Reasons to Study Languages

A couple of years ago, Alex Rawlings won a national competition to find the UK´s most multi-lingual student; he is 20-something now and speaks eleven languages.

Watch the video and reflect on this question, how and why did Alex learn all those languages? When learning a language, do you use any of the strategies he mentions?

If you want to imitate Alex, here´s a video which tells you how to learn a language in ten days

Reported Speech

Here are some video lessons for you to learn about the reported speech

Click here to get lots of links to practise the reported speech (theory and practice).

If you want to watch any other video lessons with Jennifer, go to her blog, English With Jennifer.

Pronunciation: Linking Words

The importance of sound linking in English

Note: there is no sound at the beginning of the video

 

Idea taken from Luiz Otavio Barros´s blog

Linking words

I hope this video lesson  - together with our classwork - will improve your knowledge about the use of connectors

Grammar: Be Used To

Here´s a video from Luiz Otavio Barro´s blog to help you remember the grammar construction: be used to + -ing. There is no sound at the beginning of the video, just read and think about the questions the video asks.

Food for thought: International Women´s Day, March 8th, is coming and there´s a lot to say about it, considering the message behind this video

 

In the video before, the actions performed by the husband are introduced by "would". Watch the next video for an explanation of the difference between "used to" and "would"

100 Ways to Say "Great"

“A synonym is a word you use when you can't spell the other one,” said Baltasar Gracián

Pronouns in English: Reflexive Pronouns

[Infographic provided by Grammar.net]

Reasons to Learn English

Here´s one more reason for you to speak English well: if you want to be a film director and work in Hollywood, you need to give clear instructions to the staff working for you, or they´ll freak out…

Mexican Alfonso Cuarón won the Golden Globe Award 2014 for best director of his film Gravity. When he gave his acceptance speech, he explained his problems to make himself understood in English - "because of my thick accent," he says- when giving the actors and actresses directions. Try to understand him when he thanks Sandra Bullock for not quitting when he told her "Sandra, I am going to give you herpes" ( he says he meant "I am going to give you an ear piece" - but I still wonder whether he meant "a hair piece")

 

And here´s the trailer of the film, with subtitles in Spanish:

Improve Your Vocabulary: 100 Ways to Say "Bad"

How many of these words do you know? How many do you use?

For more information about "Write At Home", click here

This Book is the Milk!

This Book is the Milk! is a book written by Damián Mollá and Alberto Alonso; they explain the meaning of the English words we see in our everyday lives. It is aimed at the Spanish market so I am sure you will recognize most of the examples they give.

Leave a note for Santa Claus or for The Three Wise Men asking them for this book; you´ll have fun while you learn a lot of vocabulary in English. Click here to read a sample chapter

This is the presentation of the book: 

Peculiarities of English: Plural Words

A brief history of plural words in English, by American linguist John McWhorter: click on the captions to both hear and read  the lesson

Now, do some listening practice:

To do a multiple choice listening exercise, click here

Who vs. Whom

Let´s see if this infographic helps you  understand the difference between the relative pronouns who and whom

[Infographic provided by Grammar.net]

Quiz: Are You A Good Language Learner?

Are you a Good Language Learner?

1.  Do you like working

a.  with other learners in pairs or groups? 

b.  on your own/alone?                

2.  During the lesson, are you usually  

a.  relaxed and comfortable?

b.  anxious and uncomfortable?            

3.  While speaking English, are you

a.  confident and relaxed?   

b.  inhibited & shy?             

4.Do you

a.  look for opportunities to use English in and out of class? or

b.  forget all about English when you leave school?     

 5. Do you

a.  prefer not to wory about grammar rules? or

b.  worry about grammar so much that you can’t speak?      

 6. Do you

a.  Keep a well-organised notebook from which you can revise easily? or

b.  often have to ask your friends for their notes?    

7.  Are you

a.  Aware of your own mistakes? or

b.  Unaware of your mistakes ?      

8.  Are you

a.  Able to notice others’ mistakes? or

b.  unable to spot them?              

9. Do you feel

a.  relaxed about making mistakes? or

b.  worried about making mistakes?        

 10. Do you

a.  recognise similarities and differences in language or

b.  is this difficult  for you?         

11. Do you learn better 

a.   by seeing words and pictures or

b.  by  listening to the language or is this a mystery to you

 12. How do you feel about learning English?

a.  You enjoy it  

b.  You hate  it

13.   Do you 

a.  enjoy participating in classroom activities or

b.  do you prefer to just watch and listen?        

