Soap operas and telenovelas may be overdramatic, but as Kate Adams shows us, their exaggerated stories and characters often cast light on the problems of real life.
In this sparkling, funny talk, Adams, a former assistant casting director for "As the World Turns," share four lessons for life and business that we can learn from melodramas.
TED speaker Kate Adams spends her days dissecting digital communications to find a better way to tell brand stories and connect with customers.
You can read the full transcript here.
Mostrando entradas con la etiqueta Stories. Mostrar todas las entradas
Mostrando entradas con la etiqueta Stories. Mostrar todas las entradas
domingo, 18 de diciembre de 2016
lunes, 8 de agosto de 2016
Listening test: Fairy tales
Listen to part of a BBC radio programmen on fairy tales and complete the blanks in the sentences below with up to THREE words. 0 is an example.
0 Example:
Dr Jamie Tehrani is an anthropologist at Durham University.
1 The fairy tales Dr Jamie Tehrani has studied are between _______________ thousand years old.
2 Stories like Beauty and the Beast go back to the _______________ Age.
3 Fairy tales weren’t written down until the _______________ centuries.
4 Phylogenetic comparative methods enable anthropologists to reconstruct the past in the absence of _______________.
5 We don’t have physical written records of the earliest fairy tales because we’re talking about a time before the _______________.
6 _______________ have been passed down from generations.
7 Anthropologists compare folk tales from different cultures and make inferences about the stories that would have been told by _______________.
We know fairytales are very old, but it seems some are even older than we thought, much older. Dr Jamie Tehrani is an anthropologist at Durham University and he’s written this latest study on fairytales. So how old, Dr Tehrani?
Well good morning, thanks for having me on the show. I would like to just start by saying that I was a co-author on the study with a wonderful researcher in Portugal called Sara Graca Da Silva who did a fantastic job on this project, she actually got the funding for it. So, these fairytales that we’ve looked at we’ve been able to trace back really thousands of years, probably sort of four to six thousand years is the origin of many famous European folk tales, stories such as Beauty and the Beast.
What six thousand years?
Yes, going right back to the Bronze Age. We’ve been able to trace the transmission across generations of these stories, much further back than is generally recognised.
So obviously transmitted orally?
Yes, for the large part, yes. So, it’s only fairly recently that these stories have been written down.
And by recently you mean?
Well, it’s early modern times, 16th/17th centuries when you see the emergence of the literary fairytale. And there’s been some debate among scholars about whether perhaps these stories actually originated at that time, maybe they were literary inventions that then spread to these rural areas which folklorists have studied and that these oral folk tales are actually corruptions of literary stories.
Right, because I have to ask you, if they weren’t written down six thousand years ago obviously, how do you know?
Well, we used a set of methods, a toolkit that we actually borrowed from evolutionary biology called phylogenetic comparative methods and these methods enable you to reconstruct the past in the absence of actual direct physical evidence. So, if you think in biology you’ve got this very patchy fossil record, the same is true of culture. Archaeology is a very incomplete record of our cultural past but…
But at least you’ve got something physical there?
Yes, that’s right, and of course you do have something physical in the written record that we can look at some stories going back, you know, a certain period of time.
Yes, but not six thousand years?
Not six thousand years because we’re talking about a time before the origins of writing.
Exactly.
So the way in which we’ve done that is we’ve excavated information about the past, about our storytelling history using information that’s been preserved through the mechanism of inheritance, so these storytelling traditions have been passed down from generations, so in that sense they embody their own history, and by comparing the folk tales that we find in different cultures and knowing something about the historical relationships among those cultures, we can make inferences about the stories that would have been told by their common ancestors, and that’s the approach that we’ve used.
Well, it’s lovely to think that Beauty and the Beast might have been being told to children six thousand years ago, what a wonderful thought. Dr Jamie Tehrani, thanks a lot.
Thank you.
Key:
1 four to six
2 Bronze
3 sixteen or seventeen
4 direct physical evidence
5 origins of writing
6 storytelling traditions
7 (their) common ancestors
0 Example:
Dr Jamie Tehrani is an anthropologist at Durham University.
1 The fairy tales Dr Jamie Tehrani has studied are between _______________ thousand years old.
2 Stories like Beauty and the Beast go back to the _______________ Age.
3 Fairy tales weren’t written down until the _______________ centuries.
4 Phylogenetic comparative methods enable anthropologists to reconstruct the past in the absence of _______________.
5 We don’t have physical written records of the earliest fairy tales because we’re talking about a time before the _______________.
6 _______________ have been passed down from generations.
7 Anthropologists compare folk tales from different cultures and make inferences about the stories that would have been told by _______________.
We know fairytales are very old, but it seems some are even older than we thought, much older. Dr Jamie Tehrani is an anthropologist at Durham University and he’s written this latest study on fairytales. So how old, Dr Tehrani?
Well good morning, thanks for having me on the show. I would like to just start by saying that I was a co-author on the study with a wonderful researcher in Portugal called Sara Graca Da Silva who did a fantastic job on this project, she actually got the funding for it. So, these fairytales that we’ve looked at we’ve been able to trace back really thousands of years, probably sort of four to six thousand years is the origin of many famous European folk tales, stories such as Beauty and the Beast.
What six thousand years?
Yes, going right back to the Bronze Age. We’ve been able to trace the transmission across generations of these stories, much further back than is generally recognised.
So obviously transmitted orally?
Yes, for the large part, yes. So, it’s only fairly recently that these stories have been written down.
And by recently you mean?
Well, it’s early modern times, 16th/17th centuries when you see the emergence of the literary fairytale. And there’s been some debate among scholars about whether perhaps these stories actually originated at that time, maybe they were literary inventions that then spread to these rural areas which folklorists have studied and that these oral folk tales are actually corruptions of literary stories.
Right, because I have to ask you, if they weren’t written down six thousand years ago obviously, how do you know?
Well, we used a set of methods, a toolkit that we actually borrowed from evolutionary biology called phylogenetic comparative methods and these methods enable you to reconstruct the past in the absence of actual direct physical evidence. So, if you think in biology you’ve got this very patchy fossil record, the same is true of culture. Archaeology is a very incomplete record of our cultural past but…
But at least you’ve got something physical there?
Yes, that’s right, and of course you do have something physical in the written record that we can look at some stories going back, you know, a certain period of time.
Yes, but not six thousand years?
Not six thousand years because we’re talking about a time before the origins of writing.
Exactly.
So the way in which we’ve done that is we’ve excavated information about the past, about our storytelling history using information that’s been preserved through the mechanism of inheritance, so these storytelling traditions have been passed down from generations, so in that sense they embody their own history, and by comparing the folk tales that we find in different cultures and knowing something about the historical relationships among those cultures, we can make inferences about the stories that would have been told by their common ancestors, and that’s the approach that we’ve used.
Well, it’s lovely to think that Beauty and the Beast might have been being told to children six thousand years ago, what a wonderful thought. Dr Jamie Tehrani, thanks a lot.
Thank you.
Key:
1 four to six
2 Bronze
3 sixteen or seventeen
4 direct physical evidence
5 origins of writing
6 storytelling traditions
7 (their) common ancestors
lunes, 23 de mayo de 2016
Listening test: Bangladesh
In this week's listening test we are going to practise the kind of multiple choice sort of task.
Listen to a girl talking about her holiday in Bangladesh and choose the option A, B or C which best completes the sentences below.
1 When the girl visited Bangladesh
A not many people used to go there.
B there were no tourists whatsoever.
C the place was already a popular tourist destination.
2 She wanted to visit Bangladesh
A and she went there with another friend.
B to admire the wildlife.
C to see the famous forests.
3 The girl stayed at the hotel because
A it was a holiday and everything was closed.
B she didn’t feel like going out.
C women aren’t allowed out on Fridays in Muslim countries.
4 The guide they finally managed to find
A took them to his private villa by boat.
B was a guest at the hotel.
C was the owner of a travel agency.
5 While they were on the boat the girl
A changed her mind about what she really wanted to do.
B got frightened of the mangrove trees.
C got sick.
6 On the boat ride the girls
A could see a tiger swimming.
B didn’t see any wildlife.
C sang non-stop.
So, my first question is where did you go?
Well, I was backpacking through Asia, so the story takes place in Bangladesh.
Bangladesh. That's a really cool place to visit I'm sure.
Yup. It is. And their tourist slogan is actually “come before the tourists come.”
So you got in there before the rest of the tourists?
Exactly. It was a really cool experience because there weren't a lot of tourists and people were really curious and really friendly.
That's awesome. So what did you do while you were there?
Well, actually the reason we picked to go to Bangladesh was ‘cause we wanted to go see a Bengali tiger in the Sundaraban Forest.
Wow. Yeah, that would be amazing.
Yup. I've been obsessed with tigers since I was a kid, and I thought this is the perfect opportunity.
OK. So you went to go see the tiger. How were you going to see the tiger? You weren't just going to walk into the forest by yourself.
That's the funny story because we arrived, and we were four. But two of us weren't feeling well. I was just sick, and I didn't wanna go look for a tour guide. So I stayed in the hotel lobby all day with my friend, and our other two friends went looking for a tour guide. They went to all these different tourist offices and other hotels to try to find a guide. But what we didn't plan for was first it was Friday, so most of the offices were closed.
Really? On a Friday?
Yup. Bangladesh is a Muslim country and so they take Friday as their day of rest.
OK. I see.
And also it was some sort of national holiday for the next couple of days, so we couldn't find any tour guides.
Oh yeah. That would be really hard to book a trip during that time.
Yes. But the lucky thing was that because we were feeling sick and we were hanging out in the hotel lobby all day, we kinda became friends with the staff there. And they found out what we were doing and what we were trying to find, and they hooked us up with a tour guide.
Wow. That's great.
Yeah. It was really cool. It was actually the owner of the hotel who has a tour agency on the side, and he took us to his private villa where had a boat that took us to the Sundaraban Forest.
Wow. It's crazy that that hook up happened. That's very convenient.
Yeah. It was completely by chance, but it was such an amazing experience because we went to this beautiful home in a small village, and we actually got to go meet a lot of the villagers. And then we took this small boat, and we went deep into the forest. And I have to be honest though, once we got into the Sundaraban Forest, it's got the mangrove trees, which have their roots in the water, so you’re…
Yeah. I was just going to ask. I was a little bit confused. You were taking a boat into the forest. How does that work?
