Queen Elizabeth's birthday

Elizabeth II has seen her birthday be celebrated several times this year. Do you know why? Check out this video, it explains why she has had no less than THREE celebrations this year: Queen Elizabeth's three celebrations

There have been massive celebrations around the world, not just in London or all around the UK, remember she is also the Head of the Commonwealth. Does that sound familiar?Check it out if it is something you have never heard of before.

I really recommend you to watch the following video, too. It shows how still at 90, Queen Elizabeth is in excellent shape. You can listen and watch the Queen deliver a very short speech (1 minute). Make sure you watch it until the end, there's a joke there. 
Enjoy her pronunciation, there sure is a reason why the 'standard' (meaning posh) variety of English is called the 'Queen's English'.

Here is the transcript if you want to read along:

'To everyone here today, and to those holding street parties elsewhere, I would like to say thank you for the wonderful support and encouragement that you continue to give me.

I hope these happy celebrations will remind us of the many benefits that can flow when people come together for a common purpose, as families, friends, or neighbours.  And I pay tribute to the commitment, selfless devotion and generosity-of-spirit shown by the hundreds of charities and voluntary organisations represented here today.  You are an example to us all.

I much appreciate the kindness of all your birthday wishes, and have been delighted and moved by the many cards and messages I have received.  How I will feel if people are still singing Happy Birthday to me in December, remains to be seen!'

Shakespeare Lives celebrations

The British Council is celebrating Shakespeare's 400th anniversary, and one of the ways they are doing so is by re-adapting Shakespeare's plays. I have particularly liked the one they've made using Julius Caesar, so here it is for you to watch (it only lasts for a couple of minutes): 

When using subtitles with this video: select 'English (United Kingdom)' subtitles for subtitles in modern English, and 'English' subtitles for the original text.

If you want to explore the rest of the videos, the full playlist can be found here: Playlist with more modern adaptations. They will post a new one every month.

Here is the web in which you can read all about these things they are doing to celebrate Shakespeare's life and works: Shakespeare Lives

I have found quite fun this app they have created, in which you can fill in verses, quotes and sonnets with emojis. Look at the example they have used :) 

 Find more information about the FREE app HERE.

Have a nice weekend!

Bored? Try one of these!

Remember Oscar Wilde? We talked about him on St.Patrick's day, he was an Irish author famous for writing The Picture of Dorian Grey and The Importance of Being Earnest, among others. 


Find in this link some of his short stories, some of them as short as 4 pages. Have a look and see if you like any of them: http://www.wilde-online.info/short-stories.htm

I particularly enjoy The Selfish Giant and The Nightingale and the Rose.


The Importance of Being Ernest is a play, and it has been adapted to cinema several times. Have any of you seen it? It is really fun, I highly recommend you to watch it! It belongs to the genre called 'comedy of manners', which basically means that Oscar Wilde makes fun of the habits and the way the people from the upper class behave and their love life.Have a look at the trailer:

These are some of his most famous quotes, have you heard any of them before?

Enjoy!!

GAD Homework Feb 20th Pronouns + 1st Conditional

Quite a lot to do this weekend! 

For those of you who want to listen again to the explanation of pronouns, please, watch this video. It is very clear. You only need to watch until minute 6, because at the end he starts talking about 'reflexive pronouns', and you can ignore that. 

Compulsory  (obligatory) to watch for those who weren't in class on Friday:

1. Check your understanding after watching the video.

a) My sister bought that new car last week. That car is his/hers/her. 

b) The blue car isn't my sister's car. The green one is her/she/hers car.

c) Excuse me. Have you seen my/mine/me cell phone? I lost it. 

d) That dog belongs to my neighbor. It is our/their/his dog. 

e) Is this you/yours/your pen? Does it belong to you?

f) No, that's not my/mine/me. My pen is green. 

g) It is not theirs, it's our/them/ours . We bought it yesterday


2. Choose the correct possessive adjective/pronoun. 

a) This is Mary's umbrella. It is ___ umbrella.

b) This is Mary's umbrella. This umbrella is ___.

c) These are the girls' hats. These hats are ___.

d) These are Ben's flowers. They are ___ flowers. 

e) This is the dog's bone. It is ___ bone. 

f) These are the girls' hats. They are ___ hats.

g) This is your newspaper. This newspaper is ___.

h) These are my books. These books are ___.


3. Complete these sentences using the First Conditional. 

a) If you ___ (help) me with my homework, I ___ (finish) it in time to go to the shopping centre.

b) If it ___ (not/rain), the students ___ (practice) volleyball in the playground.

c) Jane ___ (come) home early if she ___ (not/be) very busy at work.

d) Our teacher ___ (be) pleased if we ___ (do) our homework.

e) If Robert ___ (play) football with us, we ___ (win) the match.

CLICK HERE for more exercises to keep practicing the First Conditional

Imperative Sentences

Best way of refreshing the use and structure of imperatives in English... Brought to you by those who use it the most :)

Enjoy the mum song:

British Chefs

Meet Jamie Oliver and Gordon Ramsay, two very famous British celebrity chefs.

Jamie Oliver is famous for cooking healthy recipes and raising awareness about the dangers of eating too much sugar and fast food. He has also published some cookbooks, all of them being a huge success. Two of his most popular books are the ones which include instructions to cook a wonderful dishes in 30 minutes and another one which beats that time, describing how to cook amazing recipes in just 15 minutes. 

 Gordon Ramsay is not just famous for having won Michelin stars, but also for having a strong personality which he shows in his successful TV show Kitchen Nightmares. In each episode of this program, he visits a different restaurant. All of them are sunk in debt or have huge problems, so he helps them by changing the menu, redecorating the place, etc.  If you ever thought that Chicote was too hard at some points with restaurant owners and employees in the Spanish version...check out this video. Click here for some of Gordon's serious shouting (warning: strong language).
He has also publish a lot of books on British pub food, healthy recipes, home cooked meals, etc.

Both of them have got their own youtube videos, have a look at them! They have some very tasty recipes and they are quite easy to follow. These are some suggestions:

Healthy Chicken Caesar Salad by Jamie Oliver

Gordon Ramsay's Scrambled Eggs on Toast


http://www.jamieoliver.com/

https://www.gordonramsay.com/

Enjoy!

Christmas Commercials in UK

As you might have noticed already, the TV commercials are starting to aim at our Christmas shopping: perfumes, watches, and many other objects considered to be 'typical' Christmas gifts. 

During my time in England, I observed that an unequivocal indicator which meant that Christmas was just around the bend was the appearance of Christmas TV commercials. Especially those for different shopping centres or supermarkets, such as Tesco or Sainsbury. I liked them a lot, and did some research of those aired previous years. 

I found them to be quite heartwarming, carefully done and original (British advertising is excellent in general), so here you have three of them that belong to this Christmas. Hope you like them!

Tesco commercial (there is a play on words with the adjective 'bright', see if you get it):

Aldi Telescope Christmas commercial. There is also a play on words, this time involving an IDIOM. Let's see if you can spot it!:

 Anchor Christmas commercial. This is a commercial for a dairy spreadable (sort of butter). In my opinion, one of the best ads: