This Old Guitar

Google Slides Simple Past Tense

Practice was vs. were (scroll down.  Do NOT hit "download)

Play a game to practice past tense

John Denver said his guitar gave him a better life.  Can you play a guitar?  Do you have a hobby that makes you happy?  Do you like to cook?  I think good food makes everyone happy!

What a wonderful world

Wonderful, pretty, and smart are adjectives.  Adjectives describe people, places, things or ideas.

Did you see anything beautiful today?  What did you see?

Do you have children?  Do you watch any children grow?  Write about a child.

What do you like to talk about?

What do you like to talk about?  Is there anything you don't like to talk about?  Tell me about yourself.

Welcome!

Welcome to English Class!  

I post songs and questions.

Please write answers to the questions in the comments or on paper to turn in.

Please listen to songs. When I post a song you like, repeat listening to it until you can sing it.

Sometimes the songs are fast and challenging, and sometimes they are slow.

If you don't like a song, don't use it for practice. Practice is easier and more useful if it's fun.

I also put many links to websites that look helpful for our level to use after you finished your class homework..

On a phone, you need to go to the bottom of the page, and press "view web version" 

to see and use the links.  I usually update the class vocabulary after class.

If you love a helpful website, please tell me about it.

Welcome to English class!  What is your name?  When did you come to the USA?  What are your goals for this class?  How can I make this class excellent for you?

Fall 2026 Homework

Fall 2026 Homework!  

Scroll down to the date you are preparing for.  

Never skip class because you didn't have time for homework.  

Write me a note if a written assignment was too difficult or took longer than 35 minutes. 

Homework for Friday, September 18 Study class vocabulary.  Do p. 5 in the workbook.  Answer some questions from the blog.  If you didn't ace today's Kahoot, try it again.  Kahoot: Past or Present.  Many people knew the irregular past verbs from p. 5 -- go-went, take-took, sleep-slept, buy-bought.  If you don't know these, write sentences with them.  You can also practice with a Kahoot  to practice the irregular verbs on p. 5 that we didn't do in class.: 

Homework for Thursday, September 17, 2026:  Study class vocabulary.  Do p. 4 in the workbook.  Answer some questions from the blog.  (On the main page, I usually write some questions under the songs.) You can write a comment on the webpage (blog) or write on a paper to give me. Can you write about yourself?

9-16 Today we talked a lot.  We practiced distinguishing between like, be like, and would like.  We talked about hobbies and work.  We did a dictation and talked about the answers with our classmates.  We practiced using present continuous and simple present.  We watched a video that demonstrated using present continuous and simple present interchangeably.  They use simple present with frequency adverbs -- usually and never.  We usually use simple present verbs with frequency adverbs: always, usually, often, sometimes, rarely, seldom, and never.  (My mother never cooks dinner.  I sometimes cook dinner.  My husband often cooks dinner.  My daughter and her husband usually cook dinner together.)  Use present continuous for now. Maria is cooking dinner now. We described the picture in the student book on p. 2 and wrote sentences with partner dictation.  I tried to get students to help each other use the class webpage.  I often call the webpage our "blog."

Homework for September 16, 2026 Study class vocabulary.  Do the worksheet.  Page 1, page 2 (on the back) When want, like, or  need are followed by a verb (action word), put to before the verb.

9-15 Today, we started class with multi-tense dialogs.  (Do you/Are you/Did you)  We reviewed definitions for verbs and nouns.  We wrote examples of our favorite verbs and nouns. Whenever you learn grammar rules, work to remember the rule and make many examples.  Don't expect grammar to be logical and easy to understand.  (Some of my favorite verbs: read, talk, dance, eat, sleep.  Favorite nouns include my husband, daughters, sons, chocolate, coffee, mountains, and the beach.  We talked about things (nouns) we like and activities we like to do.  After break some students took the reading test.  We played a circle game that talked about preferences and practiced using "I do too" to agree with a positive statement. (He likes coffee, and I do too.  She likes to sleep, and I do too.  He likes to dance, and I do too.) We used "I don't either" to agree with a negative statement (She doesn't like fish and I don't either.  He doesn't like to clean, and I don't either.) We read some easy chants out loud and practiced using a US English heartbeat rhythm.  I introduced the idea of color vowel - a program I use for pronunciation.  We did a fill-in-the-blank worksheet to "It's a Wonderful World."

Homework for September 15, 2026  Study class vocabulary.  Do the paper that was on the chair.  Write answers to the questions under the song (What is your name?  When did you come to the USA?  What are your goals for this class?  How can I make this class excellent for you?) for Thursday.

9-14:  Today we interviewed a classmate and wrote about them.  I talked about the class.  We read a story, answered comprehension questions, and practiced ordering by time.  You wrote about a specific goal for this class and told me why you wanted to do that. While we prepared to write goals,  I briefly mentioned that it's important to use base verbs after can or will.  A base verb is an action word in its simple form.  Do not add ing, s, or ed after can or will.  She can speak Spanish.  He can run very fast.  She can write very well.  We will work hard and maybe we'll have fun too.  He will always come on time.  We listened to a song and filled in missing words at the end of class.

High Hopes

Can you write about a time that you had a difficult goal and succeeded?

Are you on vacation?

gonna=going to= will (future tense, not movement)  jalopy=old word for badly maintained car
hop in =get into   have a ball = have fun 'neath=beneath=under "The Mashed Potato"=old dance

Are you enjoying the break?  What are you doing?