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Happy Norooz

Reading Section:

Many people have pets. The most common kinds of pets in Canada are dogs and cats.

Today you will hear and read the story about the unusual habits of a pet that an ESL teacher had a long time ago.

Vocabulary Study

In preparation for the story, look over this list of confusing pairs of words. How many do you know? Can you explain them to the class?

What's the Difference?

licked ____________________	liked ____________________
slept ____________________	slipped ____________________
hoped ____________________	hopped ____________________
walked ____________________	worked ____________________
dairy ____________________	daily ____________________
live ____________________	leave ____________________
used to ____________________	was used to ____________________
stayed ____________________	stood ____________________
bear ____________________	beer ____________________
signal ____________________	sign ____________________

No Dogs Allowed

Fran's family lived in a small village about 300 km. north of Toronto when

she was a teenager. She had a dog named Brutus. He was a very unusual

dog because his habits were different from ~other dogs. He followed a daily

routine.

Brutus liked ice cream. Every morning he went to the restaurant in the

little village. The sign in the window said, "No Dogs Allowed", but Brutus

couldn't read. He used to jump up onto one of the stools. He sat there until

the waitress brought him an ice cream cone in a glass. He licked the ice

cream from the cone, and then he chewed the cone. He didn't pay for it.

Brutus liked trains. Every day at noon he went to the train station. He

waited until the southbound train arrived at 12:14. He hopped up onto

the train and rode to the nearest village. Then he got off the train and he

visited the dog that lived down the street from the station. She was his

girlfriend. Brutus stayed there until 3:45. Then he trotted back to the

station and got on the northbound train at 3:58. He didn't buy a ticket.

Brutus liked beer. Every evening he went to the pub. The bartender

poured beer into a bowl for him. He drank beer for about three hours. He

didn't pay for it. At about 11 pm. he staggered home. He slept soundly.

Brutus did not like Sundays. Can you understand why? If Fran let him out

of the house, he used to bark and growl at the little, old ladies who walked

past her house on the way to church.

Brutus had a long, happy life. He was a free spirit.

Comprehension and Inference Questions

1. How far from Toronto did Fran's family live?

______________________________________________________________________________

2. Why was Brutus a very unusual dog?

______________________________________________________________________________

3. How did Brutus eat the ice cream?

______________________________________________________________________________

4. How did he eat the cone?

______________________________________________________________________________

5. Which train did Brutus take to the nearest village?

______________________________________________________________________________

6. Why did he go there?

______________________________________________________________________________

7. How did Brutus drink beer?

______________________________________________________________________________

8. Why didn't he like Sundays?

______________________________________________________________________________

9. If Brutus had lived in a city, what wouldn't he have been able to do?

______________________________________________________________________________

10. Why is Brutus described as 'a free spirit'?

_____________________________________________________________________________

Related Activities

ü Past Tense

Find the past tense verbs in the story and place them on the pronunciation chart.

Irregular	[d] ending	[t] ending	[id] ending

ü Homonyms

Write the homonym from the story for each word:

vary _______________	won _______________	their _______________
weigh _______________	road _______________	staid _______________
by _______________	pored _______________	aloud _______________

ü True or False

Brutus slept soundly means Brutus snored

ü Your Turn to Write: Write a short account of the story.

Listening Section:

You will hear a man who is making a dinner reservation. Choose the correct answer from the multiple choice questions and write it down. You will hear the listening twice. After you have finished, click on the answer to see if you have answered the questions correctly.

Now answer the questions:

Top of Form

What is the name of the restaurant?

A) Apple Tree Restaurant B) Apple Inn Restaurant C) Appeal Restaurant

What day would he like to make a reservation for?

A) Saturday B) Friday C) Thursday

What is the date?

A) 12th B) 2nd C) 22nd

What time would he like to make the reservation for?

A) 18 o'clock B) Eight o'clock C) Nine o'clock

How many people does he make a reservation for?

A) 5 B) 4 C) 3

What is his surname?

A) Leavens B) Liavens C) Leavins

ü Speaking to Strangers - Social Language

Here are a number of polite phrases used when trying to get the attention or help from people. The use of more formal language is common when speaking to someone you do not know:

Interrupting

It is common to first apologize before interrupting another person, or asking for help if you do not know the person.

Excuse me, could I ...
Sorry, do you think I could ...
Excuse me, do you know ...
I beg your pardon, could you help me? (formal)

Asking Someone to Repeat

When asking for information you may have a hard time understanding in public places which can be very noisy (train stations, restaurants, stores, etc.). Here are phrases commonly used to ask someone to repeat what he has said:

Excuse me, I'm afraid I didn't understand. Could you repeat that? (formal)
I'm sorry, I didn't catch that.

(informal)
What? (very informal!)
I beg your pardon.

ü Vocabulary:

Appearance

For each of the six questions choose the one correct answer.

1. They look ridiculous together – he’s really short and she’s so ___________.

a) high

b) tall

c) great

d) large

2. When I saw her on her wedding day she looked absolutely ____________.

a) pretty

b) beautiful

c) handsome

d) ugly

3. If you could change one thing about your appearance, what _____________?

a) would you have changed

b) would you change

c) will you change

d) do you change

4. You shouldn’t judge a book by its ___________.

a) cover

b) plot

c) main characters

d) first page

5. Have you seen Celia’s new boyfriend, he’s tall, dark and ____________.

a) handsome

b) gorgeous

c) good-looking

d) beautiful

6. A: ___________________ B: He’s tall and blonde with blue eyes.

a) What does he like?

b) How does he look?

C) What does he look like?

D) How is he?

ü Grammar:

Choose the correct word or phrase to complete the English grammar question. Each question has only one correct answer. When you are finished click on the "Next Question" button. There are 50 questions to this quiz. Try to use only 1 minute per question.Bottom of Form

Q: Janet has ____ money in the bank.

any
some

Q: Would you like ____ cream in your coffee?

any
some

Q: ____ book was written by Jane Anders.

An
This
Any

Q: Let's meet ____ the museum.

in
at
on
to

Q: He bought ____ new car last weekend.

a
these
an

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