VOSCREEN

How can I improve my listening skills?

This is probably one of the most often asked questions by students.

My answer is always the same: Practice. There is no other secret to it, there's no magic formula.

So the point is to practice as much as you can while you enjoy.

I've found a nice application which might help you improve little by little while having fun.

Its name is VOSCREEN and it is free, although you need to sign up. This app allows you to test your listening skills while you listen to short video clips from films, series, songs ...

You will be asked to choose the best translation (if you set the language to Spanish) or the best rephrasing (if you set the language to English) of the phrase/extract you hear in the short clip to check your comprehension.

You will listen to real English in all the videos but you can choose the level of difficulty, the grammar structure you want to appear in the clip or even the number of words of the phrase you will hear.

You can use it on your computer, your tablet or even on your mobile phone.

I hope you find it useful. If you try it, let me know how it went.

IS ROWAN ATKINSON THE REAL MR. BEAN?

Dear students,

I hope you enjoyed the sketch that we watched in today's lesson. After telling your anecdotes in the class and watching Mr Bean, I thought you might enjoy this interview with Rowan Atkinson telling a personal anecdote.

I also recommend the videos on this YouTube Channel from Graham Norton's show. They're really fun to watch.

Enjoy!

DEAR BASKETBALL

Dear students,

For those of you who love sport and those who prefer the cinema too.

Kobe Bryant, was not only a 5-time NBA champion and a basketball legend, he was also an Oscar winner. These days, in tribute to this brilliant player, many of his fans are sharing the short animation film that won him the film academy award  in 2018 in the Best Animated Film Category.

The short film, Dear Basketbal, is based on a poem that Kobe himself wrote and describes his love for the game since he was a kid. Really touching. #mambaforever

https://vimeo.com/258552634

A SMARTPHONE USER'S GUIDE TO ETIQUETTE

A SMARPHONE USER'S GUIDE TO ETIQUETTE

(Click on the link above to watch the video)

CARPOOL KARAOKE

When we talked about dangerous things to do behind the wheel in the class, most of you did not consider driving and listening to music particularly hazardous and some of you even found it relaxing.

Apparently many people think driving and listening to music is fun. So do all the fans of James Corden’s Carpool Karaoke. Carpool Karaoke, a segment of James Corden's Late Late Show on CBS, has become an online phenomenon.

In this part of the programme the host drives around in a car with celebrity guests singing their favourite tunes. Some of the biggest names in music and film, including Madonna, Ed Sheeran, Paul McCartney, Lady Gaga, Céline Dion and Adele have been some of Corden’s passengers.

One of the most popular segments included the then-First Lady singing a song by Stevie Wonder as he drove her around the streets of Washington DC. Thirty-four million people viewed the video of Michelle Obama rocking out to her favourite singer just one week after it first aired.

Watch it and enjoy, but don’t forget to drive safely!

Check the You Tube Channel for other guests:

TOP GEAR CROSS LONDON RACE

Did you enjoy Top Gear's challenge in the class?

Here's a link to the real programme on BBC. Enjoy this international award-winning series about motor vehicles famous for its presenters' quirky humorous style.

NEVER HAVE I EVER

Have you ever played the game 'NEVER HAVE I EVER..."?

It's a great game to get to know your friends and it can be lots of fun, specially if they are honest! In this game players take turns asking other players about things they have done or haven't done.

It is often played as a drinking game in parties and those players who have done the thing take a drink. It can also be played with no alcohol and it will be still be a lot of fun if you ask the right questions and your friends are honest ;)

I'm posting a video from Ellen DeGeneres' show where you can get an idea of how to play the game. I hope you enjoy it while revising your present perfect at the same time!

NO-SPEND YEAR CHALLENGE

Here's Michelle McGagh's own account of her no-spend-year challenge

How did you find Michelle's challenge? A no-spend year is surely tough. Have you ever considered a similar challenge? A no-spend weekend would certainly be more achievable and a good start. Here are some ideas. Can you think of any other interesting things to add to the list? I'd love to hear your suggestions!

BREAKFAST AROUND THE WORLD

I bet you were surprised with the things people have for breakfast around the world. Did you feel like having a taste? 

I thought you might enjoy watching some kids actually tasting foreign breakfasts

The following video is for those who missed Spanish food in the tasting session ;)

IMPROVING YOUR LISTENING SKILLS

Dear students,

I'm posting the links to the two websites I recommended visiting in the class.

Both VIDEOJUG and HOWCAST contain how-to videos on every imaginable subject, so you are sure to find a topic of your interest.

