Hello gentlemen:
Here I’m suggesting
you a very interesting material to listen to.
It's a children’s story of political contents. I’m sure you’ll enjoy it very much. It is ‘The Emperor New Clothes’ by Hans
Christian Andersen; only 12:24
minutes long, which I consider a very manageable frame to work with, now that
we begin this exercise.
If you can, please
have it ready for next session on December the 17th, so we can talk
about this experience, and from then, we will decide what to do.
Are you agreed?
Are you agreed?
Have a nice weekend,
see you next Wednesday.
Astrid Arroyave.
Thanks a lot, Astrid.
ResponderEliminarI've had a great experience while listening to the tale. I've been able to follow the narrator with no major troubles, although, of course I didn't understand several words whose meaning I had to look up at the dictionary: weaver, looms, canopy ... Words that, as you can see, I could recognize during the narration. Words that I knew but whose meaning I didn't.
Anyway, I promise to listen to the story now and again in order to get a listening as accurate as I could.
Please don't forget to correct my mistakes
Thanks again. See you soon
CORRECCIONES A PACO HASTA THE EMPEROR’S NEW CLOTHES.
ResponderEliminarHi Paco,
I want to congratulate you on your writing work. I am sending you all your messages so far, corrected. Besides that, I will strongly suggest you, four major points:
1. Make a draft in your Word Processor. Set the language to ‘English’, and let it guide you.
2. Try to avoid the excessive use of parenthesis. Use comas, semicolons and periods instead.
3. Don’t forget please: languages and gentilicios always begin with capital letters.
4. Select all of this instructions and corrections, paste them into a Word document and work from there.
Keep the good work and thank you very much.
Astrid.
SUGESTIONS SET, COMENT BY COMENT:
ResponderEliminarThanks a lot for your post, Astrid.
I've been able to learn many words that were unknown to me so far. Not even English words but Spanish words as well, as "escaramujo" (rose hip, the fruit of the rose), although I haven't been able to translate the word "waxwing". Maybe because I'm not an expert in birds.
Let me stand out some other English words I didn't use because I always use those similar to Spanish, though they weren't fully accurate in their meaning or their sense in the context: Convey (communicate), pursue (continue), etcetera.
Let me tell you too that I've never eaten any part of the rose. Maybe I'm not the gourmet everybody would like to be!
And, as you are now reading at this moment, I'm daring to write in English!
Let me invite you to use all the phrasal verbs you want to, although they usually drive us, Spaniards, completely crazy. As I'm also a teacher, I know that the best way (perhaps the only one) to learn is by demanding the student.
Anyway, let me ask you a question: have you ever seen an orange rose? Or even ... a purple one?
See you in your next post. And, of course, next Wednesday
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thanks a lot again, Astrid.
Ireland, specifically its capital Dublin, is a bit special for me since I spent several weeks there in the summer, 35 five years ago! Wow! I think I'm getting old ... In Dublin I could learn the English I still remember.
Of course, I hope to go back soon to stroll with my wife along O'Connell street, the Phoenix Park (maybe the largest in Europe), the banks of river Liffey , meet the O'Byrne family (who I stayed with and who I keep in touch on Facebook after all these years) and remember the great time I enjoyed there.
Meanwhile let me recommend you two great movies about Irish costumes and history:
First, my favourite one. In fact, the most wonderful film I've ever watched: The Quiet Man, by John Ford with the performances of John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara (an Irish surname, by the way) about a boxer who goes to Ireland to forget his past and meets love in the Irish countryside: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SH4OFXlvzKA
And the second one is Michael Collins, about the founder of the Irish Free State and the Irish Republican Army (which was considered a terrorist organization by the British and that, in fact, it was so after his assassination), a film by Neil Jordan (the director of another widely known movie, Interview with the Vampire), with the performance of Liam Neeson (an Irish actor who also performed Schindler in the awarded Spielberg's film). Collins' nickname was "The Lion of Ireland". Here you have the link to the film's thriller: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gb0BCqgMPmo
And, although, I haven't been able to watch it, let's not forget another film about Irish myths: The Leprechauns
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRdUKkxYzXk
And don't forget that the most known British secret agent ever, 007 James Bond, was performed in cinema by an Irish actor (Pierce Brosnan).
See you soon.
Hi Astrid. Good afternoon.
ResponderEliminarI've just logged in to tell you something I've heard this very morning: "US and UK are two countries separated by a common language". Isn't it funny?
Let's remember some few examples: fall/autumn, cookies/biscuits and got/gotten. Even the accent in a simple word as "address": in the first syllable in the US or in the last one in the UK.
It was a simple idea I wanted to submit to all of you, in advance of your post.
See you later.
Here I am again, Astrid and everybody.
Thank you for your post and your video. A lovely video indeed, and pretty useful too. And for the anthem, it's quite hard to follow because of its old English.
Regarding to the USA, let me add some short data from my own experience and readings:
* The Mayflower, the ship which transported the so-called Pilgrims from England to USA
* Perhaps because of the influence of Hollywood movies, the Wild West: Indians, cowboys, gold fever, Buffalo Bill. Of course, not necessarily in such order.
* And as I'm reading Ken Follet's Trilogy about the 20th Century, we can't forget the way that led the US to become the first world power (maybe until these last years, when China might have overcome the US): World War I (and Woodrow Wilson), World War II (Roosevelt and Truman), Cold War and the Wall (Eisenhower, the womanizer Kennedy, Johnson, etcetera), Nixon and the Watergate, because of the bugs in the Democratic Party, which led to Nixon's resign.
