Vocabulary for talking about Studying

Words and phrases for talking about studying I

Almost everyone needs to talk about education now and then, so this blog post looks at some useful words and phrases connected with studying. It describes the most typical systems in the UK and the US, and explains some important differences between UK and US vocabulary.

The very youngest schoolchildren have a reception year in the UK and a kindergarten year in the US. After that, Brits talk about year 1, year 2, etc., while US children are in first grade, second grade, etc. The word grade is also used in US English to talk about scores in exams or written work. British English uses mark: He always gets good grades/marks.

In general, the UK has primary schools for ages 5-11 and secondary schools for ages 11-16, followed by sixth form colleges for ages 16-18. In the US, elementary schools teach grades 1-5 or 1-6, middle schools grades 6-8 or junior high schools grades 7-8, and high schools grades 9-12.

Even the use of the word school is different – for Brits, the question ‘Where did you go to school?’ refers only to primary or secondary school (i.e. up to the age of 18), whereas for North Americans, it can refer also to any form of higher education including colleges and universities.

Another thing to remember is that speakers of British English talk about people being at school/college, etc. (My daughter’s at school.), while in the US they are in school (We learned that in school.).

The word college is also used in slightly different ways. In the UK, it most often refers to a place where students study practical subjects and which is less academic than a university, although confusingly it can also mean a place which is part of a university, such as King’s College, Cambridge. In US English, college means a place where you study for a degree, which can be a two-year course at a community college or a four-year course at a larger college or university.

In British English, you go to university to do, take or get a degree. In American English, you go to college to get or earn a degree. Students studying for a first degree are undergraduates, while Master’s degree or PhD students are postgraduates in British English or graduate students in American English. In British English, the verb graduate is used only for degree students, but in the US, students also graduate from high school.

To talk about the subject you are studying, you can say you are studying French, physics, etc.; you can also say you are doing (UK English) or taking (US English) a subject instead. In US universities, where students often study a wide range of subjects, students who focus on one subject more than others say they are majoring in that subject.

When talking about exams, it is important to know which verbs to use. We say that we take an exam (in British English we can also say do an exam): I’m taking my French exam tomorrow. Be careful with the phrase pass an exam. This means to be successful, not simply to take an exam: He worked hard and passed all his exams. If you are not successful, you fail.

This blog post has focused on very general words and phrases; in my next post I will provide some language to talk about the experience of studying.

Writing a Story 1º Bto

Watch these two short films: Paperman and Signs. Choose ONE of them to WRITE A STORY.

Watch the one you have chosen again and don´t forget to take notes while you are watching it.

Reorder all the events and start writing! Which film did you like best?.

WRITING PLAN:

Paragraph 1:  Introduce the people, set the scene.
                       Give name to the people and the place.

Paragraphs 2 and 3: Say: When?, Where?

                                  What happened/was happening/had happened?

                                  How did they feel/were they feeling?

Paragraph 4: End  the story. Try to write an interesting last line with

                     a general comment on the story.

(Use Past Tenses, Used to or Would, some -ED/ -ING adjectives
Use an adverb at the beginning of a sentence like Surprisingly / Amazingly/ Luckily ...)



How Would you Like your Steak?

VOCABULARY: DEGREES OF DONENESS

 

On our last class we were dicussing about how to say when one can´t chew some kind of meat.

We usually say it is tough. Now , have a look at the picture above  to see  the different

degrees of doneness for meat (=punto de la carne).

 

 If you want to learn to cook the perfect steak, watch this video:
 

 

Past Habit: Used to // Would // Past Simple

When we talk about things that happened in the past but don’t happen anymore we can do it in different ways.

Used to + infinitive / didn´t use to +infinitive / did you use to +infinitive?

• We used to live in New York when I was a kid.
• There didn’t use to be a petrol station there. When was it built?
• What sports did you use to play when you were ten ?

We can use ‘used to’ to talk about past states ….

• I used to go swimming every Thursday when I was at school.
• I used to smoke but I gave up a few years ago.

