Lighten up before the exams

Today I thought I would sprinkle some humor before the dreaded exams. The video below (which, by the way, is quite old) may help you consider some problem areas that you might or might not relate to. It addresses these very specific issues:

How does poor spelling affect your pronunciation?

What are the consequences of mixing up idioms?

Is it okay to use of question tags if you’re not good at it?

What happens when you put the stress on the wrong syllable?
How do people react when your vocabulary is painfully limited?

If you can laugh a little that's a good sign!

Watch those ego trips

Quite recently comedian Seth Meyers noted that Donald Trump feels the constant need to use superlatives. It could be argued that hyperbole can be a casual form of expression. That’s the case when you say Jack, you’re the best or I’m starving. It can also be held that exaggerations are a powerful literary device. In the opening line of “A Tale of Two Cities” Charles Dickens himself wrote: it was the best of times, it was the worst of times.
However, as Meyers pointed out, using an extreme statement can also make a person sound utterly ridiculous. In answer to a reporter who had asked him if he is a racist, President Trump responded: “I am the least racist person you have ever interviewed”. To which Seth Meyers said the following:

Why do you do that to yourself, man? If you just said “I’m not a racist” maybe you can muddy the waters and people will have to debate it but when you say “the least racist person” you just set off alarm bells. It’s the difference between saying “I’m a tall person” and “I’m the tallest person on Earth”. With one you go “Oh! pretty tall, I guess” with the other you go “Oh! He’s crazy!”

If you are interested you can see the comments in this clip (03:23).

And I believe Meyers is right. Exaggeration is usually dangerous and, more often than not, it is simply false. Also let’s not forget that, when it comes to race-related remarks, a sweeping statement is definitely a no-no. It is racial profiling at best and plain racism at worst. So please let’s all try and avoid gross generalizations and make an effort to find more reasonable alternatives. We know that hyperboles are not to be taken literally. Yet, as the clip below shows, abusing exaggerated statements can be just laughable.

I know it is quite easy to edit together a series of out-of-context soundbites and make someone look silly but, still, the question remains: what kind of person refers to himself/herself in such extreme terms so often? One is tempted to assume that such a speaker might not only be irritatingly arrogant but also not very smart. I may be wrong but, the way I see it, it seems like Mr. Trump does not have many rhetoric resources for blowing his own trumpet. That’s probably one of the reasons why he keeps using the same structure Nobody is… than me. So let’s be better than Trump and, even when you are on an ego trip, please try phrases like these: I believe this is my forte, I know quite a bit about that, I have a deep respect for women, I’m an avid student of the Bible, I’m a staunch supporter of the anti-nuclear lobby, I am a fairly educated woman and so on and so forth...

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NO FLYING CARS YET

So we are in 2018! If my beloved Blade Runner (1982) is to be taken seriously, next year we should see flying cars filling the streets... Okay, real world stuff now.

Those of you interested in the upcoming school trip to London in April might want to attend a meeting at the school (in Laredo) next Monday 15 at 18:00. A word of caution: this is not going to be the touristy sight-seeing trip that some may expect but something else altogether.

As for our regular classes, the much-anticipated presentations are already underway (in Castro Urdiales at least). More of them are already scheduled for the next weeks. Those of you that still don't know what I'm talking about... remember you should put together a presentation about something you are knowledgeable or passionate about.

Writing assignments. Avanzado 2 students are expected to write either a letter to themselves in the future (check out www.futureme.org) or their own obituary. I know this second option may make many uncomfortable. Not many feel comfortable with the idea of contemplating their own death but, believe me, it is an interesting exercise of self-actualization that allows you to look back on your life and consider both achievements, failures, pipe dreams, lessons learned and all the rest of it.

As for the inevitable oral exams, I think this is a good opportunity to take 34 seconds of your time and watch the clip below. I am aware that most people share videos like this one just for laughs. However I feel it is my duty to offer a different take. Indeed this little video may allow us all to realize a sometimes neglected truism: certain words (or sequences) that speakers of certain languages find very easy to pronounce can prove to be exceedingly difficult to speakers of other languages. So if you crack a smile while watching the video don't forget that the perfect pronunciation of words like world or television is quite a daunting challenge to many many Spaniards.

One last thing. In a recent C1 class the infamous Piltdown Man and the Cardiff Giant came up. Since Avanzado 2 students are soon going to explore the world of scams, conspiracies and hoaxes I thought it would be fitting to let you take a look at this fascinating website.