How to Care for Extroverts & Introverts

No copyright infringement intended. For educational, non-commercial purposes only.

Where the Hell is Matt?

Matt is a 36-year-old American guy who decided to quit his job as a game designer to travel until money ran out. Once, when travelling, his friend said: "Hey, why don't you stand over there and do your stupid dance. I'll record it." Matt did it, and he thought it looked pretty funny, so he kept on doing it everywhere he went.

That turned out to be a very good idea. He put the video of his dancing adventures on his blog (later on Youtube) and became famous as "That guy who dances on the internet”.

In the meantime, Matt got an email from a chewing gum company called Stride. They asked if he'd be interested in making another dancing video for them. This was only the beginning of a series of four different videos shot at various different places all around the world.

In his beginnings, he mostly just danced in front of iconic landmarks, but along the way he went to a country called Rwanda, and since there aren't any landmarks in Rwanda that you'd want to dance in front of, instead he just went to a small village and danced with a bunch of kids. The kids joined him immediately and without hesitation, and taught him that people are a whole lot more interesting than old landmarks and monuments.

The video below was released in June 2012. It was shot at 71 different locations, comprising 55 countries and 11 US states. The interesting thing about Matt’s videos is to be able to visually travel to many different countries in about 5 minutes, appreciating, in some cases, various aspects of their culture, architecture, environment or traditions.

No copyright infringement intended. For educational, non-commercial purposes only.

'The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us', by Jocelyn McLean

At my brother’s convocation, my dad was asked to address the graduating class. The overarching theme of his speech was a question he had asked us regularly while we were young: if money were not an object, what would you do with your life? This question, and the ideas behind it, is something he reminds my brothers and I of regularly. What are you passionate about? When you take money out of the equation, what is it that motivates you?

I stumbled across this lively RSA Animate video by Dan Pink about that very question which  illustrates the hidden truths behind what really motivates us at home and in the workplace. He tackles the fundamental assumption that (financial) rewards are the fundamental motivator for performance. Based on this assumption, performance quality should increase with larger incentives. An economics study found that this was true for tasks that required only mechanical skill; however, once a task required more cognitive and creative thinking, larger rewards in fact led to poorer performance.

According to Dan Pink’s research, there are three factors that lead to better performance and personal satisfaction: autonomy, mastery, and purpose.

Labor English Zone 3rd Anniversary

Labor English Zone started on 6th December 2009. Since then we have published 600+ posts and have received over 23,000 visitors who have viewed more than 42,000 pages. Our busiest day was 11th May 2010, when our hits peaked at 122 visitors (we guess the following day there was a pbl deadline or some kind of exam!!). Posted on February 27th 2010, this entry about school jokes, with over 3,000 visitors, has been the most popular one during our first three years.

...and after all this time things can only get better: As you probably know, we have to boast our new writer at LEZ, Raquel LP, whose contribution and insight are truly invaluable.

We want to thank you all for being there and for your visits. We would like to encourage you to send us comments and messages with your ideas and suggestions for new posts. We are interested in hearing what interests you.

To celebrate we are 3 years old, we publish again our first post, "The Italian Man Who Went to Malta":

6th December 2009

Let's begin with some humour. Italian and Spanish are arguably the hardest accents to get rid of. Practise pronunciation drills and try to polish your accent in case you go to Malta too!!

No copyright infringement intended. For educational, non-commercial purposes only.

If You Give a Little Love You Can Get a Little Love of Your Own

“If you give a little love you can get a little love of your own” is part of a song entitled “Give a Little Love” by the English band “Noah and the Whale”.

The aim of the video below is to show that a little kind action of ours perceived by another person may lead to this person acting in a positive way towards others.

As it is said, “Love feeds love”.

No copyright infringement intended. For educational, non-commercial purposes only.

The Phantom Traffic Jam - An Explanation

They appear from out of nowhere, cause chaos for hours on end, and then disappear without a trace. They are the 'phantom traffic jams' - queues of stationary cars that develop for no apparent reason - and they seem to happen very frequently on Rande bridge.

