9/28/2007
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.
9/21/2007
It is not only YOU!
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.
9/14/2007
Let's introduce to one another!
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
9/05/2007
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.