The English Corner
Thursday 8 February 2024
Sunday 4 February 2024
Friday 2 February 2024
Sunday 14 January 2024
Oliver Twist
BEFORE GOING TO THE THEATRE
THE STORY
Oliver Twist is born in a workhouse in England, in the early 1800s. His mother dies
after giving birth to him. He spends his first nine years in Mrs Mann’s workhouse,
where he isn’t clothed or fed properly and is treated badly. On Oliver’s ninth
birthday, Mr Bumble, the Director of the Board responsible for workhouses, takes
Oliver back to the workhouse where he was born. Here, he and the other boys are
fed each day on porridge. One day, Oliver is chosen to ask for more to eat and having
done so, is beaten and locked in a room for a week. Oliver is sold to an undertaker.
In this new home, he must eat the dog’s leftovers and sleep in the shop with the
coffins. He is treated very badly and runs away. He decides to make his way to
London where Oliver discovers that Rose is his aunt. Mr Brownlow adopts Oliver as
his son and they move to live near Rose, her husband, Harry, and Mrs Maylie.
1. In pairs, students ask and answer the following questions. Or, you can ask the questions and
elicit the answers from the whole class.
a) What is a working-class family?
.........................................................................................................................
.........................................................................................................................
b) What do you know about the life of a working-class child in England in the 19th
century?
.........................................................................................................................
.........................................................................................................................
c) What do you think happened to poor orphans in the 19th century?
.........................................................................................................................
.........................................................................................................................
Exercise 2
Here are four sentences from Oliver Twist. What do you think happens next? Finish the
sentences in your own words.
a) Oliver was a frightened boy because . . .
...........................................................................................................................
b) Fagin needed Oliver’s help in order to…
...........................................................................................................................
c) Oliver was trembling from cold and exhaustion and was in terrible pain because . . .
...........................................................................................................................
d) You are a poor orphan. Where would you live? What would you do?
2. .........................................................................................................................
3. .........................................................................................................................
AFTER GOING TO THE THEATRE
9. Hello again! Did you enjoy the show? Let’s see if you remember the story:
a) When does the story begin?
.........................................................................................................................
.........................................................................................................................
b) Where does the story take place?
.........................................................................................................................
.........................................................................................................................
c) Where does Oliver live?
.........................................................................................................................
.........................................................................................................................
d) How old do you think Oliver is?
............................................................................................................................
.........................................................................................................................
.........................................................................................................................
AFTER GOING TO THE THEATRE
9. Hello again! Did you enjoy the show? Let’s see if you remember the story:
a) When does the story begin?
.........................................................................................................................
.........................................................................................................................
b) Where does the story take place?
.........................................................................................................................
.........................................................................................................................
c) Where does Oliver live?
.........................................................................................................................
.........................................................................................................................
d) How old do you think Oliver is?
............................................................................................................................
.........................................................................................................................
.........................................................................................................................
Somebody has mixed up the various parts of the story of Oliver Twist. Can you you put them
in the right order?
…..Bill Sikes wants Oliver to help him steal from Mr. Brownlow’s house.
…..After being arrested for theft, Oliver meets Mr Bownlow at the police station.
…..Fagin teaches Oliver how to steal.
…..Mr Brownlow decides to help Oliver.
…..Mr Brownlow decides to adopt Oliver and Nancy.
…..Oliver becomes friends with Nancy.
…..Oliver becomes Mr. Sowerberry’s apprentice.
…..Oliver grows up in a workhouse where he is bullied.
…..Oliver meets a gang of juvenile delinquents with Fagin at its head.
……Oliver runs away and goes to London.
…….Sikes and Oliver are chased by the police over the rooftops of London.
12. Decide if the sentences are True or False:
PHRASE TRUE OR FALSE
Oliver Twist comes from a big family.
Oliver Twist was born in a hospital.
Oliver Twist had a difficult childhood.
Shakespeare wrote Oliver Twist.
Fagin didn’t help poor children.
Wednesday 3 January 2024
Present Simple
42 sentences Present Simple affirmative , by Irina
Find this and other present simple exercises in English Exercises .org
Tuesday 2 January 2024
Monday 1 January 2024
Wednesday 20 December 2023
Monday 11 December 2023
It's Christmas !
Merry Christmas!
Word search
Word search II
e-mail Santa
ESL Christmas activities
More Christmas exercises
Wednesday 22 November 2023
Unit One. Extra Practice
Change the subject with the correct subject pronoun.
[Image]
1-Mary is my sister.
3- The bird is red and green.
4- Mary and Susan are good friend.
5- Sam and I work together.
8- You and I have the same book.
9- Peter and you are in the same class.
10. The nurse is in the room now.
11- Ann is on holiday.
12- The boy is very tall.
13- The students in this class are the best.
14- Tom and you are very clever.
