HOLIDAYS AND TRAVELLING

Watch this video and learn some language about planning a vacation.



A new video with travelling vocabulary



This last video is also about travelling problems:

A Christmas Song: Let It Snow

Listen to this catchy Xmas song and fill in the gaps. Look at "comments" to check your answers.


Oh, the __________outside is frightful,
but the __________is so delightful.
And since we've no __________to go,
let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.
It doesn't show signs of __________,
and I __________some corn for popping.
The __________are turned way down low,
let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.
When we finally __________goodnight,
how I'll hate going out in the __________!
But if you'll really hold me __________,
all the way home I'll be __________.
The __________is slowly dying,and,
my __________, we're still goodbyeing.
But as long as you __________me so,
let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

"Do They Know It's Christmas?" is a song written by Bob Gedolf and Midge Ure in 1984 to raise money for relief of 1984-1985 famine in Ethiopia. The original version was produced by Midge Ure and released by Band Aid on 29 November 1984.
In late 1984, a BBC report by Michael Buerk was aired highlighting the famine that had hit the people of Ethiopia. Irish singer Bob Geldof saw the report and wanted to raise money. He called Midge Ure from Ultravox and together they quickly co-wrote the song, "Do They Know It's Christmas?".
Geldof kept a November appointment with BBC Radio 1 DJ Richard Skinner to appear on his show, but instead of discussing his new album (the original reason for his booking), he used his airtime to publicise the idea for the charity single, so by the time the musicians were recruited there was intense media interest in the subject.
Geldof put together a group called Band Aid, consisting of leading Irish and British musicians who were among the most popular of the era. The 1984 original became the biggest selling single in UK singles chart history, selling a million copies in the first week alone. It stayed at Number 1 for five weeks and ultimately sold more than 3.5 million copies domestically. It remained the largest selling single in UK chart history until 1997, when Elton John's"Candle in the Wind 1997" was released in tribute to the late Diana, Princess of Wales, which sold almost 5 million copies in Britain.
- Watch the video and do the activity from the handout I gave you in class (you can check your answers in "comments")

Some Xmas activities

A. Listen to this short conversation about Christmas and choose the right answer. You can do the vocabulary activities and then you can listen and read the quiz script.

B. Watch this video in which a woman speaks about Christmas and answer the questions (Answers in "comments"):

1. What does she like about Xmas?

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2. Why did she feel so upset when she was a child?

3. What did she tell the lady she was staying with?

4. What did the woman keep doing? What did she think of it?

5. What happened in the end?

C. How do people celebrate New Year? Watch the video and take some notes, and then play the game (comprehension activity: fill in the gaps in the script).

D. Listen and watch this podcast about New Year's Resolutions to improve your English. Take notes and then play the game.

My e-mail address

Some of you told me you had problems to contact me on the e-mail address that appears on the school website. You can try this one: lumiort@yahoo.co.uk

Copenhagen Climate Change Talks

Have a look at this website and the free lesson about the Copenhagen Climate Change Talks. It has great activities.

Obama receives Peace Nobel Prize

Watch the

video from the BBC in which Obama expresses his gratitude and talks about the controversy about this prize stating that probably many others deserve it more than him.
You can read the whole speech here.

-Did you know that many people learn English using Obama's speeches? (You can listen and repeat, watch a video and look up new words).

Climate Summit in Copenhagen

"The People's Orb", a 20cm (7.9 inches) silver sphere containing 350 gigabyte multimedia collected around the world to inspire action on climate change in Copenhagen.

Apart from suggestions from individuals, The People’s Orb also contains key climate change reports from the world’s most eminent scientists; representation from the world’s great thinkers on the need for action on climate change and representation from the leaders of the world’s cities calling for action on climate change.

Listen to this short news report about the summit.

A Canadian girl, Severn Cullis-Suzuki, spoke to the United Nations and left them completely silent and speechless for five minutes. Her speech was given at a U.N. assembly at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, in 1992, when she was twelve years old. She had raised all the money to travel to the delegation, five thousand miles from her home, herself.
How much is still relevant today? All of it. And the more important question is: How much has been changed, accomplished, since Severn spoke that day?
Years later, Severn wrote a piece for Time magazine in which she said: “I spoke for six minutes and received a standing ovation. Some of the delegates even cried. I thought that maybe I had reached some of them, that my speech might actually spur action. Now, a decade from Rio, after I’ve sat through many more conferences, I’m not sure what has been accomplished. My confidence in the people in power and in the power of an individual’s voice to reach them has been deeply shaken…In the 10 years since Rio, I have learned that addressing our leaders is not enough. As Gandhi said many years ago, ‘We must become the change we want to see.’ I know change is possible.”

