HAPPY NEW YEAR.

Hello everyone:

2010 is almost dead and that's why I want to wish a very happy new year. I wish all the best to all of you and, please, don't do with English like in the cartoon.

See you soon.

---------------------
Image taken from: http://www.cartoonstock.com/newscartoons/cartoonists/jlv/lowres/jlvn670l.jpg

ARE YOU A FILM BUFF?

Hello everyone:

If your answer is "yes" you might be interested in the following link:   Filmsite

This time I'm not going to recommend something about English language stuff, but a good website about cinema (in English, of course). It's very complete: you can find information about film history, scenes, quizzes, Oscars, quotes, etc. It's really varied and interesting. Why don't you try it now?

What do you think?
Bye!
----------------------
Image taken from: http://www.filmsite.org/images/filmsite-amc.jpg

IMPROVE YOUR PRONUNCIATION.

Hi everyone:

I think holidays (if you have) is a good time to practise a bit (come on, don't be lazy). That's why I leave two good links from the BBC learning English service and BBC/ British Council teaching English websites.

The first link is also about phonetics, but in this case you have videos in which you're explained about how to pronounce. You only have to click the sound you want to practise. There's also some fun if you go to "quizzes" section. My experience in my speaking class was very positive, so why not trying?

Pronunciation videos.

The second link is about the phonemic chart. Yes, I know it may seem a bit difficult or specialised. Don't be afraid, you mustn't learn them by heart, it's just for your information.

Phonemic chart. 


I hope you like them.

Sorry for its size. It can't be bigger.
Link for the picture. 

-----------------
Images taken from: http://sites.google.com/site/mrniceguyonly/_/rsrc/1257079487965/phonetics/chart.JPG?height=578&width=806 and http://sites.google.com/site/mrniceguyonly/_/rsrc/1224961946095/phonetics/n534417791_1409128_4774.jpg

JOYEUX NOËL.

Hi people:

Last week we could watch Joyeux Noël film at the culture house. Unfortunately, I couldn't go but I'd like to leave you a review by one of the most acknowledged film critics: Roger Ebert, who has worked for Chicago Sun Times newspaper.

I leave you some links:

Roger Ebert website.

His review about the film:

Roger Ebert's review.
-------------------
Image taken from: http://www.ioncinema.com/old/images/upload/movie_4436_poster.jpg

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR.

Just to wish you Merry Christmas and a happy New Year. My best wishes for all the people in the group and their families. Sorry for not being very original.


I also leave you a video. I hope you like it:

 

P.S: Good luck with the lottery (if not, you know, health for everyone)
------------------
Cartoon taken from: http://arcticboy.arcticboy.com/view.php?q=Merry%20Christmas%20Cartoon%20Picture&url=http://i147.photobucket.com/albums/r313/renright/Christmas%20Cartoons/deer.jpg

EXTRA SESSION (17th DECEMBER)

Hello everyone:

We had the last session of the year. Although it wasn't in our schedule, some of us met last Friday. We were finally (and fortunately) more than we expected. Everything started when Estela told us about her "unforgettable" Christmas lunch with her workmates. That was the perfect excuse to start talking about restaurants. Who knows? Maybe next year we'll have our own "Michelin guide" (in English, of course). Then we changed the topic and we talked about trains, tickets and public transport abroad. This also led us to talk about funny experiences abroad and we finished talking about something apparently unrelated: guns. Well, I have to explain: we were talking about Mexico and security there. Don't worry, we're a pacific group!

See you in the next session.

NEW WEBSITE.

Good morning people:

I've received a contribution by Jesús, who suggests a website with a wide range of videos. I've had a glace and it seems very good. As Jesús says "It's a website which shows of different people talking about a wide range
of issues. You can watch the talks with or without subtitles (in English, Spanish, Chinese and maybe Zulu)."

TED website

I also leave the link on the right area of the blog.

See you!

"CATCH 22".

Hello people:

I remember some weeks ago we had some trouble in translating the idiom "la pescadilla que se muerde la cola" into English. I have to say it sounds more fun in Spanish, in English we say "a catch 22 situation" Here you have the full explanation:

Meaning.

