Can you complete all these words which start with the letters CH-? Each line represents a letter.
1. Halloumi, cheddar and manchego are all kinds of ch_ _ _ _.
2. Even though the spring afternoons are warm it can get quite ch_ _ _ _ once the sun goes down.
3. Children under five can visit the museum free of ch_ _ _ _. They don’t have to pay.
4. To get in shape for the summer Stella set herself the ch_ _ _ _ _g_ of walking 3km a day for a month.
5. The sound of birds singing at dawn is called the dawn ch_r_ _.
6. Ch_ _ _m_ _ _ tea is one of the world’s favourite herbal teas. It is said to help with digestion and sleep.
7. I cut the pineapple into ch_ _ks and put some on the top of my pizza.
8. Ch_ _ _ l _ _n_ are lizards. They are well-known for their rotating eyes, their very long and lightning-fast tongues and their ability to change colour.
9. There are lots of lovely cafés and restaurants in the town. You are really spoilt for ch_ _c_.
10. Karl is trying to learn five languages all at the same time but he is really struggling. I think he has bitten off more than he can ch_ _.
There are lots more vocabulary exercises and other resources here on my website for learning or teaching English, so please have a look around!
It can really help your pronunciation if you know the phonetic symbols and the sounds they represent. These quick exercises will help you learn the symbols.
Students often find that they can pronounce a ‘difficult’ word much more easily once they see it written phonetically, because English spelling is often quite treacherous, so to speak!
You will also see how often the schwa sound is used in English.
Bees are fascinating creatures and hugely important pollinators. Next time you nibble on an almond or bite into an apple, you might want to say a quiet thank you to these industrious little marvels of nature. Bees are one of nature’s finest examples of teamwork.
There are around 20,000 a) ____________ of bee in the world but only eight are honey bees.
The queen bee’s sole job is to b) ____________ and c) ____________ eggs. She can produce as many as 1,500 to 2,000 eggs a day.
The worker bees are female and make up most of the colony. They have many d) ____________, such as keeping the hive clean, feeding the young and the queen, e) ____________ pollen and nectar from flowering plants, and they help to make honey.
Worker bees have another duty: to guard the hive or colony from f) ____________ like wasps, bears or g) ____________. They position themselves at the entrance, a bit like bouncers!
The drones are the male bees – their life is a little more leisurely – they have one h) ____________ role and that is to breed with a queen.
Only the female bees, the workers and the queen, are armed with a stinger.
When the hive gets too hot, the worker bees bring water and they’ll use their wings as i) ____________ to cool things down.
Once a bee has finished foraging (=collecting food) it takes a direct route back to the colony, hence the expression ‘to make a beeline’.
In her lifetime a honey bee will only make about a twelfth of a j) ____________ of honey.
It’s k) ____________ that just to make half a kilo of honey, bees have to visit around two million flowers, totalling about 90,000 air miles!
Now, go look online and find another interesting piece of trivia about bees and share it with your fellow students or a friend or study buddy (or you can tell me on my EnglishSmarts Twitter).
Oh no! These idioms have got mixed up! Can you BEE a dear 😜, and put the words in italics in the right place?
1. As soon as we asked for volunteers to help clean up after the party, everyone made a buzz for the door.
2. Alice has a bee in her beeline about cars driving too fast down her street. She keeps phoning the council about it but she says they haven’t done a thing about it.
3. That guy at the bar was really annoying me. I told him to beeswax off.
4. “Sam says you kissed someone at the party. Who was it? Come on, tell me!” – “No, it’s none of your bonnet.”
Photo by Andy Holmes at Unsplash.com
ANSWERS
A)
a) species b) mate c) lay d) duties e) gathering f) intruders g) raccoons h) key i) fans j) teaspoon k) estimated
B)
1. As soon as we asked for volunteers to help clean up after the party, everyone made a beeline (=went directly) for the door.
2. Alice has a bee in her bonnet (= she’s obsessed) about cars driving too fast down her street. She keeps phoning the council about it but she says they haven’t done a thing about it.
3. That guy at the bar was really annoying me. I told him to buzz off (= go away (impolite))
4. “Sam says you kissed someone at the party. Who was it? Come on, tell me!” – “No, it’s none of your beeswax.” (= it’s none of your business, it’s not your concern (impolite))
