Everyday English : At the Hotel

Do you have the skills to enter a hotel and book a room?
Look at the conversation and practice booking a room in a hotel.

Front Desk: Welcome to the Wyatt Hotel. How may I help you?
Traveler: I'd like a room please?
Front Desk: Would you like a single or a double?
Traveler: I'd like a double, please?
Front Desk: May I have your name, please?
Traveler: Timothy Findley.
Front Desk: Could you spell that please?
Traveler: F-I-N-D-L-E-Y.
Front Desk: How many are in your party?
Traveler: Just two.
Front Desk: How many nights would you like to stay?
Traveler: Just tonight.
Front Desk: How will you be paying?
Traveler: Is Visa OK?
Front Desk: That'll be fine. Would you like a wake-up call?
Traveler: Yes, I'd like a wake-up call for 6:30. Do you have a pool?
Front desk: Yes, we do. On the 2nd floor. Here's your key. That room 405 on the fourth floor.

Comment what are traveler's requests to a front desk clerk

What is it to be a student

 College is just the beginning of a lifelong learning journey. With the rapid advancement of technology, changes in economy and society, you must adapt a learning mindset if you want to succeed. The key to lifelong earning is lifelong learning.

 As you embark on this path, strive always to be a student. Be open to new ideas and information, and be able to adapt. These are essential skills for the new world of work. Some benefits of becoming a lifelong learner are:

• increased self-confidence when approaching new tasks or ideas; 
• better decision-making and problem-solving skills;
• the ability to adapt and change with the times; 
• greater personal satisfaction;
• higher pay and more employment opportunities

Comment on the saying “Keep learning, keep earning!”. Does it always hold true? 

100 most common English words

Can you guess what the most common words in English are? The video below gives a list of them according to WiKipedia.

Comment what word do you use most common

Way To Success

Studying at university makes very different demands on you compared with school. In higher education the focus is on you: you're given much more responsibility for your studies, you will be expected to study on your own much more than you may have been used to as well as the scope of study is much wider than you have been used to.
To help you achieve better results in your studies do some self exploratory work.
Your task is to come to understanding of your learning strong and weak points and of your own way of learning.

• Search the site http://www.ldpride.net/learningstyles.MI.htm 
• Take the test on multiple intelligence http://www.ldrc.ca/projects/miinventory/miinventory.php 
• Report in a written form the results of the tests 

QUESTIONS TO GUIDE YOU:

1. What is multiple intelligence? 
2. What types of multiple intelligence are defined? 
3. What personality type/types do you belong to? 
4. Have you learnt new things about yourself? 
5. Why is it important to be aware of your personality type? 
6. How will this affect you and your studies? 
7. Which of the practical suggestions do you find the most useful/possible to follow?

My day

1.  Every morning from Monday to Saturday, I get up at 6 o'clock. After breakfast, I go to school by bicycle. It takes me about 20 minutes from my house to my school. Usually, I study at school until 11:30 a.m. I return home at noon to have lunch with my family. In the afternoon I attend English and computer courses. I always get home just in time for dinner at 7:30 p.m. After dinner, while my parents are watching television in the living-room, I read books or prepare for school in my own room.
2. I am free at weekends. On Sunday mornings, I get up later than usual. Then I often go shopping downtown with my friends. Sometimes we go for a picnic in the countryside. On rainy Sundays, I stay at home reading books and listening to music.
3. I am quite happy with my daily activities.

 

Озаглавите текст:

My daily activities

Daily Activities at Work

Daily Activities at Home

Определите, является ли утверждение “The author is happy to prepare the homework with the parents” верным (‘true’, ‘false’, ‘not in text’).

Укажите, какой части текста (1, 2, 3) соответствует следующая информация: In evenings the author reads books.

