...and a happy new year!

That's what everybody in English speaking countries will be singing at midnight 31st Dec. (and at 7 AM Jan 1st too) but few really know what the words mean. Its a traditional Scottish song, with words written by Scottish poet Robert Burns, probably inspired by some traditional verse. HERE is the translation into English.



So happy new year everybody!

Merry Christmas

... and a video for you to watch: The "pooper"?? what's that?  WATCH

Wishing you a merry, merry Christmas....

Beware of hypnotists!

Have you ever been hypnotised? Maybe you don't remember.... but this shopkeeper was robbed after the hypnotist thief had put him in a trance.


  CCTV footage (security camera video), shopkeeper (the owner and manager of a shop), spellbound (fascinated), bizarre (strange),unaware (when you do not know about something).

This video is taken from the very good website  'News in Levels'.  Level 2 can find a simplified version of the video HERE  ( but you might as well try the original vrsion!)

I think I might like to use hypnosis in class...

What are the British like?

What surprises you about the British? Rather a lot, it seems, according to the thousands of comments on a reddit thread!

Black Friday vs Buy Nothing Day

Yesterday was Black Friday. What is Black Friday? Black Fridayis  the day that signals the start of the shopping season in the USA,




and that can be as dangerous as this.
WATCH THE VIDEO

In order to make people aware that we live in a consumer society  and that you don't actually need half of what you buy, BUY NOTHING DAY  is celebrated every Nov. 29th (today!)
 So before you fall into the Christmas shopping frenzy  think that you can concentrate on learning English -it's safer and you can save money!

Word of the year 2014

We were talking not long ago about how English incorporates new words every year. Last year's word of the year was 'SELFIE'.
Lexicographers for Oxford Dictionaries have named the verb “TO VAPE,” as their word of the year 2014. It means to  inhale and exhale vapor from an electronic cigarette.
 In the shortlist there were words like 'slacktivism' or 'indyref'. You can see the complete list  HERE

But is 'vaping' healthy?  Watch the video:


 KEY WORDS: to ban (to forbid), nicotine, flavours, encourage, research, toy guns.
(Sorry about the ad, it's impossible to get rid of it)

Philosophy

The School of Life: An interesting page for those of you who like philosophy. With lots of easy  videos (with English subtitles) and texts.

Did you know that.....

Learning a New Language Stimulates Same Pleasure Centres in the Brain as Sex and Chocolate ?

• READ THE FULL STORY HERE

So how about starting with the list of  Irregular verbs?  Satisfaction guaranteed! :-)

•  Learning a language is also good for your health: READ HERE
•  WATCH THIS VIDEO on how good languages are for your brain

Nice

'Nice' is an adjective that you can apply to almost everything ( a nice person, nice weather, nice clothes.... but are there any other adjectives in English apart from 'nice'?

Easy?

Weren't we saying the other day that Latin languages are horribly difficult? Who told you that Spanish pronunciation was easy? Here you can see that the pronunciation is tremendously difficult too!

... so how lucky you are to be learning English...!

*Thanks Laia Portolés for this video

What are you like?

We are talking about description in both L2 and L3, so

Remember:
What do they look like? Tall and handsome.
What are they like? Friendly.
What do they like? They like going to the beach

 


What are you like?
Take The World's shortest Personality Test: Short but accurate.

In Level 3 we talked about how birth order can influence your personality. Are you a firstborn? a middlechild?,  lastborn , or an only child?
WATCH this video . No transcript but some key words here:   
Natural leader, siblings, an only child, twins, goody-goody, strengths and weaknesses,  adopted,  they don't take criticism very well, leadership roles, romantic capabilities, real evidence, narcissistic relationship, highly compatible relationship.

Hope you know yourself a bit bettter after this!

A healthy diet

Look at this video and see if you can name all these fruits and vegetables:



 How healthy is your diet? Are you eating enough vegetables? This video is part of the British National Health Service (NHS) campaign to encourage people to eat at least five portions of fruit and vegetables a day.  Courgette, lettuce, cucumber, peas, chick peas, carrots, celery ...so many colours and tastes and textures... how can they be boring? You'll find some tips on how to include them in your diet: 

• Questions and Answers:  How Healthy is your diet?
• What did you eat yesterday? The test

Welcome to L2 / L3 English!

