Visual Vocabulary: Empathy & Sympathy

Brené Brown is a research professor at the University of Houston Graduate College of Social Work. She studies concepts such as shame, empathy, vulnerability, courage, shame… Hers is the voice in this  video, which explains the difference between sympathy and empathy.

If you are interested in watching and listening to Brené Brown´s TED Talks, click here.

Make and Do

When to use Do and Make is one of those things you will learn naturally if you  frequently read or listen to English but you will have to study the collocations with either one or the other, if you do not. These videos will help you to remember them, I hope

Video number 1 is an Expresso English video: it explains the general difference between Do and Make  and shows 60 collocations

Video number 2 is a video made by an English teacher called Vicki Hollett; she uses different expressions in a context to make them easy for you to remember. Click here to read the transcript:

Video number 3: common expressions with Do  and  Make. Click here to read the transcript

Vocabulary Learning

Learn some vocabulary (things invented in the USA) while you revise some geography (states in the US) to improve your general knowledge 

Demonstratives

[Infographic provided by Grammar.net]

Do you need any practice on demonstratives? Click here

Visual Vocabulary: Eyebombing

Eyebombing= the practice of placing pairs of googly eyes on inanimate objects

 
Eyebombing in Madrid from The Adventures Archive on Vimeo.

Vocabulary From Our Lessons: Eviction

Dear 2nd BAC students, do you remember the meaning of "eviction"? I bet you do, but just in case...

Now tell me the story behind this photo.

Visual Vocabulary: To Crush

Dear 1º BAC students,

this morning we defined the verb "crush" in class; just in case you did not get its meaning, have a look at this video called "Crushed Car Prank": imagine someone asked you to watch his / her car for a few minutes and you witnessed it being crushed into a cube…

It turned out to be a hidden camera prank

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

Natural Disaster: Flash Flood

Dear 1º BAC students,

we talked about natural disasters in class last week. Click here  (Espresso English) to check the pronunciation and definition of some of the nouns we learnt

Here is a video of a "flash flood" (define this to yourselves before you watch the video - this will help you remember the vocabulary we used in our lessons). David Rankin filmed this on July 18th 2013.This is how he describes his video :

This flash flood is the result of close to 3″ of rain that fell approximately 40 miles North of the location in the video. This was filmed about 6+ hours after the heavy rainfall. So if you’ve ever wondered why it’s called a Flash Flood now you know

If you want to read a little bit more about natural disasters, go to Larry Ferlazzo´s blog: click here

Explore more infographics like this one on the web's largest information design community - Visually.

Friday, 13th

Do you know what "triskaidekaphobia"is ? For the record, it is fear of the number 13. Number 13 is an unlucky number for many people; would you like to read about the origin of this superstition? Click here

In this video, they ask people what it is and whether they can spell it - now, close your eyes, can you spell it?

Are you a superstitious person? Can you give us an example of the things you do or don´t do because of superstition?

Learning Vocabulary: Silent "E"

Here is a funny way to learn vocabulary while you practise pronunciation: write the names of the items you see in the video; the only change in each pair of words is their spelling and the letter "e" has a lot to do with it.

Write a list of the nouns you hear (based on the images you see) and check your answers by a click here

Tom Lehrer, the writer and singer of this song, is a singer-songwriter, mathematician, satirist…, well-known for his humorous songs

As for the letter "e", can you imagine a song without it? Here is one: read its lyrics and then listen to it in the video

Lyrics:

yo, without a topic i rock it
you just can't knock it or box it
i will not quit or stop and lock lips
this is a rap song in which no lyrics contain that fifth capital
brains and wits magical
i strain to rip madrigals plain to bits
any occasion, i flip scripts
birthdays and kids' trips
violin gigs, absurd paid shindigs and thursdays
i win big with wordplay
i could bring sounds that ring loud
just sing out anything that i think about
how i spray flows
your main bro claims dough from days old
on pink fluffy unicorns dancing on rainbows
but i'm on top of it, always
with or without that non-consonant
i still bring it
fans or not, my mom's fond of it
and you ought to know i just brought this jazz to its limit
that's right, your total abc's without that fifth glyph is in it

i'm not using it
do you kids miss this fifth stiff glyph?
i'm not using it, ooh

so what do you want to do?
look at my lyrics - right in front of you
truthfully, with so much scrutiny
you think I'd goofily put any old symbol in?
mad lunacy, you must not watch my stuff usually
no miscalculations, i rap brutally at any opportunity
wow, actually did it!
post this track to your pals
got a knack for blowing your brains out blaow
dictionary nation, vocab's amazing
difficulty: asian, and i'm just playing
shining bright any night, hit it right, kill a mici'm a mad man with a plan and i spit it tight
vividly spilling a million lilting rhythms and synonyms with a divinity in him
just winning at anything you might go giving him
finishing with only a possibility of pinnacling at infinity

i'm not using it
do you kids miss this fifth stiff glyph?
i'm not using it, ooh

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]

Visual Vocabulary: How to Fold a Shirt

We cannot say that summer is in the air because the weather is absolutely crazy these days but we do feel summer holidays are just round the corner so here´s a useful piece of advice  for packing: how to fold a shirt or a t-shirt in under two seconds.

This is a good listening exercise because the narrator explains everything he does at the same time as he does it and, since you are both watching and listening, it is easy to follow the instructions. Choose the subtitles in English to make sure you get every single word of the explanation; you may want to watch it a second time without the subtitles to see how much you understand, or you may even feel like doing a dictation: listen to the audio, pause the video and write what you hear; once you have finished, check your writing.

Vocabulary:

• short sleeved shirt
• back of the shirt
• top and bottom of the shirt

Improve Your Vocabulary

In this video you will see lots of things you are used to seeing everyday and  feelings you are familiar with but I bet you did not know there was a name for many of them - and I mean in Spanish! This is a BuzzFeed video and they state they have not made up any names (and I find it so hard to believe!)

How many of them can you translate into Spanish or Galician?

Groundhog Day

Today, February 2nd, is "Groundhog Day;"  it may not mean anything to you, here in Spain, but it would if you lived in "Can-merica:" watch the video and have a look at the infographic below to learn more about it. 

As for the meaning of "groundhog," it won´t be difficult to guess once you have finished reading this post, but do you know the name of this animal in Spanish? Click here to find out.

Groundhog Day Fun Facts infographic by accuweather.

How much have you learnt about Groundhog Day? Click here and do the quiz to find out.

You may want to watch the movie "Groundhog Day" to better understand the spirit of the day; this is its trailer 

Describing Yourself

Recently, we have been talking about describing people: the kind of things you should focus on and the type of language you should use.

Click here to see an original way of describing oneself; you can be this original when you are a designer, like Mr Will Vincent. 

If you need or want to practise the vocabulary or constructions to describe people (appearance, personality or interests), click here.