6th Module

 SIMPLE PAST

The "simple past" is used to talk about an action that ended earlier than the current one. The duration is not relevant. The time in which the action is situated can be the recent past or the distant past.

The "simple past" is always used to refer to when something happened, so it is associated with certain time expressions that indicate:

• Frequency: often, sometimes, always

I sometimes walked home at lunchtime.

I often brought my lunch to school.

• A specified time: last week, when I was a child, yesterday, six weeks ago

We saw a good film last week.

Yesterday, I arrived in Geneva.

She finished her work atseven o'clock

I went to the theater last night

• An indeterminate time: the other day, ages ago, a long time ago People lived in caves a long time ago.

She played the piano when she was a child.

Note: the term ago is useful to express time distance in the past. It is placed after the period of time in question: a week ago, three years ago, a minute ago.

Formation of the "simple past" with regular verbs

Afirmative
Subject	+ root+ ed
I	skipped.
Negative
Subject	+ did not	+ infinitive without to
They	didn't	go.
Interrogative
Did	+ subject	+ infinitive without to
Did	she	arrive?
Interrogative negative
Did not	+ subject	+ infinitive without to
Didn't	you	play?

"Simple past" of the verbs to be, to have, to do

Let's see if you can apply the verbs in the past in a more real context with the following activity

Activity 6

5th Module

 

Possessive adjectives

They are used to indicate who owns the subject or object of the sentence. They are followed by a noun (or a noun clause).

As can be seen, they are much less than in Spanish, since they do not differ in singular or plural. However, you should pay attention when they refer to the third person, since in Spanish "su" is used in all cases, while in English they vary depending on the person.

Possessives: nouns

We add 's to singular nouns to show possession:

We are having a party at John's house.

Michael drove his friend's car.

We add ' to plural nouns ending in -s:

This is my parents' house.

Those are ladies' shoes.

But we use 's with irregular plural nouns: 

• men
• women
• children
• people

These are men's shoes.

Children's clothes are very expensive.

We can use a possessive instead of a full noun phrase to avoid repeating words:

Is that John's car?

     No, it's Mary's. (NOT No, it's Mary's [car].)

Whose coat is this?

     It's my wife's. (NOT It's my wife's [coat].)

It's time to put possessives into practice in this activity:

Activity 5

4th Module

 

Adverbs of Frequency

We use some adverbs to describe how frequently we do an activity.

These are called adverbs of frequency and include:

The Position of the Adverb in a Sentence

An adverb of frequency goes before a main verb (except with To Be). Ex.

I always remember to do my homework.

He normally gets good marks in exams.

An adverb of frequency goes after the verb To Be.

Subject + to be + adverb
They are never pleased to see me.
She isn't usually bad tempered.

When we use an auxiliary verb (have, will, must, might, could, would, can, etc.), the adverb is placed between the auxiliary and the main verb. This is also true for to be.

Subject + auxiliary + adverb + main verb
She can sometimes beat me in a race.
I would hardly ever be unkind to someone.
They might never see each other again.
They could occasionally be heard laughing.

We can also use the following adverbs at the start of a sentence:

Usually, normally, often, frequently, sometimes, occasionally

• Occasionally, I like to eat Thai food.

BUT we cannot use the following at the beginning of a sentence:

Always, seldom, rarely, hardly, ever, never.

We use hardly ever and never with positive, not negative verbs:

• She hardly ever comes to my parties.
• They never say 'thank you'.

We use ever in questions and negative statements:

• Have you ever been to New Zealand?
• I haven't ever been to Switzerland. (The same as 'I have never been Switzerland').

Adverbs of Definite Frequency

We can also use the following expressions when we want to be more specific about the frequency:

• every day
• once a month
• twice a year
• four times a day
• every other week
• daily
• monthly

These are also known as Adverbs of DEFINITE frequency as the exact frequency is specified.

Now let's practice the adverbs of frequency with the next activity:

Activity 4

Reference: https://www.grammar.cl/Basic/Adverbs_Frequency.htm

3rd Module

 Family

The verb have got is equivalent to the verb "tener" in Spanish. It is used to indicate:

• Possession of a certain object or animal: I have got a dog.
• Suffering from a disease: I have got the flu. 
• The degree of relationship between people: I have got a brother.

As you can see in the image, the verb "to have" has its positive, negative and interrogative form. In this lesson we will work on the third use of the verb, that is, family relationships, here you have vocabulary so you can do the activity:

After seeing the use of the verb "to have" and checking the vocabulary, do the following activity with the Simpsons

Activity 3

2nd Module

 VERB TO BE 

The verb to be is one of the most used verbs in English this is because it has a lot of applications, let's check some of them:

•The age: I’m thirty

•Descriptions: Is used to give other descriptions,  including the height, weight, nationality and color of something or someone. Ex. I’m Mexican.

