AEF 1. Grammar 8A: Simple Past: regular and irregular verbs

 

Navigate A1. Progress Test 7

 

Navigate A1. Progress Test 7A, an interactive worksheet by Veronika Bebekh

liveworksheets.com

Navigate A2. Progress Test 7

 

Navigate Elementary unit 7 test, an interactive worksheet by kalizhanovn

liveworksheets.com

AEF 1. Vocabulary & Grammar Bank 4C. Expressions of Frequency

 

Click here to do the exercise 

on the adverbs of frequency

Topics for discussion: An early bird catches the worm. Elaborate on this idea.

The saying “An early bird catches the worm” is a well-known proverb that emphasizes the importance of acting early to achieve success. It suggests that people who start their day or work early tend to have more opportunities and better results than those who delay or procrastinate. This idea is relevant in many aspects of life, including studying, working, and pursuing personal goals.

Firstly, waking up early can give individuals a useful head start on their daily tasks. For example, students who wake up early often have more time to revise their lessons and plan their day. This extra time helps them to feel prepared and less stressed during exams or homework deadlines. Similarly, workers who start their workday early are often more productive because they have fewer distractions and can finish tasks more efficiently. In this way, being an “early bird” can lead to better performance and success.

Moreover, acting early allows people to take advantage of opportunities that may not be available later. For instance, many job openings or business deals are announced in the morning, and being ready to act quickly can make a difference. Entrepreneurs and investors who start their day early often spot potential opportunities before others do. This proactive approach helps them stay ahead of competitors and achieve their ambitions. Therefore, the proverb highlights that those who seize opportunities early are more likely to succeed.

Furthermore, getting up early is linked to positive habits such as better health and mental well-being. Early risers tend to have more time for exercise, healthy breakfasts, and planning their day. These routines contribute to increased energy levels, improved mood, and reduced stress. In contrast, people who sleep late or procrastinate may feel more tired and overwhelmed. Consequently, waking up early not only helps in achieving goals but also promotes overall well-being.

However, some people believe that success is mainly about working hard and being dedicated, regardless of the time they start. While this is true to some extent, the proverb reminds us that discipline and punctuality often play a crucial role. Being an early bird requires consistency and effort, which can develop good habits that benefit many areas of life.

In conclusion, the saying “An early bird catches the worm” encourages people to wake up early and take prompt action. By doing so, individuals can get a head start, seize opportunities, and develop healthy routines. Although everyone has their own most productive hours, waking up early remains a symbol of discipline, ambition, and a proactive attitude. Ultimately, adopting this mindset can lead to greater success and personal fulfillment.

1. Is time-management important in your everyday life?

Yes, time-management is very important in my everyday life. It helps me to organize my tasks and avoid feeling stressed. When I plan my day, I can finish my schoolwork, hobbies, and chores more efficiently. Good time-management also allows me to have some free time to relax and spend with friends or family. Without it, I might forget important deadlines or feel overwhelmed. By setting priorities and sticking to a schedule, I can balance my responsibilities and enjoy my leisure time. Overall, managing time well makes my life more productive and less stressful.

2. Are you satisfied with the way you spend your free time?

Overall, I am satisfied with the way I spend my free time. I try to balance relaxing activities with productive ones. I enjoy reading books, watching movies, or listening to music, which helps me relax and de-stress. I also like doing sports or going for walks outside, which keeps me active and healthy. Sometimes, I use my free time to learn new skills or hobbies, such as cooking or painting. However, I think I could spend more time helping others or volunteering. Overall, I believe my free time is well spent, and it helps me recharge for upcoming challenges.

3. How far ahead do you plan your future?

I try to plan my future a few years ahead, but not in every detail. For example, I have set goals for my education and career, such as finishing school and choosing a profession I enjoy. I also think about where I want to live and what kind of lifestyle I would like to have. However, I understand that life can be unpredictable, so I stay flexible and ready to adjust my plans if needed. While I believe planning is important for success, I also think it is good to leave some room for new opportunities and experiences.