They have the power to completely ruin a bank holiday. It has been revealed that phantom traffic jams can be caused by the actions of just one driver: under the right conditions, one individual's bad driving can create 'a traffic tsunami which can affect traffic up to 50 miles away.

16 Things You Didn't Know about Sleep

Click here to see the picture enlarged

No copyright infringement intended. For educational, non-commercial purposes only.

The Amazing World of Australian Roadsigns

So Australia strikes again at LEZ!

This time we would like to illuminate you about one of the most striking aspects of the Land Down Under, especially when visiting the country as a tourist. We are not referring to beautiful Sydney with its Harbour Bridge and Opera House, neither are we talking about Ayers Rock in the centre of the country nor the beautiful fauna found at the Great Barrier Reef. Today we’ll be dealing with Australian road signs!

As in any developed country, signs of notice, stop, caution, danger, obedience, emergency, safety and many others may be found in Australian roads. In any case, the most popular ones are those regarding caution and danger.  Most of them are diamond shaped, with a black picture or message on a yellow background.

And here it comes the interesting part. While in Spain drivers must be aware of “cows” or “deers” (at most), Australians were eager to show the wide variety their fauna has to offer. Hence, they designed funny caution and danger road signs with pictures of various Australian animals on them:

Don't stop me now

Click on the "Read more" link below to read the lyrics to this awesome song:

Warner Bross and Universal Pictures present...

Dear students,

There’s only one month left to celebrate the 25^th December, aka Christmas Day. A good plan for this day, apart from spending it having those lavish dinners with the family, is to go to the cinema, in spite of the recent increase in prices that the big screen has suffered.

Literature has always been one of the main sources of inspiration for the development of movies. From LEZ, we’d like to recommend you two films which will be released precisely on Christmas Day this year, based on two key classic English and French literary works: The Great Gatsby and Les  Misérables.

In case you’d like to watch the movies in original version, there are some cinemas in Vigo which offer that possibility, such as Cines Yelmo and Multicines Norte. Nevertheless, we do not promise they’ll precisely screen these films in English...

Dumb Ways to Die

Dumb Ways to Die is a song by Australian band Tangerine Kitty. The Melbourne Metro created this awesome animated video-clip as a reminder that getting hit by a train is the dumbest way to die.

DUMB - Ignoring the signal at a pedestrian level crossing
SMART - It's just common sense to obey signals at level crossings. Trains move faster than you think... so be smart, obey the signals, look both ways and double check before crossing.

You can find more dumb ways to die here

Set fire to your hair 
Poke a stick at a grizzly bear 
Eat medicines that’s out of date 
Use your private parts as piranha bait 

Dumb ways to die, so many dumb ways to die

Procrasti-Nation

(Reblogged from Wrong Hands)

I bet you have never been to this country, but you do know it quite well, don't you...? ;)

No copyright infringement intended. For educational, non-commercial purposes only.

Thanksgiving 2012 - 4th Thursday of November

Thanksgiving Day is a harvest festival celebrated primarily in the United States and Canada. Traditionally, it has been a time to give thanks for a bountiful harvest. While it may have been religious in origin, Thanksgiving is now primarily identified as a secular holiday. It is sometimes casually referred to as Turkey Day.

In Canada, Thanksgiving Day is celebrated on the second Monday in October, which is Columbus Day in the United States. In the United States, it falls on the fourth Thursday of November. Since being fixed at the fourth Thursday in November by law in 1941, the holiday in the United States can occur on any date from November 22 to November 28. When it falls on November 22 or 23, it is not the last Thursday, but the penultimate Thursday in November. As it is a Federal holiday, all United States government offices are closed and employees are paid for that day. It is also a holiday for the New York Stock Exchange and most other financial markets and financial services companies.

Marca in English

ESO Students,

If you like sports, especially football, and you usually read sports newspapers such as Marca now you can pursue your passion and learn English at the same time: 

Marca has launched a website in English where you will find all the news and info on your favourite sports, clubs and idols.

