ESL Grammar: How Much and How Many

 How Much/ How Many Exercise 

Instructions: Fill in the blank space with either How much, How many, much or many. 

1. ______ sugar have we got?

2. ______ money do we need to buy the cake?

3. ______ paws does a dog have? 

4. I try not to drink too ____ soda.

5. He likes girls who have _____ tattos.

6. _____ boyfriends has she had in the last year?

ESL Grammar Conversation Exercise 

1. How many tall people are in your family?

2. How much rice do you eat daily?

3. How many children do most families have in your country?

4. How much do you love traveling?

5. How much money does it cost to rent a decent single bedroom apartment in your city?

6. How many times do you use English in a week?

ESL Vocabulary (The Best Volleyball Team in Olympic History)

ESL Vocabulary (The Best Team in Olympic History)

1. Dominant - adjective-  most important, powerful or influential

2. Overcome - verb - succeed in dealing with a problem or difficulty

3. Ally - noun - a state formally cooperating with another for a military or other purpose

4. Resonate - verb - an idea or action that meets with someone's agreement

5. Amicable - adjective - people having a spirit of friendliness; without serious disagreement

6. Adversity - noun - difficulties; misfortune

7. Feat - noun - an achievement that requires great courage, skill or strength

ESL Grammar: Past Perfect

Forms of Past Perfect

Affirmative

Subject   +   auxiliary verb   +   past participle

Ex: I had gone to the store

Negative

Subject   +   auxiliary verb   +   not    +    past participle

Ex: She had not eaten breakfast

Question 

Auxiliary Verb   +   subject   +   past participle

Ex: Had they walked to the park?

Uses of Past Perfect 

1. The past perfect tense expresses an action in the past before another action in the past. When we arrived, the train had left. We met Martha, before she had started university. 

2. An action that started in the past and continued up until the point of another past action or time. When he graduated, he had been in Miami for 4 years. On the 4th of December, I had been on the volleyball for two years. 

3. To talk about unreal or imaginary things in the past. I wish I had not gone to bed so late. If I had known you needed money, I would have helped you.

Past Perfect Exercises 

Instructions: Choose the correct sentence(s) 

1) A. I have started school. B. I had started school.
Which sentence (s) is correct?
2) A. He hads gone to Miami. She had flown to Thailand.
Which sentence (s) is correct?
3) A. They had dreamed of being professional athletes. B. We had hated the new teacher.
Which sentence (s) is correct?

Instructions: Make the sentence negative 

1. I had believed everything she said.
2. She had lied to me over and over again.
3. I had drunk a lot of Corona because of the relationship.

Instructions: Ask your teacher a questions with past perfect. 

1. to study
2. to dream
3. to go

ESL Conversation Questions

1. What had you done before you called on Cambly?

2. What profession had you dreamed of doing when you were a child? 

3. Had you ever taken English classes in a language academy before you used Cambly?

4. Who had you talked to before you ate lunch today?

5. If you had perfected English as a teenager, what language would you be studying now?

6. If you had chosen to study abroad for high school, in which country would you have studied?

ESL Vocabulary Exercise (Interview with Vero)

ESL Vocabulary Exercise (Interview with Vero) 

Instructions: Choose the correct vocabulary word to fill in the missing blank. Some words may be used more than once. 

1. In the news social media tends to be  ________ as an addictive, brainwashing and ______ place on the internet that wastes people's time. (A. stigmatized B. enormous C. vain D. juxtaposed) 

2. The amount of articles expounding on the negative effects of social media _______ to the positive ones are ______. (A. enormous B. remote. C. persevering D. juxtaposed) 

3. When I was a teenager I hated my city, I considered it as a _______ place in the middle of nowhere. (A. stigmatize B. remote C. out of the blue D. gastronomy)

4. So I could say firstly I was an English student and then I became a Spanish/English teacher _______. (A. gastronomy B. vain C.  out of the blue D. enormous) 

5. I think the key to learning a second language is having a good attitude, _________ in the learning process and studying as much as your brain allows you. ( A. persevering B. vain C. remote. D. stigmatized) 

6. The second thing I like about Spanish culture is the ________. (A. enormous B. out of the blue. C. gastronomy D. vain ) 

