British humour vs. American humour?

Have a look at these links about British and American Humour:

British humour

http://www.anglik.net/britishjokes.htm  (English jokes, website for EFL learners)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/ BBC Comedy clips

British humour vs. American humour

http://www.lexiophiles.com/english/english-humour-vs-american-humor-is-there-a-difference

http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2007/feb/10/comedy.television (The Guardian article)

http://ideas.time.com/2011/11/09/the-difference-between-american-and-british-humour/  (TIME article)

http://www.wlpf.org/ENGLISHANDAMERICANHUMOUR.htm (a little article)

American humour

http://www.economist.com/node/21528998 (The Economist article)

Now, what do you think about British and American humour? Which one do you prefer?

Listen to some letters written from the Titanic

The BBC has launched a series of podcasts to commemorate the 100th aniversary of the sinking of the Titanic.  They feature letters written by people caught up in the disaster, written before and after the Titanic sank.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/titanic

Have you ever heard about green tourism?

Is the phrase "sustainable tourism" familiar to you? Have you ever gone on that type of holidays? If you work in the tourism industry, Have you ever offered it? Have a look at the following sites and reply to this post describing the start-up of a company which offers green tourism.

http://www.sustainabletourism.net/

http://www.gdrc.org/uem/eco-tour/eco-tour.html

http://www.fathom.com/course/21701788/session1.html

http://www.crctourism.com.au/

http://www.eos-std.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sustainable_tourism

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecotourism

After looking at all these websites and watching the video, Would you say that "green, sustainable and eco- tourism" mean exactly the same?

April fool's day?

Watch the following video and visit the links below to know more...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April_Fools%27_Day (Some history, from Wikipedia)

http://www.isabelperez.com/aprilfoolsday.htm (theory and some practice to undertand it better)

http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/hoax/aprilfool/ (100 best hoaxes)

Office ergonomics

Whether you use the computer for working or studying, there are some rules to bear in mind while sitting in front of it. Watch the following video and share your conclusions using the comments option.

Canada vs. USA

I am sure that most of you know something about USA culture, but what about Canada? Watch the following video and read the comments about it on the web. Then, share your opinion with us, commenting on some of the differences between USA and Canada that you have learnt.

Here is some information about Canadian accent.

Learning strategies: vocabulary

Many of you  have probably used cards to learn a foreign language, for instance writing the English word on one side and its translation on the other. The cards below will help you to revise your regular and irregular verbs, but there are many other dealing with adjectives, expressing emotions, and many other searcheable here. Have a look at the games, dictations, spellers, etc. too.

Escoge un modo de estudioDispersiónAprenderTarjetas

Estudia todas estas tarjetas | Estudia tarjetas de verbs

Writing a summary

Writing a good summary is not an easy task to do. You will need to express in few words as much content as you can. Here are some links -most of them thought for English speakers- to help you with this task:

http://www.enotes.com/topics/how-write-summary

http://www.wisc-online.com/objects/ViewObject.aspx?ID=TRG2603

http://homepage.smc.edu/reading_lab/writing_a_summary.htm

http://www.writeanygenre.com/how-to-write-a-summary.html

After that, visit TIME Ideas section, choose an article of your interest and try to summarize it using the comments option of this blog.

British vs American English

These links below complete the information that you have in your textbooks about British and American English. As you may know, it is not just a question of vocabulary, but also pronunciation, intonation, grammar and even humour, why not?

Vocabulary: 

http://www.mansioningles.com/vocabulario63.htm

Grammar:
http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/grammar-exercises/british-english-and-american-english

Listening:
http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/how/how-understand-differences-between-british-and-american-english

Pronunciation:
http://www.audioenglish.net/p/british_american_english_pronunciation.htm

Humour:
http://www.lexiophiles.com/english/english-humour-vs-american-humor-is-there-a-difference

Dictionaries:
Webster (to know more http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxford_English_Dictionary)
OED (to know more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merriam-Webster)


After that, it may be easier for you to understand the following video about American vs. British Slang, an interview from a very well-known TV show:

Did you like it? Use the comments option to express your opinion. 

Practice preapositions of place with "Las Meninas" by Velazquez

Learning prepositions with "Las meninas"

Gap-fill exercise

Fill in all the gaps, then press "Check" to check your answers. Use the "Hint" button to get a free letter if an answer is giving you trouble. You can also click on the "[?]" button to get a clue. Note that you will lose points if you ask for hints or clues! (Don't worry if you don't know some of the prepositions to be suited)

This is a composition of enormous representational impact. The Infanta Margarita stands proudly. Although she is the smallest, she is clearly the central figure; one of the maids is kneeling her, and the other leaning towards her, so that the standing Infanta, with her broad hooped skirt, becomes the fulcrum of the movement. The dwarf, Maribarbola, is about the same size as the Infanta; comparison Margarita seems very delicate.
the left the painting, dark and calm, the painter can be seen standing a vast canvas - it is one of the best self-portraits of Velázquez.

the head of the Infanta, the ruling couple is reflected the mirror, possibly sitting for the painting Velázquez is creating in Las Meninas. A courtier and chamberlain to the queen, José Nieto de Velázquez, stands the doorway the back of the room.[3]

The point of view of the picture is least approximately that of the royal couple. The spatial structure and positioning of the figures is such that the group of maids the Infanta appears to be standing "our" side, opposite Philip and his wife. Not only is the "performance" for their benefit, but the attention of the painter is also concentrated on them, for he appears to be working their portrait. Although they can only be seen the mirror reflection, the distant images of the king and queen occupy a central position, both in terms of composition and content.