It's beautiful. I'll try to post a picture with this episode. But basically it's the mangrove trees that their roots go into the water. So you're going in this boat through these small passageways with big trees, and you're really close and it's small passages, and I started singing because I didn't want to see a tiger.
You didn't want to see a tiger?
I got scared. I didn't realize how close you were to the trees and how close a tiger really could be to you.
Yeah. And do these tigers swim? Could it come up to the boat? I guess tigers do swim, don't they?
They do. And they could have come, so we got a bit scared by talking to some of the villagers, so we sang a bit during the boat ride.
I'm curious, what song did you sing? Do you remember?
We actually sang “Oh Canada” over and over again because we couldn't think of the words to any other song.
That's hilarious. OK. Good. So in the end, did you see a tiger?
No. But it was still an amazing experience, and the Sundaraban Forest is absolutely amazing. So beautiful.
Did you see any other animals?
We saw a couple of different birds, but I don't remember the names of any of them.
OK. Cool. That's a great story. That's sounds like a really interesting experience.
It was amazing and one of my favourite travel stories.
Cool. All right. Good, well thanks for sharing with us.
KEY:
1A 2B 3B 4C 5A 6C
Listen to a girl talking about her holiday in Bangladesh and choose the option A, B or C which best completes the sentences below.
1 When the girl visited Bangladesh
A not many people used to go there.
B there were no tourists whatsoever.
C the place was already a popular tourist destination.
2 She wanted to visit Bangladesh
A and she went there with another friend.
B to admire the wildlife.
C to see the famous forests.
3 The girl stayed at the hotel because
A it was a holiday and everything was closed.
B she didn’t feel like going out.
C women aren’t allowed out on Fridays in Muslim countries.
4 The guide they finally managed to find
A took them to his private villa by boat.
B was a guest at the hotel.
C was the owner of a travel agency.
5 While they were on the boat the girl
A changed her mind about what she really wanted to do.
B got frightened of the mangrove trees.
C got sick.
6 On the boat ride the girls
A could see a tiger swimming.
B didn’t see any wildlife.
C sang non-stop.
So, my first question is where did you go?
Well, I was backpacking through Asia, so the story takes place in Bangladesh.
Bangladesh. That's a really cool place to visit I'm sure.
Yup. It is. And their tourist slogan is actually “come before the tourists come.”
So you got in there before the rest of the tourists?
Exactly. It was a really cool experience because there weren't a lot of tourists and people were really curious and really friendly.
That's awesome. So what did you do while you were there?
Well, actually the reason we picked to go to Bangladesh was ‘cause we wanted to go see a Bengali tiger in the Sundaraban Forest.
Wow. Yeah, that would be amazing.
Yup. I've been obsessed with tigers since I was a kid, and I thought this is the perfect opportunity.
OK. So you went to go see the tiger. How were you going to see the tiger? You weren't just going to walk into the forest by yourself.
That's the funny story because we arrived, and we were four. But two of us weren't feeling well. I was just sick, and I didn't wanna go look for a tour guide. So I stayed in the hotel lobby all day with my friend, and our other two friends went looking for a tour guide. They went to all these different tourist offices and other hotels to try to find a guide. But what we didn't plan for was first it was Friday, so most of the offices were closed.
Really? On a Friday?
Yup. Bangladesh is a Muslim country and so they take Friday as their day of rest.
OK. I see.
And also it was some sort of national holiday for the next couple of days, so we couldn't find any tour guides.
Oh yeah. That would be really hard to book a trip during that time.
Yes. But the lucky thing was that because we were feeling sick and we were hanging out in the hotel lobby all day, we kinda became friends with the staff there. And they found out what we were doing and what we were trying to find, and they hooked us up with a tour guide.
Wow. That's great.
Yeah. It was really cool. It was actually the owner of the hotel who has a tour agency on the side, and he took us to his private villa where had a boat that took us to the Sundaraban Forest.
Wow. It's crazy that that hook up happened. That's very convenient.
Yeah. It was completely by chance, but it was such an amazing experience because we went to this beautiful home in a small village, and we actually got to go meet a lot of the villagers. And then we took this small boat, and we went deep into the forest. And I have to be honest though, once we got into the Sundaraban Forest, it's got the mangrove trees, which have their roots in the water, so you’re…
Yeah. I was just going to ask. I was a little bit confused. You were taking a boat into the forest. How does that work?
It's beautiful. I'll try to post a picture with this episode. But basically it's the mangrove trees that their roots go into the water. So you're going in this boat through these small passageways with big trees, and you're really close and it's small passages, and I started singing because I didn't want to see a tiger.
You didn't want to see a tiger?
I got scared. I didn't realize how close you were to the trees and how close a tiger really could be to you.
Yeah. And do these tigers swim? Could it come up to the boat? I guess tigers do swim, don't they?
They do. And they could have come, so we got a bit scared by talking to some of the villagers, so we sang a bit during the boat ride.
I'm curious, what song did you sing? Do you remember?
We actually sang “Oh Canada” over and over again because we couldn't think of the words to any other song.
That's hilarious. OK. Good. So in the end, did you see a tiger?
No. But it was still an amazing experience, and the Sundaraban Forest is absolutely amazing. So beautiful.
Did you see any other animals?
We saw a couple of different birds, but I don't remember the names of any of them.
OK. Cool. That's a great story. That's sounds like a really interesting experience.
It was amazing and one of my favourite travel stories.
Cool. All right. Good, well thanks for sharing with us.
KEY:
1A 2B 3B 4C 5A 6C
miércoles, 11 de mayo de 2016
Talking point: Stories
This week's talking point is stories. Before getting together with the members of your conversation group, go over the questions below so that ideas come to mind more easily the day you get together with your friends and you can work out vocabulary problems beforehand.
Choose a folktale or fairy story you know well and tell the story.
What would be the modern version of that folktale or fairy story?
What makes a good story?
What makes a good storyteller?
Do you know anyone who's a particularly good storyteller?
What kind of stories does he or she tell?
When did you last hear a good story? What was it about?
Do you prefer reading stories or listening to them?
How important are folktales and fairy stories in forming someone's cultural background?
Are folktales and fairy stories taught in schools?
Certain groups of people criticise myths and fairy tales for communicating an undesirable set of values. How do you feel about this?
Personal story: A change in plans
You are going to tell your partner about a time when you had to change your plans.
As soon as Wolf began to feel That he would like a decent meal,
He went and knocked on Grandma's door.
When Grandma opened it, she saw
The sharp white teeth, the horrid grin,
And Wolfie said, "May I come in?"
Poor Grandmamma was terrified,
"He's going to eat me up!" she cried.
And she was absolutely right.
He ate her up in one big bite.
But Grandmamma was small and tough,
And Wolfie wailed,
"That's not enough!
I haven't yet begun to feel
That I have had a decent meal!"
He ran around the kitchen yelping,
"I've got to have a second helping!"
Then added with a frightful leer,
"I'm therefore going to wait right here
Till Little Miss Red Riding Hood
Comes home from walking in the wood."
He quickly put on Grandma's clothes,
(Of course he hadn't eaten those).
He dressed himself in coat and hat.
He put on shoes, and after that,
He even brushed and curled his hair,
Then sat himself in Grandma's chair.
In came the little girl in red.
She stopped. She stared. And then she said,
"What great big ears you have, Grandma."
"All the better to hear you with," the Wolf replied.
"What great big eyes you have, Grandma." said Little Red Riding Hood. "All the better to see you with," the Wolf replied.
He sat there watching her and smiled.
He thought, I'm going to eat this child.
Compared with her old Grandmamma,
She's going to taste like caviar.
Then Little Red Riding Hood said,
“But Grandma, what a lovely great big furry coat you have on."
"That's wrong!" cried Wolf.
"Have you forgot
To tell me what BIG TEETH I've got?
Ah well, no matter what you say,
I'm going to eat you anyway."
The small girl smiles.
One eyelid flickers.
She whips a pistol from her knickers.
She aims it at the creature's head,
And bang bang bang, she shoots him dead.
A few weeks later, in the wood,
I came across Miss Riding Hood.
But what a change!
No cloak of red,
No silly hood upon her head.
She said, "Hello, and do please note
My lovely furry WOLFSKIN COAT."
Choose a folktale or fairy story you know well and tell the story.
What would be the modern version of that folktale or fairy story?
What makes a good story?
What makes a good storyteller?
Do you know anyone who's a particularly good storyteller?
What kind of stories does he or she tell?
When did you last hear a good story? What was it about?
Do you prefer reading stories or listening to them?
How important are folktales and fairy stories in forming someone's cultural background?
Are folktales and fairy stories taught in schools?
Certain groups of people criticise myths and fairy tales for communicating an undesirable set of values. How do you feel about this?
Personal story: A change in plans
You are going to tell your partner about a time when you had to change your plans.
- What had you planned? A holiday? A party? A career change? A new home? Something else?
- Were you responsible for making the plans or did someone else do the planning?
- How far ahead were the plans made? Was there a lot of planning involved?
- What exactly was the original plan? Were you looking forward to it?
- What happened to force you to change your plans?
- Did the change happen at the very last minute or did you have time to make new plans?
- How did you react when your plans fell through?
- Did you do something else instead? Do you think it turned out for the best in the end?
- Is there anything else you'd like to add?
As soon as Wolf began to feel That he would like a decent meal,
He went and knocked on Grandma's door.
When Grandma opened it, she saw
The sharp white teeth, the horrid grin,
And Wolfie said, "May I come in?"
Poor Grandmamma was terrified,
"He's going to eat me up!" she cried.
And she was absolutely right.
He ate her up in one big bite.
But Grandmamma was small and tough,
And Wolfie wailed,
"That's not enough!
I haven't yet begun to feel
That I have had a decent meal!"
He ran around the kitchen yelping,
"I've got to have a second helping!"
Then added with a frightful leer,
"I'm therefore going to wait right here
Till Little Miss Red Riding Hood
Comes home from walking in the wood."
He quickly put on Grandma's clothes,
(Of course he hadn't eaten those).
He dressed himself in coat and hat.
He put on shoes, and after that,
He even brushed and curled his hair,
Then sat himself in Grandma's chair.
In came the little girl in red.
She stopped. She stared. And then she said,
"What great big ears you have, Grandma."
"All the better to hear you with," the Wolf replied.
"What great big eyes you have, Grandma." said Little Red Riding Hood. "All the better to see you with," the Wolf replied.
