Social / Unsocial networks

Hi everyone!

After an involuntary break, I'm back with this video about (un)social networks. Discussing the way social networks and technology affects our personal relationships must go further than the question "does technology unite us or divide us?" The implications it has in the way we construct our relationships and the way we relate to ourselves, to our insecurities and aspirations, is also worthy of analysis.

Here are some comprehension questions for a TED Talk on this matter. Before you listen, you may want to check the meaning of "Gallup" and "it drives me nuts".

1. How does the speaker interpret seeing people on their phones while on a date or a dinner? ("What it says to me is...")

2. How do pagers and answer machines compare to technology nowadays?

3. When she was talking to teenagers, what did the bargaining consist in? How did she respond?

4. What do we present on Facebook? Give three collocations.

5. What does she refer to with "emotional turmoil"?

6. How are we "our own personal relations firms"?


The key here (but give us your answers in the comments section).

And you? Which social networks do you use? Do you think they have altered the way you relate to yourself or to others? Tell us in the comments.

Enjoy!

Movember History

Hi everyone!

This is Movember! I like to send you a Movember video each year since I had a student who took part in it. He told me that he liked being asked about his new moustache, as it gave him the chance to talk about the reason behind it.

I won't tell you much about Movember, because the video explains what this grass roots movement is in great detail. The comprehension questions are easy enough (some collocations and an open question), but... the accent is Australian. Hehe. The open question is right at the end, so that you have time to get used to the accent before transcribing.

Before listening: there is a collocation that you must know, as it is key to comprehension, so check that you know it or look it up in the dictionary. What two things can you raise for a good cause?

Some collocations to complete while listening:

1. The month ________ known as November.
2. Everything comes back _____ _________.
3. The party ended with the _________ ________ bring back moustaches.
4. Becoming a Mo Sista is definitely a way to meet guys. Asking a guy about his moustache is the ultimate ____________ ___________.
5. _________ __________ November 2010... (this discourse marker is borrowed from cinema/TV jargon)

What's the firm belief he expresses at the end of the video?


Enjoy! Share your answers and thoughts in the comments section. Have you every participated in Movember? Would you consider doing so?

Topic: Culture - Broadway Musicals

Hi everyone!

Doing a bit of research for this topic I have found out that there are so many musicals worth watching! And so many we know of because they have been adapted for the silver screen, like Grease, Hair, Mamma Mia, The Fiddler on the Roof, West Side Story,... Actually, with some of these I'm not even sure if it was the musical production or the film that came first. Any help?

This is a top ten list that, obviously, will not please everybody, particularly if you're a fan of more classical musicals. I, for one, find that there is one unforgivable absence!. But we have to take into account that the list aims at presenting some of the most successful or critically acclaimed productions. Or... this might one of those cases where a top ten just won't do. A top twenty, maybe?

What I propose is:

1. First, to take a look at compound adjectives with present participles. Remember that they are easy to interpret if you "read them" from right to left forming a relative clause:

e.g. a Tony Award-winning musical would then become a musical that has won a Tony Award... or several! Don't forget that the first part of this adjective is always singular, no matter what.

2. Then, to complete some gapped sentences.

3. To read the full transcript and annotate any interesting collocations (there are soooo many I couldn't make gaps for all of them!)

4. To comment!

So we start with the adjectives. Match the adjectives you're going to hear with the noun they refer to in the video. There may be more than one acceptable match. Then check while you're listening.

history-making                                  characters

attention-grabbing                           numbers (figures)

show-stopping                                   dance numbers

longest-running                                 flick (film)

Oscar-winning                                   twelve Tony Awards

award-winning                                   production

record-breaking                                musical 

And here are the gapped sentences:

1. Wicked will captivate you _______________________ of “The Wizard of Oz” film.

2. The Producers, thanks to its musical numbers, choreography and characters,  _______________________  of classic Broadway shows.

3. RENT is a landmark musical, _______________________  and RENT-heads alike.

4. Oklahoma! is a successful combination of a serious storyline, _______________________  and dance numbers.

5. Oklahoma! is thought to be a musical that  _______________________  the musicals that came after it.

6. A Chorus Line is simple in its concept: a bare stage on which we watch several Broadway dancers _______________________  a musical.

