Giving or receiving?

SLOW TV

The world's most boring television... and why it's hilariously addictive!

http://www.ted.com/talks/thomas_hellum_the_world_s_most_boring_television_and_why_it_s_hilariously_addictive/transcript?language=en#t-915931

Famous Film Scenes in Lego!

To be passionate...

What's the missing preposition?

http://www.ted.com/talks/benjamin_zander_on_music_and_passion/transcript?language=en#t-240286

In the flesh

http://http-ws.bbc.co.uk.edgesuite.net/mp3/learningenglish/2014/05/140502_twins_report_140502_witn_twins_report_au_bb.mp3

It was an emotional reunion.

Elizabeth Hamel and Ann Hunt, twins:
Oh, how lovely to see you in the flesh.

Ann grew up never knowing she had a twin. Elizabeth stayed with her mother, who was in domestic service and could afford to bring up only one child. It wasn't until last year, with the women in their late 70s, that Ann discovered she had a twin sister, now living in America.

Ann Hunt:
You're meeting someone in the flesh for the first time, and you know that you've been in the womb together for eight months.

The sisters have agreed to take part in a research programme looking into the lives of reunited twins. Dr Nancy Segal is the director of the Twin Studies Center at California State University.

Dr Nancy Segal:
We want to get a comprehensive overview of their lives, their abilities, their interests and really put it all together as an important case study, because this is the world's longest-separated pair of twins.

Ann and Elizabeth plan to spend some time together. They have two lifetimes of memories to share, and new families to get to know.

FROM:
 http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/language/wordsinthenews/2014/05/140502_witn_twins.shtml

fall in between

SCRIPT:
ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST:
If you have a glass of wine with dinner tonight, you're in good company. If that one drink turns into three or four, well, that's not unusual, but if this happens a few times a week, you fall into a category of drinking that may surprise you. NPR's Allison Aubrey reports on a new study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
ALLISON AUBREY, BYLINE: A lot of us make the assumption that there are just two kinds of drinkers - those of us who have a glass of wine or beer with dinner and those who are alcoholics and need help, but CDC researcher Robert Brewer says, this is not an accurate picture. Most people fall into a different category.
ROBERT BREWER: The reality of the situation is that most people - most drinkers - most adults who drink - there are people who are drinking maybe a couple of times during the week and then typically drinking a large amount often on weekends.
AUBREY: And this means they're drinking too much.
BREWER: About one in three adults drink excessively.
AUBREY: And what is excessive drinking? Well, it's a lot less than you might think. Say, I have a glass of wine with dinner most nights of the week. Then on Saturday night, I go out, and I have a cocktail, a beer or maybe some more wine. By Sunday, I've had eight drinks for the week, and this is considered excessive.

http://www.npr.org/templates/transcript/transcript.php?storyId=365500037

How to use the comma

What makes a good leader?

* COMMITTED is the correct spelling

Practice the Passive Voice with scenes from TV shows

What's the phrasal verb about friendship in this song?

No Man is an Island

Dear NA1 Students,

I'd like to welcome you with this poem by John Donne, which is connected with the sayings about personal relationships we've been looking at lately. As you can see, at the end of the poem we have the words "For whom the bell tolls", which at the same time are the title of E. Hemingway's "For Whom the Bell Tolls" ("Por Quién Doblan las Campanas") and a Metallica song. Nice interplay, isn't it?

No man is an island entire of itself; every man 

is a piece of the continent, a part of the main; 

if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe 

is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as 

well as any manner of thy friends or of thine 

own were; any man's death diminishes me, 

because I am involved in mankind. 

And therefore never send to know for whom 

the bell tolls; it tolls for thee. 

This is the Spanish translation:
Nadie es una isla, completo en sí mismo; cada hombre es un pedazo de continente, una parte de la tierra.; si el mar se lleva una porción de tierra, toda Europa queda disminuida, como si fuera un promontorio, o la casa de uno de tus amigos, o la tuya propia. La muerte de cualquier hombre me disminuye porque estoy ligado a la humanidad; por consiguiente nunca hagas preguntar por quién doblan las campanas: doblan por ti.

 And this is Metallica's song:

Creativity requires TIME (thanks, Ana)

run out of

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Reaching an agreement?

What are the patterns?

Nobel Peace Prize 2011 Winner Leymah Gbowee

What would make an advanced society?

