Day 4

A. Tell us a story

The professor will show you some pictures and you will write a short story about what you see. Be very creative when writing the story by responding to basic questions such as why is the person there, what is he doing, how did he get there, is he waiting for someone, what happened to him before the picture, what will he do next, etc, etc.

You will have 8 minutes to write your short story about what you see in the photo. Once you are done, you will share it in class.

Photo 1: https://www.flickr.com/photos/humansofny/13148988695/in/photostream/

Photo 2: https://www.flickr.com/photos/humansofny/13149117283/in/photostream/

B. The 'TH' Sound

A. When mispronunciation becomes a problem: the "TH" Sound

TH – voiced dental fricative /ð/

Ok, ok, that doesn’t help a lot. This TH sounds like “this” and is a soft sound.

To pronounce this TH, place the tip of your tongue between your top and bottom teeth and vibrate your vocal cords – it’s quite fun!

Words that have the /ð/ sound are:
- than
- then
- this
- weather
- smooth
- other

TH – voiceless dental fricative /θ/

Words with this TH are, for example, “thing” and “thought”. It is a much stronger sound.
To pronounce this TH, do the same: place the tip of your tongue between your teeth but just blow air through your mouth without vibrating your vocal cords.

Words that have the /θ/ sound are:
- thank
- think
- therapy
- moth
- path
- youth

C. TALKING ABOUT NUMBERS 

This is an English lesson which teaches you all about numbers, including: ordinal numbers, fractions, decimals, dates,big numbers, and even the numbers that appear in the names of Kings and Queens. 

Ordinal Numbers 

Ordinal numbers are numbers used to indicate order, for example: 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd.

Most of them are formed by adding ‘th’ to the end of regular numbers, for example: fourth (four-th), sixth (six-th), seventh (seven-th). However, there are a few irregular ones: first (1^st), second (2^nd), third (3^rd), fifth (5^th), ninth (9^th) and twelfth (12^th). Here is a list of the ordinal numbers from 1^st to 19^th.

• 1st – first*
• 2nd – second*
• 3rd – third*
• 4th – fourth
• 5th – fifth*
• 6th – sixth
• 7th – seventh
• 8th – eighth
• 9th – ninth*
• 10th – tenth
• 11th – eleventh
• 12th – twelfth*
• 13th – thirteenth
• 14th – fourteenth
• 15th – fifteenth
• 16th – sixteenth
• 17th – seventeenth
• 18th – eighteenth
• 19th – nineteenth

For multiples of ten, the ‘y’ at end of the word changes to ‘ie’ and the suffix ‘eth’ is added.  For example, ‘twenty’ becomes ‘twentieth’. Here is a list of the multiples of ten from 20 to 90:

• 20^th  – twentieth
• 30^th – thirtieth
• 40^th – fortieth
• 50^th – fiftieth
• 60^th – sixtieth
• 70^th – seventieth
• 80^th – eightieth
• 90^th – ninetieth

Note: You say 100^th as ‘one hundredth’.

Fractions 

In order to say a fraction, we say the top number (numerator) as a regular number and we say the bottom number (denominator) as an ordinal number. For example, 1/8 is spoken as ‘one-eighth’.

If the top number is more than 1, then we pronounce the ordinal number as a plural. For example, 3/8 is spoken as ‘three-eighths. Here are some examples:

3/5 – three-fifths

7/12 – seven-twelfths

99/100 – ninety-nine one hundredths

There are two irregular fractions: half is used in place of second and quarter is used in place of fourth. For example, ½ is not said as ‘one-second’, it is called ‘one-half’, ‘a half’ or just ‘half’. Likewise, ¼ is not spoken as ‘one-fourth’, it is called ‘one-quarter’ or ‘a quarter’.

