RING IN THE NEW YEAR, HAPPILY!

CONFUSING: "BEEN" vs "BEING"

A clear chart to distinguish confusing uses of "Been" or "Being".

CONFUSING & COLLOCATIONS 'COME' vs 'GO'

Collecting typical collocations with the verbs 'COME' & 'GO', which can be confusing.

'BORROW' vs 'LEND'

CONFUSING: ARRIVE 'IN' vs 'AT'

ASKING & GIVING ADVICE. [CONFUSING 'ADVICE' vs 'ADVISE']

GEORGE MICHAEL ALSO DIES

2016, the horrible year of music business, seems it's going to continue like that up to the end, right up to its last day. Today, we've had breakfast hearing the news of the death of another pop icon, George Michael at 53. RIP. We remember him with some of his songs and which was the first James Corden's carpool karaoke.

+ info: BBC.

Video "CARELESS WHISPER", George Michael:

Video GEROGE MICHAEL carpool karaoke:



Audio "FAITH", George Michael+subtitles:

ClickOnEnglish WISHES YOU ALL...

DIFFERENT WAYS TO WISH MERRY CHRISTMAS

CONFUSING WORDS: DURING, FOR & WHILE

See the difference between 'DURING', 'FOR' & 'WHILE', so you don't confuse them.

CONFUSING: 'EVERY DAY' vs 'EVERYDAY'

Explanation by Laura Baker. The difference is in the part of speech.

Everyday is an adjective. It is used to describe that something always happens each day or the quality of being normal or usual.

Examples:

This is an everyday occurrence.

–Everyday is an adjective used to modify occurrence. The sentence means that this happens each day.

We are just your average, everyday people.

–Everyday is an adjective to modify people. The sentence means that we are average, normal people.

Every day is an adverb and noun. It is used adverbially to talk about time.

Examples:

This happens every day.

–Every is an adverb to modify day. It is not just some days that it happens, but every day.

I go to work every weekday.

–Every modifies weekday. This means that I don’t go to work on the weekends, just every weekday.

CHARO PITA & SOPHIE HEYDEL, TODAY @ "RAFAEL DIESTE"

Updating with some photos of Charo Pita & Sophie Heydel today at our assembly hall telling traditional stories in both English & Galician.

Students from 2nd & 1st ESO have been listening to them as a final activity before the Christmas holidays.

So now that the holidays have started, enjoy them!

Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year to everyone!

CHRISTMAS AROUND THE WORLD

STORYTELLING @ "RAFAEL DIESTE" WITH CHARO PITA & SOPHIE HEYDEL

An old friend of ours is back to visit us, Charo Pita, but this time not with her all-time partner Tim Bowley, as in previous occasions (check on Storytelling tab). Now she's accompanied by Sophie Heydel, a London Guildhall School of Music & Drama actress. They'll be visiting us on our last school day before the Christmas holidays to tell the same story in two versions English & Galician to 1st & 2nd year ESO students. 

Galician version @ ArquivosDoTrasno.

IT'S CHRISTMAS, ACTUALLY!

Why don't you watch films or TV-series in English in these holidays? You can watch them in English with subtitles either in English or Spanish. You can watch the whole film, or only some scenes, or repeating the scenes...

This year we don't have time to see a whole film, but we'll spend a class or two watching part of a British Christmas classic...

This is how it begins...

“Whenever I get gloomy with the state of the world, I think about the arrivals gate at Heathrow Airport.  General opinion’s starting to make out that we live in a world of hatred and greed, but I don’t see that.  It seems to me that love is everywhere.  Often, it’s not particularly dignified or newsworthy, but it’s always there —fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, husbands and wives, boyfriends, girlfriends, old friends… If you look for it, I’ve got a sneaking suspicion… love actually is all around.”

[8th CW] THE COSMOS: TOPIC FOR OUR VIII CULTURAL WEEK 2017

This course, IES "Rafael Dieste" will be working on its VIII Cultural Week devoted this year to science & nature: 

THE COSMOS.

We've already decided the dates, too: 

3rd to 7th April.

Each Department will be working on different aspects. You can participate with ideas...

The English Department has already started: here are all the names of the planets in English:

Video "HAMING THE PLANETS" BBC:


Video "Solar system & Universe beyond":


+ info on:
- Asteroid Belt.
- Kuiper Belt.
- Dwarf Planets.

Can you propose any other aspect about the Cosmos that we can work on from the English classes? Comment below or to your English teacher.

Galician version of this post @ ArquivosDoTrasno.

LOOKING FORWARD TO...

I suppose we're all LOOKING FORWARD TO the Christmas holidays... Here are different ways to express it.

CONFUSING: 'HEAR' vs 'LISTEN'

PHRASAL VERBS: HEALTH

More info about phrasal verbs @ the phrasal verb page on this blog.

'BY' PHRASES

INTERJECTIONS & THEIR MEANINGS

CONFUSING: 'PERSON', 'PERSONS' OR 'PEOPLE'

This post helps you to distinguish when to use each of these words correctly:

- PERSON (singular): to refer to any person.

Joel is such a nice person.     She’s a person I have a lot of respect for

- PERSONS (plural): it's a formal word, mainly used in legal contexts:

Any person or persons found in possession of illegal substances will be prosecuted. 

- PEOPLE (plural): to refer to groups of people or human beings in general:

I saw three people standing on the corner.   Not: I saw three persons …

People are generally very selfish.

Three people were interviewed for the job, but only one person had the right qualifications and experience.

[Examples from Cambridge University Press]

PHRASAL VERBS WITH 'WORK'

CHRISTMAS ADS 2016 (3): "THE GREATEST GIFT" (Sainsbury's)

Our third 2016 Christmas ad. This is Sainsbury's 2016 Christmas ad. Sainsbury is a British supermarket company.

PHRASAL VERBS: SLEEPING (CONFUSING 'WAKE UP' vs 'GET UP')

A post devoted to phrasal verbs related to sleeping and the difference between confusing WAKE UP & GET UP:

TIME CLAUSES

CHRISTMAS AD 2016 (2): IT'S NEVER TOO LATE TO LEARN A LANGUAGE (Allegro)

Another Christmas ad which deals with learning languages and teaches us a great lesson. It's never too late to learn a language and motivation is really important. Here's the ad of a Polish granddad who learns English to speak with his little granddaughter.

Video "Polish granddad learning English":

A TYPICAL BRITISH CHRISTMAS DINNER

- Roast turkey and its stuffing.
- Roast potatoes.
- Vegetables: carrots, peas and Brussel sprouts.
- Chipolatas, bacon-wrapped pork sausages.
- Sauces: gravy and cranberry sauce.
- Mince pies.
- Drink: mulled wine.
- Desserts: Christmas pudding, Christmas cake and Chocolate yule log.

+ info on why the British eat turkey at Christmas Day?