Watch the video and answer the questions or finish the sentences. (Answers in "comments")

1. Why has she gone there?
2. What is she fighting for?
3. She is speaking on behalf of ___________________________ and animals that don’t have where to go.
4. She’s afraid to go out in the sun because of the ___________________________ and she ‘s afraid to ___________________________ because she doesn’t know what chemicals are in it.
5. She used to go fishing in Vancouver until they found __________________________________________.
6. Now we hear of ___________________________ going extinct, vanishing forever.
7. What does she ask them?
8. If you don’t know how to fix things…
9. She says we are all in this together and that we only buy and throw away and we are afraid ___________________________.
10. She says that she lives a privileged life in Canada and that a child living in the streets in Brazil told her: I wish I was rich. And if I were, I would give all the street children______________, ______________, ______________, shelter, ______________and affection.’ She doesn’t understand why we are so greedy.
11. What makes a tremendous difference?
12. Although she’s just a child, she knows that if all the money spent ___________________________ was spent on finding environmental answers, ___________________________, and finding treaties – what a ___________________________ this earth would be.”
13. At school you teach us ____________________________________________, so why …?
14. She challenges them:

Keep yourself up-to-date and practise your English!

Click here to watch the news (you can also read the script).

Reading Club

An example of an oral exam

Watch Lester taking an oral test. You can also see the script and some notes (the notes are really useful because they explain the good points and mistakes in his performance). Part two is similar to what you will do in the oral exam ( a bit shorter).

Sleep Science

This website allows you to watch a video, read the transcript and some vocabulary and grammar notes about what you're watching. There are many stories in its archives. This one is about a treatment to stop people from snoring. Try it!

Your Sleep Personality

Are you a lark, an owl, or a hummingbird? Read this text and find out.

Extra Listening Handout for December

1. A healthy lifestyle (1'18"): http://www.esl-lab.com/health/healrd1.htm
2. Air Rage (2'):
http://www.cdlponline.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=activity1&topicID=10&storyID=128
3. Kangaroo Island (3'52"): http://www.eslpodcards.com/australia/kangaroo.php
4. November news: http://www.englishclub.com/~newsfeed/
5. Debbie (11'):
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/webcast/tae_private_archive.shtml

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

- Read the article and watch the video in which Obama pardons "Courage".

- Click here to listen to some history or watch this video about the history of Thanksgiving.

- Listen to the article and learn about "Black Friday". Don't read it at first (have a look at the instructions that come after the text).

- Listen to some Americans talking about how they celebrate Thanksgiving and answer these questions. Then read the script of the programme and check your answers.

1. What do the Americans do on Thanksgiving Day?

2. Angelo Rosa didn’t celebrate Thanksgiving when he was a child because…
a) His family came to America when he was a teenager.
b) Thanksgiving was not such a big holiday and his family didn’t have a lot of money.
c) His family were from Naples in Italy and they only adopted the tradition after having their six children.

3. What is he doing this Thanksgiving?

4. Does Angelo have memories of Thanksgiving?


5. Cathie Dahlstrom has to prepare dinner for ________________________ celebrants.

6. What doe Cathie think of the situation in the USA?


7. Why could Cathie’s Thanksgiving get bigger and more complex?
a) Because her mother is dating a man who has 6 children.
b) Because her daughter has 8 step-brothers.
c) Because she has 5 younger brothers and sisters.

Jobs

1. Listen and do the exercise. Have a look at the language and grammar tips.

2. Listen to the second part and do the same.

3. Read the job advertisements and do the exercise. There's some useful vocabulary about jobs.

Eating out in Brick Lane in east London

1. Read the text and answer the questions.

2. Listen to this short conversation at a restaurant.

3. Listen to this short conversation where two people discuss what to order in an Indian restaurant.

Getting fat

Listen and read this conversation between two friends. You can listen to it at two different speeds and practise pronunciation.

Waste

Read this review about the book "Waste: Uncovering the Global Food Scandal".

On this website you can listen to different interviews with the author, Tristam Stuart. The first interview is the longest (20 minutes) but the second interview is a video (TV interview) and lasts 5 minutes and the third link is to a radio interview that lasts only 4 minutes.

