Unit 1: Life experiences 1. Take a look at this image:
Credit: Used with permission from Debbie Ridpath Ohi at Inkygirl.com’
Answer the following questions. Then, compare it with a partner. a) What is the child doing? b) Have you ever had this experience? Have you ever seen snow? c) If yes, how was this moment for you? If not, would you like to experience it? 2. Life is made of experiences! Have you ever had the opportunity of doing any of the activities below? Ask your colleague the questions from the bubbles. Follow the model. Have you ever… travelled to another continent? Yes, I have travelled to Asia. No, I have never travelled to another continent.
Have you ever…
….broken an arm or leg?
… travelled to another continent?
…been in a car accident?
…won anything in a contest or raffle?
…run a marathon?
…cheated in an exam?
…met a famous person?
…saved someone’s life?
strange?
LISTENING 3. You are going to listen to a Lebanese band talking about their tour. Complete the gaps according to what you hear from the interview. You can use the box below to help you with the words. has (3x)
kicked up
been (3x)
Interviewer: Hamed Sinno joins me here in studio Q. Welcome! Singer: Thanks! How is it going? Interviewer: I’m doing very well. The tour has ____________. How ______ it _______ so far? Singer: It _____ _________ alright. So far we played in New York and Boston. We had a couple of complications with getting visas on time because Arabs, but….hum…Honestly, we had to play those two gigs without our violinist but things should get back on track today. He’s here in Toronto at this plane. He’s gonna be with us for the rest of the tour. Interviewer: Lee’s Palace today… Singer: Yeah, Lee’s Palace tonight. Interviewer: The BBC says your band tears up Arab pop conventions. Do you think that’s fair to say? Singer: I think the band…it doesn’t really like an intention, you know, for us to arbitrarily change things. It’s just the way the industry works in the Middle East _____ ________ very difficult for us to imagine operating within. So maybe inadvertently we do that, but it’s essentially just us trying to do our own thing right. 4. Read the following extracts about the experience of some people working with refugees.
“Refugees have always been part of my life. I spent some of my childhood in Garissa, a town close to the Dadaab refugee camps. The majority of the refugees in this part of Kenya are from Somalia. As a Kenyan of Somali ethnicity, I share their language and culture. Ever since I was a child, I have witnessed the struggle of refugees for freedom and a normal life. Now, as a field associate in one of the five Dadaab refugee camps, I can contribute to making people’s lives easier. Being a Somali speaker helps me to interact easily with the refugees and to come up with solutions together. However, in a protracted situation such as Dadaab, where people have to stay in camps for decades, we will unfortunately never be able to create a ‘normal life’ for them and we cannot solve all their problems. Sometimes, people just need a good listener and they come up with their own ways of dealing with the situation. I am fascinated by the way people have created businesses inside the camps and try to make the best out of their life.” Extract from: UNHCR Stories, by Shamim Abubakar Degey, Field Associate. The UN Refugee Agency Website.
“In their desperation to escape untenable conditions in their homeland, they embark on a route and in vessels that is at best treacherous. Their journeys of desperation represent one of the most horrific, cruel, yet important immigration routes of our time. Untold hundreds have died attempting to make the crossing – the central Mediterranean has become their graveyard. This year has been no different. I was fortunate enough to be taken on by the NGO Migrant Offshore Aid Station (MOAS) as their official photographer for one of its recent missions. I spent four days on the seas with MOAS in October. MOAS, working in close collaboration with the Armed Forces of Malta and the Italian Coast Guard, has assisted around 3,000 people at risk in the Mediterranean Sea.”
Extract from: UNHCR Stories, by Darrin Zammit Lupi, photographer. The UN Refugee Agency Website.
Now answer the following questions. a) b) c) d)
Is it the first time Shamim is working with refugees? Where did she spend her childhood? Why the people have been doing the dangerous crossing on the Mediterranean sea? How many people has MOAS assisted so far?
5. Have you ever had the opportunity of talking or working with migrants or refugees? Do you know which non-governmental organisations work with this cause? Do some research on the internet to find out about these NGOs and write down what they have done on behalf of forcibly displaced people.
