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!

Auctions: Madoff's bounty

Hello again!

This is a video that most of you already know. I'm posting it here for you to check your answers or, if you're new to it, to practise, practise, practise!

This is not the first video about auctions, that we have had around here, but it is one in which I have learnt a new word: gavel. It's the news story of the auction where Madoff's personal belongings are put up for auction to compensate victims of his pyramid scheme.

Vocabulary to learn before you watch:

proceeds (or sales proceeds): the money obtained from the sale.

seized: in this context, taken by the police (or other law enforcement agents, like the FBI or others), as evidence or for other purposes, as here.

to go under the hammer: to be sold at auction (from the action of bringing a hammer down to close the bidding). This hammer is called "gavel" (the word you hear in the video)

The activity involves completing a couple of sentences that start with "it". Two typical structures: 1. a cleft sentence, and 2. an impersonal passive.

1. And it was not just his footwear...

2. It's expected that ...

Pay attention to prepositions at the end of a clause!

Key available here. Thanks!

Shopping online tips

Hello again!

This video shows us several useful tips to buy online. Disable the subtitles to do the comprehension and gap-filling below. You must complete each gap with up to 4 words.

ONLINE SHOPPING TIPS FROM THE FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION

1.       Plan ahead by ______________________ .

2.      Be sure to include __________________________ in your budget.

3.      You must distinguish between the __________________________ features of a product and those that are simply ____________________________ but can be done without.

4.      Look for feedback about how the product works, or its _________________________ .

5.      Read several reviews on the company selling the product to avoid ________________

__________________ source.

6.      Make sure you take into account ______________________________ and other add-ons when considering the price of the item.

7.      Sellers are required by law to ship items _________________________________.

8.      Credit card is safer because the law allows you to ____________________________ if you dispute a charge.

9.      The “s” at https stands for “secure” and will allow your information to be ____________________________ before transmission.

10   You can ____________________________ with the Federal Trade Commission if you can’t work out problems with the seller first.

Conditional hunt: the size of the universe

Back from a long break...

What's a conditional hunt? Well, in this blog, it is an activity that consists in finding as many conditional clauses as possible in one single video. The function of conditional clauses and hypothesis here, particularly at the end of the video, is to try to explain a concept in terms that we can understand. Given that the size of the universe is impossible for us to picture, Pete Edwards of the University of Durham resorts to an imaginary situation:

Supposing our galaxy were the size of a grain of sand, how big would the universe be?


So, let's open our ears! Go to the link above and try to find as many conditionals as possible! The solution, coming up in the comments. But don't forget to contribute with your own comments, telling us how many you found!

A nice idiomatic expression to start the video : "you'll never get your head around how big the universe is"

to get your head (a)round something: to be able to understand or accept something (OALD)

Who Wants to Watch this Guy Win

This is the video of the first winner on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire in the US. Pay attention to how cool the man looks (and acts!)

It's quite easy to understand, so go and enjoy it without subtitles!