I hope you enjoy romantic music. Today you can practise your English with a song and a quiz. The song this time is 'Sorry seems to be the hardest word' by Elton John. Enjoy!
The Road Not Taken - by Robert Frost
Poems are like music. We often want to say something but can't find the right words to do so, then a song or a poem just does that, and it's magic. Today, I want to share with you a poem entitled 'The Road Not Taken' by Robert Frost. Listen and read it.
I love this poem and I wanted to try reading it myself. I leave this recording here and I invite you to use Vocaroo to try recording the poem yourself.
Watch the video and practise repeating the poem and then record your voice using Vocaroo. Then, if you want, you can share your recording in a comment to this post.
Vocabulary work: Match the words on the left with their definitions on the right.
1. Diverge(d) a right to have something or get something from someone
2. Bend (bent) to breathe out slowly and noisily, showing tiredness, sadness, etc.
3. Undergrowth to (cause to) curve
4. Claim to follow a different direction
5. Sigh from this time
6. Hence bushes, small trees and plants growing under the trees of a wood or
forest
What are the base-forms of these past participles used in the poem?
· Worn
· Trodden
CLICK HERE TO CHECK YOUR ANSWERS
I love this poem and I wanted to try reading it myself. I leave this recording here and I invite you to use Vocaroo to try recording the poem yourself.
Watch the video and practise repeating the poem and then record your voice using Vocaroo. Then, if you want, you can share your recording in a comment to this post.
The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
Vocabulary work: Match the words on the left with their definitions on the right.
1. Diverge(d) a right to have something or get something from someone
2. Bend (bent) to breathe out slowly and noisily, showing tiredness, sadness, etc.
3. Undergrowth to (cause to) curve
4. Claim to follow a different direction
5. Sigh from this time
6. Hence bushes, small trees and plants growing under the trees of a wood or
forest
What are the base-forms of these past participles used in the poem?
· Worn
· Trodden
CLICK HERE TO CHECK YOUR ANSWERS
Argentina
I would like to give you some information about my country. There is a lot to say about Argentina but I am only including some factual notes. You may also find some questions and other activities at the bottom of the text.
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Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic (República Argentina), is the second largest country in South America. It is a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires., which is Argentina's capital city. It is the eighth-largest country in the world by land area and the largest among Spanish-speaking nations, but Mexico, Colombia and Spain have more population.
Location:
Argentina's continental area is between the Andes mountain range in the west and the Atlantic Ocean in the east. It borders Paraguay and Bolivia to the north, Brazil and Uruguay to the northeast, and Chile to the west and south.
Some geographical facts:
The total surface area is 2,766,891.2 km2 (1,068,302.7 sq mi. Argentina is about 3,900 km (2,400 mi) long from north to south, and 1,400 km (870 mi) from east to west (maximum values). There are four major regions: the fertile central plains of the Pampas; the flat to rolling plateau of Patagonia including Tierra del Fuego; the subtropical northern flats of the Gran Chaco, and the rugged Andes mountain range along the western border with Chile.
The highest point above sea level is in Mendoza province at Cerro Aconcagua (6,962 m (22,841 ft)), also the highest point in the Southern and Western Hemisphere. The lowest point is Laguna del Carbón in Santa Cruz province, -105 m (−344 ft) below sea level. This is also the lowest point in South America.
Climate:
The generally template climate ranges from subtropical in the north to subpolar in the far south. The north is characterized by very hot, humid summers with mild drier winters. Central Argentina has hot summers with thunderstorms and cool winters. The southern regions have warm summers and cold winters with heavy snowfall, especially in mountainous zones. Higher areas at all latitudes present cooler conditions.
The hottest and coldest temperature extremes recorded in South America have occurred in Argentina. A record high temperature of 49.1 °C (120.4 °F), was recorded in Córdoba, on 2 January 1920. The lowest temperature recorded was −39 °C (−38 °F) in San Juan, on 17 July 1972.
Population facts:
In 2001 census, Argentina had a population of 36,260,130 inhabitants, and the official population estimate for 2009 is of 40,134,425. Argentina ranks third in South America in total population and 33rd globally.
As with other areas of new settlement such as Canada, Australia and the United States, Argentina is considered a country of immigrants. Most Argentines descend from colonial-era settlers and from the 19th and 20th century immigrants that came from Europe. Following the arrival of the initial Spanish colonists, over 6.2 million Europeans migrated to Argentina from the mid-19th to mid-20th centuries.
Religion:
The Constitution guarantees freedom of religion but also requires the government to support Roman Catholicism.
Language:
The official language of Argentina is Spanish, usually called castellano (Castilian) by Argentines. A phonetic study conducted by the Laboratory for Sensory Investigations of CONICET and the University of Toronto showed that the accent of the inhabitants of Buenos Aires (known as ‘porteños’) is closer to the Neapolitan dialect of Italian than any other spoken language. Italian immigration and other European immigrations influenced Lunfardo. This is the slang spoken in the Río de la Plata region, permeating the vernacular vocabulary of other regions as well.
- Where is Argentina?
- How many inhabitants does it have?
- What is the official language?
- How many provinces are there?
- What is the climate in the northern areas?
- Where was the hottest temperature recorded?
- What is Argentina's capital city?