Things Never To Say To A Teacher

(Reblogged from Singing Pigs)

A short little piece inspired by the tenth student in fifteen minutes to inquire about a test.

1. Have you graded our tests yet?

No. Contrary to popular belief, I am not a Scantron machine. Good thing, too, because to my knowledge, Scantron machines cannot grade short answer or essay questions which make up the bulk of your test. And while I do consider myself a reasonably intelligent human being I have not yet perfected my reading skills to complete ninety, four-page tests in one hour (which is exactly how long it has been since you walked out of my classroom) even if I weren’t teaching the rest of the day or preparing your classes for tomorrow. I reassure you that the second the tests are graded, the grades will be posted online because (also contrary to popular belief) I have better things to do than get my kicks by keeping already-graded-but-still-unentered exams around my house for added decor or extra toilet paper. Even though I’m paid peanuts, even I can afford toilet paper. So scoot your butt out of here and let me start digging through this pile o’ trees I just killed in the interest of furthering your education.

ESO 2 2012-13 1st Term PBL: My City

This photograph courtesy of TripAdvisor

ESO 2 Students,

This is your 2012-13 1st term PBL assignment.

You must PRINT/COPY THIS POST and BRING IT TO CLASS during the lessons on MONDAY 19th & WEDNESDAY 21st November. Before that, you must READ IT CAREFULLY AT HOME and try to understand as much as possible

At school, during those 2 lessons, you will work in 4 groups of students per class. Your task is to WRITE A COMPOSITION ABOUT VIGO as in a touristic leaflet. You can bring any dictionaries, books, guides or whatever material you consider necessary for those 2 sessions.

You must write AT LEAST 3 PARAGRAPHS including this information:

What Type of Learner Are You?

(Original source: OnlineCollege.org)

ESO Students,

What type of learners are you? What's the most efective way you learn? Are you a visual learner, an auditory learner, a read/write learner or a kinesthetic learner? Click here to see the image enlarged and find out:

Original source: OnlineCollege.org

No copyright infringement intended. For educational, non-commercial purposes only.

November Quiz. Encrypted Messages.

Dear ESO students,

November is already here, and so is the quiz corresponding to this present month.

This time, we’d like you to pay attention to the encrypted messages below, corresponding to three different quotes.

As usual, the first student who’s able to write those three quotes in English providing the name of the person who said them will be given a 10.

Good luck and enjoy!

FIRST QUOTE:

.-/.-../.--/.-/-.--/...//..-./---/.-./--./../...-/.//-.--/---/..-/.-.//./-././--/.././.../--..--//-./---/-/..../../-./--.//.-/-./-./---/-.--/...//-/...././--//.../---//--/..-/----/.-.-.-/

SECOND QUOTE:

.-//.--././.-./.../---/-.//.--/..../---//-././...-/./.-.//--/.-/-.././/.-//--/../.../-/.-/-.-/./--..--//-././...-/./.-.//-/.-./.././-..//.-/-./-.--/-/..../../-./--.//-././.--/.-.-.-/

THIRD QUOTE:

-/...././/--./.-././.-/-/./.../-//-/..../../-./--.//-.--/---/..-//.--/../.-../.-..//./...-/./.-.//.-.././.-/.-./-.//../...//.---/..-/.../-//-/---//.-../---/...-/.//.-/-./-..//-..././/.-../---/...-/./-..//../-.//.-././-/..-/.-./-./.-.-.-/

No copyright infringement intended. For educational, non-commercial purposes only.

What do you want to be when you grow up?

ESO 4 Students,

Are you looking for your passion in life? Discover who you are, what you love, and the career that’s meant for you on Sokanu.... while reading in English and  learning lots of new vocabulary.

Your career, next to your relationships with friends and family, is the most important investment of your life. It's likely the greatest investment of your time. It's the biggest decider of the type of people you spend your time with every day, the environment that you spend your days in, and what you do with your mind and body. The cool part is that all of these details are what make a fun, purposeful life well-lived.

