This is one of my favourite sites to see and use videos for my students. It’s called watchmojo and here you can enjoy free short clips in a wide variety of categories such as Automotive, Education, Fashion, Film, Food, Gambling, Health, Music, Politics & Economy, Space, Sports, Technology and Travel.
I have chosen a video about how social media can affect relationships to show you some of its contents. Ready to do some listening practice??
The video you are about to watch is part of an activity I will be doing with my students one of these days. The videos of Mali and Dubai and all the exercises from the videos have been provided by my colleague MªJosé (visit her blog here). My only contribution has been to arrange what she so generously provided into a Lesson Plan which you will find here: Lesson Plan
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Bridget Jones’s New Year’s Resolutions: Lesson Plan
This site from the BBC is great if you don’t have much time and want to know what’s happening in the world.
You only need one minute and it will certainly help you improve your listening skills.Go to this website http://news.bbc.co.uk/ and then click on the small text which says Watch ONE-MINUTE WORLD NEWS ,as shown in the image.
Hope you like it!!
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I never say “no” when one of my friends phones me to suggest going shopping . I love it!!!
Although I like going shopping a lot I don’t see myself as a shopaholic: I am definitely not a compulsive shopper although I am one of those who sort of view going shopping as a hobby. It helps me relax but I certainly do not spend money I do not have and I am not drowning in debt because of my purchases . Well, this is what I tell my mother every single time she tells me off for wearing new clothes.
Anyway , this is a video from the film Pretty Woman , which I’m sure all of you have seen.
You can do three things:
♦ Just watch and enjoy it
♦ Watch the video and do some exercises Here
♦ Do a whole lesson plan on going shopping Here
And now that we are on the subject what about learning some expressions containing the word shop?
→ talk shop
if people who work together talk shop, they talk about their work when they are not at work
Even when they go out in the evening, they just talk shop all the time.
→go window-shopping 
to go about looking at goods in store windows without actually buying anything.
Joan said she was just going window-shopping, but she bought a new coat.
→shop around (for something)
to shop at different stores to find what you want at the best price.
You can find a bargain, but you’ll have to shop around.
→be like a bull in a china shop
to often drop or break things because you move awkwardly or roughly.
Rob’s like a bull in a china shop - don’t let him near those plants.
2009 has waved goodbye, a new year is starting to blossom and I’m planning to dedicate it my full attention. For a start,I’ve made some New Year’s Resolutions which ,unfortunately, I won’t be sharing with you… I apologize!! …and you , have you made any? Do you want to share them with me or are they too personal, maybe?
Well, for my first class with my advanced students ,I’ve thought that a nice way to link last year with this new one would be this video from Bridget Jones’s Diary, one of my favourite chick flicks. If you’ve seen or read Bridget Jones’s Diary, you’ll know it starts out with her New Year’s resolutions: lists of things she will and won’t do. These are some of them
I Will Not
Waste money on exotic underwear since pointless as have no boyfriend.
Fall for any of the following: alcoholics, workaholics, commitment phobics, chauvinists, freeloaders, perverts.
Have crushes on men, but instead form relationships based on mature assessment of character.
I Will
Go to gym three times a week not merely to buy sandwich.
Learn to program video.
Give all clothes which have not worn for two years or more to homeless.
Not go out every night but stay in and read books and listen to classical music.
Watch the video and then if you feel like going for the whole lesson I have prepared for my students , you’ll find it here . My gratitude to Jeffrey Hill , who gave me the idea.
By the way , the soundtrack is one of my favourites!!
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Have you planned your summer holidays yet? Are you in the mood for something different? Weird and even wacky? Are you tired of the conventional hotels everybody goes to? Have a look at these photographs .
These are some of the weirdest hotels you will ever see. But don’t hold your breath ..some of them are very expensive and most of them are fully booked for this summer; so I guess, it must definitely be an experience for some people sleeping in one of those but, trust me on this… you won’t find me there!
Given the chance I don’t know whether it ‘d be easy to choose one of them to spend a nice relaxing holidays. I guess you think it would be a rush of adrenaline sleeping in a cabin hanging from a slender tree but I know for sure I wouldn’t be able to sleep a wink waiting for the branch to crack.
And an underwater hotel… are they paying me???
In my humble opinion ,the Survival Pod Hotel in The Hague, this orange alien-shaped thing, seems to invite people to choose to die if the option is living in these claustrophobic capsules. Can’t imagine having to pay for it!
