Lower Intermediate Salon List:
1. Express Yourself.
2. At the Auction.
3. City Life.
4. At the Office.
5. Just Talk About It.
6. My Achievements.
7. Who Wrote What About Me?
8. An English Personality.
9. Characteristics
10. Good Grammar.
11. Staying Healthy.
12. Team Exercises.
13. Information Sharing.
14. Giving Advice.
15. TV News.
16. A Question and Answer Game.
17. Friends.
18. Finding A Place To Live.
19. Getting To Know Each Other.
20. What Would Happen If?
21. Pronunciation Practice.
22. Alternative Endings
23. Travel.
24. Pronunciation and Intonation
25. The Action in The Picture.
26. Cooking & Recipes
27. Making Conversation
28. Fashion in the Workplace
29. Have Your Hair Cut
30. Feelings
31. If This Is The Conditional…
32. A Tense Lesson.
33. Why Work?
34. Making Choices
35. In My Opinion.
36. Adverbs.
Salon 1
Think about some emotions and answer the questions.
What makes you happy? I am happy because I can dance with my wife.
What makes you sad? I am sad because I lost my job.
What makes you embarrassed? I am embarrassed when I speak in class.
Answer the following questions:
? What makes you happy?
? What makes you sad?
? What makes you frightened?
? What makes you angry?
? When do you feel lazy?
? When do you feel calm?
? When do you feel lonely?
? Are you laid back?
Write about your friends and families emotions. Explain reasons why they may be:
My mother is ANGRY because I DID NOT DO MY HOMEWORK.
My sister is HAPPY because HER BOYFRIEND GAVE HER A PLATINUM RING.
HAPPY:
SAD:
TIRED:
LAZY:
EMBARRASSED:
LONELY:
Review these words and phrases:
Express, emotion, happy, sad, excited, frightened, impatient/ patient, angry, lazy, tired, calm, laid back, embarrassed, promise, lonely, get out of, obstructive, firefighter, pilot, dentist, IT specialist, sales representatives, optimistic, stockbroker, construction, mayor, offer, counter
Salon 2
Learning Points: do some research on auctions
? What do we usually sell at auction?
? Who is at an auction?
? How do auctions work?
? Why do we use auctions to sell things?
? Have you ever been to an auction?
Vocabulary: What kind of language do we use at an auction?
o auctioneer
o gavel
o going, going, gone
o bid
o opening bid
minimum raise
Salon 3
Think about: If you had to move to another country, which aspects would concern you most?
o language
o food
o worries about crime
o hygiene
o weather
o housing
o customs
o TV channels
o missing your home country
o beggars
o insects
Think about: what makes a city a good place to live? List 5 things.
Think about: what makes a city a bad place to live? List 5 things.
Salon 4
What would you say in these work situations? Look up any words that you want to know to talk about the problem:
? Your computer doesn’t work so you talk to the IT staff.
? You are new and you don’t know where to go for help so you
want to talk to your boss.
? Your report is late but you are waiting for information from your colleagues. You are worried that your boss will be mad.
? Your colleague likes to listen to loud music and you can’t concentrate.
? Your co-worker wants to gossip with you but you don’t like to hear bad things about people.
What does it mean to give someone the benefit of the doubt?
Practice making sentences with these words:
surf
? email
? General Manager
? fax
? message
? HR director
? secretary
? instructions
? staff
? fax
? reservations
? an employee
? email
internet
Salon 5
Review these words and phrases:
Hotel manager, hotel guest, hotel cleaner, hotel cook, Dustbin, Rubbish, trash can, Litter, dirty, Asia, health, police, summary, speech
Note Taking
We all need to practice taking notes. Think about all of the ideas, sentences, thoughts, or any general thing related to the topics below:
DOGS
HOUSES
GOOD FOOD
WEATHER
When finished, think of ways to begin a speech with this language, and write the opening and closing sentences. For example, on the topic of DOGS: I am here today to talk about DOGS, because I love my pet dog and it is so cute. To finish, we might end with the following: In conclusion, I love my dog because it really is my best friend.
