CHICAGO

Here is a video about Chicago. After the first viewing answer the following questions:

1. Which are the two nicknames Chicago is given? ___________ and ____________
2. What is Chicago famous for? ___________, __________ and __________
3. What's the climate prediction for Chicago? It will be __________ and _________

KEY

1. The second city and the windy city.
2. Pizza, gangsters and sports.
3. Warmer and wetter. (A hotter and more tropical place than it is today                                                     It won’t be as cold and windy as it is now)

Now  second viewing.Watch it again and fill in the blanks:

1)      Chicago cubs is Chicago’s _________  _________  ____

There are 3 main tourist attractions:

2)      The Millenium Park is ___________________ in Chicago

3)      Lake Michigan: Tourists walk ____________________

                                  It’s the ________________ of the 5 Great Lakes

4)      The Willis Tower:  Tourists can admire __________________________                                                 It was for _________ the tallest building in the world

                                          It was built in_________ for office blocks

                                          It is still ______________________ in the US

                               

They are

5)      Constructing __________________________ buildings

6)      Planning more ____________ and _____________________

7)      Placing _____________ along the city’s pathways

8)      Investing in_________________ and ________________________

KEY

Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois

1)      Chicago cubs is Chicago’s oldest baseball team    (Wrigley field, home to the Chicago cubs)

Every year over 30,000,000 tourists visit the city

There are 3 main tourist attractions:

2)      The Millenium Park is the newest park in Chicago

3)      Lake Michigan: Tourists walk along its shore

                          It’s the 2nd largest of the 5 Great Lakes  *

4)      The Willis Tower       Tourists can admire the view from its top

                                    It used to be called The Sears Tower

                                    It was for 25 years the tallest building in the world

 It was built in 1969 for office blocks

                                    It is still the tallest skyscraper in the US

Chicago is further ahead than any other cities in its preparation for climate change

They are

5)      Constructing environmentally-friendly buildings (energy-efficient)

6)      Planning more parks and green áreas

7)      Placing hedges along the city’s pathways

8)      Investing in new roads and car parks for electric cars

  Today America’s second city is one of the first cities to properly deal with pollution and climate change

* To be able to remember the name of the GREAT LAKES, remember:

SuperMan Helps EveryOne  ( Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie & Ontario )

HOMES ( Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie & Superior )

THE BEST CITIES

Click HERE to listen to someone commenting on the best cities in the world according to different organizations. Fill in the blanks with one or two words as in example 0. Then check the KEY below.

0. The Economist  named Melbourne as the best city in the world.
1. The Global Liveability Report rated __________ cities worldwide.
2. Melbourne scored _________ points.
3. The Mercer Quality of Living Survey __________ Vienna as the world's best city.
4. Calgary in Canada is the most ____________ city in the world.
5. According to lifestyle magazine Monocle, Munich was the best place to live thanks to connectivity, culture and lots of ___________.
6. Famous cities' disadvantages are crime, traffic and inadequate ____________
7. The Economist has published another report that gives more weight to culture and _____________.
8. According to travel website Tripadvisor _____________ is the most popular city with tourists.
                                                                           

KEY


1. 140
2. 97.5
3. named
4. eco-friendly
5. green space
6. infrastructure
7. ethnic diversity
8. London

Now you can click HERE and read the whole article you listen to before. There's lots of interesting vocabulary you may find useful when speaking about cities and towns.

COMPARATIVES & SUPERLATIVES

There are two ways for adjectives and adverbs to make comparatives of superiority and superlatives:

1.       By adding the suffix-ER (comparatives) or –EST (superlatives)

2.       By putting MORE (comparatives) or MOST (superlatives) in front of the adj /adv

To form comparatives of inferiority LESS is put before the adj /adv.

To form comparatives of equality we use the pattern

AS adj/adv AS

Not AS adj/adv AS  or Not SO adj/adv AS

  The general rules for comparatives of superiority and superlatives are:

-ER /-EST	MORE /MOST
·         One-syllable words ·         Two-syllable adjs ending in -Y	·         Two-syllable adjs NOT ending in –Y ·         Two-syllable advs ending in –Y ·         Three-syllable words or longer

There are EXCEPTIONS and IRREGULAR forms. Here are some exceptions:

·         Some one-syllable adjs and mainly those formed from verbs make the comparative and superlative with MORE and MOST

e.g. tired, bored, just, chic, real, wrong

Some others may also have both forms:

e.g. quiet quieter quietest or more quiet most quiet

·         Negative adjs with the prefix –UN formed from two-syllable adjs ending in –Y can form their comparatives and superlatives in the two possible ways:

e.g. Unhappy unhappier unhappiest or more unhappy most unhappy.