He sat there watching her and smiled.
He thought, I'm going to eat this child.
Compared with her old Grandmamma,
She's going to taste like caviar.
Then Little Red Riding Hood said,
“But Grandma, what a lovely great big furry coat you have on."
"That's wrong!" cried Wolf.
"Have you forgot
To tell me what BIG TEETH I've got?
Ah well, no matter what you say,
I'm going to eat you anyway."
The small girl smiles.
One eyelid flickers.
She whips a pistol from her knickers.
She aims it at the creature's head,
And bang bang bang, she shoots him dead.
A few weeks later, in the wood,
I came across Miss Riding Hood.
But what a change!
No cloak of red,
No silly hood upon her head.
She said, "Hello, and do please note
My lovely furry WOLFSKIN COAT."
jueves, 31 de diciembre de 2015
Near drowning in Morocco
Watch this short story of a holiday that turned awry.
Self-study activity:
Watch the video and answer the questions below about it.
1 What did the couple's friend (of a friend), John, do the first night?
2 What activity did John insist on doing the next day?
3 What happened to him when he was a long way off the shore?
4 Why couldn't the hotel use their lifeboat?
5 How did the swimmer pull John back to the beach?
6 Who was in fact the person who saved their friend's life?
Sometimes you agree to go on holiday with people you don’t really know. And sometimes those people (1) drink too much on the first night.
My husband and I found ourselves on such a holiday in Morocco, where a friend of a friend, let’s call him John, had a place at a beach resort in Ashilla. John insisted on taking Ashilla’s night life by storm and the next day, even though he looked like he could use a nap, continued to amp up the activity level with a bout of (2) windsurfing. This is a vacation after all, why relax?
When he jumped on to the windsurf board he was immediately swept 300 metres off shore and then (3) the mast broke. My husband and I couldn’t swim out to help. He’s not a strong swimmer, neither am I. So we watched with increasing dread as John was rapidly swept further out to sea.
Crowds gathered on the beach and began to get rowdy:
If he doesn’t drown, the sharks will definitely get him.
Come here! There’s a guy drowning.
The hotel offered to call in a lifeboat from Tangiers, (4) theirs was broken. Tangiers was over an hour away.
Suddenly, Morocco’s version of Arnold Schwarzenegger parted the crowds with his rippling muscles and proclaimed: I watched a guy die here last year. I can’t let that happen again, and in he dove, swimming towards the small dot that John had become on the horizon. He seemed to swim for hours, stopping only briefly to catch his breath and began pulling John back (5) on the broken windsurfer.
As they came on to the shore the previously cut-throat crowd was cheering and crying. The lifeboat from Tangiers had just arrived, the crew basking in undeserved glory.
Turns out the Moroccan Arnold was (6) a professional bodybuilder on vacation from LA. And if he hadn’t weighed 300 pounds we would have lifted him on our shoulders and paraded him through the Medina.
Self-study activity:
Watch the video and answer the questions below about it.
1 What did the couple's friend (of a friend), John, do the first night?
2 What activity did John insist on doing the next day?
3 What happened to him when he was a long way off the shore?
4 Why couldn't the hotel use their lifeboat?
5 How did the swimmer pull John back to the beach?
6 Who was in fact the person who saved their friend's life?
Sometimes you agree to go on holiday with people you don’t really know. And sometimes those people (1) drink too much on the first night.
My husband and I found ourselves on such a holiday in Morocco, where a friend of a friend, let’s call him John, had a place at a beach resort in Ashilla. John insisted on taking Ashilla’s night life by storm and the next day, even though he looked like he could use a nap, continued to amp up the activity level with a bout of (2) windsurfing. This is a vacation after all, why relax?
When he jumped on to the windsurf board he was immediately swept 300 metres off shore and then (3) the mast broke. My husband and I couldn’t swim out to help. He’s not a strong swimmer, neither am I. So we watched with increasing dread as John was rapidly swept further out to sea.
Crowds gathered on the beach and began to get rowdy:
If he doesn’t drown, the sharks will definitely get him.
Come here! There’s a guy drowning.
The hotel offered to call in a lifeboat from Tangiers, (4) theirs was broken. Tangiers was over an hour away.
Suddenly, Morocco’s version of Arnold Schwarzenegger parted the crowds with his rippling muscles and proclaimed: I watched a guy die here last year. I can’t let that happen again, and in he dove, swimming towards the small dot that John had become on the horizon. He seemed to swim for hours, stopping only briefly to catch his breath and began pulling John back (5) on the broken windsurfer.
As they came on to the shore the previously cut-throat crowd was cheering and crying. The lifeboat from Tangiers had just arrived, the crew basking in undeserved glory.
Turns out the Moroccan Arnold was (6) a professional bodybuilder on vacation from LA. And if he hadn’t weighed 300 pounds we would have lifted him on our shoulders and paraded him through the Medina.
lunes, 27 de octubre de 2014
Listening test: Jim's story
Listen to Jim telling us about an activity he's been doing in the last 30 years and choose the option a, b or c which best answers each question or completes the sentence. 0 is an example.
Example:
0 What has Jim been doing over the last 30 years?
a Cooking for friends and strangers on Sundays.
b Inviting friends and strangers to cook.
c Taking friends and strangers to a restaurant.
1 How does he select the people he gets together with?
a He calls or sends e-mails to 50 or 60 potential guests.
b The first 50 or 60 people who come round can come in.
c The first 50 or 60 potential guests to call him or e-mail him can go.
2 Which statement best describes the people Jim gets together with?
a People from any social and cultural level.
b People with knowledge of international cuisine.
c People with an interest culture.
3 What does he do each week before dinner?
a He finds out information about his guests.
b He makes a list with the people who are coming for dinner.
c He makes sure to remember some information about his guests.
4 What is his main motivation to travel?
a To know about other cultures.
b To meet people.
c To see sights.
5 What happened to some of the people who met through Jim’s guidebooks?
a They became friends.
b They got married.
c They travelled together.
6 What is said about English?
a A few guests can’t speak it.
b It is the first language of most guests.
c It is the language the Bosnian girl used.
7 The cartoonist and the painter are mentioned as examples of
a people who understand each other.
b people who would be rivals in other situations.
c the variety of guests Jim gets.
Every week for the past thirty years, I have hosted a Sunday dinner in my home in Paris. Every Sunday a different friend prepares a feast. Last week it was a philosophy student from Lisbon, and next week a dear friend from London will cook.
People, including total strangers, call or e-mail to book a spot. The first fifty or sixty people who call may come— and twice that many when the weather is nice and we can overflow into the garden.
People from all corners of the world come to break bread together, to meet, to talk, to connect, and often to become friends. All ages, nationalities, races, and professions gather here, and since there is no organized seating, the opportunity for mingling couldn’t be better.
I believe in introducing people to people. I have a good memory, so each week I make a point to remember everyone’s name on the guest list and where they’re from and what they do so I can introduce them to one another, effortlessly. If I had my way, I would introduce everyone in the whole world to one another.
People are the most important thing in my life. Many travelers go to see things like the Tower of London, the Statue of Liberty, the Eiffel Tower, and so on. I travel to see friends, even—or especially—those I’ve never met.
In the late 1980s, I edited a series of guidebooks to nine Eastern European countries and Russia. There were no sights to see, no shops or museum to visit; instead, each book contained about a thousand short biographies of people who would be willing to welcome travelers in their cities. Hundreds of friendships evolved from these encounters, including marriages and babies, too.
The same can be said for my Sunday salon. At a recent dinner a six-year-old girl from Bosnia spent the entire evening glued to an eight-year-old boy from Estonia. Their parents were surprised, and pleased, by this immediate friendship.
There is always a collection of people from all over the globe. Most of them speak English, at least as a second language. Recently a dinner featured a typical mix: a Dutch political cartoonist, a beautiful painter from Norway, a truck driver from Arizona, a bookseller from Atlanta, a newspaper editor from Sydney, students from all over.
I have long believed that it is unnecessary to understand others, individuals, or nationalities; one must, at the very least, simply tolerate others. Tolerance can lead to respect and, finally, to love.
Key:
1C 2A 3C 4B 5B 6A 7C
This activity is adapted from Inviting the world to dinner, which I spotted in ESL Video.
Example:
0 What has Jim been doing over the last 30 years?
a Cooking for friends and strangers on Sundays.
b Inviting friends and strangers to cook.
c Taking friends and strangers to a restaurant.
1 How does he select the people he gets together with?
a He calls or sends e-mails to 50 or 60 potential guests.
b The first 50 or 60 people who come round can come in.
c The first 50 or 60 potential guests to call him or e-mail him can go.
2 Which statement best describes the people Jim gets together with?
a People from any social and cultural level.
b People with knowledge of international cuisine.
c People with an interest culture.
3 What does he do each week before dinner?
a He finds out information about his guests.
b He makes a list with the people who are coming for dinner.
c He makes sure to remember some information about his guests.
4 What is his main motivation to travel?
a To know about other cultures.
b To meet people.
c To see sights.
5 What happened to some of the people who met through Jim’s guidebooks?
a They became friends.
b They got married.
c They travelled together.
6 What is said about English?
a A few guests can’t speak it.
b It is the first language of most guests.
c It is the language the Bosnian girl used.
7 The cartoonist and the painter are mentioned as examples of
a people who understand each other.
b people who would be rivals in other situations.
c the variety of guests Jim gets.
Every week for the past thirty years, I have hosted a Sunday dinner in my home in Paris. Every Sunday a different friend prepares a feast. Last week it was a philosophy student from Lisbon, and next week a dear friend from London will cook.
People, including total strangers, call or e-mail to book a spot. The first fifty or sixty people who call may come— and twice that many when the weather is nice and we can overflow into the garden.
People from all corners of the world come to break bread together, to meet, to talk, to connect, and often to become friends. All ages, nationalities, races, and professions gather here, and since there is no organized seating, the opportunity for mingling couldn’t be better.
I believe in introducing people to people. I have a good memory, so each week I make a point to remember everyone’s name on the guest list and where they’re from and what they do so I can introduce them to one another, effortlessly. If I had my way, I would introduce everyone in the whole world to one another.
People are the most important thing in my life. Many travelers go to see things like the Tower of London, the Statue of Liberty, the Eiffel Tower, and so on. I travel to see friends, even—or especially—those I’ve never met.
