November 02

Lesson on 18/11/2002 Topic(s): Work, changes, talking about the past
New Vocabulary	Notes	Mistakes	Notes	Problems/Issues	Notes
		during office hour		our department is getting smaller	Correct structure but if used about something that is finished (rather than ongoing)
		maybe over a thousand loan		I will need to retain a barrister	Correct structure but if used in a more hypothetical situation
		big stuffs		I will not do criminal law	As above
		the most important is that		people wouldn’t pay much [for conveyancing]	Correct structure but the opposite of the preceding two, if used about a continuing situation
				they will look at your time sheet	Correct structure but the opposite of the preceding two, if used about a continuing situation it probably
				she will not do the small files	Correct structure but if used about a continuing situation it probably
				they do not look at the number	Correct structure but if used in "ordinary" speech it probably
				[after the merger] the first thing they do is	Correct structure but it probably

Lesson on 25/11/2002 Topic(s): Introductory conversations, introductions
New Vocabulary	Notes	Mistakes	Notes	Problems/Issues	Notes
What is the difference between these phrases? 1) How are you? 2) How do you do?			When do we use "the" for countries?	I was in a dinner	This is possible but meals like breakfast, lunch and dinner usually don't take articles, so it
What is the difference between these phrases? 1) I’m James. 2) My name's James.		They do the resorts		I was the one who need to look the map	This is possible (if "need" is changed to "needed") but awkward
How d’you like HK? Have you been here long?	Possible conversation "openers"	At last they	"At last" is usually only used when somebody has been waiting for something for a long time.	Are back to the US for Christmas?	This might be possible but, as you are asking about plans, probably
Get the hang of it	Quite informal, probably speech	Because very difficult
Recipe for disaster	Quite informal, probably speech
Extra resources: For a simple, short listening exercise on common greetings on Randall's ESL Cyber Listening Lab click here