First degree courses in the UK

The UK has an excellent reputation for higher education and research. It offers a lot of opportunities to both national and international students at undergraduate and postgraduate level.
Degrees
The degrees vary according to the practice of each university.
First degrees after leaving school are often called undergraduate. Arts, social science and pure science degrees normally last 3 or 4 years because they are designed to follow a very specialized school-leaving qualification. Traditionally university graduates will be awarded the degree of Bachelor of Arts, Science, Engineering, Medicine etc.
Later they may continue to take graduate or postgraduate courses. There is a another higher educational qualification in the UK, known as the Higher National Diploma or HND. It lasts a year less than a degree course – either two full-time or three years as a sandwich course.
HNDs are vocational (or job related), so a student will not find them in purely academic subjects as history or philosophy. They are available in, for example, science subjects, engineering, business studies, hospitality and tourism management.

Comment what do you think?
 Would you like to study abroad?
What degrees are awarded in Russian universities? 

The American education system

Complete the paragraph with the words : it , the former,  that (3),  this, they, the latter, who, which (2) such as.


The American education system requires that students complete 12 years of primary and secondary education before they attend university or college. …(1) may be accomplished either at public schools, or at private schools. …(2) are usually supported and financed by state and municipal governments, while …(3) are operated privately.

Numerous American colleges, schools and universities offer programs …(4) lead to a variety of degrees. …(5) include an associate degree …(6) is given upon completion of a 2-year programme and a bachelor’s degree …(7) normally requires at least four years of full-time college-level coursework. For those college graduates …(8) want to advance their careers higher education institutions offer advanced degrees …(9) a master’s degree or doctorate (also known as PhD) degree.

The master’s degree typically requires two years of full-time graduate school coursework to complete. Unlike students pursuing a bachelor’s degree, students in a master’s degree program will complete courses … (10) are highly focused in their field of study (major) so the students must have already decided on the major before applying to a master’s degree program.

The PhD degree is even more focused and specialized than the master’s degree. Some students will complete a master’s degree before applying to a doctorate degree prog-ram, but …(11) is not always necessary. Completion of a doctorate degree typically takes between three and six years but a student with a master’s degree may take less time to complete his PhD if …(12) is in the same field

British English vs American English

Some students ask questions about differences between between the British accent and North American accent. Watch a video and compare.

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Are you sure this water is pure?
The bar is quite far, we need a car.
The first year you learn a lot of words by heart.
There were four more birds this morning.
Last week I cut my ass on some glass in the bath, so I asked for plaster.
My new secretary is so stupid! She had to look up "inventory" in the dictionary!

Comment what variant of English do you prefer to learn and why?

Cambridge

Cambridge, US is a unique community with a strong mix of cultural and social diversity and technological innovation. Its “Squares” are rich in various international restaurants and cafes as well as unique shopping, theatres, museums, and historic sites.
Located between the academic centers of Harvard and MIT, Central Square is the seat of City government and is home to a rich variety of music clubs, book shops, restaurants and clothing stores. It’s about a 12 minute walk from Kendall Square, which is the home to MIT and the heart of Massachusetts’ high tech and biotechnology industries.
The main site of the MIT is located along the left bank of the Charles River. This provides a wonderful view of the Boston area. Parking in Cambridge can be expensive and hard to find so use public transportation to get to the MIT campus.
The Tech shuttle and Safe Ride shuttle provide free transportation around the MIT. But the latter runs only on weekdays.
(Adapted from http://www.cambridge-usa.org/)

 Take notes under the headings below.

• Location 
• Transport

Everyday English : An ideal house

A person’s home is as much a reflection of his personality as the clothes he wears, the food he eats and the friends he spends his time with. I have got a two-room apartment in the center of the city. But all people dream about their own house with all conditions, so do I. The house of my dream must be a comfortable well-planned two-storeyed cottage. Not so large of course. It should be situated in a quite ecologically clean place or street.

I want a green lawn and flowers to be there in front of the house. There should be a lot of trees, a pond or a fountain. There must be a large kitchen, a pantry, a dining-room, a cosy sitting-room with a fireplace and big windows on the ground floor. There should be bedrooms with  bathrooms on the first floor, and somebody`s study upstairs. And I want my room to be in the garret, and a balcony with the beautiful view.I want my home to be the best place for meetings with my friends and relatives.

Comment what house would you like to have