What are you thankful for?

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Thanksgiving is a national holiday celebrated on November 25, the biggest and the most important holiday in the US, even more than Christmas or the Fourth of July.

It officially marks the beginning of the holiday season, the period between Thanksgiving and New Year.

Do you want to know when the first Thanksgiving happened?

And are you ready for a dose of American culture while building your English vocabulary? Let’s first look at some words.

Next, there is a little more advanced video. If you feel that the listening is too fast, change the setting.

Now it’s your turn. What are the things you are thankful for, the things you are most grateful for this year?

I’m sure you have a list of things to be grateful for:

  • your family
  • close friends
  • good health
  • your home
  • your job
  • healthy food
  • your pets

Verb “to be”

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The verb to be is the most important in English. It is everywhere, and we use it all the time.

Do you know the sentence:

  • To be, or not to be – that is the question.

It’s from Shakespeare’s Hamlet. It’s only 10 words long, and uses the verb to be three times.

In this simple lesson, we’ll learn to talk about ourselves with “I’m” and talk about other people!

I am, I’m…“, a common short form for “I” (the person speaking) and “am” (the verb). This short form is very common in spoken English. ?

Hi, I’m Fred. Fred is saying his name using “I’m”

you are, you’re

You’re Jennifer, right?

she is, she’s

How’s Julia? – She’s good!

he is, he’s

He’s James.

it is, it’s

It’s a bee.

We use “he” to refer to a man, ? “she” for a woman, ? and “it” to refer to one animal or object. ?? These words go with the verb “is“.

Here’s a tip

We can ask “How are you?” to one person ?‍♂️ and to multiple people. ?‍♂️??‍♀️??

“You” and “are” stay the same.

We use “they are” for a group of people. ?‍♂️?‍♂️?‍♂️
We can use “they” when we don’t know someone’s gender.

Look at the table below – there are only three different forms of “to be”. ?

PersonVerb “to be”Short form
IamI’m
youareyou’re
heishe’s
sheisshe’s
itisit’s
wearewe’re
theyarethey’re

For extra practice, listen carefully to the video. Topics included in it are negatives with be and simple questions using be.

Now test how well you can use the verb to be! 

Remote learning and working

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Are you working or studying remotely?

Even though in many countries lockdowns are over and vaccination rates are high, some teaching and working are still going remote. It facilitates real-time, face-to-face communication.

However, even with the benefits of social distance in mind, many teachers, students, and workers, may still struggle due to the various problems they experience during their online classes and meetings.

To ensure that all teachers, learners, and workers understand how it works, they should take the time to familiarize themselves with the software. 

Lack of sufficient bandwidth (strong bandwidth), internet connection slowing down / going down / is down / is slow, and other network–related issues are probably some of the most common remote learning and working problems experienced by users. Some of the main signs of that include choppy audio, a video feed that keeps freezing up, screen sharing failure, and unexplained delays.

The system decides to crash, the camera doesn’t work, the microphone / mike isn’t picking up their voice, the video feed is pixelated.

So depending on their arrangement, users should have a headset, earbuds, or a recommended microphone to minimize echoes.

They should check all connections, including headset and camera, to ensure that all cables are securely connected to their respective ports.

Communicating with Colleagues Online — Common Experiences

I can’t hear you.

My Internet / connection is unstable.

I lost your connection.

I have a bad / poor connection.

You’re frozen.

You’re on mute.

It won’t load.

Share your screen.

Enter the website.

Download the file.

Edit the file.

Search the web.

Have you been able to develop a productive work or study from home routine? What are the pros and cons, the benefits and challenges of it?

How was your long weekend?

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Este foi um feriadão, um feriado prolongado para você?

Todos rapidamente sabem dizer feriado em inglês, HOLIDAY, public holiday e também bank holiday (no inglês britânico). Mas e feriadão?

Para se referir à fim de semana prolongado ou feriadão, você pode usar as expressões LONG WEEKEND ou THREE-DAY WEEKEND (feriado na sexta ou na segunda), e FOUR–DAY WEEKEND (feriado na quinta, com recesso na sexta, ou na terça, com recesso na segunda).

A expressão DAY OFF, significa dia de folga, mas dependendo do contexto (sempre ele!), pode ser vista no sentido de feriado.

E as perguntas mais comuns antes e depois de um feriado prolongado são a respeito de seus planos com relação à ele: 

As duas primeiras, são as construções mais utilizadas pelos alunos, pela semelhança com as estruturas da língua portuguesa.

  • What are you going to do this long weekend? or What did you do this long weekend?
  • How is your long weekend going to be? or How was your long weekend?

As seguintes, são as utilizadas pelos falantes nativos:

  • How are you going to spend your three-day weekend? or How did you spend your three-day weekend?
  • Where are you going to spend your long weekend? or Where did you spend your long we

Agora pratique, completando as frases com as palavras ou expressões que faltam:

1- Monday was a _____________________.

(Segunda-feira foi feriado.)

2- It was a ____________________________________.

(Foi um feriado de três dias.)

3 – It was ________________________________.

(Foi Proclamação da República.)

4 – There are many ____________________in Brazil.

(Há muitos feriados nacionais no Brasil.)

5 – Next long weekend, Christmas, ________________ a Saturday this year.

(O próximo feriado prolongado, Natal, cai em uma sábado este ano.)

5- On Friday, I was in a __________________.

(Na sexta-feira eu estava em clima de feriado.)

7- I _______________ the holiday at home.

(Passei o feriado em casa.)

Confira suas respostas:

1 – holiday; 2 – a three-day weekend; 3 – Republic Day; 4 – national holidays; 5 – falls on; 6 – holiday mood; 7 – spent

Conteúdo Extra

Aos que já possuem o conteúdo desta lição suficientemente trabalhado, aqueles alunos com os quais praticamos estas estruturas diversas vezes, vamos lá ampliar os limites!

English from the streets! Australian accent!

Listen carefully and take notes of all the extra possibilities not discussed in this lesson.

Clique em  feriado e feriado prolongado, se quiser ouvir as expressões mencionadas na primeira parte da lição.

Feeling under the weather

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Have you already felt under the weather?

Are you feeling under the weather lately?

Are you under the weather now?

You look under the weather.

These are all possible sentences using the idiom “under the weather.”

So…

Has the pandemic put you in low spirits?

“In low spirits“ is another idiom that means feeling unhappy.

Everyone was in low spirits because of the rainy weather.

Now look at the message the CCleaner, a tool for cleaning the PC shows:

Other popular weather idioms are snowed under and raining cats and dogs. Don’t miss them!