A paradox in which the attempt to escape makes escape impossible. 

Origin.

The title of Joseph Heller's novel, written in 1953 and published in 1961, (properly titled 'Catch-22' - with a hyphen). The first chapter was also published in a magazine in 1955, under the title 'Catch-18'. 

The paradox is presented as the trap that confined members of the US Air Force. In logical terms the 'catch' was that, by applying for exemption from highly dangerous bombing missions on the grounds of insanity, the applicant proved himself to be sane (after all, that's what any sane person would do). If anyone applied to fly they would be considered insane. Either way; sane or insane, they were sent on the missions. This might be described logically as, 'damned if you do and damned if you don't', 'the vicious circle', 'a chicken and egg situation', or 'heads I win, tails you lose'.

In the book, this is explained thus:

Yossarian looked at him soberly and tried another approach. "Is Orr crazy?"
"He sure is," Doc Daneeka said.
"Can you ground him?"
"I sure can. But first he has to ask me to. That's part of the rule."
"Then why doesn't he ask you to?"
"Because he's crazy," Doc Daneeka said. "He has to be crazy to keep flying combat missions after all the close calls he's had. Sure, I can ground Orr. But first he has to ask me to."
"That's all he has to do to be grounded?"
"That's all. Let him ask me."
"And then you can ground him?" Yossarian asked.
"No. Then I can't ground him."
"You mean there's a catch?"
"Sure there's a catch," Doc Daneeka replied. "Catch-22. Anyone who wants to get out of combat duty isn't really crazy."
There was only one catch and that was Catch-22, which specified that a concern for one's safety in the face of dangers that were real and immediate was the process of a rational mind. Orr was crazy and could be grounded. All he had to do was ask; and as soon as he did, he would no longer be crazy and would have to fly more missions. Orr would be crazy to fly more missions and sane if he didn't, but if he was sane he had to fly them. If he flew them he was crazy and didn't have to; but if he didn't want to he was sane and had to. Yossarian was moved very deeply by the absolute simplicity of this clause of Catch-22 and let out a respectful whistle.
"That's some catch, that Catch-22," he observed.
"It's the best there is," Doc Daneeka agreed.

The phrase is now often misapplied to any problematic or unwelcome situation.

I hope this helps.

----------------------------

Taken from: http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/catch-22.html and image from: http://www.mostlyposters.com/images/posters/thumbnails/50033.jpg

PODCASTS.

Hello everyone:

This post is to remind you about the podcasts Erik proposed some time ago. Maybe the oldest members have the links but I prefer to put all our stuff together. I will also leave them in the link area of the blog.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/language/howto/
http://www.abc.net.au/ra/subscribe/
http://www.radionz.co.nz/podcasts

Thanks Erik for your contribution.
Bye!

10th DECEMBER SESSION.

Hello everyone:

As you can imagine there has not been a unique topic in this week's session. Last Friday we started by talking about Internet provider companies, anti-virus, etc and we continued talking about our dear air controllers and the current situation of the Spanish athletes.

Next week we will have an extra- session because some of the members will be coming and the room will be available for us. We haven't decided about a specific topic, you know we start in one point and we move to a completely different topic.

WE ARE FAMOUS.

Yes, we are. September 2010. It's a short time since we came back from our deserved holidays and we received the visit of a journalist from "Gente" local newspaper. I leave you the links for the digital and written editions:

digital edition

written edition

The next interview will be in The Times newspaper...
Bye!
P.S: Thanks Alberto for the idea.

OUR BLOG IS BORN

Congratulations! It's a beautiful blog!

This is my first post, so we could say our blog has been born today. As I stated at the beginning, the idea is to have our own place, apart from the Google group. My aim is to have a place where we can find everything we normally do, including the links we sometimes recommend to one another. I hope this will be useful for you. I have to tell you that I may change things and it's sure that its design won't be the final one. We'll go little by little. And any comments will be welcome!
See you in today's session.

P.S: Any English fan will be also welcomed.