Category Archives: General

Miss Universe Contest’s Flub: Learning How to Apologize

15 January 2016Generalapologizing, functions, listening, mistakes, speaking, videoCristina Cabal

You might be wondering what a “flub” is. A flub is an embarrassing mistake or blunder and this is precisely the best word to describe what happened at this year’s Miss Universe pageant where Miss Colombia was by mistakenly crowned Miss Universe by host Steve Harvey.

Yes, I agree. Everybody makes mistakes, to err is human and stuff like that, but -hey Steve!- this one was just huge, enormous. It was a Himalayan blunder. Perhaps it was a Freudian slip and you wanted to crown Miss Colombia and thought nobody would notice!

Anyway, I feel bad for both misses, don’t you?

At the Golden Globes this year, the actor Jamie Foxx parodied this situation and this gives me the chance to have a look at the ways we can apologize in English. See? Every cloud has a silver lining!

Level: Intermediate

Age group: any

PROCEDURE:

Step 1.Watch the video and write down all the expressions Jamie Foxx uses to apologize. Check them at the end of this post.

Step 2. Speaking.Get students in groups of three or four and ask them to discuss the following questions

♥ What’s the worst mistake you’ve made at work/school and how did you deal with it?

♥ What is the biggest mistake you have ever made and what did you learn from it?

♥ Is it easy for you to admit that you have made a mistake or do you tend to blame others or circumstances for your mistakes?

Step 3.Do you know when to use excuse me, pardon (me), beg your pardon and sorry?

SORRY

You usually use sorry to apologize after you have done something wrong. It is the simplest way to apologize.

If you want to be more polite, you can always use the longer version “I’m sorry”.

If you want to emphasize how sorry you are, you can use “I’m so /terribly/very/extremely/really sorry”.

If you want to say what you’re sorry for, you can say:

I am sorry I shouted at you

I am sorry about last night

I am sorry for being late

When you accidentally step on someone’s toe , you say ” I’m sorry” or just “Sorry”

When you bump into someone on the street, you say “Sorry”

When we hear bad news and we want to express our feelings, we say “ I am sorry to hear that.”

It is also used as a polite way of introducing disappointing information or bad news I’m sorry, but you have not passed the test

Used when you have said something that is not correct, and want to say something that is correct. For example: A synonym of large is small – sorry big!

Used when you disagree with someon. For example: I’m sorry but I can’t agree with you here.

EXCUSE ME

when you want to interrupt someone. For example: Excuse me, I have a question.

When you want to call someone’s attention. For example: Excuse me,can I have the bill?

When you are trying to leave a room and someone is in your way

When you want ot ask for permission to do something , you might start with Excuse me, can I open the window?
Excuse me can also be used, especially in American English, when you have not heard or understood what someone has said. For example:You’re late.’ ‘Excuse me?’ ‘I said you’re late.’ ‘Oh, sorry.’

PARDON (ME)

Speakers of British English usually use pardon when they have not heard or understood what soemone has said. For example: ‘My name is Timothy.’ ‘Pardon?

In American English, it is also possible to use pardon me in these situations.

In British English, you usually say pardon me when you have done something slightly impolite such as burping or sneezing. In American English, you usually say excuse me.

BEG YOUR PARDON

This expression is rather old-fashioned. It is used to apologize for doing something embarrassing or for making a mistake in what you have said

A synonym for big is small – beg your pardon- it’s large.

Source: http://www.ldoceonline.com/

Answers to Step 1 (video): I’m sorry folks, I’ve made a mistake, horrible mistake, I take full responsility, I apologize.

Thanks for reading! 🙂

Winner of this Month’s British Council’s Teaching English blog award.

28 November 2015GeneralawardCristina Cabal

I am pleased to share with you that I am the winner of this month’s British Council’s Teaching English blog award.

I’m sure most of my readers know about this prestigious organisation but for those of my students who have just started learning English, know that the British Council, funded by British government, can be considered UK’s international cultural body. It works in more than 100 countries worldwide and reaches 20 million people face to face and more than 652 million people online.

