Inforum Warm Up Pre-Intermediate: Recent Episodes
Inforum
Welcome to the official podcast for Inforum's Warm Up course. These podcasts will help you improve your English listening skills AND teach you about Australia!
Hello, this is the last blogcast for the week! This week you learnt about basic prepositions, and also some useful phrases with do/don’t, me too and I’m not.
Listen to this conversation between 2 students and listen for all your new grammar!
Blanca: Hi, My name is Blanca.
Kazuya: Hi, I am Kazuya. Nice to meet you.
Blanca: I am Spanish.
Kazuya: Oh, I am not. I am Japanese but I live in Australia.
Blanca: Me too!
Kazuya: I go to school, do you?
Blanca: Yes, I do! I like studying English.
Kazuya: Me too but I don’t like grammar.
Blanca: Oh really, I do, it is hard but useful.
Kazuya: Do you like the beach?
Blanca: Yes I do.
Kazuya: Me too, I love laying on the beach.
Blanca: Me too, but I don’t like sand in my hair!
Kazuya: Haha I don’t care, I am surfer, it is normal.
Blanca: I’m not but I want to be!
Kazuya: Do you want me to teach you?
Blanca: Yes! But I don’t have a board.
Kazuya: I do, you can use it. Let’s meet at 1pm tomorrow at the beach.
Blanca: Ok! Sounds good, thanks Kazuya.
Did you hear all your new grammar points? Now look at the script and try to highlight them all, pretend you are Blanca now change the sentences so they are true for you! Goodbye!
Hello and welcome back to the last blogcast of week 4! This was a big week; you studied: used to, past continuous AND passives! WOAH! Let’s look at how to use these different grammar points when you arrive.
Used to is great to talk about our past habits, it is useful because in Australia your life will change a lot. Let’s listen to a conversation between 2 students talking about what their habits and routines were in their country!
Jenifer: Uhh I am tired!
Louisa: Why Jenifer?
J: Well, when I lived in the Czech Republic I used to go to bed at 2am and wake up at 10am, but now I have to wake up at 7:30am to come to school!
L: Hmm, that is a big change. My sleeping times are the same, but I used to go running in the mornings but now I go swimming because I live near the beach!
J: Oh, that’s nice. I used to exercise a lot but now I party too much.
Past continuous is great for telling stories that happened in the past. Back to Louisa and Jenifer…
L: Did you party last night?
J: Yes I did! I was studying at home when my house mate came home with 5 friends, so they made me go out with them. It was really fun until someone spilled a drink on me while I was dancing. I went home after that because I smelt like vodka! But by that time it was already 5am and the sun was coming up.
L: Haha, while you were partying I was running! I woke up at 4:30 to go running today.
J: 4:30am you’re crazy!
L: Well, they say “Do as the locals do” and the locals here are always awake early.
Lastly, passives. Now remember we use passives for different reasons: 1 – We don’t know who did the action, 2 – We don’t care who did the action, 3- To emphasise the action, not who did it OR 4 – it is obvious who did the action.
Passives can be tricky and at the start you might not use them when you speak but listen for them, especially on the news! Let’s look at some examples – try to match the sentence with one of the reasons!
Fresh bread is baked every day (4)
My bike was stolen! (1)
She was voted the first female President. (3)
All her clothes were soaked so she was cold (2)
Alright, that’s all from me – time for you to give your brain a rest! Enjoy your weekend and remember to try to use a little bit of English every day so you can improve more quickly!
Hello all! We are back for session 3 week 3 of Inform’s Warm Up Course! This week you learnt about present perfect and 1st conditional! Two big and important points. Present Perfect is great to talk about our experiences and to ask other people about theirs. You can tie 1st conditional in with it to talk about future possibilities!
Let’s see…
Liam: Have you ever been to Sydney?
Julia: No, I haven’t. But if I have money next month, I will go. Have you been to Melbourne?
Liam: Yes, I was there for two weeks! It was great but not long enough, if I go back, I will definitely go to the Great Ocean Road. Have you heard of it?
Julia: Yes I have, I have just seen a documentary about it. I want to go.
Liam: Wow! There are so many awesome places to visit in Australia!
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Experiences are not just travel…
Julia: Have you tried vegemite?
Liam: Ugh no, I think if I try it, I will be sick! It looks bad. Have you?
Julia: Yes I have, it isn’t so bad! What about kangaroo, have you tried that? I’m sure if you try it, you will like it!
Liam: Actually I have tried it when I went to DreamWorld, it was delicious!
Julia: Oh cool, I haven’t been to DreamWorld. Did you like it? When did you go?
Liam: Yes, it was fun, I went on a lot of rides! I visited two weeks ago.
See how Liam used past simple to give MORE details of the experience?
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One common question you will get asked or that you will ask is “How long have you been in Australia/on the Gold Coast.”
There are TWO ways to answer this correctly.
