Bye Bye Bye!

Well, it seemed too far in October when we started this adventure of learning English together... and now it's about to finish! Well, this time I'm not going to say much, just goodbye, hope you pass your exams and, of course, enjoy your summer!

Please listen to the following songs, I promise it will be one of the last things I'll ask you to do, at least for the moment:

Placebo - Song to Say Goodbye (lyricstraining.com)





Let's finish with a funny goodbye:

Made in the US or the UK

BrE or AmE? I mean, do you prefer British or American English? Which do you find easier to understand? As there are some differences in vocabulary, spelling, pronunciation and grammar, learning about those differences can help you understand both varieties better, so why don't we work with it a bit more?

Watch the following video where the protagonist of Doctor House goes to Ellen Show, an American TV Show, and plays a funny quiz about British and American slang.




Now, watch this video about the differences in very common vocabulary between British and American English:



Next, you can carry on by using a British to American translator before having a look to the following information and examples about BrE and AmE:

British vs American English
Pronunciation of Vocabulary Differences
Vocabulary Differences (1st part)
Vocabulary Differences (2nd part)
Spelling Differences
Pronunciation
Grammar Differences
Business English

Now, do you fancy some real practice?

Ex. 1: British & American English Quiz
Ex. 2: British vs American Vocabulary
Ex. 3: British/American Vocabulary Matching
Ex. 4: List of British and American English Exercises
Ex. 5: Listening (Talk like the locals)

Now, listen to a very famous song, Louis Amstrong and Ella Fitzgerald:
"Let's Call the Whole Thing Off". Here you can listen to the difference in pronunciation of several common words in AmE and BrE.

Bridget Jones, a modern Elisabeth Bennet?

Compare these two pictures ... yes ... you are right, Colin Firth is in both of them! And not only that, he plays the same character in both, the famous Jane Austin's novel Pride and Prejudice and the film Bridget Jones's Diary.

But as we have seen in our class practice where we have analysed your reader for this semester (Pride and Prejudice from Penguin Readers Upper Intermediate) in comparison with this film, there are more similarities and differences between the two of them.

In case you want to learn more about this special relatioship, here you have more links, with commets, reviews, quizzes ... Don't forget to have fun!

Quiz: Pride and Prejudice vs. Bridget Jones (funtrivia.com)
It is a truth universally acknowledge... (bridgetarchive.com)
Is Bridget the new Elisabeth?
Briget Jones Web and 2nd movie
Helen Fielding - Bridget's novel writer (Wikipedia)
Some movie reviews

Would you like to know more about Jane Austin?:

Classic Literature: Jane Austin - articles, books... (About.com)
Jane Austin Centre Website in Bath, England

Do you know that there is even a Bollywood version of Pride and Prejudice? Yeah, I know, it's amazing! It's called Bride and Prejudice and was directed by the same director of Bend it Like Beckham. Enjoy the trailer!



Bride and Prejudice - Bollywood movie (Wikipedia)
Gurinder Chadha - its film maker (Wikipedia)

It's worth keeping an eye on that blog

Guess what? DIY English has been awarded with ‘Vale a pena ficar de olho nesse blog’ award by Laura Sánchez García an EOI English teacher and author of a fascinating blog called English Without End. I think you will find this blog really interesting, and although it is intended for advance students, I'm sure you'll find you can also work with most of the activities there.

This award is part of an initiative that seeks to highlight the blogs of other teachers and students. The chosen blog has to copy the picture (the one on the left), with a link to the blog from which it has received the award. Then you have to write ten more links to the blogs which are well worth a visit. For me, they are:

• Movie Segments
• English Without End
• Alpozo's Phonetic Blog
• Ana's Blog
• English Teaching Lab
• The English Blog
  
• The English Café
  
• Matilde's English Corner
• Carlos' English Corner
• Six Things
  

As the name of this award says, it's worth keeping an eye on these blogs, so please take the time to do it, you won't regret it!

Secret Stories

Now that we have discovered the secret story behind Barbie, i.e. the fact she wasn't originally created by Mattel but by a German toy maker and that she was called Lily. Let's see what more we can learn about other famous trade marks and best selling products.

Take the secret formula of Coca Cola as an example. We all know just a few people in the world know about it. Watch the following video Coca Cola: The Real Story behing the Real Thing to see if you can learn more about this famous company:

Now you can have look to the following videos about WalMart (an American chain of large, discount department store), to learn more not about how it was created but about the secret of its its low prices:

Walmart Secret to Low Prices (Part 1)



Walmart Secret to Low Prices (Part 2)



Next, why don't we continue with the topic of secrets to learn more about the world you live in ? Practise some listening skills by clicking on the following link from BBC Learning English Service:

Secrets of the Rainforest - 6 Minutes English (Listening)

Finally, would you like to test your ability to keep secrets? You probably know by now, anyway, try the following quizzes to learn more about you or people you know, enjoy!

Quiz: Can you keep a secret? - Elle.com
Quiz: What age do you act? - Blogthings.com