vocabulary.com: Little Commas Make Big Waves

On the importance of punctuation, that commonly neglected area...

 

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English all over the place: Shangai newspaper talks about the Madrid education...

English all over the place: Shangai newspaper talks about the Madrid education...: http://www.shanghaidaily.com/article/article_xinhua.asp?id=28090

And a few interesting pics too!

Alpozo's Phonetic Blog: THE LOGICAL SONG FOR SYLLABIC CONSONANTS

Alpozo's Phonetic Blog: THE LOGICAL SONG FOR SYLLABIC CONSONANTS

A short lesson on how English vowels are reduced, and sometimes even disappear! Making it all the most difficult for the untrained ear.

Make sure you get some practice! It's a lot of days without a lesson.

English all over the place: The Madrid Players. This year's pantomime.

English all over the place: The Madrid Players. This year's pantomime.: Mother Goose Friday 9th December 19.30 Saturday 10th 16.00 and 19.30 Sunday 11th 12.00 and 16.00 Colegio Cardenal Spinola Calle Cardenal Ma...

Knowledge is Power... Francis Bacon

Makes me recall when I discovered in awe that right-foot socks and left-foot socks were interchangeable!...

Ever had a penny dropped like this? Share, post a comment!

FREE theatre in English at St Louis University. (Yes, gratis)

Com'on guys! Money is not an excuse!

English all over the place: FREE theatre in English at St Louis University. (G...: The Cherry Orchard by Anton Chekhov directed by Cary Barney Performances Thursday and Friday, November 17-18 20:00 (with a matinee p...

Student video - serious talk - powerful images

Maybe too much to take it literally, but certainly effectual in conveying the message. Good visuals too. Overall, a superb achievement for a student!

Maybe he really had something serious to talk about?



For the grammatically-minded, can you spot some of the grammar slips in the audio?

Fair play

Yes, this is precisely what you are all thing about. And no, I still don't dig soccer, and probably never will.

So the fair play is not on a soccer field this time, but on a theater stage. At Sala Cuata Pared. Such a much more comfy place!

A student at school acts on the play, and I think he'll be playing pretty well, but that's for you to see!

 Tickets are really inexpensive, just 5€! Hurry up, it's on only for the next two weeks!

Fair Play at Sala Cuarta Pared - check tickets

Dilbert strip - good fun

A classmate of yours just passed this on. It's good fun. You can subscribe and get it daily on your email or your reader.

Again, it's a great idea and resource to get some daily content in English, Dilbert, other strips, news, whatever floats your boat!

http://xkcd.com/

Passing of time...

English all over the place: History rhyme. 1492

English all over the place: History rhyme. 1492: In English-speaking countries, rhymes are often used to help students (usually children) learn about important moments or people in histor...

IN 1492

In fourteen hundred ninety-two
Columbus sailed the ocean blue.

He had three ships and left from Spain;
He sailed through sunshine, wind and rain.

He sailed by night; he sailed by day;
He used the stars to find his way.

A compass also helped him know
How to find the way to go.

Ninety sailors were on board;
Some men worked while others snored.

Then the workers went to sleep;
And others watched the ocean deep.

Day after day they looked for land;
They dreamed of trees and rocks and sand.

October 12 their dream came true,
You never saw a happier crew!

"Indians! Indians!" Columbus cried;
His heart was filled with joyful pride.

But "India" the land was not;
It was the Bahamas, and it was hot.

The Arakawa natives were very nice;
They gave the sailors food and spice.

Columbus sailed on to find some gold
To bring back home, as he'd been told.

He made the trip again and again,
Trading gold to bring to Spain.

The first American? No, not quite.
But Columbus was brave, and he was bright.

Follow the link above for more good stuff!

The Madrid Players Present The Yalta Game and Afterplay by Brian Friel - Oct 2011

Tickets ?  12 euros adult, 10 euros Under 17.

Book online at www.madridplayers.org

America's backyard

North & South. Rich & Poor. Happy & Sad. America's backyard.

Salesman pays $15 to move into $340K home

Everything seems to be bigger in Texas...

--- http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas ---

FLOWER MOUND — It has the makings of a tall tale: A man finds a two-story, 3,250-square-foot house worth $340,000 in a Dallas suburb and pays only $15 for it.

