French Candlemas and Crêpes!

Hello Englishbreakfast team!

As you know some of us are doing an English seminar in which we talk in English and prepare micro-teaching of our subjects in order to use it with our students. I publish my first micro-teaching which talks about a typical holiday in France: The French Candlemas and the traditions it involves. At the end of the .ppt document you can a useful video to make crêpes just in case you want to do them at home.

Bonne fête et bon appétit!

Ana French Celebrations

This is, like, so interesting?

What do you associate with the filler, "like"? You may not associate it with anything. In a second language, outside of the cultural context of that language, it can be tricky to learn which forms of speaking are associated with which social group. Often, as a learner, it's wisest to pick the most standard expressions possible. However, it's interesting to learn about the social information stored in linguistic choices. Consider the huge variation that exists in Spanish--how might someone's accent, intonation, or word choice vary not only depending on the region where they're from, but also their age, gender, or profession?

In English, you often hear that using "like" makes a person sound dumb or insecure. Or, maybe you've heard that "like" is something teenage girls say. This article in the New York Times offers a different perspective, and some additional examples of social language features. It comes with a short (7 minute) podcast, which you can listen to to accompany it.

Does anything in the article surprise you? How does this compare to "o sea" in Spanish? Are there any  characteristics you associate with "young" speech, and do you think everyone will be saying them one day?

-If you like fun linguistic discussions, take a look at this series of articles, "On Language", in the New York Times.
-Also, for a more scientific/language processing take on filler words (rather than social), try this article.

Anthony Bourdain´s Food Show

Hey all! One of my favourite shows from the U.S. is No Reservations. It´s hosted by the very charming Anthony Bourdain, a chef and foodie who travels around the world in search of the best local dishes and the cultural influences behind them. Self- deprecating, amusing and articulate, Anthony provides a fun way for brushing up on English! Having lived in Japan myself, I found this episode which was filmed there, to be very entertaining. But whether he´s in Beijing, Bogota or Buenos Aires, his show never disappoints! Just don´t watch on an empty stomach!

Accents

Hello all! I'm glad to see you've all been enjoying the blog--the variety of things you've shared is so interesting! I would only suggest that when you post a link, you write 2-3 sentences explaining what it is and why you like it so that people can decide if they want to click on it or not. Also, I encourage you to add a small picture to illustrate or add to whatever you're posting.

In the case of videos, (and feel no pressure to do this if you're not technologically inclined), know that you have the option to "embed" videos, which means that people can see them directly on the blog, rather than opening them in another tab or window. To do this, you just copy the text next to the video (often where it says "embed" or "share") and paste it into the "Edit HTML" tab when you're writing the post. The only time you might not want to do this is if you're posting several videos at once.

It looks great, keep it up!

Here's a fun video of one guy doing a lot of different accents in English--can you hear the differences? Do you recognize any?



P.S. I don't think his Boston accent is that good. If you're curious to hear one, check out this clip from Good Will Hunting (my favorite Boston movie ever).

Super Bowl Ads

On the 5th of February the most important sport event of the year took place. I'm talking (of course) about Super Bowl. Millions of Americans get together to watch the match and because of that, the commercials shown on TV are perhaps the most expensive in the year...and the most original too!
In this link you can find a rank of wonderful Super Bowl ads:

http://www.lavanguardia.com/economia/marketing-publicidad/20120206/54250523420/los-mejores-anuncios-de-la-super-bowl-2012.html

And here is my favourite one. I think it's just amazing. The photography, the record...great!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owGykVbfgUE

If you've liked it, maybe you'll love this cartoon spoof made by the puss in boots creators.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=8JsbSolUF5c

Monty Python

I adore this video!!! So much fun!!

Paradox

Paradox!!!!!!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u42Y3RbP7JE&feature=related

The English Blog

I recommend this blog   http://www.englishblog.com/

Chemical vs Biological Products

Hello again English breakfast:

This time I want to share with you a video which is originally made in French (in fact it is a French production) but has been subtitled in English. It concerns the use of chemicals in food and its consequences on our health overall, in children's ones. 

Its name is Nos enfants nous accuseront (our children will accuse us) and I really find it's a hard but illustrative film that makes us aware of some issues of our modern society and lifestyle. 

Have a nice view and see you at high school.

Best regards,

Ana

CLIL: Content and Language Integrated Learning

Hello English Breakfast bloggers!
This is my first time in a blog, so I hope to do it well.
Here is an interesting webpage link about CLIL and teaching resources:
http://www.educa2.madrid.org/web/aicole/secundaria
I've found it very useful.

Regards.

Laura

True Stories in Under 7 Minutes!

Hello Everbody! The program Snap Judgement features true stories that are beautifully narrated and are told in under 7 minutes. This show is very well produced! The music in the background of the stories always works itself in as one of the main characters. Another jewel of a show featured on NPR! Have a listen! http://snapjudgment.org/

Clichés!

Hello English Breakfast:

Today, I had to read some texts about love and watch videos concerning this subject and I found this trailer of an American movie: Two Days in Paris.
Although I haven't seen the film, this short video has made me think about clichés and our vision of foreign cultures. In this case, the movie takes over the French people and their habits perceived from an
North-American man vision ...It is a romantic comedy and therefore, sometimes a little bit ridiculous, but I encourage you to spend five minutes watching it and discuss it next day.