1 – I have been here FOR one month (using for we say the amount of time we have been somewhere)
2 – I have been here SINCE January (using since we say the time/date when we arrived)
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Now, a little bit on the pronunciation of present perfect. It can be tricky!
In natural speech people usually do not pronounce the H on HAVE, YOU sounds like YA, the ER on EVER sounds like A & they link all of those words together! Uh!
Slow speech: Have you ever
Natural speech: Have you ever
Did you hear the difference? Try practicing online with your teacher next class!
Welcome to the second blogcast of week 3! Wow, you are flying through the Inforum Warm Up Course, I hope you can get on a plane to come here soon!
Listen along today as our tour guide shows you around Brisbane!
Welcome one and all to our one-day tour of Brisbane City! Did you know that Brisbane is the capital of Queensland and home to one million people – a small city but there is a lot to do, so let’s go.
Firstly, we need to get there! Travelling to Brisbane is best by tram and train – do you have you go cards ready? Great! Don’t forget to tap on and off when transferring between the tram and train. The journey will take us about one and a half hours. There is free wifi on the train for you to use or look out the window!
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Okay, we have arrived. First stop Southbank. Southbank is home to an artificial beach, so I hope you have your swimmers. Oh, there is someone busking – that means they are performing for the public on the street and after you donate a small amount of money. ‘Buskers’ are everywhere in Southbank and you can see all types of performances! If you like the arts then Southbank will be perfect for you because here there are galleries and theatres. If you enjoy being outside, then here we are at a big park that you can walk or cycle through – keep your eyes open for Australian animals! Alright we have about two hours here – enjoy!
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Did everyone enjoy their time? GOOD! Okay, now we are going to walk across the Story Bridge, get your cameras ready because you can take a photo of the whole city! We will arrive in Queen Street Mall where you can do some shopping and eat lunch, there are many restaurants and cafes here for you to try! Also, in Brisbane there are more than 1000 free events every year in the city – let’s see if we can find one!
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Okay, full bellies – let’s walk it off and go to the Museum of Brisbane. It is free to enter and a great place to practice your English by reading and listening at the many exhibits. This is a great place to learn about the local indigenous culture and look at some native artwork! See you in an hour at the exit!
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Alright last stop on our tour of Brisbane is Howard Smith Wharves – this is a trendy place along the river. It has something for everyone, a brewery, a taco shop, a cocktail bar, a picnic area and lots of other things! Wow, you can already hear the noise. Plus it is almost dark and soon the bridge will light up in different colours! Cool, right! Oh look, there goes the CityCat, it is a public transport ferry – there are many routes which are free for tourists, so make sure you take it next time you come and visit Brisbane.
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Okay guys, we are home! Phew, we walked a lot of kilometres today. Get a good sleep and have a good day at school tomorrow. I hope you enjoyed our tour of Brisbane city!
Hello! Welcome back to the third blogcast of the week! This week you studied present continuous, comparatives & superlatives and a lot of vocabulary.
This is all useful stuff, especially adjectives. We use adjectives to describe things and people. By using adjectives, you sound more fluent and also help the listener understand exactly what or who you are talking about!
Let’s see some examples of that and how we can improve sentence by adding adjectives.
He is a man.
He is a tall man.
He is a tall, slim man.
He is a tall, slim, dark-skinned man.
He is a tall, slim, dark-skinned, green-eyed man.
He is a tall, dark-skinned, green-eyed man with brown hair.
He is a tall, dark-skinned, green-eyed man with short brown hair.
He is a tall, dark-skinned, green-eyed man with short brown hair and a beard.
Wow! See how much more descriptive our sentence became by adding adjectives? Now by reading the last sentence you have a clear image of the person I am describing.
Let’s see some more examples of adjectives.
John: Hey Leila, have you met the new student in our class?
Leila: No, who is it?
John: He is the tall guy.
Leila: There are lots of tall guys
John: He is the tall guy with hazel eyes and curly brown hair!
Leila: Oh, now I know who you’re talking about. He is the tallest man in the class!
Sam: Hey, tell me more about your family in Italy. What is your sister like?
Julia: She is the most beautiful girl in the world! She has long, straight, black hair and very tanned skin. She is very fit and lean. As beautiful as a supermodel!
Sam: Oh wow – I want to meet her!
Julia: Well she is going to come to Australia next week so you can!
Sam: That will be great!
Did you also notice the difference between going to and will in that example conversation?
Remember to try and use adjectives whenever you can! How would you describe yourself? How would you describe your family? Think about it and tell your teacher next online class!
Have a great weekend everyone and see you next week!
Hello everyone and welcome to week 2 session 2 of the Inforum Warm Up blogcast! Today you are going to hear a conversation between an Inforum teacher and her student’s. They’re talking about Byron Bay. During this conversation listen to the way the students ask questions and make plans!
Teacher: Okay everyone, that is all for class today. Any questions before we go?
Javier: Yes, I want to know about Byron Bay. Sam and I are planning to go there next weekend.
Sam: Yes miss, what is the best way to get there?