Sokanu is to be the place you come to whenever you have a question about your career. What do I want to be when I grow up? Who am I as a person? Who is similar to me? 

Sokanu is a platform for everyone. Nearly every person must "work" to make a living, yet very few of us find the work we are meant to do.

Remembrance Day 2012

LEST WE FORGET

Remembrance Day – also known as Poppy Day or Armistice Day (the event it commemorates) or Veterans Day – is a Commonwealth holiday (observed in all Commonwealth countries except Mozambique) to commemorate the sacrifices of members of the armed forces and of civilians in times of war, specifically since the First World War. 

It is observed on 11th November to recall the end of World War I on that date in 1918 (major hostilities of World War I were formally ended "at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month" of 1918 with the German signing of the Armistice). The day was specifically dedicated by King George V, on 7th November 1919, to the observance of members of the armed forces who were killed during war.

In the United Kingdom, although two minutes of silence are observed on 11th November itself, the main observance is on the second Sunday of November, Remembrance Sunday. Ceremonies are held at local war memorials, usually organised by local branches of the Royal British Legion – an association for ex-servicemen. Typically, poppy wreaths are laid by representatives of the Crown, the armed forces, and local civic leaders, as well as by local organisations including ex-servicemen organisations, cadet forces, the Scouts, Guides, Boys' Brigade, St John Ambulance and the Salvation Army. The start and end of the silence is often also marked by the firing of a cannon. A minute's or two minutes' silence is also frequently incorporated into church services. Further wreath-laying ceremonies are observed at most war memorials across the UK at 11 am on the 11th of November, led by the Royal British Legion. The beginning and end of the two minutes silence is often marked in large towns and cities by the firing of ceremonial cannon and many employers, and businesses invite their staff and customers to observe the two minutes silence at 11:00 am.

No copyright infringement intended. For educational, non-commercial purposes only.

Somebody that I Used to Know

     By dictionary definition, a cover is “something that covers or is laid, placed, or spread over or upon something else”. Regarding music, a cover version or cover song is a new performance or recording of a previously commercially released song, the “authentic” version.

     A cover version can have a radically different style, be recorded in another language or even be a “mere” instrumental version of the original.

     One of the latest and most popular songs which has been covered to the maximum is the theme “Somebody I Used to Know” by the Belgian-Australian musician Gotye featuring the New Zealand singer Kimbra. The album, “Making Mirrors” was released in Australia in August 2011, however the song became really popular in Spain during the first half or this year 2012.

What do I Desire? What if Money Was No Object?

Ask yourself:  What would you do with your life if money was no object? 

An amazing lecture from the late Alan Watts.

What do I desire? Be the change that you would like to see in this world.

This is a really great lecture from Alan Watts, a British philosopher. It’s well worth the three minutes to watch. Watts talks about encouraging his students and listeners to do the thing they love most, because there’s no point wasting a lifetime trying to earn enough money to be stable enough to begin doing what you love to do. Better to lead a short life doing what you love than a long life doing what you don’t.

What do you desire? What makes you itch? What sort of a situation would you like?

Let's suppose — I do this often in vocational guidance of students, they come to me and say 'well, er, we're getting out of college and we haven't the faintest idea of what we want to do'. So I always ask the question: What would you like to do if money were no object? What would — How would you really enjoy spending your life?

Wond'ring Aloud

Wond'ring Aloud is a love song and sheer masterpiece released in 1971 by the British rock band Jethro Tull.

Jethro Tull rock group formed in Luton, Bedfordshire, in December 1967. Their music is characterised by the vocals, acoustic guitar, and flute playing of Ian Anderson, who has led the band since its founding, and the guitar work of Martin Barre, who has been with the band since 1969, after he replaced original guitarist Mick Abrahams.

Initially playing blues rock with an experimental flavour, they have also incorporated elements of classical music, folk music, jazz, hard rock and art rock into their music.

