Here are a couple of videos that explain the history of our modern calendar and why we have an extra day every four years. Richard Byrne published them on his Free Technology for Teachers blog a few days ago.
The first video is entitled The History of the Modern Calendar. It is a very quick-paced video with lots of information and name-dropping, so I imagine most readers of this blog will be more than happy to simply understand the general ideas. You can read the transcript for The History of the Modern Calendar here.
The second video, Leap Year and Leap Day, is much shorter and lends itself to a listening comprehension task for Básico (elementary) students.
Self-study activity:
Watch the video and complete the blanks in the transcript with the missing figures.
Today is the rarest day in our calendar: February (1) ... is a day that occurs only once every four years. That means this year has an extra day, making it a leap year.
A Leap Year is when the calendar year is extended to have (2) ... days - adding February 29th to the year. Leap years are added to the calendar to keep it working properly. The 3 (...) days of the annual calendar are meant to match up with the solar year. A solar year is the time it takes the Earth to complete its orbit around the Sun-about one year. But the actual time it takes for the Earth to travel around the Sun is in fact a little longer than (4) ... days. It is about (5) ... days, (6) ... days, (7) ... hours, (8) ... minutes, and (9) ...seconds, to be precise. So the calendar and the solar year don't completely match-the calendar year is a touch shorter than the solar year.
It may not seem like much of a difference, but after a few years those extra quarter days in the solar year begin to add up. After four years, for example, the four extra quarter days would make the calendar fall behind the solar year by about a day. Over the course of a century, the difference between the solar year and the calendar year would become (10) ... days! Instead of summer beginning in June, for example, it wouldn't start until nearly a month later, in July. So every four years a leap day is added to the calendar to allow it to catch up to the solar year.
There are a couple of strange traditions pertaining to leap years. For example, supposedly dating back to (11) ... century Ireland, women may make marriage proposals only in leap years, and in some cases only on February (12) ... . In Greece, it is believed that getting married in a leap year is bad luck.
Anthony, New Mexico is the self-proclaimed leap-year capital of the world. Every four years since (13) ... , residents throw a birthday party for people born on February (14) ... .
A person born on February (15) ... may be called a "leapling." In non-leap years, these people often celebrate their birthdays on either the last day of February or the first day of March.
Key:
(1) 29th (2) 366 (3) 365 (4) 365 (5) 365¼ (6) 365 (7) 5 (8) 48 (9) 46 (10) 25 (11) 5th (12) 29th (13) 1988 (14) 29th (15) 29th
miércoles, 29 de febrero de 2012
martes, 28 de febrero de 2012
Speakout Intermediate: Trying new things (success)
How do you feel about trying new things?
What stops you from trying new things?
What have you achieved in your life that makes you feel proud?
Who do you admire for their achievements and why?
These are the questions today's interviewees answer in the new installment of Speakout Intermediate, Longman.
Now it's over to you. If possible, get together with an English-speaking friend or relative and answer the questions above about yourself.
You can read the transcript here.
What stops you from trying new things?
What have you achieved in your life that makes you feel proud?
Who do you admire for their achievements and why?
These are the questions today's interviewees answer in the new installment of Speakout Intermediate, Longman.
Now it's over to you. If possible, get together with an English-speaking friend or relative and answer the questions above about yourself.
You can read the transcript here.
lunes, 27 de febrero de 2012
Writing workshop 21: A letter of application
An interesting variation of the character reference that we discussed in Writing Workshop 20 is the letter of application. This time the topic of our letter is ourselves.
We may need to write a letter of application for several reasons: We want to get a job, a grant, a place at a university.
This is a standard task we can find in a typical letter of application:
Stewards required to work at Festival UK, a well known world music festival event in the west of England from August 3rd to 7th.
ResponsibilitiesTo ensure the safety and comfort of the public and to assist in the running of a successful festival.
To reduce any crowd-related problems.
To prevent unauthorized access to the site by members of the public.
RequirementsYou must be aged 18 or over on the date of the festival and be eligible to work in the UK.
You must be fit and healthy and able to work in a demanding atmosphere.
