Happy Christmas!

Unfortunately, this is our last post. The end of the year is already here. Most probably you are all very busy studying for your final exams and also making great plans for your holidays. For this reason, I won't take much of your time today. I just want to thank you all for having trusted me in this project, and for all your comments and collaboration. To start getting in the Christmas mood, here you have a very famous Christmas song that I would like to share with you.



Christmas is not only about giving presents, eating and having fun. The end of the year is a good time to calm down, relax and reflect on the things that we would like to change in our lives and in the world too.Why not? For this purpose, I would like to introduce you to a poet I really like: Benjamin Zephaniah. As he is better at putting words together than I am, he is going to introduce himself.
"My full name is Benjamin Obadiah Iqbal Zephaniah which is Christian, Jewish and Muslim. I was born in the district of Handsworth in Birmingham. My poetry is strongly influenced by the music and poetry of Jamaica and I can't remember a time when I was not creating poetry. This had nothing to do with school where poetry meant very little to me, infact I had finished full time education at the age of 13."
"I try to write poems that are fun but they should also have a serious message." If you want to know more about him go to his official website. You can have a taste of his poetry by reading this poem I have selected.
Christmas Wise
All I want fe Christmas is world peace
I don't want loads of food dat I really can't eat
All I want fe Christmas is a long holiday
An a house in Jamaica where I can stay.
I don't want kisses under mistletoe from
Sloppy people I don't know,
I won't be putting out nu stocking cos
I don't wear de tings,
I won't be cutting down nu Christmas trees.
I like dem living.

All I want fe Christmas is dis planet for ever
Fully complete wid its ozone layer
All I want fe Christmas is friends and...
No more records from Status Quo,
I don't want a white Christmas and
I bet We'll get nu more of dem cos of de Greenhouse effect,
An I reckon at Christmas we create too much waste
Maybe a green Christmas is more to my taste.
All I want fe Christmas is sum honesty
About de wisdom of Christmas
An how it should be
All I want fe Christmas is clean air,
But I reckon I won't get none
An I don't think dat's fair.

I hope you liked it. Thanks for all. Happy Holidays, Christmas and New year! See you next year.

Our new project!! Why don't you take part in it?

We are a group of students from Intermediate level and we have been working on differences between living in the city and living in the country. We have listened to a folktale called "The City Mouse and the Country Mouse" .
Here you have a Tom & Jerry cartoon in which you will find more differences between living in the country and living in the city.


Now, we are all interested in knowing what YOU think about the topic so as to have more ideas to include in our project. We would be grateful if you could answer the questions we thought for you and collaborate with us. You would find all the questions in our forum.
Please, do not forget to tell us your name or nickname, your age and your nationality
Thanks,

Intermediate Courses.

It is not only YOU!

If you sometimes feel that you will never master the English language, here you have two examples to make you feel that you are not the only one. If even native speakers may sometimes misheard a song, why feel frustrated when you, who are just starting to learn the language cannot understand every single word you hear. Here you have a video of a famous advertisement from the 80's in which you can see a strange way in which a native apeaker interpret this song.


Have you been able to understand the actual lyrics of the song? If you have been able to: Congratulations!!!!! If not, don't worry here you have the correct interpretation of the song.

Get up in the morning,
slaving for bread, sir,
So that every mouth can be fed.
Poor me, Israelite.
My wife and my kids,
They are packed up and leave me.
Darling, she said, I was yours to be seen.
Poor me, Israelite.

I will now tell you another interesting story. Sam Goldwin arrived in the United States from Poland at the age of eleven. He later became one of Hollywood’s most successful film producers, but he never managed to completely master the English language. According to wikipedia "Samuel Goldwyn's inferior English language skills led to many of his malapropisms, paradoxes, and other speech errors called Goldwynisms ("A humorous statement or phrase resulting from the use of incongruous or contradictory words, situations, idioms, etc.") being frequently quoted"
Some of his Goldwynisms are very well-known although probably not all genuine:
“Anyone who goes to a psychiatrist needs his head examined!”
“An oral contract isn’t worth the paper it’s written on".
Goldwyn often confused common sayings. Can you tell us which are the actual idiomatic expressions he was trying to say. Maybe you can also explain to us the meaning of them and provide us with an example in which the idioms are used. (You can leave them as a comment)
1) “Include me out”
2) “They’re always biting the hand that lays the golden egg” (Be careful! This is a mixture of two sayings)
3) “We have all passed a lot of water since then”
4) “It rolls oft my back like a duck”
5) “In two words: impossible”
We would also like to hear about your own experience with the English Language. Do you find any skill (listening, speaking,writing, reading) remarkably difficult? Have you ever misheard a song or confused common sayings in English or in your mother tongue? Can you share the anecdote with us? We are looking forward to hearing from you.
Finally, remember that in our forum there are lots of new topics to be discussed and if you are new to it yo can start by telling us something about you in the introductions section.

Let's introduce to one another!

It has already been a month and a half since we started with our blog project and we have shared activities, videos, games and lots of other things. However, I'm afraid there is something missing. I have introduced myself in the first post but I still do not have much information about you. For that reason, we are going to devote this post to getting to know one another. When you meet a person for the first time, what do you ask? Here you have some ideas to start with but you can come up with your own questions.


We have started in our forum a thread in which we can introduce to one another. There are some questions to guide you. Answer the ones you like and feel free to post new questions for us all to discuss.
Looking forward to meeting you all!

PARTICIPATE IN OUR FORUM

What would you do if you had a second life?

