Once in a Blue Moon

"Once in a blue moon" is an idiom that means that something happens not very often.
But what's a blue moon? You'll see it tonight, on New Year's Eve, if you look up at the sky.
Do you want to know more? Read here.
I wish you all the best for the coming year!

Christmas Carols 4U

Britain discovers a Catalan Xmas tradition

Stephen Fry is a well known British actor, writer, and comedian.
Here's the script if you need it (some aspects you've been working on this year highlighted in yellow) . And of course, Merry Christmas to you all !

Law no jokes

Click on the image and you'll see real questions and answers from attorneys and witnesses in the USA courtrooms.

Barcelona Pickpockets and a Chinese horror story

Back to crime...
Full story HERE (plenty of passive voice use in this story)
*** And a much worse case : Briton to be executed in China for smuggling drugs
*** Update 26/12 Briton unaware of execution (for humanitarian reasons!!)
*** Update 27/12 Death row Briton learns he faces execution tomorrow
***Update 29/12 China executes British national despite pleas

Copenhagen's Climate Summit

Polluting should also be a crime, so let's focus on the Copenhagen's climate conference being held these days, and the controversy generated by the "warmists" on the one hand -those who believe in climate change and would like governments to pass strict laws to stop it, and the skeptics on the other -who think data is being manipulated to exaggerate the threat of global warming (also known as the "Climategate")

**By the way, "hot air" in the cartoon refers to empty, exaggerated talk.

It's certainly difficult to find the truth among so many different opinions and interests from countries who don't want to be forced to cut carbon emissions that could slow their economies.

So just to put you in the picture, I'm including a series of links that will help you understand the situation -and a wonderful source of vocabulary related to environmental issues.

• What is at stake in Copenhagen?
• National Geographic Global Warming effects
• National Geographic Going Green test

In the meantime, I have to buy a car -how could I live without one?- but the only thing I am offered is a petrol-powered old dinosaur ... and they call it 'green' .

Law and Order

I know it's not very Christmassy but we'll be talking about crime next week.
Being a lawful citizen is not always easy: Did you know tht it is illegal to name a pig 'Napoleon' in France ? Or that it is forbidden to die in the Houses of Parliament in London? Or that in Australia you can be arrested if you dress up like Batman? At Harrington Court, London you may find some more examples.
In the United States guns deserve a special chapter, like "It is illegal to rob a bank and then shoot the clerk with a water pistol." (Louisiana). In Florida, a special law prohibits unmarried women from parachuting on Sunday or risk arrest, fine, and/or jailing (can anyone figure out why ??) And my favourite:
" No one may carry an ice cream cone in their back pocket on Sunday" (Georgia)
Can you find an explanation to these apparently stupid, probably outdated or just downright dumb laws? So if you were planning to go to the USA, just take these tests to make sure you don't end up in jail!
Test 1
Test 2

Barcelona

I know it's not very christmassy but we're going to talk about crime these days and you probably know that, in spite of what the Major thinks, Barcelona is considered a hot spot in the crime scene.

Full story

Pop-up shops

Talking about marketing strategies, with Christmas just round the corner retailers are thinking up new ways to tempt customers.

Full article : New High Street trend for pop-up shops

pop-up (N): a new window that opens quickly on a computer screen in front of what you are working on .

Not a bad idea ... and because it's a temporary shop customers will rush to buy it all before they shut up!

Just a reminder

No Class Today

Hi all,

Yesterday I could hardly speak when I started the class, and ended up with no voice at all. Today I still can't speak and have a bit of a temperture, so no class today.

I've been to the virtual doctor this morning, my first visit of this kind, but he didn't really give me a solution, so if any of you have an effective remedy, please let me know.

I've contacted the class delegates (4B,4C)about this today and will contact the class delegates (4A) tomorrow morning.

- Update Wednesday 18

No class today either, sorry. Voice a bit better (thyme is proving a powerful remedy) but still can't speak.

- Update Thursday 19

Ok, things are getting better. I'll try to come today and see what happens, so no holiday today Sorry kids !

The Rapping Flight attendant

Maybe you'd pay more attention to the safety instructions with this flight attendant?
Do you want it with subtitles? This video is from English Central, the site I told you about, with lots of videos to choose from and the possibility of using interactive subtitles, as you can see here if you take a couple of minutes of your time to register (it's free). Check it out, because that's a really good site. I've added the link in the 'video bits' section of this blog.

Just give it a try!

Obama's first year

After one year in office, Obama's progress has been subject to examination by the media. This Newsy video uses multiple sources to review Obama's first year

By the way, NEWSY, "the news with more views", is an excellent resource. Unlike CNN, Sky news or other major news channels, Newsy reports are compiled from multiple sources. And a big plus ...transcripts are also provided.

The French, the Italians, the Scots, the...

Why Are The French So Bad At English?

We are talking about nationalities this week, and it seems that when it comes to learning English, French schoolchildren seriously underperform. France currently is on the 69th position among 109 countries on the standardized Test of English as a Foreign Language, aka TOEFL. In an attempt to remedy this state of affairs, French President Nicolas Sarkozy recently “unveiled an emergency plan for teaching foreign languages in the nation's schools with the objective that 'all our high school students must become bilingual, and some should be trilingual'."

Does that ring a bell ? Are politicians copying from each other? Is it globalization ? Don't you think it's the same everywhere? Here's the full story.

Oh, by the way, and when you thought you could get by in half decent English, then you meet a Scot from Glasgow (a Glaswegian)

In Scotland, the situation of languages is a bit complex. So complex that a company is even looking for a translator into English! Full story here

Halloween jokes and poems

Some Halloween jokes ....

and a well-known poem: Edgar Allan Poe's The Raven. The poem depicts a mysterious raven's midnight visit to the narrator, sad and mourning the loss of his love, Lenore.

