Multitasking

WE HAVE WORKED ON THE SECOND VIDEO ABOVE IN CLASS. CLICK HERE FOR A LINK TO A FILL-IN-THE BLANK ACTIVITY BASED ON IT.

"used to" versus "be/get used to"

For theory and written exercises on this topic click HERE

European Day of Languages in Northwest England

Click here for words and expressions you may need to look at before watching the video.

Sisterly Feud

Below is a video to complement the text we have read in class on the sibling rivalry between Olivia de Havilland and Joan Fontain. Enjoy.

Debate: what is a family? Are we destroying it through divorce?

Hi, I understand this is a SENSITIVE issue, so, when you leave your comments (hopefully after watching the two videos and reading the vocabulary and expressions for the second one I left as a first comment), make sure you do it tactfully and respectfully. By all means, speak your mind so that other people can agree or disagree with you (again, tactfully...).

Dysfunctional Families

Some humorous notes on the subject of "family" that we have been looking into. Just watch and enjoy. If you have the time and find the language useful watch them a couple of times and take some notes.

My Dysfunctional Family - watch more funny videos

Wok Life Balance

The bicycle of life, with its component spokes is explained. Watch and comment on if you want.

Motivation

This is the video on motivation we have seen in class. You'll find questions about it and important vocabulary you should look at before watching in the first comment.

More linking words.

EXCEPTION.

Except (for).

You did very well except for this little mistake.

I don't drink, except for the occasional glass of wine.

They are all here except him.

Your essay was good, except that it was too long.

apart from.

Apart from a little dent on the bumper, the car wasn't damaged.

Apart from the fact that I do not generally like Italian food, the pizza was really good.

CHRONOLOGICAL.

Begining.

First of all (antes que nada).

First of all, I would like to thank you guys for putting in so much time and effort into developing this masterpiece.

First and foremost (lo primero y lo más importante)

First and foremost, you must always act according to your conscience.

First (or firstly). (Primero).

Our objective is, first (or firstly), to find out who committed the crime. . . . second (or secondly) . . . third (or thirdly) OR first, you are wrong. Second, you were very rude to me. Third, I'm still waiting for an apology.

At first. (Al principio).

At first I was scared of him, but then I got to know him better and he taught me a lot of interesting things.

To begin with (para empezar. emphatic and often used to express annoyance).

To begin with, I don't see why you find it necessary to be offensive...

Continuing.

Second (secondly) Used in combination with "first" or "firstly" -see the example above.

Then/after that(this)/afterwards, next. (very similar in meaning and usage =después, entonces). DO NOT USE" AFTER" AS A CONJUNTION: AFTER MEANS "DESPUÉS DE" NOT "DESPUÉS"

First they pushed against each other with great tumult and disorder, and then/after that(this)/afterwards, next they came to blows. (simply "AFTER" is not possible here).

Concluding.

Finally. (al final, finalmente, para concluir).

The food finally arrived at the end of the week.

...And, finally, a word of advice...

In the end. (al final resultó que... -en contraste con algo que había empezado de forma distinta. At the end: al final del libro, del día - referido de forma neutra a tiempo y espacio y sin contraste con algo distinto ocurrido anteriormente).

We started the project with a team of 4, but in the end we realised we needed more people. At the end of the month there were 10 of us.

Eventually (carefull, false friend, it does not mean "eventualmente" but "al final de todo", emphasis on duration, long wait, long period. Similar to "in the end").

We walked for days, and eventually we got to a hamlet where they could phone the rescue team.

At (long) last ("al fin". It denotes that something long awaited finally arrives)

Thank God, you are here at last... Don't you realise we could not start without you?

REFERENCE.

As regards,

As regards the effect of cinema on youth, it can obviously be both good and bad.

As for (more informal)

As for the suicides, mental health issues are a big problem across China as would be expected in an overpopulated state.

Concerning, regarding

Concerning/Regarding the issue of the high rates of unemployment, the situation is not expected to change in the near future.

With regard/reference to (A bit more formal)

With regard to your subscription, we have no record of it being cancelled.

SUMMARISING.

In conclusion, in summary, to sum up.

In conclusion, in summary, to sum up the problem requires everyone to put in a great deal of dedication.

To put it briefly/In a nutshell.

