 language class for beginners TEMPLATE PAGE
vocabulary sheets for free download Vocabulary sheet Beginner 2Vocabulary Beginner 1(homework)course-book template to fill in available as free PDF)
German Booklet 2011 course
French Booklet 2011 - beginner course Welcome, would you like to revise/improve your language skills or revise English as a second language? why learning languages? With 1/5 of the world's population speaking English to a certain level of competence, we could convince ourselves that the English language is sufficient to communicate. In some ways it may be sufficient, but with one language alone we cannot understand cultural differences amongst speakers - we need to be able to walk a few steps with non-native English speakers if we truly want to build relationships. On another level, the English language is rich with words that have been imported from various languages and other languages have adapted words from the English language, it can be quite fascinating to go on a journey of discovery. Last but not least, many of us travel or work abroad and languages can be useful to feel at home where we understand the words. English as a Second Language is useful for any of us who want to revise this language. We all know that in today's world it is an asset to be able to spell one's own language correctly and be able to deal with the written word. Why learning languages with zebras54? For all these reason and because we believe in universal education. Our language courses are free. This is possible because we work with small funds and use internet resources. If you have access to the internet with a printer, this is a chance for you to try it. We make no promises but we would like to point out that anything you learn will be of benefit to you in one way or the other. Furthermore, if you want to go further with language studies, you can follow us to the intermediate and advanced levels. We are qualified to teach: English as a foreign language, French (all levels), German (all levels) and Spanish (beginner) . The other languages offered here are our homework to show you that we test the practicality of our own courses on ourselves. Our continuing linguistic research enables us to continually improve our courses. Our template page has been adjusted to encompass a wide-ranged vocabulary, and thanks to our homework pages, we have been able to assess various grammatical needs for beginners. Why wait? Start your own journey today. To paraphrase an old motto from the radioevropa site: Lost in words, totally wired, taking you to places you thought never existed. Hello, My name is DKav. My languages are: English, French and German. I learnt Spanish at school and taught myself Czech and Irish beginner level because I like traveling. I also did a bit of Swahili because the language fascinates me. I
don't teach in a school because I am disabled, so I do this online as a
volunteer because I believe that zebras54 website should provide
accessible information, entertainment and knowledge. you can contact me
at radioevropa@zebras54.com
(write: "(Language)-beginner" in your headline) You can also use this course as a
template to learn English as a Second Language (ESL) or a foreign
language with help of the English language, you will need to find the
grammar and the pronunciation equivalents, and translate all the
vocabulary.
If you can spare 3 hours per week, try this.
(you don't need to finish the chapter in 3 hours - if you are not finished, you can come back at the end of the course and finish it) . It is important that you stick to the schedule of a new chapter every week until you finish the course. After the course, revisions are very important to help practising what you learnt. from chapter9, you can try to find videos with a song, a cartoon and a short film (under 10 mn) to get some sounds. course validation:  This is a free course. zebras54 is
not a school. If you want an official
certificate, you need to contact your job centre, community centre or
adult education centre after you finish this course and bring your
exercises with you. ------ first online : Tuesday, March 19th, 2009  language-beginners245 Photos labelled in English, French, German, Irish, Spanish and Czechwe are making a brand new photobook!