1 ½ – one and a half

2 ¼ – two and a quarter

For fractions above 1, the terms of measurement is made plural:

1 ½ hours – one and a half hours

1 1/3 miles – one and a third miles

2 1/8 tons – two and one-eighth tons

Big Numbers 

We do not make hundreds, thousands and millions plural when the number in front is more than 1. For example:

100 – one hundred

200 – two hundred

1000 – one thousand

4000 – four thousand

1,000 000 – one million

5,000 000 – five million

However, when there is no number in front, we do add an ‘s’. For example:

Hundreds of pounds

Thousands of eggs

Millions of dollars

The word ‘and’ is used between the hundreds and the tens in a number. For example:

420 – four hundred and twenty

2, 765 – two thousand, seven hundred and sixty-five

When the first figure is 1, we can say other ‘one’ or ‘a’. For example:

“He lived for a hundred years”

“You owe me one hundred dollars”  

Dates

To pronounce the date within a month, we use ordinal numbers and the word ‘of’. For example:

15^th March – fifteenth of March or March the fifteenth

12^th September – twelfth of September or Setember the 12th

To pronounce a year before 2000 we usually pronounce it in two parts. For example:

1922 – 19/22 – nineteen twenty-two

1814 – 18/14 – eighteen fourteen

If there is a 0 in the ten position, we usually pronounce it ‘oh’. For example:

1908 – nineteen oh eight

1409 – fourteen oh nine

Compare to:

1980 – nineteen eighty

1490 – fourteen ninety

For years after 2000, we usually pronounce the whole number:

2002 – two thousand and two

2010 – two thousand and ten (a more informal way is to say twenty ten)  

Kings and Queens         

When Kings and Queens have numbers after their names, we pronounce them as ordinal numbers with the word ‘the’ in front. For example:

Henry VIII – Henry the eighth

Louis XII – Louis the twelfth

B. Telling the time

Watch the following video about telling the time...UK style.  Afterwards, we'll go over the minor differences with American English.

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3icBxO6Wjz0

American English examples

10:00  It's ten o'clock
10:05  It's ten oh five OR It's five after 10.
10:15  It's ten fifteen or a quarter AFTER 10
10:40  It's ten forty OR It's 20 'til 11.
10:30   It's ten thirty

If the person knows about what hour it is, you can say It's 20 'til. instead of saying It's 20 "til 11.

D. When to use the Present Perfect tense?

This tense is called the present perfect tense. There is always a connection with the past and with the present and its use is based on whether it deals with a finished or unfinished action and whether the time in the past is specified or not.

1. Unfinished Actions

We use this tense when we want to talk about unfinished actions that started in the past and continue to the present. Usually we use it to say 'how long' an action or state has continued with 'since' and 'for' I've known Karen since 1994. She's lived in London for three years. 2. Completed Actions I've gone there already I've seen it a: Life experience (we don't say when the experience happened, just sometime in the past) I have been to Tokyo. She has lived in Germany. They have visited Paris three times. We have never seen that film. Have you ever read 'War and Peace'? b: A finished action with emphasis on the result rather than the action I've lost my keys (so I can't get into my house). She's hurt her leg (so she can't play tennis today). They've missed the bus (so they will be late). I've cooked dinner (so you should come and eat). c: With an unfinished time word (this month, this week, today, in the last year) I have not gone to that restaurant yet. She's drunk three cups of coffee today. This week, they've gone skiing three times already. Note: We can't use the present perfect with a finished time word: I've seen him yesterday. E. Past Simple or Present Perfect  1)Change the verb into the correct form of the past simple or present perfect 1) Last night I  (lose) my keys – I had to call my flatmate to let me in.. 2) I  (lose) my keys - can you help me look for them?. 3) I  (visit) Paris three times.. 4) Last year I  (visit) Paris.. 5) I  (know) my great grandmother for a few years - she died when I was eight... 6) I  (know) Julie for three years - we still meet once a month... 7) I  (play) Hockey since I was a child - I'm pretty good!.. 8) She  (play) hockey at school but she didn't like it.. 9) Sorry, I  (miss) the bus - I'm going to be late.. 10) I  (miss) the bus and then I  (miss) the aeroplane as well!... 11) Last month I  (go) to Scotland.. 12) I'm sorry, John isn't here now. He  (go) to the shops.. 13) We  (finish) this room last week.. 14) I  (finish) my exams finally - I'm so happy!.. 15) Yesterday, I  (go) to the library, the post office and the supermarket... 16) I  (go) to the supermarket three times this week.. 17) She  (live) in London since 1994.. 18) She  (live) in London when she was a child.. 19) I  (drink) three cups of coffee today.. 20) I  (drink) three cups of coffee yesterday

F. What the following video and note the following:

1. Can you name all of the things that the main character learned to do? Write them down and go over them in class
2. Have you already done any of them? Which ones have you done already? All of them? Not yet? Why not? Would you like to? Discuss your answers in class