Observations - grammar and usage

Just a couple of observations about the assignments you have completed up to this point. You can check your own work to see if you have made any mistakes based on these points:

CHOOSE - Many of you have tried to use the word "choose" unsuccessfully. Remember, the act of choosing is something that is finished once you HAVE CHOSEN. Therefore, it is more likely that you CHOSE an activity, and then performed it, so you would need to use the past tense (CHOSE).

WORD ORDER - This is something that is difficult for Italians because it is different from your language. Try to remember to put the subject BEFORE the verb, and you should be ok. For example,"An interesting article appeared..." NOT "Appeared and interesting article...".
In addition, you should write "I found X (to be) interesting" and "I consider X (to be)important" because you have to say WHAT the verb is referring to. If you put the adjective before the noun in this last case, then you are saying that you only consider the "important Xs" - not the "unimportant" ones! Think of it this way: First you have to establish what you are talking about, and then you can give your opinion of it!

PREPOSITIONS: looking AT, listening TO (don't leave it out!), learning ABOUT, etc.
CAPITAL LETTERS: I not i (this is an English class - no internet shortcuts allowed!)
FOR vs. TO for reasons why: Why did you go to Rome? TO see (verb) a friend, or FOR a vacation (noun).
OTHER MISTAKES: Instead of writing "speaks about" (or "spiks" about - Aaaargh!)try using other words like "outlines" or "explores" or "delineates". Also, there is a big difference between "more difficult" (than what?) and "very difficult".

Your task is to find your own mistakes, and send the corrections to me in your comments on this assignment. If you need any help, I will be in Portici every Wednesday from 1 to 4.30 p.m. and on Thursdays from 9 to 4.30. Come and see me if you want me to go over your work!

Assignment 3

You may have already predicted this, but this time, you have to go to the Listening Practice link, choose a topic that sounds interesting to you, and do a listening exercise! Of course, you must write to me and report what you have done. I am also interested in hearing whether you think it has been useful or not. Let me know!

Assignment 2

This week, I would like you to go to the English file page (by clicking on the link on the right side of this page) and choose a vocabulary activity from the list. Remember, try to choose something we have already studied! When you have finished, write to me and tell me what you have done. I think you will find that the activities can be addictive once you get started!

Extra assignment 1

As you may have noticed, I have added a "Clusty Cloud" to our blog. This is a service provided by a search engine that I find to be very useful, www.clusty.com. I think it is better than Google in some ways, because it puts the search results into categories so that you waste less time looking at things that do not interest you.
Your assignment is to click on one or more of the words in the "Clusty Cloud" and take a look at the search results. Then, choose a category on the left, and start exploring the sites. Of course, after that, you have to write to me and tell me about what you have found. If you want to see what last year's group wrote, you can go to my previous post from Monday, May 14th, 2007.
I am looking forward to your comments!