At a fancy dress shop

In a new installment of The Big Picture vodcast series, from Richmond Publishers, Tom and Alex try on various outfits for a fancy dress party they have been invited to.

The activity is suitable for Básico 2 and Intermedio 1 students.

Self-study activity:
Watch the introduction to the episode, where the presenter gives us the guidelines for today's episode. Complete the blanks in the transcript with the missing words:

Have you ever wanted to change your (1) ... ? Maybe grow a (2) ... or change your hairstyle. A fancy dress party is the perfect excuse to try a new (3) ... . Just for one evening you could wear an unusual (4) ... and be someone completely different, a famous person maybe or a historical (5) ... . Today, Tom and Alexandra are in a fancy dress shop trying to (6) ... their appearance. With over (7) ...  costumes to choose from, who will they be?



Now watch from 0.30 to 2.46. Which famous people and historical characters do Tom and Alexandra mention?

In the last part of the video clip (from 2.46 to the end) Tom and Alexandra play a yes/no game to try and guess who the other comes as. Listen to them and note down the questions they ask.

Key:
1 appearance 2 beard 3 look 4 costume 5 figure 6 reinvent 7 35,000


Chaplin, Batman, Henry VIII, Elvis, John Lennon, Tina Turner, Tony Branson



I think you might have chosen Tina Turner because you were singing that song earlier.
Have you come as Robin?
Has your person been in many films?
Are they alive?
Is it a woman?
Is it  Charlie Chaplin?


Are you a man or a woman?
Are you alive?
Are you from this century?
Are you Robin Hood?
Clue: I was a very jealous husband

At a Mexican restaurant

Tom and Alex, from the The Big Picture Richmond team, go on another mission in London.

Self-study activity:
Watch the video and answer the questions below. The activity is suitable for Básico 2 and Intermedio 1 students.



1 Play the video and freeze it at 00.32. What's Tom and Alex's mission today?
2 What time of the day is it? Freeze the clip at 00.35 to answer this question.
3 Watch the video through to the end. What dishes did Tom and Alex order?
4 Watch the video again. Note down the adjectives Tom and Alex use to describe the dishes they are eating.
5 Watch the video one more time. Note down the different foods that are mentioned on the clip.

You can download the menu at Wahaca chain of restaurants from here.

Key:
1 They have to do some research about food in a Mexican restaurant (Wahaca) where they are going to try lots of different dishes, both typical and unusual.
2 It's lunchtime.
3 black bean tostada; guacamole; ceviche tostada; chicken quesadia; steak taco with cheese
4 spicy, hot, fantastic, nice, delicious, colourful, fresh, beautiful, creamier (because of the cheese), messy (I made a big mess).
5 prawns, scallops, lime, avocado, cream, cucumber, salad, cheese.

Around the town

Around the town is another video in the Richmond vodcast series. This video clip is suitable for Básico 1 and Básico 2 students.

Self-study activity:
Watch the beginning of the video clip but freeze it at 1.00. What’s the mission for Tom and Alex?
Play the video on. Tom will show you a piece of paper with their mission written on it.

How much does Alex pay for the ice-cream?
How much does Tom pay for the chips?
What evidence of the places in Bournemouth do Tom and Alex get?



Watch the video again. Note down some of the street directions that both Tom and Alex are given.

Key:
The ice-cream is £1.60
The portion of chips is £1.90
Tom got a brochure from the theatre, a brochure from the post office and chips ("and I popped my chips" he says).
Alex got a postcard from the tourist information office, a leaflet from the cinema, and the ice-cream.


1:25
So go straight, straight through to traffic lights and then turn left.
Straight to traffic lights and it’s on the left.


1:35
Round to the left. Go through the garden. Up the stairs in that corner.  It´s just long down on your left.


1:47 
The lady said left at the lights and this is the theatre, this, this isn´t the theatre, this is an art centre.


2:00
I see an “I”, I see an “I”, Tom. Number one. Done


2:10
It´s opposite the gas building.
Brilliant. Thank you.
No problem at all.
So it´s opposite that building in the distance. Come on.


2:40
I’m just going go and cross the road at the traffic lights and the cinema is just there.


3:29
Hi can I have a “soft wheel”?
With or without flavour on it?
Without.


3:40
Seen the post office mate? Looking for…

Exciting and dangerous situations

What's the most exciting or dangerous situation you've ever been in? This is the question the presenter to this week's Richmond vodcast poses to us.

Self-study activity:
Watch the video clip through. What is today's vodcast about? What is Tom's true story? What is Alex's true story?



Watch the video clip again. What details can you give about the four stories that Tom and Alex tell?

Speaking activity:
Tell the stories in your own words.
Get together with an English speaking friend or relative and talk about a time when something dangerous or exciting happened to you.

Key:
Tom and Alex are going to tell us two stories that happened to them in the past, but only one of the stories is true.
The one about the stingray is true.
The one about the parachute is true.


Tom came off the back of a motorbike while he was in the Andes.
He was a passenger on the motorbike, he wasn't riding it. 
They rounded a corner and suddenly a lorry was coming towards them.
The lorry driver pulled dramatically and they went down the side of the mountain.
Fortunately, they got caught in a tree.
He broke a rib.


