Moving On

Beautiful and moving

Did you understand some of the lyrics?

Femi Kuti

Had a great time seeing this Nigerian musician and his band last night:

Love Profusion

Dear All,
this weekend's homework includes singing and paying attention to those sounds we practised in class. You can find the lyrics with some phonetic transcription in this document 

Dignity

There's a man I meet
Walks up our street
He's a worker for the council
Has been twenty years
And he takes no lip off nobody
And litter off the gutter
Puts it in a bag
And never thinks to mutter
And he packs his lunch in a Sunblest bag
The children call him Bogie
He never lets on
But I know 'cause he once told me
He let me know a secret
About the money in his kitty
He's gonna buy a dinghy
Gonna call her Dignity

And I'll sail her up the west coast
Through villages and towns
I'll be on my holidays
They'll be doing their rounds
They'll ask me how I got her I'll say
I saved my money
They'll say isn't she pretty
That ship called Dignity

And I'm telling this story
In a faraway scene
Sipping down Raki
And reading Maynard Keynes
And I'm thinking about home
And all that means
And a place in the winter
For Dignity

And I'll sail her up the west coast
Through villages and towns
I'll be on my holidays
They'll be doing their rounds
They'll ask me how I got her I'll say
I saved my money
They'll say isn't she pretty
That ship called Dignity

Set it up set it up set it up set it up set it up set it up
Yeah set it up again set it up again set it up again set it up again
Set it up set it up set it up set it up set it up set it up
Yeah set it up again set it up again set it up again set it up again

And I'm thinking about home
And I'm thinking about faith
And I'm thinking about work
And I'm thinking
How good it would be
To be here some day
On a ship called Dignity
A ship called Dignity
That ship

Respect

On International Women's Day, all we ask for is a little R-E-S-P-E-C-T.

Respect so that no more women are battered and killed

Respect so that no more girls are ablated

Respect so that we all have equal opportunities and rights

Respect so that politicians don't treat us as children who cannot make our own decisions 

Happy Valentine's! - All Shook Up

Blogger betrayed me last weekend, because they didn't publish my programmed entries... A bit late to post this now, but anyway...

How do you feel when you're in love? Do any of the things Elvis mentions in the song happen to you? You can leave your comments with more being-in-love signals

Past modals Songs

This weekend's songs are... 

My favourite Moloko song:

Some of you will already know there's no place to go
This is the modern man, as good as I am
Here in the heart of the sun my memory melts
Swellegant, elephant pain, he never forgets
Should've been a beautiful thing
Could've been a beautiful thing

Pull over to the side of the road, let the bold be bold
Luxury at a low introductory price, now wouldn't that be nice?
A happy little family puts you in a trance meanwhile back at the ranch
Insatiable hand-held flexible friend, why not give him a chance?
Could've been a beautiful thing
Should've been, could've been a beautiful thing

Promises of pleasure mesmerised, but how far can we get?
At least here in the eye of the storm I won't get my hairdo wet
Some of you have already foreseen yourself undone
Some of you seem to believe you've only just begun
Try a little perjury, get rich quick
My eyes are bigger than my belly is, and it makes me sick
Attitude, so much to prove, should've been a beautiful thing
Some of you will already know, and I'm still wondering
Should've been a beautiful thing
Could've been a beautiful thing
I could've been, should've been, could've been a beautiful thing
Could've been a beautiful thing
Should've been, would've been a beautiful thing

(How we love to disguise)

One more for the "Should've"form:

How many things did the guy do wrong?

Now, another one where the lady is certain that she loved the guy, and we've heard it sooooo many times on the radio, we're also sure it was love ;-)

This song opens a new section in the blog I already told you about. It's the section called "From guachi guachi to real English", a section dedicated to those old songs you've been singing for ages, not knowing what you were saying. It's high time you knew, don't you think?

Twisted and Sick

This weekend's song is .... one by Marlango where you can recognise the grammatical construction we studied last week: The more ... the more... ;-)

The more you see
The more I hide
The more I show
The more I lie
Or maybe
The more I hide
The more you see
The more I lie
The more I show
But I'm twisted & sick so that's fine with me
Cause I'm twisted & sick so that's fine with me

Te more I show
The more you see
The more I hide
The more I lie
Or even the more you see
The more I show
The more I lie
The more I hide
But I'm twisted & sick so that's fine with me
Cause twisted & sick so that's fine with me

I'd love to need you
But I don't
And I want to miss you
But I don't
And I need to want
And I miss your wanting
And I want your loving
But I'm twisted & sick so that's fine with me
That's fine with me

(Bridge)

Cause I'm twisted & sick so that's fine with me
I'm twisted & sick so that's fine with me

Until I finish what i have to do
I can't start doing what i should do
I'll have to do this
I'll have to say that
I'll have to go beat
Out all of the crap
I'll have to sit still
I'll have to fulfill
Those stupid ideas
They have about me
But I'm twisted & sick so that's fine with me
I'm twisted & sick so that's fine with me
That's fine with me

Ain't Got No

Hi there!

Since I forgot to post a song last weekend, here's a suggestion from one of your classmates that I like a lot, too ;-)

Happy 2014!

Homework for Christmas

Dear All, 

although I've already told you in class, let me remind you here of what I expect you to do during the holidays:

- The listening exercise I posted below. (Attention to and study of vocabulary included, of course).