Vocabulary Bank

1. Stigmatize - verb - describe as worth of disgrace or great disapproval

2. Vain - adjective-  producing no results; useless

3. Juxtaposed - verb - place or deal with close together for contrasting effect

4. Enormous - adjective - very large in size, quantity or extent

5. Out of the Blue - idiom - without warning, unexpectedly

6. Remote - adjective -  situated far from the main centers of population distant

7. Gastronomy - noun -  the practice or art of choosing, cooking and eating good food

8. Persevering - adjective - continue in a course of action even in the face of difficulty 

Importance of Corporate Culture: Interview with Carlos Carter

Corporate culture encompasses values and behaviors that contribute to a unique social and psychological environment of a business. Understanding the intricacies of corporate culture takes years of experience in a work setting. Fortunately I have the pleasure of being able to talk to an established salesman. My father, Carlos Carter, has been working in sales for over 30 years. In that time he has worked as a car salesman, automobile financing officer and a mortgage financing officer. He sold 40 cars in a month which is still a record in Olathe, Kansas. Currently, he is in the top 15 of 70 loan officers in his current position. My father has the years of experience needed to understand the details of corporate culture.

Why is corporate culture important to a company?

That's a good question. In today's society everyone has to be politically correct and a company wants to develop a culture that is suiting and fitting for what the CEO wants. They are trying to set a culture of togetherness, unity, people moving in the right direction.

Companies are finding out that people like each other and are more apt to have more fun when they come into work and they become as a result more productive. They try to set a culture so that it is more enticing to their employees. They want to have a good, happy and  motivating culture at work.

So you are saying that employers want to create a good culture to keep people happy at work to get better results.

Right. Keeping people engaged is important. Sometimes people will work in a job longer even though they are not making as much money because the culture is right for them. Corporate culture is important in today's society.

When you see a company that has a good culture what are some of the values that you see?

For example, there are some employers no matter what the holidays may be they might overwork their employees. Some employers allow their employees to take off. Some employers promote more family values and atmosphere instead of everyone just individually working.

Some employers emphasize production over culture. There are a lot of little things that may go into an employee wanting to stay at a particular place. Another example, some employers may allow games at the workplace and have a game room. Culture is very important in today's world versus production of the past.

 Back when I was younger everyone wanted to be more productive driven. If you are productive we don't care about how your character is. Now companies are built on character and being a good employee at work. In that way the employee's values are taken into consideration.

Do you think corporate culture will change or always remain the same?

I think it is going to change and evolve with the times as the millennials come up. You know what, I found out today I was talking with a customer who is from California and he told me that he had a child. And I'm like ok that's great and he began to tell me that he has been off for four weeks of work.

So, not only does the wife get off, but also that man got off as well. So that seems very unique to me. So the culture will evolve as the millennials come up. Coming from the older times 70's and 80's I never heard of a man being off for four to five weeks for the birth of a new child. So yes the culture will continue to evolve to meet the employee's needs.

How would you assess company culture? 

To assess a company's culture from the outside looking in would be difficult. Outside of just assessing the happiness of employees coming in to work and seeing less turnover. The turnover would not be as rampant. You have to look at a particular industry to determine if a company has a higher turnover rate compared to other companies.

If the turnover rate is high then maybe the culture there may not be as productive or enticing to employees. It's hard to assess a company's culture other than looking at the turnover ratio or maybe looking over the upper management and see what they are emphasizing.

My last question for you about corporate culture is do you think a company should have a stated set of cultural values. Why or Why not? 

Well, I think that it is very important in today's society. Like I said, employees are looking for not only the monetary gain, but also the type of culture that may fit their character. So, companies should be upfront about their culture or set of values. So an employee can see what they are singing up for.

Today's culture is more about being inclusive which includes everyone having their voices heard, different ethnicity groups in the office and also different political affiliations. Even though you shouldn't really get into the political arena at work.

But as far as including everybody that's what employees are looking for. So to answer your question, yes, companies should state their culture and goals right up front. So there won't be any type of misunderstanding  or misconceptions for any particular employee.

ESL Conversation Questions: Gender Roles

ESL Conversation Questions: Gender Roles 

1. What is misogyny? 

2. Why do you think some men disrespect women? 

3. Does your country have a patriarchal society? 

4.  Are men better than women at some professions? 

5. Is it ok for men to wear pink in your country? 

6.  Is it common for women to participate in sporting activities in your country? 

7. Should professional male and female athletes receive equal pay?  

ESL Grammar: Present Perfect Continuous

Forming the Present Perfect Continuous 
 
Affirmative

Subject   +   auxiliary verb   +  auxillary verb +  ing verb

Example: I have been teaching for three hours.

Negative 

Subject   +   auxiliary verb +   not   +   auxiliary verb   +   ing verb

Example: She has not been working at the company for the past two weeks.

Question

Auxiliary verb   +   subject   +   auxiliary verb   + ing verb

Example: Have they been dating for a long time?

Uses of Present Perfect Continuous 

1. We use the present perfect continuous tense to show that something started in the past and has continued up until now. She has been talking for the two hours with Sam. We have been having issues with this car since Tuesday.