14.   Do you prefer

a.  challenging activities or

b.  easier activities?      

15.   Do you prefer to

a.  experiment with language or

b.  repeat only sentences you were taught?         

16.   Are you 

a.  prepared to take risks or

b.  do you avoid  risks and prefer to be safe?       

17.   Are you 

a.  prepared to be playful and not serious or

b.  are you afraid of appearing foolish?            

18.   To understand a message do you feel

a.  Comfortable if you don’t know all the words or

b.  Uncomfortable unless you know all the words

19.    Do you attempt to communicate orally

a.  even if you don’t know every single word, or

b.  only when know all the words  

20.   Do you 

a.  feel comfortable in your new class or

b.  miss your previous teacher and fellow students?         

21.Are your feeling towards native English speakers

a.  a.positive?

b.  negative?

22.    Are you

a.  an adolescent/adult or

b.  a younger or very young learner?     

23.   Do you know if you are

 a. an analytical learner or 

 b. not sure of what type of learner you are?         

24.   Are you better at

a. listening orb. reading? 

Your Score

Quite obviously, the more  a answers you have managed to collect, the closer you tend to be to the ideal profile of the Good Language Learner. Most Good Language Learners average a score of about 70%.  If you have scored more than 90%, well then, you are a rare creature indeed!

If you did not score high

If your score is less than the Good Learner average, identify the areas of difficulty and plan a course of action for yourself.
For instance, if you answered B for Question 23, make it a point of training yourself to be a better listener by listening to more tapes, switching regularly to watching English speaking TV  channels, You Tube videos and films, listening to TED talks on topics of interest.

Idea copied from Marisa Constantinides´s blog; TEFL Matters

Formation of Plurals In English

Sometimes we (teachers) take things for granted. For example, we think our students know how to form the plural of any word in English and, suddenly, when we are correcting essays, we see the same mistake over and over again and we realize it is time to review the basics...

[Infographic provided by Grammar.net]

EFL: Methods to Learn English

Have a look at this method to learn English; it is called Englishspeak.com. It is divided  into 3 parts: 

• 100 most common conversations divided into three levels; each lesson is based on a real world conversation
• 1000 most common English phrases - including their pronunciation and their definition
• 1500 most common English words (Click here  to get the English word with its translation into Spanish just like in the photo below) 

Do you think this may be a useful method for you? 

Thanks to Punto Geek for the tip 

"The Local," Spain´s News in English

The Local  is an online newspaper in English; the Spanish edition focuses on news related to Spain. Its pieces of news are not long and they should not be difficult to read for a student of English with an intermediate level. 

Have a look at this piece of news published last week (4 June, 2013):

Singing pilot diverts flight in sightseeing stunt

A pilot with Spanish airline Iberia on Monday changed his flight plan to allow passengers to take in the sights of the historic Galician city of Lugo.

"He asked if he we could divert from our route a little to take in the beauty of the walls of Lugo," passengers on flight IB 0512 from Madrid to A Coruña told the newspaper La Voz de Galicia.

Passengers on the flight could hardly believe their ears, but moments later they found themselves above the famous Roman walls of the city.

The unusual in-flight entertainment had already started at take-off at Madrid's Barajas airport when the pilot, Ángel Aznárez, greeted them with a sung greeting in English.

It was a big surprise "but nice", one of the passengers said.

After take-off it was all quiet on board until the pilots starting singing again. 

During the flight, the knowledgeable captain introduced each city along the plane's route and provided historical information on aspects of Spanish history.

The stewards enjoyed the show as well, according to passengers. 

"They told us the captain's joyful behaviour was normal and that he was a really nice guy to both the crew and the customers," another passenger told La Voz de Galicia.

Aznárez' show was greeted with plenty of appreciative applause when the plane landed. 

Lugo is the only city in the world with intact Roman walls. These date from the 3rd century and are a UNESCO  World Heritage sight.

George Mills (george.mills@thelocal.com)

The Importance of Speaking English, According to Our Politicians

Dear Mr Núñez Feijoo, President of "Xunta de Galicia,"

you are welcome to my classes; you could learn two things:

• the importance of rehearsing speeches before delivering them
• the pronunciation of "Chieftains"

While we are at it, you might as well consider increasing the number of hours of English lessons per week: three 50-minute-long periods a week with a ratio of up to 34 students per class is certainly not the way to make our students   fluent in English (judge for yourself)

Let me recommend a great way to learn some pronunciation: singing along while listening to a song. 

