Reading.

Reading is an excellent way to develop your English vocabulary, try these easy stories and do the exercises.
If you click here you will have access to exam type exercises.
And here you can see two nice stories with exercises.
If you want more check this out. A hundred stories about life in America with exercises.
Enjoy!

Going to

There are 4 future forms in English. The one which is used most often in spoken English is ‘going to’. We use ‘going to’ when we want to talk about a plan for the future. Example: I‘m going to see him later today. Notice that this plan does not have to be for the near future. Example: In ten years time, I’m going to be boss of my own company. We use ‘going to’ when we want to make a prediction based on evidence we can see now. Example: Look at those black clouds. It‘s going to rain soon. Check these exercises: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Now, think about your future.
Here you are some questions to answer:
1) What are you going to do with your life?
2) What are you going to do after this class?
3) Where are you going to go for your next holiday?
4) Are you going to meet anyone at the weekend?
5) Are you going to watch television tonight?
6) What book are you going to read next?
7) When are you going to stop smoking?
8) What are you going to have for lunch / dinner?
9) Where in the world are you going to travel?
10) How are you going to get better at English?

Moving around a City and Directions

PLACES IN A CITY

Let’s revise some places we can find in any city with some vocabulary exercises: Exercise 1  Exercise 2 , Exercise 3, Exercise 4

In a city, there are a lot of different shops, check them here or try this interactive book once published (It also includes directions on pages 15-17)

                                   GIVING DIRECTIONS

First of all, let’s revise the prepositions of place again. Check them here and do these exercises.

Sometimes, we get lost in a new city and we need to ask for directions. We typically ask Excuse me, is there a BANK around here? How can I get there?

The answer will include one or some of the expressions below. Click on the image and find the places they describe:

Here you are some more interactive exercises on directions: a true/false exercise, listening 1 and listening 2. reading 1 and reading 2 and, finally, a multiple choice exercise.

My House, My Bedroom.

          

Where do you live? What kind of house do you have? Check and listen to the different possibilities here.

How many rooms are there in your house? Check this vocabulary and listen to the words.
A very special part of your house is your bedroom. Check this vocabulary and describe your room. Finally, complete this wonderful book:
How much do you remember? Look at the picture and try to name the different rooms and pieces of furniture you can see:

Find the names below in case you couldn’t remember them:

1	The bathroom	2	The garage
3	The bedroom	4	The kitchen
5	The living room	6	The alarm clock
7	The balcony	8	The office
9	The table	10	The corridor
11	The hall	12	The cellar
13	The terrace	14	The toilet
15	Stairs	16	The dining room
17	The picture	18	The attic
19	The roof	20	The chimney

If you feel you need some extra vocabulary to describe furniture in each room of the house, this vocabulary and listen to the words.

Some More Prepositions of place

Have a look at this bird. Where is it?

Now, check the prepositions:

Now, where is the mouse? Now you are ready to play this game.

There is/ There are revision

We already published a post on there is/ there are, but let’s remember how they work:

RULES:

1. Use there IS for singular countable nouns (one item) + a/an. 2. Use there IS for non-countable items + some. 3. Use there ARE for many items (plural nouns).

See information on countable and uncountable nouns here.
There is a spider on the wall.
There is some milk on the floor.
There are pencils on my desk.

The negative and interrogative form follows verb TO BE forms. Have a look at these examples:

There is not a book. - There isn’t a book.
There are not books. - There aren’t books.

For questions, remember you need an inversion.

Is there a book? Are there any books?
Yes, there is. Yes, there are.
No, there isn’t. No, there aren’t

You had some exercises on the previous post. Now try this exercise on there is/there are to talk about singular/plural nouns or uncountable nouns and another one to practise the negative form.
And also exercises in the past! 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Countable/uncountable nouns

There are two kinds of nouns in English, countable and uncountable.

Countable = Countable nouns are easy to recognize. They are things that we can count. For example: “pen”. We can count pens. We can have one, two, three or more pens.

Countable nouns can be singular or plural:

• My dog is playing.
• My dogs are hungry.

We can use the indefinite article a/an with countable nouns:

• A dog is an animal.

When a countable noun is plural, we can use it alone, I like oranges, or we can use some and any, I have some dollars, Do you have any pens?

“People” is countable. “People” is the plural of “person”. We can count people: There is one person here – There are three people here.

Uncountable = Uncountable nouns are substances, concepts, etc that we cannot divide into separate elements. We cannot “count” them. For example, we cannot count “milk”. We can count “bottles of milk” or “litres of milk”, but we cannot count “milk” itself.

Drinks (coffee, water, orange juice) are usually uncountable. But if we are thinking of a cup or a glass, we can say (in a restaurant, for example):

• Two teas and one coffee please.

We treat uncountable nouns as singular. We use a singular verb. For example: Your luggage looks heavy.

Uncountable nouns can’t be plural: butter, meat NOT
two butters , three meats.

We use some and any with uncountable nouns:

• I’ve got some money.
• Have you got any rice?

REMEMBER: we use some in positive sentences and any in negative sentences + questions. Examples:
I have some friends - Do you have any cheese? – He doesn’t have any friends in Chicago.
Try now some exercises: 1, 2, 3
We use How much …? with uncountable nouns and How many …..? with plural countable nouns. Exercises 1, 2, 3,
Finally you can listen and watch the song and complete the lyrics.