Learning English

It's not always black and white…

In this activity you're going to do some more practice with antonyms.

But first, consider the word old. What is its opposite? Well, it could be new or young. It depends on whether you're thinking of a person or a thing.

And what about hard? If you're talking about a surface, the opposite is soft. If you're talking about an exam, the opposite is… easy. So, each word can have more than one antonym.

Does that make sense? OK, let's put this knowledge to the test!

Barreeffama kana dubbisii shakala kana xumuri

To do

Imagine you live in the beautiful, ancient European city of San Ronaldo. It's time for the city to choose a new mayor, and the two candidates have very different visions for the city. One thinks it should keep its old-fashioned charm and focus on tourism; the other believes the only way to succeed is to modernise.

So, we begin with a speech from candidate number one.

After that, you have to complete the speech by candidate number two, who disagrees with everything the first one said. In other words, it's a great opportunity to practise antonyms!

Candidate one's speech

"I love San Ronaldo. It's a beautiful city. And that's its biggest advantage. Our narrow streets are perfect for cafes and galleries. We appeal to older tourists with more money. It's hard to see why we should change. We need to remain a traditional town - this is our biggest strength."

End of Session 1

Was that easy or hard? Simple or complicated? Either way, we hope you enjoyed it. In Session 2 we're taking a look at different ways of talking about the future. Will we see you there?