Kenneth T. Robinson, 50, who sells vitamins and other dietary supplements for a marketing company, laid claim to the 1997-built house in Flower Mound under Texas' obscure "adverse possession" law - commonly known as "squatter's rights."

Robinson determined that the owner of record moved out about a year ago and cannot be found, and the property wasn't listed for sale. He filed an affidavit of adverse possession with Denton County for a $15 fee, turned on the utilities and moved in.

"Unless they wake up and assert their rights to ownership, this man may have found a real business opportunity," Austin real estate lawyer Brian Rider told The Dallas Morning News for Sunday's edition.

Robinson's new neighbors are upset. One of them, Sandy Dawson, said she and others "believe in working for what you get."

Some even called police.

TALKING HEADS - November

DON'T MISS THE FIRST SHOW BY NEW COMPANY

WORDS + VOICES!

 

Julie Davies, Jim Trainor and Thisbe Burns are delighted to announce their brand new theatre project.

Three of Alan Bennett's classic TALKING HEADS monologues: A Lady of Letters, A Chip in the Sugar and Bed Among the Lentils.

 

TALKING HEADS

by Alan Bennett

at Teatro Liberarte in November!

 

FOUR SHOWS ONLY! (for now...)

 

 

For more information on the monologues and where to see them, visit our blog:

www.talkingheadsmadrid.blogspot.com or email 3talkingheads@gmail.com

 

Meet the Authors

Well, after all, one does not get photographed with one of the masters and monsters of English Grammar everyday, so, I'll take a little (very little :) pride and re-post here.


Oxford's Meet the Authors

Manuel (with a now-autographed, almost-first-edition of Practical English Usage) was there too, along with other teachers from Moratalaz and Vallecas.

Nuevas Instrucciones de Educación Secundaria

Confunde y se equivoca

A juzgar por las reacciones que hemos visto en las pasadas semanas, y por las que están por venir, parece indiscutible que las medidas de recorte incluidas en las Instrucciones de Comienzo de Curso dictadas este año por la Comunidad de Madrid lanzan un mensaje bastante contundente a la comunidad educativa y al conjunto de la sociedad. Para entender este mensaje, puede que resulte esclarecedor pensar tanto en el fondo como en la forma, y tanto en lo que se dice de ellas como en lo que no se dice.

Recorte de plantilla
El recorte dado por las Instrucciones se concreta en una reducción de la plantilla de docentes de aproximadamente el 15%. Como siempre, los números varían según quién los haga. El mínimo está en los 1700 profesores interinos citados por la Consejería, y el máximo en los 3000 docentes citados por los sindicatos, donde incluyen ya reducciones menos bruscas hechas el año pasado, a través de otros mecanismos, como el retraso de las suplencias por baja médica. Para conseguir este ajuste, las Instrucciones aumentan el número de horas lectivas de cada profesor, de 18 a 20 horas semanales. Este dato, por si solo, es el mayor ejemplo de desinformación y confunsión, voluntaria o involuntaria. Para entender la repercusión de esta medida es necesario aclarar dos conceptos: ¿qué es un profesor interino?, ¿cómo se estructura el horario de un profesor?

A few last videos to top off

Hi guys,

Some of you have been asking for links to the videos we saw in class  these last few days, so here you go. We didn't see all the videos in every class, so for sure there's something interesting for you to pick.

Derek Sivers' How to Start a Movement can be enjoyed by anyone (language is accessible and it runs for less than 5 minutes)

As long as you look at the pictures and their transformations, it's difficult not to enjoy Ursus Wehrli's Tiding Up Art. It's a blast, but language is more demanding though.

RSA Animate - Language as a Window into Human Nature. Personally, I love it. But it's actually just for the more linguistic-minded of you.

And at last, some vice and consequences, I mean, some poetry. Actually, a very powerful poetry reading by Felix Dennis.

Our buggy moral code

Hi guys,

Just a link to a very compelling TED talk we saw (only at some of the classes, though) about irracionalities... and on cheating while saving face :)

The English is pretty clear and understandable, and subtitles are available. Have a go!!!

New Year Resolutions

Hi Guys,

Just the links to the show we watched about gadgets to help you stick with your resolutions: Solutions to Resolutions

and a humorous song about the attitudes towards resolutions: Resolutions song