18-21 October, 2010: B1 Class

Lesson 3

In this class, we reviewed the present continuous.  We did an exercise in our books based on "Fiona's" week in which we practiced asking and answering questions about Fiona's week.

Example: Is Fiona getting a present for her mom's birthday on Tuesday? --> No, she isn't.  She's getting it on Wednesday.
Is Fiona eating out with her parents on Wednesday? --> Yes, she is.

We also practiced talking with a partner about what are plans are for the upcoming weekend using the present continuous.  After we finished partner-talking, we each took a turn coming up to the front of the class to tell the class about our fixed plans for next weekend, next summer, or next month.

Lesson 2

In this lesson, we reviewed the present continuous, which looks like this:

BE + VERBing --> I am writing a blog.

Then, we learned a very special form of the present continuous, which looks like this:

BE + GOING TO + VERB --> They are going to eat buuz for lunch.  

We use this form of the present continuous to talk about future plans or intentions.  We spend the rest of the class practicing the present continous.

Towards the end of class, we also learned that Marie will not tolerate note-passing in class, and we learned about how, when she catches you passing notes, once she learns to read Mongolian, she will read your notes out to the entire class.  Until Marie learns to read Mongolian, however, Marie will let Bayaraa read your notes out to the entire class, so consider this fair warning! 

Lesson 1

In this class, we learned the terms "party animal" and "home bird" (although Marie is certain that in North American English, we actually say "homebody"):

a party animal --> a person who really likes to party
a homebody --> a person who prefers to stay at home

We also learned some other vocabulary words for attributes and decided whether they would be more likely to be found in a party animal or in a homebody:

outgoing --> not afraid to talk to new people
sociable --> enjoys talking with people
quiet --> does not say much, and when a quiet person does talk, they do not talk loudly
popular --> is liked by everybody and has many friends
shy --> timid; afraid to talk to new people
friendly --> nice and kind to everybody

Then, we took a short quiz to figure out whether we are party animals or homebodies (Marie is definitely a homebody, even though she loves to travel the world).  Some vocabulary that came up in the quiz is:


wedding reception --> the meal, dance, and party after two people get married
film --> movie
comfortable --> being in a state of mental or physical comfort
comfort --> feeling good