The Short Transcript Challenge IV: Killing Caesar

Violence and power struggle. A timeless classic. You can revise the pronunciation of some vocabulary on history for this transcription, and don't forget the pronunciation of proper names!

A milestone event in ancient Roman history:

Killing Caesar

Enjoy!

The Short Transcript Challenge III: Ancient Superpower

These videos all elaborate on the same subject, and hopefully you will be able to see some progress in your transcription as you get used to the voice, the topic, and the type of discourse. Everything's a matter of frequency and practice.

Gotta love Roman times:

Ancient Superpower

Enjoy!

The Short Transcript Challenge II: Doomsday Pompeii

This is the other video you already know, and which originated work with short transcriptions. Prepare for the exhibition and hone your listening skills with this tiny video:

Doomsday Pompeii

Enjoy!

The Short Transcript Challenge I: The Heart of the Empire

Since some of you were keen enough to send me your versions of some transcripts, I propose comparing them here.

So, for the next entries, and probably from time to time when I find suitable videos, we'll carry out The Short Transcript Challenge (fanfare!)

The procedure is very simple. Just write down your version in the comments and compare with others. I'll include mine, probably on a separate window. I suggest that you check with other people's versions before correction, but to do that, we need some active participation!

We start with your already known The heart of the Empire. If you didn't participate during last week, now's the moment! Very interesting new vocabulary for the people that did it then, don't miss the chance of learning it too.

Enjoy!

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)

Occupy London protesters evicted

Hello there!

This is the video on Occupy London protesters being evicted from St Paul's on Tuesday. Some of you did this comprehension in class; in that case this will give you the chance to watch it again or check your answers with the key in a couple of days.

There's some vocabulary on law and order here, as well as some interesting expressions like "it's a shadow of its former self". Can you spot it? What do you think it means?

These are the comprehension questions:

1. Why is it certain that they are going to be evicted?
2. When are they going to leave?
3. How do they interpret the eviction?
4. How has the movement expanded?
5. What's the purpose of taking the case to the European Court of Human Rights?

Please give your answers in the comments! Thank you!

The Northern Lights

Hello for our videos of the month of February!

As some of you probably know, the 24th of January brought us a wonderful present in the form of a coronal mass ejection, which makes northern lights more common. A good moment to take all your savings and head to the Arctic Circle to enjoy one of the wonders of nature!

This video is a preview of the BBC series Wonders of the Solar System, with Professor Brian Cox (of whom I am an alleged fan). So here you have Brian Cox looking up into the skies again...

Questions (answers in the comments, transcription coming in a few days):

1. Why did they go to the Arctic Circle on snowmobiles?

2. How likely is it for them to watch an aurora that night?

3. Where are the film images taken from?

4. What does the energy from the solar wind do?

5. How does Prof. Brian Cox describe the aurora?

Enjoy it! The beauty of the night sky again... Magical.

Update: the full transcript of this video.