BODA REAL - ROYAL WEDDING

Prince William and Kate Middleton are already married. So today's topic is weddings!

Let's see some useful vocabulary and expressions about weddings:

First of all: TO GET MARRIED / TO MARRY: casarse 

“They will get married very soon”

“They don’t want to get married”

 “Will you marry me?”

TO BE MARRIED TO: estar casado

“Priests are married to God”

 “They are already married” 

 “They have been married for 10 years”

IMPORTANT: We never use the preposition "with" with the verb marry

"She will get married to him" CORRECT  
"She will get married with him" INCORRECT

JUST MARRIED: recién casados

“They look so happy, they must be just married”

To pop the question:  cuando alguien pide matrimonio a su pareja.

“He popped the question when they were in Thailand”

To be engaged: estar comprometido 

 “They are engaged”

The fiancée es la prometida y the  fiancé es el prometido. These are French words.

The engagement ring (anillo de compromiso) is not the same as the wedding rings (anillos de casados).

You can get married in a civil ceremony (por lo civil) or in a traditional white wedding held in church.

Before getting married, the couple draw up a guest list (preparan la lista de invitados) and the wedding list (la lista de regalos).

The bride (novia) chooses her bridesmaids (damas de honor)and the matron of honour (madrina)  and the groom (novio)chooses  the best man (el  padrino).

The bride’s wedding dress can have a long train (cola) and her face can be covered in a veil (velo)

The bride is walked down the aisle (pasillo) until the altar, normally by her father while the Wedding March (marcha nupcial) is played.

Before declaring the couple “man and wife” (marido y mujer) the priest (sacerdote) asks if there is any objection to the marriage saying “speak or forever hold your peace” (que hablen ahora o callen para siempre sería nuestra version).

Some examples of the wedding vows (votos) are:

 “to love for richer and poorer, for better and worse, in sickness and in good health” (amarte en la riqueza y en la pobreza, en lo bueno y en lo malo, en la enfermedad y en la salud”

“until death do us part” (hasta que la muerte nos separe)

After this, they have a wedding  reception (banquete) with the guests and they normally have a wedding cake with three tiers (tarta de bodas de tres pisos) as a dessert.

Sometimes, the best man or a member of the family, makes a speech (da un discurso) during the wedding reception.

When everything finishes or a few days later, the happy couple leave on honeymoon (se van de luna de miel) where they speak about what they did in their hen party (despedida de soltera) and stag party (despedida de soltero) because it is too late to get angry with each other!

*vocabulary about divorce and separation coming soon  ; )

Scottish wedding. Tania 08

Heroinas - Heroines

From the 8 March to 5 June 2011. Museo Thyssen- Bornemisza and Fundación Caja Madrid.

"The history of Western art is full of images of women who are seductive, compliant, submissive, defeated....Heroines is an anthology of strong women who are active, independent, creative, triumphant....Or, to use a key word at the top of the feminist agenda for the last few decades, this exhibition is interested in images which could be sources of empowerment for women themselves....

This exhibition is also a kind of city of women centred especially on the cycle of modernity , from the 19th century to the present day. Following a thematic rather than a chronological order, it explores the backgrounds and aspirations of heroies: the iconography of solitude, work, delirium, sport, war, magic, religion, reading and painting. In each chapter artworks from different periods, languages and artistic environments are juxtaposed, providing food for thought on what has changed through those differences and what has remained the same......" (Heroines, extract)

Frida Kahlo. Self-portrait with necklace of thorns. 1940

Expresiones útiles

Here you have some idioms and useful phrases:

Librarse de alguien/ algo

To get rid of someone/something:
 "Please, get rid of this TV because it doesn't work".
 "Are you still working? Get rid of your clients as soon as possible".

De vez en cuando

Every now and then:
"How often do you go to the gym? Well...I go every now and then".

(Me) apetece

To feel like it/...ing:
"Do you feel like going to the cinema tonight? Yes, I feel like it!"

