Self-study activity:
1. Get together with someone who also speaks English or record yourself answering these questions.
Have you ever been talking to someone and noticed that this person wasn't telling the truth? How could you tell this person was lying to you? Have you ever told a lie? Talk about someone you know who is fond of lying.
2. Watch the first part of the video and make a note of the three things you need to detect a lie.
3. Watch the rest of the video and put these steps in the correct order.
a Change the subject _____ b Check their smile _____ c Follow their eyes _____ d Note their posture _____ e Note their words _____ f Pause before responding _____ g Pay attention to details _____ h Teach your liar a lesson _____ i Watch their hands_____
martes, 31 de agosto de 2010
Frozen Grand Central
Watch this famous video by Improv Everywhere, a group of people based in New York City who create unusual scenes in public places and film them.
Self-study activity:
1. Complete the words in the text of what the man says at the beginning of the video:
‘All right. Thanks for coming out, everybody. I’m really excited that all you (1) ________ are here. We’ve got a really exciting (2) ________ that we’re going to be doing today. We’re going to be (3) ________ in place (4) ________ at the exact second. We’re going (5) ________ that for five minutes and then we’re going to unfreeze and we’re out.’
2. Choose the correct option.
1 The pre-mission meeting takes place in Bryant / Central Park.
2 107 / 207 undercover agents take part in the mission.
3 The mission starts at 14.30 / 16.30.
4 The man driving the yellow vehicle is / isn’t an agent.
5 One person thinks it’s an acting class / a TV show.
6 At the end of the mission people start clapping / protesting.
3. Watch the video again and note down some of the activities frozen people are doing. Example: someone is talking on the phone, a couple is holding hands.
Key:
1. 1 guys 2 mission 3 freezing 4 on cue 5 to hold
2. 1 Bryant 2 207 3 14:30 4 isn’t 5 an acting class 6 clapping
3. Suggestions: [someone is / people are] drinking a coffee; eating a banana / a yoghurt or ice cream; holding a bottle of water / a cup / holding hands; looking at a map / a train timetable / his/her watch; picking up papers; talking on the phone / to someone; tying his/her shoelaces
This is an activity based on one of Global e-lessons.
Self-study activity:
1. Complete the words in the text of what the man says at the beginning of the video:
‘All right. Thanks for coming out, everybody. I’m really excited that all you (1) ________ are here. We’ve got a really exciting (2) ________ that we’re going to be doing today. We’re going to be (3) ________ in place (4) ________ at the exact second. We’re going (5) ________ that for five minutes and then we’re going to unfreeze and we’re out.’
2. Choose the correct option.
1 The pre-mission meeting takes place in Bryant / Central Park.
2 107 / 207 undercover agents take part in the mission.
3 The mission starts at 14.30 / 16.30.
4 The man driving the yellow vehicle is / isn’t an agent.
5 One person thinks it’s an acting class / a TV show.
6 At the end of the mission people start clapping / protesting.
3. Watch the video again and note down some of the activities frozen people are doing. Example: someone is talking on the phone, a couple is holding hands.
Key:
1. 1 guys 2 mission 3 freezing 4 on cue 5 to hold
2. 1 Bryant 2 207 3 14:30 4 isn’t 5 an acting class 6 clapping
3. Suggestions: [someone is / people are] drinking a coffee; eating a banana / a yoghurt or ice cream; holding a bottle of water / a cup / holding hands; looking at a map / a train timetable / his/her watch; picking up papers; talking on the phone / to someone; tying his/her shoelaces
This is an activity based on one of Global e-lessons.
Home
Watch this trailer on the release of a DVD on planet Earth and answer the question that follows.
What do these figures refer to? 4 billion; 200,000; 50
You can watch the full feature film with English subtitles here. But be warned. It takes over one and a half hours.
You can read the transcript of the video here.
Key: 4 billion years ago life appeared on earth; 200,000 years ago human life started; in the last 50 years the earth has been more changed than by all the previous generations.
What do these figures refer to? 4 billion; 200,000; 50
You can watch the full feature film with English subtitles here. But be warned. It takes over one and a half hours.
