It's nearly Halloween ....

... so it's time for a story.

A dad had just finished reading a bedtime story to his son when his son said, "Dad, please look under the bed. There could be a monster there."
At first the father hesitated, but his son insisted so he looked under the bed.
"What are you doing there?" he asked his son, who was under the bed, a terrified look on his face.
"Dad!" whispered the boy. "There's someone on my bed!"

I hope you have a quiet Halloween.

I think I need a pick-me-up!

I was sitting in a café and I heard two teenagers talking together. Let's call them John and Jason.


John: Look at that girl over there!
Jason: Which one? The blonde?
John: No, the one next to her. The red head.
Jason: What about her?
John: She's really pretty.
Jason: I suppose so. I prefer her friend.
John: I think I'll ask her out.
Jason: What? You? Ask her out?
John: Yes. Why are you so surprised?
Jason: Well, you're not exactly Ryan Gosling, are you?
John: Who? What? Are you saying I'm not good-looking?
Jason: Well, no, I'm saying you are rubbish at talking to girls.
John: I am not. Girls really like me. Every time I go out for a walk in our neighbourhood girls stop to talk to me.
Jason: And is Micky with you?
John: Of course he is. You know I have to take him for a walk three times a day. And girls stop to talk to me every time.


I had to leave the café so I didn't hear the end of the conversation. What do you think they said? And who is Micky?

Let's talk about it in class!

Are they worried about ebola?

(Picture source: Reuters. See here http://tinyurl.com/khrg82w for the original story
on The Atlantic web site. The link will take you to a web site that is not connected
with Giga International House Catania.)

What do you think?

Are these people worried about catching some terrible disease?
Are they all busy doctors going for a quick jog during a break?

Imagine you have to describe the picture to someone else.
What would you say about it?

Let's talk about it in class!

Help! Is this the end of the BBC?

(Photo taken from London Evening Standard web site. Photographer is Elliot Felton.)

What is happening in the photo?
Imagine you have to talk about it in your Preliminary exam.
What would you say about it?

Can you imagine the public reaction if a famous monument in your country were dismantled?

Let's talk about it in class!

(PS If you visit the web site of the newspaper London Evening Standard, you can find out more about the story: http://tinyurl.com/pkt57kg
This link will take you to a web site that is not an official Giga IH Catania resource.)

Waste or Waist?

"Waste" /weɪst/ or "waist" /weɪst/ ? Oh dear .....

In our last class, we talked about words in English that have similar sounds:
homophones /ˈhɒm.ə.fəʊnz/.

One of the words we wanted to use was "waste (v.)". Or was it "waist (n.)"?

These examples might help us to remember the difference in meaning as well as to visualize the correct spelling of the word we want.

1) He hated to waste food so he always ate everything. This meant, however, that his waist got bigger and bigger.

2) She wasted so much time thinking about her waist that her friends started making jokes about her.

Your turn.
What other homophones do you know in English?
And what tricks do you use to help you remember the meanings of similar-sounding words?

"Dear Sir" or "Hey, folks!" Which one should I choose?

We're going to be doing some writing practice over the next few weeks and this is a nice activity to help us start thinking about how to write an informal message like the ones we might meet in the Preliminary Writing paper.

Go here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/english/course/lower-intermediate/unit-1/session-4

The activity is on the BBC Learning English web site and it is not an official Giga IH Catania resource.

Have fun!

It's going to be a great year!

Hello and welcome to our class blog!

| həˈləʊ ənd ˈwelkəm tu ˈaʊə klɑːs ˈblɒɡ |

See you all in class.