Listen a minute

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.

Related posts:

Podcards

BBC Learning English

Practise reading and listening

ELLA: English Language Lab in Asturias

Birth order

According to what we have discussed in class, the order in which you are born in the family seems to shape your personality. I have done some research on the internet and many experts do not agree on this statement. Scientists say that at least two other variables should be considered; these are: family size and the socioeconomic status of the family. For example, large families are generally lower in socioeconomic status than small families. Hence third born children are not only third in birth order, but they are also more likely to come from larger, poorer families than firstborn children. If third borns have a particular trait, it may be due to birth order, or it may be due to family size, or to any number of other variables. Consequently, there are a large number of published studies on birth order that vary widely in quality and are inconsistent in their conclusions. Therefore, we cannot say that birth order will have such a tremendous effect on shaping our personality.

Regardless of this, there are some characteristic traits that could be applied to each birth order:

* Characteristic traits of the oldest sibling: The oldest sibling is the most independent and also the most responsible of the group. They are natural born leaders and like to be in control. They strive for perfection, and thrive on approval of authority figures, like for example, their parents. They tend to do well in school, their careers, and life in general. The oldest child is also the most likely to be the most successful of the bunch, and might make more money as an adult than other siblings. The first born might end up in an occupational area such as engineering, architecture, or accounting.

Famous first borns include: Bill Clinton, Jimmy Carter, J. K. Rowling, and Sylvester Stallone.

* On the other hand, the middle child, who feels deprived of attention and worries about being over-looked, tends to be more rebellious as a youngster. But as an adult, they become the compromisers of the world and enjoy pleasing others. They enjoy working in groups and love feeling like they belong. They are good at making friends and getting along with others. They are also laid back, patient and loud. These children tend to flock to occupations that are more people oriented than their older siblings.

Famous middle borns include: Bill Gates, Richard Nixon, Cindy Crawford, Donald Trump and Julia Roberts.

* Finally, the youngest child generally is the most artistic of the group. They are also most likely to be the class clown, since they will do just about anything for attention, and usually are characterized as the show-off of the family. But, at the same time, they are very affectionate and caring.

Famous last borns include: Jim Carrey, Billy Crystal, Cameron Diaz and Danny deVito.

Kindly sent by Maria Angeles Tamargo, a student in the Advanced Level

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Do you think it’s good to be an only child?

Some help with pronunciation

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 https://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.

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If  you want to do some more go to http://www.manythings.org/listen/ and help yourself.

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Working with “work”

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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Unusual jobs

I am a teacher, well I am an English teacher, and I do not know whether people might consider this an unusual job but it is.
And why the hell is it an unusual job? Some of you might be wondering, when the very first thing that comes to your mind is the outrageous amount of holidays teachers enjoy. Nothing is easier than being a teacher. You have to be mother, father, friend, counsellor, psychologist, actor, lawyer… You have to be motivating, energetic, enthusiastic, flexible, hard , understanding, strict, compassionate, well-mannered, well-meaning, well-balanced, well-educated, loving, tender….and you can never ever complain as you, as everybody knows, enjoy a scandalous amount of holidays. But /and this is why I love being a teacher.
But I have also cleaned windows, worked as a waitress (I was made redundant after two months), picked apples in a Canterbury Farm ( I was one of the fastest), been an au-pair of dearest David ( I wonder where he is now), worked in a pub….

Surfing the Net I have gathered this bunch of unusual occupations. One might think some of them are made up.
House sitting: This is quite simply moving into someone’s house while they are away, a kind of ‘live- in burglar alarm and someone to keep the house kept and warm. Could be for two weeks or six month’s, you don’t know.
Odor Judgers: Odor Judgers get to smell armpits all day to help make deodorants that will work well. I’m not sure why somebody other than some strange fetishist would want this job.
Chicken Sexer This is a real job title. A chicken sexer sorts through baby chicks to determine if they are male or female, and then segregate them.
Hot Walker: This is the person that walks the racehorses around after a race. It is important, because if a horse doesn’t cool down before returning to his stall, the overheating can cause kidney damage.
Saddle consultants: The people who ensure equine enthusiasts have the most comfortable ride possible and that their horses have the perfect riding accessory.
And you? What about you? Have you got or have you had any interesting, safe, dangerous, boring occupation? Leave me a comment and let me know.

Related links

Becoming a housewife

The Italian who went to Malta

Corcholis or it is raining cats and dogs

What on earth is a palindrome?

Word of the day: Fuck you