7. Chicago follows two women _______________________ , wealth and “all that jazz”.

8. The Lion King manages to _______________________ universally appealing songs with colorful costumes and impressive puppetry.

9. Even though there is __________________________ in it, Cats is a “purrfect” musical.

10. Cats has vibrant costumes and incredibly complex dance numbers. _______________________  the distinct personalities of the Jellicle cats and_______________________ this is one of Broadway’s most popular shows.

11. Les Miserables is one of the longest-running musicals on Broadway, which the narrator doesn’t hesitate to call “a musical and _______________________.”

12. The Phantom of the Opera counts with detailed costumes, ___________________ and haunting music.

All that is left for you to do now is to read the transcript and annotate your favourite vocabulary.

Oh, I almost forgot... And to comment! Do you agree with the list? Which is your favourite musical? You can also share the vocabulary you found interesting with us.

Enjoy!

Brain-changing social media

Hi everyone!

Ever wondered how social media use may be changing us physiologically? Some people claim our brains, and even our nervous system, are being rewired by media use, particularly in heavy users.

So click below to find out more about the way we are challenging our brains by stimulating it like never before in history! And also to fill the gaps provided here with up to three words.

Disable closed captions (CC button) to do the activity, and turn them on to check your answers. There's also a key available.

Enjoy!

1. With social media being ______________________ one third of the entire world, they’ve clearly had a ______________________ on society.

2. There are similarities between social media addiction and drug dependence, even if one is a psychological addiction and the other is a ______________________ .

3. It was found that heavy media users did worse in task switching tests. High multi-tasking online can even make it difficult for your brain to commit ______________________ .

4. Phantom Vibration Syndrome is a relatively new phenomenon, where you think you ______________________  your phone ______________________ , but it didn’t.

5. Social media also ______________________  a release of dopamine, with the reward centres of the brain being more active when people talk about ______________________ , as opposed to listening to others.

6. It’s also been found that partners who met for the first time online tend to ______________________  more than those who first met face to face.

7. This increased success in partnerships started online may be due to anonymity or to people being clearer about ______________________ .

Topic Video: Charity

Hello everyone!

This is a video about a very particular charity shop. A pair of shoes for 850 pounds... is that a rip-off or a bargain? Well, here, it turns out to be a bargain! The proceeds of this charity must have been really high!

I propose a gap-filling exercise to practise collocations, either related to this topic or not. You know my insistence on collocation, and my firm belief that it is the key to successful comprehension and natural expression.

Some vocabulary to check before listening (remember to use a monolingual dictionary! You have a dictionary widget on this same page):

cobbler
cast-offs
highstreet
kudos

Notice the emphatic structure at the beginning of the report (cleft sentence):

________________________ buy  Beyoncé’s dress, Shirley Bassey’s shoes or Natalie Imbruglia’s hat all under one roof.

Complete with a suitable word or phrase:

But you can at this ________________________ charity shop inside London’s department store Selfridges.

The idea came from ________________________  Annie Lennox, and Vanessa Branson, sister of ________________________  Richard, was one of several of her friends ________________________ .

Vanessa Branson highlights that:

• Everybody feels ________________________ the project.
• It’s not just about ________________________  every year.
• You know you’re making ________________________ .

So far, 30,000 pounds ________________________  by the shop.

Charity shops in general are ________________________ : profits were up by ________________________  to 100m pounds.

With more than 700 ________________________ , Oxfam is the biggest UK charity retailer.

Theresa Colonette runs a boutique selling only the creme of ________________________ cast-offs.

She thinks that charity shops can be an alternative fashion resource, offering a ________________________  for anyone.

The last dress shown doesn’t have a celebrity connection, but it is still ________________________ , something which more people are likely ________________________ in the ________________________ .

Key here. But I hope to see your comments anyway, about the activity or about the vocabulary you've learnt with it. Thanks!

Yosemite again: free-climbing Dawn Wall

Hi everyone!

I guess many of you have woken up to the news of the incredible feat of these two climbers to have made it to the top of El Capitan's Dawn Wall in Yosemite.

Having seen El Capitan featured here, in a previous post about Yosemite Park, it seemed only like a natural continuation to have a little activity about this incredible sporting success.

