Learn English Through Song or Movie Scenes

A generous man called Teacher Frank (not me! A different one…) has created lots and lots of fun lessons which involve listening to songs and watching slide shows or movies on You Tube. He even has free exercises to go with them.

I find the songs and movie scenes are very well chosen and because the level is fairly easy for most of you, it is a nice relaxing way to work on your English. Nevertheless, I am rather confident that in each song or scene there will be a few idioms or phrases that may not yet be in your active, productive English. 

I suggest you try to use these new phrases in sentences of your own. And let others know about the site if you like it. Maybe it's worth a blogging about in your own blog.

Learn English Through Song  

Here is an example using a song I like very much, especially on a cloudy day :) I just love the singer's clear mellifluous voice

You can also study the lyrics and respond to your favorite lines. Have a look at the two-page Word handout that goes with it.

Here is the whole list of songs Frank has chosen for you. There are PLENTY of great songs to choose from and the slide shows are often quite amusing. 

Learn English Through Movie Scenes

Also very entertaining. Scroll down to see the script and do the exercise. Use the new words and phrases you learn so you remember them better!

Finally, here is a long playlist at youtube will a lot of the free lessons that Teacher Frank has prepared for your learning pleasure.

Have fun! (and who cares if you start singing along :) )

Myths about Bilingual Children

via youtube.com

Have you ever wished you had grown up speaking two (or more) languages? What are the advantages and disadvantages of a bilingual upbringing?

Listen carefully to Brenda explain the 4 main myths and what experts like her feel is really the truth when it comes to raising kids bilingually.

I have two kids myself and I must say they turned out just fine :)

How the Arch got its Shape

This is a pretty cool video. I learned the word catenary from one of my TU students who studies architecture.
Do you know how to pronounce it?

Now the culture question: In what American city can you see such an arch, a really big one?

Watch the second video to learn more...

Symmetry

Marcus du Sautoy: Symmetry, reality's riddle

Radiolab Presents Symmetry

Lyrics Training

My daughter really likes this one because she loves to sing in both Spanish and English.

It's fun listening to songs and then typing in the missing lyrics. The cool thing is that the song waits for you to finish typing the missing word or phrase. Different levels. Highly recommended!

To watch a screencast made by an English teacher named Russell explaining exactly how the site works, click here.

This is America. Text and MP3 Files

This is America
Text & MP3 Files
There are 240 fifteen-minute programs.  That is about 60 hours of listening. And reading.

Here's what I like about this resource:

1. Great variety of topics about life in the USA.
2. The English is very easy to understand (VOA's Special English).
3. You can easily download the mp3 and take it with you.
   
4. The transcript shows you exactly what is being said so you know how the words are spelled.
5. Double-click on the words you don't know and a definition pops up. 
6. The programs are made by Voice of America radio professionals.
7. The programs are only 15 minutes long.
8. You can learn a lot about this interesting country!
   

Greg Mortensen is my hero

I strongly recommend you listen to this interview with Greg and a famous American journalist named Bill Moyers about the humanitarian work Greg and others are doing in Afghanistan building schools for girls.

I also strongly recommend you read Greg's books, THREE CUPS OF TEA and his most recent one, STONES INTO SCHOOLS: PROMOTING PEACE WITH BOOKS NOT BOMBS, IN
AFGHANISTAN AND PAKISTAN.


If only there were more people like Greg who had the drive to truly make the world a better place.

There is a transcript to help you understand what he has to say, but he has a very simple and easy-to-understand message about how peace can be brought to that troubled part of the world. The part of the interview that impressed me the most is the story about the "Men in Black" (Taliban) and the photo of them on the swings. Precious!

Please have a look!

I'm not hanging noodles on your ears...

This is the funny title of a new book about idioms around the world. Some of the them are pretty humorous, even the German ones ;), especially when they are translated literally into English.



You can take a Guardian quiz here
I managed to correctly half of them. I could have guessed more had I thought like a Brit. That one about the British dinner, for example...

Have fun!

Watching Documentaries

By documentaries I'm not talking about those films Michael Moore makes...

But the genre can be pretty educational since a lot of them don't have a happy ending where the hero rides off into the sunset. Just like life.

I like watching documentaries because many of them make me think about what is really true, what can I really believe?

This site has a pretty good list of documentaries you can watch for free.

http://www.tv-links.cc/documentary/index.html

To make it a complete learning experience I recommend you write a short summary of what you learned or how you react to what you have watched. Unless you do this, you're just another passive consumer. And talk to somebody about what you see. Discuss the chances that what you see resembles what the truth.

Obama's speech at the DNC

The great thing about watching and listening to this man speak is that you can learn from someone who has absolutely mastered the English language. The NY Times has synchronized the video and the transcript and added a kind of table of contents so you can jump to whatever sections sound interesting.

Truly amazing to watch (and read along).

And then McCain picked Sarah Palin to be his veep. Was this a wise move?! Time will tell...

Meanwhile, read this article in the same paper McCain's Baked Alaska to see how one American woman feels about McCain's choice.

Remember that you just have to double-click on any difficult words in the article to get a definition in English.

Who would YOU for if you were allowed to vote in this election on November 4th?

The World According to the Simpsons

The World According to the Simpsons

It's about time I introduced one of my favorite radio programs of all time: Here on Earth: Radio Without Borders. It's hosted by Jean Feraca and in this show, her guests discuss the impact of the Simpsons around the world.

She always has intelligent people (professors, authors, and other non-yellow characters) on the show whose IQ must be double or even triple that of Homer S.!

