Conservation stories

Hello everyone,

Protecting biodiversity is the topic of this video we present today. To address some of the linguistic points that we have seen lately at different levels, I propose:

- Writing down all the adjective + noun collocations. Which of these adjectives have been formed with a prefix? Which of the nouns have been formed with a suffix?

- Writing down all the passive voice constructions.

What words or expressions from the video would you like to learn and use? Tell us in the comments!

The key, coming soon. Enjoy!

Yosemite National Park - facts and figures

Here's a little video with facts and figures of Yosemite National Park, which contains some nice examples of collocations typically used in travel and tourism.

I propose the following:

Find these expressions in the video and complete the facts:

Located in…

It’s visited by…

It’s home to…

Some of the visitors look for…

It boasts …

Find the figures! For an extra challenge, try to use the same wording as in the video, with full compound adjectives. Careful with spelling! 

How high is Yosemite Falls?

How high is El Capitan?

What are the dimensions of the slab of granite beneath the surface to which El Capitan belongs?

How high are sequoias (include the comparison)? 

An extra question: why are researchers climbing the sequoias?


You can find the key here. Let's travel a bit!

Proof or evidence?

Hello there again! I've just come across this delightful animation from the Royal Institution, supported by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation.

It tells us about how ancient Greek thought influenced the way we think about Mathematics, and ultimately about... everything else.

I take the chance, with this video, to make you reflect about similar words. In this case, proof and evidence. They are near synonyms in certain contexts, but as usual... the collocations make the difference. So always keep a good record of where the word appears, what the topic is, and what words it collocates with. For example, evidence tends to appear quite a lot in contexts related to court, justice, and the like. Proof is often used in science, as in this video, where it is used to talk about demonstrations of theorems.

Not to mention the fact that both can be either countable or uncountable, so we must always be careful with the verb and articles we use!

Always look up the examples in good monolingual dictionaries to help with these aspects. In the best scientific spirit, read the examples provided by the dictionary to draw conclusions of use, deduce and then test (through trial and error: use use use, make mistakes, correct your assumptions). The activity here includes:

1. Reading the definitions of "evidence" and "proof" in the Learner's Dictionary widget on the right of the page. Taking notes if necessary.
2. Answering these questions: 
-What is the definition of "proof" in the video?
-According to the video, what is a good proof?
3. Writing down some collocations of the word "proof" used in the video.
4. Enjoying the video!

Key here. Enjoy!



The Greek Legacy: How the Ancient Greeks Shaped Modern Mathematics from 12Foot6 on Vimeo.

Surveys!

Hello everyone,

Following the reading about "Truth and Statistics", here's the British comedy Yes, Minister showing us how to obtain opposite results in a survey. Wonder how? Through the use of so-called "leading questions", that is, the questions that lead or introduce one more important question in the poll.

The one piece of vocabulary you whould know in advance is National Service, which was the obligatory military service in the UK (although this could be easily guessed by the nature of the questions.

I propose two activities with different degrees of difficulty: either transcribing the poll questions (ready for some British accent!), or completing this gap-filling.

You can check your answers here.

Enjoy!

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