Graduation Song (Alegría)

The school year ends this Friday, and as you are preparing for graduation we've uploaded the song "Alegría" to help you learn the lyrics. Also, if you're interested you can watch the Cirque du Soleil show version. You're almost there!

Alegría (with lyrics)

Cirque du Soleil

Past Simple vs. Past Continuous

This week we are working on the past simple and present progressive sentence structures.  What happens when an action is interrupted in the past? Read the description below and try the exercises for more practice.  Good luck!

Remember- the simple past talks about something that happened before. It happened and it finished. Some words are regular and just have -ed added at the end like walked, helped, and played. Others are irregular and have many variations like ate (to eat), began (to begin), and slept (to sleep).

The past progressive (past continuous) talks about something that was happening before, but for a period of time. It uses was or were + verb-ing like was eating or were playing. It gives a background for something that was happening while a different event happened.

Example: While I was eating, the telephone rang.

Warm-up

A variety of activities

A bit more difficult

Quiz Time!

The Apostrophe with its vs. it's

Its or It's?

Many people--both native speakers of English and learnersof the language--are confused by it's and its. These twoshort words sound exactly the same, but their meanings and uses are quite different. It's means either it is or it has. To know whether the "-'s" means is or has, look at the words which follow.

Its is the possessive pronoun; it modifies a noun.

It's is a contraction of it is or it has.

Incorrect: The cat carried it's kitten in it's mouth. (Possessive pronoun, no apostrophe) 

          Incorrect: Its 9:00 in the morning, so school is starting. (Needs to be a contraction of it is)

Correct: The cat carried its kitten in its mouth. (Possessive pronoun)

Correct: I think it's going to rain today. (Contraction of it is)

Correct: It's been a very long time. (Contraction of it has)

It's

 

It's going to rain, I think. ( 's = is )

It's time to leave. Hurry up! ( 's = is )

It's cold in here! ( 's =is )

It's my turn to wash the dishes, isn't it? ( 's = is )

It's quite difficult to get a high TOEFL score. ( 's = is )

It's easy to lose track of the time. ( 's = is )

This isn't my book. It's Fernando's. ( 's = is )

When's his birthday? It's November 1st, isn't it? ( 's = is )

It's 10:15. We have a meeting soon. ( 's = is )

It's felt by many that English spelling is crazy. ( 's = is )

It's been a long day! ( 's = has )

It's taken Bill a long time to fix his car. ( 's = has )

It's gotten cooler in the last hour. ( 's = has )

It's been raining most of the day. ( 's = has )

Oh, no! Look at my bicycle! It's got a flat tire! ( 's = has )

______________________________________________

Its

 

We're reading a story by Shakespeare. Its title is
Romeo and Juliet.

I really like the way that car looks, but its price is
more than I want to pay.

Have you tried the new restaurant on Elm Street?

Its name is "Marco's" and it serves Italian food. 

PET / KET

In order to help you prepare for the PET and KET tests coming in May, here are some websites with links to help you practice and give you THE EDGE!

Official Cambridge ESOL web page


Be sure to check out the rest of the sites to find more useful tips and videos!