How did English evolve? - Kate Gardoqui (C1)

“What is the difference between "a hearty welcome" and "a cordial reception"? In a brief,

action-packed history of the English language, Kate Gardoqui explains why these semantically equal

phrases evoke such different images.”

Try this Ted-Ed lesson here: https://ed.ted.com/lessons/how-did-english-evolve-kate-gardoqui#watch
You can check your answers on the website and learn more about the topic.

StoryCorps (NPR) – Stories from people of all backgrounds and beliefs (C1)

Below is the task we did in class (group C11-1). You can try the listening on your own and then explore the StoryCorps podcast on NPR for more stories.

1. Listen to the story and take notes. You will use the notes to retell the story to a classmate. Think of the journalist questions to help you.

StoryCorps 376: The Bookmobile  (also available as an animation on YouTube)
https://soundcloud.com/storycorps/storycorps-podcast-376-the-bookmobile

Who? What? When? Where? Why? How?
If you like, look up the following words and expressions used in the story before listening: grinding; wave in; What's the catch?; devastation; volcano; devoured.


2. Listen to the story and take notes. You will use the notes to retell the story to a classmate. Think of the journalist questions to help you.

StoryCorps 459: Stitched Together (min. 7:35)
https://storycorps.org/podcast/storycorps-459-stitched-together/

Who? What? When? Where? Why? How?
If you like, look up the following words and expressions used in the story before listening: deployed; compound (military); rock paper scissors (game); show up; suicide bomber; dug (past of dig); desert camouflage, M4 rifle; what (be)came of him; footage; frame.

Test English (A1/A2)

https://www.test-english.com

This website contains a lot of material for self-study, from level A1 to level B2. It offers tests in three skills and grammar.

12 canciones son suficientes para aprender a pronunciar en inglés (A1/A2-C1)

Here is the link to the list. You can find the lyrics there, too.
https://culturacolectiva.com/musica/canciones-para-aprender-ingles

Here's the link to the YouTube list with the 12 songs:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4SlDqR2hlucTiYbDhfaId4zRFz8Al7oj

S is for Soaps (C1)

Interesting recommendation. What do you think about soap operas as a way of learning a foreign or second language? Read Scott Thornbury's blog post and find out what he has to say about it.

https://scottthornbury.wordpress.com/tag/soap-operas/

Grammar websites (C1)

As promised, here's a list with my top 5 grammar websites.

• Perfect English Grammar
  Wonderful website with very clear explanations and useful grammar exercises.
• BBC Learning English - BBC Learning English - homepage 
  New BBC site for ESL learners. Superrrb!
• Grammar | Arts and humanities |Khan Academy
  Grammar course by Khan Academy. Their mission is "...to provide a free, world-class education to anyone, anywhere."
• Grammar-Quizzes: Practice on Points of English Grammar (ESL/ELL)
  Practice on points of English grammar.
• The Purdue OWL: ESL Students
  These OWL resources will help ESL students in second language writing. This section includes resources on writing across the curriculum, writing in the disciplines, and it contains links to OWL workshops and exercises useful for ESL students. This section also includes links to ESL resources on the Internet.

Grammar practice (A1/A2)

These grammar websites offer exercises and quizzes for beginners.

• ESL Lessons For Beginners - GrammarBank
  Learn the basic language rules and use of everyday-life English while building up your vocabulary as you read more and more. Each lesson page includes explanations, examples and exercises.
• Grammar Exercises | esl-lounge Student
  Main page. Includes links to grammar exercise (4 levels), phrasal verbs, reading exercises and listening exercises.
• Learn English Free - UsingEnglish.com
  Learn English for free. Use our wide range of resources for students of English, including everything from language references, online tests & quizzes, to articles on English usage.

Try these grammar games

•  Learn English - Online ESL Games
  Website for those of you who enjoy practicing English through games.
• Falling Clouds - Learn English (From Learn English - Online ESL Games)

Halloween vocabulary (A1/A2)

Enjoy the Halloween puzzles and learn new English words.

Complete the Halloween crossword

Match the Halloween words and pictures

Listen and match

Happy Halloween!

History of Halloween (C1)

Halloween History | National Geographic

For Halloween viewing. Muahahaha!

Lecture 4b: Idiomaticity in language and what to do about it

In his lecture, Gregory Garretson, explains what we mean by idiomatic or unidiomatic language. The examples he shares make the concept even clearer.

Click on the link to download: Lecture 4b: Idiomaticity in language and what to do about it

Writing Concise Sentences (C1)

This is the link to the ppt presentation we viewed in class.
https://www.slideshare.net/jadaniels/writing-concise-sentences-1256571

For and Against / Discussion essays (C1)

Below are some links to help you understand how to structure and develop a For and Against (also called Discussion) essays.

• Five Steps to Writing a Good For and Against Essay
• Discussion essays
• Academic writing: For and Against Essays
• IELTS Essay Structures

1 in 4 workers in U.S. don't get any paid vacation time or holidays (C1)

This is a text video that contains what for you may be surprising information about the U.S. that we can discuss in our next class.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/one-in-four-workers-in-us-dont-get-any-paid-vacation-time-or-holidays/

The summary and link below correspond to the listening comprehension exercise we did in class.

"The History Of The Vacation Examined"
Heard on All Things Considered

In this interview, author Cindy Aron talks about the idea of vacations and where the notion came from. She also discusses the idea of how people's religious needs were part of taking vacations historically. She also discusses the idea of how people's religious needs were part of taking vacations. https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=105545388 

Here's the link to a fact sheet from the U.S. Travel Association Paid Time Off (PTO) trends in the U.S. We went through it in class before doing a writing on the topic.
https://www.ustravel.org/sites/default/files/media_root/document/Paid%20Time%20Off%20Trends%20Fact%20Sheet.pdf

The writing mentioned in the previous paragraph was an in-class writing on the advantages and disadvantages of Paid Time Off or PTO. As I'm sure you know, an essay is "a formal piece of writing which describes, analyses or discusses a particular issue. The For and Against or Discussion essays present both sides of an issue in a balanced way. In the concluding paragraph (and only there) you can say why you find one side more convincing than the other." (https://www.cristinacabal.com/?p=7367 Nov. 8, 2019)
In a separate post I'll publish more links to help you understand the For and Against (Discussion) essay structure.