- What is 'Lunfardo'?
- How many geographical regions are there?
- Where is Argentina's highest point above sea level?
- People who leave their home country to live in a new one.
- Not severe or extreme (esp. of weather)
- Climatic condition that presents heavy rain, wind, etc.
- Not flat (esp. of a surface)
- Typical of a region (esp. of a language)
Crossword: Simple Past - Irregular Verbs
Verbs in English are divided into regular and irregular verbs. Regular verbs are the ones that form their past form by adding "-ed" at the end of the base verb form (e.g.: walk = walked / clean = cleaned) Irregular verbs do not follow this rule. Their form can vary from one verb to the other and there is no rule to follow. This is probably the reason why many people feel that they are difficult to remember. What about you? Do you think they are difficult to remember? Check out how good you are at remembering the past form of some irregular verbs with this crossword.
Simple Past irregular verbs crossword
Simple Past irregular verbs crossword
Branding Crossword
I've created a crossword with collocations with the words "brand", "product" and "market". Click here to solve the crossword.
Branding Crossword
Click the links below to download a printable version of the crossword and the solution.
Branding Crossword to print
Crossword Answer Key
Branding Crossword
Click the links below to download a printable version of the crossword and the solution.
Branding Crossword to print
Crossword Answer Key
Funny Commercial
You're going to watch a very funny commercial. As you watch it I invite you to work with the following activities:
CLICK HERE TO CHECK YOUR ANSWERS
1) What's the commercial for?
2) Which film is it making reference to?
3) Why is the man in that place?
4) In what order do these events occur?
- The man (Kevin) jumps happily.
- Kevin does something in front of the members of the panel.
- Kevin points to the members of the panel.
- A woman looks at Kevin and claps her hands.
- A man in the panel says "good day" to Kevin.
- Kevin falls to the floor.
- Kevin explains why he wants to be admitted.
- Kevin takes a glass and spills its contents on him.
- One man in the panel blows his nose.
CLICK HERE TO CHECK YOUR ANSWERS
Reading: A short excerpt from Roald Dahl
Why is it so important to read?
When we are learning a new language we need input. This input comes, of course, from the grammar rules and the new vocabulary we learn, but reading helps us to put everything together. Reading helps us to make sense of all the enormous amount of information we receive. However, this is not the only reason for reading in a new language, 'pleasure' is as important as the mastery of the language.
I want to invite you today to read a passage taken from "Tales of the unexpected" by Roald Dahl.
The room was warm and clean, the curtains drawn, the two table lamps alight -hers and the one by the empty chair opposite. On the sideboard behind her, two tall glasses, soda water, whisky. Fresh ice cubes in the Thermos bucket.
Mary Maloney was waiting for her husband to come home from work.
Now and again she would glance up at the clock, but without anxiety, merely to please herself with the thought that each minute gone by made it nearer the time when he would come. There was a slow smiling air about her, and about everything she did. The drop of the head as she bent over her sewing was curiously tranquil. Her skin -for this was her sixth month with child- had acquired a wonderful translucent quality, the mouth was soft, and the eyes, with their new placid look, seemed larger, darker than before.
When we are learning a new language we need input. This input comes, of course, from the grammar rules and the new vocabulary we learn, but reading helps us to put everything together. Reading helps us to make sense of all the enormous amount of information we receive. However, this is not the only reason for reading in a new language, 'pleasure' is as important as the mastery of the language.
I want to invite you today to read a passage taken from "Tales of the unexpected" by Roald Dahl.
The room was warm and clean, the curtains drawn, the two table lamps alight -hers and the one by the empty chair opposite. On the sideboard behind her, two tall glasses, soda water, whisky. Fresh ice cubes in the Thermos bucket.
Mary Maloney was waiting for her husband to come home from work.
Now and again she would glance up at the clock, but without anxiety, merely to please herself with the thought that each minute gone by made it nearer the time when he would come. There was a slow smiling air about her, and about everything she did. The drop of the head as she bent over her sewing was curiously tranquil. Her skin -for this was her sixth month with child- had acquired a wonderful translucent quality, the mouth was soft, and the eyes, with their new placid look, seemed larger, darker than before.
"Lamb to the slaughter", Tales of the unexpected. Penguin Books, 1979
English - Exercise 1
Read the text below and answer the questions.
Sandra comes from New York. She's twenty years old. She lives with her mom and her dad in an apartment near the Rockefeller Center. She's a university student and she loves reading. At the moment she's on vacation in Miami with her parents.
Sandra comes from New York. She's twenty years old. She lives with her mom and her dad in an apartment near the Rockefeller Center. She's a university student and she loves reading. At the moment she's on vacation in Miami with her parents.
- How old is Sandra?
- Where does she come from?
- Where does she live?
- Does she live alone?
- What does she do?
- Where is she now?
"Quien no conoce las lenguas extranjeras, nada sabe de la suya propia." Goethe
Hi to everyone interested in this blog. I've always felt curious about other languages. Life gave me the possibility of becoming a teacher of English. However, my curious self wants more and that's why I'm learning French nowadays. I'm really happy with this new experience because I'm once again a student, a language student. I guess that's the spirit of this blog, to help others to learn a new language. I've decided to start with a blog dedicated to the English language, which I hope you enjoy.
Ale
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