How to improve your English

 Here are some tips that will help you to improve your English.                                     

Don’t be in too much of a hurry. You’re setting off on a long journey and there’ll be delays and frustrations along the way. Sometimes you’ll be in the fast lane and other times you’ll be stuck in traffic, but there will also be lots of interesting things and interesting people along the way. Take your time to really enjoy the experience.

There are many ways to improve your level of English, but only you can  find the right way for you. Here are a few tips that might help:

Improve your  Learning Skills

Learning is a skill and it can be improved.

Your path to  learning effectively is through knowing

• yourself
• your capacity to learn
• processes you have successfully used in the past
• your interest, and knowledge of what you wish to learn

Motivate yourself

If you are not motivated to learn English you will become frustrated and give up. Ask yourself the following questions, and be honest:

• Why do you need to learn/improve English?
• Where will you need to use  English?
• What skills do you need to  learn/improve? (Reading/Writing/Listening/Speaking)
• How soon do you need to see results?
• How much time can you afford to devote to learning English.
• How much money can you afford to devote to learning English.
• Do you have a plan or learning strategy?

Set yourself achievable goals

You know how much time you can dedicate to learning English, but a short time each day will produce better, longer-term results than a full day on the weekend and then nothing for two weeks.

Here are some goals you could set yourself:

• Join an English course – a virtual one or a real one (and attend regularly).
• Do your homework.
• Read a book or a comic every month.
• Learn a new word every day.
• Visit an English speaking forum every day.
• Read a news article on the net every day.
• Do 10 minutes listening practice every day.
• Watch an English film at least once a month.
• Follow a soap, comedy or radio or TV drama.

I hope it helps you with your English classes!

Aran

Charles Dickens’ Birthday – February 7th, 1812

Charles John Huffam Dickens was born February 7, 1812 in Portsmouth, Hampshire, England. Shortly thereafter his family moved to Chatham, and Dickens considered his years there as the happiest of his childhood. In 1822, the family moved to London, where his father worked as a clerk in the navy pay office. Dickens’ family was considered middle class, however, his father had a difficult time managing money. His extravagant spending habits brought the family to financial disaster, and in 1824, John Dickens was imprisoned for debt.

Charles was the oldest of the Dickens children, and a result of his father’s imprisonment, he was withdrawn from school and sent to work in a shoe-dye factory. During this period, Dickens lived alone in a lodging house in North London and considered the entire experience the most terrible of his life. Nevertheless, it was this experience that shaped his much of his future writing.
After receiving an inheritance several months later, Dickens’ father was released from prison. Although Dickens’ mother wanted him to stay at work, resulting in bitter resentment towards her, his father allowed him to return to school. His schooling was again interrupted and ultimately ended when Dickens was forced to return to work at age 15. He became a clerk in a law firm, then a shorthand reporter in the courts, and finally a parliamentary and newspaper reporter.

In 1833, Dickens began to contribute short stories and essays to periodicals. He then provided a comic narrative to accompany a series of engravings, which were published as the Pickwick Papers in 1836. Within several months, Dickens became internationally popular. He resigned from his position as a newspaper reporter and became editor of a monthly magazine entitled Bentley’s Miscellany. Also during 1836, Dickens married Catherine Hogarth. Together, they had nine surviving children, before they separated in 1858.

Dickens’ career continued at an intense pace for the next several years. Oliver Twist was serialized in Bentley’s Miscellany beginning in 1837. Then, with Oliver Twist only half completed, Dickens began to publish monthly installments of Nicholas Nickleby in 1838. Because he had so many projects in the works, Dickens was barely able to stay ahead of his monthly deadlines. After the completion of Twist and Nickleby, Dickens produced weekly installments of The Old Curiosity Shop and Barnaby Rudge.

After a short working vacation in the United States in 1841, Dickens continued at his break-neck pace. He began to publish annual Christmas stories, beginning with A Christmas Carol in 1843. Within the community, Dickens actively fought for social issues; such as education reform, sanitary measures, and slum clearance, and he began to directly address social issues in novels such as Dombey and Son (1846-48).

