Determiners
Little, a little, few, a few


It's fortunate that you can make comparisons between much of English language and it's counterpart in Italian.
Few anglophones really know why they say the things they do. Most native Italian speaker, on the other hand, are usually quite aware of how the structure of language works and why certain things are the way they are? Does make English a mysterious language or does it make native English speakers ignorant? You decide.


Try to complete the following sentences using the given determiners


little, a little, few, a few


1. The average politician has _________________ real power.


2. ________________ people can speak a foreign language really fluently,


3. Would you like ____________________ soup?


4. Only _____________________ students in my class are studying languages.


5. '____________________ knowledge is a dangerous thing.'




If I ask for 'a little tomato', am I asking for a tomato of small proportion or quantity?


If I say 'there are few people at school today', am I saying more or less than usual? How is this different to 'a few'?


Little do native English know about their language and few are those who do. 

Interested in learning English with recipes?
You'll find lots of delicious English recipes on the BBC Good Food website
http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/content/recipes/cuisines/british/

Visit my Great British Recipe Blog
http://martinsgreatbritishrecipes.blogspot.it/

Ready to Cook!
Jamie Oliver's Great Italian Escape


Do you like to cook or do you prefer to watch someone else doing the cooking?
Take a look at England's acclaimed celebrity chef at work in Italy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X56IgAPtF9s&feature=results_main&playnext=1&list=PL6260DC9E059DE3D5

Comedy Quiz Shows
Take a look on YouTube at the following TV shows

Fragments of an empire
English speaking UK territories outside Great Britain

How strange it is to take one step forward and find yourself in a totally different country. On reflection, I'd like to have little territories in each country. Think about the benefits for everyone. Wouldn't it be great to have little states within the state. This is exactly how it felt for me when I visited Gibraltar last Easter.
As soon as I'd crossed the border, I found myself in familiar surroundings. There was an English bus with an English speaking bus driver. The price of a ticket was 1.50 - one pound and fifty pence. The shops were English, the traffic lights were English, the money was English, and the language was English.
Just how far do you have to travel from Catania to experience a similar environment. Well, there's Sigonella just 30 km away. But for a real English colony feeling you could go to Malta. Although no longer British, Malta has retained tradition and, of course, the language. It is one of the many territories scattered around the world where English is spoken on a daily basis.
Gibraltar is still part of the Crown today. Take a look at the YouTube link below to discover just how far the empire still stretches across the globe today.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNu8XDBSn10

Particle fun!


Prof. Brian Cox is a popular scientist who presents contemporary science programmes on TV for the BBC.
Check out the video link below.


Prof Brian Cox Youtube video clip

Also take a look at these two funny video clips taken from English TV chat shows 'Mock The Weak' and Jonathan Ross Show'.

Easter break


Thank you all for making an effort to attend lessons recently; I'm very happy and proud of you as a group.


This coming Thursday and next Tuesday are both holidays and so there will be no English lessons until the following week. This means that the next lesson will be on Thursday April 12th. Please make sure Nancy also knows.


I'd like to wish you all a happy easter and look forward to seeing everyone again when I get back from Spain.


Keep practising.