Hello everybody and welcome to the new school year! Congratulations to those who passed the previous level, congratulations to those who got a place at the EOI. I hope you've had a nice summer and are ready and full of energy for this new course. Level 2 could start with this easy, easy video.....




...or you could just join Level 3 and listen to Mrs. Obama welcoming children back to school and encouraging to eat healthy food:


No subtitles in class, you know!
See you!

September

So what now?

Exams are over, so just to remind you that on June 27th, 12:00,  your marks will be posted:

- Online: Through the EOI Garraf's website, you'll only see '(no)apte/a', NP, NQ, but, not your scores for each skill (I think). Be patient with technology since the system tends to crash when everybody tries to log in at the same time. If you have problems with your login, password, etc, please ask Secretaria.  Or ...

- EOI's notice board: you'll see your scores for the five skills and your final mark.  

So what now? FAQs (Frequently asked questions):

- "I got 65 (or more) and I'm very happy." Congratulations! I knew you would!" Try to read a little in summer (go to England if you possibly can!) or watch movies, or listen to podcasts, speak, cook, sing ...do whatever you can in English so that you don't forget it all!  

- "I got 65 but I didn't really mean it! I don't think I'm prepared for the next level!" Oh, well, too bad,  too late, so sorry. Good luck next year!

 - "Oh, no ! I didn't get the f*#`* 65! It would be suicidal to get to the next level. Language learning is a difficult equation, certainly more complex than divisions into levels/years. Take it easy, take your time, try once more and you'll end up with a much better chance of passing and, most important, your English will be better.

Please remember that the 'matricula online' is on specific days in July. Please ask Secretaria if you have any doubts or questions on this and make sure you get your 'matricula' in order if you want to continue studying English next year.
And finally,  I'd like to wish you a well deserved summer break "lazing on a sunny afternoon, in the summertime"... 
 

	The Kinks - Sunny Afternoon .mp3
	Found at bee mp3 search engine

... OOOps, and a final recommendation:

DON'T FORGET what you've done! ENGLISH CENTRAL is a WONDERFUL web site with lots of videos that will ACTIVELY help you with your LISTENING AND PRONUNCIATION (closely related one and the other!)

That's all folks!

Classes are over, so time has come to give you some final advice ... and how could I resist the temptation of watching, once again, Mr. Bean taking an exam?

• Get plenty of sleep the night before, and don't eat too much on the exam day.
• Make sure you arrive with time to spare so that you can chat with your friends and go in calmly rather than in a frantic rush.
• It may sound stupid, but don't forget to read the instructions of every exercise, and make sure you know what you have to do.
• It may sound even more stupid, but in the oral/written exam, use what you know,  NOT what you don't know. SHOW what you know, not what you don't know!
• Write slowly, don't translate, KISS (Keep It Short and Simple) connect your ideas, use words that you've leant
• In the oral exam, relax and be ready to have a nice conversation with your partner (L3 remember to play tennis!). L2-L3: Don't worry about the words you don't know and concentrate on the things you know (L2)

• Leave your mobile phone at home, don't forget your pens, your ID, just  relax, concentrate, keep the right dose of adrenaline ready for action and ...
• ...enjoy it!
  
  Thanks for your attention and your patience all through the year and...
  I wish you all the best

For sale

Do you think you could afford Dracula's castle?

READ STORY HERE
 It comes complete with dungeons, high towers,  and graveyards but oh! there are no bathrooms.
 Would you like to buy it?

Video Bits

This is a selection of the links you have in the 'video bits' section of this blog, in this case, short pieces of news, for your daily 5 minutes listening practice. This video here is from the CNN

But you also have other media

BBC Video news: (start with 'The tale of Two Europes)
Sky news (+ article)
ITN Video News (with script!)


Short and effective doses of real English. Be informed, and learn English ...(and please don't get frustrated if you don't understand absolutely everything on day one. Keep listening!)

