The IT Crowd

As you seemed to enjoy the episode from The IT Crowd we watched in class, here you can find some bits and pieces about the next episodes. Have fun:

The IT Crowd Bits and pieces from YouTube

Now, if you want to know a bit more about this TV series, its actors or you just want to watch more episodes or clips, have a look to the following links, enjoy!

Official Website
The IT Crowd in Channel 4 - episodes and clips

Did you enjoy it? I hope so. Now... let's focus on more formal issues, if you remember we used the first episode of this TV series to review the 'not-so-popular' phrasal verbs we worked in unit 1, what a about some more practice... come on... let's try:

Face up to Phrasal
Funky Phrasal Verbs - bbc

Thanksgiving Day

Hey, this year November 26th is Thanksgiving Day. This holiday has not a fixed day, it's not like Christmas Day... but it is always celebrated on the last Thursday of November.

Anyway you are problably familiar with it due to a lot of American TV Series we normally watch. Unfortunatelly not always in original version, am I right? Well, don't worry about the past... think about the present and watch the following videos, hope you have fun!



What about Friends, Thanksgiving and Brad Pitt...



And a bit of American football...

Let's learn a bit more about this special day in American culture, some special recipes for this day...

Thanksgiving Recipes

Thanksgiving Day (traditions around the world, recipes...)

Well, by now you know the US is not the only country where Thanksgiving is celebrated. Do the following listening activity and learn how different it is celebrated in other countries such as Canada. Then try the cloze test, thus you will be also pratising for the exam in June.

Canadian Thanksgiving (Listening practice)
Thanksgiving Cloze (Reading practice)

Pronunciation: <-ed> endings

Once upon a time... there were some Spanish students of ESL (English as a Second Language) who still, at NI2 level, had some difficulties with the pronunciation of <-ed> endings. One day, they were fed up with this constant difficulty and decided to do something to definitely improve their chances to improve their pronounciation in this matter. That day, when they realized they just needed some more practice and be a bit more careful when speaking, was one of the happiest days in their lives because... Ok, ok, yes... I know, I'm being a bit dramatic and perhaps I overreacted but, come on, you definitely need to do something to improve you performace so...here are some links to make that tale come true:

First of all, watch a video where an English teacher explains the main rules of Past Simple pronunciation:



You know songs are a great source to improve your pronunciation, so here you have a couple for further practice:

A not so famous song but with lots of explanations:



A more famous song where you can listen, not only to some Past Simple endings but also to the <-s> for the 3rd singular person in the Present Simple and, of course , some Connected Speech examples:



And finally, a bit more formal practice:

Past Simple Pronunciation (Exercise 1)
Pronunciation Simple Past Ending (Exercise 2)
What does the -ed sound like? (Exercise 3)

Healthy Lifestyle

We've all met them, that irritating woman who turns up at a school reunion 20 years later looking almost the same age as the day she left school. Or the middle-aged man who can beat people half his age on the tennis court.

What a lucky group of people! Don't you think? Well, by now we have learnt that several factors play an important role in all that: genes, lifestyle, diet, personality... but it seems that the place where you live in is also important! There are several well known places around the world famous for their longevity rates. If you want to learn a bit more about them, watch the following videos:



Longevity in Andorra:



Longevity in Okinawa:



Now that you have listened to some information about the healthiest places in the world, let's see how unhealthy are some other countries, which one are you thinking about? Yes... me too.



Finally, learn more with the following links which include news articles, listening comprehension, quizzess... Enjoy!

Stories about aging and the elderly (news article, video, quiz)
Language after stroke - BBC Learning English (listening)
The Health Quiz - New York Times
Staying Young Aging Quiz

Heathcare in the USA

I'm almost sure you have heard some news about the public debate on the American healthcare system, am I right? Well, since Obama is in the White House he has been trying to reform the current healthcare system in his country. In case you just listened to this information in Spanish, here you can watch Obama explaining the main points of his plan for a universally free healthcare, this time in English!

This week, after all those discussions, the House has passed the Health Care Reform Bill, if you want to know a bit more you can read some news articles from the links below and even, go to the Media section (on the right hand side of this blog) and watch how the CNN or the BBC , among others, covered this issue:

House passes Health Care Reform Bill - cnn.com

Sweeping Health Care Plan Passes House - nytime

Senate Finance Committee Votes to Pass Healthcare Reform Bill - guandian.co.uk

Questions, questions and... more questions

'If you want a wise answer, ask a reasonable question.' Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) German poet, novelist and dramatist.

'To be or not to be that is the question...' [Hamlet]
William Shakespeare (1564-1616) British poet ans playwright.

These are a couple of very famous quotations about the importance of questions. In Unit 1 we were working with this issue, what about some further practice? But first, go to the following link and watch this video about How to ask questions in English:

How to ask questions in English - Video

I know... I know... working with all the different types of questions can be a bit difficult, so why don't practise a bit more and improve your average performace?

Questions Ending in Prepositions - bbc quiznet

Questions with prepositions - OUP Good Grammar Book - Ex. 2

Subject & Object Questions

Indirect Questions - bbc radio + practice quiz

Question Tags (Form) - bbc radio + practice quiz

Question Tags (Pronunciation) - bbc radio + practice task

If you want to know a bit more about questions, here you have a couple of videos about 'open and close questions'.

Grundtvig Programme EOI Villaverde 2009

You know this year our EOI has enterred this Programme, that means we have to prepare a project in order to introduce our EOI to the rest of the participants who will be meeting in Turkey next November 18th. You know that's why I have been asking for your participation, in your case as students of NI2, handing in typical recipes from Spain or Madrid,. By the way, thank you very much because most of you handed them in. I have thought maybe you would like to know what this programme consists on or even why it is called 'Grundtvig', was s/he a famous person in the past? Well, you could have a look to the following links and learn more about all these things.

Wikipedia: Grundtvig Programme

European Commission Lifelong Learning Programme

Who was Grundtvig?