AEF 3. Lesson 4A. Communicative: Language Learning

 

AEF 3. Lesson 4A. Grammar: can, could, be able to (ability and possession)

 

• 
  

• Can is used for present ability and possibility  

  I can dance. / I'm sorry, but I can't help you.

  Can is informally used for offers and requests  

Can I help you? / Can I make a suggestion?

• Could is used for past ability and possibility

• We couldn't finish the project on time. / She could read when she was three years old.

  
  
• Could is neutrally used for offers and requests

• Could you open the door for me, please?

  Be able to is used for present, past, and future ability and possibility

• Are you able to swim? / Were you able to swim? / Will you be able to swim?

  
  

  • Be able to is also used to discuss the success or failure of an action

• We weren't able to find the book you wanted.

  
  

  • Be able to can be used with other verbs, including modals

• She should be able to attend the conference. / I want to be able to play the flute.

  
  

Explain why you agree or disagree.

AEF 1. Vocabulary Bank 8B. The House

Click here to do the exercise "The House"

1. How many rooms are there in your house or flat?

2. Is there a garage for a car or a yard for children to play in?

3. Do you have a balcony with a nice view, or just a small hall when you come in?

4. Is the ceiling in your living room high, and what colour are the walls there?

5. Are your stairs made of wood, and is the floor in the kitchen cold?

6. Is there a comfortable sofa/couch in the living room and a big armchair next to the fireplace?

7. Where do you keep your plates and cups?

8. Is there a washing machine and a dishwasher in your kitchen, next to the stove/cooker?

9. Is there a fridge in your kitchen? 

10. Do you have a bathtub or just a shower in your bathroom?

11. Where do you put your clothes?

12. Is there a big mirror on the wall in your bedroom?

13. Do you have a lamp on your desk or does the light come from the ceiling?

14. Is there a big carpet on the floor in the living room?

15.  Is there a small rug in the hall?

16. Is there a toilet in the same room as the bathtub, or is it in a separate room?

17. Do you have any plants in your study or on your balcony?

18. Do you rent your flat, and how much is the rent every month?

19. Is your house lovely, and do you think it's perfect for your family?

20. How long have you lived in this house — for a year or a long time ago?

21. Do you read advertisements to find a flat to rent?

22. What is the worst thing in your house? How horrible! — is it a very small kitchen or an old bathroom?

23. What is the best thing in your house? Is it the big fireplace in the living room? It's perfect!

Prime Time 3. Module 4. Lesson 4. Healthy Mind, Healthy Body

 

Prime Time 3. Module 3. Skills practice 3

 

Prime Time 3. Module 3. Language in Use 3

 

 

Prime Time 2. Module 3. Lesson 3i. Curricular: US History

 

AEF 1. Grammar 4B: Prepositions of time and place (at, in, on, to)

Click here to do the exercise "Prepositions of Time and Place"

Quiz created by Veronika Bebekh with GoConqr

Workshop: Digital Educational Environment for Olympiad Preparation

👉Welcome to our workshop on preparing for the English Language Olympiad using digital tools and resources. This workshop aims to provide participants with strategies and resources to enhance their English language skills through a modern, digital approach. 

👉Whether you're a student, teacher, or language enthusiast, this workshop will equip you with the necessary tools to excel.

Useful tips to prepare students

for the English Language Olympiad

Preparing students for an English Language Olympiad (such as the International Linguistics Olympiad, national-level contests, or advanced ESL olympiads) requires a strategic mix of linguistic awareness, problem-solving skills, and exam technique. Below are useful tips categorized by focus area.

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1. Understand the Olympiad Format

·         Analyze past papers – Identify recurring task types (e.g., translation puzzles, grammar reconstruction, etymology analysis, error detection, cloze tests with advanced lexis).