This is a gap filling activity with two kinds of gaps, which you can complete all at once or in two rounds. The first kind is vocabulary, while the second kind (in bold) is for examples of ellipsis and reference (ways of avoiding repetition in discourse).

Even though I include the key for you to check, I'd like you to tell us in the comments what those words in the gaps refer to. For example:

- Everybody was writing comments on the blog, but inexplicably, I wasn't. (there's an ellipsis here, and it refers to "writing comments".)

- There's a previous post about Yosemite, so I may check that out after this video. (we avoid repetition by using the pronoun "that", which refers to "a previous post about Yosemite".)


I'm aware that many of you may have seen the video already, but it really is the most beautiful one around. I had to pause it and just admire the view. Where would you pause the video?

Enjoy!

Tommy starts by describing his father, a bodybuilder, as a __________ character.

When he was a child, his father would put a harness on him, tighten him into a rope around him and ________ a rock outside their house.

_________ he was 14, he started to realise there were climbs he could do that his father ________ .

His ___________ is to climb the Dawn Wall in Yosemite Valley.

About five of the hardest wall free-climbs have been Tommy’s ________ , and Dawn Wall is ________ harder than the hardest of __________.

In North America, there is no granite wall that is as blank and  _______________ as Dawn Wall.

Tommy wrote about a day when his fingertips were cracked and bleeding, he made ____________ despite great conditions, and yet he couldn’t wait to be back up on the wall.

Tommy really ___________ to his father, who taught him about this _____________ way to live.

He says that we have these ____________ ideas of where our boundaries are, and that maybe _________ are completely wrong.

The Dawn Wall from Facebook Stories on Vimeo.

Music and creativity

Hi everyone!

Just how prominent is music in your lives? Do you use it to dance, to accompany daily activities, to entertain yourselves while you shower? Or maybe you play music yourselves, or compose it? Do you ever think about how musical a language (such as English) can be ?

This video explains the pervasiveness of music in Ancient Greece. Would Plato be shocked at the kind of music you listen to?

The video is narrated at a very good rhythm to do structure hunts. Can you find:

1. any reduced relative clauses (omitting the pronoun and the verb "to be")?
2. any passive constructions?

Notice the very strong collocation with the verb accompany (and its word family). How many collocations with it can you find?


Remove the captions for the hunt, and then check. Let me know in the comments if you'd rather have a key, or if you want to compare your answers or correct them.

Enjoy!

Video advertising

Hello there!

I bring some activities for a video explaining what video advertising is. There is quite a lot of interesting vocabulary that you can use for any discussion on the topic, and it combines a clear voice-over with interviews.

I propose the following gap-filling exercise. Be aware that you may need more than one word in each gap.


The popularity of online video in recent years (1) _______________ online video advertising, which is an increasingly attractive proposition for marketers.

This is a medium that seeks to engage consumers and making them want to be (2)_______________ a brand.

Broadband take up at an (3)______________________ of 89% of online users means we can enjoy faster speeds and better quality.

Around 40% of online adverts now carry (4)_____________________.

Broadband connection also leads to a more effective (5) __________________ of specific consumer groups, and the added bonus of marketers being able to (6)_______________ when and how long their films have been viewed.

If you were to (7) _____________ a TV spot in Coronation Street, your audience could be (8)_______________ an eight-month-old baby to a granny, and all the audiences in between.

Video advertising online can come in a variety of formats (9) _______________ every product: banners on site, pre-roll and post-roll video ads, as well as a range of new interactive units such as YouTube's new overlay format, (10) ________________________ the opportunity to interact.

An exciting part of online video is that viral videos enable marketers to tell a story in a slightly more (11)_____________ and _______________ way.

The last speaker suggests that to know whether online video advertising works for you or not, you should (12) ______________________ (idiom).

online video advertising

For those of you wanting to practice some pronunciation, I would propose to look for any words ending in -al, like "viral", and repeat the full sentence in the video to drill their pronunciation in context.

Key here, share your comments in the comment section! Enjoy!

Understanding the weather

Hello again!

This is a video from a fantastic resource website, Education Scotland. Weather and climate facts and concepts explained in a lovely Scottish accent, starting by this video that goes through the most usual terms and symbols you are likely to hear in a weather forecast.

I give you the link so you can browse through their site: it's well worth a look.

