Reading and tenses - newspaper article

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Reading and revision of tenses

The writer Ernesto Sábato is one of the most prestigious writers of Argentina and the world. His works have been translated into many languages and he has received a number of important awards in his life. Read the biography below and complete the gaps using different verb tenses according to the instructions.

Playing for Change: A movement for peace through music

The movement Playing for Change is doing an amazing job, joining musicians and fans all over the world through music. They get to places which could have been unknown for the rest of the world, just to make us enjoy the beauty of music in those places. I highly recommend that you follow this group, you will not regret it.

Song: Count on me - Bruno Mars

LOVE AND FRIENDSHIP

During our lives we sometimes feel happy and sometimes sad. There are people that help us but there also those who depress us. Let’s start discussing these points:

Ø What cheers you up?

Ø What makes you sad?

Ø Have you ever thought about the things that people do that make you feel happy?

Ø What about the things that people do which depress you?

Ø What things have you done lately that made people happy?

Ø What have you done that let people down?

You are going to read a poem which gives an important message. Write down in a few lines saying what the message is.

Count That Day Lost by George Eliot

If you sit down at set of sun

And count the acts that you have done,

And, counting, find

One self-denying deed, one word

That eased the heart of him who heard,

One glance most kind

That fell like sunshine where it went --

Then you may count that day well spent.

But if, through all the livelong day,

You've cheered no heart, by yea or nay --

If, through it all

You've nothing done that you can trace

That brought the sunshine to one face--

No act most small

That helped some soul and nothing cost --

Then count that day as worse than lost.

Our friends are usually who help us more to feel happy. Listen to this song and fill in the blanks:

PET - Reading and grammar

The PET exam has a great component of reading and grammar. The activities below are iantended to give some practice with these areas.


You can download these activities in Word format:

Irregular verb forms

Learning the past and past participle forms of irregular verbs in English may be difficult for some students, because they have to memorize them. There are different strategies that can help to memorize them more easily.
Irregular verbs

Means of transport word search game

Means of transport word search game

Poem: Still I Rise

Maya Angelou’s poem ‘Still I Rise’ makes me think about discrimination,injustice and irrationality, but it also makes me think about hope, about pride and confidence in ourselves, and most of all about love.  Love for our people, for ourselves, but also for those who can’t understand us.  I hope you find it as moving as I find it.

Still I Rise by Maya Angelou

You may write me down in history

With your bitter, twisted lies,

You may trod me in the very dirt

But still, like dust, I'll rise.

Does my sassiness upset you?

Why are you beset with gloom?

'Cause I walk like I've got oil wells

Pumping in my living room.

Just like moons and like suns,

With the certainty of tides,

Just like hopes springing high,

Still I'll rise.

Did you want to see me broken?

Bowed head and lowered eyes?

Shoulders falling down like teardrops.

Weakened by my soulful cries.

Does my haughtiness offend you?

Don't you take it awful hard

'Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines

Diggin' in my own back yard.

You may shoot me with your words,

You may cut me with your eyes,

You may kill me with your hatefulness,

But still, like air, I'll rise.

Does my sexiness upset you?

Does it come as a surprise

That I dance like I've got diamonds

At the meeting of my thighs?

Out of the huts of history's shame

I rise

Up from a past that's rooted in pain

I rise

I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide,

Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.

Leaving behind nights of terror and fear

I rise

Into a daybreak that's wondrously clear

I rise

Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,

I am the dream and the hope of the slave.

I rise

I rise

I rise.

Tenses: Simple Past and Reading

Maya Angelou is a very important African American writer.  Her life is an example of passion and hard work.  The text below provides some information about her biography.  Read the text and practise your past tenses by completing the gaps with the right verb forms.

Twenty Irregular Verbs - Listen and Read (The Daily English Show)

The Daily English Show is an excellent site to learn and practise English. The video below comes from this site. It offers some practice with irregular verbs.

Tenses - Present simple and Present continuous

The text below gives some practice with these two basic English tenses

Rich teenager

Tenses - Present Simple and Present Continuous

Complete the text with the correct verb either in Present Simple or in Present Continuous form.

Rich teenagers so much money that they can afford to buy anything they like. The problem is they often what to do with all the money they have. Christina Andreou, 15, from a family of very rich shipowners. She already a sports car (her brother it, because she isn't old enough yet). 'Right now,' she says, 'My big brother it until I'm a bit older.' Christina hours playing the latest computer games. She of buying a new laptop so that she can play her favourite games when she around the world. The Andreou family houses in London, Paris, Buenos Aires and of course, Athens. Christina her money can buy her friends. 'It me when I think of how little money my friends have, compared to how much pocket money I from my parents.'