Wednesday, 23 April 2014

Is English Changing?

Mr Crystal and myself :-)

In my last trip to Madrid-  where the VII Congress for EEOOII took place, I happened to meet David Crystal!!!!

I  listened to the outstanding speech he gave about the language of text messaging and ITCs in general. I was astounded by his confidence and correct English and I was lucky to get a photo of myself with him (and also I told him  a bit about my blogs...) :-)

Anyway,  I think he is a genius whose knowledge and wisdom broadly support the work of us teachers.


Hoping you enjoy the video, which is only part of a quite interesting interview!




David Crystal is a writer, editor, lecturer, and broadcaster. He published the first of his 100 or so books in 1964, and became known chiefly for his research work in English language studies, in such fields as intonation and stylistics, and in the application of linguistics to religious, educational and clinical contexts, notably in the development of a range of linguistic profiling techniques for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes. He held a chair at the University of Reading for 10 years, and is now Honorary Professor of Linguistics at the University of Wales, Bangor. These days he divides his time between work on language and work on internet applications.

David Crystal's authored works are mainly in the field of language, including several Penguin books, but he is perhaps best known for his two encyclopedias for Cambridge University Press, The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language and The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language. Recent books include A Little Book of Language and Begat: the King James Bible and the English language (both 2010) and a linguistic autobiography, Just a Phrase I'm Going Through (2009). Co-authored books include Words on Words (2000, a dictionary of language quotations compiled with his wife and business-partner, Hilary - Wheatley Medal, 2001) and Shakespeare's Words (2002) and The Shakespeare Miscellany (2005), the last two in collaboration with his actor son, Ben.

Other Shakespeare work includes a regular article for the magazine of Shakespeare's Globe, Around the Globe. Think On My Words, an introduction to Shakespeare's language, appeared in 2008. All Shakespeare books can be viewed at The Shakespeare Portal. A new version of the glossary went live in 2008: see Shakespeare's Words.

Wednesday, 12 February 2014

Freddie Mercury's solos (6)

LIVING ON MY OWN

Wanna dance as well?
This time
Song and lyrics together
No activities. BUT what do you understand by:
  • Coming down on me ?
  • Monkey business ?
  • Got to be some good times ahead ?
Look up in our recommended dictionary!!!!
...........................................................................................
This time
...Especially
dedicated to those living on their OWN - hey - enjoy!
...........................................................................................

Wednesday, 12 June 2013

Tigers... A documentary .

Sir David Attenborough is Britain's best-known natural history film-maker. His career as a naturalist and broadcaster has spanned nearly five decades and there are very few places on the globe that he has not visited.
Over the last 25 years he has established himself as the world's leading natural history programme maker with several landmark BBC series, including: Life on Earth (1979), The Living Planet (1984), The Trials of Life (1990), The Private Life of Plants (1995), The Life of Birds (1998), The Life of Mammals (2002) and Life in the Undergrowth (2005).
‘The final chapter in the Life series, Life in Cold Blood is surely a grand finale to David’s survey of life on earth.‘
* Here I present you the first of a series of six parts of a breathtaking documentary. If you like wildlife, if you like animals, if you especially like tigers, this a good opportunity for you to watch, learn and listen to good English!

Click to see PART 2, PART 3, PART4, PART 5, PART 6
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****************************************************************************

Tuesday, 28 May 2013

SPEAKING TEST tips

SEE MORE TIPS in María Valdés's blog for ADVANCED STUDENTS
SEE MORE TIPS in Saro's blog for INTERMEDIATE STUDENTS.

Interaction

Sunday, 17 March 2013

Today is Saint Patrick's!

Go here and join the celebration

St. Patrick's Day is celebrated on March 17, the saint's religious feast day and the anniversary of his death in the fifth century. The Irish have observed this day as a religious holiday for over 1,000 years. On St. Patrick's Day, which falls during the Christian season of Lent, Irish families would traditionally attend church in the morning and celebrate in the afternoon. Lenten prohibitions against the consumption of meat were waived and people would dance, drink and feast--on the traditional meal of Irish bacon and cabbage.

Have a look at these interesting videos.
:-)





D.

Saturday, 18 June 2011

Enjoy your Sunshine Summer :-)


Hey, the course is gone and done.

Congrats to all of you whether you did it or not, everyone has surely done their best... and that's what realy matters. :-)

You'll be missed.

Hoping you keep your English alive, I'll also keep this blog alive, but close for the so needed summer holiday!

Enjoy ALWAYS! and remember to
Let the good vibes get a lot stronger

To all of you, this forever great hit song.

Dulce

Saturday, 4 June 2011

G..... is the word

Frankie Valli


Grease Lyrics




LISTEN and choose the correct word:


I solve my problems and I see the (LIGHT or LIES?)


We gotta plug and think, we gotta (FEEL or FEED?) it right

There ain't no ( DAMAGE or DANGER?) we can go to far

We start believing now that we can be who we are

Grease is the word

They think our love is just a (GROWING or ROARING?) pain

Why don't they understand, It's just a crying (SCENE or SHAME?)

Their lips are( LYING or LINING?) only real is real

We start to find right now we got to be what we (FEEL or FEED?)


Grease is the word

Grease is the word, is the word that you heard

It's got groove it's got meaning

'Cause Grease is the time, is the place is the (MOTION or EMOTION?)

Grease is the way we are feeling


We take the (PROCEDURE or PRESSURE?) and we throw away

Conventionality belongs to yesterday

There is a chance that we can make it so far

We start believing now that we can be who we are


Grease is the word

Grease is the word, is the word that you heard

It's got groove it's got meaning

Grease is the time, is the place is the (MOTION or EMOTION?)

And Grease is the way we are feeling

This is the life of (ILUSION or DELUSION?)

Wrapped up in trouble laced with (ALUSION or CONFUSION?)

What are we doing here?

We take the( PROCEDURE or PRESSURE?) and we throw away

Conventionality belongs to yesterday

There is a chance that we can make it so far

We start believing now that we can be who we are


Grease is the word

Grease is the word, is the word that you heard

It's got groove it's got meaning

etc

Grease is the word
Is the word
Is the word
Is the word
Is the word
Is the word
Is the word
Is the word



Wednesday, 18 May 2011

Listening Test Practice

Bribes 
    bribe/brʌɪb/
▶verb dishonestly persuade (someone) to act in one's favour by a payment or other inducement. ▶noun an inducement offered in an attempt to bribe.
 

Click HERE to listen

ACTIVITIES


A.  Choose the correct answer:

1) Aiman has worked in _______ .


2) He says people might pay a bribe for ____.


3) What does he give as an example? .


4) How much would a bribe be?


5) He says ______ ask for bribes.



      
    B.    Complete with

  1. We need to a good idea for the party.
  2. I never politics when I first meet someone new.
  3. The secret is now for everyone to know about.
  4. She tries to her diet by taking vitamin pills.
  5. The work at that company are very high.
Check answers in comment #1

Source: elllo

Wednesday, 4 May 2011

Ends...

Hey!
It's time to relax and have some fun!
:-)

Hoping you are all doing well at your final tests...

--

Friday, 8 April 2011

Synonyms

Lots of words we tend to confuse... 

Learning synonyms can help us improve our advanced vocabulary.
HERE is an interesting link to practice on different topics. Starting with Business & Employment.