material
 books we are using: text resources - you will need three pieces of writing (20 pages each or so). 1) a modern story, 2) tourist guide book, 3) a modern non-fiction text. (newspaper article) You need one version of it in your own language and one version in the language you are learning. If there is a subject that you find particularly fascinating in your own language, we recommend you to get material accordingly. You need to know what your text means when you are doing the grammar exercise. (either you need a bilingual book or have equivalent texts) - above all, chose texts that you like or find useful. dictionary definitions dictionary with grammar supplement (one in your own language, and one in the language that you are learning) billingual dictionary phonics dictionary (for the English as second language) useful internet dictionaries. to find a word, you can use these websites for free: www.imtranslator French dictionary Le dictionnaire
en ligne THE INTERNET ask at your library, your school, your family if you can use the internet and printer for 2 hours a week. You will need to do the reading exercise at home for 1 hour. If you have a personal computer do not work more than one chapter per week, and maximum 3 hours per chapter. (if you work too much, you won't be able to do your normal things) For English as a second language, only: > 
TTS Voice reading
software and translation dictionary provided by IM Translator) speed settings " - -" for
EnglishDO NOT TRANSLATE SENTENCES WITH THIS SOFTWARE during the course. [TTS Voice] TTS Voice presented by animated speaking characters will read the text in the most realistic, human-sounding way in a variety of languages: English U.S., Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Brazilian Portuguese, Russian and European Spanish. The other languages are easy to read once you know how to pronounce them - believe us! EQUIPMENT stuff that you need for homework: Homework write by hand and/or type on the computer  a file, A4 or A5 (A4 is cheaper A5 is more practical) pens in 5 different colours colour pages (5 colours) white pages black pencil (and a sharpener, and eraser) USB stick (if you work with a computer) free software for your computer: I want to download OpenOffice.org before the course print this page from this website In A4 or A5 format. Store the pages in a file. If you do your homework on the computer, you need to print your exercises after each chapter. EXERCISE - all instructions are in red. colour-coding exercises (finding out the types of words) are optional because they are difficult. However, this is a rewarding exercise. reading and understanding the vocabulary from each chapter - absolutely necessary and first priority! If you are learning a language other than English, French, German, Spanish, Czech or Irish, you need to translate the beginner's vocabulary in the language of your choice. You can either use our cards in the photoalbum copying 10 lines of text - compulsory for every chapter (copying the translation is optional) Each chapter - 3 hours per weeks the whole course 12 chapters x 3 hours per week if you are not finished with a chapter after 3 hours, start the next one the week after and go back at the end of the course when you do revisions. exercise 1 - write down the vocabulary from each chapter and familiarize yourself with the meaning the spelling and the pronunciation. (English phonics are a guide) - exercise 2: practise the grammar exercise from each chapter. And write down your conclusion. Keep the same colour code for the grammar exercises. exercise 3: copy 10 lines of text of your choice (+ the equivalent in your language) and attempt to analyse the grammar in colour codes.
you can print/copy this
text, spot
the different
types of
words and
highlight them with
colour (either
colouring pencil
or the
colour option from
your computer). It is not very easy to do but we
recommend this
exercise for
beginners and learners,
this will help you understand a
text in
your foreign
language. Good luck! exercise1 improves your vocabulary and communication skills. Exercise 2 makes you use vocabulary, expressions and syntaxes that you learnt.Exercise3 helps you familiarize yourself with the look and the structure of the language you are learning Do no be afraid of leaving things blank if you don't know, do not be afraid of making mistakes. Do as much as you can within three hours and come back later during revisions. Only practice makes perfect. In fact, the more often you do revisions, the better it is. Are you ready? This is the template TEMPLATE : LANGUAGE BEGINNER COURSE chapter 1 - grammar basics  learn how to say the alphabet. Does the language you are learning use Latin letters - or is it a completely different one? The Russian alphabet uses Cyrillic letters, Arabic, Hebrew, Greek, Chinese, Japanese and some other languages have their own alphabet. In languages using the Latin alphabet, look for special characters or letters missing from the international Latin alphabet:
Part 1: pronunciation: print out the pronunciation table, write down the corresponding letters and sounds in the language, you can't find this letter or sound write down "-" the main difference between our system and the international phonetics alphabet is that all our characters can be typed from a Latin alphabet keyboard. Jolly phonics does not cover non-English sounds. the different sounds that is why we are using the phonic alphabet in the vocabulary section vowels: /a/ /è/ /*/= mute e /ö/ /é/ /i/, /o/ /ey/ /oy/ /ay/, /ou/ /au/
consonants /b/ /d/ /f/ /g/ /k/ /kv/ /ch/ /s/ č /z/
ž
/š/ /t/ /y/ /pause/ - /th/ /w/ /v/ /:/ makes the vowel longer part 2: Basis of syntax
Print out this column and use different pages for each type of word - then go to column 2 Pronoun a pronoun is a word that can take the place of
a noun. Some languages do not write down personal pronouns (they are
implied) "Thing" and "person" and "location" are not
exactly pronouns because they need an article you can use them to
replace a noun if you can't remember its name but do not forget
personal pronouns 1. person singular, 2. person singular, 3. person singular 1. person plural, 2. person plural, 3. person plural pronouns in the accusative pronouns in the dative pronouns in the genitive (possessive pronouns) Article an article is a small word that tells you how many units of noun there are, and what gender the noun is. Numbers and portions can be used as articles. Some languages do not use articles with the noun (it is implied).