Opening Language:
I am here today to talk about…
I want to say a few words about…
My topic for today is …
Let us talk about an important subject, …
Closing Language:
To sum up my speech, …
In conclusion, …
Finally, …
To bring things to a close, …
Salon 6
Review these words and phrases:
Taboo, Achievement, flag, noise, wedding, shoot, gun, Accomplish, difficult, soldier, satisfaction, strive
Achievements
Achievements are accomplishments, which can be important skills or activities we have done in our lives. Some accomplishments in a person’s life may be: to learn to walk; to visit a famous tourist site; to earn money in your first job; to get a boyfriend/girlfriend.
Please list 5 accomplishments in your life:
One accomplishment of mine is I learned to drive a car.
We often use phrases to talk about our accomplishments. One common one is by the time I was [Age], I [state the accomplishment]. By the time I was 18, I learned to drive a car. By the time I was 31 I married my spouse.
Please list the time/age of 5 of your accomplishments:
By the time I was 23 I learned to swim.
Salon 7
Review these words and phrases:
Appreciate, Resent, Consider, Avoid, Detest, Mind, give up, put off, face, deny
Gerunds
Gerunds are nouns formed from verbs: walking, talking, thinking, listening.
A gerund is a verbal that ends in -ing and functions as a noun. The term verbal indicates that a gerund, like the other two kinds of verbals, is based on a verb and therefore expresses action or a state of being. However, since a gerund functions as a noun, it occupies some positions in a
sentence that a noun ordinarily would, for example: subject, direct object, subject complement, and object of preposition.
Gerund as direct object:
? They do not appreciate my singing.
? I will give up smoking next year.
My sister loves shopping at expensive department stores.
Please write some example sentences with gerunds:
I love ______________________________________________.
I enjoy _____________________________________________.
My mother likes _____________________________________.
My father dislikes _____________________________________.
My boss loves ________________________________________.
My best friend likes ___________________________________.
My old teacher can’t stand _______________________________________.
We avoid ______________________________________________.
Salon 8
We must all talk about our home life, our work life, and our leisure time. Please write a paragraph about each. For example:
My wife and I live in a small apartment in the west of the city. We rent the apartment because it is too expensive to buy an apartment. We like the apartment because it is warm and the neighbors are friendly. There are many cheap restaurants near our home, but we must walk a kilometer and a half to the supermarket. It is even farther to the subway. However, the buses are very close.
Write a paragraph about your home:
Write a paragraph about your job (or your studies):
Write a paragraph about your leisure time:
Review these words and phrases:
Personality, Outrageous, lie, honest, truthful, Competent, Modest, personal, influence, education, Subject, Machine, ability, cost, use
Salon 9
Describe the following people. Write 2 sentences for each person:
a) a member of your family
b) a friend
c) your boss
d) your English teacher
Salon 10
Review these words and phrases:
Hopscotch, kangaroo, koala, curtain, socks, post, cough, immediately, available, refrigerator, painful, neither…nor…,
Grammar
This class will help you train your ears to correct grammar.
1. I did it ____ my own.
by
on
2. I went there ____ a vacation.
for
on
3. I ____ my homework before class.
made
did
4. I played with her for ____ first time yesterday.
a
the
5. He was ____ a hurry.
in
on
to
6. She danced with the ____ children.
other
others
7. Some were very happy _____ I wasn't.
and
but
8. She hurt ____ leg.
the
her
9. ____ groom wore a sharp black tuxedo.
A
The
10. The child skipped ______ the street.
long
along
Salon 11
What do you do to stay healthy? List 5 things.
What do you when you get sick? List 5 things.
Which is better, Chinese medicine or Western medicine? What are the names of traditional Chinese treatments in English?
What is the ER or A&E? Why would you go there? (List 5 reasons). What do you say when you go there?
Salon 12
Activity: Are you familiar with the story of Little Red Riding Hood? See if you can
tell it to a friend.
Linking Words: practice using these in sentences.
Because, Since , As, First, then, next, last
Vocabulary:
Hood, wolf, grandmother, to pick flowers, what big teeth you have, pajamas and nightcap, beast, zebras, forest, castle
Quiz: What is the adjective of the noun MAGIC?