When I started the blog eight years ago, I never imagined I would get this far. Initially, it was more like a meeting point for my students and me, a way to make sure they could still practise outside the classroom encouraging, in this way, autonomous learning. It still is a meeting point for us, but it has grown into something bigger, mainly because of you , dear readers. The pleasure of seeing so many visitors from everywhere in the world has kept me going, although sometimes it has not been easy to find the time to write something worth publishing.

Allow me to dedicate this award to my students who are the source of my inspiration. Here’s the link to the post Most Common Pronunciation Mistakes Heard in Exams that was chosen as representative of my blog. You’re most welcome to do it

Want to read a bit more about the British Council ? More information here and here and you can also become a follower on facebook here

I Short Scary Story Writing Contest

22 October 2015Generalcontest, halloween, narrative, vocabulary, writingCristina Cabal

Open to all my students at intermediate level until October 31st!
Are you willing to try your hand at writing a short scary story in English? This could be your chance to be internationally known. Who knows who might be visiting the blog and reading your stories. You might end up being a well-known writer !!!
Yeah! I know ! Probably too far-fetched ! But, what is undeniable is that this activity can help you improve writing and this is what really matters!
As in every single contest of some importance, there are RULES. These are mine:

Please ensure you read the rules carefully before entering the competition.Entry implies acceptance of all the rules and failure to comply may result in disqualification.

♥Theme: a scary/horror story

♥Stories must be written in English

♥Stories must be entirely your own work and must be previously unpublished

♥Only one entry per person can be submitted

♥ Stories may be of any length

♥Stories shall be titled

♥Submit your story via email by 11.50 p.m on October 31, 2015. Late entries will not be considered. Please, don’t paste your work into the body of the email, send it as an attachment with your name in the upper left-hand corner of the page

♥Prizes to be determined

♥Winners will be announced the first week of November, online and on this blog

Some pictures that might inspire you, below!!!

Word of the day : Win and Beat

7 October 2015Generalconfusing words, errors, vocabularyCristina Cabal

Do you know the difference between the verbs “win” and “beat”?

Which is correct ..?

Real Madrid beat FC Barcelona(by) 3-1
Real Madrid won FC Barcelona (by) 3-1

Study the difference .

Win/wɪn/, won/wʌn/, won/wʌn/ means to achieve first position and/or get a prize in a competition or competitive situation. You win a game or a competition
Beat/biːt/, beat/biːt/, beaten /ˈbiːtn/ means to defeat or to do better. You beat a person or a team you are playing against

So now, which of the two sentences above is correct? Well done , the first sentence “Real Madrid beat FC Barcelona (by) 3-1 “ is correct

Test yourself with these exercises:

He ___ first prize in the raffle

won

[collapse]

Everybody likes ___ an argument

winning

[collapse]

She has ____ her own record of three minutes ten seconds.

beaten

[collapse]

Spain ___ Belgium by 5-4

beat

[collapse]

He ___ her at tennis

beat

[collapse]

He ___ first place in the competition

won

[collapse]

Thanks for reading! 🙂

Source: Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary

Blog de Cristina is also on facebook

Most Popular Posts of the Year for Learning and Teaching

24 June 2015Generalpopular postsCristina Cabal

I would say that 90% of the content in this blog comes from the need to offer my students good interesting lessons. I highly value the time and effort it takes for most of them to come to my classes and that’s why I try my best to design lessons packed with engaging content and interactive activities.

The school year has come to an end and with it, what triggers my inspiration to write posts and design activities. Therefore, and as every single year, this blog is going on holiday and though I might continue sharing old posts on Facebook ( “LIKE” my blog on facebook if you haven’t done it yet :), I won’t be writing any new ones until probably the end of September when I’ll need to start preparing my lessons.

This year has been extremely rewarding to me professionally speaking .My blog has been shortlisted four times by the British Council (facebook page), lots of my articles have been published and shared on social media sites and the number of visitors to the blog has dramatically increased. OMG!I have even been interviewed for a local newspaper!.

So, a good year it’s been!

These are the most popular posts of the “school” year for both learning and teaching

MOST POPULAR POSTS FOR LEARNERS

♥Tips to score a good mark in the oral exam

♥Six Wonderful Sites to Help you Write, Speak and Sound Better (shortlisted for the British English blog award)