possessive article indicates ownership. partitive article indicates:
portions:
one glass of water - A noun A noun is a word to name a person, a place or thing. If the spelling of a noun changes because of its position in the sentence, this is called declension. Students also need to check the gender and the plural form of their nouns. Common nouns are the names for things we can see and touch. Abstract nouns are the names for things we cannot see and touch. Proper nouns are the special names, used for a person, a place or a thing. A proper noun starts with a capital letter. complex noun:
Adjectives an adjective is a word that describes a noun or a pronoun. It can also describe who the noun or the pronoun belongs to or how many there are. Students need to check the position of the adjective, whether there is a declension or adjustment to gender or plural. human adjectives: happy, sad, injured, ill, disabled, angry, tired, OK Verb A verb is a word that is used to tell what a person or thing does. Verbs change according to who is involved. Verbs change according to when they take place. Action verbs involve movement - inanimate objects do not require an action verb. TO BE on its own provides no action to a sentence: the subject complement re-identifies the subject; the adjective complement modifies it. verbs:
existenceto be possession to have movement to go to go in to go out the five senses to see, to say, to hear, to feel, to smell. emotions, symptoms to feel. clothing: to wear, to put on, to take off transport to carry, activities to do to make to use to work to teach to study to think to play to hunt to dance to drive to read to research to explore to translate to clean to manage to employ to paint to sing to buy to sell transport to travel (on foot, by train, by car, by boat, by plane), to depart, to arrive, to wait, to commute to eat to drink to cook to feed to sleep Adverb An adverb is a word that describes a verb. Usually it describes how, where, when or how often it happens. The spelling of an adverb never changes. use adverbs with caution yesterday today tomorrow then later right now last night this morning next week already recently lately soon immediately still ago adverbs of manner very quite pretty really fast well hard quickly slowly very quite pretty really fast well hard quickly slowly carefully hardly barely mostly almost absolutely together alone frequently usually sometimes occasionally seldom rarely never Negative form. The English adverb "not" is translated into other languages by the negative present of the verb (see your dictionary for tables) I am going out. ---> I am not going out. Preposition A preposition is a word that links one noun or a pronoun to another one. Prepositions often describe where someone or something is, or where it is moving towards, or where it is moving towards. Or a particle that you can find after a verb that changes its meaning. the main preposition are: out, at, by, with, to, since, of, towards, in, out, into, out of , on, up, down, with, without, Conjunction A conjunction is a word to join two parts of sentences or two words together. Conjunctions are used when you want to make lists, or comparisons, or explain things with two sentences. the conjunctions are: but, Expressions and proverbs An expression is a group of words that never changes. A proverb is a sentence that never changes. A quote is a group of words that someone has used before and you need put them into "...." . An interjection is a single word expression and it doesn't need a full sentence. to work as + profession language phrase books have many expressions for chapter 12 and after: Sentence structures: circumstantial complement of time - "when" circumstantial complement of place - "where" circumstantial complement of manner - "why" genitive - "whose" or "of what" direct and indirect object complement - what, to what/for what In the intermediate course we shall learn to give information, and therefore it is important to know the basics of sentence structures. cardinal numbers (for counting) 1 = one 2 = two 3 = three 4 = four 5 = five 6 = six 7 = seven 8 = eight 9 = nine 10 = ten 11 = eleven 12 = twelve, 13 = thirteen 14 =fourteen 15 = fifteen) 16 = sixteen 17 = seventeen 18 = eighteen, 19 = nineteen, 20 = twenty 21 = twenty-one 22 = twenty-two 23 = twenty-three 24 = twenty-four 25 = twenty-five count until 60 fractions 1/4 = one quarter 1/3 = one third 1/2 = one half ordinal numbers (for telling position) 1. = the first or 1st 2. = the second or 2nd 3. = the third or 3rd 4. = the fourth or 4th 5. = the fifth 6. = the sixth 7. = the seventh 8. = the eighth 9. = the ninth 10. the tenth 11. the eleventh 12. the twelth, 13. the thirteenth 14.