In 1850, Dickens established a weekly journal entitled Household Words to which he contributed the serialized works of Child’s History of England (1851-53), Hard Times (1854), A Tale of Two Cities (1859), and Great Expectations (1860-61). At the same time, Dickens continued to work on his novels, including David Copperfield (1849-50), Bleak House (1852-53), Little Dorrit (1855-57), and Our Mutual Friend (1864-65). As his career progressed, Dickens became more and more disenchanted. His works had always reflected the pains of the common man, but works such as Bleak House and Our Mutual Friend expressed his progressing anger and disillusionment with society.

In 1858, Dickens began a series of paid readings, which became instantly popular. Through these readings, Dickens was able to combine his love of the stage with an accurate rendition of his writings. In all, Dickens performed more than 400 times. The readings often left him exhausted and ill, but they allowed him to increase his income, receive creative satisfaction, and stay in touch with his audience.

After the breakup of his marriage with Catherine, Dickens moved permanently to his country house called Gad’s Hill, near Chatham in 1860. It was also around this time that Dickens became involved in an affair with a young actress named Ellen Ternan. The affair lasted until Dickens’ death, but it was kept quite secret. Information about the relationship is scanty.

Dickens was required to abandon his reading tours in 1869 after his health began to decline. He retreated to Gad’s Hill and began to work on Edwin Drood, which was never completed. died suddenly at home on June 9, 1870. He was buried in Westminster Abbey.

Aran

Martin Luther King Day

Martin Luther King, Jr. Day is a United States federal holiday marking the birthday of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. It is observed on the third Monday of January each year, which is around the time of King’s birthday, January 15.

At age 35, Martin Luther King, Jr., was the youngest man to received the Nobel Peace Prize. When notified of his selection, he announced that he would turn over the prize money of $54,123 to the furtherance of the civil rights movement.

On August 28,1963 from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his 17 minute public speech in which he called for racial equality to an end to discrimination.

On April 4, 1968, while standing on the balcony of his motel room in Memphis, Tennessee, where he was to lead a protest march in sympathy with striking garbage workers of that city, he was assassinated.

King was the chief spokesman for nonviolent activism in the civil rights movement, which successfully protested racial discrimination in federal and state law. The campaign for a federal holiday in King’s honor began soon after his assassination in 1968. Ronald Reagan signed the holiday into law in 1983, and it was first observed on January 20, 1986. At first, some states resisted observing the holiday as such, giving it alternative names or combining it with other holidays. It was officially observed in all 50 states for the first time in 2000.

(Wikipedia)

Now, after reading a little bit about MLK you can have a look at this video. This is his most famous speech.

ACTIVITY: Have a look at part of Martin Luther King’s speech. Try to fill in the gaps with the words in the box. Here you have the exercise and the keys.

Best regards,

Aran

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A Brand New Year…

Guide to learn a language succesfully

Hi guys!    

Here you have an interesting document about how to learn a language. I think it is quite interesting. I’m sure you can find some useful information that will improve your studying skills.

Aprendiz lenguas

C U soon

Aran

New Year’s Resolutions

Do you know what New Year’s Resolutions are?        

A New Year’s resolution is a commitment that an individual makes to one or more lasting personal goals, projects, or the reforming of a habit.

Let’s have a look at the Top Ten New Year’s Resolutions. Is there any resolution here that you have already made for 2012?

1. Spend More Time with Family & Friends

2. Fit in Fitness

3. Tame the Bulge

4. Quit Smoking

5. Enjoy Life More

6. Quit Drinking

7. Get Out of Debt

8. Learn Something New

9. Help Others

10. Get Organized

Good luck with your Resolutions for next year!!

Aran

Innocents Day (Equivalent of April Fool’s Day)

December 28th…

Do you know why we celebrate Innocents Day? Do other countries celebrate something similar? If you want to know more about this special day, keep on reading…

The minor U.S./ UK holiday of April Fools’ Day is little known in Spain and Latin America, but there is a rough equivalent, el Día de los Santos Inocentes, observed on Dec. 28.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Dear students,

I would like to wish you the best for the next year. Enjoy your holidays as much as you can!!  I will see you again January 9th/10th.

Best

Aran

Check Linda and Ian’s timetable

Dear students,

If you want to know when Linda or Ian are coming to your classes, please click here and here. Remember that both of them are coming in our week number 2.

