What's up? The exams are nigh! Repent and revise while you can!

Okay. This post goes for my “Avanzado” students. Sorry Intermedio 1. There’ll be another time.

To those who attended our last evening class, Thursday might well have been an unforgettable day. The number of subjects that were broached run the gamut from marksmen in hostile territory to to Alan Turing and the Apple logo. There were so many unconventional comments, so many unrelated words. The reference to male urine leakage products was a tad too surreal but still memorable, wasn’t it?

Anyhow, I’ve been thinking about what we’ve covered so far including the time I asked you how you would feel if a spider was named after you. I’ve also pondered some of the remarks in Brian’s presentation about TV shows and Films and the whole experience has been quite positive. The names of living creatures and the titles of certain quality TV shows filled my head squirming like tropical fishes in a huge aquarium. So I done some quick Internet research and… guess what? I found a brand new species (in the science books, anyway): a sea slug which was discovered in Brazil in 2013. The biologists who discovered it decided to honor Daeneris Targaryen, the blondest character in HBO’s “Game of Thrones”… Learn about the tritoniakhaleesi right here. So, there you go. As I told you, many recently discovered species are named after celebrities (or even movie characters) for very different reasons. If you’re curious about it you may want to check out these two spiders: the calponiaharrisonfordi and the aptostichusangelinajoliae. Andi f you are truly interested here’s a list of organisms named alter famous people.

In the “Game of Thrones” vein… Remember the text we read about Red Nose Day? Well, last May Red Nose organizers decided to do something truly original: they edited a (fake) video showing Coldplay writing songs for a Game of Thrones Broadway musical. Many members of the actual cast agreed to participate: the outcome is simply hilarious.

Hello again.

Today's edition of El País comes with an interesting English course endorsed by Cambridge University no less. I don’t usually comment on specific language courses but I must admit that this one got my attention. I walked into a coffee shop, sat on a couch and proceeded to flick through the 130-plus pages of the accompanying booklet. Guess what? I felt pleasantly surprised. The method covers three levels: elementary, intermediate and advanced and does it with style.

I have some objections, though.

For the most part it only deals with standard British English (so… not much American vocabulary, I’m afraid).  I’m not wild about some questionable assertions either. For instante, it presents dated expressions (like “it’s raining cats and dogs”, which some 90-year-olds might still use) as if they were up-to-date slang. It also says that the sentence “I feel good” is just wrong. Well, I figure that if James Brown and Nina Simone were still around they would beg to differ. Some other common phrases should probably  “To pull someone’s leg” is perfectly okay but, quite frankly, in the 21st century it’s probably not most people’s first option (do you really say “me estás tomando el pelo” in Spanish?).

On the plus side, it has some interesting and useful vocabulary, like the description of the symbols you find on a standard computer keyboard (are you sure you know what to call “_” and “ \ ”?). It also offers lots of fixed phrases and idioms which are really used in spoken English. For example, it explains how to use the expression “cheers” in British English. It comes with an audio CD full of material and promises access to an on-line course.

In short, despite some minor slips, it appears to be a quality course. The layout is attractive, the focus refreshing and it can help you to either revisit areas that you’ve seen before or open your eyes to new ones. As it tends to happen, there is a catch. Those who are interested in following the course need to register on this website and probably pay a rather hefty fee next Sunday. Or not… I really don’t know.

N.B. James Brown sang “I feel good” and Nina Simone “I’m feeling good”. Two wonderful tunes, by the way.

Happy New Year everyone! I'm fully aware of the fact that this is a long overdue post. Let me just say that, with the new year comes the new attitude.

So, let's get started.

Most of you would agree that, as far as New Year’s resolutions go, learning to speak a foreign language is a bit of a cliché. The real question, however, has to do with the way a language is efficiently learnt. Every student has a different learning style. In my case American films were absolutely instrumental. For some learners it’s the books that they find most useful (although I don’t see how the griten word can help your speaking skills).

Here are some tips of mine:

1.     Turn a part of your daily life into an anglophone experience. For example, change the language on your cellphone (from Spanish to English) or read the Spanish press in English. Yes. Spanish press in English. Some Spanish newspapers have on-line editions in English. If you're curious about it check out the English editions of País here and Marca right here.

2.     Watch short scenes of series or movies that you really enjoy. And then go and watch them over and over again. Take notes. Read those notes. And, of course, use the "new"vocabulary in the classroom.

3.     Read things aloud and talk to yourself in English. I know that can be creepy... but you know what? Your mouth needs to go through the actual motions. Pronunciation requires some degree of gymnastics.

Do you remember the vocabulary we saw in this class?