More on Reported Speech

Thursday 19^th February

Hello everybody!

How’s everything? How are your exams?

What did we do yesterday?

We continued talking about direct and reported speech. I can see you have some problems. Especially when we change the other way round, that is, changing from reported speech into direct speech.

Look at how the verb tenses change:

Reported	Statements: affirmative or negative sentences		Direct
Past simple He said he got up at eight every day. Past continuous He said he was seeing his friends the following day. Past perfect He said he had lived in Madrid for 15 years. Past perfect He said he had seen him the day before. Present Conditional He said he would travel all over the world.		Present simple He said, “I get up at eight every day.” Present continuous He said, “I’m seeing my friends tomorrow.” Present Perfect “I’ve lived in Madrid for 15 years.” Past simple “I saw him yesterday.” Future simple “I’ll travel all over the world.”

Not only the verb but also the pronouns and the time expressions change.

yesterday	The day before, the previous day
today	That day
tomorrow	The following day, the day after
this	that
these	those
next	The following

We role-played some dialogues in pairs. During our conversation, the rest of the classmates took some notes to report what we had been talking about, so as to practise reported speech.

Andrea and Pilar role-played a dialogue at the cinema. Pilar was the customer and Andrea the assistant.

Jorge and Alex, role-played a dialogue between two friends talking about their future trips.

And Óscar and I role-played a job interview for the position of a counsellor  at a kids summer camp.

Homework: go on (continue) practising reported speech by doing the exercises 1a and b on page 54. Change sentences 1-5 from exercise a, from reported to direct speech.

Then, we did a listening exercise on the new topic we’re starting: public figures.

We had the photos of some public figures: a politician, a sports person – a female tennis player, an actor, a singer, an artist – a Spanish painter – and a singer.

 They talked about the advantages and disadvantages of being famous.

We learnt expressions like:

·         The price of fame.

·         To be in front of the camera.

·         To be under pressure.

·         To get someone’s autograph.

·         Personal life.

·         To escape the attention.

Finally, we continued with our project.

Although there are many things you said you don’t like; for instance, the government, the teacher
s in your high schools, the director of your high school, politicians … there’s nothing you can do about it; at least, not yet. You’ll have to wait until you’re 18 and then, you’ll be able to vote and decide whatever you think is the best.

You also suggested other topics such as pollution and rubbish and dirt on the streets.

Pilar suggested a possible way to improve the environment and fight against pollution: planting trees. In the end, Alex’s suggestion about avoiding sunflower seeds shells on the streets was the most voted idea. And it seems that’s going to be your project. Start thinking how you are going to split (divide) the work and what your objective will be.

And with this last discussion, the class was over.

GAME 6

Player 1	6
Player 2	4
Player 3	9
Player 4	---
Player 5	7
Player 6	8
Player 7	8

See you on Thursday!

Have a nice weekend!