Thursday 16 April 2015

How to Survive a Bear Attack



(Watch from 2:54)

Watch and listen to Ray giving advice about what to do if you meet a bear. Complete the missing information in the sentences below.

Never ___________ because this excites the bear.

A bear can run as fast as a ________________.

A ___________is a bear’s primary means of hunting.

Keep your distance! Avoid the temptation to get close to a bear to take a better ____________.

Don’t be fooled into believing that a  _________ provides a safe place. Black bears and grizzly bears can ___________trees.

Playing ________ is a strategy which is not 100% effective.

Never approach a mother with her cubs because this will make her ___________.

If you remove your ______________ you can run away whilst the bear stops to see what is inside it.

Oxford University Press 
Secondary Ready-to-go!

Friday 10 April 2015

British and American English


Can a person from the UK make himself understood by a person from the USA?
Is American English and British English the same language? What are the main differences between the English spoken in the United Kingdom and the English spoken in the United States?

These are just some of the questions that students ask me whenever we come across a text in which American words are being used. 

American and British English are just two varieties of the same language, in the same sense that the Spanish spoken in Spain and in, say, Cuba, is the same language but it has some noticiable variations which do not only concern vocabulary, but also pronunciation and grammar. 

However, we are going to focus on vocabulary since most of the words are not new for students (either they know them from songs, video games or TV). 

A good way to start is listening to this video and paying attention to differences in vocabulary.