Real English series: A tourist in London and what are the Italians/Germans like?

Today we are posting two new episodes in the Real English series of videos for Básico 1 and Básico 2 (elementary) students.

In the first one Lisa, an American tourist in London, answers some questions about herself and about her impressions of London.

Some parts of the video may be difficult for Básico 1 students, but not definitely for Básico 2 ones. Anyway, the clip is a good opportunity to revise the structure of basic questions in English at this level.

It is advisable to watch the same video with English subtitles on the Real English site here.
Students can also do an interactive excercise on the Real English site here.

Below you can find the questions that Lisa is asked in the interview, which may help you for revision purposes.

What’s your name?
Are you from New York?
When did you get to London?
How do you like it so far?
Why did you come to London?
How long are you going to stay?
How long all together?
Do you like it so far?
Could you introduce this person here?
Are you friends?
Do the French like us much?
Where do you live?
Do you like Americans?
Where are you staying?
Is it expensive?
What do you do in New York?
Where is your shop?
Do you live in Staten Island?

The second video follows up on the study of the question pattern What ... like? to describe people, and that we have studied in the last four weeks. This time it is the Italians that people in the street are asked to describe when answering the question, What are the Italians like?

The main difficulty of the video lies on the vocabulary  as some of the speakers use a few adjectives which students  at elementary and even intermediate level may find difficult to understand.

It is more than advisible to download the transcript from the Real English site here, so that you can look up the words that you don't understand and practise the pronunciation of the vocabulary.
You can also do an interactive exercise on the Real English site here.

The last video on today's post follows up on the practice of the question What are ... like?, this time the question is about the Germans, What are the Germans like?

You can watch a subtitled version of the same video on the Real English site here.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

You can also do an excercise on this video here.

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

What are the Americans and the British like?

Today we are posting two new videos in the Real English video series. We continue describing people by answering the question What are the Americans like? and What are the British like?, which has already come up several times in our Real English video series.

Remember that we use the structure What is XXX like? to ask someone to describe people, places and objects, but when used for people we just refer to their personality.

In the answer, we generally use adjectives, and we never include the word like in our answer (which is used as a preposition in this question).

Another interesting point to bear in mind is the use of the article the + nationality adjective (the British) to refer to British people in general (always followed by plural verb). To talk about the nationals of a country we can say
The + nationality adjective (The British are...) or
Adjective + noun with no article (British people are...)

Spanish people or The Spanish
French people or The French

We can also use the structure the + adjective (with no noun) to refer to a group of people in general: the poor, the rich. The verb is always plural after the adjective.
The rich are always a minority
The poor are always the first to suffer in crisis times.

Watch the videos and find our what the British and Americans are like. You may need to watch the clips with subtitles on the Real English website (links are provided below) as the main difficulty of the videos is not the accent or how fast the people interviewed talk, but the meaning of some of the adjectives used to describe people.

You can do an exercise on this video on the Real English website.
You can watch the same video with subtitles on the Real English website.

Students at an intermediate level can watch a longer version of this video on the Real English website.

You can do an exercise on this video on the Real English website.
You can watch the same video with subtitles on the Real English website.

Students at an intermediate level can watch a longer version of this video on the Real English website.

Real English series: Marital status and describing the weather

We are posting two new videos in the Real English video series. In the first one, people in the street answer the question Are you married? to talk about their marital status.

As usual, the two-minute video is used to revise some other basic information questions that have come up  in the Real English video series so far:

Are you engaged?
How old are you?
What’s your name?
Where do you come from?
What’s your favourite colour?
Would you introduce me your friend?
Where’s your ex-husband?

You can do an online activity about the video on the Real English site here.
You can watch the same video with subtitles on the Real English site here.

In the second video some people in the street answer the question What's the weather like? 

We have already come across the question What's XXXX like? in the Real English series a couple of times before, but to describe someone's personality:

What's John like? = Describe John's personality = What kind of person is John?

The same structure is used when we want someone to describe something for us, be it the weather, a city, an object, a building.

What's London like? (¿Cómo es Londres?)
What's your flat like? (¿Cómo es tu piso?)
What's an Apple PC like? (Cómo son los ordenadores Apple?)

Remember that most of the times we just use adjectives in our answer, and that the preposition "like" is never used in the answer.

