Breathe in Breathe out

Multisource political news, world news, and entertainment news analysis by Newsy.com

It's certainly reassuring to see that we are not the only ones with weird ideas here -though I agree that it takes a lot of breathing in and out, and a lot of physical and mental control to cope with certain policies and attitudes of our city councils/governments. Watch this video -transcript included- and just picture the situation: you receive a parking ticket with a yoga pose and some 'take it easy' advice printed on it in an attempt to cool down your anger. Do you think you would relax? Would you think it's a joke? Make a note of it - it wouldn't be a surprise to see this brilliant idea implemented here one of these days. Ommm...

Don't touch my junk!

Click on the image and find out about the new security measures being enforced in the USA: either a patdown procedure,which includes the touching of passengers' inner thighs and women's breasts, or a full body scan.

From pilots' unions to viral online protests, Americans are telling the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) that the government has gone too far in the name of security, equating the new searches to "sexual molestation" or "sexual assault." Pilots are against both the patdown procedure and the alternative full body scanner.

"If you touch my junk I'm gonna have you arrested!" That's what a 31 year old passenger told the officers who were giving him detailed instructions on the new methods.
- Text and video HERE
- And the interview with John Tyner, the offended passenger, explaining what happened HERE

Apart from having to take off my jacket, my boots, my socks, my belt, my watch, and having a lady searching all over my body because the metal detector (search arches) invariably keeps beeping when I walk through it, I've always been treated nicely (!). As a passenger, you want to be as safe as possible once on the plane, but whether these invasive security measures are useful or not to prevent a terror attack is a real mystery to me.
PD: By the way, some of you mentioned yesterday that you didn't like to fly Ryanair. READ what happened the other day on a Ryanair flight.

Road to Grammar

This is a website devoted to language learning with lots of quizzes and explanations on every aspect of the language, from very easy to advanced (as usual, click on the picture). There is a Games section which I find highly addictive - I particularly like FLUENT and WORD SLAMM (a kind of scrabble). There is also a 'Road to Grammar' version for kids, so everybody in your family can play.

Have fun!

PD: Talking about words that English has borrowed from other languages, we mentioned the other day that 'machismo' is one of them, and you can read it HERE in the Independent's article on recent changes in surnames in Spain.

Bits and Pieces

What can I do to improve my Reading Co? What can I do to improve my listening skills? It's so frustrating, I never understand anything! How can I remember all these words? How can I ....? OK, you are lucky to be studying English in the 21st Century. Here are some recommendations:

For you listening practice, try English Central -best Learning English website of the year 2010. There are lots of short videos -pieces of news mainly- and you can choose if you want them with or without subtitles in English, you can click on a word and see the definition, you can record yourself ... there are lots of things you can do that sure will help you improve your listening skills. Japanese technology at its best and it's FREE -you only have to register. But...oh no, not again!...REGULAR practice is needed. Click on the logo below and you'll be taken to the English Central website.

Newsy videos (also in the 'video bits' section) is also a very good site which offers the different sides of a story and -a bonus for you- the transcript.

The "Reading Comprehension Practice" is a new section on the blog where you'll find the type of texts and Reading compehension exercises used for the Cambridge First Certificate exam, and also for the EOI Level 4 exam (Reading Co. only).

Remember that regular use of your workbook is also essential and it will help you refresh things done in class. And last, but not least, I know you have ALL started to read the "Curious incident...", but just in case you haven't, here's a small presentation to help get you started.


Class time is NOT enough, so remember to take your regular homeopathic doses of English !

-And can't you just give me a pill that I can swallow and get it over with? Sorry, no pills now, maybe in the 22nd Century.

**By the way, how many relative sentences with a preposition can you find in the video?