BURNS NIGHT

Robert Burns was a famous poet who lived in the 18th century (25 January 1759 – 21 July 1796). He wrote in English and in the Scots language, and is the author of the poem “Auld Lang Syne”, which means “days gone by”. The poem was turned into a song and in the English-speaking world is traditionally sung on New Year’s Eve or on various other occasions when people say farewell. Robert Burns also wrote many compositions dedicated to Scotland, for example “Scots Wha Hae”, which used to be Scotland’s national anthem.

On 25th January, the poet’s birthday, the Scottish people celebrate Burns Night. This is a celebration when the Scots share a traditional supper, recite Burns’ poetry and drink whisky. One of the most typical dishes served on this occasion is haggis, a kind of savoury pudding. Scottish music is often played, and for more formal parties, it is customary for a piper to play the bagpipe.
The first supper was held in memoriam at Burns Cottage by Burns's friends, on 21 July 1801, the fifth anniversary of his death; it has been a regular occurrence ever since.

- In 2009, 9 million people around the world attended a Burns Supper to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the poet’s birth.

- The first Burns Supper held outside of Scotland was thought to have taken place in Oxford in 1806.

Auld Lang Syne is recognised by the Guinness Book of World Records as being one of the top three most popular songs in the English language. Click here to listen to the song

Did you know that the shortest commercial flight takes place in Scotland and it lasts around 47 seconds? You can find more unusual facts about Scotland on this video:

EXAM PRACTICE

Do you want to practice before the day of the exam? Remember you can go to our 'Exam Practice' section where you'll find exercises with their key so you can work on your own. You can download and/or print them.
And remember you need a password, if you have forgotten or lost it, don't worry! Ask your teacher for it.

Good luck!

EXAM

Just a kind reminder!!!!

Group C (17-19h)

24th January - Use of English and Reading

25th January - speaking

29th January - writing and listening

31st January - speaking

Group D (19-21h)

24rd January - Speaking

25th January - Speaking

29th January - Use of English and Reading

31st January - Writing and listening



GOOD LUCK!!!!!!

ADJECTIVES -ED/-ING

Remember that we use -ed adjectives to talk about how a person feels and we use -ing adjectives to talk about the cause of that feeling. Go to 'Grammar' for a more accurate explanation. There you'll also find a list with the most common ones.

Watch this video to compare


And now try these exercises

- Exercise 1
- Exercise 2
- Exercise 3
- Exercise 4
- Exercise 5

HOW TO EXPRESS OBLIGATION

Here you have a mind map to help you when you have to express obligation. You can click on the image to enlarge it and/or save it to your device or you can go to 'grammar' to download it as a PDF document.

MUST - HAVE TO - SHOULD

Watch this video to revise the use of modal verbs of obligation.


And a couple of exercises for you to practise:

Exercise 1

Exercise 2

 

HOW TO EXPRESS ABILITY

Having in mind some of you have problems to express ability in the different tenses, I thought of creating this mind map to help you understand how to use 'can', 'could' and 'be able to'. I'm not keen on building up mind maps but I hope it helps you understand how to express ability a bit better.

You can click on the image to enlarge it and/or save it to your device or you can go to 'grammar' to download it as a PDF document.

Click here to get it as an image 

CAN, COULD, BE ABLE TO

Remember that can doesn't have all the forms, only present (can) and past (could), so sometimes it is necessary to use 'be able to'.

In the present both forms are possible, though can is more common.

We use could for general ability. But if we are talking about what happened in a particular situation, we use was/were able to... or managed to... (Not could): 

They didn't want to come with us at first but we managed to persuade them. or ...we were able to persuade them, (but not 'could persuade') 

Compare: 

Jack was an excellent tennis player. He could beat anybody. (= he had the general ability to beat anybody) 

Jack and Alf had a game of tennis yesterday. Alf played very well but in the end Jack managed to beat him. or ...was able to beat him. (= he managed to beat him in this particular game) 

And now some exercises for you to practise:

Exercise 1

Exercise 2

Exercise 3

Exercise 4

Exercise 5

Exercise 6

And remember you can go to  "Grammar" to download a more accurate explanation as a document.

WRITING: A NIGHTMARE JOURNEY

Remember you have to write a story.
Go to 'Writing' to get the explanation below as a document. You can also get some samples of nightmare journeys to give you ideas.

When writing a short story, LANGUAGE is very important:

• Use past continuous for background information. For example – It was raining heavily as we left the house….
• Use past perfect before the main events of the story. but Anne had kindly lent me her umbrella.
• Use simple past for the main events. There wasn’t a single person on the street.
• Try to add some dialogue to make your story more vivid.

Include some of the following phrases to highlight the different parts of your plot and to help your reader follow the storyline:

Time phrases:  It all began… Shortly afterwards, Meanwhile, Some time later, Finally, In the end, Eventually,	Phrases for dramatic effect:  Suddenly, Without warning, Out of the blue, Just at that moment, Quite unexpectedly, As if from nowhere,
Concluding stories:  When it was all over, Looking back now, In the end,	Direct speech:  “…..”, said Fred “..…”, shouted Fred ”…..”, thought Fred

Now, it’s your turn… think of/invent a nightmare journey and include the following information:

- When was the journey?

- Where were you going? Who with? Why?

- What went wrong? What happened?

- What happened in the end?

THE ARTICLE

Go to 'Grammar' to see, download and or print a document with an explanation about how to use the article in English. 

Time to practise!!!!

- Exercise 1
- Exercise 2
- Exercise 3
- Exercise 4
- Exercise 5
- Exercise 6
- Exercise 7
- Exercise 8