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

Are You Ready for "Arde Lucus"?

Arde Lucus 2013 starts tomorrow: Lugo will be a Roman town for three days. 

Here are a couple of videos that can help you get the spirit of the celebration. Both videos are part of Ted-Ed/Lessons Worth Sharing, which means they are really good from an educational point of view.

The first video is about the domestic life of leisure of young, wealthy girls; it focuses on four sisters - called "Domitia," all of them. While you watch the videos, choose the subtitles (captions) in English - they will not be difficult to follow since the images follow the text closely.

Once you have watched the video, you can do a multiple choice exercise about it; click here. For extra information about freeborn women in ancient Rome and about the cultural aspects in the video, click here

The second video is about a 17-year-old boy living in Rome in 73 AD; his name is Lucius Popidius Secundus. You will see what life was like for a typical Roman teenager: arranged marriages, coming-of-age festivals, and communal baths.

Are you ready for some comprehension questions about the video? Click here. If you would like to read some extra information about this period of history, click here.

Compliment Someone

After days of correcting written tests and projects and assessing my students´oral abilities I needed a break so I looked for something with nice words and a positive attitude to inspire me and this is what I found; the video is called "Street Compliments"

Practise your listening skills paying attention to the nice compliments these people pay or return to the people they are with, try to find out how they are related (parents and their children, friends, marrried couples...)

You can then practise your oral skills complimenting your classmates, friends, family, teachers...If you need practice, click here to get some ideas - and pay attention to the intonation

Spot the Differences

The duo called Rett and Link  (who call themselves "internetainers," guess why) have created this video for their song Sleep Tight : two apparently similar videos are shown side by side but there are a few differences between them. 

Here´s what you can do: 

• watch the video and find the differences
• write them down (writing exercise). Use this part of the exercise to learn and practise some vocabulary
• watch the second video and check your list of differences (listening exercise). Listen out for the vocabulary you have learnt and used in your writing.

What kind of differences should you look for? Here´s what they say about it:

WHAT COUNTS AS A DIFFERENCE?
A purposeful change in the SET (= representation consisting of the scenery and other properties used to identify the location of a dramatic production),  PROPS (= an object used in a play, movie, or performance) or WARDROBE. 

WHAT DOES NOT COUNT?
1. Any changes in CHOREOGRAPHY are NOT differences. 
Specifically, body positioning ("after he's knocked out, his legs/head/mouth etc. are different") or timing of body movements (she grabs the cane slightly later in one performance) do not count as differences. 

There are only TWO exceptions to this guideline, and here are some hints: (1) in one scene, one character is singing on one side but not singing at all on the other, and (2) a box opens during a performance on one side but not the other.

2. Also, A SLIGHT REPOSITIONING of the same item is NOT a difference. 
For example, the exact way a bedspread or curtain is positioned, or the exact orientation of the same toy truck, or the way the same jacket is lying on the floor-- these are not differences. If the same teddy bear slightly changes positions, that is not a difference. But, if the same teddy bear is wearing a shirt only on one side, that is a difference. A difference counts when you can discern a purposeful alteration. If a picture or object is slightly moved, that is not a difference. If a picture or object is discernibly rotated, that IS a difference.

Answer key:

Pronunciation of -ed

This post is copied from Denilso de Lima´s blog Ingles na Ponta da Língua. It is a podcast and I think it is really good to practise the pronunciation of -ed, which is what we are working with in 1º BAC these days.

Click to listen to the audio and read the transcript at the same time. 

Hi, this is Kristen Hammer again with a new post. This post is about pronunciation. Today I’ll be talking about the suffix –ed.  This little guy seems to cause a lot of confusion and misunderstanding.

Many words in English have an –ed ending. Mostly we see this with verbs that are in the past tense. So, in this case, the infinitive verb “to paint” becomes “painted”(They painted the chair). We also have the past participle form of the verb “to paint”, which is also, “painted.” (The chair was painted yesterday). And finally, we have the participle in the adjective form (The painted chair is beautiful).  

n all my time teaching English in Brazil, I have found just a handful of people who correctly pronounce the –ed endings on words. Believe it or not, there are actually THREE different ways to pronounce the –ed suffix. There is the  /ɪd/ sound, which adds an extra syllable to the word. This is the one Brazilians always seem to use! We have the /t/ sound.  And lastly, there is the /d/ sound.