You can read the transcript of the video here.
Key: 4 billion years ago life appeared on earth; 200,000 years ago human life started; in the last 50 years the earth has been more changed than by all the previous generations.
Tiger Woods really balls it up
Self-study activity: Read this article about Tiger Woods. If you find any vocabulary items difficult, just double click on the word or look it up in the online Macmillan Dictionary embedded in the blog.
You can also enjoy the video clip related to the story.
How many women did the papers say? Tiger Woods was the model sportsman with a career tightly managed first by his father and then by his sponsors, with a gorgeous wife and children, before he balled things up. How could the man with the golden arm humiliate his Swedish wife, Elin Nordegren, so deeply? In February he apologized publicly and underwent therapy. "I was unfaithful. I had affairs. I cheated," Woods said. Now he and Nordegren are divorced.
Tiger Woods, his ads made us believe, could walk on water, and his only mess-ups were funny bloopers. Now his affairs have cost the companies that sponsored him, or whose products he endorsed, between $5 billion and $12 billion. Nike is one of the few companies ballsy enough not to drop him. Their response was a strange commercial that aired during the US Masters tournament in April, featuring the golfer's late father and coach Earl Woods speaking to him in a voice-over. Jimmy Kimmel presented it on his show:
Woods's game has been erratic ever since. He had his worst finish on the US PGA Tour in August, stringing together four over-par rounds, and so didn't qualify to play for Team USA in the Ryder Cup (see Eamonn Fitzgerald's in-depth report in Spotlight 9/2010). Woods could still win one of four wild cards and play in the tournament, but it will surely be a while before he finds his game.
This is a story from Anne Hodgson (www.spot-online.de/).
You can also enjoy the video clip related to the story.
How many women did the papers say? Tiger Woods was the model sportsman with a career tightly managed first by his father and then by his sponsors, with a gorgeous wife and children, before he balled things up. How could the man with the golden arm humiliate his Swedish wife, Elin Nordegren, so deeply? In February he apologized publicly and underwent therapy. "I was unfaithful. I had affairs. I cheated," Woods said. Now he and Nordegren are divorced.
Tiger Woods, his ads made us believe, could walk on water, and his only mess-ups were funny bloopers. Now his affairs have cost the companies that sponsored him, or whose products he endorsed, between $5 billion and $12 billion. Nike is one of the few companies ballsy enough not to drop him. Their response was a strange commercial that aired during the US Masters tournament in April, featuring the golfer's late father and coach Earl Woods speaking to him in a voice-over. Jimmy Kimmel presented it on his show:
Woods's game has been erratic ever since. He had his worst finish on the US PGA Tour in August, stringing together four over-par rounds, and so didn't qualify to play for Team USA in the Ryder Cup (see Eamonn Fitzgerald's in-depth report in Spotlight 9/2010). Woods could still win one of four wild cards and play in the tournament, but it will surely be a while before he finds his game.
This is a story from Anne Hodgson (www.spot-online.de/).
lunes, 30 de agosto de 2010
How the Internet is changing English
Self-study activity: Watch this video in which Professor David Crystal talks about the influence of the Internet on English and answer the questions below.
1. What technological change came in the 1400s?
2. And in the 19th century?
3. And in the 1920s?
4. The Internet really has few technological variations. True or false?
5. The styles of the technologies are basically the same. True or false?
6. New patterns of grammar have emerged with the Internet. True or false?
7. Millions of new words have come into English as a result of the Internet. True or false?
8. English now is the same as before the Internet. True or false?
What do you think? Get together with a friend or classmate and discuss these questions: How important is the Internet for you? Which of the technological manifestations of the Internet Professor Crystal mentions do you regularly use? Do you know anyone who's addicted to any of them?
You can read the script of the video here.
