Meet with MIT After Black Friday

Black Friday (November 25, 2016) came over. This day I was offered by online school engoo.com to buy subscription with good discount. Coincidentally we studied the same subject in my first class there with teacher Bryan B.

The article which we read was about Black November. It is good to know that Cyber Monday, as an online rival to Black friday, is coming.

Bryan studied in Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and I asked him about this very famous university. The cost of studying in MIT is $ 46000 for year!

I kept the link to the Magazine from MIT “MIT Technology Review” in Bookmarks in my Browser. Here it is https://www.technologyreview.com

Philosophy Of Present Perfect Continuous

This topic was discussed in Holly's free class in Google Hangouts on November 19, 2016

Present perfect would describe through phrasal verb “look back”

Present perfect continuous has the same idea, more precisely it means “look back from now”

Teacher’s explanations:

present perfect = emphasize continuing action/event

present perfect continuous = emphasize duration/length of time

present perfect continuous = emphasizes recent time or now

Example:

I have been seeing that movie before. = not correct

I have seen that movie before. = correct

Present perfect continuous = give a reason for why something is true now.

Example:

I'm late because I have been trying to eat breakfast very quickly.

This class was recorded and published on Youtube here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9CPyWTHFxg

Writing exercise: Superstores

Task:

Write a few paragraphs about big-box stores. What effect do you think they have on communities? Do they bring more pros or cons with them?

Opening of new big-box stores is a trend for many places, especially for big cities. And that process has a huge impact for local communities.

The pros for customers are the possibility of buying all products (foodstuffs and manufactured goods) in one place, using services such as barber's, dry-cleaner’s and entertainment in cinema, cafes, and so on.

But on the other hand, the local business is not just a trading, it is a way of life for people which includes a producing natural products, many skills which are passing from generation to generation, and it is a part of the culture of local communities.

The cons are an absence of small shops with local products out of doors where people (sellers and customers) communicate with each other. People visit local shops not only for buying things but for communication too. Many people prefer to buy foodstuffs on at the agriculture markets because they believe that direct trading with farmers allows people to remove the brokers from the trading chain and it makes products cheaper.

I believe that the feature of modern society is competition. It appears in many cases: in producing goods, in politics, and in trading deals too. It must be understandable understood that every change has an implication for communities. People need to accept it even it has a site effect as difficulties for local communities.

Teacher’s comment:

Article Use: You wrote, *"...local business is not just a trading, it is a way of life." This should be "...local business is not just trading, it is a way of life..."

Plural Noun/Preposition: You wrote, *"Many people prefer to buy foodstuff on the agriculture markets..." You had written "foodstuffs" before, which is correct. This sentence should be "Many people prefer to buy foodstuffs at the agriculture markets."

This topic was written and corrected by teacher Steve B in online school http://englishlive.ef.com (former englishtown)

Philosophy of Present Perfect

This topic was discussed in Holly's free class in Google Hangouts on October 16, 2016.

What is the purpose of the present perfect tense? Why do English teachers say that you must learn to use it? What happens if you don't use it? These are interesting questions.

There were several participants in the class and each of them explained own opinion about topic. Students said that there is similar grammar construction in Spanish, Italian, Hindi languages but it is used in different way (like past simple). There is no comparable Grammar construction in Japanese, Russian languages.

It is presumably that British people use perfect more than Americans. Teacher agreed that it is true but it is difficult to notice it.

Why are there so many tenses in English?

As Holly explained there are two reasons:

1.) English has German root.

2.) Connection in time is very important in English language.

English tenses are more recognizable because they are built like logical constructions from bricks.

The name of this tense is Present Perfect because it is connected to the present.

It would illustrate with two simple examples:

"I did my homework" is correct sentence and "I've done my homework" is also correct. I suggested my explanation of the difference. let's pretend that I'm very busy person and I'm able to attend the class only because I've done my homework. Present perfect connects the past to now (because it is the present).

The main idea of the class was said by our teacher. I wrote it down in my own words:

When we study foreign language we observe a battle between our native language and new one. Our native language tries to translate logic of new language using its own logic.

If learners won the battle - they understood English Present Perfect Tense.

It was a very interesting and memorable class. We came learn and practice English and the fact that this class was published on YouTube gives us an additional possibility to share it and to keep this knowledges for the future.

Can you solve the clues?

Some notes after a free session on Google Hangout from Teacher Holly (Holly Tree English)

Topic: Verbs “be” and “Have”

Subject: English Practice, English Games

English Level: High Beginner-Advanced

Class information:

I will give each person 3 clues. Can you solve them? After I give the clues, I will ask a question. You will have to solve the clues to answer. If you cannot answer, the class will have a chance. If the students are more advanced, the clues and questions will be more advanced. If the students have less advanced English, the clues and questions will be simpler. Join us to have a little fun practicing English with students just like you. And don’t forget that this class will be on YouTube.

Session 1 Date and Time: 4:30PM GMT October 8, 2016

Session 2 Date and Time: 6:30PM GMT October 8, 2016

Session 3 Date and Time: 12:30AM GMT October 9, 2016

Riddles:

I have something that is somewhat large.

It holds a common drink.

You have seen it before.

What do I have?

Mug

This thing has 4 legs.

It can be large or small.

Many people own 1 or more.

Dog

It is long and usually skinny.

Many people have negative feelings about it.

It lives, but doesn't have legs.

What is it?

Snake

They are long and skinny.

They are connected with food.

They can be made of many different materials.

What are they?

Chopsticks

She goes to school, not university, every week day.

She likes to play with many different toys.

She has a lot of love to give.

Who is she?

Daughter

They all have 2 legs.

They all make sounds.

They cannot all fly.

What are they?

Not roosters, ostrich

Birds

It has 4 legs, but doesn't live.

It can be large or small.

The top is usually soft.

What is it?

Bed

It has many buttons.

It can be large or small.

Sometimes the buttons are not real.

Keyboard

Describing an e-commerce site momondo.com

Task:

Write a paragraph describing an e-commerce site you have used or heard about. Comment on the site's functionality and product range. How does it compare to similar sites?

Travel cheap with momondo.com Once I had a conversation with my collegue who is passionate about the idea of traveling for a small amount of money. He recommended that  I buy tickets for flights on momondo.com.

This site has a friendly interface, and is very simple in use. All the customers need is to point out the direction and date for the flight.

The design is simple, without animations or graphics. It doesn’t look as cool as a similar service from Google ( google.com/flights/ ), where the tracks are visualized and we can see the way of planning trips on the map.

Dark colors which momondo.com uses less attractive then white background from Google (at least for me).

The service from momondo.com has a special application for mobile devices.

All things which I mentioned above are not so important. Customers are looking for cheap tickets and this site is definitely right place for it.

Teacher’s comment:

I recommend that you review where to place articles in your sentences. For example you wrote, "small amount of money" instead of, "a small amount of money." Reviewing article placement will help to strengthen your writing. I recommend that you review where to place verbs and conjunctions in your sentences. For example you wrote, "very simple" instead of, "and is very simple." Reviewing sentence structure will help to strengthen your writing.

This topic was written and corrected by teacher Julia D in online school http://englishlive.ef.com (former englishtown)

Free English class through google hangouts "Can you remember 1 2 3? Session 1"