T: Well, the cheapest and easiest way is to rent a car. Do you have an international licence and a credit card?
S: Yes!
T: Perfect, that is all you need. Rent the car and it will only take you about one hour to drive. If you share the cost with some friends it will only be about $10 each. Just remember to buy insurance.
J: Okay, thanks! What can we do in Byron Bay. I know the beaches are very famous and we will try surfing there but is there something else to do?
T: Of course! I recommend you to go to the lighthouse, you can walk or drive there. From the top you will get a beautiful view and maybe even see dolphins and whales! Then you can go back into town and walk along Johnson Street, this is the main street. Here you will find many cool shops, cafes and restaurants.
S: I heard about a place called ‘the beachy’ what is that?
T: The beachy is short for The Beach Hotel, it is one of the most famous pubs in Australia. You can’t miss it, it is right in the centre. It is a good place for an Aussie pub meal and a beer! Also they have live music.
J: Cool! And do you think we should stay there one night?
T: Yes I do. Then you can enjoy the night life! There are many backpacker hostels where you can stay one night and in the hostels they often have parties. There is also a popular club called Cheeky Monkeys.
S: Cool! Alright Javi so we are going to rent a car and drive to Byron Bay on Saturday morning. Then we will spend some time learning to surf and after we can walk to the lighthouse. Then for dinner we will go to The Beachy. On Sunday morning I think we will be hungover so then we will go out for breakfast before driving back.
J: Alright, sounds like a plan! It’ll be a fun weekend! Let’s see if we can find some other classmates to go with.
T: Good idea, we say ‘the more the merrier!’ it means the more people you have the more fun it will be!
And that is all for today. We hope you learnt about Byron Bay but also heard examples of the different tenses you have learnt this week.
This week you started learning about one of the hardest things in English – prepositions! Prepositions can be confusing and sometimes they don’t make sense because there are not lot of rules. But don’t worry, it is just practice practice practice – so listen along to some facts about Australia and see which prepositions you can here!
Goodmorning and welcome to AusForum News – your number one channel to learn about Australia and study English at the same time. Today we’re going to talk about some famous Australian places.
First let’s talk about Sydney and two famous landmarks The Sydney Opera House and The Harbour Bridge. Both these places are found on the water, in Sydney! The Opera House was opened on 20th October, 1973. In 2006 the Queen of England visited. Now to the Harbour Bridge, it was opened in 1923 and is 134 meters above the sea! You can walk across the top, the most popular time to do this is at sunset so you can have a beautiful view!
Now let’s talk about Queensland – Australia’s favourite tourist destination. Surfers Paradise is on the Gold Coast and many people come here in the daytime for shopping and to lay on the beach. At night time people come to party, the most popular night clubs for students are Melbas and One Cavil, which are both on Cavil Avenue. In summertime Cavil Avenue is really busy, here you can meet different people from all over the world plus people from different parts of Australia.
Want to go further north? How about Fraser Island! It is the largest sand island in the world just off the coast of Harvey Bay. On the island there are more than 100 lakes you can swim in! You need a 4WD to go on this island, so best to go on a tour!
Lastly, have you heard of the Daintree Rainforest? It is the oldest rainforest in the world, 135 million years old!! The best time to visit is in the winter when it is not so hot and wet. In the forest you can see thousands of unique plants and animals. It is on the coast so you can also enjoy the ocean!
Well that’s all from AusForum News this week – how cool is Australia!
Hi everyone! Welcome to Inforum Warm-Up. I am Ashlee and I will be one of your teachers! We are SO upset that you can’t come to the Gold Coast because of Corona Virus. We know that coming to study English at Inforum was your dream, and now it has to wait.
But please don’t worry! That is why we have made this online course for you – so that you can still study with us, meet our teachers and other students AND we will also tell you about all the beautiful things you can see and do on the Gold Coast.
In this 4-week course, we plan to teach you some pre-intermediate level English, introduce our local places to you, and have as much fun as possible. We are so happy you have decided to join this course, you will get a lot of benefits and feel more confident when you come to Australia!
OK guys, so now let’s talk about the Pre-Intermediate course a little bit. Every week, you should log on to the Google Pre-Intermediate Classroom and do three sessions of self-study. Each session will include these amazing elements that we have made just for you:
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A video produced by one of our lovely members of staff, either Anthony, Ashlee, or Che. This video will explain the grammar for the session
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An awesome vocabulary PowerPoint teaching you some new words!
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A set of tasks that you can complete by yourself to practice what you learned in the video and PowerPoint presentations.
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Plus a photo blog or a podcast which will teach you about Australian culture and life on the Gold Coast!
Oh! Also once a week you can log in for an online class with a teacher and your fellow classmates! Here you can ask questions, practice speaking and meet people from all over the world! AND you can also talk with your teacher and other students on the STREAM in google classrooms.
We’re really excited about having you in this course and helping you to improve your English!
See you soon.
- Ashlee