- The cloze text I gave you in a handout. (It's a text about shopping malls).

- The composition I asked you to write (letter of complaint), for which you have a model text in a handout and in your Student's Book (pp. 122-123). Remember to use the structure of the model text, appropriate opening and closing formulas, the right level of formality and politeness, and correct grammatical structures combining active and passive sentences.

- The Review for Units 1-4 (starting on p. 32). This will allow you to revise the vocabulary, grammar, and functional language we have studied so far.

- Speaking: you can practise alone (preparing a 3-minute presentation) or with somebody who speaks English at home (role-playing a conversation). Here are some possible topics:

1. For a presentation:
- Work (current situation - what people have to do - possible solutions to unemployment)
- Learning languages (why - how to do it best - personal experience)
- Gadgets / Technology (advantages and disadvantages of using them - personal experience)
- Social networks (people's use of themn noawadays - pros and cons of using them - personal experience)
- Health (things or situations that affect people's health - what you do to keep healthy - how important health is)
- Travel (how and how much people travel nowadays - positive things about travelling - personal experience)
- Saving energy (alternative energy sources - how much energy we use at home - ways we can save energy)

2. For conversation, talk about:

- Looking for an English course abroad
- a friend who's just been left by their partner
- a friend who's just been made redundant and needs to find another job
- how consumerism affects people's lives
- a friend who's decided to volunteer abroad
- how fashion and beauty standards affect women's (and men's) lives

- Reading the novel we set as reading material at the beginning of the course: The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, which we will comment on at the end of January.

I know it's quite a good amount of homework ;-) But this is Intermediate 2, and you'll have a Certificate exam by the end of the year...

Well, for now... Merry Christmas to you all!

Under the Waterfall

This weekend's song is... 
James' "Under the Waterfall"

Enjoy!

Mandela Day

This weekend's song is not one under the label "Song meanings" but one I'm posting just as a tribute to the great fighter Nelson Mandela was. Not all the politicians are the same...

Society

Hi there!
here's this weekend's song: it's called "Society" and it belongs to the soundtrack of the movie "Into the Wild", which is worth seeing if you haven't seen it. I thought about this song as a timely link between the last topic we've dealt with in class and the one we're going to do next week. 
Enjoy the voice of the great Eddie Vedder! ;-)

Good People

Hi there!
Since paying attention to lyrics can be a fun and interesting way to learn vocabulary and pronunciation, here's a new section in the blog: you know there are webpages where people write their comments about the meanings of songs. Well, I'll try to post a song every weekend here for you to make short comments and we'll see what happens...
You just have to listen to the song (which comes with the lyrics) and write about the meaning of the song in the comment section below. Try to be careful with the grammar, but don't be intimidated by the possibility of making mistakes. I won't correct anybody unless you tell me to do so. 

Exams and Education

Dear All, 
here's a video I "stole" from a friend's blog which I found very pertinent to publish, since we had a debate (NB2) on the topic not long ago. You can play it with subtitles in English.

I put the post under "Music", but in fact the performance's a type of poetry called "Spoken Word". 
Hope you like it! Have a nice weekend!

The Three Rs

We've been dealing with the topic of the environment (NI2), so here's the song I told you about in class yesterday.
Jack Johnson: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle - 3 R Song from Team Explore on Vimeo.

Can you write little tips in the comments on how to reduce, reuse, or recycle?

Cupid

Hi everybody!
Here's an activity with Amy Winehouse's "Cupid" to celebrate Valentine's Day

Comparative adjectives

Another silly song... ;-) This one to practise comparatives. Fill in the gaps with the missing words, which are comparatives and one irregular superlative. You'll learn an idiom, too: "What doesn't kill you, makes you_________"

You know the bed feels _________
Sleeping here alone
You know I dream in colour
And do the things I want
You think you got ____ ________ of me
You think you had the last laugh
Bet you think that everything good is gone
Think you left me broken down
Think that I'd come running back
Baby you don't know me, cause you're dead wrong
Chorus
What doesn't kill you makes you ___________
Stand a little ___________
Doesn't mean I'm lonely when I'm alone
What doesn't kill you makes you a fighter
Footsteps even _________
Doesn't mean I'm over cause you're gone
What doesn't kill you makes you __________, ___________
Just me, myself and I
(Repeat)
You heard that I was starting over with someone new
They told you I was moving on, and over you
You didn't think that I'd come back
I'd come back swinging
You try to break me but you'll see
Chorus
What doesn't kill you makes you ___________
Stand a little _________
Doesn't mean I'm lonely when I'm alone
What doesn't kill you makes you a fighter
Footsteps even _________ 
Doesn't mean I'm over cause you're gone
What doesn't kill you makes you _________, _________
Just me, myself and I
(Repeat)
Thanks to you I got a new thing started
Thanks to you I'm not the broken hearted
Thanks to you I'm finally thinking 'bout me
You know in the end the day you left was just my beginning
In the end...
Chorus
What doesn't kill you makes you _________ 

 Stand a little _________ 
Doesn't mean I'm lonely when I'm alone
What doesn't kill you makes you a fighter
Footsteps even _________
Doesn't mean I'm over cause you're gone
What doesn't kill you makes you _________, _________
Just me, myself and I
What doesn't kill you makes you _________ 
Stand a little _________
Doesn't mean I'm lonely when I'm alone

Feel like dancing?

A bit of rock'n'roll in the morning...

Thanks little sis!