Food, Family & Social Interactions

• These notes cover vocabulary, pronunciation, listening, speaking, grammar, reading, and colloquial language in relation to mood, food, family and social interactions

Vocabulary: Food and Cooking

• This section includes a "Food Quiz" challenging you to name specific types of fruits, vegetables, and foods related to allergies, milk, salad ingredients, common containers, and breakfast
• Focus includes common adjectives used to describe food, including: canned, fresh, frozen, low-fat, raw, spicy, and take-out

Pronunciation: Vowel Sounds

• Word lists for practicing vowel sounds:
  • squid, chicken, spicy, grilled
  • beef, steamed, beans, breakfast
  • grapes, salmon, lamb, cabbage
  • magazine, carton, jar, warm
  • sausage, roast, chocolate, box
  • pork, fork, boiled, pour
  • cook, sugar, pudding, food
  • spoon, zucchini, fruit, duck
• Exercises include identifying words that don't share the same vowel sound and checking pronunciation via audio

Listening and Speaking: Food & Eating and Restaurants

• Conversation prompts to discuss food preferences and habits including favorite foods, foods you dislike, eating out choices, and comfort food
• Exercises using audio of people answering questions about food and eating to match speakers with questions
• Steve Anderson interview to uncover attitudes on running restaurants, British vs Spanish customers, and changing food habits
• Includes questions around favorite food/restaurant experiences, cooking preferences and discussing if those preferences are similar to your partners

Reading: Mood Food

• The text suggests food affects mood
• Carbohydrates may promote relaxation and happiness
• Protein-rich foods may increase alertness and focus
• Paul Clayton, a food expert, says what you eat directly affects the brain
• Milk consumption or lack thereof affects mood
• Swiss research: Dark chocolate can alleviate stress and lower blood pressure by reducing cortisol, compounds and the hormone "fight or flight"
• Tips on "mood food" include blueberries, cocoa, and protein-rich food for concentration and brain function, carbohydrates for relaxation, and dark green vegetables/oily fish for fighting depression

Grammar: Simple Present and Continuous, Action and Nonaction Verbs

• Focus on using the correct verb tense when discussing habits versus ongoing actions
• Steve says - "This week for example, I cook nearly everyday
• Steve says - "The British always say everything is lovely"
• Steve says - "Actually, I think I prefer that honesty"
• Steve says - "Unfortunately, I think they are getting worse"

Focus on Family Life in the US

• 43% of families eat together everyday
• 33% have the TV on during Dinner
• 50% believe a new baby in families brings more happiness
• 32% of young adults under 25 live at home and slightly under 10% of adults ages 30 - 34 still live at home

Reading: Younger Brother / Only Child

• Reading comprehension extracts focus on experiences of being an only child versus having siblings
• The "younger brother" highlights experiences of rivalry, especially due to events around birth
• The "only child" emphasizes independence and spending more time with adults
• Exercises involving matching adjectives to definitions, discussing personal experiences and interpreting colloquial language regarding families

Grammar: Future Forms

• Includes sentence transformations and dialogue work to practice future tenses focusing on: plans and intentions, predictions and promises
• A: "I'll make you a cup of tea"
• B: "You'll drive too fast"
• C: "I'm not going to go to college yet"
• D: "I'm staying overnight there"
• E: "I'll drive really slowly"
• F: "It's going to be cold tonight"

Vocabulary: Adjectives of Personality

• Vocabulary exercises relate to adjectives of personality; asking you to describe yourself
• Includes sound recordings of adjectives such as anxious, rebellious, reliable and competitive and more
• In pairs, discuss your the results of your findings

Practical English: Meeting the Parents

• Video material focuses on interactions and phrases needed when meeting parents including a bad news for Jenny and a good news for Jenny and her parents
• Examples include phrases like apartment, flat, apartment, and so forth
• Exercises involving reacting to good or bad news

Culture Collisions in the USA

• Conversation reveals reactions to surprising or unexpected news
• Key phrases in conversation with examples such as "You're kidding", "I don't believe it", "Really?"
• Exercises include how people say "how awful" or how "fantastic"

Grammar: Money

• Key questions: "Have you paid the phone bill yet?" or "Do you spend or save"
• The song "Girls and Boys" looks at how money is perceived by and affects relationships

Word Stress

• Identify and practice pronouncing words with correct syllable stress, including multi-syllable adjectives like jealous, reliable, and competitive
• Distinguishing how a word is pronounced with different endings "Can I borrow some money?"

Reading: Financial Success and Failure

• The extract from "Streets to Success!" highlights how someone can achieve monetary gains from having struggles in the past
• Also provides information related to debt, spending and generally, how good people are at managing their money

TV Host Amazon

• Audio provided that relates to what someone expects vs the reality of their role
• Also looks and questions related to past experiences of an individual and how that translates to achieving more in the future

The statements listed in the text are either true for individuals or stereotypes

• Relates to what is "good manners" or "bad manners" relating to gender and what men and women have come to portray in society

Linking

• Practice word linking for more fluent and natural English through tongue twisters.
• Riding a motorcycle is more exciting than driving.

Miami Race

• The video explores various forms of transport with time scales and how each mode of transport affects lifestyle.
• Examples are what is faster and better trains bikes and so forth.