One of the world's best-selling music artists, the band have sold more than 60 million albums worldwide in a career that has spanned more than forty years.

Dear Sir, I'm Sorry

Education Secretary Michael Gove has apologised to his former French teacher for misbehaving in class 30 years ago.

In a letter published in the Radio Times, he says he cringes when he remembers himself, aged 15, competing to ask "clever-dick questions" and indulging in "pathetic showing off".

He asks the teacher, Mr Montgomery, whom he refers to as Danny, to accept his apology.

Mr Gove goes on to pay tribute to the work of the teaching profession.

Continue reading the main story

The letter says: "It may be too late to say I'm sorry. Thirty years too late."

He adds: "When I look back at the 15-year-old I was, lurking at the back of your French class at Robert Gordon's College in Aberdeen, I cringe.

5th November: Bonfire Night or Guy Fawkes Night

ESO Students,

We give you again the post published in previous years about Guy Fawkes' Gunpowder plot. Enjoy it:

In 1605, thirteen young men planned to blow up the Houses of Parliament. Among them was Guy Fawkes, Britain's most notorious traitor.

Remember, remember the Fifth of November,

The Gunpowder Treason and Plot,

I know of no reason

Why the Gunpowder Treason

Should ever be forgot.

Deadly Animals

    Aren’t they adorable?

When thinking about Australia, most people visualize marvellous beaches ready to be surfed, the extraordinary colourful Great Barrier Reef, funny jumping kangaroos or cute cuddly koalas. Nothing could be further from what Australia’s fauna has to offer…

Australia has quite an interesting number of deathly animals beyond Dingoes or Tasmanian Devils. Below there is a small sample of three of Australia’s most dangerous species and the consequences of their stings and bites. In spite of that, the Land Down Under is a wonderful country absolutely worth visiting!

ESO 2 2012-13 1st Term PBL: My City

This photograph courtesy of TripAdvisor

ESO 2 Students,

This is your 2012-13 1st term PBL assignment.

You must PRINT/COPY THIS POST and BRING IT TO CLASS during the lessons on MONDAY 19th & WEDNESDAY 21st November. Before that, you must READ IT CAREFULLY AT HOME and try to understand as much as possible

At school, during those 2 lessons, you will work in 4 groups of students per class. Your task is to WRITE A COMPOSITION ABOUT VIGO as in a touristic leaflet. You can bring any dictionaries, books, guides or whatever material you consider necessary for those 2 sessions.

You must write AT LEAST 3 PARAGRAPHS including this information:

GLEE

Glee is a musical American TV series aired on Fox in USA.  It focuses on McKinley High School students, especially on its choir, called New Directions, and the singing competitions they join in.

What are the show’s strong points?

Halloween 2012

Labor School Students,

Halloween is approaching and to celebrate it at LaborEnglishZone we give you again a very interesting post on the origins of this holiday.

Have a nice Halloween and enjoy the post!

The Shard, London

A first look inside Europe's tallest building

The Telegraph gets a sneak preview of what visitors will experience inside Europe's tallest building, the Shard, which opens to the public on February 1st 2013.

By Pete Fergusson

7:53PM BST 26th Oct 2012

Publicly accessible viewing spaces stretch from level 68 of the skyscraper to level 72. With the upper levels reaching 244m high, it is the highest vantage point provided by any building in Western Europe and is three times as high as Big Ben.

After passing through metal detectors and having their bags scanned, visitors will take a lift from the ground floor to a lobby on level 33 of the building. They will then take a separate lift to level 68. Lifts travel approximately six metres a second, with each of the two journeys taking 30 seconds.

Anders Nyberg, Chief Executive of The View from The Shard says he particularly enjoys looking down on neighbouring London Bridge station, which looks like "a model railroad" from the top of the giant tower.

"I would say it's a much greater view than the Eiffel Tower. I mean, for me, when I look out over Paris, so much of it is the same and here you have such a great diversity of architecture, of style, you know? Much more to look at."

No copyright infringement intended. For educational, non-commercial purposes only.