* And so forth, until Obama. And about this last president, let's remember that, although the slavery was officially abolished after the end of the Civil War in 1865, segregationism remained in the Southern States until the 60's. Therefore, his election was a definite victory on racism and discrimination of any race because of the color of the skin.
And now a curiosity: I've been to the US several times, visiting NY, Orlando, San Francisco (the most European city in the US with its "Seven Ladies"), Las Vegas (a city that is cool or naff, depending on visitor's point of view), and I want to tell you an anecdote that enjoyed me when I visited the Grand Canyon along Colorado River. A guide told us while we were approaching the Park, that the area had been conquered by the US Army to the "Latin American" Indians. It was a great surprise to know that North American Indians spoke Latin!
I think I'm brushing up on my English at full speed. Don't worry and be demanding, Astrid.
See you soon.
Wow! Thanks a lot, Astrid.
Anyway, let me tell you that we, Spaniards, not only get confused with phrasal verbs, but absolutely crazy with them.
I think I'll take my time to study these phrasal verbs you have introduced to us.
See you later.
Good afternoon, everybody.
ResponderEliminarThank you so much, Astrid. That's what I needed and what I was asking for.
A really hard topic, but necessary though. Let me tell you that I could understand accurately what Adam explained but not what James did. I had to struggle hard with James' video to understand him, not only his explanation but his English as well. By the way, I think I found out a mistake in his handwriting: "maintian" instead of "maintain".
I'll keep up trying to understand James ... I promise.
See you soon
By the way, I've been thinking about topics we can talk about. Let me suggest:
* DIY: tools and offices.
* At the supermarket: vegetables, fruits, meat, dairy goods, and drinks.
* The topic "travelling" could be divided in several ones: air (at the airport, the plane, the crew, maybe the meal they give the passengers ...), car (the road, the parts and pieces of the car, the city ...), ship (the sea, the passengers ships, the war ships, the parts of the boat ... You know: stern, bow, larboard, starboard, which always get me confused even in Spanish!)
* At the shopping centre (or center, in the US)
* At the department store.
* At the theatre (or, again, the theater in the US).
* False friends in English.
* Set English phrases and their incredible translation into Spanish. And the other way around.
* Sayings in English.
I'm sure we'll all be able to make a lot of suggestions to talk about.
See you soon and don't forget to correct my mistakes.
Good evening, everybody.
I see a lot of new words to describe feelings. Let me add a word I usually hear on TV programs: "amazing". Of course, talking about feelings, the proper word would be "amazed". And some synonyms: flabbergasted, astonished, taken aback ... all of them used by Ken Follet in his books, some of which I'm reading nowadays.
And in the song, a classical one, let's stand out an expression: "I wish" A very useful expression when talking in English.
Thank you so much, Astrid
See you tomorrow.
Thank you for your correction, Astrid.
I must get used to write in English and the only way is to keep on trying and making (few, I hope) mistakes.
See you soon.
Wow! What a very long post, with lots of new vocabulary.
As I guessed, travelling was a quite large topic. In fact, I think that each transport mean could be a single topic. Look at what I missed in your very useful pictures:
* In the air: Let's remember a classical sentence: "We're crossing through a turbulence area. Please take your seats and fasten your seat-belts. Don't smoke". Everyone gets scared, of course ... and thinks about the "life-vest". And everybody claps when the airplane lands.
* In the boat, a technical reminder: bow and stern, of course, but starboard and larboard (port) too. I always forget which side of the ship they are. And the word "pier" I learned in San Francisco because Pier 39 was a quite fashionable area with restaurants and shops.
* In the coast, another meaning for the word landslide (about politics)
* On the roads and streets, an Irish word (from French, I think): cul-de-sac (no exit alley).
I'll keep on thinking about it.
See you soon.
Thanks a lot, Astrid.
I've had a great experience while listening to the tale. I've been able to follow the narrator with no major troubles, although, of course I didn't understand several words whose meaning I had to look up in the dictionary: weaver, looms, canopy ... Words that, as you can see, I could recognize during the narration. Words that I knew but which meanings I didn't.
Anyway, I promise to listen to the story now and again in order to get a listening as accurate as I could.
Please don't forget to correct my mistakes.
Thanks again. See you soon.
ERRATA.
ResponderEliminar1. A personal note in Spanish,
2. It is 'COMMENT BY COMMENT' not 'COMENT BY COMENT'.
Thank you, Astrid.
ResponderEliminarI'll do as you kindly recommended me.
About the tale, let me tell you I've got some doubts:
* about the minute 1, is the narrator saying "weave stuff"
* about the minute 2, and again at the minute 5:08, the narrator talks about "their nap..."?
* at the minute 4:48, the impostors say"we shall be ... to you"
And now, I'm going to the cooking post.
See you later
Hello Paco,
ResponderEliminarYou are most welcome.
About the audio recording, let me see:
1. Minute 1: “weave stuff”, means to weave different sorts of materials.
2. Minute 2: “…put both into their own knapsacks and then continue…”
3. Minute 5:08: “…they put all of that was given to them in their knapsacks and continue to work…”
4. Minute 4:48: “…we shall be much obliged to you”, means to be grateful and indebted with someone.
I hope you enjoy the cooking post.
See you this afternoon.
Astrid.