15- The man in the green car is my father.
To Be
Write questions
1.he / from England?
2.his birthday / in the summer?
3.dogs / his favourite animals.
4.Smith / his last name?
5.blue and yellow / his favourite colours?
Complete the sentences use am / is /are.
1.Nemo ............. a fish.
2.Mary ............. a girl.
3.Jimmy and Tom ............. boys.
4.The ball ............. big.
5.The house ............. in the mountain.
6.The car ............. new.
7.The pencil ............. black.
8.The dresses ............. black.
9.We ............. students.
10.I............. happy.
11.You and I ............. in the class.
12.The sweets ............. delicious.
13.This book ............. very cheap.
14.A snail ............. small.
15.Those actors ............. handsome.
Make these sentences negative.
1.Nemo............. an elephant.
2.Mary ............. a boy.
3.Jimmy and Tom ............. girls.
4.The tennis ball ............. big
5.The house ............. at the beach.
6.The car............. old.
7.The pencil ............. red.
8.The dresses ............. white.
9.We ............. teachers.
10.I ............. sad.
11.You and I............. in the park.
12.The sweets ............. bad.
13.This book ............. very expensive.
14.A snail ............. big.
15.Those actors ............. ugly.
QUESTION WORDS
Look at the answers. Then complete the questions with Who, What, When, Where or Why.
1.A: ............. is in the classroom?
B: Pat is in the classroom.
2.A: ............. is your birthday?
B: It's on the 20th June.
3.A: ............. is your pencil case?
B: It's in my bag.
4.A: ............. are you at home?
B: Because it's Sunday.
5.A:............. is that?
B: It's a schoolbag.
Answer the questions:
1.What is your name? - It's..............................................................
2.What is there in your living room? -There's................................................................
3.Where is New York? -.It's in..................................................................
4.Where are the five books? - They're in...................................................................
5.When is Christmas? -It's in ...................................................................
6.When are Jim and Gill at school? -.They are ..................................................
7.What is Nemo? -It's a...................................................................
8.Who are in the living room? -..............................and...................................
9.What is the weather in your country? - Its's..................................................................
10.How are you today? -I'm...................................................................
Monday 17 April 2023
Conditionals
Links to revise:
https://agendaweb.org/verbs/conditional-first-exercises.html
https://www.perfect-english-grammar.com/first-conditional-exercise-1.html
http://www.perfect-english-grammar.com/second-conditional-exercise-1.html
https://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/grammar/conditional-sentences/type-2/exercises?02
http://www.agendaweb.org/verbs/conditional-second-exercises.html
http://www.learnenglishfeelgood.com/grammar-secondconditional2.html
http://web2.uvcs.uvic.ca/courses/elc/studyzone/410/grammar/2cond.html
http://www.learnenglish-online.com/grammar/tests/2ndconditional.html
Sunday 7 November 2021
Volcanoes
Task 1 . Reading
La Palma is the most north-westerly island of the Canary Islands, Spain. La Palma has an area of 708 square kilometres (273 sq mi) making it the fifth largest of the eight main Canary Islands. The total population at the end of 2020 was 85,840.. Its highest mountain is the Roque de los Muchachos, at 2,423 metres, being second among the peaks of the Canaries only to the peaks of the Teide massif on Tenerife.
La Palma, like the other islands of the Canary Island archipelago, is a volcanic ocean island. So La Palma’s geography is a result of the volcanic formation of the island. The highest peaks reach over 2,400 m above sea level, and the base of the island is located almost 4,000 m below sea level. The northern part of La Palma is dominated by the Caldera de Taburiente, with a width of 9 km and a depth of 1,500 m. It is surrounded by a ring of mountains ranging from 1,600 m to 2,400 m in height. On its northern side is the exposed remains of the original seamount. Only the deep Barranco de las Angustias (“Ravine of Anxiety”) ravine leads into the inner area of the caldera, which is a national park. It can be reached only by hiking. The outer slopes are cut by numerous gorges which run from 2,000 m down to the sea. Today, only a few of these carry water due to the many water tunnels that have been cut into the island’s structure.
From the Caldera de Taburiente to the south runs the ridge Cumbre Nueva (‘New Ridge’, which despite its name is older than the Cumbre Vieja, ‘Old Ridge.’) The southern part of La Palma consists of the Cumbre Vieja, a volcanic ridge formed by numerous volcanic cones built of lava and scoria. The Cumbre Vieja is active, currently erupting in the 2021 La Palma eruption. Beyond Punta de Fuencaliente at the southern tip of the island, the Cumbre Vieja continues in a southerly direction as a submarine volcano.
