This is a blog created to help students of English as a second language to improve their knowledge and their skills in the subject with a lot of activities of different levels. It also includes resources for teachers to use in class, in the computer room or as homework.
I hope you find it useful. Thanks for visiting.
When someone says "Once in a Blue Moon," you know what they mean: Rare, seldom, even absurd. This year it means August 31st.
For the second time this month, the Moon is about to become full. There was one full Moon on August 1st/2nd, and now a second is coming on August 31st. According to modern folklore, whenever there are two full Moons in a calendar month, the second one is "blue."
Watch the following video by the NASA and answer the following questions:
What do blue moons symbolize in literature?
In which occasions can the moon turn blue?
When does the moon turn red?
Now watch the following video by the BBC to learn some more idioms related with the colour 'blue'.
Education is the key to solve most of the world's problems and two teenagers from Glasgow have created a campaign to make the world leaders aware of this reality and spread the message about the importance of the millenium goals. With this campaign they have won the Steve Sinnott Award for Young Campaigner.
Eilidh Naismith and Billy Davidson, from Glasgow, are the Send My Friend to School Young Ambassadors for 2012.
They will be helping to get UK kids involved in the campaign, reminding world leaders of their goal of getting all children in school by 2015.
Eilidh and Billy, both aged 15, travelled to Malawi in February 2012 to meet children in and out of school, and find out for themselves about what stops young people getting an education.
They'll be helping to spread the word, speaking in Parliament and at conferences, and encouraging schools and youth groups to take part in Send My Friend to School’s ‘Go for Gold!’ activities this year.
With 67 million children still missing out on school world leaders need to Go for Gold! to meet their target of getting all children an education by 2015. Young Ambassadors, Yas and Nav, introduce Send My Friend to School's Olympic-inspired theme for this year, and show what they learned on their visit to Guatemala last year.
Of these 67 million children more than half are girls. Watch the film to find out what you can do to help and join the campaign to give every child the chance to get an education.
Until what time are people in the UK allowed to play jokes?
Learn the following vocabulary:
practical joke - hoax - spoof story - taken in by - gullible - prank
The origins of April Fools Day are not clear but it is known that the tradition of practical joking and mischief-making dates back to Ancient Roman times. It would appear that the festival is closely related to the coming of Spring. Ancient Romans and Celts celebrated a festival of practical joking at about the time of the Vernal Equinox, as do millions of India's Hindus. The French also mark 1 April but instead of April Fools they call it Poisson d'Avril (April Fish).
Now watch two of the most famous hoaxes broadcasted by the BBC.
If you want to play a practical joke on a friend here you have some ideas...
This is the video if you want to make the Emotion Test.
On March 8th we celebrate the International Women's Day.
Watch these videos and prepare a brief speech expressing your own point of view. You can use the following questions to think of some ideas.
Why women's day?
But is there really inequality between men and women? (access to education, health care, working conditions...)
Why is it that women's equality is said to be important for all peoples and not just an issue for women?
Is the head of state/government in your country a man or a woman?
Has a woman ever been the head of state/government in your country?
What is the highest office held by a woman in your country?
Can you name a woman head of state currently in office?
Why do you think there are and there have been so few women in positions of power?
As heads of state, would women take different decisions than men?
Would it make a difference in the world -- in the poverty, violence and inequality that afflict the world -- if there were more women in parliaments and other national and international bodies?
oPancakes are flat thin cakes made of __________, _________ and __________ which are usually fried and everyone loves eating them with ___________, ___________, ___________, ____________ or all other kind of things on Pancakes Day.
oOne of the big challenges of pancake making is __________ them: throwing them up in the air and caching them in the _________.
-What strange tradition in the UK is associated to Shrove Tuesday? _______________.
-Choose the correct answer:
o There’s 2 / 4 / 10 people in every team
oThere’s about 30 or 40 / 20 or 30 / 40 or 50 yards stretch
oEach member has to run up these yards carrying a flying hat/ big bag / frying pan with a pancake inside it.
oOn the way they have to flip the pancakes at least once / twice / three times.
oWhen they get to the end they have to pass the frying pan on to the next partner who then throws it back / jumps / runs back.
oIf you drop the pancake you have topick it up and put it back in your frying pan / you are no longer part of the competition.
oUnless you finish the race with a pancake in your frying pan, anybody’s pancake, it doesn’t have to be your team’s pancake, you are classified / disqualified / unqualified.
-There are two reasons why the pancake race is held, what are they?
-Why is the winning team called ‘Team Harris’?
Now watch and listen to this news clip and then complete these sentences with the missing words.
- Lent is a time for ______ things.
- Shrove Tuesdays is the day for cleaning out the _______.
- Pancake races appeal to people’s ________ nature!
- Everyone’s got ‘a _________ tooth’!
- People in Britain have been celebrating Pancake Day for ________ years.
- The tradition started in ________ when a woman ran to church holding a ______________!
Have you read 'A Christmas Carol' or 'Oliver Twist'? So now you know something about Dickens. The year 2012 marks the bicentenary of his birth. To learn a bit more about his life and work watch the following video and answer the following questions:
What were the names of Dicken's parents?
How many siblings were they?
When did the family move to London?
How many hours a day did he work in the Blacking Factory?
What was his job in 1827?
When did Dickens begin his journalistic carreer?
Write the title of three of his works.
Which was his pet?
Where did Charles and Catherine land when they travelled to America?