You should have a high level of English, and some experience of dealing with the public.
How to applyEmail your CV to Emma Richards (E.Richards@festivalmail.co.uk).
As you may well imagine, a letter of application is a formal letter, so we will have to make use of the conventions that we learnt in the Writing Workshop 18.
On top of that, the typical layout of this kind of letter will consist of the following parts:
• Paragraph 1: why you are writing and where you read about the job: I’m writing to apply for the post of
• Paragraph 2: give relevant personal information.
• Paragraph 3: talk about relevant experience and qualifications you have.
• Paragraph 4: explain why you think you would be suitable for the job.
Other details you should bear in mind are:
• Never start the letter introducing yourself. Use the formula you have read above: I’m writing to apply for the post of…
• When you say why you think you are suitable for the job, don't ‘over-sell’ yourself. Be factual and positive, but not arrogant.
Now you can try your hand with a letter of application. Here’s another task. Write a letter/email in about 180 words.
Do you want to work for us?
Are you the right person for the job?
We are looking for fun, energetic, experienced people of any age to work as camp monitors at our day and residential summer camps in July and / or August. Children are aged between 7 and 15, and take part in a wide range of sports and activities from swimming and water sports to survival skills and cooking.
Do you enjoy working with children?
Are you good at working in a team?
Do you have any relevant experience or qualifications?
Do you speak English either as a first language or fluently?
You can earn between £200 and £300 per week (food and accommodation provided).
Minimum contract: one month.
Interested? Send an email, brief CV, and photo to Richard Cunningham at summercamp@bt.com
Remember you can read samples of application letters on Flo-Joe and Microsoft.
We may need to write a letter of application for several reasons: We want to get a job, a grant, a place at a university.
This is a standard task we can find in a typical letter of application:
Stewards required to work at Festival UK, a well known world music festival event in the west of England from August 3rd to 7th.
ResponsibilitiesTo ensure the safety and comfort of the public and to assist in the running of a successful festival.
To reduce any crowd-related problems.
To prevent unauthorized access to the site by members of the public.
RequirementsYou must be aged 18 or over on the date of the festival and be eligible to work in the UK.
You must be fit and healthy and able to work in a demanding atmosphere.
You should have a high level of English, and some experience of dealing with the public.
How to applyEmail your CV to Emma Richards (E.Richards@festivalmail.co.uk).
As you may well imagine, a letter of application is a formal letter, so we will have to make use of the conventions that we learnt in the Writing Workshop 18.
On top of that, the typical layout of this kind of letter will consist of the following parts:
• Paragraph 1: why you are writing and where you read about the job: I’m writing to apply for the post of
• Paragraph 2: give relevant personal information.
• Paragraph 3: talk about relevant experience and qualifications you have.
• Paragraph 4: explain why you think you would be suitable for the job.
Other details you should bear in mind are:
• Never start the letter introducing yourself. Use the formula you have read above: I’m writing to apply for the post of…
• When you say why you think you are suitable for the job, don't ‘over-sell’ yourself. Be factual and positive, but not arrogant.
Now you can try your hand with a letter of application. Here’s another task. Write a letter/email in about 180 words.
Do you want to work for us?
Are you the right person for the job?
We are looking for fun, energetic, experienced people of any age to work as camp monitors at our day and residential summer camps in July and / or August. Children are aged between 7 and 15, and take part in a wide range of sports and activities from swimming and water sports to survival skills and cooking.
Do you enjoy working with children?
Are you good at working in a team?
Do you have any relevant experience or qualifications?
Do you speak English either as a first language or fluently?
You can earn between £200 and £300 per week (food and accommodation provided).
Minimum contract: one month.
Interested? Send an email, brief CV, and photo to Richard Cunningham at summercamp@bt.com
Remember you can read samples of application letters on Flo-Joe and Microsoft.
Expressing obligation
Recursos Tic for Education is a site of the Spanish Ministry of Education we should get well acquainted with. Here we will find lots of online resources for students of all levels and for all subjects, English included.
