ENGLISH smart
Blended Learning from Classroom to Chat
© Edizioni La Linea – Bologna 2022
www.edizionilalinea.it via San Rocco, 9 40122 – Bologna
Prima edizione 2022
ISBN 978-88-97462-89-7
Copertina: Massimo Pastore
Progetto grafico: Massimo Pastore e Angela Ragni
Impaginazione: Angela Ragni
Illustrazioni: Michele Soma
Web App: Cristina Carnevali
Studio di registrazione: Radio Città Fujiko
Stampa: Modulgrafica Forlivese via Correcchio, 8/a, Forlì (FC)
Referenze iconografiche (da Shutterstock, dove non diversamente indicato):
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AUTHORS’ FOREWORD
Instant chatroom apps have become an important part of our lives. The trend has affected students of all ages whether they be school pupils, university students, life-long learners or those seeking a future in a new country. Nowadays, learners are used to high-speed, graphically-rich, globally accessible resources and are always connected, sharing and interacting. We are convinced that smart technology can also play an important role inside and outside the classroom.
There are a few reasons why we believe that social media technology should be harnessed for use in teaching and learning. The chat forum simulates authentic spoken language, it favours the informal and spontaneous and makes languagelearning fun and relevant. It can be used to develop and practise communicative and structural competencies and it makes use of a tool which is usually associated with social communication as opposed to the learning environment.
This second Smart English book is for students at level B1 CEFR of English as a Second Language (ESL) and English as a Foreign Language (EFL). Each unit consists of: a) exercises to be completed in the book; b) pair and whole class activities to be completed within the chat facility. These can be done within the language class to practise structures and lexis or as a consolidation task before moving on to the next unit of study.
Smart English aims to support, not replace, a B1 English course. It is a flexible resource, that can be used to learn and to revise. While it is aimed at exam and nonexam students, the emphasis in Smart English is on informal English. There are twenty units with the main topic areas normally taught at level B1. Structural points are dealt with in explicit grammar units called “Revision” and can be used as quick revision or for reference. These grammar chapters can also be used as stand-alone units.
The activities cover all four skill areas and the smart activities involve the use of various media: text, audio, video and graphics. Grammar and spelling rules are highlighted in “Heads Up” boxes and “Cool Tips” introduce students to idiomatic phrases and interesting cultural facts.
The Appendices include:
• Additional exam-oriented writing tasks,
• A list of common phrasal verbs,
• The International Phonetic Alphabet,
• Answers to the exercises.
Activities with downloadable resources are accompanied by the symbol . Online resources which can be posted are available online at: www.edizionilalinea.it/seB1
In order to benefit from the smart activities, a classroom chat group should be set up on the first day of the course. The teacher acts as administrator but can hand this responsibility over to a student. The role of the teacher within the chat is primarily that of supervisor.
As teachers and linguists we like to push boundaries and we hope you enjoy the book as much as we have enjoyed creating it.
Chat pair activity
Chat group activity
Heads up! Grammar and spelling rules
Cool tip Idiomatic phrases and interesting cultural facts
LET’S SET UP A GROUP CHAT
Welcome everyone!
In this book you’ll find lots of activities to be done on your smartphone. These activities should be done either in pairs or as a group. Let’s start by setting up a class chatroom:
1. Send a message to your teacher’s phone with your first and second name.
Patrizio Vanni2. The teacher will create a group chat.
3. Use this group only for your English course activities and write/speak only in English.
4. Remember netiquette: be respectful at all times and only use language that you would use in the classroom.
Most important of all: have fun!
1 MY LANGUAGE LEARNING JOURNEY
Talking about where you come from, how long you have been learning English, why you are learning it and where you have difficulties. Revision of present perfect continuous with for/since.
Countries, nationalities, language.
2 WHAT MAKES YOU TICK?
Expressing and explaining emotions and their causes. Likes and dislikes. Present continuous with always/ constantly with negative connotations. Personal feelings, opinions and experiences.
3 SCREEN TIME VS GREEN TIME
Talking about hobbies and whether you prefer to spend time indoors or outdoors. Phrasal verbs extended from A2. Phrasal verbs with get. Communications and technology. Environment and the natural world.
4 GOOD HEADSPACE
5 DARE TO DREAM, WORK TO ACHIEVE
REVISION 1 TALKING ABOUT THE PAST
6 CAMPERVAN ADVENTURE
Talking about hobbies that are good for physical and mental health. Language of persuasion. Hobbies and leisure. Health.