Estar harto/a

To be fed up with something/somebody:
"I am fed up with your complaints and to be sincere I am fed up with you as well"
"I am fed up with having to do what they say"

Llevarse bien/mal con alguien

To get on (well/badly) with someone:
"He gets on very well with his boss, he is an excellent person".

Menos mal

Just as well:
"It's getting really dark. Just as well I brought my torch".

Depende de (ti)/como tu quieras

To be up to somebody:
"This is a personal decision, so it is completely up to you"
"Do you feel like going to the beach?" "I don't mind, it's up to you"

Queen's 40th anniversary

Incendio en la Sagrada Familia

La noticia del incendio en la Sagrada Familia ya aparece en The Guardian. Lee la noticia y aprende vocabulario sobre este tema.

Police in Barcelona say a suspected arsonist (pirómano) started a small fire inside the Sagrada Familia basilica and forced the evacuation (evacuación) of hundreds of tourists. The blaze (el fuego) has been extinguished (extinguido) and no one has been hurt.(herido)

A Catalan regional police official said around 1,500 people had been evacuated from Antoni Gaudí's unfinished masterpiece(obra maestra). It is one of the most popular tourist sites in Spain's second-largest city.

The official said some tourists saw smoke(humo) coming from inside the sacristy (sacristía) and alerted authorities, and that the suspected arsonist was arrested(arrestado). The official spoke on condition of anonymity in line with department policy.
She said the fire caused damage(daño) but no injuries(heridos).
The sacristy is the area where priests(sacerdotes) put on their robes (túnicas) in preparation for mass (misa). http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/apr/19/gaudi-sagrada-familia-fire-arrest

CONDICIONALES / CONDITIONALS

Un breve repaso a las condicionales:

ZERO CONDITIONAL:   If + present simple + present simple
                                     
                                          If you heat water to 100 degrees, it boils.
                                          If I eat a lot of junk food I get fat.
                                          If I am late at work my boss gets furious.

(Se usa para indicar datos genéricos o situaciones cuyo resultado siempre es el mismo. Realmente no es una condicional. Se puede sustituir el "if" por "when").

FIRST CONDITIONAL:  If + present simple + will + infinitive

        If I have time I will help you.
        If she goes shopping she will buy you a present.
        If you don't study for your exams we won't buy you a bike.

(Se usa para indicar hechos posibles en el futuro, promesas, ofrecimientos, amenazas).

SECOND CONDITIONAL:  If + past simple + would + infinitive

                If I were you I would read that book.
                If we had more time, we would visit you more often.
                If she were rich, she would travel around the world.

(Se usa cuando hablamos de hechos hipotéticos o poco probables tanto del presente como del futuro. Para dar consejos. Ten en cuenta que normalmente se usa "were" en lugar de "was" con I, she y he).

THIRD CONDITIONAL:  If + past perfect + would have + past participle

 If I had known it, I would have done things differently.

 If she had gone to the party, she would have met her ex-boyfriend.

 If my neighbours had saved some money, the would have gone on holiday.

(Se usa cuando hablamos de hechos en el pasado que no han sucedido).

Las mejores series de TV en versión original

What do I say about....?

One foot in the grave : __________________
Misfits: ______________________________
Lost:________________________________
Desperate Housewives:__________________
True Blood:___________________________
Modern Family:________________________
Arrested development:___________________
Weeds:______________________________
Bored to death:________________________
Mind your language:____________________

Gadafi usa bombas de racimo fabricadas en España.