Regards,

Ana

Crazy English

The loose relationship between English spelling and pronunciation is enough to drive both language learners and native speakers crazy. However, if you're feeling up for a challenge, give the poem below a try. For a recording of the pronunciation, click here.

I take it you already know

Of tough and bough and cough and dough?

Others may stumble, but not you

On hiccough, thorough, slough, and through.

Well don't! And now you wish, perhaps,

To learn of less familiar traps.

Beware of heard, a dreadful word

That looks like beard but sounds like bird.

And dead: it's said like bed, not bead,

For goodness sake don't call it deed!

Watch out for meat and great and threat

(They rhyme with suite and straight and debt).

A moth is not a moth as in mother

Nor both as in bother, nor broth as in brother,

And here is not a match for there,

Nor dear and fear, for bear and pear.

And then there's dose and rose and lose--

Just look them up--and goose and choose

And cork and work and card and ward

And font and front and word and sword

And do and go, then thwart and cart,

Come, come! I've hardly made a start.

A dreadful Language? Why man alive!

I learned to speak it when I was five.

And yet to write it, the more I tried,

I hadn't learned it at fifty-five.

(author unknown)

For some more frustrating and fun English, take a look at these excerpts from Richard Lederer's book, Crazy English.

The 12 Days of Christmas

The "12 Days of Christmas" is a classic Christmas song in English.

You can find the original with lyrics here. "On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me..."

And a very funny parody called the "The 12 Pains of Christmas" here. "The first thing at Christmas that's such a pain to me...."

(thanks, Ana!)

The Future of Technology

This 1995 Newsweek article dismisses the idea that the internet would fundamentally change the way we do things.

"Visionaries see a future of telecommuting workers, interactive libraries and multimedia classrooms. They speak of electronic town meetings and virtual communities . . . Baloney[*] . . .The truth is no online database will replace your daily newspaper, no CD-ROM can take the place of a competent teacher and no computer network will change the way government works."

*Baloney = nonsense

How have we gotten so far? Which of the articles' predictions have come true, or totally missed the mark? Going into the future, what do you predict?

Check out this TED talk for a glance at the direction we might be heading.

War on Christmas?

In December, we briefly discussed the celebration of religious holidays in schools. How do you feel about this? What about in public places?

We concluded that the topic was not nearly as controversial in Spain as in the U.S., where it is subject to a very enthusiastic debate. If you're interested, check out this opinion article http://www.thenewamerican.com/culture/family/10172-atheists-continue-war-on-christmas or http://www.waronchristmas.com/, which gives you an idea of one side of the coin, and an on the other, an opinion article that dismisses the idea that there is a "War on Christmas": http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeff-schweitzer/war-on-christmas_b_1142492.html.

This cartoon is an example of the hyperbole characteristic of the debate. What do you think of it?

Do schools kill creativity?

Back in November, we discussed this TED talk by Ken Robinson. What do you think--do schools kill creativity? Are we educating the whole student?

(courtesy of Juanjo)

Recommended Links

Language Resources

Word Reference (wordreference.com) is my favorite bilingual dictionary.

For monolingual dictionaries, The Oxford English Dictionary (oed.com) is the most respected authority on the English language (from the British and historical perspective), but requires a subscription. Merriam Webster (m-w.com) is a good option for American English, and does not require a subscription.

News

The New York Times (nytimes.com) is my favorite newspaper, although it has a 20 article limit a month. The Sunday Review and Sunday Magazine sections are particularly interesting.

The Daily Beast (thedailybeast.com) is a news aggregator that has a "Cheat Sheet" of the top stories every day, with links to other publications--this is great for having a general sense of what's going on in an abridged format.

NPR (npr.org), the National Public Radio of the U.S., always has great programs--Monica's favorite is "On Point" (http://onpoint.wbur.org/)

Other

Radiolab (radiolab.org) is a fantastic series of thought-provoking podcasts; they recently won a MacArthur Genius Grant for their work.

The Daily Show (thedailyshow.com) is a satirical news program run by Jon Stewart--it's been on the air for years and has a huge following. You can watch it for free online by clicking on "Full Episode" or any of the individual clips. It might be a little hard to follow at first if you're not familiar with current events or popular culture in the U.S., but it's very funny and actually pretty informative--lots of young people in the States get their news by watching it. Stewart is super intelligent and is known for being very critical of the news media. I really recommend it!

(originally sent by email on 23/11/11)

English Breakfast gets a blog!

"English Breakfast" is a group for conversation in English at IES Las Veredillas: a collaboration between teachers and visiting native-speaking teaching assistants and teachers.

We meet in the Art Department during the break on Wednesdays and Fridays, and all are welcome! Whether you want to acquire some new vocabulary, increase your fluency, or just have a discussion over coffee which happens to be in another language, this time is yours.

As you all know, learning a language requires lots of accumulated hours of diverse kinds of practice, and it can be hard to find the time. The idea behind this blog (thanks, Juanjo!) is to provide a space for all participants to share links of interest to them (feel free to make use of the comments section!) to avoid those pesky Reply-All email chains. I will start by posting some past topics so we have them here stored in one place where they're easy to access, as well as posting short recaps of what we've talked about, and information in case you want to follow up and learn more. I encourage you all to contribute whatever you'd like to the blog, whether by commenting, posting directly (email me at stephanie.wye AT gmail.com to get access) or emailing whatever you'd like to me to post for you.

Take a moment to bookmark the blog or subscribe to it by email if you want to receive updates as they are posted.

--Stephanie