Category Archives: The English language

Google Set Labs: a language-based experiment

freeware, Resources, The English language, Vocabulary, Word of the Day

This little tool by google called Google Set Labs has lots of potential . It helps you to produce sets of items from a few examples so if you write a few items from a list of things it automatically creates a list of items from the same group.

I’ve decided to try with sports and personality adjectives and I wrote a few related-words as you can see from the pictures  below

Then , you can choose whether you want to a large set or a smalll set and it produces a massive list of words related to this area. It’s great for teachers to try to predict what sort of words related to a topic might be used in class and also great for students to try to extend their vocabulary.

Want to have a go at it??

You’ll never forget how to pronounce “would”

Funny Stuff, Phonetics, The English language, , , ,

Learning and mastering English pronunciation can sometimes feel like a daunting task. I have been marking heaps of exams lately and now it’ s time  for the oral test and if you want to know the truth… I ‘m dreading  it!! Students insist on mispronouncing words they have heard a thousand times, like the word “since”, which they insistently pronounce as /sains/ and the “l” in words such as: walk, talk, should, half .… and would, when I’m well aware they know the “l” in these words is never pronounced.

By the time you finish watching this video, I bet you won’t forget how to pronounce “would”.

This clip from the movie “The Pink Panther”  is probably one of the funniest I have ever seen and Steve Martin is at one of his best performances

 

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Working with “work”

Lesson Plan: Advanced, Listening, Resources, Students' Corner, The English language, , , , ,

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

Funny Stuff, The English language, ,

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