Eating out

Eating out is a big part of life! Whether it’s grabbing a quick snack or enjoying a fancy dinner, knowing the right words will help you talk about restaurants and food experiences confidently. 🍕🍜

💡 What You’ll Practice:

  • Vocabulary: Learn and use words related to eating out, like set menu, main course, service charge, and reservation.
  • Speaking Skills: Use the new vocabulary to express your opinions about dining out.

🎯 Goal: By the end of this activity, you will be able to discuss eating out, agree or disagree with different statements, and use key vocabulary naturally.

🌟 Part 1: Vocabulary Practice

🗣️ Part 2: Speaking Activity – Agree or Disagree?

Let’s use the vocabulary in a discussion! In pairs or small groups, agree or disagree with these statements. Use the new words when you share your opinion!

Example:

🃏 “Eating at a restaurant is always better than cooking at home.

💬 Example Response: I disagree that eating at a restaurant is always better. Home-cooked meals are healthier and cheaper, but I enjoy a nice main course at a restaurant from time to time!

🚀 Ready to practice? Comment below with your thoughts on these statements! What’s your favorite thing about eating out? 🍽️😋

Business English

Do you have what it takes to run a successful company? 🏢

This activity is designed to help you practice vocabulary related to business and entrepreneurship while having fun.

You will play an interactive board game where every move brings you closer to building your dream business—or facing the challenges of running one!

💡 What You’ll Practice:

  • Vocabulary about business and entrepreneurship.
  • Explaining situations and making decisions.
  • Speaking or writing about real-life business challenges.

🎯 Goal: By the end of this game, you’ll feel more confident using business vocabulary while reflecting on how companies grow and face challenges.

Vocabulary Practice

Speaking Practice

Let’s roll the dice and get started! 🎲

📝 Instructions for the Vocabulary Board Game

1️⃣ Open the Game: Click the Genially game link on the blog to open the interactive board game.

2️⃣ Roll the Dice: Click the dice in the game to see how many spaces to move. 🎲

3️⃣ Read and Think: Imagine that you are running your own company

  • Read the situation and think about what it means for your business.
  • Is it a positive thing or a negative thing? Why?

4️⃣ Practice Vocabulary: If you see a word you don’t know, look it up! 📝

  • Use the new word in a sentence to practice.

5️⃣ Finish the Game: Keep rolling and moving until you reach the “FINISH” square. 🎉

💡 Pro Tip: The more you explain and discuss, the more confident you’ll become!

Are you ready to take your company to success?

Let’s play! 🚀

Tag questions

Tag questions are indirect questions that we often use to check something that we think is true.

A question tag has two parts:

  1. Statement (positive or negative)
  2. Short question (auxiliary verb + subject pronoun)

Example:

Tag question: Your name is Mike, isn’t it?

Direct question: Is your name Mike?

A question tag is a short question we add at the end of a sentence to check information or ask for confirmation.

How to Form a Question Tag

🔹 Step 1: Write your sentence

This is the information you think is true.

You’re a student

🔹 Step 2: Add a comma (,) after the sentence

You’re a student, ___

🔹 Step 3: Choose the correct auxiliary verb or modal verb

It depends on the verb in the sentence.

Auxiliary Verbs

Verb in the sentencePositive TagNegative Tag
be (present)am, is, aream not, isn’t, aren’t
be (past)was, werewasn’t, weren’t
verb (present)do, doesdon’t, doesn’t
verb (past)diddidn’t
have + past participle (present perfect)have, hashaven’t, hasn’t
had + past participle (past perfect)hadhadn’t

Modal Verbs

ModalPositive TagNegative Tag
cancancan’t
couldcouldcouldn’t
willwillwon’t
wouldwouldwouldn’t
shouldshouldshouldn’t

🔹 Step 4: Use the opposite form

  • If the sentence is positive → the tag is negative
  • If the sentence is negative → the tag is positive

✅ You’re tired, aren’t you?
✅ You aren’t tired, are you?

🔹 Step 5: Add the pronoun for the subject

Subject in the sentencePronoun in the tag
Mariashe
My parentsthey
The weatherit
You and Iwe
Your brotherhe

🔹 Step 6: Add a question mark (?)

You live here, don’t you?