Freegans

This is the video we watched in class.

Watch CBS News Videos Online

Extra listening handout for November

These are the websites you need for your November listening handout:

1. The magic bus: http://potatopals.podomatic.com/entry/eg/2006-09-18T04_50_58-07_00
2. To make a comeback: http://www.listen-to-english.com/index.php?id=479
3. Workaholism: http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/general/sixminute/2009/05/090528_6min_workaholism_page.shtml
4. Sleep: http://china232.libsyn.com/index.php?post_id=412523

Sesame Street celebrates 40th anniversary

Sesame Street has Michelle Obama as a special guest on their 40th anniversary and she speaks about healthy food and healthy habits.

Watch the videos.

The Fall of the Berlin Wall

1. Watch this video about the Wall of Berlin.
2. Watch the news twenty years later.

3. Watch the video and read the story of the fall of the wall.

Moments in History - The Fall of the Berlin Wall - For more amazing video clips, click here

In Praise of Slow

The spark for In Praise of Slowness came when I began reading to my children. Every parent knows that kids like their bedtime stories read at a gentle, meandering pace. But I used to be too fast to slow down with the Brothers Grimm.
I would zoom through the classic fairy tales, skipping lines, paragraphs, whole pages. My version of Snow White had just three dwarves in it. "What happened to Grumpy?" my four-year-old son would ask.
Then one day I caught myself eyeing a collection of One-Minute Bedtime Stories -- think Snow White boiled down to 60 seconds -- and that's when the alarm bells started ringing.
I never bought the one-minute fables. Instead, I set off to investigate whether slowing down was still an option in the modern world and I wrote a book.
In Praise of Slowness chronicles the global trend towards deceleration that has come to be known as the Slow Movement. Don't worry, though: it is not a Luddite rant. I love speed. Going fast can be fun, liberating and productive. The problem is that our hunger for speed, for cramming more and more into less and less time, has gone too far.
These days, we work fast, talk fast, think fast, eat fast, play fast. We even make love in a hurry. A British magazine recently featured the following headline: "Bring Her To Orgasm In 30 Seconds!"
Yet there is a price to pay for living in fast-forward. Our health, diet and relationships suffer. We make mistakes at work. We struggle to relax, to enjoy the moment, even to get a decent night's sleep.

The current recession is a stark reminder that an economy based on fast growth, fast consumption, and fast profits is not sustainable. On the contrary, it is the surest way to burn out the planet and everyone on it. Today, with oil running out and the global economy in tatters, doing everything in a hurry is clearly nuts. Anyone still in doubt should try attending a speed yoga class or a drive-thru funeral.That is why the Slow Movement is growing - and fast.

Around the world, 120 official Slow Cities are now putting quality of life ahead of sprawl. Slow Food is a household name and the Slow Sex movement could be next. Slow Travel is booming as people look for ways to savor the journey. A Harvard dean has written an open letter extolling the virtues of doing less and relaxing more. Its title: "Slow Down."

And that is just the tip of the iceberg. There are now movements for Slow Medicine, Exercise, Parenting, Retail, Design, Education, Blogging, Production, Fashion, Art and Reading.
Even the workplace is warming to the Slow revolution. Companies such as the Boston Consulting Group and KPMG are goosing productivity by encouraging staff to spend less time on the job. Others are imposing speed limits on the information superhighway with email-free days and cellphone blackouts. A senior executive at IBM has launched a Slow Email Movement to encourage us to check our inboxes less. And that's IBM, not an aromatherapy cooperative.
It is no surprise that some of the fastest people are now urging us to put on the brakes. After all, Slow does not mean doing everything at a snail's pace. It means doing things at the right speed -- fast or slow. In other words, you don't have to ditch your career, toss the iPhone and join a commune to slow down. You can be Slow anywhere. It's about striking a balance and using time more wisely.

The journey that In Praise of Slowness has made since publication shows how far this message resonates. The book has been translated into more than 30 languages. It appears on reading lists from business schools to yoga retreats. Rabbis, priests and imams have quoted from it in their sermons. A doctor in Sydney, Australia gave my aunt a copy when she was suffering from stress. TV producers even placed a few copies inside the Big Brother house in Argentina to encourage the contestants to talk about more than just cellulite and cosmetic surgery.
Writing the book has certainly changed my life. I travel around the world now talking and writing about the Slow revolution. But I also walk the talk. I have reconnected with my inner tortoise.
This has made me more relaxed, dynamic and creative. I feel closer to my friends and family and more able to enjoy each moment. I'm living my life now instead of rushing through it.
Snow White is certainly a lot more fun with seven dwarves.