Talking and reading about young people in the field of sport who are role models. Comparative and superlative adjectives. Sport. Motivation.
Past simple. Present perfect. Past Perfect. Used to and would. Stative verbs.
Planning an adventure in a campervan. Talking about the pros and cons of living in a small space.
Discussing how to finance a campervan adventure.
8 THE JOURNEY IS THE GOAL
Describing different items of clothing and personal dress style. Sustainable fashion.
COOL
the hamster wheel of life
HEADS UP:
hand
audio + audio (4) HEADS UP: question tags COOL TIP: workcation, earn some money on the go 22
audio + text (3) HEADS UP:
travel, journey, trip
, voyage
image + text (3) image + text (4) COOL TIP:
street food, eating
video
(3)
Revisit zero and 1st Conditional. Practise 2nd and 3rd Conditional.
11 TOWNIE OR NATURELOVER?
12 MAKING A DIFFERENCE
13 WORKING AT A RESCUE CENTRE
14 FESTIVALS – NO AGE LIMITS
Comparing town and countryside. Adjectives ending in -ed and -ing Town and country. Opinions.
Learning about volunteering and helping out in the community. Modal verbs including: may, might, will Use of probably Shopping and services. Volunteering.
Talking about and listening to stories of rescue animals at an animal sanctuary. Past simple. Asking Wh-questions. The natural world. Animals.
Talking about different types of festivals. Describing experiences. Present and past simple. Present and past continuous.
LEARNING JOURNEY
Ilaria, Samba, Kaamisha and Jorge are studying English at a language school in London. They get to know each other through their language learning journey.
1 Mr Doyle, the English teacher, asks the students four questions and they answer. Write the correct number next to each answer.
1. Where do you come from?
2. How long have you been learning English?
3. Why are you learning English?
4. What do you find most difficult about learning English?
ILARIA
a. Forever! Since I was a kid! But I’m still struggling…
b. I have difficulty understanding idioms.
c. I’m from Italy but I grew up in The Netherlands.
d. My aim is to move to New Zealand next year. I want to live and work there.
SAMBA
a. I still find pronunciation very challenging.
b. I come from Thiès, in Senegal.
c. I’d like to be able to set up an online network in the English language for volunteers all over the world.
d. For six months only, but I attended a full-immersion course.
KAAMISHA
a. I would really like to become a teacher and help other foreigners learn English.
b. Since I was a teenager and I just love its grammar!
c. I still depend too much on translation, I guess…
d. I was born in Afghanistan and all my relations live there.
JORGE
a. My parents are Spanish but we all moved to Argentina after I was born.
b. I feel I don’t have enough vocabulary to express my views.
c. For many years but I still have lots to learn!
d. The important thing for me is to write a food blog that the whole world can read.
2 How difficult do you find the English language? Rate each of the aspects below, then use your ratings to complete the sentences.
1. Spelling words
2. Pronouncing words
3. Using grammar
4. Understanding when people speak
5. Using idiomatic expressions
6. Speaking to express my views
7. Understanding jokes
8. Using and understanding specific vocabulary
I don’t have any difficulty .
I’m quite good at .
is a bit challenging for me.
I need to become better at .
3 Send your partner a short audio file to introduce yourself. Say your name, the place you come from, how long you have been learning English, why you’re learning it and what you find most difficult about it.
Hey! My name is …, I was born in … but I live and work in ... and I’ve been learning English for/since …! I’m an open-minded person and would like to travel and get to know different cultures. I don’t have any difficulty …, but … is still a bit challenging for me!
COOL TIP
A person who is open-minded or shows open-mindedness is willing to consider new ideas, perspectives and experiences and shows empathy towards other people. On the contrary, a person who is narrow-minded or shows narrow-mindedness does not want to listen to other people’s views or to experience new things.
4 The teacher sends a question to the class chat via audio file. Type your answer in the chat without repeating what has already been said by the others.
WHAT MAKES YOU TICK?
Ilaria, Samba, Kaamisha and Jorge get to know each other’s likes and dislikes and what makes them tick.
I’m working hard to learn new idioms, and I’ve just learnt this one – make someone tick. It refers to the things that make someone happy, or that they are really interested in. For example, a love of cooking and eating is what makes Jorge tick!
