How do languages change and evolve?

We use language every day, but probably very few people give a second thought to why our mother tongue and the foreign languages we learn look and sound this way and not the other. Why do some languages sound similar? Are they related in any way? The following video aims at answering such questions, revolving around the topic of language change and evolution. Watch it and discover some fascinating facts about languages!

Travelling - listening

Everybody has his own favourite travelling type depending on his character features. Some of tourists prefer to travel alone, others in groups, some want to have everything planned, others are spontaneous, some want to explore everything while others prefer to follow a tour guide. If you want to know how other people travel, listen to our recording and find out the details of one interesting tour of London...:)

1. First think of your perfect type of travelling and tell your partner about it. Consider:

What is Cymraeg?

This week we are learning through travel! Is there a better way of learning a language than
actually living for a while in a foreign country? Nothing more enjoyable than learning words in their communicative contexts. However, before we hit the road we have to learn as much as possible about the places we want to visit. Let's take our learners to the four beautiful nations that make up together the United Kingdom!

By the way, do you know what Cymraeg is and where it is used? 

If not, you might like to read yourself about the customs and traditions of the four nations which include England, Scotland, Wales and the Northern Ireland. We all know at least something about the United Kingdom but it is always a good habit to learn some new facts that you can share with your students. Many interesting facts can be found here:

Listening exercises

You are going to listen to 3 recordings. One is about making a pie, one about ordering meals at a restaurant and the last one about deciding what to have for breakfast. Enjoy!

Listening 1 Making a pie

I. Fill in the gaps and answer the questions.

1. The first thing to do is to .................. onion and .......................
2. How should it be chopped? ..........................................................
3. Put the onion and the garlic into .................................................
4. What should be added to it?
5. What kind of meat do we need?
6. What should we do with it while cooking?
7. How much water should we add?
8. What should we do with it for 15-20 minute?
9. 20 minute should be enough for the meat to be nice and soft and ...............................
10. What should we do with potato?
11. We should ....................... the potato with a ..................... of milk

COMPETITION – can you lose the game?

Competition is an inevitable part of sport. I bet that almost all of our readers (and bloggers too) are keen on winning! But who doesn’t like that? J

However, when there is a winner, there also has to be a loser, which is especially painful when you play for a high stake. 

And how about you? How do you cope with losing?

Look at the words below – which of them collocate with play (P) and which with go (G)?

SURFING      BASKETBALL         RUNNING    BADMINTON          HORSE RACING JOGGING            RUGBY         CRICKET      CYCLING     VOLLEYBALL       SWIMMING SQUASH            ROLLERBADING   FOOTBALL  SKIING      WINDSURFING  TENNIS

Read the information about the video:

"TWO RONNIES - SQUASH GAME" presents the story of two friends Ronnie Corbett and Ronnie Barker. In this episode both Ronnies have just had a game of squash. Barker has never played before but Corbett is the local squash champion. After the game Ronnie Corbett is a little bit nervous.

Why do you think he is finding it difficult to keep calm?

Let's get the ball rolling! Let's talk sports!

Today we are going to move our students from their comfortable sofas and do some speaking push ups :) But don't worry, even if you are out of shape, you'll catch up with our pace easily.

Actually, no serious workout today (I hate push ups, what about you?). Let's start with some warming up activities that will encourage our students to use sport-related vocabulary in speaking. Besides, it is said that a good warm-up is the most important part of your workout and the key to success. I bet it is the same with speaking!

Smoking - a good or bad habit?

Undoubtedly, adolescence is the time of rebellion. Until they find the right path to follow, teenagers eagerly experiment with various things. Unfortunately, these include substances that can seriously damage their health.

 

Smoking and, to be more precise, its effects on our health still remain a part of a hotly debated issue. Not only parents, but also teachers struggle with teenagers smoking cigarettes. The question is - how to make them quit smoking? The answer is really simple – make them realise that this bad habit has definitely more dark sides than the bright ones.

However, don’t do it straightforwardly! Don’t try to harangue teenagers in any way since it will only bring about effects contrary to what has been intended. How to make them realise it by themselves then? Let’s use a short video about the negative effects of smoking and adapt it to listening comprehension! Below you will find a short video by iheedinstitute, entitled Smoking and its effects on health – stop today!