Questions (the answers in "comments")

1. What made him write the book?

2. What is the Slow Movement and why has it appeared?

3. What does being slow mean?

4. Why has the book been so successful?

5. How has the book changed Honore's life?

Watch this video:

Carl Honore, author of In Praise of Slowness, explains how you can get more out of life by doing less @ Yahoo! Video

Super Size Me

Watch the video once and try to get the main idea. Then watch it at least two more times and try to answer the questions or complete the sentences below (you need one word in each gap). The answers are in "comments".


1. What has America become?

2. How many people in the USA are overweight or obese?

3. What’s the fattest state in America?

4. The man on the video remembers his mother...

5. Today American families ____________ _____________ all the time and they are paying for it, not only with their _____________ but also with their _____________.

6. _____________ is now second only to smoking as a major cause of preventable death in America, with more than _____________ deaths per year associated with related illnesses.

7. In 2002 a few Americans decided to _____________ these companies, making them responsible for their obesity and health problems.

8. Each day _____________ in _____________ Americans visits a fast food restaurant, and it’s happening on a _____________ _____________.

9. McDonalds feeds more than _____________ million people worldwide every day. More than the entire population of _____________.

10. McDonalds are _____________, even in _____________.

11. Why did the lawyers for McDonalds call their suers ‘frivolous’?

12. The judges said that if lawyers could prove that eating McDonalds’ products for every meal every day is _____________ _____________, they may be able to state a claim.
13. What’s the man in the video going to do? Why?

RUSSIA AND NEW ZEALAND

It's not in English, but you can see some of the most important sights in Russia.


New Zealand: watch the presentation video at the tourism website.

HALLOWEEN

I. Listen to the podcast: Audio Lesson 18- Halloween Message, and answer the following questions (the answers are in "comments").
1. What comes to his mind when he thinks of Halloween?
2. He used to dressed up as a _______________ or as a _______________.
3. After trick or treating what did he and his brother compare and why?
4. How long did candy last?
5. Complete this list of things related to Halloween that he mentions:
Candy, _______________, Jack-O-Lanterns, black cats, _______________, ghouls, goblins, hyenas, _______________, werewolves, _______________ _______________, bats, vampires, Frankestein, _______________, screams and the famous _______________ _______________ _______________.
6. Why does he apologize?
7. What seems to be the problem?
8. What’s his message?

II. Watch the video and choose the best answer for the following questions (the answers are in "comments").
1. Mr. Burns asks Smithers (his loyal employee) to:
a) take down Halloween decoration
b) put up Halloween decoration
c) throw away the bat that is his Halloween decoration

2. Bart and Lisa say that their neighbour Flanders gave them:
a) candy
b) cakes
c) mini-toothpaste

3. According to Homer "ethnictown" is
a) the place where hardworking immigrants dream of becoming lazy and overfed Americans
b) the place where you can listen to ethnic serenades
c) the place where you can find lazy and overfed immigrants

4. What do the immigrants sell?
a)
b)
c)

5. What does the fortune teller ask Marge?

6. Homer thinks the fortune teller is
a) a hospitable gypsy
b) someone who wants to rip them off*
c) a fake witch

7. What's the fortune teller's curse?


8. What does Marge think is happening the following day?


9. What does Moe tell Homer he needs to get rid of the curse?
a) a troll
b) another gypsy
c) a leprechaun*

10. What is Homer going to use as a bait to get one?
a) lucky charms*
b) lucky cookies
c) lucky rabbits

Glossary:
to rip somebody off: to cheat someone, especially by charging them too much money for something
leprechaun: in traditional Irish stories, a small man believed to have magic powers
lucky charms: something that people believe brings them luck.

III. Read, listen and complete this Halloween story.

IV. If you like Halloween films this is the quiz for you.

V. Listen to this horror story and answer the questions (answers in "comments").

Don’t turn on the light
1. Why didn’t she go to bed that night?
2. What did she do at midnight?
3. Why did she go to her bedroom at 2 o’clock in the morning?
4. When she opened the door carefully not to wake up Jenna (her roommate) the room was filled with___________________________________________?
5. How did she feel and what did she think of it?
6. Jenna was breathing heavily as if she ________________________________________ and she thought Jenna had ________________________________.
7. She could also hear a steady drip sound and she thought it came from_________________________________________________. She left the room quietly.
8. When did she decide to stop studying and why?
9. What was the scene her eyes registered when he opened her bedroom door?
10. What did she read on the wall?

