Tuesday, December 11, 2018

Fake News. Listening



Listen to the radio interview about how false information spreads and do the exercises to practise and improve your listening skills.

The Twelve Days of Chistmas


What are the 12 days of Christmas?
  • They are the days between the birth of Christ and the coming of the Magi, the three wise men. 
  • It begins on December 25 (Christmas) and runs through January 6 (the Epiphany, sometimes also called Three Kings' Day). 

                   

On the First day of Christmas my true love sent to me
a Partridge in a Pear Tree.

On the Second day of Christmas my true love sent to me
Two Turtle Doves and a Partridge in a Pear Tree.

On the Third day of Christmas my true love sent to me
Three French Hens, Two Turtle Doves 
and a Partridge in a Pear Tree.

Follow the pattern

12. On the twelfth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me
Twelve drummers drumming
11. Eleven pipers piping
10. Ten lords a-leaping
9. Nine ladies dancing
8. Eight maids a-milking
7. Seven swans a-swimming
6. Six geese a-laying
5. Five golden rings
4. Four calling birds
3. Three french hens
2. Two turtle doves
1. And a partridge in a pear tree.

Traslation

Una perdiz en un peral
Dos tórtolas
Tres gallinas francesas
Cuatro pájaros piando
Cinco anillos de oro
Seis ocas empollando
Siete cisnes nadando
Ocho sirvientas ordeñando
Nueve damas danzando
Diez señores saltando
Once gaiteros tocando la gaita
Doce tamborileros tocando el tambor

Monday, December 10, 2018

Human Rights

What Are Human Rights?
Human Rights Defined

While some dictionaries define the word right as “a privilege,” when used in the context of “human rights,” we are talking about something more basic.*
Every person is entitled to certain fundamental rights, simply by the fact of being human. These are called “human rights” rather than a privilege (which can be taken away at someone’s whim).
They are “rights” because they are things you are allowed to be, to do or to have. These rights are there for your protection against people who might want to harm or hurt you. They are also there to help us get along with each other and live in peace.
Many people know something about their rights. Generally they know they have the right to food and a safe place to stay. They know they have a right to be paid for the work they do. But there are many other rights.
When human rights are not well known by people, abuses such as discrimination, intolerance, injustice, oppression and slavery can arise.
Born out of the atrocities and enormous loss of life during World War II, the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights was signed in 1948 to provide a common understanding of what everyone’s rights are. It forms the basis for a world built on freedom, justice and peace.

British Christmas Dinner. Recipes

Ingredients

  • 140g plain flour (this is about 200ml/7fl oz)
  • eggs  (200ml/7fl oz)



Ingredients
  • 1 boneless beef chuck roast (3 pounds)
  • 2 cans (10-3/4 ounces each) condensed cream of mushroom soup, undiluted
  • 1/3 cup sherry or beef broth


Ingredients

  • 750g frozen summer fruit (raspberries, blackberries, red and blackcurrants)
  • 250g caster sugar
  • 75g custard powder
  • 1½-2 madeira cakes
  • 4 tbsp sherry or cassis
  • 300-450ml double cream
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 2 tbsp icing sugar


Enjoy cooking!

Sunday, November 25, 2018

Reading for Thought

I found the following story (true) in Indi100.  Is a different world possible?

"We were walking in opposite directions near the new student accommodations, you briefly looked at me and kept walking and a couple of seconds later I turned around and started following you, I notice the moment you realised that I was following you by how your pace changed, your shoulders squared and you grabbed your phone. That didn't stopped me, you just kept walking and I maintained the distance (some 50 feet behind you) pretending to talk on my phone, I thought a couple of times on closing the distance and introduce myself, talk to you, but I didn't, so you kept walking, throwing glances to check where I was. I could also tell you that once you turned around the corner to the dead end street next to the motorway (the only one near the city centre were parking is not measured) were your car (and mine) was parked that if you had being wearing tennis shoes you would probably have started to run, but wisely you kept you pace in your high heel boots. I stopped by my car, yours was further down the street, and used my phone again, and I saw you taking a picture or video of my when you passed by my side in your car.
What you probably never noticed was the other two guys, the ones in the other sidewalk, the ones that pointed at you and started to follow you before we crossed the first time, you didn't notice how they looked at you or the fact that they seemed to be on drugs, or a bit drunk, or maybe both. You also didn't notice when you passed me in your car that they were in the corner of the dead end street, looking at you in your car passing by and then at me. You also missed the next ten minutes while I waited in my car for the police to arrive (that I called while you were getting into your car), the 15 minutes of questions that followed and me showing them the picture of the two guys that I took while I was following you.
I really sorry that I scared you, but to be completely honest, I was really scared myself, I'm no hero by any means and my instinct was telling me to get (*) out of there, but you could have been my wife (she parks in the same street) or my daughter and I wouldn't forgive myself I something happened and I did nothing to stopped it.

He later edited the post for clarity:

1 I shared this because the situation scared me, and if a similar situation happened somewhere else I wish that the situation is not ignored or shrugged off. Do I have any advice? Dunno, probably just this: if you think that you are being followed or that something is wrong, don’t wait to see what happens, call the police, call a friend, a family member, knock on a door or get into a shop, worst case scenario you’ll look a bit paranoid.
2 She was carrying some sort of briefcase alongside her purse and was well dressed, I think that the briefcase was what called those guys attention."


Tuesday, November 20, 2018

Children Go Blue

http://www.un.org/en/events/childrenday/

2018: Children are taking over and turning the world blue

This year the world is going blue! We’re asking individuals, schools and corporates worldwide to go blue to help build a world where every child is in school, safe from harm and can fulfil their potential, and we know you do too. Going blue activities include: sharing our promo video for Children's day, signing the global petition and going blue in support of children’s rights in social media, and much, much more.

Wednesday, November 14, 2018

Christmas Adverts 2018

CHRISTMAS is coming and with it, traditional commercials on TV.
They have become a MUST.



World Kindness Day

World Kindness Day is celebrated on 13 November. How can we become happier by doing kind things for others? And how can we help the world by doing kind things for ourselves?

QUOTES



MORE QUOTES HERE

READING COMPREHENSION. LEVEL B1

KINDNESS QUOTES QUOTES

Monday, November 5, 2018

Quantifiers with countable and uncountable nouns

Only with
uncountable nouns
With uncountable
and countable nouns
Only with
countable nouns
How much?How much? or How many?How many?
a littleno/nonea few
a bit (of)not anya number (of)
-some (any)several
a great deal ofa lot ofa large number of
a large amount ofplenty ofa great number of
-lots of-
+ noun

Note: much and many are used in negative and question forms.

Examples

  • How much money have you got?
  • How many cigarettes have you smoked?
  • There's not much sugar in the cupboard.
  • There weren't many people at the concert.
They are also used with too, (not) so, and (not) as :There were too many people at the concert - we couldn't see the band.
It's a problem when there are so many people.
There's not so much work to do this week.
In positive statements, we use a lot of:

Examples

Daily Routines

Find the mistake in Picture 1