To practice some listening comprehension, here's a collection of gaps with variying degrees of difficulty. Notice how some of the sentences are phrased very differently from the original recording, while others are almost verbatim. This is something that can make the activity more or less difficult, and you must gradually train yourselves to deal with any kind of rephrasing of the original text. Memory, note-taking strategies, and a good command of related vocabulary are essential to this purpose.

Here it goes. The link includes a transcript, but I'm also including this one, where you can find a key to the gaps.

Enjoy!

INTRODUCTION

(1)    Over the hills, heavy rain will be ________________________ (becoming).

(2)    What’s the expression they use to forecast sunny weather?

(3)    Where is there a risk of south-westerly gales?

(4)    The specific terms used in a certain field are called j___________.

(5)    To understand something better is to s______ t________ t_______ f________ (idiom).

WIND

(6)    South-westerly wind means ______________________________ the southwest.

(7)    Wind speeds can ______________________________ a gentle breeze blowing around 10 miles per hour that just rustles leaves in the trees to a strong wind at 25 to 30 miles per hour.

(8)    When wind blows at speeds between 39 and 46 miles per hour, it means we have reached ______________________________.

(9)    Storm force winds can _________________ and ____________________________.

PRECIPITATION

(10) If the cloud stretches ______________________________ it gets so cold that the water droplets freeze and become ice particles.

(11) Sleet is ______________________________.

TEMPERATURE

(12) The _____________________ daytime temperatures in Scotland range from around 6 Celsius in December to around 19 Celsius in July. 

(13) In summer, temperatures can be ______________________________.

MIST

(14) With fog or mist visibility ______________________________.

(15) The ______________________________ of visibility changes whether we refer to airports or to road traffic.

HUMIDITY

(16) In Scotland, we say it’s 'close' or 'muggy' ______________________________.

(17) Some of Scotland’s most humid days occur because ___________________________.

PRESSURE

(18) Air in the atmosphere is constantly rising and ______________________________.

(19) Areas of high pressure bring dry and settled weather, and on the map the isobar lines are __________________________, whereas the isobar lines for low pressure areas, which bring wet and windy weather, are often __________________________.

EXTREME WEATHER

(20) One consequence of climate change could be ___________________and ___________________ weather.

(21) Severe flooding can bring about blocked roads or even_________________________.

(22) The most extreme weather in the UK is be ___________________and ___________________, which can knock down trees and damage property.

More "¡azúcar!": sugar-eating children

It's all well and good to like "azúcar", but as everything else in life... in moderation. After the overview of Celia Cruz's career, we look at sugar from a critical point of view.

This is a rather old interview with Felicity Lawrence, a British author who warned against the dangers of excessive sugar in processed food. I would like you to notice the use of several adjective+noun and adverb+adjective collocations, and to try these comprehension questions:

1. What is the meaning of "acquiring a taste for sth"? When does she use this expression?

2. Why do parents resort to processed food (e.g. formula milk) so early in the baby's life?

3. How does she explain our liking of sweetness in evolutionary terms?

4. What kind of sweeteners can be found in baby's food?

5. What's the main problem with eating refined sugar?

The key, coming soon here. But let me insist on sharing your answers in the comments section!

The life of Celia Cruz

As you know, biography videos tend to make use of certain expressions that recur time and time again, and I'm starting to think that they are a genre of their own in their use of language. Take, for example, the sentences we are looking for to answer these comprehension questions:

"A career that spanned five decades" - can you express this idea in other words?
How many prizes and recognitions did she receive? Can you find the verb+noun collocations that are used in the video to give this information?
What expressions with the word "influence" can you find?
How do they define "the ultimate American spirit"?

I will try to make the key available as soon as possible here ... seeing as most of you decided long ago not to share answers in the comments section. Comments are still (and always) welcome, though!

Enjoy!

Azucar! Life of Celia Cruz from c.p. granado on Vimeo.

Topic Video: Science and Research

Hello everyone!

The video for today is on one of my favourite topics: women in science. A video "with a twist": it's from 1954.

A promotional video by GE (General Electric) that shows us that "it's not a man's world". The questions:

1. What does each woman do (some details, please)?
2. What are polymers?
3. What is the biologist working on at the moment?
2. List the adverb + adjective collocations
3. List the adjective + noun collocations.
4. Which of these collocations are specific to science or could you use in a conversation about science?