In the late 1980s, I edited a series of guidebooks to nine Eastern European countries and Russia. There were no sights to see, no shops or museum to visit; instead, each book contained about a thousand short biographies of people who would be willing to welcome travelers in their cities. Hundreds of friendships evolved from these encounters, including marriages and babies, too.
The same can be said for my Sunday salon. At a recent dinner a six-year-old girl from Bosnia spent the entire evening glued to an eight-year-old boy from Estonia. Their parents were surprised, and pleased, by this immediate friendship.
There is always a collection of people from all over the globe. Most of them speak English, at least as a second language. Recently a dinner featured a typical mix: a Dutch political cartoonist, a beautiful painter from Norway, a truck driver from Arizona, a bookseller from Atlanta, a newspaper editor from Sydney, students from all over.
I have long believed that it is unnecessary to understand others, individuals, or nationalities; one must, at the very least, simply tolerate others. Tolerance can lead to respect and, finally, to love.
Key:
1C 2A 3C 4B 5B 6A 7C
This activity is adapted from Inviting the world to dinner, which I spotted in ESL Video.
domingo, 19 de octubre de 2014
Extensive listening: Who do you think you are- JK Rowling
As Wikipedia points out, "Who Do You Think You Are? is a British genealogy documentary series that has aired on the BBC since 2004. In each episode, a celebrity goes on a journey to trace his or her family tree."
The episode on JK Rowling belongs to the 8th season (2011), and we can see JK Rowling setting out to investigate her French roots. Jo has always been intrigued by her late mother's French ancestry, but knows very little about it. Beginning her journey in Edinburgh, Jo's search takes her from The Savoy in London, to once-bloody battlefields and the back streets of urban Paris.
You can read the transcript for the first ten minutes of the programme here.
The episode on JK Rowling belongs to the 8th season (2011), and we can see JK Rowling setting out to investigate her French roots. Jo has always been intrigued by her late mother's French ancestry, but knows very little about it. Beginning her journey in Edinburgh, Jo's search takes her from The Savoy in London, to once-bloody battlefields and the back streets of urban Paris.
You can read the transcript for the first ten minutes of the programme here.
sábado, 18 de octubre de 2014
Best story ever
Strombo is a Canadian talk show host. The 'Best Story Ever' video clips are part of his show. They are short videos featuring interesting and (mostly) funny anecdotes of well-known people, which might be of interest to the English language learner in the intermediate-to-advanced spectrum to develop their listening skills and which you can find here.
Here are a couple of examples of 'Best Story Ever' videos, showing American political activist Ralph Nader and Scottish crime writer Ian Rankin.
Ralph Nader
One day I came home from school and I was in the fourth grade to my mother, and I said, mom the boys are wearing long pants. I wanna wear long pants. I said if I keep wearing short pants, if I trip I'm going to cut myself and, you know, in cold weather it’s cold without long pants. And she smiled and said, Ralph, are you worried about being different? I was not to be persuaded so I unloaded my trump card. I said, mom their mothers let them wear long pants. And my mother looked at me again with her beautiful smile and said, well, they have their mothers and you have yours. And by the way, Ralph if you're ever gonna wanna be a leader, sometimes you have to turn your back on the pack. I never forgot that. I'm Ralph Nader and that was one of my best stories ever.
Ian Rankin
So I was at University, doing a PhD and suddenly got an idea for a crime novel. I, I thought how do I find out about the police? Went along to a police station and asked if I could speak to a couple of detectives. Sadly I’d been a student at the time, in the mid-eighties, I looked a bit like a tramp. Told them the plot of my novel and the two detectives said, well, we have a really great idea. Why don’t we pretend you're a suspect in an ongoing inquiry. What I didn't realize was these cops at this very police station were investigating a crime that was almost identical to the one I’d just told them about was going to be in my book. So they took me to an interrogation room. They interrogated me for an hour and a half. They got all the information online, on their computer. I didn't think anything of it. Went home that weekend, hadn’t got some great stuff from them, I thought. My dad said to me, you, you're crazy if they think you did it, and you were coming into the police station to play games with them. So I went back to the police station the Monday morning, asked for the two detectives and they said, yeah, you're the only suspect we have in an ongoing police inquiry. So that was a problem for me because what it told me was that when you do research as a novelist you tend to get into trouble. So for a while after that I didn't do any research, I didn’t look into the police, I didn’t get near the police because I did not want to become the only suspect in a murder inquiry. That's what happened to me when I was writing my first Inspector Rebus book. My name's Ian Rankin and that's my best story ever.
Here are a couple of examples of 'Best Story Ever' videos, showing American political activist Ralph Nader and Scottish crime writer Ian Rankin.
Ralph Nader
One day I came home from school and I was in the fourth grade to my mother, and I said, mom the boys are wearing long pants. I wanna wear long pants. I said if I keep wearing short pants, if I trip I'm going to cut myself and, you know, in cold weather it’s cold without long pants. And she smiled and said, Ralph, are you worried about being different? I was not to be persuaded so I unloaded my trump card. I said, mom their mothers let them wear long pants. And my mother looked at me again with her beautiful smile and said, well, they have their mothers and you have yours. And by the way, Ralph if you're ever gonna wanna be a leader, sometimes you have to turn your back on the pack. I never forgot that. I'm Ralph Nader and that was one of my best stories ever.
Ian Rankin
So I was at University, doing a PhD and suddenly got an idea for a crime novel. I, I thought how do I find out about the police? Went along to a police station and asked if I could speak to a couple of detectives. Sadly I’d been a student at the time, in the mid-eighties, I looked a bit like a tramp. Told them the plot of my novel and the two detectives said, well, we have a really great idea. Why don’t we pretend you're a suspect in an ongoing inquiry. What I didn't realize was these cops at this very police station were investigating a crime that was almost identical to the one I’d just told them about was going to be in my book. So they took me to an interrogation room. They interrogated me for an hour and a half. They got all the information online, on their computer. I didn't think anything of it. Went home that weekend, hadn’t got some great stuff from them, I thought. My dad said to me, you, you're crazy if they think you did it, and you were coming into the police station to play games with them. So I went back to the police station the Monday morning, asked for the two detectives and they said, yeah, you're the only suspect we have in an ongoing police inquiry. So that was a problem for me because what it told me was that when you do research as a novelist you tend to get into trouble. So for a while after that I didn't do any research, I didn’t look into the police, I didn’t get near the police because I did not want to become the only suspect in a murder inquiry. That's what happened to me when I was writing my first Inspector Rebus book. My name's Ian Rankin and that's my best story ever.
miércoles, 11 de junio de 2014
Talking point: A time when you were in a dangerous situation
This week's talking point deals with personal stories. To be more precise, you will be talking about a time in your life in which you were in a dangerous situation. It is based on the famous anecdote feature of Macmillan's Inside Out.
Before getting together with the members of your conversation group, go over the questions below, so that ideas flow more easily when you get together with your friends and you can work out vocabulary problems beforehand.
You're going to talk about when you were in a dangerous or exciting situation:
a) What happened to Laila?
b) Who was Laila with?
c) Why were they in the States?
d) Why did they go to New York from New Jersey that day?
e) Why did they take a taxi?
f) How much do taxis usually cost?
g) How much did they pay?
h) What problem did the taxi driver have when they got to New Jersey?
i) What did the taxi driver ask Elton to do?
j) What did the taxi driver do when Elton got out of the car?
k) How did Elton react?
l) What excuse did the taxi driver give?
m) What time was it?
n) What did Elton and Laila do?
Key
a) She was Nearly kidnapped by a taxi driver in New York b) A friend, Elton c) They went to another’s friend wedding d) To see Manhattan, have a laugh, go to some bars, and do some cabbing e) They missed their last train home. The last train was at half twelve f) $120 g) $70, because Elton haggled h) He didn’t know the way i) To ask for street directions at a petrol station j) He drove away with Laila in the car k) He ran after the taxi, and caught up with it because the taxi had to stop at a red traffic light l) He had driven away to ask somebody else for directions m) 4 am n) They paid the taxi driver and walked the rest of the way
Before getting together with the members of your conversation group, go over the questions below, so that ideas flow more easily when you get together with your friends and you can work out vocabulary problems beforehand.
You're going to talk about when you were in a dangerous or exciting situation:
- What was the situation?
- When did it happen?
- Where were you?
- Who were you with?
- What were you doing?
- What happened?
- What happened next?
- How did you feel?
- What were the consequences?
- What happened in the end?
a) What happened to Laila?
b) Who was Laila with?
c) Why were they in the States?
d) Why did they go to New York from New Jersey that day?
e) Why did they take a taxi?
f) How much do taxis usually cost?
g) How much did they pay?
h) What problem did the taxi driver have when they got to New Jersey?
i) What did the taxi driver ask Elton to do?
j) What did the taxi driver do when Elton got out of the car?
k) How did Elton react?
l) What excuse did the taxi driver give?
m) What time was it?
n) What did Elton and Laila do?
a) She was Nearly kidnapped by a taxi driver in New York b) A friend, Elton c) They went to another’s friend wedding d) To see Manhattan, have a laugh, go to some bars, and do some cabbing e) They missed their last train home. The last train was at half twelve f) $120 g) $70, because Elton haggled h) He didn’t know the way i) To ask for street directions at a petrol station j) He drove away with Laila in the car k) He ran after the taxi, and caught up with it because the taxi had to stop at a red traffic light l) He had driven away to ask somebody else for directions m) 4 am n) They paid the taxi driver and walked the rest of the way
martes, 8 de abril de 2014
Madrid Teacher: Mystery times
Our Madrid Teacher video for this week revolves around the topic of mysteries. Before you watch the video just think about these famous mysteries, what do you know about them?
Once again, the conversation of the Madrid Teachers gives us a great opportunity to get acquainted with some feature of spoken English. Watch the clip again and pay attention to the following:
Now it's over to you. Can you think about some other unsolved mysteries? Can you talk about them with some of your friends? Use the mysteries the Madrid Teachers discussed today if nothing comes to mind. And don't forget to use some of the features of spoken English when you talk.
I just read an article the other day about Jack the Ripper, which a sort of, well, a mystery story because nobody really knows who killed those five women, you know? It was actually just between a, in a seven month period, five women were killed. Two on the same day. And what, what the mystery is, is first of all they never found the guy, and second of all, well, you know there are suspects that it was Queen Victoria’s grandson, who was maybe a Freemason, who, you know, there was all these . . . And there, but there were other suspects as well. The question is also, like, why did they stop all of a sudden, you know? Like, why did he kill those, just those five women? And so there are theories that maybe he killed them, you know, because there was some sort of plan, diabolic plan that he had and he, and, or these women had some sort of relation between each other and once he killed the five of them that’s, that was it. He’d finished his plan. Or, maybe it’s because people started suspecting who it was, and he just wanted to, you know, disappear off the map and not do anymore.
