the descendants."We at this juncture are deeply touched and wish you the greatest joy of forgiveness as we finally end this record disagreement," he said.

The Governor-General Sir Paulias Matane praised the early missionaries for making the country Christian and called for more people to follow the guiding principles of the religion.

Questions

Q1 - The descendants of the cannibals are sorry about what happened.

TrueFalse

Q2 - Few people attended the ceremony.

TrueFalse

Q3 - The ceremony was held in the UK.

TrueFalse

Q4 - The missionaries were killed very soon after they arrived.

TrueFalse

Q5 - No one was punished for the killings.

TrueFalse

Q6 - The Fijian representative attended.

TrueFalse

Q7 - Ratu Isoa Tikoca was not moved by the ceremony.

TrueFalse

Q8 - Candles were lit to remember the missionaries.

TrueFalse

Q9 - Sir Paulias Matane resents the work of the early missionaries.

TrueFalse

Q10 - Sir Paulias Matane wishes that more people had religious principles.

TrueFalse

Comprehension Exercise Results

"Papua New Guinea Reconciliation"

The questions you got wrong:	3: The ceremony was held in the UK. 7: Ratu Isoa Tikoca was not moved by the ceremony.
Grade in percentage:	80.00 %
# of questions you got right:	8 / 10 Correct

Living at Spain

Living at Spain

When I was nine , a closer friend of my family called Gonzalo, invited my Dad  to go to Spain for getting a better job ,saving money for us and then take us over there. But my Dad rejected him because  he didn´t want to leave us alone.
But I wonder what would happend if my Dad had decided to go with Gonzalo?
Probably we would living at Spain, maybe i don't know in Barcelona , it could be great, but i think my family and I  would had changed our marners and have a different type of view, like change our destiny therefore forget what we want and what we are.

Third conditional

Write True or False next to each of the statements below according to the information presented in the movie segment.

1) The little girl hid Carrie's cell phone. ( T)

Carrie didn't receive any calls. ( T)

2)Carrie didn't know where her phone was. (T)
Carrie didn’t receive Big’s messages and phone calls. ( T)

3) Big wasn’t confident enough to walk into church all by himself. (F )
Big quit getting married. ( T)

4) Big took too long to apologize. ( T)
Carrie hit him with her wedding bouquet. (T )

5) Carrie’s friend didn’t let Big explain himself. ( T)
Carrie went home in a state of shock. ( T)

6) Carrie and Big didn't get married. (T )

They both had a horrible afternoon. ( T)

Now fill in the blanks of the sentences saying how things would have been different if the characters had acted differently. Use the 3rd conditional.

Ex:
1) If the little girl hadn't hidden (hide) Carrie's cell phone, shewould have received (receive) Big's calls.

2) If Carrie _had known_(know) where her phone was, she_would have received_(receive) Big’s messages.

3) If Big _had been__ (be) confident enough to walk into church all by himself, He _wouldn´t have quit_ (quit) getting married.

4) If Big hadn´t_taken_ (take) too long to apologize, Carrie _wouldn´t have hit_ (hit) him with the wedding bouquet.

5) If Carrie’s friend _had let_ (let) Big explain himself, Carrie _wouldn´t have gone__ (go) home in a state of shock.

6) If Carrie and Big _had gotten__ (get) married, they _wouldn´t have gone_ (go) through a horrible afternoon.

Amalia´s Class

Amalia´s Class

As we are used to make microteachings on Saturdays . It was Amalia´s turn, she talked about Fisrt and Zero conditional.

Zero conditional : Events that are truth.

 Structure: (Simple present + simple present)

If + Condition + Result: If you heat ice ir melts

First conditional : Probability / The result happens in the future.

Structure (Simple present + Future"Will" or Future"Will" + Simple present )

If + Conditional + ,+ Result : If you don´t study, you´ll fail the course

If + Resultt + Condition : I will tell mary if I see her

Formal letter

Catalina Riaño
Cll 20 #97-27
Bogota, Cundinamarca

September 29, 2012


The Manager
Tourist office
Cll 19 #96 H 04
San Francisco, Cundinamarca

Dear Sir.

I am writting to ask you if you could sent me some information about any special trip which will be taking place in or around Barranquilla next month as part of the anuual carvinal. I was thinking about getting there for having vacations, but firstly I have to know all about prices, hotels and food; therefore It would be remarkable if you could phone me back for negociating an enjoyable trip


I am looking forward to hearing from you. Thank you for your help.


Sincerely

Catalina Riaño

Childhood

Which opinion do you have about your childhood?

Did you have toys?

Do you still have one toy from your childhood?

How a toy could be important?

My damage Jennifer

Hi Jennifer

I don`t belive it ! How is it possible that your new owner is treating you so bad, mean she cut your hair, lost your heels and keep you naked. I know that I wasn`t perfect but at least I tryed to keep you clean and confortable.I got angry when a read your letter because I thought you were in good hands.
I`m going to talk about this with that crazy girl and bring you all you need.. don`t worry honey I`m here !

u.u 
Cata