There are three main rules that you should know in order to pronounce these endings correctly (I am copying these rules from a website I found):

1. If you add –ed to a word that ends with a /t/ or /d/ sound, then the –ed sounds like /ɪd/ and is pronounced as an extra syllable. Example: faint-ed.
2. If you add –ed to a word that ends with voiceless consonant sounds, then the –ed sound is like /t/ and is not pronounced as an extra syllable. Example: forced – pronounced /fɔːrst/
3. If you add –ed to any other word that does not fit the above rules and has voiced consonant sounds, or ends with a vowel sound, the –ed is pronounced with a /d/ sound, and also has no extra syllable. Example: waved is pronounced /weɪvd/.

[If you don’t know what a voiced sound is, there is a very simple exercise to find out:  put your finger on your voice box (vocal chords).  Now make the sound. If you feel a vibration, then it is a voiced sound. If you do not feel a vibration, it’s an unvoiced or voiceless sound.]

So now I’m going to read the words in this list. Pay attention to the correct sound ending.  Is it a /t/?   Is it a /d/?   Or is it an /ɪd/?

Before you go on with the audio, classify these words according to their pronunciation following the rules mentioned above - which are those we explained in class. Reading the words aloud will help. Then listen to the audio and check:

• exited                
• collapsed 
• crawled
• faded
• grasped
• scanned 
• heeded
• faxed
• sealed
• aided
• trapped
• stared
• jaded
• gripped
• aimed
• riveted
• focused
• realized 
• anticipated
• increased
• rolled
• tilted
• looked
• pictured
• protected
• faked
• fumbled
• entrusted
• locked
• crumpled 

(It’s important to note that it’s the sound that is important on the ending of the word, not the letter or spelling. For example, the word “fax” ends in the letter “x” but the sound is /s/.  And the word “like” ends in the letter “e” but the sound is /k/.)

There are exceptions to these rules. Aren’t there always exceptions!?  So, we have some adjectives like aged, blessed, crooked, naked, wicked, ragged, learned, etc.  Some examples of these adjectives in a sentence are: “The aged man walked across the street” or “The professor was a truly learned man”.

However, when used as verbs, the normal rules apply. So we have, “Wow, Bruce Willis sure has aged quickly!” or “The students really have learned the material well”.

I found a short story online that uses a lot of –ed endings. I’m going to read the story with the correct pronunciation. If you would like to do this exercise first, before listening to the correct sounds, pause the audio file and fill in the answers.  Put “T” if it should sound like /t/, “D” if it should sound like /d/, and “ID” if it should add a syllable, and sound like /ɪd/.

Once again, do the exercise on your own before playing the audio:

The bear jumped (   ) out of its cage and into the crowd. She must have realized (   ) that this was her best chance to escape. The bear’s trainer looked (   ) as though he were about to faint from the terror of it all; it seemed (    ) like his worst nightmare come true. He scrambled (   ) to his feet and started (   ) waving his hands and shouting to get the bear’s attention. She stopped (   ) her wild rampage only for a moment at the sound of her trainer’s pleas. She quickly turned (   ) back to the crowd and resumed (   ) knocking people to the floor. The trainer suddenly had an idea. He reached (   ) into his pocket and pulled (   ) from it a large chocolate covered (    ) treat – a known favorite of the bear. He shouted (   ) the bears name once more and she turned (   ) to face him. She saw the treat and ran in full gallop towards him. He threw the treat into the cage and the bear followed (   ). He locked (   ) the door behind her and fell to the floor in relief. Apparently, the bear valued (   ) food more than freedom.

Ok! So I hope that clears thing up a bit.  Not only will this help your pronunciation of the English language, but also, native speakers will have a better understanding of what you are saying!  Pronunciation really is important.  I offer classes online via Skype for anyone who might be interested.  See you later!  Bye! [MP3]

What Things in Your Life Make You Happy? 2

A few days ago I wrote about this topic, What Things in Your Life Make You Happy?, and here I am insisting on it - being happy is important, you know, and sometimes it is difficult to achieve but other times we just don´t know what it takes so let me give you some ideas.

This is a video about 88-year-old Johnny Barnes, a man from Bermuda, who considers himself a happy man and who devotes six hours every day to smile and wish a good day to people driving around in their cars (most of them on their way to work). 

This video, directed by Matt Morris, has won a few awards, the Audience Award for Best Short Film at the AFI/Discovery Silverdocs and the Best Documentary Short Film at the Sidewalk Film Festival, among others, so it may be worth giving it a try. From the point of view of English, it can be used to practise your listening (very rarely do we get the chance of hearing someone with his accent). To check how much you understand, click here to read the transcript.

Mr. Happy Man from Matt Morris Films on Vimeo.

End of the Summer...

It´s been really hard to sit down and start blogging again. After the summer holidays, the first week back at work has been really tiring - not because of the classes since there have been none yet but because of the September resits and the various teachers´meetings.

