Again, still another techno-tool to help you with your studies. This blog is "work-in-progress" , which means that things are added and removed on a regular basis. Here you'll find extra-reading, extra-listening, extra-grammar stuff, extra writing tips... extra-everything, so it's up to you what you do with it. Needless to say, your feedback, ideas, and comments are very welcome.

*This blog is 'apture-powered', which means that if you highlight a word, a 'learn more' sign will theoretically appear. Click on it and it will show a list of internet links related to that word. Just try.

Sunday, March 27, 2011

Lie Detector

We'll be talking about the senses and body language this week -you know all these signals and postures and gestures we do depending on our internal emotions and mental states.Body language is an important part of communication -it is said that it is 50% or more of what we are communicating. Sometimes we are aware of our body language, but most of the time we are not, particulary when we are lying. Do you often lie? Did you know that it shows in your face (or in your whole body) when you are lying? How good are you at detecting lies?

KEY WORDS: Deception (a false friend!), signs, the more... the more (lots of this sturcture), the catch is..., average, looks like. Are you getting the whole truth and nothing but the truth? Do you want to know the tell tale signs that will give you away when you are lying?



  • Watch this video

  • READ articles / vocabulary work dealing with LIES

  • Are you a good liar? Try this TEST

So do you think you are a good liar/a good lie detector?

Thursday, March 24, 2011

The End of Whatever

As promised, I did some serious research into this Mayan calendar doomsday prediction, and I must say that I'm quite a lot more confused now, but here you have the basics:The Maya, an Ancient civilization with the reputation of being more intelligent than us (as it usually happens with all ancient civilizations), predicted a sort of galactic alignment on Dec 21st 2012 (winter solstice). Apart from this, there's a planet that is also going to be very near our orbit, thus influencing the movement of the earth, and adding to the speculation of 'we are not alone' conspiracy theories. Of course, this is going to translate into tsunamis, earthquakes, pole shift, hurricanes, planetary collisions, unexpected visits from outer space, and many other special effects. So everything is going to happen at the same time.



Needless to say, the Maya Calendar agrees with I-ching predictions, Nostradamus, other seers and fortune tellers and, of course, scientific evidence of all sorts -although the scientists are already dead.

KEY WORDS: startingly precise predictions, take seriously, obsessed with, accurate, take place, white skinned bearded gods, arrive in, alignment, pole shift, worldwide disasters, backed by science, mass extinction of species, doomsday, profecy, intriguing


Rem - End Of The World .mp3


Found at bee mp3 search engine
"It's the end of the world as we know it, but I feel fine"

Others think that, the end of the world "as we know it" only means the beginning of something new, a spiritual awakening, a global transformation of consciousness, and a collective rebirth into the new era: the age of Aquarius (or flower-power revisited).
(**sorry about the studpid adverts, it's a real nightmare to try to get rid of them, and not always possible, not even in the age of Aquarius)


HAIR - Age of Aquarius .mp3


Found at bee mp3 search engine
When the Moon is in the 7th House, and Jupiter aligns with March, then peace will guide the planets and love will steer the stars -this is the dawning of the age of aquarius ....
READ lyrics

There is still a third group of people who think this is all b....** , a HYPE, a HOAX

BUT why, oh why does the Mayan calendar end in 2012?

This is all the information I managed to gather , so if you have any more facts and figures from a reliable source, please let me know. It's important to plan for the future.

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Supermoon

If you look up in the sky on March 19th you'll see a 'Supermoon', which is when "the moon’s orbit is nearest the Earth - and the sun, moon and Earth are all in alignment."

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

Some people think this supermoon might have been the cause of so much devastation in Japan READ ON

Astrologers and scientists have different versions of their own on the supermoon and its effects, something that’s pretty expected. READ ON
Read on 2
Whatever the effects of the supermoon, the moon will be bigger and brighter, it's going o be a beautiful sight, so we can only hope that it won't cause any more harm to the Earth.

And just to remind you of some idioms containing the word moon:

Friday, March 11, 2011

Baby rips it up

I'm not very fond of 'viral' videos, you know, these funny videos that spread out like a virus in the internet, but I liked this one. In spite of the many bad things happening around the world, I thought I wanted to share it. Laughter is highly contagious ...and it can be understood in any language.

By the way, the baby is ripping up his/her daddy's job rejection letter.

Friday, March 04, 2011

The most typical face in the world

The National Geographic Magazine has revealed what the most typical human on the planet looks like, as part of their new series which focuses on the human race called ‘Population 7 billion’.


The research found that a 28-year-old Han Chinese male is the most typical person on the planet, with 9 million around the globe. So was learning English the right choice? Shouldn't you be learning Chinese? They won’t be dominating for long, though. The National Geographic also found that within the next 20 years, the most typical person will come from India. So what now ?
Watch this video and check how similar to/different from the most typical person you are.
 If you want to know more on this topic, watch The Economist: 7 billion video
7 billion? Aren't there TOO MANY people on the planet?