18-23 October, 2010: A1 Class

Lesson 2

In this class, we did some reading, some predicting what will happen next, and a listening exercise.  One piece of vocabulary that came up was "come in".  We say "come in" when we invite someone to enter our own home or personal space (bedroom, office, classroom, etc).


We also reviewed the phrases "What's wrong?", "What's the matter?", "You're joking!", and "You can't be serious!", as well as their Mongolian counterparts, which Marie is still unable to pronounce!

Then, we learned and practiced some typical conversation exchanges that people make when socialising, and we practiced them with our partners.  The conversation exchanges were:

Hello!  What a nice surprise! --> Hi! Nice to see you too! (when you see a friend who you are not expecting to see)
Hi, there.  How are you? --> Not bad.  How about you? (greeting a friend)
Hi there.  How are you doing? --> Pretty good, thanks. (also greeting a friend)
See you tomorrow! --> Goodbye! (saying goodbye to a friend who you will see the next day)
Bless you! --> Thanks! (said to a person after he or she sneezes)
Thank you ver much indeed! --> Don't mention it. (after someone has done another person a favour)
Hello, you must be [NAME]. --> Yes.  It's a pleasure to meet you [NAME]. (said when you are meeting someone for the first time who has already been described to you)
I haven't seen you in ages! --> Hi!  You haven't changed a bit! (said to a friend who you have not seen in a long time. 

We then role-played these exchanges with a partner.  At the beginning of Monday's class, we will review these exchanges and role plays and have a few brave partners demonstrate them for the class.

On Saturday's class, we will continue with the discussion topics about school.


Lesson 1

In this class, we did a listening excercise and we looked at two candidates to be business partners in a restaurant start-up venture.  In this lesson, we learned a few vocabulary words:

stubborn --> unreasonable obstinate; fixed or set in prupose or opinion; difficult to manage or suppress
shy--> timid, reluctant, bashful
lazy --> averse or disinclined to work; sluggish; idle; indolent
get upset easily --> to "get upset" means to get angry.  If you get upset easily, you get angry very easily.