EXPRESSIONS WITH 'MIND'

PHRASAL VERBS: DRIVING

Today's charts with phrasal verbs related to driving.

[13th CW] WHAT'S THE BEST WAY TO COMMUTE TO NEW YORK?

Many people have to commute every day. Commute is the trip you have to do to go to work. In smaller cities, like Coruña, people can commute walking, but in bigger cities, like New York, it's impossible to go walking due to the long distances, and people have to use different means of transport.

In New York, do you know what's the most effective way to commute?

Would you go by subway/underground, by taxi, by bike, by Uber or by ferry?

Which do you think is the best way? Make your guesses, then watch the video to see if you are right...

Video "NYC's BEST WAYS TO COMMUTE":

SOCIAL MEDIA vs REALITY: ARE YOU LIVING AN INSTA LIE?

Are we living an insta lie? Are we addicted to technology, mobile phones and social networks? Watch this video and reflect about it for a moment. Give your opinions...

Video "ARE YOU LIVING AN INSTA LIE?"

BINOMIAL EXPRESSIONS

These charts above and the list below are a compilation of frequently used English binomial expressions.

13. Short and sweet

Meaning: Efficiently brief in duration, especially when referring to an unpleasant task.

E.g. The staff meeting was short and sweet today.

14. Sooner or later

Meaning: Eventually, at some undetermined time in the not-too-distant future.

E.g. He’ll turn up sooner or later.

15. Step by step

Meaning: From one stage to the next in sequence.

E.g. We were shown the process step by step.

16. Neat and tidy
Meaning: In a state of good order; tidy.

E.g. The house is neat and tidy.

E.g. She was sick and tired of her daughter pestering her to help her with her homework.

17. Wine and dine

Meaning: To entertain someone to a fine meal.

E.g. The company wined and dined the prospective clients.

18. Up and down

Meaning: Upward and downward, alternately

E.g. She looked me up and down and hinted that I could do with losing some weight.
19. Back and forth

Meaning: Going from one place or position to another and back again.

E.g. The back and forth movement of the tide causes erosion of the coastline.

20. Far and wide

Meaning: Over a great distance or large area; nearly everywhere.

E.g. People came from far and wide to see the show.
21. Loud and clear

Meaning: In a clear and easily understandable manner.

E.g. The message from voters came across loud and clear.

22. Skin and bones

Meaning: Emaciated; very thin, as from lack of nutrition.

E.g. Look at that starving dog; he's nothing more than skin and bones.

23. Odds and ends

Meaning: Miscellaneous things.

E.g. The garage was filled with a random assortment of odds and ends.
24. Make or break

Meaning: To be a crucial factor in determining the success of something.

E.g. Vince knew that his ability to come up with a catchy hook would make or break his song.

25. Take it or leave it

Meaning: A situation has to be accepted without change, or rejected outright.

E.g. That's the deal: take it or leave it.

26. Sooner or later

Meaning:  Eventually, at some undetermined time in the not-too-distant future.

E.g. He’ll turn up sooner or later.

27. Wear and tear

Meaning: Damage or depreciation resulting from ordinary use

E.g. I drive carefully and have my car serviced regularly to avoid wear and tear.

28. Ups and downs

Meaning: Periods of positive and negative events, moods, or interactions; highs and lows.

E.g. Heidi and Mike had their ups and downs, but they stayed married for more than 60 years.

29. Little by little

Meaning: A small amount at a time.

E.g. I earned enough money, little by little, to buy a car.

30. Spick and span

Meaning: Clean, spotless; original sense “like new”.

E.g. I mopped up the kitchen floor so it was spick-and-span.
31. Slice and dice

Meaning: To break a body of information down into smaller parts or to examine it from different viewpoints so that you can understand it better

E.g. Transcripts of the debate were available almost immediately, providing some opportunities to slice and dice the contenders’ words.

32. Win or lose

Meaning: Whether you succeed or fail

E.g. Win or lose, you must be proud that you got this far.

33. Do’s and don’ts

Meaning: Instructions and warnings about what you should and should not do in a particular situation

E.g. Here is a list of do’s and don’ts for anyone planning to start a business.

34. Live and learn

Meaning: To learn from the experiences that life gives us (often you live and learn), said when you hear or discover something which is surprising.

E.g. You mean I can get a discount because I’m under 26? Well, you live and learn – I never knew that!

PADDINGTON 2

 Trailer:

London locations of the film:

PUNCTUATION BASICS

This chart summarises the different punctuation symbols and their basic uses.

More details on a previous post HERE.

'HOUSE' vs 'HOME'

This post explains the difference in concept between two confusing words: HOUSE & HOME.

[9thCW] COOKING PHRASAL VERBS

'-ENT'/'-ENCE', '-ANT'/'-ANCE' SUFFIXES

On today's chart you can see how '-ENT'/'-ENCE', '-ANT'/'-ANCE' suffixes work making adjectives and nouns.

SOMETIMES COUNTABLE, SOMETIMES UNCOUNTABLE...

This post is to show by infographics, how come words can be sometimes countables and others uncountables, depending on the context. This can be tricky confusing sometimes.