Aquí está la noticia del NYT donde informan que la bombas de racimo utlizadas por las fuerzas de Gadafi en zonas residenciales de Libia son de fabricación española. El vocabulario que hay en este texto es muy interesante porque es un texto periodístico (real) con vocabulario específico del tema.
Busca el significado de las palabras subrayadas para entender mejor el texto.
Puedes usar un diccionario online: http://www.wordreference.com/
MISURATA, Libya — Military forces loyal to Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi have been firing into residential neighborhoods in this embattled city with heavy weapons, including cluster bombs that have been banned by much of the world and ground-to-ground rockets, according to witnesses and survivors, as well as physical evidence.
Both of these so-called indiscriminate weapons, which strike large areas with a dense succession of high-explosive munitions, by their nature cannot be fired precisely. When fired into populated areas, they place civilians at grave risk.
The cluster munitions were visible late Thursday night, in the form of what appeared to be at least three 120-millimeter mortar rounds that burst in the air over the city, scattering high-explosive bomblets below. The same munitions were fired Friday, amid a fierce barrage of tank, artillery and rocket fire from the Qaddafi forces.
Remnants of expended shells, examined and photographed by The New York Times, show the rounds to be MAT-120 cargo mortar projectiles, each of which carries and distributes 21 submunitions designed both to kill people and to penetrate light armor.
Components from the 120-millimeter rounds, according to their markings, were made in Spain in 2007 — one year before Spain signed the international Convention on Cluster Munitions and pledged to destroy its stocks. Libya, like the United States, is not a signatory to the convention. The Spanish Defense Ministry had no immediate comment. More here: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/16/world/africa/16libya.html

Tener morriña

"I feel homesick for my country when I travel to other countries"

"My cousin was homesick when he spent all the summer in Bristol"

MAKE AND DO

Aquí tenéis un pequeño listado para saber cuando usar "make" y "do".

MAKE: an appointment, an arrangement, an attempt, a choice, a living, sense, certain, redundant, money, progress, a start, a suggestion, a decision, an investigation, a speech, a mistake, a sound, a loss, an effort, a phone call, my bed, an exception, a fuss, a mess, a profit, dinner, time.

DO: business, nothing, an exam, research, damage, harm, a job, a favour, the typing, your best, well, bad, the shopping, the accounts.

¿Conoces todas las palabras? ¿Podrías escribir algunas frases con ellas para practicar?

Esperanza Aguirre speaking in English

LIE LAY LIE

This topic can be a nightmare even for British people!!

1) LIE- LIED-LIED-LYING > TO TELL A LIE (MENTIR)
Es un verbo regular e intransitivo (sin objeto directo).

Examples: Have you ever lied to me?
                He was lying through his teeth.

2) LAY-LAID-LAID-LAYING > TO PUT SOMETHING DOWN (COLOCAR)
Es un verbo regular y transitivo (necesita objeto directo).

Examples: Please, lay your CV on the tray and we'll phone you (your CV is the D.O.)
                I laid the baby on the grass and sang him a song. (the baby is the D.O.)

3) LIE-LAY-LAIN-LYING > TO RECLINE (ACOSTARSE)
Es irregular e intransitivo (sin objeto directo)

Examples: The kids were exhausted, they lay on the grass and slept for a while.
                 Keep lying in bed and you will recover soon.

English schools and private teachers

En este vídeo, John nos da su opinión (después de 25 años enseñando inglés) sobre las academias de idiomas y los profesores particulares. ¿Qué debemos tener en cuenta?

- Que la academia pertenezca a alguna asociación es un factor importante que distingue unas academias de otras.

¿Es importante que el profesor sea nativo?

No necesariamente. Que una persona sepa hablar inglés no significa que sepa enseñar inglés. Un buen profesor no se caracteriza sólo por conocer la asignatura que enseña, sino que también debe saber cuales son los puntos débiles de sus alumnos, hacer las clases amenas, interesantes y sacar el máximo partido de ellas.
Imaginemos por un momento que nos ofrecen enseñar español a un grupo de extranjeros...¿podrías darles todas las explicaciones? ¿Sabrías cómo enseñarles tu idioma? La respuesta general es NO. Pero hablas perfectamente español!!!
Por eso, lo importante es buscar un buen profesor cualificado, ya sea nativo o no.

