Rhymes and pronunciation

Today we looked at rhyming words and saw how the same sounds can be spelled in a lot of different ways in English, but by using a rhyme scheme, we can guess the pronunciation of new words. Here's the rhyme scheme for Janie's Got a Gun by Aerosmith.

Janie's Got A Gun lyrics
Dum, dum, dum, honey what have you done?
Dum, dum, dum it's the sound of my gun.
Dum, dum, dum, honey what have you done?
Dum, dum, dum it's the sound

Janie's got a gun
Janie's got a gun
Her whole world's come undone
From lookin' straight at the sun
What did her daddy do?
What did he put you through?
They said when Janie was arrested
they found him underneath a train
But man, he had it comin'
Now that Janie's got a gun
she ain't never gonna be the same.

Janie's got a gun
Janie's got a gun
Her dog day's just begun
Now everybody is on the run

Tell me now it's untrue.
What did her daddy do?
He jacked a little bitty baby
The man has got to be insane
They say the spell that he was under
the lightning and the thunder
knew that someone had to stop the rain

Run away, run away from the pain yeah, yeah yeah yeah
Run away run away from the pain yeah yeah
yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah
Run away, run away, run, run away

Janie's got a gun
Janie's got a gun
Her dog day's just begun
Now everybody is on the run

What did her daddy do?
It's Janie's last I.O.U.
She had to take him down easy
and put a bullet in his brain
She said 'cause nobody believes me.
The man was such a sleeze.
He ain't never gonna be the same.

Run away, run away from the pain yeah, yeah
yeah yeah yeah
Run away run away from the pain yeah yeah
yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah
Run away, run away, run, run away

Janie's got a gun
Janie's got a gun
Janie's got a gun
Everybody is on the run

Janie's got a gun
Janie's got a gun
Her dog day's just begun
Now everybody is on the run

Because Janie's got a gun
Janie's got a gun
Her dog day's just begun
Now everybody is on the run
Janie's got a gun

Domestic violence

This week we will be discussing domestic violence.

We will begin by talking about this video and song.

On Tuesday a representative from Safe Horizon will be coming to our class to talk to us.

On Wednesday we will be watching the movie, Precious.

health

This week we talked about health related things.
We discovered what we can do to communicate better with our doctors and about prescription and over the counter (OTC) drugs.
Now we're going to learn how we can find more information about health using the website WebMd.

We also learned when to use infinitives and gerunds and had a quiz about the first two groups.

Saturday Classes begin this week

Reminder that Saturday classes begin this week, February 20.

Students must sign up with their weekday teachers to enroll in this class.

Former students can contact Craig to enroll if they attended weekday classes between September 2009 and now.

There will be 4 levels.

Classes will be held from 10:00 a.m. to 2 p.m. until the end of June.

What a week! February 12-17, 2010

Friday- Lincoln's Birthday: Abraham Lincoln is on the penny and the $5 bill because he is remembered as one of the most important presidents. He faced the biggest crises in American history for the country when the southern states wanted to separate from the country and become independent in order to continue the practice of using slave labor. The American Civil War kept the country in tact.

Saturday- Lunar New Year: Celebrated in China, Korea, Mongolia, Tibet, and Vietnam, Lunar New Year is a major holiday for people from those countries. In New York City, big parades and other festivities in Flushing and Manhattan mark the beginning of the Year of the Tiger.

Sunday- St. Valentine's Day: Known for the day to show your sweetheart how much you love them with candy, flowers, balloons, and greeting cards, this holiday has an interesting history. Watch a video about it from the History Channel.

Monday-President's Day: There's some debate about this federal holiday.

Tuesday- Mardi Gras: French for "Fat Tuesday" this day is the last before the Catholic season of Lent which is similar to Ramadan in Islam. Instead of having a marking the end of the month of fasting, Catholics try to indulge in everything before the month by partying. In Latin America and some European countries Mardi Gras is known as Carnival.

Wednesday- Ash Wednesday: Christians mark the beginning of Lent with Ash Wednesday. People go to church and have ashes of burned palm leaves put on their foreheads, exactly in the same spot as Hindus wear their bindis. It signifies the cycle of life and death because the priest says, "You are made from dust and to dust you will return" as he puts the ashes on their heads.

Homework

CTC Day

Hello class,

Please try these exercises.

Kris

ESL Tower
Gerund and Infinitive Quiz
About.com quiz 1 and quiz 2

Tuesday and Snow Day

Hello class,

Sorry I was absent Tuesday but you had an excellent substitute, right? I heard that you watched this video and discussed it with Rachid.

Then we had an unexpected day off because of the snow.

Gerunds and Infinitives

Yesterday we discussed these sentences and learned the rule for when to use an infinitive and when to use gerunds. This is the rule.

The form of the verb depends on the verb that comes before it.

Gerunds and infitives and doctor's appointments

We looked at and talked about this cartoon about a doctor's appointment. Tomorrow we will role play the patient's, doctor's and woman's dialogues.
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Sometimes we use two verbs in a sentence.

to + verb = infinitive example: I want to eat a sandwich.
verb + ~ing = gerund example: I enjoyed eating the sandwich.

You have to remember which verbs use infinitives and which verbs use gerunds.

verb + to + verb (infinitive group)	verb + verb + ~ing (gerund group)
agree decide expect hope intend know how learn need offer plan pretend promise refuse want would like	avoid can’t help consider enjoy finish get through go (fishing, shopping, swimming)* insiste on keep on look forward to postpone put off suggest think about be tired of be used to *a gerund is often used after go when the second verb refers to a sport or fun activity.

CTC Exercises

Here are some games and quizzes to help you remember money idioms.

Who Wants to Be a Millionaire-type game.

Multiple Choice Flash Game

Idioms Quiz

This is the group exercise we did in class. Do you remember all the answers?

Bills, bills, bills

I hope yesterday's talk about tax filing was helpful and interesting.

The links here right include the list of places where people can have their taxes prepared for free and the ITIN application and instructions. Google "1040" for the other forms I gave you. More information about the Earned Income Credit is available on the City's website.

Don't forget we also have a free Financial Coaching Services on Wednesdays.

Today we will be discussing bill payments.

Money idioms and speed dating

Yesterday I gave everyone one page of money idioms. Today we will use it for our conversation practice.

Yesterday the 8:00 class did a variation on "speed dating" that the 6:00 class will get a chance to do today. Listen to the BreakingNewsEnglish.com article.

We will also be talking about tax filing and ITINs.

Money and Taxes

Americans value money more than most other people. We say "time is money" and praise the "almighty dollar".

We will be looking at some American idioms about money, talking about tax filing, and discussing money this week.

We will be focusing on speaking this week by talking about money.

Monday- Money Idioms, the Dollar as World Currency
Tuesday-ITIN and Tax Filing, Taxes and Government Services
Wednesday-Writing Checks, Paying Bills, and Sending Money, Banking
Thursday-Debt, Credit Cards, Credit scores, Saving Money