(the fourteenth 15. the fifteenth 16. the sixteenth 17. the seventeenth 18. the eighteenth, 19. the nineteenth, 20. the twentieth 21. the twenty-first 22. the twenty-second 23. the twenty-third 24. the twenty-fourth 25. the twenty-fifth count until 60th position currency:  telling the time: Since there are 60 minutes in an hour children must be able to read and order numbers to 60 before they can read time on the digital clock. Since time is often referred to in fractional terms on analog clocks it will be helpful if children have an understanding of halves and fourths. A century has hundred years. A decade has ten years. A year has twelve months. A month has thirty or thirty one days except February. A day has twenty-four hours. An hour has sixty minutes. A minute has sixty seconds. During the day: Between midnight and sunrise - the night Between sunrise and noon - the morning between noon and sunset - the afternoon between sunset and midnight - the evening AM - from midnight to midday. PM - from midday to midnight 00.00 - midnight 09.00 - nine o'clock in the morning. or 9 AM 09.05 - five past nine in the morning. 09.15 - a quarter past nine in the morning. 09.25 - twenty-five past nine in the morning. 09.30 - half-past nine in the morning 09.40 - twenty to ten in the morning. 09.45 - quarter to ten in the morning. 10.00 - ten o'clock in the morning. 12.00 - midday /noon 21.00 - nine o'clock in the evening. / 9 PM Date: September 11, 2009 01:11AM Optional exercise - If you like photography or collages and are nifty on the computer, you can take pictures of some of the words in the beginners list that inspire you and label them in different languages. Then learning a language also becomes a visual journey of exploration about your surroundings. And you get a great arts project as well as an archive of words and a great personal photo-album. | part 3: chapter 1 - basic vocabulary. Translate the expressions in the picture, learn how to use and pronounce them.  chapter 2
 The months of the year (noun) , January February March April May June July August September October November December The days of the week (noun) Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday the date in English , Thursday, September 23, 2010. The seasons (nouns) Spring Summer Autumn Winter Special occasions (expressions) the birthday Happy Birthday! Happy New Year! New Year's Day Easter Christmas Happy Christmas New Year's Eve  The weather (adjectives) - stormy, rainy, sunny with clouds, sunny, cloudy, snowy the world (nouns) North America South America The Pacific Ocean The Atlantic Ocean Europe Africa Asia The Indian Ocean Australia the South Pole North South East West . I live in (location) it lives in (location)  The weather map In the North of England: the weather is snowy. In Ireland, it is sunny. In Norway, it is sunny with clouds. In Southern France, the weather is rainy.  shapes (nouns) circle, cylinder, cube, square, triangle, cone, polygon, cross, line, crescent, rectangle, half-circle, star colours (adjectives) orange, yellow, blue, red, green, dark-blue, purple, pink, grey, brown, black, white, dull/bright pale/dark start the lesson writing today's date. exercise 1: write the months and the days on a calendar. write down when the seasons start and end. choose some special occasions and write them down in the callendar. exercise 2: fill in a world map with the names of the continents and oceans. exercise 3: write a fictitious postcard. Put the date, the address, use an expression from above and describe the weather. useful syntax:
pronoun/noun + TO BE + adjective I am + adjective also practise: This is + article + noun draw the shapes and fill them in with different colours. Write down the name of the shape and its colour. For example. The red circle, the blue square. the circle is red, the square is blue. How is the adjective placed in those two circumstances? Adjectives: human/ animal , fast/slow. large/small, short/ tall, rough/smooth, curly/straight, wide/narrow, fat/lean, dirty/clean, domesticated/wild the bear. the lion. the kangaroo. the tortoise. the elephant the porcupine. the snake. the hippo the deer. the giraffe. the gazelle. the sheep the goat. the young goat. the goose. the lamb. the horse. the cow. the bird. the calf. the pig. the piglet the duck. the duckling. the mouse. the dog. the cat. the donkey. the zebra. the chicken the hen the egg Grammar: in this chapter, we would like our students to use animate words. Pick up 10 animals and describe them. What colour are they, are they fast, are they slow, rough or smooth etc. For example: The panda is black and white. It is wild. It lives in Asia. It is large and slow with smooth fur. Check your dictionary under "gender" because some languages have different gender. Check the difference between an animate and an inanimate noun. What are your favourite 10 animals? Find pictures of them. If you find other animals in this course, you can put them on a separate page.