2. You can use the present perfect continuous without a duration. However, without the duration the tense has a more general meaning of "lately". I have been feeling really tired. You have been exercising lately. 

Present Perfect Continuous Exercises

Instructions: Fill in the blank with the verb given in the present perfect continuous tense. 

1. I _____ ____ _____ (to travel) to many different countries in Africa.
2. They ____ _____ _____ (to run) in the park lately.
3. He _____ _____ _____ (to call) Jessica a lot recently
4. We _____ ______ ______ (to study) French for two years.
5. She _____ _____ _______ (to eat) potatoes every night for a week now.

Instructions : Make the sentence negative 

1. They have been filming this movie for the past two years.
2. She has been feeling sick.
3. He has been working on his conversation skills recently.

Instructions: Ask your teacher a question with the verbs given in the present perfect continuous tense. 

1. to feel
2. to edit
3. to learn

ESL Conversation Questions with Present Perfect Continuous 

1. Have you been eating at any good restaurants in your city that you would recommend?

2. What kind of movies or TV shows have you been watching lately?

3. How have you been feeling about your English?

4. Have you been watching the news lately?

5. Have you been making progress on some of your endeavors?

6. What music have you been listening to recently?

ESL Vocabulary Exercise

ESL Vocabulary Exercise 

Instructions: Match the vocabulary word with the correct definition. 

A. Glamorous                                                          1. causing one to feel unsettled or                                                                                                               uncomfortable 

B. Pier                                                                      2. the action or state of being unfaithful to 

                                                                                      a spouse or other sexual partner 

C. Disconcerting                                                      3. continue in a course of action even in 

                                                                                     the face of difficulty 

D. Revenue                                                              4. attractive or exciting quality that makes                                                                                               people or things seem special 

E. Vices                                                                    5. income, amount of money you make

F. Ferocious                                                              6. savagely fierce, cruel, violent 

G. Infidelity                                                               7. a platform supported on pillars leading 

                                                                                      out form the shore onto a body of 

                                                                                      water, used  as a landing stage for boats

H. Agonizing                                                             8. describe as worth of disgrace or great                                                                                                   disapproval 

I. Stigmatize                                                               9. causing great physical or mental pain 

J. Persevering                                                             10. immoral or wicked behavior 

ESL Listening: The Best Volleyball Team In Olympic History

Cuba women's volleyball team, nicknamed Las Morenas Del Caribe, which translates to the brown women of the Caribbean, used to be one of the most dominant teams in Olympic history. They beat a Unified Europe team in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics , China in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics and Russia in the 2000 Australia Olympics. Players such as Regla Bell, Regla Torres, Mireya Luis and Marlenis Costa played on each winning team throughout the 90's.

In a recent interview, captain of the 2000 Olympic team Regla Torres had this to say about the team's motivation for winning, "Some people might not understand it, but those living in Cuba in those difficult years can understand it very well. The people needed some sort of joy -- that was our motivation at the time." The difficulties of Cuba that Regla Torres is referring to pushes their amazing athletic accomplishment even further because of the adversities they had to overcome in Cuba.

Cuba, an island country in the Caribbean 90 miles south of Florida, went through a very difficult time during the 90's called the "Periodo Especial" which translates into the Special Period. The Soviet Union, Cuba's main ally and trade partner, disintegrated in 1991. This caused a chain reaction within Cuba that led to a lack of basic resources such as toiletries, medicine, food, fuel for transportation, electricity and many other basic necessities. These shortages were caused in part to the fall of the Soviet Union, but also because the United States had a firm economic blockade against the island.

Even though the "Special Period" was crippling Cuba, Fidel Castro, the president of Cuba, supported Cuba women's volleyball team and made sure they had sufficient provisions to train and prepare for their competitions. The victories the volleyball team obtained gave a suffering people a sense of joy, pride and hope for their country. The crisis in Cuba continued throughout the 90's until 2000 when Vladimir Putin re-established amicable trade relations with Cuba.

When I first learned about the incredible feat that Cuba women's volleyball team achieved I was amazed. But there have been several teams in sports who have achieved amazing feats such as the Los Angeles Lakers three peat, New York Yankees 27 championship rings, Real Madrid winning three consecutive Champions League and several other examples.

However, I emotionally connected to Las Morenas Del Caribe because of their ability to overcome the very high obstacles that stood around them. The joy on their face and the tears from their eyes after winning their third gold medal against Russia resonated because winning went beyond the sport of volleyball, but was a shining example of excellence for the people of Cuba and also people of African descent around the world.