·         Some two-syllable adjs not ending in –Y can also follow either rule:

e.g. clever, gentle, simple, narrow, shallow, pleasant, polite, common

·         For emphasis MORE and MOST are sometimes acceptable instead of the suffixes.

Here you are some webpages where you can check again these rules, the irregular forms, spelling rules, the whole structures for comparatives and superlatives with examples and follow-up exercises.

Click HERE
Click HERE
Click HERE
Click HERE
Click HERE
Click HERE  (good for EXCEPTIONS)

PRESENT PERFECT

Click HERE for a good explanation of the uses of the present perfect simple.

Here is a video with some clear guidelines on the use of the present perfect:

TOO & ENOUGH

Click HERE to get some practice on the use of TOO, ENOUGH, TOO MUCH and TOO MANY

A HOLIDAY IN KERALA

Click HERE and listen to Julia telling Ian about her holiday in Kerala, India. Choose the best option. Then check the KEY below.

1. She has been to India...

a)    once

b)    twice

c)    3 times

2. How long did Julia’s second trip last?

a)    two weeks

b)    forty-five minutes

c)    four days

3. Julia booked the package tour...

a)    by phone

b)    on the Internet

c)    through a travel agent’s

4. She paid it...

a)    with her credit card

b)    in cash

c)    by cheque

5. She had to fill in a landing card...

a)    at home

b)    at the airport

c)    on the plane

6. The guy at the airport told her to go back to...

a)    Kerala

b)    London

c)    India

7. Julia __________ a visa at the airport.

a)    couldn’t get

b)    could get

c)    tried to get

8. She...

a)    refused to go back to London

b)    started to cry at the airport

c)    shouted at the immigration officers

9. Some of the Indians...

a)    became very surprised

b)    argued with Julia

c)    were upset

10.  Julia...

a)    came back on the same plane

b)    came back on another plane

c)    didn’t come back

KEY


1.b    2.b    3.a   4.a   5.c    6.b    7.a    8.b    9.c    10.a

LANGUAGE STUDY FAIR

Click HERE to hear someone talking on the radio about a Language Study Fair. Complete the information with ONE OR TWO words (or NUMBERS) as in the example (0).  Then check KEY below.  

LANGUAGE STUDY FAIR

Ex.0	Dates:	(0)17th-19th March
·        It will take place at the National Education Centre and aims to answer your questions about(1)______________________ ·        There will be 350 leading producers of  (2) ______________________ ·        There will be stands showing different textbooks and (3) ______________________ by Educational speakers on the best ways to study by yourself. ·        You will see the latest (4) ______________________ available to study at home and you will also enjoy seeing people using the latest (5) ______________________ ·        You can attend the fair between (6) _______________and_______________on Thursday and Friday. ·        Tickets cost £3 each if you are a (7) ______________________student. They can be booked by ringing the ticket hotline number (8) ______________________ ·        Concerning parking, a(n) (9) ______________________ space can be booked by 2.5 pounds.

KEY

1 self-study                 2 educational materials                       3 talks              4 furniture

5 computer programmes                    6 9:30/5 (nine thirty and five)

7 full-time                     8 984 77 11                  9 all-day

DIFFERENT TOPICS

Click HERE to hear people talking about different topics. Read headings B-J carefully and match them to recordings 1-6. In BLOCK CAPITALS, write the letter of the heading which goes with each recording. Heading 0 is an example.

There are two extra headings which do not go with any of the recordings.

Then check the KEY below.

                              

A	Schools
B	Talking about a job
C	A type of food
D	My favourite season
E	British Weather
F	Describing a person
G	Teenage years
H	Our local town
I	A competition

                                                

                                                                                      

RECORDING	Ex. 0	1	2	3	4	5	6
LETTER	A

KEY

RECORDING	Ex. 0	1	2	3	4	5	6
LETTER	A	C	H	B	D	G	E