The Garden Party by Maeve Binchy

Click HERE to read about the author

http://www.maevebinchy.com/

THE GARDEN PARTY

Why did Helen move to a new house?

Why did Helen feel betrayed by her husband?

Who was Mrs Kennedy?

Why did Helen envy Mrs Kennedy’s cats?

Did Mrs Kennedy understand Helen’s situation? Why?

Were there any similarities between the two women’s situations?

What did Mrs Kenney do after her husband left?

What did Helen have to do before making a decision?

What did Mrs Kennedy advise Helen to do after going back to work?

Do you think Mrs Kennedy’s revenge was a good idea? Why/why not?

Should Helen follow Mrs Kennedy’s idea of revenge? Why/why not?

Describing people

Click on Describing people excercises

BLAZE - BLAZING dictionary definitions

blaze verb [intransitive]

1

fire

to burn very brightly and strongly [↪ blazing]:

The room was warm, with a fire blazing in the hearth.

2

light

to shine with a very bright light:

A huge truck was advancing towards us, its headlights blazing.

The sun blazed down as we walked along the valley.

3

eyes

[usually in progressive] literary if someone's eyes are blazing, their eyes are shining brightly because they are feeling a very strong emotion, usually anger

blaze with

Linda leapt to her feet, her dark eyes blazing with anger.

4

gun

also blaze away if guns blaze, they fire bullets quickly and continuously:

An enemy plane roared overhead, its guns blazing.

5

blaze a trail

to develop or do something new and important, or to do something important that no one has done before:

an innovative young company that has blazed a trail for others to follow

6

be blazed across/all over something

if something is blazed across a newspaper etc, it is written in a way that everyone will notice:

News of their divorce was blazed across all the tabloids.

Definition from the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English

blaz‧ing adj, [only before noun]

1 extremely hot:

a blazing August afternoon

2 full of strong emotions, especially anger:

He jumped to his feet in a blazing fury.

blazing row (=very angry argument)

Definition from the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
Advanced Learner's Dictionary.

Next UK

Remember Victoria Smith?

She used to work for NEXT in the UK.

Click and see its website

Ka-ching!

"Ka-Ching!" is a 2003 song by Canadian singer Shania Twain. It was the second international single released from her 2002 album Up!. The song was written by Robert John "Mutt" Lange and Shania Twain. "Ka-Ching!" was the second release to Europe and Central American markets following "I'm Gonna Getcha Good!". "Ka-Ching!" has become one of Twain's most successful singles in Europe to date. The song deals with America's consumer culture through boom years of 1990's and early 2000s before the later debt crisis and recession. The line, "all we ever want is more" is the general theme of the song.

To see the video click on the word

KA-CHING!
We live in a greedy little world--
that teaches every little boy and girl
To earn as much as they can possibly--
then turn around and
Spend it foolishly
We've created us a credit card mess
We spend the money we don't possess
Our religion is to go and blow it all
So it's shoppin' every Sunday at the mall
All we ever want is more
A lot more than we had before
So take me to the nearest store
Chorus:
Can you hear it ring
It makes you wanna sing
It's such a beautiful thing--Ka-ching!
Lots of diamond rings
The happiness it brings
You'll live like a king
With lots of money and things
When you're broke go and get a loan
Take out another mortgage on your home
Consolidate so you can afford
To go and spend some more when
you get bored
All we ever want is more
A lot more than we had before
So take me to the nearest store
Repeat Chorus
Let's swing
Dig deeper in your pocket
Oh, yeah, ha
Come on I know you've got it
Dig deeper in your wallet
Oh
All we ever want is more
A lot more than we had before
So take me to the nearest store
Repeat Chorus
Can you hear it ring
It makes you wanna sing
You'll live like a king
With lots of money and things
Ka-ching!

Money

Useful Vocabulary:

Click on the word money and enjoy the vocabulary

Money

We are Family

(CHORUS:)
We are family
I got all my sisters with me
We are family
Get up ev'rybody and sing
Ev'ryone can see we're together
As we walk on by(FLY!)
and we fly just like birds of a feather
I won't tell no lie(ALL!)
all of the people around us they say
Can they be that close
Just let me state for the record
We're giving love in a family dose
(CHORUS x2)
Living life is fun and we've just begun
To get our share of the world's delights(HIGH!)
high hopes we have for the future
And our goal's in sight(WE!)
no we don't get depressed
Here's what we call our golden rule
Have faith in you and the things you do
You won't go wrong
This is our family Jewel
(REPEAT CHORUS TO FADE)