Hi Everyone!
This was our last week of class before summer vacation, so we talked a lot about plans for the summer, summer memories, how to keep cool, and what we love and hate about the hottest season.  

Please, don't forget that you can practice English over the break, so here are some recommendations of general resources to keep working!

For listening, I recommend BBC English, British Council, Randall's Listening, ESLPod, English Central, Voice of America, Lyrics Training.  For "original version" listening, try TED or Audiofil.es.

For reading try Breaking News English, Heads Up English,  BBC English.  There is tons to read in English online, why not check out Give Me Something to Read or Arts and Letters Daily.

For writing you could keep an English journal keeping track of your summer adventures and activities. I am happy to correct your writing throughout the summer if you are still working.

I want to thank you all for for a fantastic first year at Meetinghouse.  If you are interested in class next year you can send me an email or sign up online, we will start the first week in October.

Happy summer!!!!

Kelly

Hey Everybody,

This is a big summer for sports in Europe, what with the Eurocup and the Summer Olympics in London.  That makes for a great excuse to discuss competitive sports in class this week. 

To familiarize yourself with the vocabulary, check out the official websites in English of the UEFA Eurocup and the 2012 Summer Olympics.   There's a pretty good overview of the 2012 Olympics with this infographic.  

Try listening at BBC Learning about the Opening Ceremony or Talking Sport with Olympic Athletes.  The British Council has a website called English For the Games with various listening activities.  Lastly, you could watch this TED talk about Are We Born to Run?

For reading, try the article at Breaking News English about Russian football team.  Check out this page of interesting Olympic Trivia. For "original version reading" there is an interesting article about   the olympics' struggle with policing "femininity".

It's been a long time since many of you have tried writing, but better late than never.  So, you could write about how you think hosting the Olympics changes a city both for better and for worse.  If Logroño hosted the Olympics, what would the city look like?

Next week is our last week of classes for the 2011-2012 school year. Please help me improve for next year by filling out an evaluation form.  Your responses are anonymous and much appreciated!

Go Spain!

Best,
Kelly

Hi Everyone,

Don't forget that Friday is our extra activty.  We're meeting on Friday June 15th at 18:00 at the Sala de Amos Alvador to check out the latest photography exhibit.  Feel free to bring English speaking friends and/or family.

This week we talked about color (or colour if you're using the British spelling), a seemingly simple topic that gave us a lot to talk about.  First off, many of you learned new vocabulary for some common color words like maroon, tan, and teal. Look here for the most common and not so common color words in English. Also, there are tons of expressions that use color words.  Check out these color idioms in different languages (English is at the end).

For listening, the BBC has several interesting videos about color expressions with Blue, Silver, Red, White, Gold and Green.  More advanced students should try listening to Radiolab's episode about Colors, it's really fascinating!  Lastly, try Color in Motion about color symbolism.

There are some interesting reading activities for learners about scientific studies of color, for example Why Men Are Attracted to Women in Red or if Color Predicts Personality.  Advanced students may enjoy reading about what colors animals see.

Now on to writing.  Try describing a vividly colorful place, like a market or a tropical country!

Last but not least, for you music fans, there are tons of songs with color-related lyrics: Yellow Submarine by the Beatles, Blue Moon by Ella Fitzgerald,  Yellow by Coldplay, Colours by Donovan, Heart of Gold by Neil Young, Brown Eyed Girl by Van Morrison.

Best,
Kelly

--"Sit in reverie and watch the changing color of the waves that break upon the idle seashore of the mind." -- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Hi Everybody!

First off, those of you who are interested in summer sessionclasses, please fill out your schedule preferences in anonline form so I can start forming groups ASAP.

This week, we talked about theater, actors and actresses and even tried our hand at acting with some role plays and drama games in class.  You can expand on this topic at home this week by doing some of the homework suggestions below.

Let's start with listening.  Listen a Minute has an easy exercise about actors (mp3, tapescript, quiz). ESLPod has a good listening activing about Seeing a Play.  For a bigger challenge, try Space Radio Theater.   Other interesting resources are Learn English Through Movies and Storylinewhere famous actors read children's stories.

Now, on to reading.  Try this reading comprehension activity about Hollywood stars. Or check out the BBC activityTheatre. You can try this quiz of actors, Who Am I? or see how much does an A-list actor make and spend?

Finally, try some writing.  You could write a description or biography of an actor that you admire, or try your hand at writing a short dialogue between two characters.

Don't forget that Monday June 11th is a local holiday, so Monday classes have been moved to Thursday June 14th.  

Best,
Kelly

--The theater is so endlessly fascination because it's so accidental. It's so much like life. -- Arthur Miller