You can watch :

the Simpson's version ...

or the masterpiece, interpreted by Vincent Price.

There's still another excellent version interpreted by Christopher Walken with beautiful illustrations by Gustave Doré.

Happy Halloween!

Podcasting

Some of you told me the other day that you liked running, and that you would like to be able to put some English into your brain while you run. Great idea! 'Podcast' is the word.
What is a podcast? Sorry, but I had to go to the dictionary for that : " A podcast is a radio programme that is stored in a digital form that you can download from the Internet and play on a computer or on an MP3 player ". All the radio stations have podcasting sites, for example, the BBC, or CNN:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/
http://edition.cnn.com/services/podcasting/

BUT If you want something a bit more guided, the BBC has an excellent site, BBC Learning English, with all sorts of podcasts which you can download into your Ipod or MP3, and the good thing about it that you can also download the script (so you can read it when you do your final stretching!) . I do recommend this site.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/general/

I'd go for "Words in the News" as a regular feature, or "London Life" and "Weekender" in the archive (scroll down to the bottom of the page) . The episodes are always short (5 minutes approx.) so download as many as you can so that you don't run out of listening material (to run out of something, a nice double phrasal verb!)

I guess listening while you're running is a good idea because your mind is in a relaxed state so it can process and "digest" better whatever comes from the outside. Of course, you can also use podcasts when your're driving -or having a bubble bath with scented candles.

PS: Talking about phrasals, Face up to Phrasals is also a good section dealing with phrasal verbs, with short and illustrative sequences exemplifying a specific phrasal verb in context. This is not a podcast, so you need to be logged in to see this feature.

So thanks for asking and enjoy your running-listening!

Watch and learn

This looks interesting. Lots of videos, you can choose if you want them with or without subtitles, you can click on any of the words you don't understand and you'll get a definition, you can even record your own speech.... Japanese technology at its best!
Let me know what you think.

In sickness and in health

Obama's Healthcare reforms and the Swine Flu hype are on the news these days...


Dave Granlund, Massachusets
Joe Heller, WisconsinChang

Posting Comments

Some of you have told me that you are having problems posting comments or don't know exactly how to do it. Ok, I've been testing the system and the easiest options (a lot easier than signing up for a Google account) are :

1. Choose 'Name/url' option , type in your name in the box and your name will appear in the message.
2. Choose 'anonymous user' and then sign your name, if you want, at the bottom of the message.

I think either of these two options works fine, though with computers you never know ...

What are you like ?

We 'll be talking about personality this week, so here you have a few tests with lots of adjectives, and expressions to describe your personality... and to get to know yourself a bit better!

• The Big Five Test: This test measures what some psychologists consider to be the five fundamental dimensions of personality.
• The World's Shortest Personality Test : This is the world’s shortest personality test … and maybe more accurate than others with a thousand questions !
• How Moral are you ? In this test you have to give your opinion about the characters in a story based on Robin Hood's legend (Robin Hood, Marion, Little John and the Sheriff of Nottingham) .

So did you get any surprising result ?

Minimal Pairs

The other day we were talking about pronunciation, rhythm and intonation and we saw how a sound can completely change the meaning of a word: these words are called “minimal pairs”, and here you have many good examples.
http://www.shiporsheep.com/page1.html

Coincidentally, Anna (4C) sent me a link to a funny story about an Italian who went to Malta to a bigg-a hotel-a, based on these minimal pairs. It contains dirty words that somebody might consider offensive, so I’m not going to put it in this blog ... but ...you can always ask Anna.

............. (Oct 9th)

...Ok, she's sent me another better version in which you can perfectly see the minimal pairs so I'm finally posting it. Just don't look if you don't want to see any dirty words.

Wonderful Alice

As I've seen in the newspaper today, 2010 is going to be Alice's year, since a number of films and TV series will appear based on Lewis Carroll's "Alice in Wonderland". It's just an amazing coincidence that this is one of your optional books for the third term. I wonder whether the movies will be half as good as the book -they will, as long as they catch the soul of the story- but the Cheshire Cat, the White Rabbit, the Mad Hatter, the Dodo, the Queen of Hearts ... how lucky you are to be able to read it in its original version!

Madonna's tribute to Michael

Michael Jackson was not one of my favourite artists but I'm still kind of obsessed with his premature, untimely death. I don't like Madonna's music either, but she paid a honest, heartfelt, and moving tribute to the late King of Pop the other day at the MTV awards.

She speaks clearly and beautifully, and uses this 'so do I', 'neither do I' you'll be doing just next week . There are a lot more things in her speech you'll probably be doing anytime soon, so why don't you take your time and listen to her? And if you have any problems, here's the script (you can actually watch the video from this page too -MTV- probably with better sound).

Notes and Queries

Since the first unit in your book is about questions (direct, indirect, tag questions... you remember all that, don't you?) have a look at The Guardian "Notes and Queries" (originally called "Nooks and Crannies") in which readers can post the weirdest questions and they'll always have someone from the opposite end of the world answering them. According to The Guardian, this is the place "where readers waste their time answering questions that only fools and geniuses would dream of. Questions so bizarre, so perverse, so seemingly trivial - and yet so relentlessly persistent - that they refuse to go away. "
Over the years, this section has become so successful that the questions posted by readers have been put into different categories.

So if you ever had a question and you were too afraid to ask , The Guardian Notes and Queries is the place to go (click on the image and you'll be taken there)-or post your question here (like "How can you live without a monolingual dictionary?") and maybe someone will come up with an answer!