martes, 25 de diciembre de 2012

Real English series: Can for ability and what are the French like?

Two new videos in our Real English series. In the first one, a group of people in the street answer questions with the verb can so that we can find out their ability to do something.

Can you play any musical instruments? I can play the piano
Can you cook?
Can he cook?
What else can you do?
Can you speak any foreign languages?



You can watch the same video clip with subtitles on the Real English site here.
You can do an excercise on the video above on the Real English site here.

Pay attention to the differences in pronunciation between affirmative can and negative can't. This is a subtle difference that causes English learners of all levels great difficulties as many times listeners fail to understand whether the speaker is using can in the affirmative or in the negative.

For a detailed explanation of how to pronounce can, check this blog entry.

The second video, What are the French like?, is a repeat of the entry What are the English like? and What are the Americans like?, which we studied last week. So revise the explanation we gave to this tricky question before you watch the video.

The main difficulty of the video lies on the vocabulary, mainly adjectives, the speakers use to describe the French. Most of the adjectives will definitely be understood by elementary learners (Básico 1 and Básico 2), but a few of them are a bit tricky. It is advisable to watch the video clip below with subtitles on the Real English site here.



You can also do an excercise on this video here.

Real English also provides a longer version of the same video for intermediate students here.