… or we can use ‘used to’ to talk about repeated past actions

Remember that ‘used to’ is only for past states/actions that don’t happen now – we can’t use it for things that still happen now. Also, ‘used to + infinitive’ should not be confused with ‘be/get used to + ‘ing’ form’ – this is covered in a separate section.

Would

• Every Saturday I would go on a long bike ride.
• My teachers would always say “Sit down and shut up!”

We can use ‘would’ to talk about repeated past actions.

Often either ‘would’ or ‘used to’ is possible. Both of these sentences are possible.

• Every Saturday, I would go on a long bike ride.
• Every Saturday I used to go on a long bike ride.

However, only ‘used to’ is possible when we talk about past states.

• We used to live in New York when I was a kid.
• We would live in New York when I was a kid.

Past simple

• We went/used to go/would go to the same beach every summer.

We can use the past simple in the same way as ‘used to’ and ‘would’ to talk about repeated past actions.

• I had/used to have a dog called Charlie.

We can also use the past simple for past states.

• I went to Egypt in 1988.

However, if something happened only once we can’t use ‘used to’ or ‘would’ – we must use the past simple.

To talk about present habits we use the Present Simple and an adverb of frequency (usually, always, often, never, etc.)

I usually study at the library. 

Now watch this video about Childhood and complete the exercises:
 

 CLICK HERE TO SEE THE VIDEO

TEST YOURSELF HERE (B2 LEVEL)

Exercise English Grammar

Live from London: Halloween | Onestopenglish

Live from London: Halloween | Onestopenglish: This video includes interviews with Londoners talking about Halloween.

THE GREAT FIRE OF LONDON

Learn about this terrible event in the history of London and

PLAY A FUNNY GAME

at the end.

 

“Dad! Dad! Wake up! Something’s burning!”

 

       When Thomas Farriner, King Charles II’s baker, went to bed on the night of September 1, 1666, he forgot to put out the ovens.  Early the next morning, the wooden house caught fire, and by September 6, when they were finally extinguished, the flames had destroyed 80% of London.

Farriner’s maid was one of the surprisingly few (maybe only 6) people who died in the disaster, but the baker and his children escaped through a window. A month later, three members of the family were part of a jury that found a French watchmaker, Robert Hubert, guilty of deliberately starting the fire.  The poor man, whose confession was possibly made under torture, was not even in the country on September 2!

But, back to the bakery on Pudding Lane. Sparks jumped across the street and set fire to straw in the stables of the Star Inn, and the blaze really got out of control in nearby Thames Street, with its warehouses full of flammable materials (oil, coal, alcohol, candles).  Almost all the buildings in the city were made of wood – very dry after a long, hot summer – and a strong wind was blowing: the ingredients of a catastrophe.

This was the second catastrophe in the space of two years. In 1665 the Great Plague had killed around 100,000 people – or a quarter of London’s population. The king and his family had been criticised by some for escaping from the city during the epidemic, but now he stayed and organized the operation to fight the fire.  He ordered the firefighters to pull down buildings to create firebreaks, and was even seen with a bucket and spade, helping in the battle to save the capital.

   Eventually, the wind stopped blowing so hard and the fire, which had been visible          from 30   miles away, was out. By then it had destroyed 13,200 houses, 87 churches, many public buildings, and St Paul’s Cathedral. The famous architect Sir Christopher Wren was given the job of re-building London and his most famous creation is the great cathedral, completed in 1711. The new city was cleaner and safer, with wider streets and buildings made of brick or stone instead of wood.

The Monument to the Great Fire of London, built between 1671 and 1677, 62m high, stands 62m from the point where the fire started. Another small monument in Smithfield, central London, marks the place where it was stopped. And in 1986, in an official ceremony, the city’s bakers apologised to the Mayor for their colleague’s carelessness 320 years earlier.

 

NOW, PLAY THE GREAT FIRE OF LONDON GAME:

 

 

 

 

Bob Dylan wins Nobel Prize in Literature

Congratulations to all Bob Dylan´s fans, including my husband!