Tom was attacked by a dangerous animal on the beach in Colombia.
It was a stingray, a flat fish with a tail and poison.
It attacked his foot and has a scar now.
He had just been in the sea and when he was coming out he felt something and saw a hole in his foot, with blood coming out.
He could fill the poison was climbing his leg.


Alex slept at a bus station in Rome for two days when she was in her twenties.
She went to Rome with her friend who at the time lived in Prague, and she needed a visa to go back to Prague.
She didn't have a visa. It was a Friday. She had to stay in Rome until Monday, but on Monday when she went to the embassy it was a bank holiday, so on Tuesday when she finally got her visa and went back to the bus station to get a ticket, they only had a ticket for Thursday.
She was stuck at the station for two days because she had already checked out of the hotel


She threw up in the air while she was parachuting somewhere in England.
She was nervous. She got motion sickness.
It was a tandem parachute. She was attached to a guy.
It was hot. They had a 30-second free [fall?]
She told the guy she was feeling a bit queasy.
The guy on the plane gave her a sick bag. It was very embarrasing for her.

A very unusual English home

This is another episode in the Richmond vodcast series for their intermediate textbook The Big Picture. Alex and Tom go on a new mission. They visit a very unusual English home. The place looks more like a museum than a house. They have to decide which four objects in the house are typically English.

The video clip may come in handy to revise the use of modal verbs might / could to express probability.

Self-study activity:
Watch the video clip from the beginning up to 5:40 and make a note of the four objects Alex and Tom select as typically English.

You can check the answers while Tom and Alex get on at it themselves with the owner of the house.



Key:
1 plates 2 pictures 3 figures or figurines 4 chest of drawers

Family

Family is another Richmond video in the vodcast series that accompanies their new method The Big Picture.

Today's video is suitable for Básico 1 and Básico 2 (elementary) students.

Self-study activity:
Watch the video and try to understand presenters Tom and Alex talking about their family.
Watch the video again and stop it whenever Tom and Alex come up with an interesting piece of information. Do you understand the information they give?



Key:
Alex's parents got married in 1971.
Alex has two older sisters.
Alex's father is an accountant.
Alex's mother is a housewife.
They live in the capital city of Brazil, Brazilia.
Her eldest sister's name's is Liz.
Her middle sister's name's Karla.
Her brother is called Cezar.
The extra member of the family, Alex's niece, is her eldest sister's daughter.


Tom's dad has three brothers and three sisters. He's one of six (?).
Tom's dad's family is Irish.
Uncle Tony is a London tour guide.
Tom's dad's family come from the west of Ireland.
Tom's got a brother, his name is Philip.
They look like twins, but they are not twins.
Phil is a musician. He is a good guitarrist.
His uncle John is a professional musician.
He plays the bass.

Looking for Banksy

This is another video in the Richmond's vodcast series. Banksy is part of the educational material that goes with The Big Picture, and it is intended for intermediate students.

Self-study activity:
Watch the video and say whether the statements below are true or false.



1 Banksy is an artist who dislikes exhibitions.
2 Banksy is controversial because some people consider his work just grafitti.
3 The girl thinks that the "For the love of dog" painting is colourful and controversial.
4 The blonde girl shows them an original Banksy.
5 The boy thinks that using the mobile phone to find a Banksy is like cheating.
6 There was a Banksy in Shoreditch's local council last year.
7 The Banksy outside the pub has been there since when the pub was opened.
8 The other Banksy in the back is older than the first one.

Key:
1 False. Banksy is a street artist, that's why we can't find his works in museums.
2 True.
3 True.
4 False. She shows them the spot where an original Banksy was. It was painted over and now just a photograph of the original can be seen.
5 True.
6 False. The local council had the Banksy removed last year.
7 True.
8 True. It's one of the original Banksies.

Tower Bridge

Richmond Publishers will be releasing The Big Picture this year. To accompany the pre-intermediate level (A2-B1) they have devised the Landmarks videos, some of which we can already see on YouTube.

The Cambridge Online Dictionary defines landmark as a building or place that is easily recognized, especially one which you can use to judge where you are. The Tower Bridge is one of the best-known landmarks in London, and the video explains some details about it.


Self-study activity:

Watch the video, suitable for Básico 2 and Intermedio 1 students, and answer the questions below.

1 What is the task or challenge John has to do? 

2 How long does he have to prepare for that? 

3 How long should the presentation be? 

4 Where’s Tower Bridge? 

5 When was it completed? 

6 Can you eat there? 

7 What films have been made there? 

8 What is John’s uncle Tony’s job? 

9 How did the bridge get its name? 

10 How many builders worked? 

11 How long did it take to build? 

12 When was it opened? 

13 How much did it cost? 

14 Do the two arms of the bridge lift up? 

15 How often do the two arms open? 

16 How many people cross it every day? 

17 What happened 60 years ago? 

18 How much did the girls pay to John ? 

Key:

1 To give a presentation on Tower Bridge to some tourists

2 One hour

3 One minute

4 Next to the Tower of London

5 1894

6 Yes, it has a restaurant

7 Sherlock Holmes, The Mommy returns, Spice World

8 A London Tower guide

9 From the Tower of London, on the other side of the river

10 432

11 8 years

12 30th June 1894

13 £1,184,000

14 Yes, to allow boats past underneath it

15 Over 400 times every year

16 40,000 people

17 The bridge was opening while a bus was still going along the bridge and it had to leap the final three meters

18 Nothing the presentation was free