Intermediate speaking workshop

Hi!
Here you are the link to download the file with some useful expressions that you can use for debates:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/19545599/agreeing_disagreeing.doc

The Edinburgh Fringe Festival

St. Valentine's idiom

The Reverse Graffiti Project

Does this wind get on your nerves?

Relax

Compilation of links for exam practice

Here you are some links you can use to practice the exam tasks:

• READING

MATCHING TASKS
 http://njnj.ru/test/mui_test3.htm

 http://njnj.ru/test/mui_test8.htm 

http://njnj.ru/test/mui_test5.htm



MULTIPLE CHOICE TASKS
 http://hotpot.wz.cz/new/exercises/117/Kv%C3%ADz%20na%20Hepburn.htm

 http://hotpot.wz.cz/users/smolova.marketa/TrappNew.htm

 http://web2.uvcs.uvic.ca/elc/studyzone/410/reading/deathcar.htm

 http://web2.uvcs.uvic.ca/elc/studyzone/410/reading/dog.htm

 http://web2.uvcs.uvic.ca/elc/studyzone/410/reading/fitter.htm

 http://web2.uvcs.uvic.ca/elc/studyzone/410/reading/hiker.htm

 http://web2.uvcs.uvic.ca/elc/studyzone/410/reading/pepper.htm

http://www.english-zone.com/reading/spider.html

http://www.usingenglish.com/comprehension/8.html

http://www.englishlearner.com/tests/intermediate_reading_test_1.shtml

http://njnj.ru/test/mui_test4.htm

 http://njnj.ru/test/mui_test_achieve2.htm


CLOZE TASKS
 http://hotpot.wz.cz/users/chudejova.pavla/Rat_of_the_week.htm

 http://www.englishlearner.com/intermediate/reading-comprehension-missing-phrases-electric.shtml

 http://njnj.ru/test/mui_test7.htm

• LISTENING

MATCHING
 http://www.examenglish.com/CAE/cae_listening4.htm

 http://www.esl-lounge.com/student/listening/3L11-eavesdropping.php

 http://www.helpforenglish.cz/article/2006110101-fce-listening-part-3


 http://ewbooks.info/hotpot/assets/taxonomy/L-multipleMatch1-1.htm

 http://www.learnenglish.org.uk/CET/cet_profs/fce1mli_303.htm



MULTIPLE CHOICE

Return to River Town: 
click here to get the worksheet and click here to listen to the documentary. This is the key to the exercise.

 Easter Island Statues:
Click here to get the worksheet and click here to listen to the mp3 audio. This is the key to the exercise

http://www.elllo.org/english/1001/1027-Shirley-UK.htm

http://www.englishlearner.com/intermediate/listening-comprehension-boracay.shtml

http://www.esl-lab.com/landscaping/landscapingrd1.htm


FILL IN THE GAPS
http://www.instant-practice.com/demos/index/1999

http://www.instant-practice.com/demos/index/2000

 http://www.instant-practice.com/demos/index/2002

 http://www.instant-practice.com/demos/index/2003

 http://www.instant-practice.com/demos/index/2006

 http://www.instant-practice.com/demos/index/2008

 http://www.instant-practice.com/demos/index/2012

Jump on the bandwagon

Does contemporary art get its message across?

For the sake of prepositions

Dear Students,

Here you are a catchy way to practice prepositions ;)

Idioms for the New Year

Hi and Happy New Year everybody! I've found a very interesting article about idiomatic expressions that might be interesting right now. I've summarized it, for the whole article, please click here.  

Turn over a new leaf. It’s time for a fresh start, to do something different, to turn over a new leaf! “Leaf” in this case refers not to the red, orange, or brown thing that just fell from the tree in your back yard, but rather the page of a book.  

Back to the drawing board. Maybe last year didn’t work out like you wished, so you need to head back to the drawing board. A drawing board is a drafting table used for preparing designs or blueprints. This phrase gained acceptance and use during World War II when military blueprints and plans were a success . . . or a failure–suggesting the need to return to the drawing board to draft something new.

 Start from scratch. If you haven’t begun one of your New Year’s goals, you must start at the beginning, of course–or start from scratch. Sporting events historically had a practice of scratching onto the ground a start line (with a sword or other tool). References to this line as the “scratch” exist for horse racing, boxing, cricket, and golf.  

Back to square one. If you started a goal before and it didn’t pan out, you can always go back to square one.

 If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. If your efforts are less than successful in January or February, don’t give up! If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. What are you resolved to do in 2013? Turning over a new leaf? Going back to square one...?