Salon 13
Review these words and phrases:
Instruction, Position, top, center, bottom, half way down, Quarter, Shape, triangle, circle, cube, size, Centimeter, Millimeter, meter, compare, feedback, ok
Practice the following phrases
Position:
Top right, top left, centre, bottom right, bottom left, half way down from the top, half way up from the top, half way across, third, quarter etc.
Relative Position:
Coming out from, under, on top of, to the right of, next to,
Describe your room, as seen from above, using these terms. For example: There is a window in the centre of the room. Under the window is a desk. On the desk is a computer. To the right of the computer is my bed.
Write your paragraph below
Salon 14
Review these words and phrases:
Recommend, advise, suggest, think, should, What would you do if you were me?,
Would, can, could
Activity: Ask your friend for advice about an everyday problem.
Salon 15
Review these words and phrases:
Sports Reporter, Coach, Fans, Style and Fashion Reporter, Designer, model, Entertainment Reporter, Movie Star, Critic
Think about:
What kinds of news are there?
What tasks do each of these people perform when telling a news story?
o anchor
o reporter
o witness
o expert
Salon 16
Review these words and phrases:
deck of cards, card suits, hearts, spades, clubs, diamonds, Joker, Ace, King, Queen, Jack, cut the deck, Deal the deck, shuffle the deck, lay a card, pick a card, Card Games: Blackjack, Poker, solitaire
Salon 17
1. Make sure you know what these words mean.
Think about: which are the most important qualities in a friend?
Confident, handsome or beautiful, trustworthy, outgoing, timid, punctual, intelligent, fun-loving, rich or well off, athletic, artistic, well-traveled, creative, free spirit, speaks English well, interested in the same things, interested in different things, loves to tell stories, ambitious, happy with what he/she has
2. Look up 5 other words that you can use to describe your friends’ personalities.
3. Think of a funny story about one of your friends.
What does it mean to exaggerate? Make your own sentence with this word.
Salon 18
Think of these categories of things you find in an apartment. What are 5 items (nouns) that go in each category?
? rooms
? furniture
? fixtures
? safety items
Think of adjectives you can use to describe the condition of apartments:
good bad
Think about a rental contract or lease. How do we use these words?
Deposit, Notice, Inventory, Bills, Rent, Pets, Penalties
Salon 19
Vocabulary
Luggage gorilla struggle snatch oriental celebrity
Intervie
w perfect injury embarrassed adulthood
Influence retire classical millennium
Exercises
Small talk is generally talking about minor subjects, such as movies, sports, family, and fun. It is not serious talk about politics, religion, or finance. People make small talk all the time, and you should be ready to chat about many subjects.
One important part about small talk is the ability to ask questions. If you don’t know what to say just ask questions. Practice making questions on the following topics:
Example: Sports
What sports do you like? Do you prefer to watch or to play sports? What is your favorite team? Do you ever go to see a team play? Were you good at sports in High School? Who was the best basketball player in your High School?
Ask 5 questions for each of the following topics:
Shopping
Family
Hobbies
Salon 20
Discuss these questions with a friend. Your answers should start with “I would…”
1. What would you do if you won $1 Million?
2. What would you do if you received a letter telling you that someone loved you?
3. What would you do if had no money and you had to get home from Beijing
4. What would you do if your friend told you that they didn’t like you anymore?
5. What would you do if you were in a boat and it was sinking?
6. What would you do if you had a one-year holiday from work?
7. What would you do if you forgot how to speak?
8. What would you do if you grew until you were fifty meters tall?
9. What would you do if you started to become smaller until you were only three centimeters tall?
10. What would you do if someone hit a small child in front of you?
Now think of some unusual situations and ask your friend what they would do.