✅ Full Examples

SentenceQuestion Tag
She’s from Mexico, ___isn’t she?
They don’t eat meat, ___do they?
You’ll be ready soon, ___won’t you?
He can drive, ___can’t he?
We weren’t late, ___were we?
I’m early, ___aren’t I? (special form)

Statement TypeExampleTag
Present simple (be)He’s late, isn’t he?isn’t + subject?
Present simple (other verbs)You live here, don’t you?don’t + subject?
Present simple negativeThey don’t eat meat, do they?do + subject?
Present continuousShe’s studying, isn’t she?isn’t + subject?
Past simple (be)They were tired, weren’t they?weren’t + subject?
Past simple (other verbs)He left early, didn’t he?didn’t + subject?
Modal verbsYou can swim, can’t you?can’t + subject?
Imperatives (commands)Close the door, will you?will + subject

Let’s Practice

Practice 1

Practice 2

Match the phrases

Speaking

Practice 1

Student A: Complete with a tag question.

Student B: Answer the question.

Student C: React to B’s Answer (same/ different answer)

Switch roles

Practice 2

How to express wishes

This mini lesson includes a review of verb wish.

Verb wish is used to express our desire for something different from how it is now. Wish expresses a desire that is impossible or almost impossible to happen.

In this mini lesson you'll learn how to express desires in English

Differences between I would like and I wish

 Grammar Practice

Level of difficulty: ⭐

Wishes about present situations

Put the words in the correct order

 Speaking Practice

  1. Get into pairs or small groups.
  2. Take turns being the speaker and the listener.
  3. Choose a topic card.

You are going to make wishes about things that are or will be impossible.

You will need to use the I wish + simple past/ would to explain the things that you wanted to be real but you know they are not real

Give examples and reasons

Another speaking game

Level of difficulty: ⭐⭐

Wishes about past situations

Student A:

  1. Choose one box
  2. Read the sentence out loud

Student B:

  1. Close your eyes
  2. Listen to your partner
  3. Make a wish (I wish + past perfect)

Student C:

Write the sentence on a piece of paper

Switch roles <>

QUIZ

Gerunds and Infinitives

Gerund

(+) verbing

(-) not verbing

We use the gerund (verb + ing)

  1. After prepositions and phrasal verbs
  2. As the subject of the sentence
  3. After some verbs:

admit, avoid, deny, dislike, enjoy, feel like, finish, hate, keep, like, love, mind, miss, practice, prefer, recommend, spend time/money, stop, suggest, give up, go on, etc.

The infinitive (to + base form)

(+) to + verb

(-) not to + verb

We use the infinitive

  1. After adjectives
  2. To express a reason or purpose
  3. after some verbs:

(can’t) afford, agree, decide, expect, forget, help, hope, learn, need, offer, plan, pretend, promise, refuse, remember, seem, try, want, would like, etc.

More verbs take the infinitive than the gerund.

The base form

We use the base form

  1. after most modal verbs and auxiliary verbs
  2. After make and let

Watch the following video for examples

 Grammar Review

Level of difficulty: ⭐

 Grammar Practice

Complete the sentences using the correct form of the verb

Flip the tile to check your answer.

Quiz

 Speaking Practice

Level of difficulty: ⭐⭐

Ask and answer the following questions

Difference between if I was and if I were

I was

PAST

We use “I was” or “If I was” when we talk about real things that actually happened in the past.

The conjugation for the verb be in the past form is

Iwas
Youwere
He/ She/ Itwas
Wewere
Theywere
Simple past verb be

Examples:

  1. When I was 10 years old, I used to play soccer every day.
  2. I was really happy to hear that you passed your test yesterday.
  3. My high school teachers would give me extra homework if I was late for class.
  4. I apologize if I was rude. I didn’t mean it.
  5. I’m very sorry if I wasn’t clear enough.

I were

HYPOTHETICAL SITUATIONS & WISHES

We use the phrase “If I were” when we want to talk about unreal or hypothetical situations (second conditional). We also use it when we are wishing for something. It’s called the subjunctive mood.

The conjugation of verb be in the subjunctive mood is

Iwere
Youwere
He/ She/ Itwere
Wewere
Theywere
Subjunctive verb be
Second conditional
  1. If I were rich, I would buy a house in Dubai.
  2. If I were you, I wouldn’t do that.
  3. I wouldn’t work every day if I weren’t a police officer.
  4. I would be more active if I were younger.
  5. If he were taller, he could play basketball.

NOTE: with he, she and it we can use was (instead of were) in informal speaking. Example: If she was here, she’d know what to do

Wish
  1. I wish I were able to run 20 km
  2. I wish I were a doctor.
  3. I wish I were 20 years old again.
  4. She wishes she were a top model.
  5. He wishes he were richer.

Video in Spanish

Video in English