My oh my the end of the video... Well it's 1954 after all...!

All my respect today to women devoted to science and research.

Key coming soon! Please comment!

Travelling to Japan

A kind look at Japan. The proposed exercised (which must be familiar to some of you) is

1. to list the many collocations with adjectives that appear in the video

2. to transcribe sentences that do not start with the subject

Answers in the comments, as usual. And the key in a week or so...

Enjoy!

BBC Wildlife

Hello everyone!

I'm getting quite addicted to the BBC Worldwide channel in Youtube. The video I bring you today is part of a BBC Worldwide documentary. Let's work on some of the complex structure "ingredients" that we have been seeing in class, as well as some vocabulary:

Phrasal verbs and verb+preposition

Give the full context for these verbs. What do they mean?

to stretch up:

to head for:

to bring up:

to pull up:

Finding complex structures

Find an instance of:

A relative clause

A participle clause

Finding collocations

How many instances of adverb+adjective can you find? How many adjectives?

Find a new meaning for the verb "to claim", providing its context.

Enjoy!

A song for collocations (all levels)

The activity for this song focuses on one aspect of a language that you should really pay attention to. You will not find any single-word gaps in this exercise, because we will be looking for collocations. In some cases, there will even be more than two words in a gap.

When you have finished the listening activity, the best way to record the vocabulary learnt is to write down the full collocation in a dictionary-like form (infinitive if it's a verb, etc.), and a contextualised example next to it. So, once you've finished, I'll be waiting for your list of collocations in the comments, where you will also find the full lyrics.

The song is by Supertramp, and it was released in 1979 in the album Breakfast in America.

Goodbye Stranger (1979)

IT WAS AN _______________ YESTERDAY
I WAS UP BEFORE THE DAWN
AND I REALLY HAVE ENJOYED MY STAY
BUT I MUST BE _______________

LIKE A KING WITHOUT A CASTLE
LIKE A QUEEN WITHOUT A THRONE
I´M AN EARLY MORNING LOVER
AND I MUST BE MOVING ON

NOW I BELIEVE IN WHAT YOU SAY
IT’S __________________________
BUT I HAVE TO ________________ OWN _______________
TO KEEP ME IN MY YOUTH

LIKE A SHIP WITHOUT AN ANCHOR
LIKE A SLAVE WITHOUT A CHAIN
JUST THE THOUGHT OF THOSE SWEET LADIES
SENDS A SHIVER THROUGH MY VEINS

AND I WILL GO ON SHINING
SHINING LIKE _______________
I´LL NEVER LOOK BEHIND ME
MY TROUBLES WILL BE FEW

GOODBYE STRANGER, IT´S BEEN NICE
HOPE YOU FIND YOUR PARADISE
TRIED TO SEE YOUR _______________
HOPE _______________ WILL ALL _______________
GOODBYE MARY, GOODBYE JANE
WILL WE EVER MEET AGAIN_______________, FEEL NO SHAME
COME TOMORROW , _______________

Sweet devotion
It's not for me
Just give me motion
And _______________
And the Land and the Ocean
_______________
It's the life I've chosen
Every Day
So Goodbye Mary, Goodbye Jane
Will we ever meet again (x2)

NOW SOME THEY DO AND SOME THEY DON´T
AND SOME YOU JUST _______________
AND SOME THEY WILL AND SOME THEY WON´T
WITH SOME IT´S JUST AS WELL

YOU CAN _______________ MY BEHAVIOUR
THAT´LL NEVER BOTHER ME
SAY THE DEVIL IS MY SAVIOR
BUT I _______________

AND I WILL GO ON SHINING
SHINING LIKE _______________
I´LL NEVER LOOK BEHIND ME
MY TROUBLES WILL BE FEW

GOODBYE STRANGER, IT´S BEEN NICE...

Sweet devotion
is not for me
Just give me motion
And _______________
And the Land and the Ocean
_______________
It's the life I've chosen
Every Day

So now I'm leaving, got to go, _______________
I'm saying once again
Oh yes I'm leaving, got to go, got to go
I'm sorry I must tell you
Goodbye Mary, Goodbye Jane
Will we ever meet again (x2)

I believe, Yes I've got to get away

GOODBYE STRANGER, IT´S BEEN NICE...