English in Madrid

Source:  Elisa on Unsplash I have been doing this blog for over ten years now. There are times when I felt like giving up but for some reason or other I never did. I've been looking at the first 50 posts; from Sept 8th 2007 to Apr 9th 2008 (see all the posts using the Archive in the top left of the blog ). These are the posts that never received a comment : Have you seen the film Catch Me If You Can ? The Flatmates was a fun way to improve your English. Halloween doesn't have its origins in the United States. We'll soon be hearing Last Christmas in the shops again. A politician claimed the Spanish left  €1 Tips for a coffee. Advice on how to keep your New Year Resolutions . There are controversial lines in God Save the Queen . Pancake Day is a fun tradition in the UK. The (lack of) Rain in Spain was a problem ten years ago too. There was Rioting (again) in Madrid by football hooligans. A bit of a gamble made a man wealthy. We had Roun...

Source: Maddi Bazzocco on Unsplash 2008 Do you remember when the Spanish national anthem almost got lyrics? Anthems Anthem update 2009 An atheist advertisement caused controversy. There's probably no God, now stop worrying and enjoy life City centre signs discouraged anti-social behaviour. No pavement pizza! Spanish nuns joined You Tube to find new recruits. Nuns on the net 2010 Some amusing announcements from pilots and flight attendants. Funny aeroplane announcements Apparently, Scots drink the equivalent of 46 bottles of vodka a year. Scots don't drink that much surely A man was fined for blowing his nose while driving. Unusual traffic offence Use the Blog Archive to find other posts.

Source:  Glen Carrie en Unsplash Just because there are few new posts doesn't mean there is nothing to do. You should use the archive to look through old posts. Here are the links to stories from February: 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 Remember to use the scroll bar to find previous posts. And don't forget to tell me which posts you have read .

Remember that you don't have to do just the recent posts. You can use the Labels and the Archive (look down the left hand side of the blog) to find previous posts. Remember that if you read a post, I'd  really appreciate a "I've read it" comment. Otherwise, I will never know if  anyone has read the post. Here is a list of posts with zero comments from 2013 (and there are others from previous years): Circus Vocabulary Night Caps are Bad for Sleep Househusbands on the Rise Government Faces Corruption Allegations Think about how to use Think 新年好！新年快乐！ FCE Mock - U of E Don't believe what you read in the papers - especially today Twitter recruitment   "Suspended Coffee" Linkers for adding information Go Vegetarian to Live Longer Road Hogs Beware Hospital English Fanastic Mrs Fox Can you do better than Botella? Historic Violin Pasapalabra - Advanced Poll (4) Black Friday Poll (5) Even creating this post took a lot of time. ...

Please make use of the links that you find in the left hand column. The BBC is a wonderful source of useful material. Not got much time? Then 6 minute English is perfect for you. Listen to a conversation about something in the news as well as learning some useful expressions. I like the series The Flatmates .  You can listen to short conversations which are followed by an interactive vocabulary / grammar quiz. English at Work   , as the name suggests, is a series related more to English for the workplace. You can listen to Phrasal Verbs in conversations divided into different topics at Funky Phrasals . IF YOU EXPLORE ANY LINKS, PLEASE WRITE A SHORT COMMENT TO TELL ME WHAT YOU ARE DOING.

I've decided to start the poll label again. Let's see how many responses I get. In the left-hand column, below labels, you will find five questions that I'd like you to answer before Friday afternoon. This weekend I will give you the answers.

I have decided to stop posting to the blog for a while. You can still write comments and I will still reply to them all. Look through the archives and labels to find previous posts. There are many exercises that I have created but haven't been touched. Make use of all the pages linked to the blog. Let me know what you have done.

Use the labels to find anything related to Christmas: In Blog 3 you will find stories about the Christmas cracker, the Gordo and an unusual Christmas song. In Blog 1 you can listen to John Lennon and Bing Crosby sing a seasonal song. Right here in Blog 2 you can find posts about lottery superstitions and read Charles Dicken's A Christmas Carol. Use the archives to find stories from Decembers past: In December 2007 you can read the story about how the Spanish tip generously . In December 2008 you can find a cure for hangovers . In December 2009 you are given a year's notice on the introduction of the smoking ban . Remember to at least write "I have read it" after reading very post!!!!

Remember that you can also read and make comments about posts from the past; not just the recent ones! There are two ways to access past posts - either through the archives or labels. Among the posts from Novembers past: November 2009 : Giant of the air   Iberia/BA merger 20 years on from the fall of the wall November 2008 : Palin's prank phone call Berlusconi puts his foot in it again November 2007 : Tennent's lager advert My worst journey What is your favourite post from Novembers past? Among the labels are: Confusing words such as fun v funny, ill v sick, trip v journey .... Madrid   from stories about Olympic dreams to lottery wins. Phrasal verbs a chance to practice your phrasals Vocabulary Practice a chance to improve your vocabulary You can also find relevant labels at the end of the posts. Which labels do you find the most interesting or useful? I look forward to reading your comments on the old posts too even if it's just to say that you ...

You should try to read the comments of other students and pay attention to my corrections. You can learn from the mistakes of others. You can also enter into conversations with other students and exchange opinions with each other. Try to find and correct the mistakes in the following sentences, They are all from comments made this month. Our boss is really exigent. He expects us to stay behind in the office most days. I'm sorry I didn't remind your anniversary. I have been really busy and I completely forgot. Everybody know what the problem is. I hope it will be worth. A. What's the matter with him? B. He's worried to lose his job. Would you mind to close the window? It's a bit cold in here. Can you tell me what time is it? Did you get a good puntuation in the exam? I'm going to Paris next friday. Have you ever been in Berlin? A. How long are you waiting? B. at least an hour. When did you see her last time? How is the weather like in Scotland li...