ESO 1 PBL- Fantastic Animals

ESO 1 students, this is your PBL assignment for this first term:

You will be divided in groups of  4-5 people each. All groups will receive a copy of the following book: “Animalario Universal del Profesor Revillod”.

This book contains several photographs of different animals existing all around the world. Each animal, however, is cut into three different pieces: the front, the middle and the end. You can combine the three different pieces of the various animals in order to create a new fantastic one:

(E.g. “Corfangre”)

                  

  (E.g. “Elenedillo”)

Your task is to make up at least two new animals and describe them.

This is your schedule:

1. On Wednesday 31^st October, you must bring to class your student’s book, those photocopies about animal parts we’ve been working with this week and any dictionaries or additional material you consider useful.

You will be given the animal books and you must work for the whole 50 minutes in order for you to make up the animals and write the descriptions. At the end of the lesson, you will keep the animal books with you as well as your handwritten descriptions.

2. At home, one member of each team must make a photocopy of the picture of each of the two animals chosen. He/she must also type the descriptions with his/her computer. The final result must include the following:

1. The name of the animal on the top of the page.

2. The photograph of the animal below the name.

3. The description of the animal below the photograph.

4. The number of the group and the names of the group members at the bottom of the page.

3. You can hand in your work in either of the following ways:

a) You can print it and bring it to class. The deadline is Wednesday 7^th November.

b) You can send it to our mail. The deadline is, again, Wednesday 7^th November at 23.59.59. (The format can be .DOC .DOCX or .PDF).

-Your file identification must be as follows: GROUP_NUMBER_CLASS.DOC. Example: GROUP_1_1B.DOC.

-You must fill in the “subject” section of your mail messages with your group identification and the word “PBL”.

The groups will be as follows:

ESO 1A

Group_1_1A: Melanie, Antonio, Bruno, Ismael.

Group_2_1A: Lara, Alberto, Avelino, Ariana, Adrián.

Group­_3_1A: María, Andrea, Álvaro, Uxía.

Group_4_1A: Alejandro, Diana, Cristina Álvarez, Lelise.

Group­_5_1A: Mariña, Paula, César, Aroa.

Group_6_1A: Sandra, Óscar, Vicente, Valentina.

Group_7_1A: Brian, Cristina Alonso, Sara, Naufal.

ESO 1B

Group_1_1B: Andrea, Geraldine, Adrián Roo, Guillermo Figueroa.

Group_2_1B: Adrián Alonso, Sasha, Pablo, Marta.

Group_3_1B: Iñaki, Marina, Felipe, Caroline, Gabriela.

Group_4_1B: Cándida, Isaac, Rodrigo, Yago.

Group_5_1B: Ángela, Guillermo Val, Breixo, Jacobo.

Group_6_1B: Javier, Diego, Ángel, Kevin.

Group_7_1B: Elena, Lucas, Juan, Yoel, Rubén.

No copyright infringement intended. For educational, non-commercial purposes only

Unlock the 007 in You - You Have 70 Seconds!

Coke Zero challenged unsuspecting train passengers to unlock the 007 in them for their chance to win exclusive tickets for the new James Bond movie SKYFALL. However, the exclusive tickets weren't free. People had to go the extra mile and unlock their inner 007 in less than 70 seconds to win.

No copyright infringement intended. For educational, non-commercial purposes only.

Everybody. Somebody. Anybody. Nobody

No copyright infringement intended. For educational, non-commercial purposes only.

Are you English? No, I'm Welsh!

Great Britain, British, England, English, United Kingdom… Some people have trouble in using these words correctly to refer to a language, a population or a country. In case you’re Galician, how would you feel if a foreigner calls you Castilian? I bet as frustrated as if someone from Wales was called English. Let’s make this clear:

Chestnut

The chestnut, one of the symbols of autumn, is an edible fruit produced by trees of the genus Castanea native to northern temperate regions. The fruit is enclosed in a prickly husk between 4 and 11 centimetres in size which contains from 2 to 7 nuts.