Yeah.
But, but that’s a bit of a mystery, you know? But there are lots of things like that there are mysteries, like for example Nazca planes, in Peru.
Oh, yeah! You know?
Do you know a little bit about it?
I know . . . I’ve never been there. My boyfriend has, but I know that some of them are so large you can see the designs from outer space, apparently. And, many . . .
Like the, like the Great Wall of China.
Yeah, OK, fair enough. But, some people believe that they are tracks for alien landings and what not. Spaceship tracks.
Yeah.
Or runways, I suppose you could call them.
Spaceship runways.
Yeah. If spaceships run, I don’t know.
The thing is, like, how could they, how could people have made those, like if you could only see them from the, even if it’s not from outer space but from an airplane, like . . . how have, could people have engraved these in the, you know?
That’s a good point.
They’re deep, aren’t they? They’re about . . . two feet deep or something?
Yeah.
They’re huge. Yeah, they’re huge.
Yeah, they’re enormous.
Yeah it would have been difficult to sort of plan it out, to see it from, from the sky.
Another thing are the Moais, or I think it’s pronounced Moais. The ones in Easter Island, those big statues, you know?
Oh yeah.
Like all the bodies are facing one direction, and all the heads are facing another direction. But I mean the heads are like, they weigh like a ton. And how, how can they move these big heads from one end of the island to the other? Like thousands of years ago, like, they didn’t have any, you know modern equipment, or anything to carry these big heads. But the thing is that the head and the body are perfectly aligned. So... you know? Like, it wouldn’t be like just any old head, you know, lined up. Like, it perfectly matches... so, that’s a very, that’s a sort of mysterious thing.
There are no surveys or anything? How did they do it? It’s just ‘cause, if you think about it, it’s not, there’s...
It’s a mystery still, isn’t it? Like Stonehenge, I suppose. They don’t know exactly where the stones came from, or how they were erected, but it happened.
Yes, that’s right.
Is Easter Island the place where it’s an island that obviously used to have a population but, for the past hundred years or so, nobody’s lived there?
Well, it belongs to Chile. I mean, it’s the, it, it belongs to . . . I don’t, I, I actually . . .
But it’s uninhabited.
Is it? Yeah. I don’t know . . .
They did, there was some deforestation, I think, and they were unable to support themselves on the island. Some . . .
Yeah, that’s what I heard.
With the possibility that they used the trees to move the stones.
Well, there’s a movie about that called, Rapanui, which is about, there, there were two tribes of people on this island, and there were always competing with each other. Some of them had long ears and the other ones had short ears.
Oh?
Yeah, it’s, it’s a really cool movie, actually. And it talks about that mystery. And it talks about how possibly, that one group, well, they were like slaves to the other group. And how they made them carry these heads to the other side like you were saying, like, you know, sort of like when you think of the pyramids, you know? How they built the pyramids, you know? With all the slaves that they used and everything, so . . .
Magnetic force fields.
So that explains more or less how they did it, then? Or how do they think they did it.
That’s right, it’s a theory. That’s right. Of how they, you know, they sort of had big, you know, logs, and they just sort of rolled them, you know? And of course, people got squished and people got, you know, killed along the way, you know, like, like the pyramids.
It’s a bit different, I suppose, to the Loch Ness Monster, isn’t it? You know, you, you probably know a lot about that.
About the Loch Ness Monster? Yeah. I heard recently that the cast of Allo, Allo went on a boat on Loch Ness, and, I know, but while they were on their boat, the sonar started bleeping and allegedly, they found something very, very deep in the loch, and they didn’t know what it was.
- Jack the Ripper
- The Nazca planes in Peru
- The Great Wall of China
- The Moais on East Island
- The pyramids in Egypt
- The Loch Ness Monster
Once again, the conversation of the Madrid Teachers gives us a great opportunity to get acquainted with some feature of spoken English. Watch the clip again and pay attention to the following:
- vague language: sort of; or so
- gaining thinking time: well; you know?
- connecting ideas: like; so
- agreement: yeah; that's a good point; yes, that's right
- involving the other people in the conversation: Do you a little about it?
- hedging: I suppose; I think
- rephrasing what you have just said: I mean
- reacting to what you have just heard: oh!
- emphasis: really
- introducing an explanation: the thing is
Now it's over to you. Can you think about some other unsolved mysteries? Can you talk about them with some of your friends? Use the mysteries the Madrid Teachers discussed today if nothing comes to mind. And don't forget to use some of the features of spoken English when you talk.
I just read an article the other day about Jack the Ripper, which a sort of, well, a mystery story because nobody really knows who killed those five women, you know? It was actually just between a, in a seven month period, five women were killed. Two on the same day. And what, what the mystery is, is first of all they never found the guy, and second of all, well, you know there are suspects that it was Queen Victoria’s grandson, who was maybe a Freemason, who, you know, there was all these . . . And there, but there were other suspects as well. The question is also, like, why did they stop all of a sudden, you know? Like, why did he kill those, just those five women? And so there are theories that maybe he killed them, you know, because there was some sort of plan, diabolic plan that he had and he, and, or these women had some sort of relation between each other and once he killed the five of them that’s, that was it. He’d finished his plan. Or, maybe it’s because people started suspecting who it was, and he just wanted to, you know, disappear off the map and not do anymore.
Yeah.
But, but that’s a bit of a mystery, you know? But there are lots of things like that there are mysteries, like for example Nazca planes, in Peru.
Oh, yeah! You know?
Do you know a little bit about it?
I know . . . I’ve never been there. My boyfriend has, but I know that some of them are so large you can see the designs from outer space, apparently. And, many . . .
Like the, like the Great Wall of China.
Yeah, OK, fair enough. But, some people believe that they are tracks for alien landings and what not. Spaceship tracks.
Yeah.
Or runways, I suppose you could call them.
Spaceship runways.
Yeah. If spaceships run, I don’t know.
The thing is, like, how could they, how could people have made those, like if you could only see them from the, even if it’s not from outer space but from an airplane, like . . . how have, could people have engraved these in the, you know?
That’s a good point.
They’re deep, aren’t they? They’re about . . . two feet deep or something?
Yeah.
They’re huge. Yeah, they’re huge.
Yeah, they’re enormous.
Yeah it would have been difficult to sort of plan it out, to see it from, from the sky.
Another thing are the Moais, or I think it’s pronounced Moais. The ones in Easter Island, those big statues, you know?
Oh yeah.
Like all the bodies are facing one direction, and all the heads are facing another direction. But I mean the heads are like, they weigh like a ton. And how, how can they move these big heads from one end of the island to the other? Like thousands of years ago, like, they didn’t have any, you know modern equipment, or anything to carry these big heads. But the thing is that the head and the body are perfectly aligned. So... you know? Like, it wouldn’t be like just any old head, you know, lined up. Like, it perfectly matches... so, that’s a very, that’s a sort of mysterious thing.
There are no surveys or anything? How did they do it? It’s just ‘cause, if you think about it, it’s not, there’s...
It’s a mystery still, isn’t it? Like Stonehenge, I suppose. They don’t know exactly where the stones came from, or how they were erected, but it happened.
Yes, that’s right.
Is Easter Island the place where it’s an island that obviously used to have a population but, for the past hundred years or so, nobody’s lived there?
Well, it belongs to Chile. I mean, it’s the, it, it belongs to . . . I don’t, I, I actually . . .
But it’s uninhabited.
Is it? Yeah. I don’t know . . .
They did, there was some deforestation, I think, and they were unable to support themselves on the island. Some . . .
Yeah, that’s what I heard.
With the possibility that they used the trees to move the stones.
Well, there’s a movie about that called, Rapanui, which is about, there, there were two tribes of people on this island, and there were always competing with each other. Some of them had long ears and the other ones had short ears.
Oh?
Yeah, it’s, it’s a really cool movie, actually. And it talks about that mystery. And it talks about how possibly, that one group, well, they were like slaves to the other group. And how they made them carry these heads to the other side like you were saying, like, you know, sort of like when you think of the pyramids, you know? How they built the pyramids, you know? With all the slaves that they used and everything, so . . .
Magnetic force fields.
So that explains more or less how they did it, then? Or how do they think they did it.
That’s right, it’s a theory. That’s right. Of how they, you know, they sort of had big, you know, logs, and they just sort of rolled them, you know? And of course, people got squished and people got, you know, killed along the way, you know, like, like the pyramids.
It’s a bit different, I suppose, to the Loch Ness Monster, isn’t it? You know, you, you probably know a lot about that.
About the Loch Ness Monster? Yeah. I heard recently that the cast of Allo, Allo went on a boat on Loch Ness, and, I know, but while they were on their boat, the sonar started bleeping and allegedly, they found something very, very deep in the loch, and they didn’t know what it was.
sábado, 19 de octubre de 2013
Reading test: I met my burglars on holiday
Today it's time for another reading. I met my burglars on my holiday was published by The Guardian in May this year.
Before you read the text, think about these questions.
Have you ever met someone in a place where you/they shouldn’t be?
Have you ever met someone who leads a double life?
Now read The Guardian article by Hannah Booth I met my burglars on my holiday and find out about her experience. You may come across some vocabulary difficulties. Just ignore them for the time being.
Reading comprehension
Answer these questions about the text.
1 Why was the house unusually cold?
2 What was Hannah’s Dad’s hobby?
3 Why was it difficult to believe that the man on the photo was a criminal?
4 What’s the relationship of the ‘nice English couple’ with Hannah’s parents’ friends?
5 At first, how confident was Hannah’s mother that George was the burglar?
6 How did Hannah and her parents feel during their ‘investigation’on the boat?
7 Why didn’t they tell their friends in the beginning?
8 Can you explain the joke about Mr W?
Now it’s time to focus on vocabulary. As you will have noticed, some of the comprehension questions above were based on correctly understanding vocabulary items in the text. Sometimes we can work out the meaning of a word or expression through the context. Some other times, however, you know or you don’t know the item, which fully affects our comprehension of the text.
Have you ever been the victim of or witnessed a crime?
Have you ever met a criminal?
