Now you can practise your grammar with Grammarman, the comic book hero who fights bad grammar (including Sammy Colon and Uncle Uncountable, just two of the villains who like to make trouble for the correction crusader) with his sidekicks Syntax and Alpha-bot. Watch the first episode and spot the errors. If you want to know more, click here.
Learn English : move your mind
The language determines our way of thinking and even every language offers an only perspective to perceive the world. Every language is an instrument to know the world, to make our own personality and to communicate. (Sapir and Whorf – Linguistic Relativism).
Learning a language offers besides fantastic advantages. Learning English develops and moves your mind and increases your general ability to learn. If you want an active mind and a witty brain you should study a second or a third language.
Learning languages is the best way to know different cultures. I’m trying to think in English because it is the best way to learn. Often I have to think in Catalan or Spanish and then I have to translate these words into English. I’m working with three different cultures and three different points of view.
Learning different languages stimulates you to see the world in a different way and opens your mind towards another reality. When you’re travelling you can make contact with new things through your five senses.
If you can get into that culture it could be perfect. That’s why I’m learning English, to understand different ways of life.
What do you think about it?
Joan Martos Martos 3.C EOI
On English-trailers, you can watch recent movie trailers graded as easy, medium or difficult and then do comprehension exercises.
Are students well prepared for future challenges? Can they analyse, reason and communicate effectively? Do they have the capacity to continue learning throughout life? The OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) answers these questions and more, through its surveys of 15-year-olds in the principal industrialised countries. Every three years, it assesses how far students near the end of compulsory education have acquired some of the knowledge and skills essential for full participation in society.
Based on test results in 2006, Finland and South Korea were in the top five in reading and maths. Portugal, Italy, Spain, and Greece were below average .
What are the reasons for this poor performance of our teenagers?
How would you improve these results?
Watch this video about learning science in a Primary School in Finland.
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Some students think that learning a language only involves studying grammar and vocabulary. They want to improve their listening and speaking skills but they hardly ever think of pronunciation, one of the most neglected skills and yet extremely important if you want to understand and be understood. I challenge you to properly pronounce the following words :
‘island, famous, bear, beard, promised, first, butcher, skirt, ear, hair, women, comfortable, blood, lettuce’.
If you want to check your pronunciation, click on my avatar and listen to me.
Get a Voki now!
As you can see, pronunciation can be a problem sometimes. Watch the video and see if you are able to say ‘I would like to buy a hamburger’
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The other day, while I was reading your compositions, I thought it was a shame not to share them with the rest of students.
I wanted to provide a solution and this is the reason why I have created this blog so that you can publish your compositions, read other students’ stories and write comments if you feel like it. You will also find interactive activities to improve your English. I hope you find it useful.