The importance of consonant sounds

Hello!

Yesterday we dealt with the last consonant sounds of English and I promised to show you why these sounds are very important to make yourself understood. Here's a famous song that the Príncipe Gitano sings unable to pronounce the consonant sounds well. It's sacrilegious but very funny at the same time. When you listen to it the first time, try to understand the words without reading the subtitles. You'll be very imaginative if you can understand something at all. Enjoy!

Next cultural activity - Exhibition

Cartel Asher B Durand

Landscape + The Dumb Waiter

We're making a group to go to the theatre on 5 November at 9pm. We'll see two short plays by the British playwright Harold Pinter: Landscape and The Dumb Waiter.

If you want to join the group, please let me know before 26 October.

Here's the speech Pinter delivered on winning the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2005. It's entitled "Art, Truth, and Politics" (It's a bit long but worth watching; this one is with subtitles in Spanish).

Welcome back!

Hi there everybody!

Hope you had a really good summer and that you're ready for the new year
Let's start with a humorous video, how could it be otherwise?
First, you have to watch this piece of news. Here's a talented story teller, no doubt:

And then you can watch the song somebody created based on the story:
Thanks a lot, Míchel!

Ken Loach's Films

Hi there!

The British film-maker Ken Loach has decided to show his films for free on a You Tube channel.

Thanks very much, José, for sharing this with us!

Here's the acceptance speech of the new British prime minister, David Cameron. Political speeches are not hard to follow (basically because we already know what politicians are going to say ;-)).

So listen to the speech and fill in the gaps in the sentences below.

Cameron admits that the previous government succeeded in making the country _____[1]_____ at home and _____[2]_____ abroad.

The most important problems facing the future are a huge _____[3]_____, deep _____[4]_____ problems, and the need of ____[5]_____ of the political system.

If they want to work for the common good of the country, Cameron and Clegg must _____[6]_____ their differences.

When Cameron specifies the tasks the government has to fulfil to rebuild trust he gives three examples: _____[7]_____ expenses, _____[8]_____, making sure people are _____[9]_____.

British citizens have to be aware that they are not only entitled to certain rights but they also have _____[10]_____ if they want real change.

Cameron publicly commits himself to _____[11]_____ the elderly, the frail, and the poorest.

His Government, he promises, will defend the values of _____[12]_____, _____[13]_____, and responsibility.

He expects that governing with a _____[14]_____ will not be easy.

Cameron’s acceptance speech finishes by emphasizing the importance of _____[15]_____ values.

If you need to check the transcript, you can find it here.

Teenage Brains

Yesterday we talked about different stages in life and a discussion broke out about the teenage brain. OK, here's a link where you can listen and read (if you need to) about the reasons why teenagers don't think about the consequences of their acts.

(To read the radio script go to "transcript" on the right of "Listen to the story")

The Weather in Canada

Hi there!

I've seen this video over and over again, and every time I see it, I have to laugh. I played it yesterday in the talk about Canada, but here it is in case you want to see it again. Some useful vocabulary follows below...

bundle up - put on warm clothes

windchill (factor) - an estimated measurement of the cooling effect of air and wind, esp. when applied to the loss of body heat from exposed skin; or "sensación térmica"

wallowed with another winter storm - 'to wallow' is what a hippopotamus does in the mud, enjoying the moment. Here the verb is used ironically, of course

to hover around - being nearly

8 balmy degrees - used ironically, since "balmy" means pleasant, soothing

swear words and colloquial expressions - holy crap!, you have to be freaking kidding me; tabernac!; suck it! ('Tabernac' is one of the worst words you can use in French Canada, where there is a strong tradition of Roman Catholicism. This sacrilegious word takes the word 'tabernacle' in vain)

Yes, we...

...make a fool of ourselves if we boast of how well something is done when it wasn't well done from the very beginning. The new campaign for bilingual schools contains, as you may have heard, a grammatical mistake. Yes, we know that grammar is not the ONLY important thing in language learning and usage, but as a teacher I have to insist on the need to communicate and do it correctly at the same time.

Do we want to pursue this objective?

Yes, we do! or

Yes, we want to!

(Btw, could people stop repeating Obama's motto for a while? Such lack of originality is getting on my nerves...)

Review - Telephone conversations

Hi there!

Here are some links for further practice of telephone conversations.

1. Revise the useful vocabulary.

2. Complete a dialogue where someone makes an appointment, and another one where someone leaves a message

3. Listen to this conversation and do the exercises.