The topics are often quite interesting, like this one about Bart and Marge and the rest of the gang, especially the cultural programs.

You can find Jean's blog here, where she discusses the latest shows.

The forum gives people a chance to add their two cents.

For this show the questions were:

* Are the Simpons really the typical American family?
* How do you feel about Homer and Bart as American ambassadors?


Then there are the related links which will keep you up way past your bedtime

* Official site of The Simpsons
* Wikipedia: The Simpsons
* The Simpsons entry in The Museum of Television Encyclopedia
* Matt McAllister
* Steven Keslowitz and his book
* Aeon Skoble
* The Simpsons Archive

I will end by quoting one Listener's Comments:

* John 7/19/06: "I think the Simpsons Cartoon demonstrates to the world that Americans have an insight into what's dysfunctional in our own culture by allowing the world to laugh with us at our beer guts and lazy intellect."

I think that says it all. Americans are not as stupid as they seem to the unsophisticated European.

Read the words

This website is new and has a lot of great features for language learners. I have already set up an account and am amazed at what I can do at Read The Words

With Read The Words you can quickly convert any text into audio and choose from a variety of voices. Just copy and paste something you're writing to hear if it sounds right. Or paste in a list of vocabulary words and listen to them and their English explanations as you are doing something else more exciting, like washing the dishes. You can even create podcasts from written texts that you can listen to on your ipod while you are jogging or riding your bike!

Give it a try!

Obama’s Speech on Race

This link will take you to an interactive video and transcript of Senator Barack Obama’s speech in Philadelphia on March 18, 2008.

It is a long speech (37 minutes) but you can jump to the various sections of it and read along with the transcript as Obama speaks. Listen and read for a few minutes and you will see what a fantastic speaker this man is.

The man is an amazing speaker. He appears to be delivering this speech without ever glancing down at a sheet of paper. And as far as I can tell he is not reading from a teleprompter either.

I like what he has to say about race in America. It is a complex problem and he reminds us that it is not one that will simply go away.

fonetiks

http://www.fonetiks.org/

· Online pronunciation guides to 9 varieties of the English language and 9 other languages

· Instant sound

· Pronunciation samples by over 40 native speakers

· All 1,000+ pages free

· Click on a flag to open a dictionary

Why can't all language websites as good as this one!?

Grey's Anatomy

This seems to be a very popular show and it is even being shown in English on Austrian TV (will wonders never cease!)

Many students claim to be doing something good for their English by plopping themselves down in front of the TV and sitting there passively "improving" their English.

But that's about as effective as sleeping with a dictionary under your pillow to improve your vocabulary.

Here's what I suggest as a way to take a slightly more active approach.

1. Read the script beforehand (or afterwards if you prefer to be surprised...)
http://www.twiztv.com/scripts/greysanatomy/

2. If you are having trouble with the vocabulary you can put the URL of the page with the script into http://www.voycabulary.com/
and select the leo dictionary for German translations of if you prefer to have the words explained in English I suggest you select answers.com. Click "Proceed" and then every single word in the script will be linked to the dictionary you have chosen. Saves a lot of time.

3. Make a note of any new words and phrases you think are useful (and take a sip of beer every time your favorite character say them!?) No, seriously, try to use some of these words and phrases the very same day or week and soon you will have actually learned something by "merely" watching the boob tube!

The Awful German Language

Listen and read one of the classic essays of all time about German. Just be glad you "got it for free" (acquired it naturally) and didn't have to go through the agony of learning it.
http://librivox.org/the-awful-german-language-by-mark-twain/

Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo

Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo.

Do you understand this perfectly grammatical English sentence?

Well, I didn't either at first.

But if you read the wikipedia article and try really hard you will see the light...


And here's a link to the spoken word version (read by a native speaker, NOT a computer!)

If a non-American can read the Declaration of Independence, then I see no reason why an Austrian should not read any article he or she wants to read. In English I mean.

Here is how you are supposed to record the article you have chosen:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Spoken_Wikipedia


Why not start with the one about Arnie for example? If you are from Styria, you may even sound just like him!! On second thought...that one is a bit long and has a lot of big words, like California...


So why not try a shorter article like the Grazer Schloßberg

Musicovery

Nice site which lets you pick the music that matches your mood.

The brilliance of Musicovery is in its ability to create free playlists for users based on a mixture of factors: mood (you can choose among “dark,” “energetic,” “positive,” and “calm”), era, tempo, genre.

Most of the songs I saw and heard here are in English, but I also saw Spanish and French and Arabic too!, so you can always say you're practicing your listening comprehension...!

You can definitely discover some new music, hence...

MUSICOVERY

We like!!

Christmas in July!

It has been so hot that I needed something to cool down a bit. So I thought of Christmas.
And a poem. One of my all-time favorite poems. "A Visit from St Nick"
Click on number 9 in the player and enjoy.


Feeling any cooler?

Yabla

Yabla is a pretty cool site.
It provides "supported" video clips in English French or Spanish. You can see the text in the original-language and English captions while listening to the audio. You can also easily replay any segment and control the playback speed (normal or slow). In addition, clicking on any word in the captions provides dictionary definitions in English.

One interesting experiment to start with might be to watch the same content delivered by three different women in three different languages and make a few comparisons.

First in English. Click on "Try Yabla for free"!

Then try the same information presented by Julieta from Argentina here. Remember you can always slow it down or pause and get a definition.

Finally it's time for French. Remember you can always slow it down or pause and get a definition.

So what do you think? Is Yabla an interesting kind of website for language learners?