Learn American English Slang and Idioms with American Anthony

What you learn in textbooks is very useful information. But there’s a problem. Most textbooks don’t teach “slang” English.

If you want to communicate with native English speakers, watch TV in English, work and travel overseas then you need to speak and understand “real” spoken English.

http://www.americananthony.com

President Obama Second Term Speech

President Barack Obama delivered his second inaugural address after being sworn in for his second term as President of the United States of America.

Microteaching: Guy Fawkes

Maribel C made this microteaching about a very British tradition: Guy Fawkes day which you can find below. Regards. Guy Fawkes Micro Teaching Lesson

Waiting for Superman

Waiting for Superman (2010) is a documentary about how America's public education system is failing its students, focusing on the controversial lottery to get placed in charter schools (similar to concertados). The film follows five children in urban centers across the U.S., including New York City, L.A., and D.C.. Although the documentary has been criticized for over-dramatizing the lottery process and limiting its vision to only successful charter schools, it was generally well-received and offers a critical view of the current state of American education.




The trailer is above, and you can find a review of the film in the New Yorker (magazine famous for its literary and film criticism) here.

I encourage you all to watch it online if you have the time!

Adventure Tales of America

Here's a website containg tales about American history which can be worked online or printed to use them in class. I hope you find them useful! 

http://www.adventuretales.com/history.html

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

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?