You gotta teach it! #30yearsELTAS

It has been a while since I posted, but I wanted to get in a shout-out to my fellow teachers and volunteers at ELTAS for their continued commitment to providing professional development to teachers of English in the Stuttgart area.

If it makes you happy...does he wash up?

For all of you who are at a pre-intermediate to upper intermediate level, a tricky thing has always been the uses of "make" and "do" in expressions. There really isn't an easy way around it, but I always say if it's done physically (like with your hands) you make it, and if you have to think about it, use do.

Make:

Food, Drink and Meals:
make a cake, make dinner, make breakfast.
Material / Origin:
made of gold, made in China
Cause a reaction: 
make your heart break, make me smile, make you happy
Plans / Choices: 
make arrangements, make a decision, make plans.
Sounds and speech: 
make a noise, make a presentation, make a complaint, make a suggestion. 

Here are some songs to help you along:

Do:

Tasks and work: 

do the washing up, do your homework, do a good job.
Non-specific activities:
do something, do nothing, do anything, do everything.
Replaces verb  when it's obvious:
do your hair, do your nails, do the dishes. 

Here is a link to Perfect English grammar's website, where you can practice these exercises online.

Is your PAST, PAST and your PRESENT PERFECT?

Here are some helpful hints with the differences between the Past Simple/Simple Past and the Present Perfect. 

Past Simple/Simple Past                       
           
Use: to describe finished actions.
ex: I got up at 7 a.m. today.  I did my homework yesterday.
          
- with "used to"
for repeated past ACTIONS/STATES that we NO  LONGER DO/HAPPEN. 
ex: There used to be a cinema in our town. (now there isn't)
John used to have long hair, before he joined the military.

- with "would" 
for repeated past ACTIONS, NOT STATES.
ex: When I was a child I would ride my bike to the pool everyday in the summer.

Here are some music videos to help you see how "used to" and "would" are used in the past.

 And another personal favourite, The O'Jays, She used to be my girl.

              
Present Perfect
Use: to describe actions from the past that are RELEVANT in the present.

- Often with FOR - 
to indicate a QUANTITY OF TIME until now.
ex: I have lived in Seville for 13 years.
and
- Often with SINCE - 
from a DATE until now.
ex: I have lived in Seville since 2000.

- With ALREADY, YET, STILL.

Already: means that something happened early.
Already goes between "have" and the past participle.
*ex: The mail has already arrived! It usually doesn't get here until noon.

Yet: means that something is expected to happen, any time up to now.
It is used in QUESTIONS and NEGATIVE statements.
Yet goes at the end of a sentence or clause.
ex: Have you done your homework yet?
I haven't had time to do it yet, so I'll do it later.
                                                               
Still: means something hasn't finished, especially when we expected it to be done already. Still goes between "have" and the past participle.
Still can also go with other tenses.
ex: Do you still live in Seville?
He has still got his bicycle from school.
BUT (exception)
I still haven't found what I'm looking for.
another tense: Are you still working or have your holidays begun? (present continuous).

- With JUST:
Just: means "a short time ago;" it' so close to now, it's still relevant.
Just  goes between "have" and the past participle.
ex: Susan's just called, her flight arrived early.

Here are some more songs in the Present Perfect:
What I've done by Linkin Park
Have you ever seen the rain? Creedence Clearwater Revival
Have you ever? Brandy
Haven't met you yet. Michael Bublé
Glitter in the Air. Pink
This love - Maroon 5

Just dropped in to see what condition my CONDITIONALS were in.

We have been talking about the Conditionals recently, so I thought I'd find some videos that would help with using and understanding them.


So here is a song with the First Conditional...I apologise that the song is so old, but if you can find another one, link it in the comments!

Here's how to form it: 

If + present simple, will + base verb + the rest. 
OR
Subject + will + base verb + if + present simple.


This next one is in the Zero Conditional. 

That's: 

If + present simple,  present simple+ the rest. 
OR
Subject + present simple + if + present simple.

And here is a song in the Second Conditional:

Form: 
If + past simple, would/could + base verb + the rest.
OR
Subject + would/ could+ base verb + if + past simple. 

And here's another video with the Second Conditional and "If only..."

I finally found songs that uses the Third Conditional...

Form:

If + past perfect, would/could + have + past participle  the rest.
OR
Subject + would/could + have + past participle if + past perfect.

New to my class?

If you are visiting this blog for the first time, try to familiarize yourself with helpful areas.

• On the right you will find links by levels C1 to A1, top to bottom respectively. (Auf die rechte Seite finden Sie Links von C1 bis A1, von oben nach unten.)

• Grammar and language focus are found in the center.   (Grammatik und Sprache Fokus finden Sie in der Mitte)

• Info about me and other things are found to the left.  (Infos über Eure Lehrerin finden Sie nach links) 

Here is a link to YouTube to learn the Hello Goodbye song!

Is it FUN or is it FUNNY?

Both fun and funny can be used to describe something (as adjectives).

This cartoon is  funny. (Funny describes the cartoon.)

Going to a water park is fun.   (Fun describes the activity.)

Compare these sentences: 

Susan is a fun girl. (I enjoy myself when I'm with Susan. I have a good time with her)

Susan is a funny girl. (Susan makes me laugh.)

When fun is used as a noun, it means enjoyment or pleasure.

• I had fun at the beach last weekend. 
• Your birthday party was lots of fun!

Fun used as a noun, can also be used to talk about someone's good humour and playful behaviour. "Tom's not boring at all, he's loads of fun." 

THAT'S the way I like it!

For those of you who are at level B2 and even for B1 students, you may have noticed THAT in English we use "THAT" a lot. It's not THAT we're lacking in words to use, it's just THAT "THAT" is so useful.

Grammatically, it can be correct to use "THAT THAT," but as you may notice, in spoken English it sounds particularly bad, and in written English there are so many other options THAT you can use.

For example, in the sentence: 

• Now that that problem has been dealt with, we can move onto the next one. 

Nine times outof ten you can just write or say a single THAT, and THAT'S THAT! But if you want your English to sound less redundant, you could try these ways of expressingthe same thing:

• Now that THIS problem has been dealt with...
• Now that THE problem has been dealt with...
• Since the problem has been dealt with...
• Given that THE problem has been dealt with...
• The problem has been dealt with, so...

For more information, check out this link to Oxford..

And now, for your listening pleasure, the namesake of the post! 
(and yes, your teacher is OLD! )