Lunar New Year traditions

China celebrates the end of the lunar New Year celebrations with the Lantern Festival, on the 15th day of the first moon. That day is... tomorrow, February the 6th, the first full moon of their calendar.

This tradition is also held in other countries, but we're going to concentrate on China to watch again the video on New Year celebrations you received last month. By the way, in some regions this particular festival is also a lovers' day, a sort of St Valentine's Day!

Here are the comprehension questions:

1. Make a list of adverb + adjective collocations in the video.

2. How long have they been celebrating the lunar New Year?

3. What did they use the colour red, bright light and loud noise for?

4. Why did they fear the New Year?

5. What was the family reunion for?

6. When did the Chinese adopt the Gregorian calendar?

7. What's the traditional Chinese calendar?

8. What do they hang from windows? What for?

9. What do the fish and chicken stand for (represent)?

10. What's the origin of the Lantern Festival?

Enjoy the video and, if you get the chance, the lunar New Year too!

The Artist

Hi again!

I promised a little activity with this short video on the film The Artist. The interviewees are French speakers so it helps to get a grasp of different non-native accents in English.

As an initial activity I asked you to pay attention to the actress' intonation patterns (she has a very native-like musicality to her speech); in this case I'm providing you with some gapped sentences for comprehension practice. Please note that there may be more than one word in each gap, and that the wording of the sentences will usually vary from that of the video. Please make your answers fit the gapped sentence regarding grammar, negative/positive statements, tenses, etc.

Enjoy the video, and the film if you're planning to watch it! I did, and I had a great time. If you want to forget about everything for some hour and a half, this is the film to watch, if you ask me!

Please comment to share your answers with the rest of us!

The male protagonist is described as a joker, a seducer and a man who is (1)___________________ .

The female protagonist falls in love with him and remains (2)_____________________ even when he’s no longer a movie star.

The director had wanted to film a silent movie for (3)_____________________ .

To him, the most amazing thing about the format is (4)_____________________ the audience. It allows them to (5)_____________________ so many things, from the (6)_____________________ of the voices to the sounds of the (7)_____________________ and (8)_____________________ .

Participating in the film OSS (where these actors had previously worked with the director Michel Hazanavicius) was helpful to Bérénice because she had (9)_____________________ before. Jean, however, did not prepare (10)_____________________ differently.

Treasures of Afghanistan

Hello!

Back again with one video that you may have probably enjoyed already as part of your daily videos. It's an introduction to a wonderful exhibition at the British Museum. Unfortunately, it was on show last year, so there is no way for us to fly to London and see it now... To make up for it, we do have the chance to watch a wealth of videos kindly uploaded by the British Museum.

Here are some comprehension questions for this video, which tells the story of the preservation of Afghan national treasures from the atrocities of war.

1. Who discovered the nomads’ graves?

2. When did they decide to hide the objects? Which objects were to be hidden? Where?

3. Why has Mr Omar Sultan supported the exhibition to be shown outside Afghanistan?

4. According to him, what do Afghans want to share with the world?


I hope you enjoy it very much! It's nice to be back, and I'd LOVE to see a bunch of comments for this video!

Protected area in Poland

Hello again!

A really good video to identify adjectives! Just that, write down the adjectives you understand, if possible, followed by their corresponding nouns.

Some of you have done this activity already, so I'll be posting your answers in the comments. I'll be posting the answers in a week or so, or when I consider you've participated enough. So, come on, don't just wait for the key, and write your exercise in the comments!

The video is on how a protected area in Poland threatened by the construction of a highway was saved by environmentalists.

Enjoy it!

Looking at the night sky

Hello everyone!

A sort of popular demand has triggered this post. The video on Orion and its legends!

Let's remember the questions to be answered here:

1. Check the pronunciation of "Orion" before you watch the video. My question here for the comments is going to be: where did you check that pronunciation? I hope you give different answers so we pool together a number of pronunciation resources.

2. Name an adverb+adjective collocation used in the video to describe Orion.

3. What are the legends of Orion according to a) the Egyptians, b) a native American tribe, and c) aborigines in Australia?

So, I'd be delighted to see your answers in the comments. Don't worry about being wrong or right, you're closer than you think to the right answer most of the time!

Enjoy the video!

Visit Britain... with adjectives!

Hi everyone!

Oh, back to the hustle and bustle of everyday activity! This is exciting! Looking back at the latest entries I've noticed they're from the month of April! Shame on me!

Anyway, I hope we all get down to work again with as much enthusiasm as last year! Look at all those exclamation marks!

This is a video that should be familiar to you: the 60-second invitation to visit Britain. It features a number of adjectives that you have to find.

Transcript, as usual: in the comments, in a couple of days or three, to give you time to do the activity and comment if possible.

Visit Britain!

Inside the Great Mosque

Back from the break! I hope you had time to rest and got new batteries for the (short) rest of the year!

Again with the invaluable help of Encarna first, then Irene (I actually corrected some details from my own transcription, thank you to both!) we can give you this video with a full transcript in the comments. It's part of a series about art in the South of Spain. Some of you have already watched the video, but now it's time to enjoy it and work a little with it.

Gap-filling for the activities, with more than one word per gap. Answers, as usual, in the comments, although you can always check with the transcript.

Enjoy!

1. The effect of mirrored columns intends to make the visitor feel _______________ and _______________ .

2. The designers could only use architectural forms as Islam bans the _______________.

3. Islam being a religion without hierarchy, the architects could create a feeling of _______________ in those who entered and prayed.

4. Abd ar-Rahman considered that what the palm tree had in common with him was his condition as _______________.

5. The Catholic cathedral was built by dismantling _______________ of the Mosque.

6. The Emperor Charles V realised it had been a mistake, even though he had _______________ himself.

7. The historian believes that the Catholic cathedral represents how one set of religious values was _______________.