Dear students. It's been a while. Well... what can I say? Whether you like it or not, I'm back!

I know from bitter experience that only seven or eight of you actually read this blog but I suppose posting on it is a twisted kind of moral duty. Does that make any sense to you? Well, it does to me. So, what's new? For starters I'm teaching two new courses. They zero in on vocabulary issues. On Tuesdays from 18:00 to 19:00 I'll center on B1 and B2 vocabulary areas. On Thursdays (also at 18:00) I'll do the same on a C1/C2 level.

I intend to post thought-provoking stuff. Let's see if I manage to measure up to my own expectations. Anyhow, in order to avoid confusion I've decided to

Intermedio 1: essay on some stereotype / myth about men and women (due on Wed 1)
Avanzado 2: essay on cosmetic surgery (due on Wed 8)

One last thing: if you find the cartoon below hilarious that means your pronunciation is really good.

I know, I know. Long time no see. What can I say... I've been busy. But I got candy for everyone.

Pronunciation crowd: I've been doing some serious thinking lately and come to realize that it might be a good idea to tackle the whole approach to pronunciation from the obvious standpoint. Since we have agreed to start from scratch... why not pretend we are kids and learn like kids? This American website was designed to teach children how to read but I suppose some of you could make the most of it by simply focussing on the vowel sounds. Click on "Zac the rat", for instance, and listen to the vowel there. You can click on "the" and listen to the schwa.

Those of you that like technology may enjoy the brand new Google App "Google Translate", available for all kinds of cellphones and free of charge. It is practical, a lot of fun and can truly help you with your pronunciation. This software is far from perfect but has an interesting feature. although it may be incapable of recognizing a well pronounced word in isolation it will identify that same word in an appropriate context. Magic? Not really. That's how children learn languages. The video below shows a short demo. Enjoy.

Hey, everyone. Sorry I haven't been in touch. As you know I'm a little under the weather but I guess I can still go online and post something interesting and "christmassy" while I'm away. So here goes...

In the Western world (whatever that may mean) the Christmas season is virtually inescapable. We have come to accept certain images quite matter-of-factly. The white Christmas stereotype, which doesn't make much sense in Australia or Argentina, is one of those Eurocentric references. The truth is Christmas is full of amusing contradictions. For example, some of the most beloved Christmas song (like the aforementioned "White Christmas") were written by Jewish composers. The alleged date of the birth of Christ, which was officially established in the 4th century, is most likely wrong. According to most scholars, Jesus was probably born between 6 and 4 B.C. Anyhow, for those of you that have a weakness for that sort of thing here you have an entertaining list of bizarre facts about Christmas.

Of course, Christmas is not a universal festivity. In Arab states and some Asian countries, for instance, Christmas is still foreign and exotic, not unlike Ramadan or the Chinese New Year in Spain. Speaking of China, how many times have we heard that someone's niece is learning "Chinese"? We all kind of understand what people mean by that, but strictly speaking that is not accurate at all. As I have often said in the classroom, there several languages which certain people keep calling "Chinese". I'm referring to Mandarin, Wu, Cantonese, Jin, Gang, Hakka, Min, Xiang, Ping, etc... All of them are mutually unintelligible. So is it really okay to lump them together? Something analogous happens to Arabic. Anyway, the cartoon below is quite the eye-opener:

Hi there, my dearest Intemediate students! Today's entry brings you some grammar exercises so you can practice those conditional sentences that have become our new obsession. It won't take you long. Plus you are just a click away from the correct answers.

For the members of that fast-growing cult that has formed in my pronunciation classes I have decided to post this interesting video that shows a voice coach trying to explain how to speak English with a Spanish accent. We can look at it from a different angle: how to avoid precisely what he is teaching. Enjoy.

Sorry C1 students. There'll be something for you in my next post...

This time I thought I could share with you all this little video I edited a couple of months ago for my C1 class. It shows C1 students reminiscing about experiences they treasure. I believe they did a good job. Check out their vocabulary. That's what C1 is all about. Enjoy.

Hey, Intermediate crowd! I was pleased to see that some of you decided to attend my talk last Thursday. It was fun, wasn't it? I hope you learnt a thing or two about natural languages too. Today I just wanted to share a little something with all of you. It's this cover of a movie that I recently bought for my kids. As you can see, it's a well-known well-produced film with bucketloads of money behind it... Yet a grammar mistake went unnoticed. Can you spot it? Here is the cover:

Nobody is perfect, right?

Hey! I have neglected you a little, haven't I? Well... I've been busy. That doesn't mean that I haven't thought of you. To prove it I took this picture:

My pronunciation freaks will immediately understand the reason for the text in the postcard (if not its actual meaning). Anyway, how is it going? Can you pronounce you and Jew differently? Keep working on it. We have already covered a lot of ground: the day, everybody, you're a Jew, America and all those words with the repeated vowel (image, vintage, ticket, etc.).

What else? Oh yes! I got news! I got news! Next week I will be busy doing some lecturing. On Wednesday I'm going to give a talk in Castro Urdiales (19:00 Salón de actos del IES Ataúlfo Argenta) about constructed languages in Hollywood. I will make the same presentation in Laredo the day after, that is, on Thursday 20 at 19:00, most probably in our classroom.

Those of you who find the topic interesting enough might want to check out this five-minute presentation created by linguist John McWhorter. Think of it as an appetizer. My talk will consist of a brief history of conlanging (the creation of constructed languages) followed by a discussion of the most relevant projects that have become so popular over the past 30 years. I will show clips of Klingon, Sindarin, Dothraki, Na'vi and up to 20 fictional languages that have been used in TV series and motion pictures.

I promise to address specific Intermediate issues as well as some areas that my C1 students should find appealing.