St. Jordi

  Words and roses for you:

"What's in a name? That which we call a rose  
By any other word would smell as sweet. "   
William Shakespeare in Romeo and Juliet (1564 – 23 April 1616)
 

"Roses are Red
 Violets are Blue 
Sugar is Sweet 
And so are You" 
English Nursery Rhyme   (traditional  short poems for children)

And the sunlight clasps the earth,

And the moonbeams kiss the sea;

-What are all these kissings worth,

If thou kiss not me?

Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792 -1822)

• And...  WATCH a BBC news piece on St. Jordi's day in Barcelona 1998

Happy St. Jordi's day!  
Enjoy your books and roses,  
Enjoy yourselves,
Have fun! 

Underwater

There are people who would like to live in Mars, whereas others would like to live underwater.



In the 1960s Jacques Cousteau’s team built the first underwater habitat called Conshelf I, and two men spent a week inside. Conshelf II, built in 1963, was installed off the coast of Sudan and scientists spent 30 days in the star-fish shaped structure.

• READ the story (BBC)

If you  are interested in marine biology, how about living in the AQUARIUS underwater laboratory  for a few days?


Mmmh.... not for me. I'd feel like a fish out of water.

Shoot that bear ??

The other day we were talking about inventions with L2, and Tipp-ex was one of them. What would you do if you were this hunter? Would you shoot that bear?


Would you shoot and kill that bear? You don't want to shoot the bear?
Help the writer rewrite the story and type another verb: kiss? talk? hug? play? Try with other verbs and see what happens!

One way ticket to Mars

Would you like to go to Mars?
Mars One is a non-profit organization based in the Netherlands that wants to establish a permanent human colony on Mars by 2024. The private spaceflight project is led by Dutch entrepreneur Bas Lansdorp, who announced plans for the Mars One mission in May 2012.
(you can activate subtitles in English by clicking on 'Captions' once the video has started)

Mars One wants to carefully select four applicants  to become the first residents of Mars, and every step of the crew’s journey will be documented for a reality television program.

The only problem? It's a one-way-ticket. They won't come back!

By the way, Nuria Tàpias from Calafell, and Àngel Jané  (watch the application video) have been pre-selected for the one-way ticket to Mars.
They will go to Mars if they get to the end of the the selection process.
Would you go to Mars if you had the chance?

The Social Media guard

Are you addicted to social media? Here's the solution:


The next step is try and stop drinking Coke!

Laughter is the best medicine

 You can't say you don't understand this video...

We talked about 'viral videos' the other day with L3, you know, these funny videos that spread out like a virus in the internet. I'm not very fond of 'viral' videos,  but hey, I liked this one, especially now that we are tired, and we can't see the light the end of the tunnel ... laughter is the best medicine, it's highly contagious ...and it can be understood in any language.

• READ: Mail Online: Laughter is the best cure
• L3: WATCH: CBS News. Laughter as medicine: The old Indian HA-HA therapy
• Key words: to keep the body and mind fit, organised lunacy, keep the blues at bay,  feel ashamed, laughter proved contagious, it sounds like a joke, an extra in a horror movie.

• And THIS is a funny conversation made up of movie titles that Marc (L3) sent the other day.  Thanks!

By the way, the baby is ripping up her daddy's job rejection letter!

Oh, and have a nice Carnestoltes!

NG Adventurer of the year

Kilian Jornet has been chosen NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC'S ADVENTURER OF THE YEAR.

 (L2)Listen to Kilian's thank you message 

(L3) Listen to the CBS interview

• GO to the NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC site and read more about this.

No Chobani in Sochi

Listen to President Obama's good luck message to the US athletes in Sochi
Do you need the transcript?


(L3)Unfortunately, US athletes haven't been able to eat CHOBANI so far, the Greek yogurt made in the USA and official sponsor of the US team, because it's been held up at customs due to a battle of trade rules for dairy exports.

KEY WORDS: customs, official sponsors, brand, TV commercials,Russian ambassador, Olympic committee, remove the roadblock, dairy products

• Read the story of Chobani Yogurt: From Turkey to an abandoned factory in NY to being the top selling brand in the US.

Let's hope the athletes can get their yogurt soon!

blah, blah, blah...

