Tag Archives: fun

Talking Photos: Fotobabble

What a great tool this is!!

The Certificación exam is  just around the corner and bumping into this little tool right now got me thinking whether some things  happen by sheer chance or by  some divine intervention. Choose the one you feel most comfortable with .

Now, as you know , in the oral part of the exam you’ll be asked to describe  a/some picture(s)  in three minutes. Well, here’s a good tool to help you rehearse for this part of the exam. It’s called Fotobabble and it looks promising.

This is what you have to do to use this app:

  • First, sign up. Don’t worry it’s free and it only takes a few seconds.
  • Upload a photo from your computer.
  • Record your voice using a microphone
  • Listen to your recording.

This is quite OK as far as you are concerned but I’d like to see what you are doing , so why don’t you send me your fotobabbles ? No idea how to do it ? Click on the link below and in  a video and in Spanish I’ll explain it all to you. No excuses now!!

http://www.screencast.com/users/cristinacd/folders/Jing/media/a9ed9e6f-4356-468f-82d9-8c10558a9a8b

Word of the Day : Damn

“Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damnis a line from the 1939 film Gone with the Wind. It was spoken by Clark Gable, as Rhett Butler, in his last words to Scarlett O’Hara.

At home I was never allowed to use bad language or swearwords, not that my father didn’t use them more often than necessary but I swear to God I’ve never ever heard my mother utter a single rude word. My parents were brought up in the traditional way, which meant going to church on Sundays and even though my father then changed his mind about the Sunday ritual, my mother is still quite devoted to most church rites. I guess being educated at  a nun’s school ’til the age of 18 has a lot to say in this matter.

So as I said not a single taboo word was ever allowed at home although as you can imagine everything forbidden was used and overused when we thought we weren’t heard and also in the midst of some angry arguments among my siblings and me. Among the words we couldn’t use was the word ” Damn”and although we knew that it could only be used  in church ,by priests when preaching ( it is used in religious contexts to mean “To condemn to hell”) we liked to tease our parents by saying it as often as we could pretending we didn’t know it was popularly used as a cuss word.

Although it still maintains the religious connotations, the word Damn is used, nowadays, to express anger, annoyance, disgust…etc . Look at the word being used in context:
No, damn it, you wait a minute!
God damn it, the man said he’d write, so why doesn’t he send me a letter?
That car isn’t worth a damn ( worthless)
What is the Government doing to reduce global warming? Damn all (nothing at all)
Damn it all! (expressions of anger, annoyance or impatience)
I don’t give a damn about what they say ( I don’t care)

Now if you’re in the mood for more Damn, watch this video where  Beyoncé plays the role of a gorgeous housewife who can’t understand why her husband doesn’t love her:


Why don’t you love me?
Tell me, baby, why don’t you love me
When I make me so damn easy to love?
Why don’t you need me?
Tell me, baby, why don’t you need me
When I make me so damn easy to need?

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What to learn: a funny way to revise

I have found this site only today http://www.what2learn.com/ and I can’t wait to share it with you. It has lots of interactive exercises although most of the published games won’t be of any use to you as they deal with Maths, History and some other subjects.
But it has some games devoted to spelling and this is where you can do a lot of practice. I especially like the game  below these lines because it trains your ears too. If you feel it’s too easy for you , you can always click here and choose a harder level or play hangman or whatever you fancy.

This site also allows me to create my own interactive games and I’ve decided to try the hangman game first and see what it looks like….  awesome!!! Come on ..what are you waiting for??? Play the game  and guess the word before Grandma is abducted by aliens..  Target language : Sports. Level: Pre-intermediate

Unusual Sports

Victory belongs to the most persevering. Napoleon Bonaparte

There are no gains without pains. Adlai Stevenson

These inspirational quotes are  aimed at people who need some sort of encouragement when finally and after years of putting off taking up some kind of exercise they have finally decided  to come to terms with the acute necessity our body seems to have for some sort of physical activity.

 Couch potatoes are not trendy but let’s face it ,going to the gym doesn’t guarantee a six pack, flat abs and a tight butt . In fact, if you are thinking that by overworking your body you’re going to look like Naomi Campbell or Hugh Jackman , you’ll soon give up. Engaging in sports activities like tennis, football and even walking for an hour or so  will keep you interested for a longer time . But if you find these sports too boring or too conventional , why don’t you try any of these ??

Pancake Racing : In which each participant carries a pancake in a frying pan. All the runners must toss their pancakes as they run and catch them in the frying pan.

Welly/Wellie wanging or throwing – A freestyle sport that originated in Britain, most likely in the county of Yorkshire. Competitors are required to hurl a Wellington boot as far as possible within boundary lines, from a standing or running start. Each player has three throws, the longest distance thrown within the zone wins. Note that the word wellie is also often spelt as welly.

Wheelbarrow and Straw Bale Race – Each player in the team races over 50 yards with 4 straw bales on the barrow, then tosses the bales over a 6ft height bar. The quickest team wins.

 Cheese-Rolling – During the annual Cooper’s Hill Cheese-Rolling and Wake, competitors race down a steep hill in Gloucestershire, attempting to catch a Double Gloucester cheese which has been set rolling from the top. Often this results in many injuries.

Haggis hurling or throwing – A Scottish game involving, yes you guessed it, throwing a haggis. Modern Haggis Hurling is judged on the basis of distance and accuracy of the throw (hurl) and a split or burst haggis is immediately disqualified, as the tradition dictates that the haggis must be fit to eat after landing, yummy. The sport requires subtle technique rather than brute force, as the hurl must result in a gentle landing to keep the haggis’ skin intact. Despite it’s eccentricity, the practitioners take the sport seriously, with a World Haggis Hurling Championship. Haggis Hurling was even supposed to be presented as a demonstration sport at the 2004 Summer Olympics. Plans to use a fake haggis in a hurling competition at a Highland festival in Melbourne have split the purists from those who are fearful of the mess a high-speed impacting example of Scotland’s national dish may cause (see Haggis gets a bashing from fakes). It is unclear to the uninitiated if the sport promotes the enjoyment of this often maligned delicacy (to which a famous ode of praise was once composed by Robbie Burns himself). According to a Canadian source that disapproves the practice as insensible, the haggis is the main event at the annual Burns Night celebrations held by Scots and Scottish wannabees the world over.

Now , have a look at this diagram you have helped me build with your contributions  during the lesson. I have used a tool called Gliffy, which I recommend since it’s free.