I had never experienced such a degree of inefficiency.To put it briefly: this is outrageous.

On the whole, all in all, altogether.

The weather was terrible, and the accommodation quite precarious, but we had long hikes in the mountains and on the whole, all in all, altogether it was an enjoyable stay.

Legal vocabulary

Crime Statistics

Debate: the causes of crime.

Please, watch the video above and post your comments on what you think are the causes of crime. I have already posted my own opinion.

Phrasal verbs.

Here is a link to practise phrasal verbs.

Success and Leadership.

Are you a natural born leader? Take this quiz and find out.

And watch these two videos (links here and here) for the keys to success.

More on animals

More animal vocabulary here (with online exercises)

And the sounds animals make, here

Idioms with Animals.

Click for animal idioms with exercises here and here

Making a complaint.

Causatives: getting one's hair cut.

Click here for theory and exercises on causative constructions.

Cooking for Advanced II.

Ok, my friends. Here is the vocabulary we have been revising in class plus some more, if you are interested.

I have not had the time to design activities for it, so it is just RAW vocabulary. Sorry!

kitchen utensils here

ways of cooking here

names of food here

Excess.

Here is a video of an American artist called Chris Jordan where he shows how he depicts excess in American society through his works.



Alternative, by clicking here, you can watch the video with subtitles straight from the Ted page.

And, finally, here you have an excercise with vocabulary related to excess, more specifically words starting with the prefixes "over" and "out".

Adapting to a foreign culture

How well do British people adapt in Spain? Watch the following video after clicking on this link for the listening comprehension exercise.



And here is a reading comprehension exercise where the writer discusses cross-cultural issues.

Emotions 1.

To work on vocabulary related to anger, confusion, confidence and shame, click here

And, I'm in the mood now, so one more here for pain, sadness, fear and happiness. I'm afraid I have not been very imaginative with the activities this time, oops!

History: Life on the American Frontier.

Click Here for the video "Life on the American Frontier" we worked on in class and here for the corresponding listening tasks.

Physical appearance flashcards.

Click here for a link to the flashcards we have been using in class to revise physical appearance vocabulary.

Ageing, an illness to be combated? Debate

While browsing through the videos in ted.com, I stumbled upon one that I considered would make for a very interesting debate, as its focus is ageing (aging AmE), a process that shapes our lives from the moment we are born and thus relevant to us all. The speaker, Aubrey de Grey is a Cambridge "biogerontologist" who is adamant that funds should be allocated to research on how to revert the deterioration our bodies suffer with the passage of time in such a way that we would remain youthful and escape death for even centuries. He claims that -if philanthropists decide to invest in this quest- breakthroughs are imminent in the near future and that when they come along people will gradually abandon the -now prevailing- wrong notion that ageing is an inevitable (and even desireable) natural phenomenon.

So my suggestions are 1) watch the video by clicking on this link. It is 20 min long and he was pressed for time and speaks really fast, so enable the subtitles in English, a function you will find down left on the video. You can pause it as often as you like. You do not have to try to remember the complex concepts he mentions, just the gist. 2) If you have the time, you can also read about Aubrey de Grey in Wikipedia.

Finally, please, publish a comment with your opinion.

Pairs of adjectives ending in "-ed" & "-ing".

Here is what we did in class on that topic.

Advanced II. Inversion and cleft sentences.

By clicking on this link, you will have access to the exercise we have done in class consisting in translating some sentences in Galician into examples of inversion and it/what anticipatory subjects in English.

In order to be able to use this and other links with google.docs, you must send me an e-mail address and ask me to include you among my authorised readers.

Advanced II. Amazingly Good Talks.

For those of you who are curious to learn about a variety of subjects, here is a page with hundreds of different talks given by experts organised alphabetically by subject (I've just watched one on bonobos and it was fantastic). What are your waiting for? Click on this link and explore for yourselves. TED.

Advanced II. Inversion and Emphasis in English.

Below, you will find three links you can explore to find out more about emphasis and inversion in English.

http://www.englishtenseswithcartoons.com/inversion_of_word_order_for_emphasis

http://esl.about.com/od/grammarstructures/a/g_emphasis.htm

http://mpruizdiezavanzado2utebo.blogspot.com/2009/05/inversion-adding-emphasis.html