some more help with pronunciation

Prepositions II

I think you may like this

About Thanksgiving ....

Last year I had the honour of getting someone who has enjoyed many celebrations of Thanksgiving Day to write about her experience. Here you have a link to it.

Red letter days

Dear students,

It is an important date in the Anglosaxon world today.

I would like you to do some research.

What day is it today?
Where is it celebrated?
What does it consist of?
And any other things you want to add about it.

Prepositions

It is well known that prepositions are a rather hard task when we study English. Let's see if this can be of any help.

food for thought

 This is something I have seen on Facebook. I would like you to learn the meaning of the title of this post, and then write a composition about your reaction to it. 

one year later ....

I remember how I was in two minds before launching this blog. On the one hand, I was rather shy to do it, I didn't think I could make it possible, but, on the other hand, I felt I had so much to share with you, so many things we didn't have time for in class.

Today  I want to thank the one who encouraged me, helped me with the templates, or was there for me  when I was lost. And then, I want to thank YOU, students, and readers  who make me want to go on,  and find time to share  English stuff with you making it a challenge for you to study, improve on or enjoy this language.

Norah Jones

This is the interview we listened to in class, I hope you like it!

Interview with Norah Jones (from Speak Up magazine)

let´s practice our pronunciation

Now a new school year begins we have lots of good intentions. I hope among these good plans you have, there is some room for  your English pronunciation.

You have a link  to practise some words but ... I would really like you to use the comment box to share  the ones you have problems with.

Back to business

Dear students,
We are slowly getting back to our routine. After crazy June and lazy July and August, I would like to resume our activities on the blog. 
Since the last posts  were about the new skyscrapers in The City in London, I have decided to share this curious piece of news with you. I hope you like it.

The Shard (listening exercise)

And, to finish with "Ordinary Words, No Ordinary Buildings" we are going to listen to the audio that appears in Speak up magazine number 333 track 4 about that building.

In the pic you can see -with a little effort- The Gherkin, The Grater, The Walkie- Talkie and  The Shard.

Answer to these questions from the listening:
  1) In which London neighbourhood can you find The Shard?
  2) Who is Renzo Piano?
  3) Why is it called 'The Shard'?
  4) Although all we can see is glass, what is the centre of this building made of?
  5) Where are the offices located?
  6) What can we find on the top of the offices?
  7) Where in the world can we find most of the Shangri-La Hotels?
  8) Is it possible for people to live in the Shard? Give a full answer.
  9) Why are the viewing galleries so unique for those who visit it?
10) What other important landmarks in the world is The Shard compared with?

take a break

Now that you are revising for your final exams, take a break and listen to this song. You will remember this structure with no effort.

No ordinary buildings (Ordinary Words 2)

London's skyline has sure changed in the last few years with new skyscrapers such as the Gherkin, the Walkie- Talkie, the Cheese Grater or the Shard.

You can enjoy the panoramic view of the last one just  with a click

World Book Day

How do you get on with books?

Today I would like you  to write about the effect books have on you.

Ordinary /wɜːdz/

Do you know the meaning of these words?

Look them up in a good monolingual dictionary and then use your grey matter to find out what they have in common.

Please leave your answers in the comment box.

April fools' Day

This is the article published in Speak up Magazine 331.

Writing a composition from a song

World Poetry Day

Shall I Compare Thee To A Summer's Day?

by William Shakespeare (1564-1616)

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate. Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, And summer's lease hath all too short a date. Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines, And often is his gold complexion dimm'd; And every fair from fair sometime declines, By chance or nature's changing course untrimm'd; But thy eternal summer shall not fade Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st; Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade, When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st: So long as men can breathe or eyes can see, So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

“Thank God her last name was Austen…” *

When we start reading in English – because we want to improve our language skills or simply because we enjoy reading – there are some names we cannot skirt: Shakespeare or Virginia Woolf, for example. But in fact, there are some sentences that for their witty, work-of-art, amazing construction become a part of the language they were written in and even though we might not have read the book, they’re always there to remind us of that lack on our general knowledge.

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man 

in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.

As foreigners we may not even recognise the sentence, but I can assure you that only a few British wouldn’t be able to repeat by heart the first line in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. Maybe it’s the amazing writing, maybe the almost human characters, probably the sense of humour. Reality is that the allure of this book is still another “truth universally acknowledged”.  And it is 200 years old.

I decided to write this post as a reminder of that event.

Can I ask you some questions you can answer on the comment box? They’re pretty plain, don’t worry.

- Does the name Jane Austen ring a bell?

- Have you read Pride and Prejudice?

- Have you seen the film or the 1995 BBC award-winning series?

- Have you ever fallen in love with Lizzie or Darcy?

I could go on and on about it, I could; however I don’t want to bother you or cause that you close the page. So, if you allow me, I’ll give you – at the end - some links where you could go on reading (if you choose to do so), but I firmly advise you to become a part of this amazing world Austen invented for us all, by reading the book (hopefully), watching the BBC series or even watching the adaptations may them be from Hollywood, Bollywood or BBC itself. 

More reading:

- The 10 best Jane Austen characters – in pictures

- Jane Austen still matters, 200 years on

- Pride and Prejudice: A Jane Austen interactive

- Pride and Prejudice at 200: the best Jane Austen small-screen adaptations

- Pride and Prejudice: Jane Austen fans celebrate novel's 200th anniversary

- Happy two-hundredth birthday, "Pride and Prejudice"

* “The library held all the Eng lit classics […]. I had no idea of what to read or in what order, so I just started alphabetically. Thank God her last name was Austen…”

In Winterson, Jeanette Why be happy when you could be normal?, Vintage, London, 2012, pg. 37.

Red Nose Day

 

Today is Red Nose Day ....                  
                                and your task is .............
to find out what it is about.

Leave your answers in the comment box.