Since the Spanish have kept records, there have been eight eruptions – all of which have occurred on the Cumbre Vieja:
- 1470–1492 Montaña Quemada
- 1585 Tajuya near El Paso
- 1646 Volcán San Martin
- 1677 Volcán San Antonio
- 1712 El Charco
- 1949 Volcán Nambroque at the Duraznero, Hoyo Negro and Llano del Banco vents
- 1971 Volcán Teneguía
- 2021 Volcán Tajogaite (ongoing)
The volcano started erupting again on 19th September 2021 after a seismic crisis rocked the island.
Task 2 – Fact finding. Choose a number to complete these sentences about natural disasters. Compare with a partner.
10 | 500 | 1500 | 26.5 |
1) There are over _______ active volcanoes around the world.
2) Tsunamis can travel at up to _______ miles per hour. 500 26.5 10 1500
3) Hurricanes only form when water temperature reaches ___________ ºC.
4) _______ % of the world’s population live within danger range of volcanoes.
Task 3 – Read the messages and then answer the following questions.
We asked our readers to send in their views on these two questions:
-Do you think there are more natural disasters than in the past?
-Do you think we are prepared to deal with the disasters?
Sarah – “I think it’s really scary that there are so many natural disasters these days. There are far more than in the past. Every time you switch on the news you see places that are flooded or countries in drought. I’m sure it’s all connected to climate change and global warming.’’
James – “ We so many natural disasters on the news these days that you become immune to them. I don’t mean that in a horrible way, but it always seems so far away and there’s absolutely nothing you can do to help the poor people who are there. ”
Cindy – ‘’The hurricanes and earthquakes that have happened in the past month just prove how unprepared we are for natural disasters. It’s crazy that with all the technology and information available to us nowadays natural disasters still kill so many people. They should spend more money on research to develop warning systems for hurricanes, floods, earthquakes and tsunamis.”
Roger – “You can’t prepare for natural disasters as nobody knows when or where they are going to happen. It’s nature’s way of reminding us that she is in charge and we should respect her a lot more than we do.“
1• Who do you agree with?
2• Who do you disagree with? Why?
3• How would you answer the two questions?
Task 4 What do you think about this piece of news?:
Sunday 20 December 2020
Wednesday 23 September 2015
Wednesday 2 September 2015
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was baptized on April 26, 1564, in Stratford-upon-Avon, England. From roughly 1594 onward he was an important member of the Lord Chamberlain’s Men company of theatrical players. Written records give little indication of the way in which Shakespeare’s professional life molded his artistry. All that can be deduced is that over the course of 20 years, Shakespeare wrote plays that capture the complete range of human emotion and conflict.
Wednesday 21 January 2015
Reading comprehension level A "Bullied"
http://www.englishforeveryone.org/PDFs/Bullied.pdf
Read the text about a "bullied" boy and do the comprehension exercises.
Send me the composition to the class mail.
Monday 9 December 2013
Comparatives
Comparative exercises. Click here.http://www.better-english.com/grammar/comparatives.htm
More about comparatives and superlatives.
Thursday 31 October 2013
Learning to write.
Learning to write.
Thursday 17 October 2013
It's Halloween Time!
Beware of bats and spiders, have a bag for sweets and tricks!
On the day of Samhain, the Celtic people would all extinguish their home’s hearth fire. They would gather in front of a blessed bonfire and would sing, dance and listen to the stories that were told during the celebration. At the end of the evening, each person would take some of the bonfire home to relight their heart fire in hopes of ensuring good fortune to their home and family for the coming year. It is said that if your hearth fire would not light from the sacred bonfire, misfortune, even death, would befall someone in the house that very year.
Wednesday 16 October 2013
Friday 7 June 2013
Wednesday 8 May 2013
Tuesday 19 March 2013
Sunday 25 November 2012
Sherlock Holmes
Friday 27 April 2012
Thursday 8 March 2012
Charles Dickens
This year is the 200th anniversary of Charles Dickens's birth (Portsmouth, February 7, 1812) .
The books of Charles Dickens have sold in the millions, and have also been adapted into countless theatre and cinematic productions.
Did you Know?
Charles Dickens had a pet raven named Grip. When the bird died in 1841 he had it stuffed and it is now in the Free Library of Philadelphia.
As a young man Charles Dickens worked for nearly four years as a newspaper reporter working on court cases and legal proceedings. This experience found its way into many of his books.
Charles Dickens and his wife Catherine had ten children. Many of them were named after famous writers.
Many of Charles Dickens' books were printed in magazines in serial form before being published in book format. Unlike other authors who finished their stories before the magazines printed them, Dickens often wrote each episode as they were being serialized. This meant that his stories had a rhythm which kept the reader looking forward to the next episode, just like a modern day TV series.
One of Charles Dickens' daughters was named Dora after the character in his book David Copperfield. The real Dora died tragically of an illness just like the Dora in the book.
Your Task : I'd like to know more about this writer. Can you help me?