Very British problems at Christmas

Here is a video which shows some unique characteristics of Christmas the British way. The  film uses the typically British self-deprecating style, but don't be misled: they are very proud of their traditions and their social awkwardness. I'm sure you will find some of the situations familiar, but others will clearly baffle you. 

Take a look! 

Very British Problems by alexgonzalezactor

Merry Christmas!

Feliz Navidad
"Feliz Navidad" en una guitarra con cinco personas. :) <3
Posted by Spanish with Profe Kemp on 10 Dec 2015

John Lennon once again

I know that for you the events of 35 years ago are distant history. But for me this is one of the earliest really traumatic memories, something that had a great impact on me, then (and now) an avid Beatles fan. Here are a few words from John and Yoko about love. They'd been through a lot, but they worked hard on their relationship, which was at its best when John was shot.

And here is Imagine performed on rue Richard Lenoir, ten meters from the Bataclan, the day after the terrorist attacks in Paris.

Thanksgiving

Today I went to a meeting with a very wise man, Professor Wiktor Osiatyński. He is a renowned lawyer, sociologist, activist and human rights expert. The event was quite long (three hours!) but it was so engaging and inspiring that I didn't even notice how the time had passed. One of the things Professor Osiatyński said was how wonderful Thanksgiving is as a holiday, and that we should practice being grateful for things in our lives as it may help us live better and more fulfilling lives.

He actually said that one of the assignments that he often asks his students to write is "Write five sentences about what you are grateful about in your private life, five sentences about your life in your community, five more about being grateful for things in our society, etc.". He says that they find it most difficult to write about their local communities, which is quite revealing about our way of life.

Next, everybody in the audience was invited to close their eyes and think of five things they have been grateful for within the last week. It was quite an interesting experience: even though these are quite disturbing times, and there are so many things that annoy or upset me in our public life, I had no problems finding those five things which make me feel good about my life and the world in general.

So go ahead, join the experiment: close your eyes and give yourself a minute to think of those five things that have made you feel grateful and for which you can thank whoever you believe should be thanked for your good fortune. I hope you haven't had any problem making the list. Isn't that a great feeling?

Same questions, again and again. How many times, indeed?

The world is broken

A fun way to practice listening

If you feel you need some practice in listening for detail (and spelling!), here is a suggestion worth considering:

Click on the image above, and you will be taken to a website which lets you play a gap-filling game with song lyrics at four different levels (from beginner to expert), while listening to one of your favourite hits. There are dozens of songs to choose from, in different languages. I would rather you practiced your English there, of course, but you can try other options as well.

Be warned: This may prove quite addictive! ;)

Invitation

Please feel invited to take part in a meeting organized by a group of IFRom staff members and to read aloud fragments of texts which you find particularly relevant to the current refugee crisis in Europe. Or you can just come to listen and be there.  
For more information please go to the event page on FB.

Here we go again!

Hello!

We are back in business, and it's time to start writing on our blogs. I hope that you are all ready for the two semesters of hard work and fun, in good proportion. Try to keep up with your blogging, so that you would not have to write too much at a time, because it becomes more and more difficult to return if you are far behind. Here is my advice: Decide which day in a week, and what time, will be the best for your blog work and try to stick to it. Sometimes it is difficult to decide: NOW is the time. If you make that choice for the whole semester, it will be much easier to write regularly and avoid a backlog of work.

If you have problems finding topics for your writing, think of some recent events in the week or during your day. Sometimes small things may lead you to very interesting ideas and reflections. Try to look out for things to write about: when somebody says something that moves you or upsets you, try to make a mental note like "this is a good issue to write about on the blog ". After you have written your post, please read it carefully before publishing it. This way you will eliminate a lot of errors and will make your writing easier to read. If you realize that you've made a mistake after publishing your post, you can always come back to the editor and make the necessary changes.

Make sure you read what other students write and leave your comments to show that you have been there. Do not limit yourselves to reading your closest friends' blogs. You may find new soulmates through reading blogs written by students you hardly know! Believe me, you will be surprised how little you know about one another.

So, I hope you will enjoy our little project and use this opportunity to improve your English in a creative and engaging way. 

Have fun blogging! :)

Exams!

Good luck with your exams, everyone!

source: theatlantic.com

My usual appeal before the holidays: READ BOOKS!

source: http://visual.ly

On the topic of small talk :)

To consider the problem a bit more seriously, have a look at this short article: Accidental drifting – small talk in the UK | Macmillan.

Here is a fragment:

"In talking about the weather, the English person will complain. If it’s rainy, then it’s too wet. If it’s sunny, then it’s too hot. If it’s overcast, it’s miserable. Do not take this as an invitation to complain about it more or contradict them with You call this hot? It’s 90°F where I’m from. Either mildly agree (Yes, it has been a bit much, hasn’t it?) or mildly disagree (I don’t know … I quite like it. It’s good for the plants.) While they may have started the complaint, they don’t really want to hear someone else complaining about the state of their home(land). (And that goes for anything else in England that you as a visitor might want to gripe about. Or anything else in any other country you’re visiting.)"

Nostalgia

I just love this song, and Annie Lennox's beautiful rendition of it. The video is not very interesting, so just LISTEN :-)

Annie speaks about making her latest album Nostalgia

You can do it!

Here is some inspiration for your writing assignments. No no, just kidding, please don't write sentences like that! ;)

The Irish again

To continue our celebrations of St. Patrick's Day, have a look at some traditional (though a bit stylized) Irish dancing in its two major forms. First, the soft shoe dance:



And second, the hard shoe dance:



For me, Irish music and dance are absolutely unique and captivating.