the
house. the
car. people: (start a page called "people" and add these words) the family, a (male) friend / a (female) friend , a (male) neighbour , a (female) neighbour /, a parent, an adult, a child , a man , a woman a person , people grammar exercises: learn the verbs TO BE and TO GO in the present and find out about English present continuous and the English gerund. Find out about in/out/into/out of/inside/outside in connection with TO BE and TO GO. expressing location: inside and outside in, into, out, out of are location preposition inside, outside are location adverbs image I am in the house. (no action, no movement) I am going into the house (an action, a movement) I am inside (inside replaces "in the house" no action and no movement) I am going inside (inside replaces "into the house" action and movement) The garden is outside the house. (no action, no movement) I am going out of the house (an action, a movement) The garden is outside (outside replaces "outside the house" no action, no movement) I am going outside (outside replaces "out of the house - action, movement) Chapter 5
image landscapes the
fish. adjective: rural images Grammar: Describing a landscape - THERE IS/THERE ARE practise: There is a tree by the lake. There are three bales in the field. the butterfly is flying above the flower. The fish is swimming in the river. The swing is hanging from the tree. The village is on the hill. The school is at the end of the pathway. In a rural landscape, there are villages, fields, hills etc. (visualise these sentences) then analyze this: THERE IS + SINGULAR NOUN THERE ARE + PLURAL NOUN various prepositions that can be used with a location noun: by + location, on + location, at the end of + location to hang from something: verb with preposition.
clothes
verbs: the five senses: to see, to say, to hear, to feel, to smell. feeling: to feel. clothing: to wear, to put on, to take off things: to carry, to have exercise: make a separate page called "numbers" and find out what cardinal and ordinal numbers are, then write the ordinal numbers and cardinal numbers up to 25. practise the following sentences (or similar) : The woman is wearing a head scarf, sunglasses and a ring, the man is putting his jacket on, Leonard Cohen is taking his hat off, the woman is carrying towels, this girl is disabled, this girl is happy.
