Daily routine - (Level: Basic to Intermediate)
Download the mp3 file length: 7 min 56 secs file size: 7.3 Mb__________ Hello, I'm Marcos Gazzana and this is English Language Podcast. In today's episode we'll be looking at how to talk about your daily routine. We always hear teachers saying that we should use Present Simple to talk about routine, but often times we forget that there are more things involved. For instance, we wouldn't say "we go to the cinema" and not mention how often we do that. We don't normally talk about going to the gym without saying the number of times we do it during the week. So, whenever we are talking about our daily routines, we use either an adverb of frequency or a time adverbial to indicate how often we do an activity. So, let's go over some adverbs of frequency and some time adverbials and see how they are used. Some examples of adverbs of frequency are: always - usually - often - sometimes - hardly ever - never There are also words like: generally, normally and basically, which are also used when people talk about their daily routines. Another important thing to keep in mind is the position of adverbs of frequency in a sentence. We say "I never go to the cinema", but we don't say "I go to the cinema never". In some other cases it's possible to place the adverb in several different positions in the sentence, though. For instance: we can say "Sally sometimes goes shopping after class", or "Sometimes Sally goes shopping after class", or even "Sally goes shopping after class sometimes". So, as you can see, some adverbs may come at the beginning or at the end of your sentences, but in general they come before the verb, for example: "I usually go home after work", unless you are using verb "to be", then the verb comes first, like in the following sentence: "My brother is often late for school". Time adverbials are basically expressions which answer the question "when". Some good examples of time adverbials are: every day - every week - twice a day - twice a week - twice a month - once a day - once a week Words like after and before are also frequently used to talk about time. Check out the following phrases: after lunch - before dinner - after work - before I go to the gym - after my wife gets home As you can see, we can use words like every, twice, once, or even phrases like three times, four times and so on combined with words like day, week, month to form a time adverbial. These expressions normally come at the end of a sentence. For example: Peter goes to the supermarket twice a week.or Peter goes to the supermarket after work twice a week. or at the beginningof the sentence, for instance: Every day Mary takes her children to school by car.or Every day Mary takes her children to school by car after lunch. There are also some other very common expressions used to express frequency or routine, such as: all the time - from time to time - every once in a while - every other day So, we can say things like: I check my e-mail all the time. From time to time me and my wife go to the beach together. Also, it's important to say that sometimes we combine adverbs of frequency and time adverbials in the same sentence to form even more complex sentences. Check out these examples: I usually go to a restaurant every day. Jack always does his homework before going to bed. Finally, you can link your sentences with connectors so as to set the chronological order of events. Some good examples of connectors that can help you do that are: Then - after that - later on - while - as soon as - when So, when you talk about routine try to use a combination of adverbs of frequency and time adverbials. Remember that your sentences might sound a little funny depending on the way you organize them. In other words, there are some things to keep in mind in order to know the right position of adverbs of frequency or time adverbials. Adverbs of frequency usually come before the verb, unless the verb you are using is verb "be" and time adverbials usually come either at the beginning or at the end of a sentence. Just a quick recap... When we talk about routine we should use Present Simple combined with adverbs of frequency and time adverbials or both. Also, remember to link your sentences with connectors to make them sound more natural. Now, to finish this episode I'm going to talk about my routine to set an example for you. The idea is that you can also try to practice doing this either with some other learners or with your group of students if you are a teacher. "Well, during the week I usually get up early, get dressed and leave home. I'm an English teacher and in the morning I teach private classes in my office. I usually teach 3 or 4 classes in the morning. Then, at lunchtime, I normally go home to eat something. After that I take my 2-year old son to the crèche and go back to my office. As soon as I get back to the office I check my e-mails and prepare my next classes. In the afternoon I generally teach one class in my office, and after that I drive to C