Birthdays

Some vocabulary.
Listening to practise that vocabulary.
A listening about a birthday party.


The story is repeated three times: 1st time, normal reading speed; 2nd time, slower, with pauses for dictation followed by repetition and captions; and 3rd time, normal reading speed, with captions.

Celebrations and festivities

Click here to learn some vocabulary.

Listen and do the activities.

The Edinburgh Festival

Mother's Day 

LISTENING GAP FILL

Mother's Day is an important ________________ world, even though it started in North America and Europe. Not all countries celebrate it ________________, but the most popular day is the second Sunday in May. It is, of course, a day to honour our mothers and make them ________________. A punctuation point about the day is that most countries choose the singular possessive “Mother’s Day”, with the apostrophe before the ‘s’ __________________ family honours their mother, rather than all of the world’s mothers. Young children get especially excited about Mother’s Day and put ________________ making cards and presents for their Mums, or Moms in America. For mothers, ________________ a second birthday.

Mother’s Day in the USA, the UK, Canada, Australia, etc. means mothers ________________ day off from housework. It is common for children to cook for their mother ________________ breakfast in bed. She also receives presents, flowers and cards. In America, Mother's Day is ________________ the year for restaurants, as children take their Mums __________________. Americans spend a lot on this day - over $2.5 billion on flowers and $70 million on Mother’s Day cards. In Sweden, people buy small plastic flowers and the money raised ________________ mothers and their children. Many people are against the idea of Mother’s Day as it is upsetting for children (and adults) who have lost their mother. ________________ for them this Mother’s Day.

Click here, check your answers and do more activities.

Verb patterns

Exercise 1
Exercise 2
Exercise 3
Exercise 4
Exercise 5

Buying a house

Click here to do a listening activity about buying houses.

Homes of the future

What kind of homes will we live in in the future? What kind of technology will we have? Watch this video for a glimpse of the homes of tomorrow and do the activities.

How to talk about a dirty house

New Home

Listen to Eucharia talking about her new house in Japan.

David and Samantha Cameron's kitchen

Click here to see and read about this famous kitchen.

Inside the British Home

Click here to see an interactive presentation showing how domestic spaces evolve from Saxon times to the post-modern area.

HOMES VOCABULARY

1. Click here to learn about house types.
2. In the kitchen
3. In the bedroom
4. In the bathroom
More vocabulary and exercises about different parts of the house
Learn some housing ad abbreviations.


Have a look at old posts about houses!

Roommates

Click here to listen to two roommates talking about some problems. 

Types of houses

Click here to learn about different types of houses.

Have a look at old posts about houses. There are vocabulary and listening activities.