Reading comprehension
1 The kitchen door was open
2 He liked cars ('he was into motor-racing')
3 He was genial-looking (friendly and cheerful)
4 They were the crew (the people who work on an aeroplane or boat)
5 No, she just had a hunch (a feeling based on intuition)
6 Excited, amused, but not angry (bitter)
7 The family wanted to make sure the English couple were the burglars
8 Every time they went back home they feared having been burgled again
Vocabulay
1 tyre - make - sports car - motor racing - vehicle - bonnet [where the engine is vs 'boot' for luggage] - oil
2 odd and bizarre
3 cupboards had been turned out (=emptied) / It turned out (=resulted) they had burgled
4 a room under a house to store things
5 rather than
6 they had to care for (=look after) a sick relative / I expect they would have laughed it off (=joke about something...)
Before you read the text, think about these questions.
Have you ever met someone in a place where you/they shouldn’t be?
Have you ever met someone who leads a double life?
Now read The Guardian article by Hannah Booth I met my burglars on my holiday and find out about her experience. You may come across some vocabulary difficulties. Just ignore them for the time being.
Reading comprehension
Answer these questions about the text.
1 Why was the house unusually cold?
2 What was Hannah’s Dad’s hobby?
3 Why was it difficult to believe that the man on the photo was a criminal?
4 What’s the relationship of the ‘nice English couple’ with Hannah’s parents’ friends?
5 At first, how confident was Hannah’s mother that George was the burglar?
6 How did Hannah and her parents feel during their ‘investigation’on the boat?
7 Why didn’t they tell their friends in the beginning?
8 Can you explain the joke about Mr W?
Now it’s time to focus on vocabulary. As you will have noticed, some of the comprehension questions above were based on correctly understanding vocabulary items in the text. Sometimes we can work out the meaning of a word or expression through the context. Some other times, however, you know or you don’t know the item, which fully affects our comprehension of the text.
- Go over the text and ‘underline’ as much car-related vocabulary as you can find.
- There are two adjectives in the text which mean ‘strange’.
- In the first two paragraphs, the verb ‘turn out’ appears with two different meanings.
- Where in a house is the ‘cellar’? (second paragraph)
- In the ‘Fast-forward 30 years’ paragraph there is an expression which means ‘instead of’.
- In the final part of the text (from ‘We didn't let on to our friends’ to the end), find a verb that means ‘look after’ and another that means ‘joke about something to show that you think it is not important or serious’.
Have you ever been the victim of or witnessed a crime?
Have you ever met a criminal?
Reading comprehension
1 The kitchen door was open
2 He liked cars ('he was into motor-racing')
3 He was genial-looking (friendly and cheerful)
4 They were the crew (the people who work on an aeroplane or boat)
5 No, she just had a hunch (a feeling based on intuition)
6 Excited, amused, but not angry (bitter)
7 The family wanted to make sure the English couple were the burglars
8 Every time they went back home they feared having been burgled again
Vocabulay
1 tyre - make - sports car - motor racing - vehicle - bonnet [where the engine is vs 'boot' for luggage] - oil
2 odd and bizarre
3 cupboards had been turned out (=emptied) / It turned out (=resulted) they had burgled
4 a room under a house to store things
5 rather than
6 they had to care for (=look after) a sick relative / I expect they would have laughed it off (=joke about something...)
martes, 24 de septiembre de 2013
Madrid Teacher Series: Do TV prank shows go to far?
Four people are discussing TV prank shows in today's installment of our Madrid Teacher series.
I find the conversation really interesting because it has a spontaneous ring to it, it's both conversational and entertaining, and help us focus on specific characteristics of spoken English.
Two weeks ago we paid attention to two features of spoken language on our entry Office Crime, 'You know?' (for the speaker to gain thinking time) and the listeners' reactions (with an aim to showing the speaker that they are listening). Pay attention to both features in today's video, although there are many more examples of the latter.
Today, in the first part of the video, the person telling the first anecdote wants to check that her audience understands what she's saying, and she uses the expressions 'Ok?', 'yeah?', 'alright?' to that purpose. We can also use some other expressions to check that our audience is paying attention to us or understands:
Is that clear?
[Do] you see what I mean?
Here it is the video clip the first speaker is talking about. A picture is worth one thousand words.
Blind man's dog takes nun's skirt
As a matter of fact, Just for Laughs, the Canadian TV show, is wonderful for English learners. Find a clip of your liking by typing in Just for Laughs in the search box on YouTube and describe it in as much detail as possible.
What TV shows featuring pranks are shown in your country?
Do you remember any specific pranks? Can you describe them?
What practical jokes are typical on April Fool's Day or on the Holy Innocents' Day?
Do pranks sometimes go too far?
Lesson idea:
Pair off students with one student in each pair with their back to the TV. Play a Just for Laughs video clip and the students watching the video are to describe it to their partners (you may pause it several times so that students can describe it as accurately as possible).
Vicky: I saw a TV show last night. I think it was called Just for Laughs, OK? And they had a trick where a blind man is walking his dog in the park. And as he approaches some toilets, some porta-loos, he asks a by-passer to take care of his guide dog for a moment while he uses the bathroom. So he gives the stranger his guide dog and his coffee, and disappears, OK? Erm, no sooner has he gone in, A nun walks past.
Bill: Oh dear, oh dear.
Barbara: Oh no!
Vicky: She gets perhaps twenty meters past the dog, and all of a sudden, it escapes from the harness, because the harness isn’t attached, runs straight off up to the nun, bites her, well, “bites” her. And on her habit, yeah? On the nun’s clothing, on her habit. As it does this, the nun goes, “Ooh!” and turns around with her hands in the air, and the habit comes off of her, in the dogs mouth. So she’s left standing with her underwear in the middle of the park, alright? Obviously, it’s a candid camera show. So the main focus at this point is looking at the person holding the dog, or not holding the dog anymore, ha ha…
Barbara: Should have been holding the dog.
Vicky: Ha ha ha, who was holding the dog, briefly, to watch their facial expressions. And usually it’s, I find it really, really funny because the person just ends up going…coffee, escape, toilet.
Barbara: [Yeah, some of them are really good.]
Bill: [Terror.]
Vicky: Ha ha ha, yeah. Have you seen any good shows, like that? Or got any good examples?
Bill: I remember The Beatles About. Do you remember that one, in the UK? Beatles About?
Vicky: Oh yeah!
Barbara: Oh, I don’t know that one. What’s that?
Bill: They… they do all sorts of pranks and jokes. And I remember one particular one. Er, a guy had a brand new car. And then he was called over whilst some people were working on a construction site and there was a large pile of bricks above his car, and they dropped them onto his brand new car.
Barbara: Oh no!
Bill: But it was a fake car. But he was going crazy. Terrifying.
Vicky: I bet he did.
Bill: Horrible. But funny!
Maria: Yeah. I think these programs are very, really funny but sometimes they can be a bit annoying for people. If… I don’t know, if the jokes are, erm, too hard. Mm, I don’t know.
Barbara: Well you mentioned one just before, when you were mentioning Japan, I had never
heard of that one about…
Vicky: That’s right.
Barbara: Some sniper attack or something. Like some guy pretending that he’s killing people, and I guess they’re like fake bullets, but it must be like in the movies when there’s like blood coming out or something. Paintball or I don’t know what they’re using.
Vicky: That’s right.
Barbara: And like, and some people are there and like watching these people getting killed, and probably thinking, “Oh my God, am I next?” You know? Like that’s like, that’s not funny. I mean, the nun thing is funny, you know, or the construction guy, but I mean that is a bit in bad taste, I think, yeah.
Vicky: Yeah. Well it’s interesting you say that, actually, because some people think that these prank shows should be banned altogether.
Maria: Why?
Vicky: Well I imagine it’s because of examples, such as you’re saying, where the jokes go further than everyday humour, than set-up jokes.
I find the conversation really interesting because it has a spontaneous ring to it, it's both conversational and entertaining, and help us focus on specific characteristics of spoken English.
Two weeks ago we paid attention to two features of spoken language on our entry Office Crime, 'You know?' (for the speaker to gain thinking time) and the listeners' reactions (with an aim to showing the speaker that they are listening). Pay attention to both features in today's video, although there are many more examples of the latter.
Today, in the first part of the video, the person telling the first anecdote wants to check that her audience understands what she's saying, and she uses the expressions 'Ok?', 'yeah?', 'alright?' to that purpose. We can also use some other expressions to check that our audience is paying attention to us or understands:
Is that clear?
[Do] you see what I mean?
Here it is the video clip the first speaker is talking about. A picture is worth one thousand words.
Blind man's dog takes nun's skirt
As a matter of fact, Just for Laughs, the Canadian TV show, is wonderful for English learners. Find a clip of your liking by typing in Just for Laughs in the search box on YouTube and describe it in as much detail as possible.
What TV shows featuring pranks are shown in your country?
Do you remember any specific pranks? Can you describe them?
What practical jokes are typical on April Fool's Day or on the Holy Innocents' Day?
Do pranks sometimes go too far?
Lesson idea:
Pair off students with one student in each pair with their back to the TV. Play a Just for Laughs video clip and the students watching the video are to describe it to their partners (you may pause it several times so that students can describe it as accurately as possible).
Vicky: I saw a TV show last night. I think it was called Just for Laughs, OK? And they had a trick where a blind man is walking his dog in the park. And as he approaches some toilets, some porta-loos, he asks a by-passer to take care of his guide dog for a moment while he uses the bathroom. So he gives the stranger his guide dog and his coffee, and disappears, OK? Erm, no sooner has he gone in, A nun walks past.
Bill: Oh dear, oh dear.
Barbara: Oh no!
Vicky: She gets perhaps twenty meters past the dog, and all of a sudden, it escapes from the harness, because the harness isn’t attached, runs straight off up to the nun, bites her, well, “bites” her. And on her habit, yeah? On the nun’s clothing, on her habit. As it does this, the nun goes, “Ooh!” and turns around with her hands in the air, and the habit comes off of her, in the dogs mouth. So she’s left standing with her underwear in the middle of the park, alright? Obviously, it’s a candid camera show. So the main focus at this point is looking at the person holding the dog, or not holding the dog anymore, ha ha…
Barbara: Should have been holding the dog.
Vicky: Ha ha ha, who was holding the dog, briefly, to watch their facial expressions. And usually it’s, I find it really, really funny because the person just ends up going…coffee, escape, toilet.
