Everyday English (Elementary)

Topic: Smartphones

In this lesson, students will develop vocabulary and conversation skills by talking about their smartphones.

Lesson Notes June 2, 2026 (Elementary)

Words & Phrases

• Thank you for last week.

  • I had a lot of fun.

  • It was a lot of fun.

• This morning, my eye doctor examined (the back of) the inside of my eye. (This is called a fundoscopic exam, but in casual conversation this is too technical and medical)

  • The eye doctor used medicine to enlarge my pupils. (= the black part of your eye)

• Often we use “weak” and “strong” for drinks like tea, coffee and alcohol to describe flavour or strength.

  • I like my coffee strong in the morning, but weak in the afternoon.

  • This is a very strong cocktail. I can barely taste the juice."

• We use “thin” and “thick” for textures, or how watery something is, especially for milk, shakes, soups

  • The milkshake was too thin. It was like drinking milk.

  • This soup is so thick, my spoon feels heavy.

• The work “lunch set” is understandable, but more common are “lunch special” or “set lunch”

  • I had a lovely lunch special at an Italian restaurant.

  • I had a lovely set lunch at an Italian restaurant.

• The udon I had for lunch was a little chewy and tasted delicious.

  • If I made this at home it would taste bland. (= little or no flavour)

Smartphones

Section 2 Grammar

• 1 “How do I turn up the volume” or “How do I turn the volume up”

  • “Turn up” and “turn down” (phrasal verbs) can be split, this is important when we use “pronouns” because only a pronoun can go in the middle. “turn it up”, NOT “turn up it”

• 6 Do I swipe left or swipe right? (Here “swipe” is a verb)

  • Is it a left swipe or a right swipe? (Here “swipe” is a noun)

• 7 “Frozen” here means “not moving”

  • I can hear you, but your video is frozen. (= your video is not moving)

  • I think my internet connection is frozen, nothing is loading on my phone.