USING DICTIONARIES (STEP 4)

KNOW HOW TO MAKE THE MOST OF YOUR FINDING

Once you have found the word, take into account some elements that can be useful from the dictionary entry. The first thing you have to do is reading the information given for the entry, may you´ll find thing like these:

- The definition(s) of the word.

- Pronunciation: for this, you will have to look at the section that helps people interpret the  written pronunciation. The stress marks are also found in  many dictionaries just into the specific syllable.

- Capitalization if it is the case.

- Prepositions when the word can be used with some of them and their meanings.

- Irreegular endings or forms for verbs/words.

- Synonyms or antonyms.

- Etimology of the words ( for special dictionaries).

- Examples of using the word to add it  to a specific context.

- Idioms or slangs associated with the word.

- Plural of nouns.

- Neighbor words, that may be related.

- Spellings for other forms of English (American, British, Australian, etc).

HOW LONG AGO?

Complete the chart and then make sentences using the past simple and the expression "ago".

HOW LONG AGO DID YOU ...?

Finish elementary school?	In 2011
Visit the zoo?
Watch a good movie?
Go to the doctor?
Have breakfast?
Play video games, soccer …?

Example:

-          "I finished elementary school two years ago".

TOURIST GUIDE (10°)

Imagine you are a tourist guide in Barranquilla, make some notes of different places in it, for example; museums, famous buildings or places, transportation, etc. Use vocabulary from lesson "4B" and the example on page 101 from your Workbook.

You can post it or write it down in your notebook.

USING DICTIONARIES (STEP 3)

KNOW HOW TO LOOK UP A WORD

Here, I present you some steps you should follow to look up the meaning of a word:

_ Go to the letter of the alphabet that your word begins with. Pay attention to those words that may get you confused because of its pronunciation, for example: "knowledge" begins with a "k" not with "n".

- Most dictionaries have guide words on the top corner of each page. These words help you find more quickly your word by indicating how close you are according to an alphabetical order. 

- Once you are close to the first letter guide yourself by the second, third and so on letter of your word.

- Scan the list of word with the same features or entry words that have similar spellings until you get the word exactly the way it is written. Remember, you will not find out conjugated verbs (just the basic forms of each one) or regular plural of nouns.

REPORTING STATEMENTS (11°)

Reporting commands, statements and questions is a way to describe  what other people said before. Listen to these instructions to change statements from direct to indirect speech.

Now, click on the following links and practice.

Commands

Commands 2 

Statements 

Mixed

WHAT ABOUT THE FUTURE? (9°)

Don't forget to write a paragraph describing what you think about the school in the future. Use "Will" as much as you can (affirmative and negative form).

Now, look at the following list of things, choose two of them and write your description for the future.

CELL PHONES	MUSIC
COMPUTERS	CLOTHES
BUILDINGS	VIDEO GAMES
MOVIES	MEDICINE/ DOCTORS

UNFORGETTABLE MOMENTS (7°)

Think about a very special moment in your life (it can be a vacation, a bitrhday party, a trip, etc) that you remember so well and make a paragraph using the simple past when writing the actions. Use regular and irregular verbs (at least 8 verbs).

The following questions can help you make your description.

- Where did you go? / Where were you?

- When was it?

- What did you do?

- Who did you go with?

- What did you eat?

You can start this way:

"It was December 2010. I went with my friends at the beach. We had a good time. We did a lot of funny things. We swam all day. We played beach volleyball. We ate a special sea-food. I enjoyed this day a lot. I took a lot of photos and posted them on Facebook."

APPEARANCES (6°)

Use the vocabulary on page 33 from your student books about psysical appearance adjectives and make descriptions of two people in your family and your favorite artist. Follow the example:

"My brother's name is Pedro. He is medium-height. He is good looking. He wears eyeglasses. He has short dark brown hair and brown eyes. He is young. He doesn't have a beard"

USING DICTIONARIES (STEP 2)

FAMILIARIZE WITH THE DICTIONARY YOU HAVE:

Dictionaries vary according to its brand, style, source or editing house. The first thing you have to do is to read the first part of its or introductory section. This way you´ll learn how to to use it properly and effectively. In this, you will also find the way entries are arranged and things like explanations about important information such as abbreviations or pronunciation symbols used through the entries. Many dictionaries contain some information about pronunciation of words with similar spellings that is very useful if you, for example, have heard a word and you are not sure of its spelling. 

ARE YOU TALLER THAN ME? (8°)

FILL IN THE CHART BELOW BY COMPLETING WITH YOUR AND YOUR FRIEND INFORMATION  AND MAKE SENTENCES USING COMPARATIVE AND SUPERLATIVE FORMS.

FEATURE	MIKE	YOU	A FRIEND
AGE	15
HEIGHT	1,50 m
WEIGHT	52 kg
NUMBER OF FRIENDS	24
SCHOOL AVERAGE	3,8
FREE TIME ACTIVITIES	Soccer, karate, gymnastics

SOME ADJECTIVES TO MAKE THE SENTENCES

short         athletic         intelligent          sociable     

   tall        heavy       lazy      young        boring   

 slim              short           old      responsible      shy     

Follow the examples:

- I am more sociable than Mike but  my friend ( name) is the most sociable.

- Mike is shorter than my friend (name).        

I HAVE A SMALL FAMILY (6º)

TALK ABOUT YOUR FAMILY. USE THE FORMS OF THE VERB "TO HAVE".

Review the conjugation of verb "have" (affirmative, negative and questins) and answer:

- Do you have a big or a small family? 

- Do you have brothers?

- Do you have sisters ?

- Do you have any pets?

Example of answers:

- I have a small familiy.

- Yes, I do. I have one brother.

- No, I don´t. 

- Yes, I do. I have a cat and a dog.