VIDEO JUG is a British website and HOWCAST is American, so you have a choice on the variety you prefer.

I hope you find them useful!

NEW YEAR RESOLUTIONS

Some ideas for your New Year resolutions

ANGLOPHENIA

Dear students,

Did you enjoy the video about Halloween we watched in our last lesson?

I'm posting the link to ANGLOPHENIA, a YouTube channel where British culture as opposed to American culture is illustrated through entertaining videos.

Here's a good example, watch the following video and learn how British and American people call different items of clothing.

There are loads of channels you can use to improve your English. Do you use YouTube to learn English out of the class? Can you recommend your classmates an interesting channel worth subscribing to?

THE TOUGHEST JOB IN THE WORLD (AVANZADO 2)

Dear students,

This week we'll be dealing with the topic of work and the skills necessary to do different jobs. Here's a video about the skills required to do the toughest job in the world. Watch it and let me know if you could guess what job is described before the video finished. Be prepared to bring out the tissues! :´(

TOP GEAR CROSS LONDON RACE - B1

Did you enjoy Top Gear's challenge in the class?

Here's a link to the real programme on BBC. Enjoy this international award-winning series about motor vehicles famous for its presenters' quirky humorous style.

JAMIE OLIVER - INTERMEDIO 1

Dear students,

Here's a taste of Jamie's relaxed cooking style.
What do you think of Jamie's gazpacho? Do you cook it the same way? How would you improve it? Does it look tempting?

For those of you who liked his style here's another simple recipe. Does it look like the perfect omelette to you?

Let me know if you tried any of his recipes!

PROCRASTINATION - AVANZADO 2

Are you already working on your website review? Let me help you procrastinate a little bit practising your listening skills to make you feel less guilty... 

Have a laugh listening to Ellen talk about procrastination. (Min. 4:10-8:00)

EXTROVERT OR INTROVERT?

ARE YOU AN EXTROVERT OR AN INTROVERT?

Is learning a language easier for extroverts? Do you feel learning English as an introvert is too hard?

Here’s useful advice to approach English learning according to your personality and learning style. Jade’s interesting video lesson will help you make the most of your potential as an extrovert or introvert:

The BEST way for YOU to learn English – Extrovert or Introvert?

JADE: Are you learning English in a way that suits your personality and makes you an effective learner? When you learn in a way that fits your personality, you will enjoy your studies more and progress faster. This means that people with introverted personalities are likely to learn best in a way that is different to people with extroverted personalities. Find out the different ways introverts and extroverts like to learn. If you don’t know if you’re an introvert or extrovert, and what that means exactly — I explain all you need to know. Once you know more about your personality and whether you are mostly introverted or extroverted, you can find out what your language-learning strengths and weaknesses are. Remember — it’s not good or bad to be an extrovert or introvert. We’re just different! …But for the record, I’m an introvert and proud ;)

You can find this and other interesting free video lessons on engVId. Remember subtitles are available if you feel it’s difficult to follow the lesson. Hope you find it useful!

TED TALKS

Dear students,

What did you think about the 30-day challenges we discussed in class? Did you consider trying them after reading the text about Matt Cutts? He certainly found them really useful to make his life move forward.  Would you like to listen to him telling you about them and how they enriched his life? Here’s a link to his talk about 30-day challenges.

Matt’s talk is one of the many interesting and inspiring talks you can watch on TED talks website.  TED TALKS are relatively short videos from some of the most engaging speakers around the world. They cover an endless range of topics. They started as a conference about Technology, Entertaiment and Design (TED) but now you can find a talk about almost any subject under the sun.

They can be specially useful for students of English as you can watch them with subtitles. There are more than a thousand talks so you will always find one interesting for you. TED talks are a great way to learn English while you learn something new about another topic.

As you will find so many to choose from, it might be a good idea to start by watching the most popular ones. You can find them on this playlist.

You will also find other playlists (collections of related talks) sorted by topic on the TED website. Choose a subject you are interested in and get inspired!

FALSE FRIENDS: CAREER VS. DEGREE

Do you know what 'career' means?

I hope those of you who have attended the lessons lately will already be able to answer this question correctly. As you know, career refers to 'the job or jobs that someone has in a particular area of work' not to someone's university studies.

Spanish students often misunderstand this word as they tend to translate it as a similar Spanish word. However, career and carrera are what we call 'false friends', two words that look or sound similar but have different meanings.

If you want to know more about false friends you must check out the following blog. Amanda will teach you about them in a fun way in her blog. Explore it and have fun while learning.