Ms Bermejo's classes: September 2013

September 30, 2013

Little Boy To Kenya Gunman: ‘You’re A Bad Man’

Militant spares four-year-old after the boy shames him

A four-year-old British boy survived the bloody Kenyan shopping mall attack after standing up to a terrorist gunman and telling him: “You’re a very bad man.”

Elliott Prior, from Windsor in southeast England, showed great courage when men with AK47s stormed the Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi on Saturday, the Sun reports. He was protecting his mother Amber, who had been shot in the leg. As a gunman approached him, his mother and his six-year-old sister Amelie, he shouted: “You’re a bad man, let us leave.”

Surprisingly, the gunman appeared to take pity on the family. After going so far as to give Elliott and Amelie candy bars, he allowed them to escape with their mother, saying, according to the Sun: “Please forgive me, we are not monsters.”

Amber, a 35-year-old film producer, also rescued two other children from the mall, including a wounded 12-year-old boy whose mother had been murdered, and pushed them outside in a shopping trolley. Dramatic photos of the distraught-looking Amber, Elliott and Amelie coming out of the mall were then flashed around the world.

Source: Time Magazine

September 27, 2013

Go!

Dear all,

Why don't we start by practicing basic grammar points at Oxford University Press website?

September 26, 2013

Check what you know

Hi!

I think it would be a good idea to revise intermediate grammar points with activities from New English File Intermediate:

September 24, 2013

Welcome to this new school year!

Dear NI2 students,

I'd like to welcome you to this new accademic year 2013-2014. I hope it will bring plenty of learning experiences and that we will learn a lot from each other.

Our coursebook will be Outcomes (Upper Intermediate)
Heinle Cengage Learning
Authours: Hugh Dellar (Author), Andrew Walkley (Author)

All the best,
M.ª José

September 17, 2013

Modern Love: Falling in Love at 71

September 12, 2013 By Arthur Jones

Nora Johnson, long divorced, wasn't looking for love when she met George, a widowed 83-year-old. It just happened.

How different is love at 71 from when you are younger?

Related Article: Age Is No Obstacle to Love, or Adventure

September 11, 2013

Business: Asking permission & polite requests

Hi there!

Don't miss this 6-minute English programme.

Making requests in a polite way is an important skill. Most people learn how to say 'please' and 'thank you' at a very young age – but what about politeness in the English-speaking workplace? What do you say if you want someone to open the window, turn down the air conditioning or tidy up the office?

Join Feifei and Neil as they argue about air-conditioning and explore the language of asking permission and making polite requests in English.

Don't forget to go over the polite language used when asking for something on the transcript.
BTW What type of officie do YOU prefer?

September 05, 2013

Town and City Vocabulary

Dear NI2 students,

This is a nice post on how to showcase your expressions referring to Town and City. Although the dialogues of the IELTS exam is not the same as our school exam, it might inspire you to talk to your partner or to elaborate your monologues.

Examiner: What is it like where you live?

Christiane: I live in a residential area of a busy town in the south of Spain … we have all the facilities you need … good public transport … a good shopping centre … it’s nice …

Examiner: Do you like living in the city?
Andrea: Yes I do … I like going out with my friends and there are lots of lively bars and restaurants within walking distance of my apartment … I’m a bit of a culture vulture as well so it’s great to have access to art exhibitions and that kind of thing …

Examiner: Do you get many tourists visiting your area?
Mandy: Not really no … I live in the inner-city and the area is a little run down … it’s basically a lot of high-rise flats and many of the shops are boarded up … so nothing to interest tourists really …

For more expressions on IELTS Vocabulary practice for Speaking click here