What's London like? It's a huge, exciting city.
What's your flat like? It's a bit small, very light and with great views.
What's an Apple PC like? It's faster and much more intuitive.

You can do an online activity about the video on the Real English site here.
You can watch the same video with subtitles on the Real English site here.

Real English series: Telling the time and describing people

In our Real English series we touch on two different points today: how to tell the time in English and how to describe people's personality.

In the first video, several people answer the question What's the time?

Remember we can tell the time analogically or digitally. That way in British English:
8.05 five past eight [analogical] or eight (oh) five [digital]
8.10 ten past eight [analogical] or eight ten [digital]
8.15 (a) quarter past eight [analogical] or eight fifteen [digital]
8.30 half past eight [analogical] or eight thirty [digital]
8.35 twenty-five to nine [analogical] or eight thirty-five [digital]
8.45 (a) quarter to nine [analogical] or eight forty-five [digital]
8.50 ten to nine [analogical] or eight fifty [digital]
9.00 nine o'clock [analogical] or nine [digital]

In American English, after is often used instead of past:
6.10 ten past six (British English) / ten after six (American English)
Exception:
6.30 half past six (British English=American English)

And of or before or till instead of to.
2.35 twenty-five to three (British English / twenty-five of (or before or till) three (American English)

You can watch the same video with subtitles on the Real English site here and do an activity to practise the time on the Real English site here.

You can find several entries on this blog to practise how to tell the time by clicking on the tag Telling the time on the right.

The second video helps us to revise some basic questions to find out personal information like What's your name?; Where are you from?; Can you introduce your friends? Yes, this is my daughter.

The video, however, focuses on describing people's personality by answering the question Can you give me two or three adjectives that describe your mother?

Funnily enough, two weeks ago we dealt with descriptions in our Real English series when talking about astrological signs. That day we learnt a number of questions we can use to ask about someone's personality:
What are you like?
What kind of person are you?
Tell me about your personality.
Today we have learnt another question to find out the same information: Can you give me two or three adjectives that describe your mother?

You can watch the same video with subtitles on the Real English site here and do an activity to describe people on the Real English site here.

Real English series: Introducing yourself and astrological signs

We are posting two new Real English videos this week in this series specially intended for lower level students.

In the first video people in the street are asked about their name, how they spell it, and sometimes they are asked to introduce other people to the interviewer.

Excuse me, what’s your name? Hi, I’m XXX.
Can you spell your name? or
How do you spell your name?
Can you introduce your friends to us? This is XXX.

You can watch the same video with subtitles on the Real English site here.

You can do some excercises on this video on the Real English site here.

The second video will be a lot more complicated for Básico 1 students. People in the street are asked about their astrological sign and their personality, together with some other questions revising names and spelling.

However, they are asked the question What are Geminis like?, ie, What kind of person are Geminis?, Tell me about their personality, which is really confusing for language learners at (almost) all levels.

Most of the times we answer this question by using adjectives that describe personality, although some other answers are also possible.
What are Geminis like? They are clever, kind and understanding.
What are Geminis like? They enjoy being with one or two people and dislike big groups.

Never include the preposition like in the answer, as the meaning would change completely.
What's she like? She's like her sister. (=She and her sister have a similar personality.)

The answers to this question in the video are suitable for intermediate or strong Básico 2 students, as the meaning of some of the adjectives used by the people interviewed demand a good grasp of English.

What’s your astrological sign?
What’s your name?
Can you spell it?
What’s your astrological sign?
What are Aquariuses like? They are honest and hard-working.

You can watch the same video with subtitles on the Real English site here.

You can do some excercises on this video on the Real English site here.

If you wish to learn the astrological signs in English, here is the list in the same order as it appears on the video together with the phonetic transcription for pronunciation purposes.

Capricorn / ˈkæprɪˌkɔː / --- Aquarius / əˈkweəriəs / --- Pisces / ˈpaɪsiːz /
Aries / ˈeəriːz / --- Taurus / ˈtɔːrəs / --- Gemini / ˈdʒemɪnaɪ /
Cancer / ˈkænsə(r) / --- Leo / ˈliːəʊ / --- Virgo / ˈvɜː(r)ɡəʊ /
Libra / ˈliːbrə / --- Scorpio / ˈskɔː(r)piəʊ / --- Sagittarius / ˌsædʒɪˈteəriəs /