Video:

FAST FOOD

This chart shows examples of what's not considered as the healthiest food you can eat. They are all examples of FAST FOOD. Do you usually eat this kind of food?

31st OCTOBER: SOME HALLOWEEN ACTIVITIES

It's 31st October again, that means it's Halloween again!

In Halloween children and some adults usually disguise themselves in costumes.

Houses are decorated with Jack-O-Lanterns, lots of spiders, cobwebs, witches and ghosts.

On Halloween evening in the USA, groups of children are seen walking round the neighbourhood dressed up in costumes, visiting houses to get sweets.

Typical Halloween festive activities are:

- Trick or treat (going round houses to receive sweets).

- Going to costume parties.

- Decorating places. Carving pumpkins to make Jack-O-Lanterns.

- Lighting bonfires.

- Apple bobbing: The game is played by filling a tub or a large basin with water and putting apples in the water. Because apples are less dense than water, they will float at the surface. Players then try to catch one with their teeth. Use of arms is not allowed, and often are tied behind the back to prevent cheating.

- Visiting haunted houses.

- Telling scary stories.

- Watching terror films.

All the info about Halloween in ClickOnEnglish: HERE

HALLOWEEN 2017 @ "RAFAEL DIESTE"

It's Halloween once again, and as usual Bibliodieste, the library of our school, together with the English Department have organized some talks in English for 1st-ESO students to learn about the origins and traditions of the typical American Halloween celebrations.

This year's language asistant, Ben Davidson, from New Jersey, told our students how he has usually celebrated this American festivity, after checking on basic Halloween concepts and vocabulary.

Things we've learnt from his talk:

- It's celebrated on October 31st. It's not a holiday in the USA.

- Children disguise themselves, but not only with scary or terror features, some also disguise with pretty or funny costumes. There's no Carnival celebrations in the USA, so this is their way of celebrating something similar.

- In towns and villages, kids usually go round the neighbourhood homes with the "Trick or treat" game.

- When you get older and go to university, youngsters usually celebrate it in costume parties.

Galician version of this post @ ArquivosDoTrasno.

And our school has been completely decorated for the occasion once again:

ONLINE FALSE FRIENDS DICTIONARY

There's always a group of words you must be careful with at the time of working out meanings, they are FALSE FRIENDS. That is, word that look similar to other words in your own language, but don't mean what they seem to.

Here's a link to an ONLINE FALSE FRIENDS DICTIONARY. 

You can also find the same link at the ENGLISH DICTIONARIES & VOCABULARY HELP section on the right hand column of this blog.

LEARNING ENGLISH BY YOURSELF

You can't learn English with just the 3 weekly classes at school. Learning languages needs a lot of self motivation to improve. Here's a link where you can find 5 ways to learn a language by yourself. Take a look:

Five ways to improve your English by yourself

[9thCW] "GASTRONOMY", OUR 2018'S CULTURAL WEEK TOPIC

The topic of our 9th Cultural Week has already been officially decided and announced. This year it will be devoted to GASTRONOMY, which is the practice or art of choosing, cooking and eating good food.

So the English Department has to start brainstorming ideas of which aspect we'll be working on.

We're open to suggestions...

So you can propose... for example:

Recipes in English? 

British, American, Canadian, Australian... dishes?

Ways of cooking?
Best worldwide restaurant ranking?

You can already find lots of information in this blog under labels: COOKING, FOOD

So what do you fancy to eat?

Galician version of this post @ ArquivosDoTrasno

ADDICTED TO THE MOBILE?

[Based on info from "The Travelling Teachers" blog. "Are you a cell phone addict?"]

A new form of addiction has appeared in the last decade with the development of technologies and the great variety of mobile phones available: it's the mobile phone addiction. It's a widespread problem but especially among the younger generations.
Youngsters are using their mobile phones when they're bored, tired, lazy, angry or lonely...

Symptoms:

- Constant use of the mobile phone (even in situations which aren't considered acceptable).

- Loss of the sense of time while surfing online.

- Prefer spending time with the mobile phone than with family & friends.

- Feeling restless when the mobile phone can't be used.

- Wishing to have the latest model in the market or apps.

Physical side-effects:

- Finger, neck and back tension.

- Itchy eyes.

- Insomnia.

- Weight & diet changes.

- Fatigue.

- Distracted attention, difficulties to focus.

- Problem and study failures.

- Loss of interest in hobbies, sports and outdoor activities, which implies social loneliness, loss of friends and isolation.

Video "HOW IS YOUR PHONE CHANGING YOU?":

Rules for a better usage of the mobile phone:

+ info: Cell-phone etiquette

MAKING AND REFUSING SUGGESTIONS

In these charts you can find different ways of expressing suggestions and refusing them.

CONFUSING: LOSE vs MISS

Confusing verbs MISS & LOSE compared.

SUFFIX SUMMARY CHART

Here's a suffix summary chart. 

For complete information on suffixation, check previous post about SUFFIXES HERE.

CONNECTOR & LINKING WORD SUMMARY

INTRODUCING ONESELF EFFECTIVELY

TYPES OF HOUSES/BUILDINGS

A picture chart with the different vocabulary related to types of houses and buildings.

WORLD TEACHER'S DAY 2017