Our grammar lessons on “Conditionals” continue! This week we are studying the last of the four conditionals. Make sure to read the articles on the First, Second, and Third Conditionals before reading today’s lesson on the Zero Conditional. If you do, you will be a Conditional Master! (Extra credit points if you can tell us...
Category: Learning English
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Grammar Lesson: The Third Conditional
Our month on Conditionals continues! Today we are focusing on the Third Conditional. Do you need to refresh yourself on this grammar point? If so, read our last two grammar lesson entries, The First Conditional and The Second Conditional, before moving on to today’s lesson. You can’t change the past. This we know! But don’t...
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Grammar Lesson of the Month: the Second Conditional
Welcome back to the second part of CISL’s four-part “Grammar Lesson of the Month” series! April is all about conditionals at CISL, and each week, we are offering a lesson on one of the four types of conditionals. Last week, we began with the most simple of the four: the First Conditional. Need to refresh...
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Grammar Lesson of the Month: the First Conditional
If it rains, I will bring an umbrella with me to work. If you eat a lot of cookies, you might get a tummy ache. If I had been born in Spain, I would have spoken Spanish as my mother tongue. If you do not water your plants, they die. April’s Grammar Lesson of the...
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Phrasal verb of the day: spring for
Spring has sprung! March 20 marked the beginning of spring, and in San Diego and San Francisco, the flowers are in full bloom. To celebrate the change of seasons, CISL presents a phrasal verb with the word spring. Phrasal Verb: spring for Definition: to spring for something means to pay for something. Usually English speakers...
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St. Patrick’s Day Vocabulary + IELTS Writing Task 1 Prompt and Map
St. Patrick’s Day is just around the corner! Soon Americans will be wearing green clothes, eating traditional corned beef and cabbage, and drinking green beer. What a strange–and fun–holiday! To prepare our students for this celebration, we have some St. Patrick’s Day and Irish-related vocabulary and idioms. Enjoy! USEFUL ST PATRICK’S DAY VOCABULARY Ireland...
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Grammar Lesson of the Month: the Present Perfect with Specific Time
How long have you studied English? How many years have you known your best friend? How long have you been at your job? All of these sentences are questions using the Present Perfect tense. The Present Perfect is a tense that confuses many students. When do we use it? And why? There are many ways to...
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Lesson of the Month: December 2011
DID YOU KNOW: WORD BORROWING English has borrowed a lot of words from different languages, and sometimes from languages you might not expect! What languages do you think the following come from? 1. ALCATRAZ (The island prison off the coast of San Francisco) 2. SOIREE (A very elegant evening party) 3. SIESTA ( a short afternoon...
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Lesson of the Month: November 2011
USE OF THE PASSIVE Most of you have found yourselves studying the Passive at one time or another in your CISL classes. Like many other concepts, how you construct it is not as confusing as why or when you should use it. We’re going to mention this month just one common use of the passive,...
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Lesson of the Month – August : Find the Errors!
GRAMMAR: In each of the following sentences, there is ONE error. Find it and fix it! 1. The streets are icy, so walk slowly and no fall down! 2. Turn left at the next corner and you don’t forget to signal! 3. The wind is blowing, it snows, and the sky looks very gray. 4....