1 Match each state of mind to the appropriate picture. Careful! There are four extra words. 1.
2 Fill in the gaps with one state of mind from ex. 1 which doesn't have a picture.
1. You feel when something makes you feel uncomfortable and you blush, or when you want the ground to swallow you up!
2. You’re if you feel slightly angry and irritated.
3. If you feel , it means you feel bad because you regret doing something wrong, for example you have lied to a friend.
4. You’re when you are in good spirits, quite happy and optimistic.
Then find two other states of mind from the list and explain what they mean.
5. means that .
6. If you are , then it means that .
Now you know I love my food! And when there’s no food, I feel very hungry and also irritable. Hunger makes me angry! I’ve just learnt the perfect word for this combination of feelings: hangry!
3 The teacher sends an audio file to everyone in the class chat. The audio file mentions several things that make Samba happy, sad, annoyed, etc. Listen to it and match each of Samba’s states of mind to the experience that causes it.
HEADS UP
The present continuous with words such as always or constantly expresses the idea that something irritating or shocking often happens. Notice that the meaning is like present simple, but with negative emotion. Remember to put the words always or constantly between be and verb+ing.
EXAMPLE People who are always complaining make me feel really annoyed!
4 Send your partner a picture of something that makes you feel happy, sad, guilty, etc. Your partner guesses how it makes you feel.
No, not really…
Forgetting about a friend’s birthday makes you feel embarrassed.
It makes you feel guilty.
3 SCREEN TIME VS GREEN TIME
llaria, Samba, Kaamisha and Jorge ask each other if they’re more into screen time or green time.
1 Decide which definition is correct.
1. Influencer: a. A person who often gets the flu.
b. A person who drives people’s behaviour on social media.
2. Binge-worthy a. An engaging TV programme that makes you watch many series: episodes in a short time.
b. A TV show where bingo and tombola are usually played.
3. Blogger: a. A person who regularly writes for an online journal.
b. A person who makes wooden shoes.
4. Silver screen: a. An easy-to-use mobile phone for older people.
b. The cinema industry.
5. Trending: a. Popular or much discussed online, especially on social media.
b. Adding someone to a list of friends on social media.
COOL TIP
The four of us are all digital natives, meaning that we are very familiar with computers and the internet. Sometimes, though, we do need a digital detox! A digital detox is a period of time when we stay away from technology in general and social media in particular. I love limiting the time I spend using my devices (my screen time) and increasing my green time, that is the time I spend outdoors in nature.
2 Read Ilaria’s, Samba’s and Jorge’s answers to Kaamisha’s question, then decide who has more screen time and who is more interested in green time.
Hey guys! Are you more into screen time or green time? What do you get up to in your free time?
In my spare time I just love to hang out with friends in front of the screen, mainly on social media. There’s always someone coming up with a funny post! When I go out to walk the dog, it’s only to get out of doing the dishes!
1. Ilaria is into time.
At weekends I get out of bed early and do shopping and other chores. I always get around on my bike and I get away to the countryside as soon as possible to soak up the scenery. There’s a canal there where I love to SUP, which is stand-up paddle boarding. It’s so energising!
2. Samba is into time.
When I’m free all I do is put videos up on my food blog and on social media. I tried out digital photography a while ago and I can’t wait to get back into it – I can use it to take some great snaps of my favourite dishes!
3. Jorge is into time.
HEADS UP
Phrasal verbs are idiomatic phrases formed by a verb and another element (an adverb or a preposition). The same verb can have many different meanings depending on the element that follows it. For example, turn up means to reappear, to come to light, but turn down means to refuse an offer. Can you believe it? There are approximately 10,000 phrasal verbs in English and 177 with get!
3 Match each phrasal verb to its meaning, then check on an online dictionary.
1. to come up with (a good idea)
2. to get around (on my bike)
3. to get away (to the hills/beach)
4. to get back into (swimming/ photography/blogging)
5. to get out of bed
6. to get out of (doing something)
7. to hang out (with friends… in the park/in front of the screen)
8. to put a video up (on your blog)
9. to soak up (the scenery)
10. to try out (a new skill/hobby)
a. to get up after a period of sleep
b. to upload
c. to leave home/to work to get some rest
d. to absorb something pleasant that does you good
e. to think of
f. to start doing something again after not doing it for a period of time
g. to test something new or different
h. to go out to different places
i. to spend time socialising
j. to avoid
4 Send your partner a 30-second video explaining what you do in your free time. Try to use as many phrasal verbs as possible. Your partner guesses if you’re into screen time or green time.