Now, listen to the video and try to understand what John says about this matter.

Women's race

Millions of women throughout the world live in conditions of abject deprivation of, and attacks against, their fundamental human rights for no other reason than that they are women.
Combatants and their sympathizers in conflicts, such as those in Sierra Leone, Kosovo, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Afghanistan, and Rwanda, have raped women as a weapon of war with near complete impunity. Men in Pakistan, South Africa, Peru, Russia, and Uzbekistan beat women in the home at astounding rates, while these governments alternatively refuse to intervene to protect women and punish their batterers or do so haphazardly and in ways that make women feel culpable for the violence. As a direct result of inequalities found in their countries of origin, women from Ukraine, Moldova, Nigeria, the Dominican Republic, Burma, and Thailand are bought and sold, trafficked to work in forced prostitution, with insufficient government attention to protect their rights and punish the traffickers. In Guatemala, South Africa, and Mexico, women's ability to enter and remain in the work force is obstructed by private employers who use women's reproductive status to exclude them from work and by discriminatory employment laws or discriminatory enforcement of the law. In the U.S., students discriminate against and attack girls in school who are lesbian, bi-sexual, or transgendered, or do not conform to male standards of female behavior. Women in Morocco, Jordan, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia face government-sponsored discrimination that renders them unequal before the law - including discriminatory family codes that take away women's legal authority and place it in the hands of male family members - and restricts women's participation in public life. More here: http://www.hrw.org/en/category/topic/women

De compras....

Para decir "ir de compras" we say:   Do the shopping
                                                        Go shopping

We do the shopping when we buy food and household items.
"I don't feel like doing the shopping now, but I need to buy some cheese and toilet paper"

We go shopping when we buy clothes, gadgets, shoes.....
"I love going shopping with my friends on Saturdays"

Emi and learning English

When did she decide to go to England?
Why did she  go there?
She became fluent after....
When did she come to Valencia?
How many languages does her husband speak?
Do her children speak English?
How old are they?
People who want to learn English need....

No me vengas con esas!

We say.....Don't give me that!

Example:  I can't wash the dishes now, I am very busy.
               Come on! Don't give me that! You are unemployed!

Who speaks English?

Clasificación	País	EF EPI Resultados	Nivel
1	Noruega	69.09	Nivel Muy Alto
2	Países Bajos	67.93	Nivel Muy Alto
3	Dinamarca	66.58	Nivel Muy Alto
4	Suecia	66.26	Nivel Muy Alto
5	Finlandia	61.25	Nivel Muy Alto
6	Austria	58.58	Nivel Alto
7	Bélgica	57.23	Nivel Alto
8	Alemania	56.64	Nivel Alto
9	Malasia	55.54	Nivel Alto
10	Polonia	54.62	Nivel Medio
11	Suiza	54.60	Nivel Medio
12	Hong Kong	54.44	Nivel Medio
13	Corea del Sur	54.19	Nivel Medio
14	Japón	54.17	Nivel Medio
15	Portugal	53.62	Nivel Medio
16	Argentina	53.49	Nivel Medio
17	Francia	53.16	Nivel Medio
18	México	51.48	Nivel Medio
19	República Checa	51.31	Nivel Medio
20	Hungría	50.80	Nivel Medio
21	Eslovaquia	50.64	Nivel Medio
22	Costa Rica	49.15	Nivel Bajo