·         Distinguish between olympiad types – Linguistics Olympiads focus on logical deciphering of unknown languages; traditional English olympiads test deep grammar, vocabulary, and cultural knowledge.

·         Clarify scoring – Many tasks penalize wrong answers; teach students when to skip.

2. Build Advanced Linguistic Awareness

·         Morphology & syntax – Practice breaking down complex sentences, identifying parts of speech in ambiguous contexts, and recognizing irregular patterns.

·         Phonology & writing systems – For linguistics rounds, expose students to non-Latin scripts and sound correspondence rules.

·         Semantic shifts – Teach common patterns (e.g., metaphor, narrowing, broadening, pejoration) found in etymology tasks.

3. Develop Logical Problem-Solving Skills

·         Work step by step – When given an unknown language excerpt, first list all observed patterns (e.g., word order, affixes, number/gender markers).

·         Build a mini-corpus – Students should create hypothesis tables for each new rule they detect.

·         Back-check – After proposing a translation or rule, apply it to all provided examples to ensure consistency.

4. Enhance Passive & Active Vocabulary

·         Thematic word sets – Cover high-frequency olympiad topics (law, academia, emotions, abstract relations, archaic terms).

·         Root analysis – Teach Latin and Greek roots to help decode unfamiliar words.

·         Word formation – Practice derivation (prefixes, suffixes, conversion) and compounding.

5. Master Grammar Beyond Textbooks

·         Rare constructions – Inversion after negative adverbials, subjunctive in formal English, ellipsis, cleft sentences.

·         Discourse markers – Not just ‘however,’ but ‘be that as it may,’ ‘on that note,’ ‘insofar as.’

·         Error recognition – Create exercises with deliberately subtle mistakes (subject-verb agreement across long clauses, pronoun reference ambiguity).

6. Practice Timed, High-Stakes Conditions

·         Full mock olympiads – Simulate real time limits (e.g., 3 hours for 4–5 complex tasks).

·         Pacing strategy – Allocate fixed minutes per task; teach students to move on if stuck.

·         Stress management – Breathing techniques, positive self-talk, and checking work in final minutes.

7. Train Cultural & Intertextual Knowledge

·         Literary allusions – Common biblical, mythological, Shakespearean references that appear in advanced cloze tests.

·         Idioms & proverbs – Focus on less obvious ones (‘to have a bee in one’s bonnet,’ ‘to cock a snook’).

·         British vs. American distinctions – Spelling, lexis, and grammar differences often appear in olympiad editing tasks.

8. Use Active Learning Methods

·         Peer teaching – Let students explain a solved linguistics puzzle to the group.

·         Create original tasks – Advanced students design their own mini grammar or word-formation olympiad problems.

·         Mistake analysis sessions – Review wrong answers not just for correction but for pattern diagnosis (e.g., consistently misidentifying clause boundaries).

9. Provide Targeted Feedback on Past Attempts

·         Individual score sheets – Mark not just right/wrong but why a logical step failed.

·         Highlight partial credit – Olympiads often reward systematic reasoning; show students how to write explanations clearly.

10. Final Week Checklist for Students

·         Review personal error log.

·         Re-solve the hardest problem from each past mock.

·         Memorize any pending root sets or irregular verb tables.

·         Sleep and hydrate – cognitive stamina matters as much as knowledge.

 

Below is a set of five mini-olympiad exercises designed for classroom use. Each targets a different skill area typical of English Language Olympiads. You can use them as a 40–50 minute classroom challenge or as separate warm-up activities.

Exercise 1: Morphological Puzzle – Unpacking Rare Plural Forms

Task: Below are six English nouns with their singular and plural forms. Four follow a hidden rule; two are exceptions. Identify the rule and explain the exceptions.