Have you ever heard of Second Life? According to wikipedia "it is an internet-based virtual world launched in 2003, developed by Linden Reasearch Inc. (commonly referred to as Linden Lab)"

A downloadable program called the Second Life Viewer makes it possible for the users, called residents, to interact with each other.Residents can explore, meet other Residents, socialize, participate in individual and group activities, create and trade virtual items and services from one another, among other things. If you want to get more information about this here you will find an article from the BBC, with a list of interesting vocabulary used in the article and a quiz to check your comprehension of the text.

This is an example of what you can do if you enter Second Life: attend a U2 concert!!!!

A new version of Second Life has recently been developed for teenagers between 13 and 17 years old. It is an international gathering place where you can make friends, play games, learn and create. If you are interested in having a look at it, here you will find the official site.

Now, why don't we use our imagination? Let's imagine that it is possible to have a second life, what would you change in your current life? Think about age, clothes style, hobbies, job, nationality, family.It would be better if you give us the reasons for your changes. Is there any aspect of your life you wouldn't change? Why? You can answer these questions and follow the discussion in our forum. We are waiting for your answers.

The Future of Our Planet!!!!!!

Have you ever wondered how much "nature" your lifestyle requires? In this quiz you will find the answer to your question.
"This Ecological Footprint Quiz estimates how much productive land and water you need to support what you use and what you discard. After answering 15 easy questions you'll be able to compare your Ecological Footprint to what other people use and to what is available on this planet."
Warning: The results of this quiz may shock you and make you think!!!!!!
Global warming is a term that is heard everywhere nowadays, but do you know what global warming really is? In this clip from Futurama you will find a very thorough explanation.



Would you like to do something to revert this situation? Apparently, there are lots of people who DO want to make a difference. Greenpeace has hit the news this week as a result of their original campaign to save the Switzerland's Aletsch glacier. Here you can find more information about it (You can either read it or listen to it) You will also find a list of interesting vocabulary used in the article.
What do YOU make of all this? We are eagerly waiting for you opinion and predictions for the future (leave them as a comment or continue the discussion in our forum) :

• What do you think about the Greenpeace campaign?Are they going to succeed in achieving their aims?
• Are you pessimistic or optimistic about the future of our planet? Would you like to share your predictions with us? You can talk about climate, the environment, energy, health, transport, agriculture, fauna and flora, and others.

We will be waiting for your comments!

R u a text expert?

If you live in this world, you most probably have a cell phone, send text-messages and communicate with your friends via MSN. But do you go to extremes like the girl we can see in this British advert?


I hope not. If you don't have a clue about what this girl is saying, you lack information on new technologies and internet lingo. Here there is a very comprehensive article and listening from the BBC on Instant Messaging. Now, that you have all the information you need we can proceed.
If you are a regular user of instant messages, you are aware that you have to be economical with words. For that reason, people have found very creative ways of getting their messages across by combining letters and numbers. You already know how to do this in Spanish, but do you know how to read text messages in English? Here you have a webpage with all the information you need. You can translate from txtmsg lingo to English or the other way about (from English to txtmsg lingo). There is also a very complete list of emoticons, txting words and acronyms.
Let's have a bit of fun with all this. Can you translate these text messages into plain English? Leave us the translation as a comment...

1. C U L8R M8
2. AFAIK
3. W8 4 ME, I’M L8, SOZ
4. KIT
5. HAND
6. TMB
7. C U 2NITE O 2MORO
8. Evtings funny as long as its nt hapNg 2 U.
9. The best wA 2 gt rid of doZe past memries is 2 brng somit nu 2 Rplce it
10. Ive a pen wich S blue, Ive a pal wich S u. flowers wl di,e waters will dry, but r Fship will nvr say gdby

You can also create your own text messages by translating them here from plain English into txtmsg lingo. Give it a try and leave your messages as comments...We will be waiting for them.

A Challenge for you all: Inventing a gadget!!!!

Do you know what a gadget is? A gadget is a device that is small and often not essential. If you have been studying at Challenge, you have most probably encountered in some of your classes two very famous British characters that have already invented lots of gadgets:Wallace and Gromit!!!! If you have never seen them before, here you've got the trailer of their last movie to get acquainted with them:"Wallace and Gromit and the Curse of the Were-Rabbit". In Pre-Intermediate we have been watching "Wallace and Gromit in a Close Shave" and we have devoted last class to work on gadgets advertisements (real and imaginary) that we have in our text-books. For that reason,we pose a challenge to all of you:

"Invent the funniest and most useful gadget of all times. "

Choose a gadget (serious or humorous) and write an advertisement for it. Don't forget to include a title, the advantages of your gadget, the price and where you can get it.

We will be waiting for your creations...leave them as a comment.

The Simpsons Movie

Simpsons Life-Size Diorama,
orginalmente cargado por omniNate.

We are finally back from holidays. I have got to know from most of you that you have seen "The Simpsons Movie" during the holidays. You've also told me that you liked it a lot. For that reason here you've got some things I have found on the net, so that you can improve your English while you go on having fun with this hilarious family.

First of all, you can enter http://simpsonizeme.com/# and turn yourself into a Simpson character by uploading one of your pictures. When you finish, send your creations to challengeeducation@gmail.com so that we can post them in our blog. It's not necessary to post it with your real name. If you want, you can invent an imaginary name for it.

After that, you can enter the official Simpsons movie site .There you will find some games and if you go to Moe's Bar you will be able to see the trailer of the movie and some clips from the Simpson's episodes.

And finally here you've got an episode to enjoy yourselves http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6iu5wDGgFmY. Let's find out what Marge does surfing the net. Is it similar to what you generally do? Tell us by leaving a comment.