body Chapter 7 tools and machines
image the shelter the basket, the wheelbarrow the bucket, the shovel the tractor, the van, the lorry the scaffold, the helmet, screwdriver the screw the hammer, the nail, the broom, the sponge, the machine the barrier, the telephone, the pen, the paper, the camera, the scissors (pl) , the needle, the ribbon, the calculator the roll, the stapler, the box, the folder, the bin, the notebook, the pencil, the plug the cable the socket, the tap, the light-bulb, the ruler, the picture the manual, the board, the paintbrush the paint, the rope, the sack, the trolley, the trailer, the container the bag, the button, the keyboard the monitor the website the computer language course the lesson the label verbs: to work as, to do, to make, to use The worker uses a machine. The woman works as a nurse. The artist makes an picture. The pupil is doing homework. image make a separate verb page for everything about verbs These are examples of verbs and professions associated with the verb. (add these to your page called "verbs" and to your page called "people") to work - a worker, to teach - a teacher, to study -> a student. to think --> a thinker. to play --> a player, to hunt --> a hunter. to dance --> a dancer, to drive --> a driver. to read --> a reader. to research --> a researcher to explore --> an explorer to translate --> a translator. To clean --> a cleaner. to lecture --> a lecturer. to manage --> a manager. to employ --> an employer. to be employed --> an employee. To work in an office --> an office worker. to be unemployed --> an unemployed person, to work freelance --> a freelancer . to sing -> a singer, to buy --> a buyer. to sell --> a seller Chapter 8
the
train, the locomotive, railway track the luggage the carriage, the ticket, the signal, the clock the railway, the station, the time-table the map, the bus, the motorway the taxi, the road, the pavement the aircraft, the airport. horse cart, cargo electricity, energy petrol station pylon, pipeline, power station sewage system engine wheel, parking-space a bus-stop traffic, a traffic-sign, the zebra crossing, the traffic lights the steamer, the canal the container-ship thesailboat, the ferry, the pier, the waiting-room the public toilets the mobile phone a letter, a stamp the e-mail the post-office the internet the cash-machine, a postcard, money the money-order the voucher customs, border, country, passport receipt verbs: to travel (on foot, by train, by car, by boat, by plane), to depart, to arrive, to wait, to commute (copy and paste into "verbs") people: a traveller, a tourist, a commuter, a sailor, a ticket inspector, a railway worker, a passenger, a tourist, a mechanic, (copy and paste into "people") expressions: attention, have a safe journey! send me an email, freedom to travel danger grammar find out about the preposition "of", about the genitive and about possessive articles. (copy and paste pronoun section into "people") Chapter 9: the
town,
the
street, adjective: civic, municipal, urban, commercial, derelict, people (professions): bookseller, shopkeeper, , clergyman, optician, chief of police, fireman, postman, locksmith, salesman, repairman, athlete, florist, lawyer, life-guard. architect, carpenter, window-cleaner, taxi driver, shop-assistant, porter, waiter, pumber, bricklayer, electrician, roofer, gardener, homeless person, musician, pedestrian, welder, steel worker, foreman, doorman, cameraman, librarian, barber, cashier, bank-teller, chemist, nurse, doctor, dentist, patient, chef, attendant, clerk, photographer, editor, typist, fisherman, coastgard. docker, captain, soldier, surveyor, judge, pilot, crew, team, house-worker, craftsman, designer, webmaster, customer, crowd grammar: 1) find out how the partitive/genitive works for shop names and addresses 2) find out about compound nouns and the use of hyphens. 3) find a street map in the language you are learning. Chapter 10 - food and drink
the
soup, exercise: verbs: to cook, to eat, to drink, to feed example of a shopping list, example of a recipe, expressing quantities with numbers, measuring units and partitive, find out about the denominations of coins and bank-notes and the currencies used in the countries. I like chocolate I would like some chocolate How much does it cost? It costs two euros and fifty cents. Chapter 11 - leisure
arts and entertainment the
newspaper
furniture
verb: to have, to belong to, "made of" + material "made by" + person "made in" location direct and indirect object complement/dative/accusative people: what are the 15 most common names in the language you are learning? what do they mean? Chapter 12 the
bedroom
the
bed, verbs - to wash, to sleep, to wake up, to play a music instrument, to play a game, to play with a toy, to stage a play what is the difference between a play and a game. optional name five toys, name five games name five plays name five book titles How to form an adverb - An adverb is a word that describes a verb. Usually it describes how, where, when or how often it happens. The spelling of an adverb never changes. In grammar when you analyse a sentence, anything with an adverb tells you how things are done, and so these types of complements are called circumstantial complements of manner
what time is it - the day, the morning, the afternoon, the evening, the night, the time (we would like our students to find a clock with handles that they can use for this exercise) making a time table - describe one of your days. Any indication of time or date in a sentence, answers a question "When", this types of complements are called "circumstantial complements of time" time-table, clock, diary. complements of time, forming and using adverbs Thank you for completing the course. Don't forget to revise your exercises and read through the course once a month or a few days before a trip abroad so that you don't get rusty! the template page is finished - choose your language and good luck! a languages class A-beginner |
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