Next week the classes will officially start and that will be a different story so here I am warming-up: my first post this school year. And let´s make it positive...

First of all, the video of the Black Tie Beach 2012, an event organised by Improv Everywhere. This was their Third Annual celebration. In case you are wondering, the participants were asked to wear old and used clothes, so many of them got them at thrift shops. It was quite a big group of people of all ages and they spent the afternoon laying out, playing games, swimming...Here´s an anecdote of the event: at the end of the video they interview a man who says he is happy and he likes the idea because  they make everybody happy; this is how the organizer of the prank explains their meeting: 

I was delighted to run into the gentleman on the beach. He and I had a really fun encounter in the water at Black Tie Beach 2010, and he wound up being my favorite part of the video that year. He recognized me and came running towards me. He was excited to see us back at Coney Island and said he had seen himself in our YouTube video. He also told me that the photos he took of us that day were very popular on a number of Russian sites he sent them to. I told him that next year he has to participate with us, and he gave me his email address.

And now a commercial that will bring to your mind lots of memories of the summer. The Cultural Landscape of Serra de Tramuntana was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 2010 and this video tries to capture the spirit of the area and its lifestyle. The song is called "You can´t Say No Forever" and is performed by Lacrosse, a Swedish  pop band.

Click here to do some activities with the lyrics - excellent listening practice.

 

Closed for the Summer

My summer break applies to classes and to the blog as well. I do not know if I am more stimulated to blogging when I am teaching but I do know it feels right to take a break (both for me and my readers).

Here are my suggestions for the summer holidays:

1. Read: you may find something that suits you here or here. If you are looking for teen or young adult literature, click here and here 

2. Listen to English; podcasts are a good idea: try here and here. Songs are also great to practise both listening and pronunciation; have a look here. By the way, besides making you feel good, singing songs is encouraging as for English learning: have you noticed people have accents when they speak English but not when they sing? Isn´t it weird?


 From Millan.Net


Here´s a video that shows what a podcast is and how it works:



3. Play some games online. Try this one: Placefy - fun geography game, twitter game, travel game. Besides, there are different types of games in my Delicious links as well.

4. If you are willing and able, you can take a special summer course; you can choose any of these:  an elephant camp in Thailand, learning ice-cream making in Italy, learning Senegalese drumming and dance traditions in Senegal... for these and many more, click here 

5. Watch films or documentaries in English. You will find some very interesting ones in this link, SnagFilms:

Watch more free documentaries

6. Dream: if you cannot go anywhere, dream of the day when you´ll be able to travel and visit places like these:

And this is a wink to my colleagues: here´s to all those of you who are real superstars -not the celebrity-type, though:

Teachers as superstars:

If you need me, send me an email or write a comment in any of the entries... If you miss me, browse through the pages of the blog... Happy Holidays! I will be back in September

Our World

Survival International has launched a campaign to persuade the Minister of Justice in Brazil to send away the invaders -loggers mainly- who are killing the very few Awá people who still remain in the Amazon.

The campaign's goal is to persuade Brazil's Justice Minister to send in federal police to clear out the invaders.On the "Survival International" website, visitors can send a pre-coordinated message to the Minister of Justice in Brazil or share the information on their social media pages.

According to National Geographic the Awá are one of only two nomadic hunter-gatherer tribes left in Brazil. This unique tribe has a profoundly warm relationship with their forest, which provides them with food, shelter and spiritual solace.

The Oscar-winning actor Colin Firth supports this campaign; this is his speech in the video below:  

Many Awa remain uncontacted, they are the most threatened tribe in the world. Their forest is being illegally cut for timber. When the loggers see them, they kill them.When the loggers see them, they kill them. Their bows and arrows are no match for guns. And at any other time in history, that's where it would end. Another people wiped off the face of the Earth, forever. But we're going to make sure the world doesn't let that happen.Here´s the plan

One man can stop this: Brazil's Minister of Justice. He can send  in the federal police to catch the loggers and keep them out for good.But But right now it's just not his priority. We have to change that before its too late. We need enough people to message him so that he takes notice: you, me, our friends, our families, everyone counts. But we don´t have much time, when the rains stop, the loggers will be back. This is our chance right now to actually do something. And if enough people show they care, it will work.

Here´s a piece of advice for you to practise your pronunciation: 

• watch the video once (listening exercise)
• play it a second time while reading Colin Firth´s words above; pay attention and make sure you get the message. 
• Then play the video again and read the speech at the same time as Colin Firth: imitate his pronunciation and intonation. You could´t have a better teacher than the one who helped the King of the UK with his speeches. Click here  to watch the trailer of "The King´s Speech" in original version with English subtitles. By the way, you can borrow the film from the school library...