Laughter yoga clubs

Watch the creator of laughter yoga clubs explaining what laughter yoga is.



Watch this news report about laughter yoga.

Pronunciation of -ed endings

Watch this video in which an American teacher explains how to pronounce -ed endings.

Do this exercise.

Oral exam stress

1. Listen to two friends talking about how to beat stress before an oral exam and do the comprehension activities.

2. Read an article giving some extra information about the same topic and do some comprehension activities too.

Daily situation: bad phone reception

You can practise pronunciation listening and repeating short conversations like this one.

TV series

Do you like watching TV series? Why not in English? Here you have some examples. Websites like seriesyonkis offer you subtitles, but not all the episodes are in English.

Dexter A serial killer who works for the police.

The IT Crowd A comedy about computer experts (select the option in English with Spanish subtitles).

Desperate Housewives Life in an American suburb.

Famous people

Listen and take notes. Then listen and read the text and check your notes. Do the online activities.

Mobile phones

Listen to a man talking about mobile phones and take some notes.
When you read the article, you can double click on words to check their meaning and the phonemic transcription on a dictionary and you also have a comprehension activity.

-ed / -ing adjectives

Read the grammar explanation for adjectives ending in –ed and adjectives ending in –ing.

PRONUNCIATION

Problems with pronunciation? You don't know the sounds or how to make them? Have a look at this website where they offer you videos, quizzes... Watch the introduction video and then go to the link that interests you most.

BEAR

Listen to the podcast without reading it and take some notes. Then, listen and read to check your notes and finally, try the quiz.

So do I (practice)

A quick exercise to review the use of 'so do I'.

Listen and write

On this website you can listen and then do a dictation.
First listen to the whole text at once. Then you click to play the dictation and start writing. When your word is right it will appear and if the option auto repeat is on, you will listen to the same track once and again until you finish writing it. After that, go to the following track.
If you can't guess the word, click on hint and you'll get some help.
The story I have chosen is a news story from VOA News and it has a 10 level.
There's another option that allows you to complete sentences instead of writing everything down. Try clicking where it says 'To word'.
Try it!!


I'd like to thank Nik Peachey for his great websites!

Remember vocabulary

This is a way to help you record, remember and build up your vocabulary. To do this we are going to use a simple tool called Bubbl.us which you can use to create 'mind maps' or what some people call 'spidergrams' or 'vocabulary webs'.These are graphs which show relationships. They are very useful tools to help you think about and arrange words or ideas as well as to show the relationship between those ideas or words. we are going to use them today to help us look at relationships between words and help us remember them.
Task:
To get started go to: http://www.bubbl.us/ and click on 'Start Brainstorming'
You will then see a bubble in the centre of the page that says 'Start here' click on it and enter the theme for your first 'vocabulary web'. For example you can use the topic of 'Weekend activities'. Click on 'Start here' and replace the text with the word 'Weekend' then pres enter. Another bubble will appear below it.
Click on the next bubble and add a weekend activity, e.g. 'have a lie-in', then click back on the word 'weekend' and press enter again, you should get a second bubble, add another weekend activity in this bubble. Keep adding and building up words around the central theme. You can drag the words to arrange them.
Once you have 5 or 6 words around your central three start to add words that are connected to each weekend activity. Again, you do this by clicking on the word and pressing enter on your keyboard
You can then add words that are connected with each of those words. Keep adding as many words as you can.
Once you have added as many words as you can, click on 'Save'. You will then have to create a free account.
You will need to create a user name and password and have an email address.

Once you have created an account you can save your vocabulary web, give it a name and start creating more on different themes. You can go back and click 'Load' to see the vocabulary maps you have created and add new words as you learn them.This is a great way to remember, review and extend your vocabulary and it can help you to build up your own theme related dictionary.

Learn to pronounce words

You can use this website to check pronunciation.

So do I

Listen to the teacher (lesson 40) explaining the use of "so do I" and other expressions to show agreement or disagreement.

Olympic decision

Have a look at how the final decision about the 2016 Olympic Games took place. Watch some videos and listen to different people speaking for their cities.