ALEX RAWLINGS

Do you remember the video we saw in class? Here you will find more information about Alex Rawlings and some tips he gives for you to be more motivated and sound more fluent. If he can do it, you can do it, Go for it!!!

Alex is a citizen of the world. He was born and grew up in London, UK. As a child, he spend long summers in Greece, visiting family and wondering why he couldn’t understand anyone. He quickly realised that if he could learn to speak other people’s languages, rather than waiting for them to speak English, life would be much more interesting.

After misspending his adolescence learning languages like Dutch, Catalan and Hebrew, in 2012 he was named Britain’s most multilingual student after being tested for fluency in 11 different languages. His studies of German and Russian at Oxford University led him to study in provincial Russia and work in the Press Office of the Greek Embassy in Berlin. After graduating, he packed his bags and took a one-way flight to Budapest, where he studied Hungarian for a year before living in Spain, returning to London in June 2016.

He moved to Barcelona in November 2018.

Now having studied more than 15 languages, Alex spends his time writing about languages, intercultural dialogue and multilingualism. He lives in Barcelona, but you’ll also find him passing through Johannesburg, London, Athens, Budapest and Berlin, and other parts of the world.

IRREGULAR VERBS - PRONUNCIATION

One of your classmates asked me for some audio to improve the pronunciation of irregular verbs. I've tought this might be interesting for most of you, so here you have a video. I hope this helps!

MODALS OF DEDUCTION

We use modal verbs to say how sure we are about something.

1 must

We use must when we feel sure that something is true because there’s very strong evidence.

• He must live near here because he comes to work on foot. We don’t know where he lives but we’re sure it’s not far away.
• Come inside and get warm – you must be freezing out there.
• You’re a zookeeper? That must be very interesting.

Notice that must is followed by an infinitive without ‘to’.

2 might, may, could

We use might, may or could to say that we think something is possible but we’re not sure.

• Did you hear that? I think there might be a burglar downstairs. She’s not sure there’s a burglar but she thinks it’s possible.
• We’ll try to get there early but we may arrive late if there’s a lot of traffic.
• Don’t put it up there. It could fall off and hit someone.

Might, may and could are also followed by an infinitive without ‘to’.

3 can’t

We use can’t when we feel sure something is not true.

• It can’t be a burglar. All the doors and windows are locked. He doesn’t know it’s not a burglar but he feels sure it’s not.
• It can’t be far away now. We’ve been driving for hours. Where’s the map?
• Really? He has to work on Christmas Day? He can’t feel very happy about that.

Like the other verbs, can’t is followed by an infinitive without ‘to’.

Remember that all of these modal verbs – must, might, may, could and can’t have other uses.

LET'S PRACTISE PAST TENSES!

Don't forget that 'practice makes perfect'!  and you seem to have some problems using the different past tenses together in the proper way so, why don't you try these exercises? Remember that the best way to learn is practice, practice, practice ;)

In case you are stuck or just want to have a look at how to use them before trying, just go to 'Grammar' to see, download and/or print the theory.

Good luck!

Exercise 1 - Past simple or past continuous? A story

Exercise 2 - Past simple or past continuous? A dialogue

Exercise 3 - Past simple or past continuous? A story

Exercise 4 -  Past perfect or Past simple? Sentences

Exercise 5 - Past perfect or Past continuous or Past simple? Sentences

Exercise 6 - Past simple or Past Perfect? Matching exercise

PAST TENSES

Next lessons we will deal with past tenses. This is the presentation we will use to go through them, why don't you have a look at it before your lesson starts?

REFLEXIVE PRONOUNS

Go to "Grammar" to see, download and/or print a document with an explanation on reflexive pronouns. You can also do these exercises.

Exercise 1 

Exercise 2

Exercise 3

Exercise 4

Exercise 5

Exercise 6

Additionaly, you can go to this BBC page to learn more about reflexive pronouns

ADJECTIVES -ED/-ING

Remember that we use -ed adjectives to talk about how a person feels and we use -ing adjectives to talk about the cause of that feeling. Go to 'Grammar' for a more accurate explanation. There you'll also find a list with the most common ones.

Watch this video to compare


And now try these exercises

- Exercise 1
- Exercise 2
- Exercise 3
- Exercise 4
- Exercise 5