20 January THURSDAY
READ
Alexander Selkirk, also spelled Selcraig, (born 1676 Scot.—died 1721 at sea), Scottish sailor who was the prototype of Daniel Defoe’s novel Robinson Crusoe (1719).
The son of a shoemaker, Selkirk ran away to sea in 1695; he joined a band of pirates in the Pacific. In September 1704, after a quarrel with his captain, he was left at his own request on the uninhabited Más a Tierra Island, 640 km west of Valparaíso, Chile. He remained there alone until February 1709, when he was discovered and taken aboard an English ship. They arrived in England in October 1711. Cruising Voyage Round the World was published the following year. The book included a description of Selkirk’s life on the island. Selkirk was on a British ship when he died.
Selkirk’s story was also told by the writer Richard Steele in The Englishman in 1713. Defoe evidently drew inspiration from these books for his Robinson Crusoe.
READ/SPEAK
If you had to live on an island for 3-4 years like Robinson Cruise, which 5 items would you like to have and why?
LEARN
close, but no cigar used to say that someone almost succeeded, but is not completely successful or correct:
“It was close but no cigar for Johnny as he came second once again.”
LEARN/SPEAK
Have you ever been close to winning the lottery or being rich? What happened at the end?
LISTEN-WRITE-SPEAK
I CAN’T SPEAK
Shopping
-do you like shopping? why, why not?
-where do you often go shopping?
-what did you last buy?
-when did you last buy something online and what was it?
-what was the most profitable shopping of your life?
-what was the worst shopping of your life? why do you think so?
-when are planning to go shopping soon and what do you want to buy?
-on what do you spend most of your money?
Grammar1, Grammar2, Grammar3, Grammar4
I CAN SPEAK
Dreams:
-tell us about your dreams. what things do you want to do and have?
-what were your dreams when you were a child?
-have you ever had a dream which came true?
-do you have any friends who had a dream and made it real?
-what’s your biggest dream about the world?
I CAN SPEAK FLUENTLY
Great men and women
-Is history made my great leaders, or the common people?
-Who was a great man or woman in your professional or academic field?
-Who is a great person the world needs to know more about?