Write short answers to these questions. Your answers should start with “There would be…” or “It would…” or “We would…”
1. What would happen if children were allowed to drive cars?
2. What would happen if Jiangsu province became an island?
3. What would happen if a UFO landed in Beijing?
4. What would happen if Michael Jordan came to live in Shanghai?
5. What would happen if it rained everyday?
6. What would happen if we all forgot how to read?
7. What would happen if every student was so clever that there was no need for him or her to go to school?
8. What would happen if people stopped having babies?
9. What would happen if a famous pop star came to visit your house?
10. What would happen if everyday was Christmas Day
Salon 21
(No preparation)
Salon 22
Vocabulary
Alternative generalize specify rarely throw trash Tibet
Chips opera jump queues snore ghosts smelly
Exercises
always, usually, often, sometimes, rarely, never
These are words we use to talk about frequency, or how much we do something. For example:
I always go home at night.
I usually work on the computer for an hour at home.
I often download music while I work.
I sometimes chat online with my friends.
I rarely play pc games on
the computer.
I never watch movies on my computer.
Use these words to discuss your life. Talk about the following issues:
School
Always:
Usually:
Often:
Sometimes:
Rarely:
Never:
Saturdays
Always:
Usually:
Often:
Sometimes:
Rarely:
Never:
Salon 23
Fill in the chart:
Questions THEY ask OTHER PEOPLE Questions OTHER PEOPLE usually ask THEM
Customs Officer 1
2
1
2
Immigration Officer 1
2
1
2
Hotel Receptionist 1
2
1
2
Tour Guide 1
2
1
2
Taxi Driver 1
2
1
2
Write definitions for these travel words:
? air sickness.
? jet lagged.
? cigarette and alcohol limit
? lay over
? blizzard
? overweight luggage
? bumped up/upgraded on a flight
? bumped from a flight
? check-in luggage.
? connecting flight
? receipt
? tax
? reservation
? Empire State Building, Statue of Liberty, Chinatown, Little Italy, Fifth Avenue, Chrysler Building
? gypsy taxi
Salon 24
This lesson is about word and sentence stress. You will be able to understand these concepts better by reviewing this information before the lesson.
Word type Where is the stress? Examples
Two syllables Nouns on the first syllable center
object
flower
Verbs on the last syllable release
admit
arrange
Compound Nouns
(N + N)
(Adj. + N) on the first part desktop
pencil case
bookshelf
greenhouse
Adjectives
(Adj. + P.P.) on the last part (the verb part) well-meant
hard-headed
old-fashioned
Verbs
(prep. + verb) understand
overlook
outperform
Phrasal Verbs on the particle turn off
buckle up
hand out
Word with added ending -ic the syllable before the ending economic
geometric
electrical
-tion, -cian, -sion technician
graduation
cohesion
-phy, -gy, -try, -cy, -fy, -al the third from the last syllable photography
biology
geometry
-meter parameter
thermometer
barometer
Take a look at the following list of stressed and non-stressed word types.
Basically, stress words are considered CONTENT WORDS such as
? Nouns e.g. kitchen, Peter
? (most) principle verbs e.g. visit, construct
? Adjectives e.g. beautiful, interesting
? Adverbs e.g. often, carefully
Non-stressed words are considered FUNCTION WORDS such as
? Determiners e.g. the, a, some, a few
? Auxiliary verbs e.g. don't, am, can, were
? Prepositions e.g. before, next to, opposite
? Conjunctions e.g. but, while, as
? Pronouns e.g. they, she, us
Content or Function?
Write down 'C' for content and 'F' for function.
? went
? with
? just
? quickly
? the
? hard
? next to
? CD ROM
? open
? had
? for
? information
? in order to
? difficult
? much
? exacting
? in front of
? Jack
? he
? however
Salon 25
Vocabulary
Picture photograph compare describe remind illustrate
Exercises
We often compare things using the words and/but.
And is used to link two things that are similar, while but is used to link two things that are different. For example:
Similar: She is a student and I am a student.
Different: She is a tall girl but I am a short girl.
Compare the following objects or people. State something that is similar and something that is different.
You and Your Father:
Similar:
Different:
High School and University
Similar:
Different:
Monday and Saturday
Similar:
Different:
Summer and Winter
Similar:
Different:
Chinese and Australians
Similar:
Different:
Hunan and Shandong
Similar:
Different:
Old men and young women
Similar:
Different:
Salon 26
Please familiarise yourself with the following vocabulary:
Recipe, fry (deep/shallow/stir-fry), boil, steam, roast, bake, barbecue, pot, pan, wok, fork, spoon, chopsticks, knife, spatula, stove, oven.