Arrrgh!! The exam was horribly difficult! Frustrating! I'll never be able to understand those horrible videos! How can I improve my spoken English?  I hate writing!

OK, calm down and take it easy.  Language learning has to do with patience, regularity and love (yes,  love) rather than trying to learn it all in a couple of days/weeks/months.
You know that class time is NOT enough, so  you'll have to use English  at home, in the street, driving to work... you have to live it, you have to love it, you have to make it yours.
Below you'll find some  tips that you'll have to adapt to your own habits (like talk to yourself!). Language skills are obviously connected and part of a whole - the time invested in reading, listening, writing, and working on 'use of English' will sure contribute to your speaking skills-and vice versa.

• Learning tips ( tips n.2,3,5,6,13 particularly interesting)

And a very important one: KISS (Keep It Short and Simple), which means DON'T get entangled in your own story -generally because you wanted to translate  word by word from your mother tongue. You don't need to do this. You know a lot of things by now, you know more than you think, so use the things that you know, not the things that you don't know.

So don't translate. Forget about your mother tongue, forget about yourself.  Be another person, be a comedian, and speak ENGLISH.
There is a saying in Czech that goes : " Learn a new language, get a new soul"

Sorry there's no pill. Or rather, the only pill is regular practice and patience. But you know all that jazz, don't you?   So why don't you use this mini holiday to put  things in order, revise aspects we've done in class, catch up with things you missed, organize your work, organize your life, and promise yourself you'll be in contact with English at least 20 minutes a day.

Of course, frustration may be part of the process, but it's transitory AND normal.  So don't worry too much. As they say, keep calm and carry on:

• Overcoming frustration
• Tips to overcome language learning frustration (by a school teaching portuguese)
• Dealing with frustration

...and you can always scream and shout in this blog if you need it. If you have any other useful  tip, please let eveybody know!

Job offer

Would you like to work at Buckingham palace?

READ more information and job description
and visit Buckingham Palace Official website, latest vacancies section, and maybe you can find a job that suits you.
Quite honestly, the money is not so good, but that might be a good place to start... maybe you get a promotion and become a king or a queen?

3A students Mock exam part I

This is a message for 3A students (17:00-19:00):
I'm sorry I wasn't able to make it to class on Monday 20th for the mock exam because I had a stupid dental emergency.
Next Wednesday 22nd, you will do PART 2 of the mock exam (use of English and Writing) and I'll let you  know when we can do part 1.

Sorry about that.




****UPDATE: 
PART I of your mock exam has been rescheduled to FRIDAY 24 JANUARY, 17:00. 

Your next gadget

The other day we were talking about gadgets in L3, and the next thing everybody is going to buy are the  new google glasses, the world in your eyes. Can you use them while driving? You would say no,  but it seems that a judge in a San Diego court has aquitted  this woman who was wearing her google glasses when she  was caught speeding.

KEY WORDS: Web developer, traffic ticket, speeding, charge, traffic violation, verdict, trial,  evidence.
Was the device operating at the time of the alleged violation of the law? No evidence, so that's the reasonable doubt.

What can you do with the google glasses?
- WATCH the 'user guide': different videos explaining what you can do with the google glasses

Of course, not allowed in exams!

The most typical face in the world

The National Geographic Magazine  revealed last year what the most typical person on the planet looks like, as part of their new series which focuses on the human race called ‘Population 7 billion’.


The research found that a 28-year-old Han Chinese male is the world's most typical person  with 9 million around the globe. So ....was learning English the right choice? Shouldn't you be learning Chinese?
Watch this video and check how similar to/different from the most typical person you are. Are you richer? poorer? younger? older?
WATCH AND LISTEN:    The Economist: 7 billion   to know more about this topic

7 billion? Aren't there TOO MANY people on this planet?

...and a happy new year!

As you proably know,   Isaak Asimov was, among many othr things,  a sci-fi writer.

Do you want your horoscope general reading for 2014?
READ AND LISTEN to your sign predictions in  THE YEAR AHEAD, by the New York astrologer Jennifer Angel.

I wish you all the best for  2014!