Sir Terry Pratchett

Sad news again :( Fans around the world are mourning the loss of one of the most brilliant men - Sir Terry Pratchett. His writing was full of wit, wisdom and kindness all at once; his sense of humour was really exquisite and second to none. The cruel irony of his illness, which attacked this sparkling intellect, is unacceptable and unbearable. Characteristically, he called his condition (early onset Alzheimer's disease) "embuggerance", and faced it with incredible dignity and courage. Hera are a few of his sentences, about humans and about Death, one of his favourite characters in Discworld:

"Human beings make life so interesting. Do you know that in a universe so full of wonders, they have managed to invent boredom."

The trouble with having an open mind, of course, is that people will insist on coming along and trying to put things in it.

"Wisdom comes from experience. Experience is often a result of lack of wisdom."

If you want more, there are some brilliant quotes to be found

at BBC America's website Anglophenia.

We are lucky to have his many books to go back to, and to continue our conversation with him.

Ready for St Valentine's?

Use the controversial holiday to learn a few useful words that describe people's feelings to one another. It would be a good idea to find some examples for each of the phrases to see how they are used in context. Google away! :)

British politeness

One of the key things in learning English is getting the rules of politeness. They are really very unique, and require a lot of analysis on both sides of the conversation. If you think adding "PLEASE" to your requests, for example, is enough, you are in for a big surprise. Have a look at some phrases that are used every day. Some are a bit tongue-in-cheek, but not as much as you would have thought. It's all about understatement, both in negative and positive messages being communicated. Have a look! :)

WHAT THE BRITISH SAY	WHAT THE BRITISH MEAN	WHAT FOREIGNERS UNDERSTAND
I hear what you say	I disagree and do not want to discuss it further	He accepts my point of view
With the greatest respect	You are an idiot	He is listening to me
That's not bad	That's good	That's poor
That is a very brave proposal	You are insane	He thinks I have courage
Quite good	A bit disappointing	Quite good
I would suggest	Do it or be prepared to justify yourself	Think about the idea, but do what you like
Oh, incidentally/ by the way	The primary purpose of our discussion is	That is not very important
I was a bit disappointed that	I am annoyed that	It doesn't really matter
Very interesting	That is clearly nonsense	They are impressed
I'll bear it in mind	I've forgotten it already	They will probably do it
I'm sure it's my fault	It's your fault	Why do they think it was their fault?
You must come for dinner	It's not an invitation, I'm just being polite	I will get an invitation soon
I almost agree	I don't agree at all	He's not far from agreement
I only have a few minor comments	Please rewrite completely	He has found a few typos
Could we consider some other options	I don't like your idea	They have not yet decided

Source: oxfamblogs.org

Clash of the titans ;)

Recently we talked about Philip Roth and his long career (with my 2MA group). We also watched a trailer for The Humbling, another film adaptation of Roth's work. To understand the clip below you should know that most of these adaptations have not been very successful, probably because of the complexity of Roth's narration and language. These are not simple stories to tell on the screen, which is perhaps why the author's attitude to the idea of another attempt is not very enthusiastic. Here is a story of how Al Pacino met Philip Roth, right after he had bought the rights for the book to be made into a film.



For those of you who have not seen the trailer, here it is:

#JeSuisCharlie

Heartbreaking ;(

Inspiring!

RIP

A photo posted by Banksy (@banksy) on Jan 1, 2015 at 3:02pm PST

R.I.P. Stanisław Barańczak

Very sad news arrived right after Christmas: Stanisław Barańczak has died. He was a genius poet and translator of Polish poetry into English and English poetry into Polish. For example, his Shakespeare is absolutely brilliant, effortless and funny (where it should be, of course). Let me divert from the usual format of our blogs, then, and include two samples of Baranczak's genius (in Polish) - a darker one, and a lighter one.

First, his poem:

Nazajutrz

Nazajutrz po kolejnym
zbiorowym samobójstwie zawsze tak samo
idzie się rano po gazety,
zawsze tak samo bieli się świeżo
spadły śnieg albo wschodzi
czyściutkie słońce letniego poranka, zawsze
tak samo dzwonią butelki z mlekiem i
pachną rogaliki, zawsze tak
samo mała dziewczynka z tornistrem
biegnie do szkoły i potyka się, i pada,
i tłucze kolano, i jest dużo płaczu, i w tym płaczu
jest zawsze
tak wiele życia

(11 II 76)

Now, to see and appreciate his humour, read these "Twitter"-like summaries of Shakespeare's plays"

Podstawowe utwory Williama Szekspira, przystępnym sposobem streszczone i dla celów mnemotechnicznych w formę wierszowaną przyodziane:

"HAMLET"
Duch: brat jad wlał do ucha.
Syn ducha: o, psiajucha!
Stryja w ryj? Drastyczny krok.
Zwłoka. Jej finał: stos zwłok.

"ROMEO I JULIA"
Rody Werony: wraży raban.
Młodzi: hormony. Starzy: szlaban.
Mnich: lekarstwem zielarstwo?
Finał: trup grubą warstwą.

"OTELLO"
Tło: gondole i doże.
Centrum uwagi: łoże.
Wąż: Jago. Mąż: "Ja go!…" Duszona:
Żona. Finał: obsada kona.

"MAKBET"
Szkot: bestia bitna.
Żona: ambitna.
Ręce umywa. Ma gdzieś.
Bór: marsz na mur! Finał: rzeź.

"KRÓL LEAR"
Król ojciec: lebiega.
Błazen: go ostrzega.
Córki: dwie złe, jedna lepsza.
Finał: wszystko się rozpieprza.