Unit 1A – FOOD? Fuel or Pleasure?

Here’s a list of podcasts and online material for you to work on.

If you have any questions, just leave a comment

FOOD PODCASTS

ESL Podcast 411 – Eating Junk Food

ESL Podcast 373 – Ordering Food Delivery

ESL Podcast 353 – Describing the Taste of Food

ESL Podcast 441 – Preparing Food for Cooking

ESL Podcast 423 – Reading Food Labels

PRESENT SIMPLE vs. PRESENT PROGRESSIVE

web2.uvcs.uvic.ca/elc/studyzone/330/grammar/simcon1.htm

www.englishpage.com › Verb Tense Tutorial

http://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/grammar/simpre-prepro

http://www.englishlearner.com/tests/present_simple_continuous_quiz_1.shtml

BBC Listening + Most Valuable Brands

In today’s lesson we had a discussion on the most valuable brands, according to the Marketing consultancy company Interbrand. We had the chance to practice listening (gist, comprehension), grammar (reformulation of the text and grammarising the summary), finding and understading vocabulary connected to the tapescript. As homework I asked you to rewrite the text using the chunks we have learned and some information from the original article. I’m sure some of you might have found the lesson a little bit difficult and that’s the reason why I’ve decided to upload some material connected to what we learnt this afternoon. Here’s a list of some resources you can listen to, read, and practice as homework.

* Interbrand list of the 100 best global brands

* BrandZ top 100 ranking of the most valuable brands in the world

* Transworldnews article: The Coca-Cola Company Will Host a Conference Call to Discuss Financial Results

* BBC Learning English – Words in the News – Listening (With audio and tapescript)

* BCC News – Google Brand “on the rise”

* Top Brand values fall in recession (BBC Video)

Finally, a video with two business analysts discussing the ingredients Interbrand take into account when ranking the world’s most valuable brands among other things. Take a look.

ESLtoGO

Well, after a long and deserved break I decided it was about time I resumed production on this blog again. I mean, it was a six-month hiatus where I was able to focus on other projects I had in mind but my students were pestering me to get the blog working again and I kind of missed the blogosphere. So if you liked following this blog I’m sure you’ll enjoy it even more now because I intend to stop procrastinating and get down to work. I realized that If I still wanted this blog I’d better update it more frequently. When I mean frequently I mean at least once a week – if possible!

Take full advantage of this space because it is all yours!

My Favourite YouTube Videos

Since I am completely addicted to YouTube and love using videos in my class, I’ve decided to share some cool videos with my students.

Here are some of my favourite ones.

1 – Pumpcast News

What happens when you have a mini-tv with News and a crazy host. Well, watch this video and check it out. By the way, pay to attention to the Grandpa Bandit, the beatles and the moody guy. Hilarious!

2 -World’s Shortest Escalator – certified by the Guinness Book of Records

I’m sure this escalator leads to a fast food restaurant.

3 -747 Landing – St.Maarten

I don’t know how crazy you guys are about airplanes but this airport is right by the beach and you can see how low the airplanes have to go to land.

The place is St. Maarten and there’s a resort beach right there. If you pause the video at 0.21 you can see how close the airplane is to people’s head.

Podcast – Music

Since this week our topic is music, I’ve decided that our podcast should be somehow connected to music. So, let’s not waste time and get things going by clicking here to listen to the podcast.

Your task is to write about a concert or show you’ve been to recently or a while ago. But, if you haven’t been to a concert you can easily make one up.

Here’s the list of vocabulary and chunks that I might be useful while you are writing your comment.

* venue

* bad seat in the house

* street parking

* snag a spot

* bouncer

* get to the head of sth

* check one’s tickets

* put a wrist band on sb

* roped-off section

* VIP

* groupies

* opening act

* start boo-ing sb

* rowdy

* riot

* headlining band

* cheer

* happy camper

* turn out to be + noun

Don’t forget to leave your name and email when leaving your comment. Thanks!

Podcast – Talking about Books

Today’s podcast is about books, especially because this week we are going to talk about reading habits and trends.

So, basically all you have to do is click here and you will be redirected to the ESLPODCAST website.

Your work is to listen to it and write about a book you read recently or about books in general. Here’s a list of the chunks you might want to use while writing.

• like sth well enough
• a glowing recommendation
• to start off with a bang
• can’t put sth down
• relate to sth
  
• plot drags
• pull sth off
• ending + be (is/was…) + adjective (laughable/brilliant/etc)
• that makes + one/two/three + us
• can’t wait for + noun (sequel)

Don’t forget to leave your name and email when leaving your comment. Thanks!

Dictionaries & Thesaurus

Here’s a list of my favourite online dictionaries & thesaurus. They will be of great help while you are studying English online and writing and doing tasks. Check them out by clicking on the links.

Dictionaries

• Dictionary.com (My favourite one. It is considered the largest free online dictionary and  you can also check out the audio pronunciation feature)
• Cambridge Dictionaries Online (good for students and it also includes a phrasal verb & idiom dictionary)
• alphaDictionary (This one has a lot of features free English dictionary, grammars for 350 languages, crossword puzzles, word games, language jokes, and the “Word of the Day” kinda thing! worth checking)
• The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (good for teachers and students as well. Some things you might like are audio pronunciation features, illustrations and word-root appendixes)
• Infoplease (Another free dictionary with  encyclopedia, almanac, atlas, dictionary and much more)
• AllWords.com (English dictionary with multi-lingual search – French, Spanish, German – as well as links for word lovers and crosswords)
• Urban Dictionary (by far my favourite one – click here and check out why)
• The Compact Oxford English Dictionary (Oxford always has the best dictionaries and this one is not different. Thus, you can check out the writing tips)
• Fact Monster (A good free reference site for students, teachers, and parents. It includes other things such as sports, science & math)
• Webster’s Online Dictionary (This one claims to be Earth’s largest dictionary with 90 modern and 10 ancestral languages. Plus, word of the day, hour & minute)
  
• Rhyme Zone (This one is not only a dictionary and thesaurus but also a thesaurus and it includes the functions of a rhyming dictionary & spelling checker. How cool is that?)
• Wiktionary (Wiki dictionary from the Wikimedia Foundation – more of a complement to Wikipedia)
• Ultralingua Online Dictionary (What I like about this one is the fact that you can download it to your Iphone, laptop, etc.)

Thesaurus

• Thesaurus.com (It is claimed to be the largest free online thesaurus including antonyms)
• Roget’s II: The New Thesaurus (Contains more than 5000 synonyms and over 250000 cross-references. Thus, an alphabetical Index list)
• Aiksaurus (not one of my favourites but still somehow useful)
• Merriam-Webster Online (both dictionary and thesaurus)
• yourDictionary.com ( Another free online dictionary/thesaurus that offers definition search from Webster’s dictionary for word meanings and thesaurus. It also has forums and language articles, not mention brain games)
• Dictionary – MSN Encarta (It’s a dictionary, thesaurus and also contains a translation section. To my view, it is very limited)
• TheFreeDictionary (What I really like about this one here is the fact that you can create your own homepage by adding or removing things such as quotes, words, weather, etc)
• Wordsmyth (The only turn off of this one is that you’ve got to create an account)
• WordWeb (downloadable dictionary and thesaurus. Can be used offline. Pretty good)

The last dictionary/thesaurus I want to mention is actually my favorite one among all of the other ones I have talked about. It is called VisuWords. It is a graphical dictionary and thesaurus that uses word webs to find meanings and associations with other ideas and concepts. Here’s an example with the word “plausible”