Since you had difficulties reading the name of the Irish band, The Chieftains,  while mentioning they had been awarded the Castelao medal, here´s one of my favourite songs played by this band together with The Corrs , I Know My Love

I Know My Love,  Lyrics

I know my love by his way of walking
And I know my love by his way of talking
And I know my love dressed in a suit of blue
And if my love leaves me, what will I do?

chorus:
And still she cried, "I love him the best,
And a troubled mind, sure can know no rest"
And still she cried, "Bonny boys are few,
And if my love leaves me, what will I do?"

There is a dance house in Maradyke
And there my true love goes every night
He takes a strange girl upon his knee
Well now don't you think that that vexes me?

chorus

If my love knew I can wash and wring
If my love knew I can sew and spin
I'd make a coat of the finest kind
But the want of money sure leaves me behind

chorus

I know my love is an errant rover
I know he'll wander the wild world over
In dear old Ireland he'll no longer tarry
An American girl he's sure to marry

chorus
chorus

Unfortunately, Mr Núñez Feijoo is not the only one who has problems with English; click here and watch the videos

How to Teach / Learn English

Have a look at this infographic by Kaplan about the kind of materials teachers of EFL and ESL use in their classes to make learning easier or more fun. Do you agree with their selection? Do you remember any activities using them in your classes? Which would you like to use in the future? 

Kaplan How to Teach English infographic

The Importance of your Accent When Speaking a Foreign Language

Listening to the graduation speeches these days has made me think about lots of aspects related to oral production in a foreign language and I couldn´t agree more with the message in the following video - which is part of a longer one called "Expert Advice on Accent Reduction from Paddy Kennedy."

Paddy Kennedy, the Principal of Kennedy Communication Studio, is a communication coach who describes her job like this: I teach people to say what they mean and mean what they say. I teach people to speak to be heard and to write to be read. 

Her speech can be summarized in these four points:

1. Your accent is not the problem
2. Language has rhythm

3. We speak in "sound units"

4. Homework is important: listen, imitate, exaggerate, say tongue twisters, practice

You can watch this video with captions in English

I first watched this video in the blog "Labor English Zone," so thank you, Álvaro!

Click here and here if you want to hear some amazing people imitating lots of different accents

Sofía Vergara´s (Gloria´s) English

Just in case you don´t know, Sofía Vergara is the Colombian actress who plays the role of Gloria in the TV series Modern Family. I have decided to write about her because there are some similarities between my students´ and her problems with English: accent, grammar and vocabulary mistakes and what someone calls "little mispronunciations." Thank God most students don´t have problems with all these things at the same time.

What´s the purpose of learning a foreign language? If you ask most students in high school (i.e., compulsory education), they will probably say they do it to pass the subject (which is not at all rewarding for a teacher, but that´s just the way it is). However, for most people the real purpose is communication and, let´s be honest, your accent should not be an obstacle for that - unless it is a really strong Sofia Vergara´s / Gloria´s accent.

Here is a video made up of short clips of ABC´s Modern Family which shows how Gloria manages to make herself understood, no matter what; these are some of the mistakes you will hear : 

• he boxed with an alligator ( = wrestled)
• its´sended
• we live in a doggy dog world (we live in a dog-eat-dog world)
• blessings in the skies (=blessings in disguise)
• carpal tunnel syndrome (carpool tunnel syndrome)
• a box of baby cheeses / a box of baby Jesus
• undermelting his confidence (= undermining his confidence)
• flood
• ear-rings
• yes
• look / Luke

Self-confidence is really important when you speak a foreign language and Sofía / Gloria is a very good example of a self-confident person ("I have an accent but people understand me just fine," she says; "do you need me to learn you English?," she volunteers); besides, she doesn´t seem to notice the problems people have trying to understand her ("I honestly didn´t get any of that," "I´m so confused right now," say some of the people listening to her).

I wish my students could copy this attitude  and were brave enough to answer back, like her, "You try to speak in another language!"

The next video is an interview with TV presenter Ellen DeGeneres; it is subtitled in Spanish so you will not need to concentrate on understanding her - just enjoy her strong Colombian accent. In fact, this interview shows to what extent your level of English is not that important when there is a combination of accent + beautiful body + pretty face + funny.

Click here to watch one more interview at Ellen DeGeneres´show with no subtitles. Check how much you understand.