As spectators, our position relation to the painting is uncertain. Are we excluded from the scene, with the ruling couple in our place? In this interpretation, the painting is completely hermetic, a hermeticism further intensified the fact that the painting in front of Velázquez is completely hidden from our view. Or are we standing the royal couple, to the real king's (not the reflected one's) right? This would explain the spectator's not appearing in the mirror at the back, but also raises the possibility that the spectator is intimate, at least spatially, with royalty. In 17th century Spain, this would have been a provocative suggestion. The fact that three of the figures - Velázquez, the Infanta and the dwarf - appear to be looking directly the spectator rather than to our left where, presumably, the royal couple is standing, lends weight this interpretation.

In recent years attempts have been made to view the composition in allegorical terms, based the portraits and mythological pictures occupying the background wall. Yet it seems most valid to accept face value, in Michel Foucault's words, "the working painter all his objective realism".

The painting has three focal points: the luminous Infanta Margarita, the self-portrait by Velázquez, and the half-length reflected images of King Philip IV and Queen Mariana. them may be discerned contrasts between the child's charm and her regal bearing, the disparity between the artifice of painting and the nature of reality, and the distance between the ethereal images of a king and queen and their dispirited court.[4]

X-rays have shown that Velázquez made minor alterations in the figures as he worked; first his head inclined to his right, rather than his left.[5] The painting which the artist is working is not shown, and has thus invited speculation that he represented himself painting, variously, the Infanta Margarita, Las Meninas itself, or a portrait the King and Queen. None of these theories is conclusive.[6]

(Text taken from Wikipedia)

Some tips to work on your listening skills...

This entry is devoted to those of you interested in practising and improving your listening skills. Apart from watching TV in English, reading specialized magazines or listening to the radio in English, you may also know that there it something called "ITunesU", an application developed by Apple, that you could download to your computer (it does not matter if it is not a Mac) and you could listen to lectures delivered by English speaking professors in other Universities.

Once installed the programm, click on ITunesU, on the left list, and select that option:

After that, click on one of the icons (podcasts), for example the second one, and subscribe to any of the tracks...

Once downloaded the video or audio file to your computer, you could listen to it or pass it to your Iphone, IPad, etc.

Any other suggestion to practise your listening? (Use the "comments" option to write...)

Letter of complaint II

Read the following article (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/travelnews/4344890/Virgin-the-worlds-best-passenger-complaint-letter.html) taken from The Daily Telegraph about the best letter of complaint sent by a Virgin client. What do you think about it? Have you enjoyed it? Read other articles related to this topic that appear on the same website.

Letter of complaint

For this first task I would need at least two people, the first one to write a letter of complaint (as a costumer) and the second one to reply (as the personal working in a travel agency). Imagine that a couple of just married have just returned for their honeymoon. They have planed one of the most luxurious romantic routes around the world and most of the booked products failed or would not follow their expectations.

To have a more clear idea on hoy to write a letter like this, here you are some links for you to practice and learn a little bit more:

http://www2.elc.polyu.edu.hk/cill/eiw/complaint_letter_constructor.htm
http://www.businessballs.com/complaintsletters.htm
http://www.howtocomplain.com/info/cl-template.shtml
http://www.google.es/search?q=letters+of+complaint&hl=es&client=firefox-a&hs=F6H&rls=org.mozilla:es-ES:official&prmd=imvns&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=7Es6T-C-ENS3hAey-cmcCg&ved=0CEMQsAQ&biw=1064&bih=875 (different images to know more about the structure of a well done letter of complaint)

Remember to use the comments option to this activity. Don't forget to peer-review your work after writing both letter.

Welcome message

Welcome to this blog created to help you to practice your writing skills. We have set up this blog for you to enrich your learning with collaborative activities by means of cheking other students works, what is called "peer review" in the academic world. This way, we hope we could encourage all of you to write in a more appropriate manner. Also, you will have to oppotunitity to watch some videos taken from the web in order to answer to very simple short questions about points dealing with the topic of this subject so that you could acquire in a better way all you have learnt in each unit. By reading some of the feeds on the right corner you will keep informed of some of the most relevant news dealing with tourism. Enjoy this blog and participate!