Some other picturesque pictures show the Das Park Hotel, Ottensheim in Austria and I have to admit that, at least, it has been cheap to build. The idea is that you sleep inside a piece of concrete sewage pipe and guess what?? This is cheap …’cause you pay only what you think they are worth!!
As for me, I’ve always felt an attraction for luxurious hotels where the service is impeccable , the views from the balcony breathtaking, the place a haven of peace and relaxation and the bed as comfortable as a bed should be. I don’t want to spend the night killing cockroaches or freezing to death just to have the time of my life ,thank you very much.
Anway, why this post on Weird hotels? ’cause my students are about to study this lesson and I came across some of these pictures while looking for different things on the web and I prepared a lesson about hotels this morning , which I thought I’d share with you. So, if you are interested ,and you’re not one of my Pre-Intermediate students (we’ll be doing this lesson on Monday, God willing!) Click here .
If you are one of my pre-intermediate students and still want to do something about hotels, you can click here and listen to this postcast about Weird Hotels.
And then watch this video… but don’t expect it to help you with your English!!!
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It is the time of the year when you start thinking about New Year’s Resolutions.
But what is a New Year’s Resolution ? It is our determination to accomplish something over the next year such as enjoy life more, quit smoking, lose weight, do exercise.
I always try and think of some New Year’s Resolutions to accomplish next year but ,let’s face it , I don’t have enough fingers or toes to count the number of times I have broken them and then I think why bother? Do you know anyone who keeps their New Year’s resolutions? Or even remembers them after January 15? I sure don’t.
Anyway, this is how you can express your Resolutions , being number 1 the weakest and 10 the strongest. So, depending on how willing you are to keep your promise , use one or the other.
Ten expressions to use in speaking and writing
1. I guess I’d better stop overspending..
2. I suppose I really ought to go to the gym
3. I really should diet, but then again…
4. There’s nothing for it. I’ll have to do it
5. I promise I’ll try harder to arrive early
6. I have every intention of passing the test
7. Never again will you catch me snoring..
8. Nothing is going to stop me finishing..
9. No matter what happens, I’m going to win..
10. Come hell or high water, I’ll pay it back
If you have difficulty coming up with resolutions , try New year Resolution Generator
Now , you are going to listen to a funny song about resolutions .This is what you can do:
1. Before you listen .Predict some of the promises you might hear
2. Then, write down at least three of the ones you hear
3. Check here
That’s the name of this superb website for pre-intermediate students to practise listening
and this is what they promise. This site is still growing and at the moment of publishing this post you could only find alphabetically-listed topic- based activities going from A to H . That’s it, you can find listenings about Airports and Harry Potter but don’t try Vegetarians yet.
You can do the quizzes about the listening on line and it also gives you some writing ideas . What’s more, you don’t even need to register. It’s completely free!!
One minute a day… that’s all they are asking and in return… you’ll be passing your listening tests with flying colours.
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I know some of you, dear readers, have problems with
English pronunciation. No wonder!!! English pronunciation is , arguably, unpredictable. Maybe some of you won’t agree with me that much if you have never experienced the frustration of not being understood but if you don’t believe me , read this article I published last year http://www.cristinacabal.com/?p=295 where I challenged my advanced students to read it without mistakes … the prize? Not taking the final oral test.Actually, the title of the post was I am feeling generous . Only one of them accepted the challenge,( dear Mario I hope you’re reading this ) and I still take my hat off to him (what a hard slog it must’ve been looking up all the words ) but he only managed to read two paragraphs and this, with some mistakes.
Anyway , some of you have been asking me how to improve pronunciation. I advised you to borrow books from the library with audio to listen and read along and here I’m going to show another nice way to improve pronunciation should you get tired of reading in the traditional way. This comes from a well-known site where there are plenty of things to do, should you have some time to spare.
If you want to do some more go to http://www.manythings.org/listen/ and help yourself.
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and so that’s it , “literally”. In the advanced level we’ve been working with the semantic field “Work” .
This is the pdf with all the work-related expressions and collocations you helped me build on the blackboard and also the exercises created with your own contributions. Thanks to you all!!
I also nicked and adapted from the Internet some tips about Job Interviews.I’m afraid I can’t name the source as I did it a long time ago and it was never my intention to get it published. My sincere apology !
There are also two video-based activities. The first one from an outside source www.eslvideo.com , which I highly recommend, and the second one created by me.
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