Barbara: [Yeah, some of them are really good.]
Bill: [Terror.]
Vicky: Ha ha ha, yeah. Have you seen any good shows, like that? Or got any good examples?
Bill: I remember The Beatles About. Do you remember that one, in the UK? Beatles About?
Vicky: Oh yeah!
Barbara: Oh, I don’t know that one. What’s that?
Bill: They… they do all sorts of pranks and jokes. And I remember one particular one. Er, a guy had a brand new car. And then he was called over whilst some people were working on a construction site and there was a large pile of bricks above his car, and they dropped them onto his brand new car.
Barbara: Oh no!
Bill: But it was a fake car. But he was going crazy. Terrifying.
Vicky: I bet he did.
Bill: Horrible. But funny!
Maria: Yeah. I think these programs are very, really funny but sometimes they can be a bit annoying for people. If… I don’t know, if the jokes are, erm, too hard. Mm, I don’t know.
Barbara: Well you mentioned one just before, when you were mentioning Japan, I had never
heard of that one about…
Vicky: That’s right.
Barbara: Some sniper attack or something. Like some guy pretending that he’s killing people, and I guess they’re like fake bullets, but it must be like in the movies when there’s like blood coming out or something. Paintball or I don’t know what they’re using.
Vicky: That’s right.
Barbara: And like, and some people are there and like watching these people getting killed, and probably thinking, “Oh my God, am I next?” You know? Like that’s like, that’s not funny. I mean, the nun thing is funny, you know, or the construction guy, but I mean that is a bit in bad taste, I think, yeah.
Vicky: Yeah. Well it’s interesting you say that, actually, because some people think that these prank shows should be banned altogether.
Maria: Why?
Vicky: Well I imagine it’s because of examples, such as you’re saying, where the jokes go further than everyday humour, than set-up jokes.
miércoles, 31 de julio de 2013
Talking point: Stories
This week's talking point deals with stories. Before getting together with the members of your conversation group, go over the questions below, so that ideas flow more easily when you meet your friends and you can work out vocabulary issues beforehand.
What's the difference among the different types of stories below?
Can you think of an example of each one?
What makes a good story?
What makes a good story teller? Do you know anyone?
When did you last hear a good story? What was it about?
Do you prefer reading stories or listening to them?
Do you remember the tale Little Red Riding Hood?
What is the moral (or message) of the story?
Watch and read a new version of Little Red Riding Hood by Road Dahl.
[Remember that if you don't understand any vocabulary items you can easily look them up by double-clicking on the word you don't know.]
What is the moral (or message) of the modern story?
How does it differ from the original one?
Can you think of another traditional tale and devise a 'twist in the tail', an unexpected surprise ending?
Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf
(from Revolting Rhymes, by Roald Dahl, 1982)
As soon as Wolf began to feel
That he would like a decent meal,
He went and knocked on Grandma's door.
When Grandma opened it, she saw
The sharp white teeth, the horrid grin,
And Wolfie said, "May I come in?"
Poor Grandmamma was terrified,
"He's going to eat me up!" she cried.
And she was absolutely right.
He ate her up in one big bite.
But Grandmamma was small and tough,
And Wolfie wailed, "That's not enough!
I haven't yet begun to feel
That I have had a decent meal!"
He ran around the kitchen yelping,
"I've got to have a second helping!"
Then added with a frightful leer,
"I'm therefore going to wait right here
Till Little Miss Red Riding Hood
Comes home from walking in the wood."
He quickly put on Grandma's clothes,
(Of course he hadn't eaten those).
He dressed himself in coat and hat.
He put on shoes, and after that,
He even brushed and curled his hair,
Then sat himself in Grandma's chair.
In came the little girl in red.
She stopped. She stared. And then she said,
"What great big ears you have, Grandma."
"All the better to hear you with," the Wolf replied.
"What great big eyes you have, Grandma."
said Little Red Riding Hood.
"All the better to see you with," the Wolf replied.
He sat there watching her and smiled.
He thought, I'm going to eat this child.
Compared with her old Grandmamma,
She's going to taste like caviar.
Then Little Red Riding Hood said, “But Grandma,
what a lovely great big furry coat you have on."
"That's wrong!" cried Wolf. "Have you forgot
To tell me what BIG TEETH I've got?
Ah well, no matter what you say,
I'm going to eat you anyway."
The small girl smiles. One eyelid flickers.
She whips a pistol from her knickers.
She aims it at the creature's head,
And bang bang bang, she shoots him dead.
A few weeks later, in the wood,
I came across Miss Riding Hood.
But what a change! No cloak of red,
No silly hood upon her head.
She said, "Hello, and do please note
My lovely furry WOLFSKIN COAT."
What's the difference among the different types of stories below?
Can you think of an example of each one?
What makes a good story teller? Do you know anyone?
When did you last hear a good story? What was it about?
Do you prefer reading stories or listening to them?
Do you remember the tale Little Red Riding Hood?
What is the moral (or message) of the story?
Watch and read a new version of Little Red Riding Hood by Road Dahl.
[Remember that if you don't understand any vocabulary items you can easily look them up by double-clicking on the word you don't know.]
What is the moral (or message) of the modern story?
How does it differ from the original one?
Can you think of another traditional tale and devise a 'twist in the tail', an unexpected surprise ending?
Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf
(from Revolting Rhymes, by Roald Dahl, 1982)
As soon as Wolf began to feel
That he would like a decent meal,
He went and knocked on Grandma's door.
When Grandma opened it, she saw
The sharp white teeth, the horrid grin,
And Wolfie said, "May I come in?"
Poor Grandmamma was terrified,
"He's going to eat me up!" she cried.
And she was absolutely right.
He ate her up in one big bite.
But Grandmamma was small and tough,
And Wolfie wailed, "That's not enough!
I haven't yet begun to feel
That I have had a decent meal!"
He ran around the kitchen yelping,
"I've got to have a second helping!"
Then added with a frightful leer,
"I'm therefore going to wait right here
Till Little Miss Red Riding Hood
Comes home from walking in the wood."
He quickly put on Grandma's clothes,
(Of course he hadn't eaten those).
He dressed himself in coat and hat.
He put on shoes, and after that,
He even brushed and curled his hair,
Then sat himself in Grandma's chair.
In came the little girl in red.
She stopped. She stared. And then she said,
"What great big ears you have, Grandma."
"All the better to hear you with," the Wolf replied.
"What great big eyes you have, Grandma."
said Little Red Riding Hood.
"All the better to see you with," the Wolf replied.
He sat there watching her and smiled.
He thought, I'm going to eat this child.
Compared with her old Grandmamma,
She's going to taste like caviar.
Then Little Red Riding Hood said, “But Grandma,
what a lovely great big furry coat you have on."
"That's wrong!" cried Wolf. "Have you forgot
To tell me what BIG TEETH I've got?
Ah well, no matter what you say,
I'm going to eat you anyway."
The small girl smiles. One eyelid flickers.
She whips a pistol from her knickers.
She aims it at the creature's head,
And bang bang bang, she shoots him dead.
A few weeks later, in the wood,
I came across Miss Riding Hood.
But what a change! No cloak of red,
No silly hood upon her head.
She said, "Hello, and do please note
My lovely furry WOLFSKIN COAT."
viernes, 31 de mayo de 2013
Landslide
Self-study activity:
Watch this ITN video about a landslide and answer the questions below. The activity is suitable for Básico 2 and Intermediate 1 students.
Be careful! The video is very short and there are a lot of questions. Try to answer them mentally, without taking any notes.
1 How many houses have been damaged?
2 Where did the landslide happen?
3 When did it happen?
4 What other damage did the landslide do?
5 How many people were injured?
6 Are power and water supplies available in the area?
6 What time did the landslide happen?
7 What have residents been asked to do?
You can check your answers by reading the transcript below.
Remember you can easily find out the meaning of unknown words by double-clicking on them.
One house has been left severely damaged after a massive landslide struck Whidbey Island in Washington State on Wednesday morning. The landslide also took out a road cutting off access to more than a dozen homes.
Fortunately, there were no injuries but the landslide cut off power and water supply to the area. According to reports residents heard a thunder like boom at around 4:15 am local time.
The landslide remains a threat to many other houses in the area and residents have been asked to evacuate the neighborhoods.
Watch this ITN video about a landslide and answer the questions below. The activity is suitable for Básico 2 and Intermediate 1 students.
Be careful! The video is very short and there are a lot of questions. Try to answer them mentally, without taking any notes.
1 How many houses have been damaged?
2 Where did the landslide happen?
3 When did it happen?
4 What other damage did the landslide do?
5 How many people were injured?
6 Are power and water supplies available in the area?
6 What time did the landslide happen?
7 What have residents been asked to do?
You can check your answers by reading the transcript below.
Remember you can easily find out the meaning of unknown words by double-clicking on them.
One house has been left severely damaged after a massive landslide struck Whidbey Island in Washington State on Wednesday morning. The landslide also took out a road cutting off access to more than a dozen homes.
Fortunately, there were no injuries but the landslide cut off power and water supply to the area. According to reports residents heard a thunder like boom at around 4:15 am local time.
The landslide remains a threat to many other houses in the area and residents have been asked to evacuate the neighborhoods.
sábado, 13 de abril de 2013
I'll tell you a story
I'll tell you a story is a site where English students of all ages and levels can find a huge collection of stories to read and/or listen to.
The stories on I'll tell you a story range from fables, to fairy tales, to nursery rhymes to poems. In addition, information about the most renowned story writers can be found.
Everybody is encouraged to contribute to the site by sending a story on registration.
Take a few minutes off to explore I'll tell you a story. I bet some of the stuff you find there will jog sweet memories of your childhood and help you with your English.
The stories on I'll tell you a story range from fables, to fairy tales, to nursery rhymes to poems. In addition, information about the most renowned story writers can be found.
Everybody is encouraged to contribute to the site by sending a story on registration.
Take a few minutes off to explore I'll tell you a story. I bet some of the stuff you find there will jog sweet memories of your childhood and help you with your English.
sábado, 2 de febrero de 2013
The story museum: 1001 stories
The Story Museum, founded in 2003, is a non-profit company and registered charity based in Oxford, UK.
Since 2005 they have been working with children, young people, parents, educators and artists to develop children’s language skills through oral storytelling.
The section 1001 stories offers dozens of short stories on different topics that you can listen to or watch. A transcript for each story is available and sometimes a map of the story is provided, which happens to be an invaluable tool if you want to use a specific story to develop your speaking skills. On the minus side, the stories cannot be downloaded.