Key: 1printing 2telephone 3broadcasting 4False 5False 6False 7False 8True
1. What technological change came in the 1400s?
2. And in the 19th century?
3. And in the 1920s?
4. The Internet really has few technological variations. True or false?
5. The styles of the technologies are basically the same. True or false?
6. New patterns of grammar have emerged with the Internet. True or false?
7. Millions of new words have come into English as a result of the Internet. True or false?
8. English now is the same as before the Internet. True or false?
What do you think? Get together with a friend or classmate and discuss these questions: How important is the Internet for you? Which of the technological manifestations of the Internet Professor Crystal mentions do you regularly use? Do you know anyone who's addicted to any of them?
You can read the script of the video here.
Key: 1printing 2telephone 3broadcasting 4False 5False 6False 7False 8True
domingo, 29 de agosto de 2010
Funeral Blues
Self-study activity: Watch this clip from Four Weddings and a Funeral.
1. What do we learn from Gareth's (the deceased person) appearence, personality and interests?
2. Watch the video again and fill in the gaps in the poem with the words given. Notice the rhyme.
come / glove / sun / wrong / bone / dead / rest / wood
Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone,
Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy _________ (1),
Silence the pianos and with muffled drum
Bring out the coffin, let the mourners _________ (2).
Let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead
Scribbiling on the sky the message He is_________ (3),
Put crépe bows round the white necks of the public doves,
Let the traffic policemen wear black cotton _________ (4).
He was my North, my South, my East and West,
My working week and my Sunday _________ (5),
My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song;
I thought that love would Iast forever; I was _________ (6).
The stars are not wanted now; put out every one;
Pack up the moon and dismantle the _________ (7);
Pour away the ocean and sweep up the _________ (8);
For nothing now can ever come to any good.
3. Get together with a friend or record yourself to describe a typical funeral in Spain.
Key:
1. fat / terribly rude, hospitable, joyful, splendid, replete, big-hearted / loved experimental cooking, drinking, loved waistcoats
2. 1bone 2come 3dead 4gloves 5rest 6wrong 7sun 8wood
You can read the script of this clip here.
This activity is based on an exercise from Headway Intermediate, Oxford University Press
1. What do we learn from Gareth's (the deceased person) appearence, personality and interests?
2. Watch the video again and fill in the gaps in the poem with the words given. Notice the rhyme.
come / glove / sun / wrong / bone / dead / rest / wood
Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone,
Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy _________ (1),
Silence the pianos and with muffled drum
Bring out the coffin, let the mourners _________ (2).
Let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead
Scribbiling on the sky the message He is_________ (3),
Put crépe bows round the white necks of the public doves,
Let the traffic policemen wear black cotton _________ (4).
He was my North, my South, my East and West,
My working week and my Sunday _________ (5),
My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song;
I thought that love would Iast forever; I was _________ (6).
The stars are not wanted now; put out every one;
Pack up the moon and dismantle the _________ (7);
Pour away the ocean and sweep up the _________ (8);
For nothing now can ever come to any good.
3. Get together with a friend or record yourself to describe a typical funeral in Spain.
Key:
1. fat / terribly rude, hospitable, joyful, splendid, replete, big-hearted / loved experimental cooking, drinking, loved waistcoats
2. 1bone 2come 3dead 4gloves 5rest 6wrong 7sun 8wood
You can read the script of this clip here.
This activity is based on an exercise from Headway Intermediate, Oxford University Press
Why I'm learning English
On this video a number of people explain the reasons why they are studying English.
Self-study activity: Answer these questions:
Why are you studying English?
What other (general or specific) reasons do people have to study English?
Listen to the video. Just listen, without watching it (you will have to minimise the window of your PC), so that you can't see the images, as everything people say is shown on screen.
What are the reasons why people are studying English?
Do they mention the same reasons as you?
Watch the video now, so that you can fully understand what the speakers say.
Self-study activity: Answer these questions:
Why are you studying English?
What other (general or specific) reasons do people have to study English?
Listen to the video. Just listen, without watching it (you will have to minimise the window of your PC), so that you can't see the images, as everything people say is shown on screen.
What are the reasons why people are studying English?
Do they mention the same reasons as you?
Watch the video now, so that you can fully understand what the speakers say.
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