Credit: Pixabay
GRAMMAR POINT Present perfect simple Analyse the sentences from the extracts of exercise 4. 1. 2. 3. 4.
Refugees have always been part of my life. Ever since I was a child, I have witnessed the struggle of refugees for freedom and a normal life. Untold hundreds have died attempting to make the crossing. MOAS has assisted around 3,000 people at risk in the Mediterranean Sea.
Now, put the number of the sentences to the corresponding idea they express. Things that happened in the past and have an importance now 2. Experiences An action that began in the past and still continues (unfinished past) 1.
In English, when we want to connect past actions and its effect on the present, we use the present perfect tense. Here, it’s not important when the action took place, but the result of it now.
PRESENT PERFECT
Tip: This may sound different in your language. Maybe you only use past tenses to express this idea, so it’s good not to make comparisons between both languages.
PAST ACTIONS
PRESENT MOMENT
Take a look at the sentences again and complete the structure of the present perfect simple: _______ or _______ + verb in the ________ participle form.
6. Complete the gaps with has / have and the correct form of the verb in brackets in the present perfect. a) b) c) d) e) f)
I have been (be) to lots of rock concerts in my life. Samira __________ __________ (work) in hospitals since the beginning of her career. Jamil __________ ___________ (live) in different countries. My parents ___________ _____________ (not / visit) me this year. __________ you _____________ (meet) him before? Joly __________ ______________ (not / tell) her friends about her new job position.
7. Ask your teacher about what he/she has experienced after moving to your country!
8. Do you have a good memory? You will have 3 minutes to look at the irregular verb list at the end of this unit and try to remember their forms in the past participle. Then, you are going to play bingo with your classmates! Instructions: Your teacher will say the verb in the infinitive form and you have to fill in the squares below with the past participle form. The first to complete the chart is the winner!
9. Watch your favourite TV Series, TV programme or movie and try to find some sentences that are constructed with the present perfect. Write down the examples you find. What are they representing: an experience, a past action that has an importance now, unfinished actions or changes over time?
FINAL TASK a) And the Oscar goes to‌. the movie of your life! What have you done until now in your life that you would like to share in a movie? Think about the important moments and experiences you have lived and write them in the movie roll. I have travelled to all continents. / I have been to a TV program.
b) What’s the title of your movie? c) Now, share your story with a partner. Add some details, as the place, country or time in which the story happens.
Image credit: Freepik
CULTURAL SPOT Arab Music Have you ever heard to Arab songs? Can you name some singers or bands? Let’s have a brief on its history!
Arab music has a long history of interaction with many other regional musical styles and genres. It is an amalgam of the music of the Arab people in the Arabian Peninsula and the music of all the peoples that make up the Arab world today. During the 1950s and 1960s, Arabic music began to take on a more Western tone – Egyptian artists Umm Kulthum and Abdel Halim Hafez along with composers Mohamed Abd al-Wahab and Baligh Hamdi pioneered the use of western instruments in Egyptian music. By the 1970s several other singers had followed suit and a strand of Arabic pop was born. Arabic pop usually consists of Western styled songs with Arabic instruments and lyrics. Melodies are often a mix between Eastern and Western. The world of modern Arabic music has long been dominated by musical trends that have emerged from Cairo, Egypt. The city is generally considered a cultural centerin the Arab world. Innovations in popular music via the influence of other regional styles have also abounded from Morocco to Saudi Arabia. In recent years, Beirut has become an important city where singers can fluently sing in various Arabic Dialects. Source: Wikipedia
Now, ask you teacher to show you some of his/her favourite songs or bands!
Mashrou’ Leila
Credit: Tarek Moukaddem
The alternative rock group Mashrou’ Leila has faced government bans to some of their concerts. Read the article about this prohibition and think about the following questions: *Has your country ever had a decision similar to this? *What are the differences between the law and politics of your country and the Arab world regarding gender diversity?