Take, for instance, the online activity Society, where you have the possibility of practising the modal verbs of obligation and prohibition, both in the present and in the past, around three different topics:
Take, for instance, the online activity Society, where you have the possibility of practising the modal verbs of obligation and prohibition, both in the present and in the past, around three different topics:
- The environment
- Social behaviour
- Street behaviour
On the minus side, most of these resources require Java and the Malted Web 2.0 plugin in your computer.
domingo, 26 de febrero de 2012
How to do business in India
A few weeks ago, Jeffrey Hill posted the video How to do business in India in his The English Blog, which is suitable for intermediate English students.
Self-study activity:
Watch the clip and note down the do's and dont's of how to conduct business deals in India.
For self-correction you can use the transcript that Jeffrey Hill also provided.
Self-study activity:
Watch the clip and note down the do's and dont's of how to conduct business deals in India.
For self-correction you can use the transcript that Jeffrey Hill also provided.
sábado, 25 de febrero de 2012
The power of the telenovela
Self-study activity:
Watch this short clip from PBS and say whether the statements below are true or false.
1 Telenovelas only interest to the latinos living in Latin America.
2 One of the main factors in telenovelas is that there is hardly any drama.
3 Telenovelas are not a cultural characteristic of Latin America.
4 Dr Michael Rodriguez used to watch telenovelas with his grandmother.
5 For José Fuentes, one of the main factors of the success of soap operas in that the spectator can identify with a number of characters.
6 Telenovelas in Latin America usually go on for many years.
7 Telenovelas air interesting stories which are parallel to those in the lives of many spectators.
Key:
1F 2F 3T 4F (with his mother) 5T 6F 7F
You can also read the accompanying blog entry about the topic in The Rundown, a PBS programme.
Watch this short clip from PBS and say whether the statements below are true or false.
Watch The Power of the Telenovela on PBS. See more from PBS NewsHour.
1 Telenovelas only interest to the latinos living in Latin America.
2 One of the main factors in telenovelas is that there is hardly any drama.
3 Telenovelas are not a cultural characteristic of Latin America.
4 Dr Michael Rodriguez used to watch telenovelas with his grandmother.
5 For José Fuentes, one of the main factors of the success of soap operas in that the spectator can identify with a number of characters.
6 Telenovelas in Latin America usually go on for many years.
7 Telenovelas air interesting stories which are parallel to those in the lives of many spectators.
Key:
1F 2F 3T 4F (with his mother) 5T 6F 7F
You can also read the accompanying blog entry about the topic in The Rundown, a PBS programme.
viernes, 24 de febrero de 2012
Nike commercial
Self-study activity:
Watch this Nike commercial and complete the blanks in the transcript.
(1) ..., (2) ..., basketball players, or (3) ...; they all have one thing in common…Nike Fuel.
The ultimate (4) ... of activity, of sport, of (5) ..., of your entire athletic life.
Telling you more about yourself than you ever knew before.
It isn’t (6) ... or (7) ...; it’s (8) ... .
From the moment you start (9) ..., the more you (10) ..., the more you earn.
Fuel is calculated the same way for everyone.
So (11) ... you are and (12) ... you move, we’re all connected.
Connected by Nike Fuel.
Key:
1 Runners 2 walkers 3 breakdancers 4 measure 5 commitment 6 bought 7 sold 8 earned 9 moving 10 move 11 whoever 12 however
Watch this Nike commercial and complete the blanks in the transcript.
(1) ..., (2) ..., basketball players, or (3) ...; they all have one thing in common…Nike Fuel.
The ultimate (4) ... of activity, of sport, of (5) ..., of your entire athletic life.
Telling you more about yourself than you ever knew before.
It isn’t (6) ... or (7) ...; it’s (8) ... .
From the moment you start (9) ..., the more you (10) ..., the more you earn.
Fuel is calculated the same way for everyone.
So (11) ... you are and (12) ... you move, we’re all connected.
Connected by Nike Fuel.
Key:
1 Runners 2 walkers 3 breakdancers 4 measure 5 commitment 6 bought 7 sold 8 earned 9 moving 10 move 11 whoever 12 however
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