Singular	Plural
cactus	cacti
focus	foci
fungus	fungi
radius	radii
octopus	octopuses
syllabus	syllabuses

Questions:

1.     What is the regular plural rule for the first four words?

2.     Why are octopus and syllabus different? (Hint: origin of the word)

3.     Provide two more nouns that follow the same rule as cactus.

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Exercise 2: Grammar Error Detection & Correction

Task: Each sentence below contains exactly one subtle grammatical error. Identify it, explain why it is wrong, and write the corrected sentence.

1.     Neither the teacher nor the students was aware of the schedule change.

2.     She is one of those writers who never reveals their sources.

3.     Had he known about the delay, he would have not missed the flight.

4.     The committee have submitted its final report yesterday.

5.     I wish I knew earlier about the exam postponement.

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Exercise 3: Etymology & Semantic Shift

Task: Below are three English words with their original meanings. Explain how the meaning changed (name the type of semantic shift: narrowing, broadening, amelioration, pejoration, metaphor) and write a sentence showing the modern meaning.

Word	Original meaning	Type of shift	Modern sentence
silly	blessed / happy	?
knight	young servant	?
spinster	one who spins thread	?

Bonus: Which of these changes is an example of pejoration? Justify.

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Exercise 4: Linguistic Logic – Deciphering an Unknown Mini-Language

Background: The fictional “Zorian” language follows these patterns (from a corpus):

Zorian phrase	English translation
zo pa li	the cat sleeps
zo mu li ta	the big cat sleeps
re pa no	a dog runs
re mu li ta no	the big dog runs
zo pa ta no	the sleeping cat runs
re mu li no zo	the big dog sleeps on cat (word order changes)

Tasks:

1.     What is the Zorian word for the?

2.     How do you say big in Zorian?

3.     Translate into Zorian: a big sleeping dog

4.     The phrase zo mu li ta no re means what in English?

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Exercise 5: Advanced Cloze Test (Lexical & Discourse)

Task: Fill each blank with one word that is logically and grammatically precise. No options are given – answers must fit the context of academic English.

The concept of “cognitive load” refers to the total amount of mental effort (1)______ in working memory. Originally (2)______ by John Sweller in the 1980s, it has become a cornerstone of instructional design. When learners are (3)______ with too many elements to process simultaneously, their performance (4). However, not all cognitive load is detrimental; (5) load, which aids schema construction, can be beneficial. Effective teaching (6)______ therefore aim to reduce extraneous load while optimizing germane load. One practical (7)______ is to present information in small, (8)______ chunks, allowing for better long-term retention.

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Answer Key & Teaching Notes (for instructor)

Ex 1:

1.     Latin origin nouns ending *-us* → *-i* in plural.

2.     Octopus (Greek root) → Greek plural octopodes, but English uses octopuses. Syllabus (Late Latin) → modern English uses regular plural.

3.     e.g., alumnus → alumni, stimulus → stimuli.

Ex 2:

1.     were (not was) – compound subject with nor agrees with nearest noun students (plural).

2.     their – acceptable in modern English; traditional olympiad might demand his or her (but “their” is increasingly accepted – note in answer key: some contests prefer singular they now).

3.     he would not have missed – placement of not after first auxiliary.

4.     has submitted (not have) – committee as singular collective, and yesterday needs past simple or present perfect without specific past time. Better: submitted (past simple).

5.     I wish I had known – past wish requires past perfect.

Ex 3:

·         silly: pejoration (from blessed → foolish)

·         knight: narrowing (from servant → mounted warrior → honorary title)

·         spinster: pejoration (neutral occupation → unmarried older woman)

Bonus: silly and spinster show pejoration.

Ex 4:

1.     zo (appears with definite translations)

2.     mu

3.     re mu li no (a big sleeping dog) – note li = sleeping, no = dog, order changes.

4.     the big dog runs on cat (or the big running dog on cat depending on interpretation – class discussion encouraged)

Ex 5 (suggested answers):

(1) used / employed

(2) proposed / introduced

(3) faced / presented

(4) suffers / declines

(5) germane / intrinsic

(6) strategies / approaches

(7) method / technique

(8) manageable / discrete

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