Are you good at cooking? What can you cook? Think about the steps needed to cook a particular dish.
Salon 27
What is ‘Small Talk’? What are some good topics for small talk?
When making small talk, rather than asking one question, getting an answer, then moving onto a different topic, it is normal to ask some ‘follow-up’ questions.
For example, if you ask “What are you doing this weekend?” and the answer is “I’m going to the cinema.” What are 3 follow-up questions you could ask?
1.
2.
3.
Salon 28
Write down 3 types of clothing or footwear you can wear:
1. on your upper-body;
2. on your lower-body;
3. on your feet.
Salon 29
Check the meanings of these words and phrases before you come to class:
Dry-clean, Stereo, Decorate, Dye, Adjust, Tattoo, Stress, Massage, Straighten, Pierce, Iron, Deliver, Polish.
Salon 30
Answer the following questions:
1. What makes you feel happy?
2. What makes you feel angry?
3. What makes you feel unhappy?
4. What makes you feel frightened?
5. What makes you feel nervous?
6. What makes you feel disappointed?
Salon 31
Vocabulary
Interesting fun angry wallet
Exercises
CAN
Can is used to discuss possibility.
Can you fly? No, I cannot.
Can you go to dinner on Saturday? Yes, I can. When should we meet?
What can you do? I can sing very well.
What can your father do? He can fall asleep while watching tv.
Write down 5 Can questions and answers below:
1.____________________________________________________________________________?
______________________________________________________________________________.
2.____________________________________________________________________________?
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________.
3.____________________________________________________________________________?
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________.
4.____________________________________________________________________________?
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________.
5.____________________________________________________________________________?
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________.
Salon 32
Vocabulary
Past present future move receive degree (B.A. or B.S.)
Fiancé engage career art history research together
Tenses
There are three basic tenses in the English language.
The past tense: Yesterday I went to the doctor.
The present tense: I am washing the dishes.
The future tense: I will buy a new car next week.
Identify the following tenses.
Example:
[past]I slept all day.
[ ] We are going to the movies.
[ ] She is taking a shower.
[ ] We wanted to buy a car but it is too expensive.
[ ] They will play tomorrow.
[ ] I am talking!
[ ] Did you visit your mother?
[ ] She is going to go shopping.
[ ] They ate the beef.
[ ] Where will you travel to?
[ ] Who went to the market?
Tense in a story.
I was born in Atlanta in 1974. I had a usual childhood. I studied in school, played sports, and hated to learn to play music. Now I am teaching in Shanghai. Soon I will go back to school and get a Master’s Degree.
Describe your life story. Write three sentences about your past, one about your present, and three sentences about your future.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Salon 33
Why do people work? Is money the only reason?
Think of 3 other reasons and write them below:
1.
2
.
3.
Why do some people NOT work?
Think of 3 reasons and write them below:
1.
2.
3.
Salon 34
Please check the following vocabulary before you come to class:
Kayak, Cruise Liner, Biography, Thriller, Kitten, Puppy, Millionaire,
Of the following pairs, which do you prefer, and why?
1. BMW or Mercedes-Benz?
2. Football or Table Tennis?
3. A holiday in Australia or a holiday in France?
4. Junk Food or Health Food?
5. Classical Music or Pop Music?
Salon 35
Review this vocabulary:
opinion, make-up, teenager, to dye, permission, homework/housework, to go out
What does an opinion mean?
Think about the roles of parents and children.
How much should children be allowed to decide what they can and cannot do?
Salon 36
What do these words mean? Write a definition in English and then write a word that means the opposite!
? aggressive
? bad
? beautiful
? blind
? careful
? clear
? crazy
? cruel
? delightful
? easy
? far
? fast
? glad
? here
? hopeless
? late
? loud
? more
? narrow
? nice
? poor
? proud
? quick
? rough
? sad
? skil
lful
? soft
? tight
? warm
? wild
? yesterday