Level 2A Podcast - The Giant's Causeway

Vocabulary:

Finn Mc.Cool - Irish giant
Oonagh - his wife
Benandonner - Scottish giant
Giant(n) - Very big person from mythology - probably not true
Causeway(n) - A road built across a stretch of water
erupt(v) - to explode upwards like a volcano
coast (n) - land next to the sea
plateau (n) - a high flat piece of land
hug (v) - stay close to
hexagonal (adj) - six sided
fall out (v) - not speak to someone you used to get on with

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Love Listening to English

Today we're starting "Love Listening to English" podcasts. Each podcast will have a story, followed by questions. They are for Diploma students, but anyone can practice listening. If you want to improve your speaking you need to listen a lot. With the technology of the Internet and podcasting we can now listen where and when we want.

This story is for Diploma Level 1B and is called "Peter had a terrible weekend". Use the player below to listen to the story and answer the questions.

So and Neither

Students find responses with "So" and "Neither" difficult to understand. I can see why. They are confusing for a non-native speaker.

There are 4 different situations in this type of response.

1. Agree to a positive statement    eg. I love walking in the mountains.  So do I.
2. Disagree with a positive statement   eg.   I didn't like that movie.  Actually, I did.
3. Agree with a negative statement    eg.  I can't stand rude people. Neither can I.
4. Disagree with a negative statement  eg. I've decided I'm not going to India.  Oh, I am.

Notice that whether you agree or disagree we don't use "not".  We also must use the form of the verb used in the first statement. That could be a different tense or using a modal. 

Remember that it's the question form we are using:  "do, did, can and am".

When agreeing we use "so" or "neither", positive or negative, and when disagreeing we can use "oh" or "actually".

So, it's quite easy really.