History of the world

In late 2012 the BBC aired Andrew Marr's series History of the World, where Marrs analyses the events, changes and conflicts that shaped 70,000 years of human history, from our earliest beginnings in Africa to the first farmers and townspeople.

This is the first part of the first episode on the series, Survival, which deals with how the earliest humans spread around the world, adapting and surviving against the odds.

The other episodes in the series are:

2 Age of Empire
3 The word and the sword
4 Into the light
5 Age of plunder
6 Revolution
7 Age of industry
8 Age of extremes

You can read the subtitles for the clip above here.

You can watch the remaining parts of the episode here and here.

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.

Gigantic books in the city

Watch this short Geobeats video where we are shown one of the most bizarre buildings you may expect to come across in any city around the world.

Self-study activity:
Complete the transcript below with the missing words.

The activity is suitable for Básico 2 and intermediate students. You can check the answers below.



Hi! I'm Naomi, and I'm very excited to show you the world's greatest attractions.
The Kansas City (1) ... Parking Garage, located in the heart of (2) ... Kansas City, Missouri, signifies extraordinary architectural (3) ...  . It was built to rejuvenate the metropolis area and (4) ... residents young and old (5) ... to take advantage of its books and further (6) ...  . The exterior (7) ... book bindings of several of the world's most famous writings made to depict a large (8) ...  . The building stands approximately (9) ... feet tall and each book is nine feet in (10) ...  . There are 22 books in total, the widely ranged titles (11) ... by Kansas City citizens for an entirely personified (12) ... to design.
Thank you for watching our travel video series. See you next time.

Key:
1 Library 2 downtown 3 design 4 encourage 5 alike 6 knowledge 7 portrays 8 bookshelf 9 twenty-five 10 width 11 chosen 12 approach

Marguerite and Sean's love story

The New York Times has a nice selection of videos, Vows, where a number of couples comment on the way they met.

This is the video of Marguerite and Sean. When Sean  invited himself over to try Marguerite's Singaporean chili crab, he got more than he expected as Marguerite's cat was sick.

Self-study activity:
No real task today. Try to understand as much as possible of everything that is said on the video: where they met; the problem with the cat; Marguerite's feelings and how Sean's reacted. It's a beautiful story, I think.

You can check with the transcript below.

The activity is suitable for (strong) intermediate students.




We met at a bar in Jersey city.
She told me that she put together recipes for single people, that she had a website for it. So I asked her what’s your favourite recipe. She told me it was Singapurean chili crab.
And he said really? Well then you have to cook that for me one day. I thought oh my gosh!
I think I said when can I  come over …to try that?
He wanted to come over. That’s right.
Our first official date... we decided to head back to Jersey city and have something to eat, but we got to my house it was clear that my cat was sick, most of  the hospitals closing were for the night so we couldn’t take her, so we stayed up all night petting the cat, just you know, talking to her, and the next morning we woke up she is just lying there.
Yeah, I checked and I said yeah I think she’s gone.
I remember I was here with someone I didn’t know him very well, and he’s holding me. I was really devastated because she passed but I was also kind of embarrassed because here’s a guy that I just met and I also felt really comforted because he was just such a rock. It’s kind of funny. You don’t think when you first meet somebody that you are going to know how to handle that or the worst things that could possibly happen to you. And by the first day I knew this is a guy who will be there for me no matter what happened, any of the bad things that happen in life he would be there.
Later that night he called to check on me to see how I was handling it and said well, I’d really like to see you again. And he said how about that Singapurean chili crab and I said Ok, I think I owe you this one, yes.

Talking point: The challenges for the disabled in cities

This week's talking point is a bit different. We are using a six-minute New York Times video clip by filmmaker Jason DaSilva to illustrate the topic, the challenges for the disabled in getting around cities.

The general idea of the video clip is quite easy to understand, although if you want to get down to details you'll find Jason's English quite demanding, as he uses lots of name dropping and keeps referring to the New York transport system, which is quite difficult to understand in itself. Anyway, you can find the transcript for the video below.



Get together with the members of your conversation group and discuss these questions:

• What's your reaction to the film?
• How do the physically disabled get around in your city?
• Does the situation change from one means of transport to another?
• Does the situation change from one city to another?
• What about the obstacles these people find when they just 'walk'?
• What's your experience in dealing with the physically disabled?
• Have you ever helped a physically disabled person?
• How could the situation be improved where you live?

To find out about New York's transport system, which is one of the most expensive and complex in the world, you can drop by New York City Transportation website. Or read the tips on e-How and About.com.

Transcript
Hi, my name’s Jason Da Silva. I live in Williamsburgh Brooklyn. In 2005 I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. At the time, New York city was my playground. Fast forward to today walking has become tough for me and I use a scooter to get around. And it’s not so easy. There are a lot of places that I can’t get in. My subway entrance has no elevator. So hooping around a 7-block radius becomes old after a while. Even though it’s one stop to get to the city, I can’t get there. Or maybe I just haven’t been trying hard enough. Today, I decided to try an experiment: wheelchair vs no wheelchair. How long does it take to get to Manhattan?

My friend Steve is a good sport, so I ask him to time his trip, my neighbourhood to my favourite coffee shop in Manhattan. It’s three easy stops on the subway. Take the L to First Avenue, to Third Avenue, then Union Square. Here are my options: 1 bus; 2 Access-a-ride; 3 subway; and 4 ferry.

Buses are accessible but in recent years the MTA cancelled the only bus service going from my neighbourhood to Manhattan, so there’s no bus.

