Natural disasters

Click here to see some vocabulary.

How to talk about natural disasters.



Watch a video about natural disasters and what can cause them.

Listen to two people talking about extreme weather in Australia in 2009. You can read the script.

Listen and do the matching exercise. The script is at the bottom of the page.

Best audio/video news websites

The best audio/video news and current affairs websites to learn English. The image below is interactive. Click on the icon and read what each website has to offer. 

Cristina Cabal

Television

1. Listen to a conversation and choose the right answer.

2. Is TV a bad influence? Listen and choose the right answer.




Read a text about Reality TV.

Information overload

Listen to the interview and fill in the gaps using between one and four words. Check your answers in comments.

There's an introduction to the interview first.

- According to The Economist, Americans spend over 12 hours a day _______________________ (1)

- Manoush Zomorodi's been exploring this topic and has a project called "Infomagical: Making _______________________ (2) ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­."

- It’s not just journalists, nowadays many people has access to an _______________________ (3).

- There’s a great word to describe this _______________________ (4)(the compulsive desire to check or accumulate news and information); also described as FOMO - _______________________(5).

- The effects of information overload are really just starting to be studied. But when we feel overwhelmed, _______________________(6) go up. Our brains have a finite number of decisions they can make before they get depleted and become less discerning - so this is called _______________________(7).

- There are other consequences. We also _______________________(8) in cycles and what we're finding is _______________________ (9) is a slippery thing.

- When we keep taking in information, we lose the capacity to _______________________ (10) from it.

- According to a preliminary research we only use about _______________________ (11) of the information we take in every day.

- With this project they want to help people become their _______________________(12), to find focus more easily and discover what we're calling the magic of clear thinking.

- So first, when you sign up, you'll be asked to pick one of five _______________________ (13)and then next week, you'll only try to consume information that gets you _______________________(14).

If you sign up to do the project via text, you'll be part of our data set and we'll be measuring what effect  _______________________(15) an information goal has on participants' information overload.

Watch this funny video and answer the questions. Check your answers in "comments".

1. What did Billy use to be like?
2. When did he change?
3. What was Donna?
4. What happened to Sarah?
5. Who does this syndrome affect?
6. What are some examples of exabytes?
7. What does the brain do to deal with this new information?
8. What disappears first? 
9. What happens after that?
10. What does finally happen?
11. How does he describe the syndrome?
12. Is there anything we can do to help Billy?

Click here to read an article with some tips for staying informed without suffering media burnout.

The Media

Click here to review some vocabulary.
Newspaper vocabulary
TV genres
How to describe a TV programme

Click on "media" in contents to do more activities related to the topic.

News reports

Click here to see old posts about the same topics. 

Happy Thanksgiving!

Pronunciation of -ed in past regular verbs

Click here if you want to see more videos related to the same topic.

Improve your writing- AN IMPERFECTLY PERFECT DAY

Photocopy "An Imperfectly Perfect Day"

1. Try to match these phrasal verbs with the definitions in the photocopy:

PHRASAL VERBS

ANSWER ( ) BACK             BLOW UP                       BREAK DOWN

BRING UP                            BUMP INTO                   CLOCK IN

COME INTO                        END UP                           FALL THROUGH

FIND OUT                           GET AWAY WITH          GET OFF                 

GET OVER                          GO ON / GO AHEAD         

HAVE A GO AT ( ) / TELL ( ) OFF                              LAY ( ) OFF             

LET ( ) DOWN                      MAKE UP (FOR...)

PULL OUT (OF )                  PUT ( ) THROUGH        PUT UP WITH

RUN OUT (OF)                     SET OFF                         SET ( ) UP     

SORT ( ) OUT                       STORM OUT                  TAKE ( ) ON            

TAKE ( ) UP                          TURN ( ) DOWN            TURN OUT 

WORK OUT

2. Try to complete the story using them in the correct tense.

3. Click here: check the story and do the activity at the bottom of the page to check if you matched phrasal verbs and meanings correctly.

Improve your writing

This is the key to the photocopy I gave you.

SYNONYMS
Jump- Leap / Use- Employ / Hide- Conceal (formal) / Finish- Complete / Break- Smash / Hate- Loathe / Stop- Cease (formal) / Look- Glance / Choose- Select / Put- Place / Cry- Weep (formal) / Find- Locate / Kill- Slay (literary) / Think- Ponder (formal) / Help- Assist (formal) / Show- Display / Watch- Observe (formal)

SAY / TELL
Whispered / Shouted / Declared (say sth officially and publicly) / Recommended / Replied / Groaned (to make a long deep sound because you're annoyed, upset or in pain or with pleasure) / Insisted / Informed / Mentioned / Announced / Responded /  Stated (say sth formally in a careful and clear way) / Notified / Muttered (say sth in a quiet way because you're angry or annoyed) / Revealed / Asserted / Added / Remarked (to comment) / Exclaimed / Suggested / Answered / Sighed

GO
Wandered- Casually / Shot- Quickly / Slid- Secretively / Hurried- Quickly / Marched- confidently / Jumped- Abruptly / Strolled- Casually / Burst- Abruptly / Sneaked- Secretively / Rushed- Quickly / Crept- Secretively

ADJECTIVES
Packed: very crowded / Deafening: very loud or noisy / Ancient: very old / Fascinating: very interesting / Exhausted: very tired / Excruciating: very painful / Flawless: Absolutely perfect / Stunning: very impressive or beautiful / Spotless: very clean / Filthy: very dirty / Petrified: very frightened / Boiling: very hot / Freezing: very cold / Brilliant: very clever / Furious: very angry / Starving: very hungry / Tiny: very small

How to prepare "Pears with wine"

Victoria Romero (19M)

Good!
Check the pronunciation of the following words: pears, ripen, ingredients, such aS.
Be careful with these grammar mistakes: "I have invented some days ago" should be "I INVENTED some years? ago"; "those ingredients" should be "THESE ingredients"; "If you have..., you'd be able to" should be "If you have..., you WILL be able to..."; "fill THE pears";  "a dessert spoon OF sugar".
I'm afraid I don't understand what you want to say with "appears in this way".
Instead of "describe you a recipe" I would say "show you how to prepare a recipe"; Instead of "fill them with sweet wine" I'd say "pour some sweet wine over them".
Thank you!

Telling a story: structure

Click here to see the whole lesson about the video we watched in class. This is an example of a "free lesson" by Oxford. There are many more here: oxfordonlineenglish.com

Narrative tenses / Linking words / Stories

Click here to listen and read about the use of linking words in stories. There are also some activities to practise.

Click here to do some activities about narrative tenses.



Read the script here.

Listen to three stories and check your understanding (main idea- mediation).

How to change a worn bike chain

Juan Manuel Hidalgo 

How to cook a delicious lasagna

Sofía Jiménez Claramonte

Excellent video!
Be careful with the pronunciation of "vegetableS, salt, done and stir". It should be "2 eggplantS" and "the final steps". I think it's more common to speak about "lasagna sheets" or "pasta noodles".

Thank you very much!!

66 days lost at sea

Watch the video and answer the questions. Check your answers in "comments".


1. What caused the accident?
2. What happened to the boat?
3. What were the damages?
4. How did he survive?
5. What did he pray for?
6. When was he rescued?
7. Who rescued him?
8. What was the first thing he do? What did he tell him?
9. Why didn't her sister lose hope?
10. What was he treated for at hospital?
11. What did her mother tell the reporters?

Extreme Survival

Listen and read two extreme survival stories.

Teen who survived a plane crash

Click here to do a listening activity.

Happy Halloween!

Click here to read an article and do some activities about this holiday.