Chanel No 5

It's not a journey. Every journey ends, but we go on. The world turns and we turn with it. Plans disappear, dreams take over, but wherever I go... there you are: My luck, my fate, my fortune.

Chanel number 5. Inevitable.

No copyright infringement intended. For educational, non-commercial purposes only.

ESO 3 & ESO 4 1st Term PBL - Crime Report for a Newspaper

ESO 3 & ESO 4 Students,

This is your 2012-13 1st Term PBL assignment. It is a group project. Your task is to 

WRITE A PIECE OF NEWS FOR THE ACCIDENT & CRIME SECTION OF A NEWSPAPER.

Listen to Sting's song I Hung my Head. Find the song lyrics on the internet, and think carefully about it...I hung my Head

 
(Song starts on 1:23)

WRITE A REPORT FOR TOMORROW'S NEWSPAPER AS IF STING'S STORY HAD HAPENNED YESTERDAY:

Bullying

WKBT anchor Jennifer Livingston took a moment during Tuesday's morning newscast (Tuesday 2nd October 2012) to directly address a recent email she received from a viewer complaining about her weight:

"To the person who wrote me that letter — do you think I don't know that? That your cruel words are pointing out something that I don't see?" Livingston asked in response. "You don't know me. You are not a friend of mine. You are not a part of my family. And you have admitted that you don't watch this show. So you know nothing about me but what you see on the outside. And I am much more than a number on the scale."

Lost in Translation

Unfortunately, many people still think that a translator’s job is only a matter of having a dictionary and some resources such as the internet or translation manuals. Translation involves much more than linguistic knowledge: it also involves  cultural knowledge. Moreover, as translation is a process of creation, it involves creativity...

Do you think you would be able to translate the following images with only a dictionary?  The image is vital, as the translated text should fit in the same place of the image as the original one does...

In this image we have a bear. The word “bearly” does not exist but it was made up as a derivation from the word “bear”. “Bearly” would sound exactly the same as “barely”, which does exist and means “apenas / más o menos”.

  “A nice” is pronounced the same way as “an ice”

Piercing=a piece of jewellery attached to pierced flesh

To be pierced= to have a piercing done

Screw=tornillo

To be screwed= estar “atornillado” / ser estafado

To keep someone in stitches=To make someone laugh a lot
Stitch=puntada, punto.

No copyright infringement intended. For educational, non-commercial purposes only

October quiz

Emoticons were originally created for us to be able to express our mood via internet. However, another use has been given to them in this quiz. Each row of emoticons represents the name of a film. Your task for this quiz is to discover what films are hidden under those emoticons. 10 points as usual to the first student who emails us the correct names IN ENGLISH of the following 16 films:

Things our Grandkids Will Never Understand

No copyright infringement intended. For educational, non-commercial purposes only.

How do you Look in your Bathing Suit?

It is funny, surprising (and, to some extent, comforting) to find old advertisements like the one posted above when surfing the web.

The aesthetics of the 21th century imposed by mass media show us skinny women as the ideal beauty, and, as there’s business everywhere, many advertisements try to present and sell consumers “miraculous” diets, pills or beverages of all kinds that will guarantee a fast and effortless weight loss. Those, however, end up being useless and dangerous for our health.

It seems that in the 50s and 60s, the ideal beauty was totally the other way round, and that women were more eager to have a curvy figure than to look as a skeleton. Surprising as it may be for youngsters, advertisements then showed women products to gain weight, in order not to be "tired-out" or "rundown".

In any case, what also seems to be true is that even nowadays, when thinness appears to be the ideal, curvy women rank first on the lists of the most desirable (Beyoncé, J.Lo, Sofía Vergara, Christina Hendrix…). It’s not that we should believe the Orquesta Mondragón when they claimed for really big women to be sexy, but, as always, we should find a healthy balance.

Sofía Vergara                                                                    Christina Hendrix

 

No copyright infringement intended. For educational, non-commercial purposes only.