Clasificación	País	EF EPI Resultados	Nivel
23	Italia	49.05	Nivel Bajo
24	España	49.01	Nivel Bajo
25	Taiwán	48.93	Nivel Bajo
26	Arabia Saudí	48.05	Nivel Bajo
27	Guatemala	47.80	Nivel Bajo
28	El Salvador	47.65	Nivel Bajo
29	China	47.62	Nivel Bajo
30	India	47.35	Nivel Bajo
31	Brasil	47.27	Nivel Bajo
32	Rusia	45.79	Nivel Bajo
33	Rep. Dominicana	44.91	Nivel Muy Bajo
34	Indonesia	44.78	Nivel Muy Bajo
35	Perú	44.71	Nivel Muy Bajo
36	Chile	44.63	Nivel Muy Bajo
37	Ecuador	44.54	Nivel Muy Bajo
38	Venezuela	44.43	Nivel Muy Bajo
39	Vietnam	44.32	Nivel Muy Bajo
40	Panamá	43.62	Nivel Muy Bajo
41	Colombia	42.77	Nivel Muy Bajo
42	Tailandia	39.41	Nivel Muy Bajo
43	Turquía	37.66	Nivel Muy Bajo
44	Kazajstán	31.74	Nivel Muy Bajo

El informe EPI EF 2011 compara el nivel de inglés entre adultos de todo el mundo.
Más información sobre este informe en: http://www.ef.com.es/epi/download-full-report/

Richard and his trips

This is a very interesting listening containing a lot of information.

Try to answer these questions:

What does Richard like about Cairo?
Where did he start to learn Spanish?
What's the difference between Argentina and Ecuador?
Where did he pick up some Quechua?
What did he do in Nicaragua?
Chabolas were built out of....
What was he teaching there?
"That's like selling coal to people from Newcastle" What's the meaning of this phrase?

Sobre la marcha....

How do you say....sobre la marcha?

We can use this expression "To play it by ear"
Example: Where are we going to have lunch tomorrow?
               mmmm...I don't know...We'll play it by ear!

Another useful and similar expression is " To cross that bridge when one comes to it "
We normally use this expression when dealing with a situation or problem only when it arises.
Example: What if you don't pass the exam?
               I haven't thought about that. I will cross that bridge when I come to it.

About Scotland

Este vídeo es bastante interesante por el ruido de fondo. No vas a poder escuchar palabra por palabra claramente como en algunos listenings para aprender inglés. Soooo, this is Real English !!

Answer these questions:
-People seem to associate Scotland with.....
-How does John describe people from Glasgow?
-What does he say about the Scottish food?
-Is there anything under the Scottish kilt?

How do you say....?

...día sí, día no : every other day

Example: My granny takes her medicine every other day.

RISE AND RAISE

1) Rise- Rose- Risen (subir, levantar, aumentar)  /raɪz/

* Intransitive verb: it doesn't take an object.

* Examples:  - When the sun rises I feel alive!
                    - The temperature has risen so much that we need the air-conditioning on all day.

2) Raise- Raised- Raised (subir, levantar, aumentar) /reɪz/

* Transitive verb: it takes an object.

* Examples: - Could you raise the blinds, please? I can't read very well in this light.  (The blinds is the object)
                   - She raised her eyebrows and smiled.           (her eyebrows is the object)

People

"People is or people are"? ...parece la eterna pregunta del estudiante.

                                      PEOPLE ARE

En este caso concreto, para recordarlo pensaremos que people (gente) son un grupo de personas, por lo que es plural. Some examples:

- Some people think (NO thinks)  that we should recycle more.

- People have (NO has) the power!

- Sometimes poor people are happier than rich people.

How do you say....?

...."una vez cada quince días":   Once every fortnight.

Patricia speaks about Washington D.C.



Cherry Blossom. Washington DC. Tania 2010.



My friend Patricia lives in Washington DC. I loved that city when I visited it last year. You can visit a lot of museums for free and The National Mall is a place to be once in your life. The Cherry Blossom Festival is just amazing!!!


Why is Washington DC an important city?
Which are the most important monuments there?
Why is the busiest time now?

Introducing Richard

Where is Richard from?
He's been living in Spain for........
What is he doing in Valencia?
What does he like about Valencia?
Why did he come to this city?

Introducing John

Listen to John and answer these questions:
- Why does he feel great?
- What does the expression "it's a deal" mean?
- Why did he come to Spain?