Mashrou Leila banned from performing in Jordan‌yet again A Lebanese rock group known for endorsing gender equality and sexual freedom has been banned from performing a gig in the Amman later this month, according to reports. Mashrou' Leila's upcoming concert in the Jordanian capital has been cancelled, Interior Minister Ghaleb Zuabi said, claiming the ban will avoid "the exploitation of such performances for the implementation of certain agendas that may lead to internal disagreements". Local reports said a number of ministers signed a petition to block the event. Hamed Sinno, the group's lead singer, is openly gay, and the band have addressed some subjects considered taboo by conservatives in Jordan. The five-member band's songs challenge various established norms in Arab societies, such as gender roles and sexual and religious freedoms. In 2010, Sinno raised the LGBTIQ flag during a concert in Lebanon in support of the region's queer community. Last year, another concert for the band was blocked by Jordanian authorities, but the decision was later reversed following uproar from young fans and rights activists. Extract from: The New Arab. Available on: www.alaraby.co.uk
Irregular Verb List
INFINITIVE be become begin bet bite blow break bring build burn buy catch choose come cut do draw dream drink drive eat fall feed feel fight find fly forget forgive freeze get go grow have hear hide hit hold hurt keep know lay learn leave let lose make
PAST SIMPLE was/were became began bet bit blew broke brought built burn bought caught chose came cut did drew dreamt/dreamed drank drove ate fell fed felt fought found flew forgot forgave froze got went grew had heard hid hit held hurt kept knew laid learnt/learned left let lost made
PAST PARTICIPLE been become begun bet bitten blown broken brought built burnt bought caught chosen come cut done drawn dreamt/dreamed drunk driven eaten fallen fed felt fought found flown forgotten forgiven frozen got gone grown had heard hidden hit held hurt kept known laid learnt/learned left let lost made
INFINITIVE meet read /ri:d/ run say see sell send shake shine shoot show shut sing sink sit sleep smell speak spell spend stand steal swim take teach tell think throw understand wake wear win write
PAST SIMPLE met read /red/ ran said saw sold sent shook shone shot showed shut sang sank sat slept smelt spoke spelt spent stood stole swam took taught told thought threw understood woke wore won wrote
PAST PARTICIPLE met read /red/ run said seen sold sent shaken shone shot shown shut sung sunk sat slept smelt spoken spelt spent stood stolen swum taken taught told thought thrown understood woken worn won written
Here you can find the most common irregular verbs. In a dictionary you can look for a complete list.
Unit 2: What do you do for a living? 1. Take a look at the following texts. What kind of information do they have? Where can you find this type of advertisement?
JOB OPPORTUNITY Project Manager We’re looking for a senior professional to join our team! The position is responsible for researching, developing and managing events in the educational area. The candidate must have leadership and organizational skills to motivate the peers and ensure delivery of projects meets deadlines and budget. Send your CV to: humanresources@globalimpact.com.za
WE ARE HIRING! A growing digital start-up based in Israel is seeking a Content Producer. *Minimum 5 years of experience in content development. *Exceptional writing and editing skills. *Knowledge of storytelling is a plus. *Fluent in English and Spanish. We offer competitive salary, flexible working hours and health insurance benefit. To apply for this position, send your résumé to vacancies@digitalspot.co.il
2. How is your experience in participating in job interviews? Where do you look for job positions? Talk with a partner about it. 3. Look at these profiles of candidates. They are talking about their experience of work. Pay attention to their description. In the empty box, write your work experience using the texts as a model.
Yasmin – Web designer – 30 years old
Ali – Photojournalist – 37 years old
I have worked as a web designer since I finished university. I have had the opportunity of working in communication agencies and also in big companies. I have created lots of websites for different markets, but I have never worked abroad.
I am a freelance photojournalist and I have covered the news for the past 8 years for famous newspapers and magazines in the Middle East and Europe. I have travelled to many countries to photograph topics such as political meetings and wars. I haven’t lived in a fixed home since 2001.
Steve -– Doctor -– 28 years old I have worked in hospitals for 5 years. I have done a volunteer work in Syria, as a doctor in a refugee camp. I have helped to save several lives since the beginning of my career. I have extensive knowledge in dealing with children.