Self-study idea:
Listen or watch a story as often as necessary until you fully understand it. Use the transcript to deal with difficult vocabulary or unknown words.
Once you are familiar with the story, try to repeat the story in your own words using the map if it is available.
Since 2005 they have been working with children, young people, parents, educators and artists to develop children’s language skills through oral storytelling.
The section 1001 stories offers dozens of short stories on different topics that you can listen to or watch. A transcript for each story is available and sometimes a map of the story is provided, which happens to be an invaluable tool if you want to use a specific story to develop your speaking skills. On the minus side, the stories cannot be downloaded.
Self-study idea:
Listen or watch a story as often as necessary until you fully understand it. Use the transcript to deal with difficult vocabulary or unknown words.
Once you are familiar with the story, try to repeat the story in your own words using the map if it is available.
sábado, 8 de diciembre de 2012
Interactives- Elements of a Story: Cinderella
It must have been around summer time this year that Richard Byrne, the person behind Free Technology for Teachers, posted about Interactives: Elements of a Story, an interactive lesson from Annenber Learner , provider of educational materials for American teachers.
As Richard Byrne himself explains, Interactives - Elements of a Story "uses the story of Cinderella as a model for learning about the elements of a story."
From the very beginning I noticed the positive implications this interactive could have in an English class for students of almost all levels: First of all, students listen and read the story of Cinderella. This tale will be used as a framework to teach the key elements in any story.
Then the different elements of a story are explained one by one (setting, character, sequence, exposition, conflict, climax and resolution) using the story of Cinderella to illustrate each of them. As happens with the story, the explanations can both be read and/or listened to. Students have to do a short quiz at the end of each explanation, which helps them consolidate the concepts.
Writing stories is a must in the English class. In my experience, this is one of the most difficult writing tasks a learner can undertake, as it demands specific narrative techniques that a good share of students are lacking in. Students can also adapt the key elements in a story shown in Interactives - Elements of a Story when they write about personal anecdotes or when they have to make up a story.
Interactives - Elements of a Story is a funny, practical lesson that can throw some light into a really demanding writing task.
As Richard Byrne himself explains, Interactives - Elements of a Story "uses the story of Cinderella as a model for learning about the elements of a story."
From the very beginning I noticed the positive implications this interactive could have in an English class for students of almost all levels: First of all, students listen and read the story of Cinderella. This tale will be used as a framework to teach the key elements in any story.
Then the different elements of a story are explained one by one (setting, character, sequence, exposition, conflict, climax and resolution) using the story of Cinderella to illustrate each of them. As happens with the story, the explanations can both be read and/or listened to. Students have to do a short quiz at the end of each explanation, which helps them consolidate the concepts.
Writing stories is a must in the English class. In my experience, this is one of the most difficult writing tasks a learner can undertake, as it demands specific narrative techniques that a good share of students are lacking in. Students can also adapt the key elements in a story shown in Interactives - Elements of a Story when they write about personal anecdotes or when they have to make up a story.
Interactives - Elements of a Story is a funny, practical lesson that can throw some light into a really demanding writing task.
sábado, 10 de noviembre de 2012
Tales and stories on the BBC
In mid-August Larry Ferlazzo informed about an interesting resource of the BBC for English language learners, Audio Resources for Primary Schools.
Under the heading "English" on the list of subjects, students have access to a number of stories and fables that can be useful to practise English while bringing back to mind tales of our childhood.
As a matter of fact, some of the stories available are videos with audio and closed captioning (subtitles). They include:
Jack and the giant beanstalk
Viking sagas
Treasure island
Aesops fables
A Christmas carol
Tales of Hans Christian Andersen
The wind in the willows
Under the heading "English" on the list of subjects, students have access to a number of stories and fables that can be useful to practise English while bringing back to mind tales of our childhood.
As a matter of fact, some of the stories available are videos with audio and closed captioning (subtitles). They include:
Jack and the giant beanstalk
Viking sagas
Treasure island
Aesops fables
A Christmas carol
Tales of Hans Christian Andersen
The wind in the willows
Remember that a good way of consolidating the language we have been exposed to is by repeating the story in our own words. So after listening to a tale or fable several times until we have got familiar with the vocabulary and the elements and characters of the story, repeat the story from memory.
If you find the task too daunting, note down a few expressions and key vocabulary and characters, so that you can better concentrate on putting the story together and develop your speaking skills.
Other useful resources on this blog featuring fables are
If you find the task too daunting, note down a few expressions and key vocabulary and characters, so that you can better concentrate on putting the story together and develop your speaking skills.
Other useful resources on this blog featuring fables are
lunes, 22 de octubre de 2012
Interview project
Interview Project is a road trip where people have been found and interviewed. You will meet hundreds of people on Interview Project. Each of the interviewees is different. Interview Project is a 25,000-mile road trip over 70 days across and back the United States. The team found the people driving around the roads, going into bars, going into different locations. The people told their story. This is a chance to meet these people, it is human and we can’t stay away from it.
I discovered Interview Project through David Deubel.
Self-study activity:
Watch Tommie Holliday summarise his life story in four minutes. Just put your feet up and try to understand as much as possible.
Watch the video clip again. What does the following refer to?
1953
14
a butcher
6 years
a machine gun
16 months
wilderness
You can check the answers by reading the transcript below.
My name’s Tommie Holliday, I live in Kingman, Arizona, and I’m 54, and what was the other thing?
I was born in 1953 in Houston, Texas. I guess I came from a poor family with an alcoholic father in a poor neighborhood. I was put on my own at 14, kicked out the house to take care of myself so I packed bag and left when I was 14 years old, and I got a job and did pretty good and just got it going on.
I started out, my first job was working at a skating rink, cleaning up after sessions. Then I got a job Blowing Rock Wood Insulations in hen houses, made a pretty good living doing that, and then eventually I got a job at Saint Regis paper company, where I became an operator, and I worked that job till I was 17, and then I went to work for the Kroger meat company, and learnt how to be a butcher, so started making some pretty good of money.
Shit man, later, I just got myself a later big fat zero. I ain’t got a life, I ain’t doing nothing. I’m just hanging out.
My girlfriend, the love of my life, her boyfriend before me, we’d been dating for like 6 years, but this boyfriend kept following her around, she was camping out in the desert, she moved like twenty times to get away from him, and he told me three days before she killed him that if he didn’t go back (if she didn’t go back) and be with him that he was going to kill her and her kids. Well, I didn’t have a chance to see her before he went to see her but apparently he ran at her with an axe, she had a machine gun, she killed him.
I’ve got 16 months left before I can see her and we’re gonna get married and get the hell out of Arizona and have a life together.
I like to take her and go to Montana, I really like to be in the wilderness away from people and society, and all these idiots, you know. All these people are out to cause me trouble and get me in trouble and stuff. That’s my hopes and dreams, heck yeah man, I get my baby and be in Montana, that would be it, I would be the happiest man on this earth, yeah.
I discovered Interview Project through David Deubel.
Self-study activity:
Watch Tommie Holliday summarise his life story in four minutes. Just put your feet up and try to understand as much as possible.
Watch the video clip again. What does the following refer to?
1953
14
a butcher
6 years
a machine gun
16 months
wilderness
You can check the answers by reading the transcript below.
My name’s Tommie Holliday, I live in Kingman, Arizona, and I’m 54, and what was the other thing?
I was born in 1953 in Houston, Texas. I guess I came from a poor family with an alcoholic father in a poor neighborhood. I was put on my own at 14, kicked out the house to take care of myself so I packed bag and left when I was 14 years old, and I got a job and did pretty good and just got it going on.
I started out, my first job was working at a skating rink, cleaning up after sessions. Then I got a job Blowing Rock Wood Insulations in hen houses, made a pretty good living doing that, and then eventually I got a job at Saint Regis paper company, where I became an operator, and I worked that job till I was 17, and then I went to work for the Kroger meat company, and learnt how to be a butcher, so started making some pretty good of money.
Shit man, later, I just got myself a later big fat zero. I ain’t got a life, I ain’t doing nothing. I’m just hanging out.
My girlfriend, the love of my life, her boyfriend before me, we’d been dating for like 6 years, but this boyfriend kept following her around, she was camping out in the desert, she moved like twenty times to get away from him, and he told me three days before she killed him that if he didn’t go back (if she didn’t go back) and be with him that he was going to kill her and her kids. Well, I didn’t have a chance to see her before he went to see her but apparently he ran at her with an axe, she had a machine gun, she killed him.
I’ve got 16 months left before I can see her and we’re gonna get married and get the hell out of Arizona and have a life together.
I like to take her and go to Montana, I really like to be in the wilderness away from people and society, and all these idiots, you know. All these people are out to cause me trouble and get me in trouble and stuff. That’s my hopes and dreams, heck yeah man, I get my baby and be in Montana, that would be it, I would be the happiest man on this earth, yeah.
sábado, 13 de octubre de 2012
Back to solitude
Back to solitude is a short film by Joschka Laukeninks. It is the story of a relationship backwards.
The idea seems really original to me, the voice-over is appealing and I think the acting and the photography are also excellent, though I'm no expert.
I have tried to find the film without subtitles but I have been unable to, so if you wish to practise your listening skills you will have to scroll down the screen a little bit until the subtitles are covered.
I think Básico 2 students can give the film a try.
Self-study activity:
We can make the most of having the subtitles on the screen to practise our English pronunciation by shadow reading.
After listening to the story and being familiar with it, play the film again and read the subtitles at the same pace as the narrator. Try to imitate the rhythm, the intonation and, of course, the pronunciation of the individual worlds.
'Back to Solitude' (2011) from Joschka Laukeninks on Vimeo.
The idea seems really original to me, the voice-over is appealing and I think the acting and the photography are also excellent, though I'm no expert.
I have tried to find the film without subtitles but I have been unable to, so if you wish to practise your listening skills you will have to scroll down the screen a little bit until the subtitles are covered.
I think Básico 2 students can give the film a try.
Self-study activity:
We can make the most of having the subtitles on the screen to practise our English pronunciation by shadow reading.
After listening to the story and being familiar with it, play the film again and read the subtitles at the same pace as the narrator. Try to imitate the rhythm, the intonation and, of course, the pronunciation of the individual worlds.
'Back to Solitude' (2011) from Joschka Laukeninks on Vimeo.
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