•To talk about physical and mental states. Ex. I’m hungry, They’re crazy!

•Occupations and personal relationships. Ex. I’m Batman, she is my sister

•Time and date: We use the third person.  Ex. It is three o’clock, today is Monday.

•Locations: The book is not on the table, My house is next to the library. Conjugation POSITIVE FULL FORM SHORT FORM I am I’m He, she, it is He’s/She’s/It’s We, you, they are We’re/You’re/They´re

NEGATIVE
FULL FORM		SHORT FORM
I	Am  not
He, she, it	Is not	He/She/It isn’t
We, you, they	Are not	We/You/They aren’t

QUESTIONS

Am I…?

Is he/she/it..?

Are we/you/they…? SHORT ANSWERS Yes, I am No, I’m not Yes, he/she/it is No, he/she/it isn’t Yes, we/ you/ they are No, we/ you/ they aren’t

Once you checked the conjugation, let's put together some sentences

2nd Activity

1st Módule

 There is, there are

The first topic that we are going to check is "There is" What does it mean? Well  we use it to say that something or someone exists (or doesn't exists).
What's the differetence between there is and there are? We use "there is" to refer a thing in singular, and "there are" to refer things in plural. Here you have some examples:

POSITIVE

• There is a book on the desk (singular)
• There are books on the desk (plural)

NEGATIVE

• There is not (or there isn't) a book on the desk
• There are not or (or there aren't) any boooks on the desk

INTERROGATIVE

• Is there any book on the desk? (singular)
• Are there any books on the desk? (plural)

CONTRACTIONS

• There's =there is
• There're=there are
• There isn't= There is not
• There aren't= There are not

Now let's make an exercise about this topic:

1st Activity 

Did you notice what is the next topic?

Introduction: The History of English

 The History of English

Before getting to know the whole grammatical part of English, let's review a little of its history and how English has become one of the most widely spoken languages in the world.

The following presentation covers its evolution and some curious facts in a general way. 

• Click here

Welcome

 👏BIENVENIDA 👏

    Sean todos ustedes bienvenidos y bienvenidas a este blog "Let's Speak English"!

En este blog vas a encontrar un curso de inglés básico A1-A2 donde te enseñaré las bases del idioma, es un curso con actividades muy divertidas para que refuerces el tema visto. Las explicaciones y actividades está en inglés esto con el fin de que empieces a acostumbrarte al idioma, si te lo pongo en español, lo más probable es que ignores lo que esté en inglés y vayas directo a leer en español, así que hay que evitar crear malos hábitos, si no comprendes el tema no dudes en hacérmelo saber en los comentarios y con mucho gustó te responderé. 

Temario del curso básico de inglés A1-A2

El inglés (introducción): Origen, importancia y curiosidades.

1.     Abecedario

1.1  Vocales

1.2  Consonantes

1.3  Pronunciación/ Símbolos fonéticos.

2.     Verb to be

2.1  Conjugación

2.2  Subject pronouns

2.3  There is/ are

2.4  This, that, these, those.

3.     Verb Have got

3.1  Possessive adjectives

3.2  Possessive’s

4.     Physical description

4.1  Imperatives

4.2  Articles

4.3  Plurals

5.     Our daily life

5.1  Present simple

5.2  Positive, negative, questions and short answers.

5.3  Adverbs of frequency

5.4  Modal verb “Can”

6.     Present continuous

6.1  Present simple vs present continuous

6.2  Possessive pronouns

7.     Comparatives and superlatives

8.     Past simple of verb to be
9.1 Past simple positive and negative

9.2 Past simple interrogative and answers

9.     Modal verb could

9.1  what is a modal verb?

9.2  Modal Could

9.3  Semi-modal “have to”/ “do not have to”

9.4  Must /must not

9.5  Be allowed to

10.  Countable and uncountable nouns

10.1              A/an, some/any

10.2              Much/ many, a lot/ enough

11.  Be going to

11.1              Present continuous for future

11.2              Modal verb will

12.  Present perfect

13.1 Present perfect vs past simple

Vocabulary

·         Countries.

·         Nationalities

·         Days and months

·         Seasons

·         Family

·         Physical description

·         Rooms and furniture

·         Sensations and feelings

·         Time

·         Activities

·         Party

·         Jobs

·         Adjectives

·         Places in a town

·         Transport

·         Musical instruments

·         Musical genres

·         Food

·         Sport

·         Part of the body

·         Holidays and travel

·         Weather

·         Animals