[ THE DRIFTER and the GYPSY ]: A heart-shaped meadow

[ THE DRIFTER and the GYPSY ]: A heart-shaped meadow

An inspirational short love story.  We have a proverb in English 'true love never dies'.  I think this story and photograph are testimony to that!

Do you know of any true love stories? Do you believe in true love?

Leave a comment here or on our facebook page.

How to Say Different English Numbers - English Vocabulary & Pronunciation Lesson

How to Say Different English Numbers - English Vocabulary & Pronunciation Lesson

How to say numbers in different contexts.  For example in dates, when telling the time, with money (for British currency simply substitute pound for dollars and pence for cents), when scoring a football game etc.

How to Say Numbers 100-1 trillion - English (ESL) Vocabulary & Pronunciation Lesson

How to Say Numbers 100-1 trillion - English (ESL) Vocabulary & Pronunciation Lesson

Following from the last video posted here are some larger numbers.

How to Say Numbers 0-99 - English Vocabulary & Pronunciation Lesson

How to Say Numbers 0-99 - English Vocabulary & Pronunciation Lesson

Practise the correct pronunciation of numbers from zero to 99.

More Music Collaborations from the British Council

Watch this film and learn about musical projects between British musicians and artists and performers from around the world.   Five international musical pieces were developed representing all five continents of the world.  The music was performed at a spectacular weekend event of free music on the River Thames ('River of Music, July 2012').

Ondatropica: British Council

Ondatropica: A Sound Journey from Colombia to London | British Council

Ondatropica is a British Council Musical Collaboration with Mario Galeano and Will Quantic. The project merges classic and modern styles of Colombian music. 

Watch this video  and meet Michi Sarmiento, composer and arranger of many of the biggest hits in tropical music.

http://www.britishcouncil.org/arts/ondatropica-sound-journey

You can find out about the places and people behind this musical collaboration by watching all 12  short videos, the links to which are posted in the web page above.

Hong Kong Bun Festival

Hong Kong Bun Festival

Find out more about this week long festival that occurs in Spring time in Hong Kong.  Follow the link above and read about the history, the culture, the ceremonies and activities that occur for the festival.  It really is very fascinating!

Either click on the PDF document and download or print the lesson. It is a reading comprehension. Enjoy!

Bob Marley

3 Resources to Find Out About the Man Behind the Legend

"He was a musician, a spiritual leader, a ladies' man, a smoker of heroic amounts of ganja, a political force and a religious icon. And, 31 years after his death, Bob Marley is still a chart-topper: His Legends album sells 250,000 copies a year, even now".

source:canada.com

Excerpt: BERLIN - 

• April 2012 saw a film released about him.  Below is a trailer, you can also access the film on demand at:- 

http://www.bobmarley.com/marley_the_movie.php#ondemand

• I also found a transcript of an interview of with his daughter (Cedalla Marley) at:- http://www.bobmarley.com/images_free/bob_marley_booklet_screen.pdf

Students could role play an interview about their father with another student. Students may like to compare their fathers to Bob Marley and discuss the 'role model' of a father. There could be quite different opinions on this and it generates a good opportunity for students to express their opinion about Marley's way of life.  Students will have strong opinions on this and they are likely to vary a lot!

• Finally, his famous song 'One Love'.  The message of his beliefs and philosophy are held within the lyrics of his song.  He was a 'rastafarian' by religion, I personally think there is a lot of truth in what he says in the song!

One thing for sure, he was a very controversial and rebellious character!

As Ravi says in the British Council Podcast if Bob was alive today what question would you like to ask him?

Free E-learning Lesson from Macmillan - Inside Out Series

Two Countries

This is a Macmillan Inside Out Series TEFL learning resource I would suggest is probably at Intermediate level (B1). It may also be suitable for Pre-Intermediate TEFL learners (A2) It contains:-

- A reading gapfill exercise about the country of Bhutan

- Answers requiring questions to be formed for them

- Facts about another unknown country.  Try to guess which country it is.  Remember it begins with 'B'.

Some Additional Websites to Research

Official website of the Bhutan Tourism Corporation, containing interesting facts and photos as well as conveying a sense of the government’s ambivalence towards tourism.

Facts about Bhutan from the US government’s Central Intelligence Agency website.

A guide to B----- from National Geographic, with photos, facts, map and a video

Other Lesson Resources

There is a teachers guide/answer key at:- 
http://www.insideout.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/NIO513T-Two-countries.pdf

And a glossary of useful vocabulary for the exercises at 
http://www.insideout.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/NIO513G-Two-countries.pdf

Charades | Macmillan Readers

Charades | Macmillan Readers

A brilliant resource by Macmillan explaining the game of charades, the rules and what the hand signals mean.  Learn about Shakespeare Plays by trying to guess what the actor is miming in the 3 short videos. Once you get the idea you could play the game with friends/colleagues either sticking to the topic of Shakespeare's work or trying another author perhaps Charles Dickens.

English Slang – FREAK · engVid

English Slang – FREAK · engVid

I heard many people in England call Michael Jackson 'a freak' when he was alive.  

Do you think this was a compliment or an insult?  

Watch this video and become familiar with the uses and meaning of this slang word.




Thinking about Michael Jackson, a great many respects have been paid to him and his music since his death.  With the benefit of hindsight (this means looking back in time with the benefit of what is known today), I wonder what those people would call him now?

A 'freak' or a 'legend'?

Slang in English – SUCK · engVid

Slang in English – SUCK · engVid

Another video with James from engVid similar in format to the last video posted 'blow'.  

James explains the origins of the word 'suck' and it's social history.  The word emerged in the 1920's/1930's  in Jazz Clubs in America.  Jazz instruments need the player to blow into them.  If you have a good blow you tend to be a good player.  

However if you suck the air in instead of blowing it out it doesn't work and the instrument sounds flat and awful.  And so people who are not good at doing things got the nickname 'sucker'.  

What do you think? 

True or false.