Aran

Bonfire Night-Guy Fawkes’ Night

On 5 November every year, British get excited because it is Bonfire Night (Guy Fawkes’ Night). They lit bonfires and enjoy fireworks displays. On top of the fire is a guy (a homemade model of a man, like a scarecrow). They do these things because they’re remembering when the King of England, James l, and the Houses of Parliament were nearly blown up with gunpowder

History of the Gunpowder Plot & Guy Fawkes Night

Four hundred years ago, in 1605, a man called Guy Fawkes and a group of plotters attempted to blow up the Houses of Parliament in London with barrels of gunpowder placed in the basement. They wanted to kill King James and the king’s leaders.

Why did Guy Fawkes want
to kill King James 1st and the king’s leaders?

When Queen Elizabeth 1st took the throne of England she made some laws against the Roman Catholics. Guy Fawkes was one of a small group of Catholics who felt that the government was treating Roman Catholics unfairly. They hoped that King James 1st would change the laws, but he didn’t.

Catholics had to practise their religion in secret. There were even fines for people who didn’t attend the Protestant church on Sunday or on holy days. James lst passed more laws against the Catholics when he became king.

What happened – the Gungpowder Plot

A group of men led by Robert Catesby, plotted to kill King James and blow up the Houses of Parliament, the place where the laws that governed England were made.
The plot was simple – the next time Parliament was opened by King James l, they would blow up everyone there with gunpowder. The men bought a house next door to the parliament building. The house had a cellar which went under the parliament building. They planned to put gunpowder under the house and blow up parliament and the king.

Guy Fawkes Discovered
Guy Fawkes was given the job to keep watch over the barrels of gunpowder and to light the fuse. On the morning of 5^th November, soldiers discovered Guy hidden in the cellar and arrested him. The trail of gunpowder at his feet would never
be lit. Guy Fawkes was taken to the Tower of London. He was tortured and questioned about the other plotters. To start with he didn’t tell the soldiers anything about the plot. But, eventually he started to tell the truth.

A celebration

In celebration of his survival, King James ordered that the people of England should have a great bonfire on the night on 5^th November. The event is still commemorated annually in England on 5^th November by fireworks and burning ‘guys’ (effigies) on bonfires. The searching of the cellars of Parliament before the opening of each new session, however, was not introduced until 1678.

Why do British have Guys and Fireworks on Bonfire Night?

The Guy (effigy) is made out of old clothes stuffed with paper or straw. The Guy is a reminder of Guy Fawkes. The fireworks are a reminder of the gunpowder Guy Fawkes hid in the cellar of Parliament.

Traditional Bonfire Night Food

As well as burning effigy of Guy Fawkes, the bonfires are used to cook potatoes wrapped in foil and to heat up soup for the crowds that come to watch the fireworks. The traditional cake eaten on bonfire night is Parkin Cake, a sticky cake containing a mix of oatmeal, ginger, treacle and syrup. Other foods include sausages cooked over the flames and marshmallows toasted in the fire.

 Firework Displays

In main town and cities, torch-lit processions are also popular on this night too. The procession leads to where the bonfire and firework displays are.

The biggest fireworks display in Kent is the Edenbridge Display. They also have the biggest effigy, a 30ft ‘Celebrity Guy’.

Penny for the Guy

During the days before Bonfire Night, children used to take their home-made guys out on the street and ask for “a penny for the Guy” for fireworks. Children, in some areas, blacken their faces as Guy Fawkes might have done when he plotted to blow up parliament.

Flaming Barrels

In Ottery St Mary, teams of stalwart men carry flaming tar barrels on their shoulders down the length of the town’s High Street. When one man’s 50-pound barrel gets too hot to handle, another man takes over – then another, and then another, until the flames die out and the barrel crumbles into ashes.

EXERCISE:  I would like you to write about a typical celebration in your hometown or any other place you know quite well. Let me know what is the celebration about, when it is celebrated, the typical dishes you can eat, the traditions followed, if you have any pictures you can add them to your essay as well!!

• Deadline: Nov 8, 2011
• Number of words: 180-200

Aran