My dear C1 students: we're going to tackle a kind of vocabulary that, quite frankly, steps over the borders of our level (and into C2 hostile territory). I'm talking about noise-related words… Anyhow, first things first. This time I just wanted to call your attention to some of those terms we used in the classroom. Do you remember these words: crusty, mullet, geek, tramp stamp, hikikomori, goofy?  Could you think of appropriate translations for forro polar o palabra de moda? And do you know what purple haze means? All that came up in our classes...

My dear neglected students. Like the Terminator, I'm back.

I guess I'd already warned some of you that this might happen. The workload this year is pretty overwhelming so I make do with the little time I have. Enough said!

Intermediate learners. We're still dealing with medical issues (addictions, colds and all the rest of it) and the authors of the textbook want us to take a look at some past tenses. I guess this is a perfect opportunity for checking out some "real" English you may conceivabably use at the doctor's office: click here if you're curious. It comes with audio files so you can practise your intonation. The accent is (do I need to say it?) American. Enjoy.

C1 crowd. How're you doing? You know what I thought I might give you a vocabulary quiz but then I had second thoughts... I figured it may actually be counterproductive. Okay. Just a taste of it: do you remember what a whizz kid is? And how about the connotations of disturbing? What does deranged mean? (I used it only once). Which one of these is does not mean crazy: nutcase, nut, nutter, nutshell, nuts?

One more thing. I asked you to write a one-page essay describing some sort of awe-inspiring memory (or something of that sort). Remember? So far I've only gotten one text.

Hey! You still there? Cool! Don't ask me why but it looks like I've decided to discuss strong adjectives in every class regardless of its actual level. Anyhow, I feel there are a number of reasons why this might not be irrelevant. Let's see... suppose you need to attend a funeral or express your feelings after a 50-mile hike... Can you really settle for weak words? Don't you feel you should use some serious "power words"? Here's the trick. Intermediate students should feel content if they can handle ONE strong (or extreme) adjective. C1 students ought to experience something close to insatisfaction. How do you feel after the aforementioned hike? Very tired is for wimps. Exhausted is okay for intermediate students. The C1 crowd should be ready to come up with a colorful alternative such as... knackered, shattered, dead tired, burned out, or worn out or something along those lines... Here's some simple practice:

small	tiny
big
pretty
ugly
dirty
surprising
good
bad
funny
cold
hot
clever
angry
sad
happy
strange
good-looking
disgusting
slim
tasty