The power of words

Culture Shock

Dear NI1 students,

 

Find the key to the text on page p. 38 of your coursebook:

 

EX. A

Being polite is very important to the English. If you want someone to do something, you must ask them politely.

 

EX. B

The English and the Russian idea of good manners is different.

 

EX C

1. F (She got angry because of the way he asked her to pour him some tea.)
2. T
3. T
4. F (He was very surprised, i.e. amazed)
5. F (It was disgusting.)
6. F (She was angry.)
7. T
8. T
9. F (They thought she was mad.)
10. T

EX. D

1. step 2. pour 3. make 4. swallow 5. translate

Dreamdate.com

Dear NI2 students,

As you have been required to write down a short story, I'd like you to listen to this too-good-to-be-true story about online dating: Dreamdate.com from Speakup Magazine.

Did you like it? It is an urban legend? What struck you most?

BYOD

noun [uncountable].bring your own device:

The policy of allowing employees or students to bring their own computing devices to work, college etc and use them on the organization's network. Ex:

'Bring-your-own-device (BYOD) has emerged as an institution in corporate America today – but does the acronym stand for bring your own device or bring your own disaster? Surveys show that up to 90 percent of corporations use some form of BYOD, but that up to 80 percent of BYOD activity is "inadequately" managed by IT departments.'

BYOD is an abbreviation for bring your own device, and refers to the idea of people bringing their personally-owned computing devices, such as laptops, tablets or smartphones, for use at their place of work. Though it commonly refers to employees bringing along their own devices to the office in order to access corporate networks and business data etc, the term is also used in academic environments when institutions allow students to use their own mobile devices to access school and college networks.For more info, visit this

Mean

This week from Mcmillan Dictionary some advice about the verb mean:

When you want to say what something involves or what its result is, use the verb mean followed by the -ing form. Don’t use an infinitive:

✗ Being tolerant prejudiced means not to be prejuciced.
✓ Being tolerant means not being prejudiced.
 ✗ Reversing these changes would mean to challenge the power of the government.
✓ Reversing these changes would mean challenging the power of the government.

Use mean with an infinitive when you want to say that someone intends to do something:

They intend to pour cash into the health service, but they also mean to reform it.
In this sense, mean is often used in the passive:
Taking children into care is meant to be in the interests of the children, not the state.

In and Around London

Dear NI1 students,

These is the key to exercises from our reader "In and Around London".

p.125, ex 1
a. Westminster Pier
b. 50 minutes
c. The Houses of Parliament
d. A pink obelisk dating from 1500 BC. It's a gift from Egypt in 1872
e. Shakeaspeare's Globe Theater.
f. A street and had wooden houses on either side. They exibited the heads of the executed people there. 
g. Hay's Galleria
h. An exhibition on the technology used to lift the drawbridge.
i. in the area called Docklands
j. Canary Warf Tower

Podcasts

Dear all,

M.ª Jose from NI1, left me a pen drive with wonderful short dialogues ideal for your level. So I suggest those of you interested in listening to extra English bring your pen drives to the classroom next week.

Thanks a lot!

Stonehenge

Hi there!

This is the video about Stonehenge. Why don't you listen to it and try to answer the following questions?

• Who built it and when? 
• Are the stories about the Romans or King Arthur true? 
• Why was it difficult to build it? 
• Is it a small or big construction?
• Where are the stones from?
• How did they transport the stones?

For further signification of Stonehenge, watch this National Geography documentary.

Do you dare to dream?

Hi! 

What do you think of the message in this video? What's your comfort zone? By learning English you are already on your learning zone, How big is your learning zone? Are you ready to leave your comfort zone to fulfill your dreams? 

Manchester Speech

Hi! 

I'd like to inform you that there will be a speech on Manchester on Wednesday 16th and Monday 21st at 18:30 at our school. Don't miss it!

'Here Comes the Sun' Unemployment Office Flash Mob

Few places need cheering up more than the unemployment office. With that in mind, Spanish Flash Mob crew, Carne Cruda 2.0, decided to bring some extra sunshine and a little hope to the people at the unemployment office, surprising them with a rendition of The Beatles' Here Comes the Sun.

The Curious Incident

    Hi!
   How are you doing with the reader for Wednesday 16th? Listen to this report about the author of “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time” and choose the correct statement: a) or b). We will correct it in class.

Heard on Weekend Edition Sunday. October 12, 2003. Npr.org

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1463595

1.

a) The author mentions Asperger´s syndrome at the beginning of the novel.

b) The author never mentions Asperger´s syndrome in the novel.

2.   Mark Haddon uses Christopher´s voice because

              a) it´s neutral and toneless.

              b) it´s sentimental and explains things in detail.

3.

a) Mark Haddon thinks “normal people” would never be obsessed with colours and food.

b) Mark Haddon thinks “normal people” also do strange things.

4.  

a) The novel shows how disabilities can limit your life

b) The novel is about realizing how limits aren´t necessarily so restrictive.

5.    Mark Haddon is surprised the novel has become a best-seller because

              a) there’s no sex or action.

              b) it’s about a disabled boy.

Random acts of kindness

Schoolchildren took part in an experiment to see what effects being kind would have in the classroom

How do you feel when someone does something nice for you, like sharing their food or giving you a cuddle? Does it feel better if you're the person performing the kind act?

Listen to this week's 6 Minute English, Jen and Callum talk about an experiment in America which asked children to carry out three random acts of kindness every week to see what effect it would have on their lives.

This week's question: What is the most commonly broken New Year's resolution?

1. stopping smoking
2. losing weight and getting fit
3. travelling

Check up vocabulary as well!

Happy New Year 2013!

Dear all,

Welcome back to the English classes! I hope you had a wonderful vacation time. Mine was great and full of African adventure. I wish you all a very happy new year full of good New Year's Resolutions.

I also wanted to publish the video recommended by Mariola from NI1. Her son and his high school classmates formed a band and won a competition with this song in English. 
Well done and congratulations!