Daily Archives: 22 September 2009

Some help with the Speaking Test … or not?

I think we all feel very much the same about oral tests, they are really stressful. I m not that old to have forgotten the ones I did while training to become a teacher facing, more often than not, a three member board of unsympathetic professors jumping at their chance to make you feel utterly miserable. They were my personal crossing of the Rubicon or, at least, this is how they are stored in my memory.
Having said that much, you all have to see the necessity of these tests or rather you don’t, but this is, I am afraid, not open to discussion. What I wanted to show you is that everybody gets nervous when they have to answer a question in public; moreover, if they cannot use their native language, which would be your case , But.. Miss South Carolina is American, isn’t she?

Well, she did what some students do when they are not very confident. She learnt, by heart, an answer she thought might suit every possible question and so, when asked one that didn’t quite fit in with this answer she struggled to make it fit. Unfortunately , ….
The only two coherent utterances are:

1. The judge’s question : Recent polls have shown a fifth of Americans can’t locate the US on a world map. Why do you think this is?
2. Miss south Carolina’s final sentence: …so we’ll be able to build up our future for our children.

Fancy watching it?

And now the hilarious explanation Jimmy Kimmel gives analysing her words on a blackboard.

Improving your writing skills

You know that I have been for some time now trying to improve your written work making you aware of the fact that you always tend to use the same simplistic words when you write, even though we both know that you have a wider range of vocabulary. So why not use it? Look at this text and try to replace the verbs “say” and “look” with some others.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Click here when you finish to see my suggestions.

“Watch out” ! I said at the top of my voice; but it was already too late. Jim and I both stood there looking at the cyclist flying off his bike and hitting the enormous hole in the road. “Is he hurt?” Jim said quietly, trembling with fear. “I don’t know” I said softly. At that moment the young man slowly lifted his head and looked at us in confusion. “What happened?” he said, in pain. “Where am I?”

Here’s another one. This time replace the words underlined to make it more interesting to the reader. Click here when you finish to see my suggestions.

It was a nice sunny morning when we set off on our journey. The sky looked very blue with only a few small clouds on the distant horizon. The ship we travelled on was big and had good cabins. We must have been halfway there when I was roused from my nap by a bad scream. It took me a while to come to my senses, but then I saw a small woman in front of me, looking very scared.

And now an entertaining task online that shows you how you can develop a simple sentence like ‘I made tea.’ into a detailed text. Go to the website: http://www.telescopictext.com/. You will see the sentence with shaded words, click ing on a shaded you’ll see that part of the sentence expand. Read the new sentence and then choose another part to click on

Homework: Create your own detailed sentences from one of these:
– I went to the beach.
– I saw a film
Once you have finished your sentence you can post it in the comments below and I’ll publish it.

Word of the day: Fuck you

It is my firm belief that you can never learn too much. But if you feel this is too much or if you are under 18, stop reading right now. Perhaps one of the most interesting and colourful words in the English language today is the word FUCK. It is the one magical word which, just by its sound, can describe pain, pleasure, love and hate. In language “fuck” falls into many grammatical categories. It can be used as a verb, both transitive and intransitive (I’m not going to give you an example, in case my mother ever reads this), as an adverb ( Mary is fucking interested in John), and as a noun ( also, and for the same reason above I am not going to give you an example) and as an adjective ( Mary is fucking beautiful). As you can see, there are very few words with the versatility of “fuck”.

Beside its sexual connotations, this incredible word can be used to describe many situations

•Greetings                       How the fuck are you?
•Fraud                               I got fucked by the car dealer
•Dismay                             Oh, fuck it
•Trouble                           Well, I guess I’m fucked now
•Aggression                     Fuck you!
•Disgust                             Fuck me
•Confusion                        What the fuck…?
•Difficulty                          I don’t understand this fucking business
•Despair                             Fucked again
•Incompetence               He fucks up everything
•Displeasure                     What the fuck is going on here?
•Disbelief                           Unfuckingbelievable

•It can be used in an anatomical description – He is a fucking asshole
•It can be maternal – as in motherfucker
•It can be used to tell the time- it’s five fucking thirty
•It can be used in business- How did I wind up with this fucking job?
•It can be political – Fuck George Bush

And never forget General Custer’s last words: “Where did all these fucking Indians come from?”
And the famous last words of the Major of Hiroshima:”What the fuck was that?”
And last but not least, the Captain of the Titanic: “Where is all this fucking water coming from?”
How can anyone be offended when you say FUCK? Use it frequently in your daily speech; it will add to your prestige.

Today , say to someone- “FUCK YOU”

James Morrison: Songs for you, truths for me

Now that exams are heavily knocking on your doors and you may be thinking that you cannot take anymore ,I don’t feel like teaching you another Word of the Day that would probably be the straw that breaks the camel’s back. So , I have thought about you enjoying some “quantum of solace”.
Probably one of the best albums so far this year. I have fallen in love with his music, full of soulful blues that seem to come straight from the heart. The album is full of beautiful songs worth listening to.
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Word of the Day : Sold out

Wriiten English and spoken English are sometimes different.
When we speak, we use different vocabulary, different grammar, and different pronunciation than what is in textbooks. Here’s one example. In most textbooks, you might find a sentence like this:
                                                       “The theater sold all the tickets”

However, in normal speech, we would usually say,
                                                       “They sold out”.

"Sold out" is a two-word verb- also called a "phrasal verb". 
Adapted from Christopher Moses