I could take New York City service for people with disabilities, Access-a-ride, also known as Stress -a-ride for its tendency to be late and to miss pick-ups altogether. It has one day in advance reservation policy, so if I wanted to take it I would have had to book yesterday. Next option, so I can’t get into my subway stop I can take the B62 bus to the James C stop at Marcy Avenue. I can take the Jay Z to Chamber Street transfer to the six. Oh, wait! The maps shows that 6 train has an elevator but the transfer doesn’t. So that won’t work. Next idea. Take the MDaleFAF, transfer to the 6. Take the 6 up to Union Square. Oh, but wait, there’s no elevator up to the surface from the 6th so that won’t work. Last idea. I’ll take the M to West Forth. Transfer for the ACE, then go to 14th Street, transfer to the L, cut back across. Oh, wait. I can’t tell is the L accessible in Union Square? From the map, I have no idea. The subways have a long way to go before I can call them accessible.

So that leaves me with my last and best option: The ferry. Steve and I set off at the same time. Steve takes the Bedford L subway, down the stairs, a simple way… to Union Square. Back up the stairs and he’s there. 13 minutes and 5 seconds. Meanwhile, I’m just getting on the ferry. It comes every hour. The closest ferry stop to Union Square is 34th Street. So I have to take the ferry up and transfer to the M34 bus. Steve is losing his patience. Then take another bus to Union Square. I arrive in 1 hour and 43 minutes. But the time I arrive Steve’s given up on my experiment. Luckily for me, the return isn’t so bad. There is a brand new service to dispatch an accessible cab, so I take that back to Brooklyn.

So anyways, this is my life. There are a lot of things New York City does well but helping their disabled population get around is not one of them. And while we are waiting for things to change you can find me here, at home in Williamsburgh Brooklyn.

Real English series: What would you do if...?

In our Real English video series this week passers-by answer the question What would you do if you won 10 millions dollars?

We use the second conditional to express hypothesis about the present and the future. There are two parts in each conditional sentence, the if-clause and the main clause.

The if-clause is usually followed by a verb in the past simple tense and introduces the hypothetical situation.
(1) If I won the lottery...
(2) If I lived in a different country...
(3) If I passed the exam...

The main clause expresses the result of the situation. We use the conditional auxiliary would to do so.
(1) I would buy another car.
(2) I would probably speak another language.
(3) I would be the happiest person in the world.

We use the second conditional to talk about hypothetical, unreal situations about the present and/or the future:
If I knew her name, I would tell you. (I don't know her name.)
She would be happy if she had a car. (But she doesn't have one.)

We often use were instead of was in both formal and informal styles with this structure.
If I were rich, I would spend all my life travelling.
If my nose were a bit shorter, I'd be quite pretty.



You can read the transcript for the video on the Real English site here.

For further listening practice, you can also watch this Real English video, where two girls, Christina and Karen, are interviewed. The two-minute video is good practice to revise some of the tenses we have been studying throughout the Real English series (personal information questions, present perfect, past simple, used to, and so on) but at one stage the interviewer asks Christina and Karen a question in the second conditional: What would you say to people, if you knew somebody from France was coming over, what phrases should they learn?



You can read the transcript for the video on the Real English site here.

For other activities on the second conditional on this blog, just type in 'second conditional' in the search box, but Kindness Boomerang, and Miss Universe to learn English spring to mind.

Life without limits: Andy Blackman Hurwitz

T-Mobiles, the German communications company, has released a number of videos where we can see a number of people explaining the way technology has helped them in their professional life.

In this video, Andy Blackman Hurwitz explains how he combines business with family life. The difficulty of the video is quite high, and it is more suitable for advanced rather than intermediate students, but I bet that with the help of the questions intermediate students can understand the general idea.

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



1 Andy went to law school.
2 Music has always been Andy's passion.
3 Andy has five employees and works in an office now.
4 Andy communicates with lots of people from all over the world.
5 Technology is essential for Andy's work.
6 Baby Dance Disco is a dance that started in New York.
7 Andy feels a fortunate man.
8 Andy has worked hard to be where he is now.

You can read the transcript below.

I went to law school, fairly successful, but in my heart it sort of felt that there was something lacking, and then I had a choice, I was at crossroads to get another legal job or something else. Music was always my passion, and my kids inspired me so much, and then I decided I’m going to put my two passions of music and kids together. And when I made that decision to put this suit away and just jump off into this whole other world, it was extremely liberating and exciting.
I have no office, technically, I have no employees. All I have is my network. If I didn’t have the ability to stay connected, I wouldn’t be in business. But I have moms that I work with all over the world. I’m able to talk to somebody in China and communicate with these people that I would never be able to meet face-to-face, there’s absolutely no way I could be doing what I’m doing without technology.
This is Baby Loves Disco, the original dance party that started in Philadelphia, eight years ago. We travel the country, we travel the world, but right now we’re here today.
I never in a million years thought I’d be the disco daddy. It wasn’t like I said, hey, let’s have a family business, everyone pick a job. They were inspired enough, so one by one sort of volunteer and so. It’s what we like to do together, and that’s what makes it great for us.
I am a minor success story and that I’m living my life by my own rules. I wake up with my kids. We eat breakfast together every morning. We play after school. I coach their teams. I don’t like to think like, oh, I’m so great, because I get to be home with my kids, I feel just blessed to be in that position.
The balance of family and at work is something that we all aspire towards, and I’m fortunate enough to have that balance. But it took a lifetime of hard work, dedication and sacrifice to get to that point.
I am Andy Blackman Hurwitz, and I live my life without limits.

Key:
1T 2T 3F 4T 5T 6F 7T 8T