"Two roads diverged in a wood, and I - I took the one less traveled by, AND that has made all the difference" The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost

DREAMING IN ENGLISH. Are you dreaming in English yet?

WELCOME!!! This is a bit of a challenge for me!!! This blog is intended for all audiences. I hope you enjoy and get the most of it!!!

Here you might find resources to help you navigate the muddy waters of English. The humble aim of this blog is just to keep you in touch with different types of English and different aspects of the English culture , to increase your curiosity about English through many different fields.

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Are you dreaming in English yet? por BE se encuentra bajo una Licencia Creative Commons Atribución-NoComercial-SinDerivadas 3.0 Unported.

lunes, 20 de septiembre de 2010

TELLING A STORY WITH A SONG.



Tracy Chapman (born March 30, 1964) is a singer-songwriter, best known for her singles "Fast Car", "Talkin' 'bout a Revolution", "Baby Can I Hold You", "Give Me One Reason" and "Telling Stories". She is a multi-platinum and four-time Grammy Award-winning artist.
Tracy Chapman was born in Cleveland, Ohio, where she was raised by her mother. Despite not having much money, her mother recognized Tracy's love of music and bought her a ukulele at the age of three.Tracy Chapman began playing guitar and writing songs at the age of eight. She says she may have been first inspired to play the guitar by the television show Hee Haw.
Chapman was raised Baptist and went to an Episcopalian high school. She was quickly accepted into the program A Better Chance, which enabled her to attend Wooster School in Connecticut; she subsequently attended Tufts University. At Tufts she graduated with a B.A. degree in anthropology and African studies.


In Fast Car Tracy Chapman describes the hardships a girl faces with the people she loves and her search for a better way of life. The song has a narrative structure and the songwriter tells a hard story. Listen to the song and answer the following questions.


1. where is the woman working?
2. Where does she want to go and with whom?
3. What´s her plan?
4. who does she live with?
5. what´s the problem of this person?
6. Why does she quit school?
7. Does her dream come true? Explain the last part of the story.
8. Summarize the song and retell the whole story. As in a narrative there is a starting point, a development and a conclusion. Can you find them?



domingo, 19 de septiembre de 2010

ALL ABOUT ME!!!!



THE LAND DOWN UNDER.



Australia is located in the Southern Hemisphere (that is the bottom half of the world). This is why it is sometimes referred to as the Land Down Under.
It is the smallest, flattest, and driest inhabited continent in the world. It is also the only country which occupies a whole continent. Australia occupies 5% of the world's landmass (149,450,000 km2) and is the world's largest island.
The official name for Australia is the Commonwealth of Australia. It is a stable, culturally diverse, democracy following the Westminster form of government (the British model). It is the 6th oldest democracy in the world


English is the national language of Australia. But you may not always be able to make sense of some of the things you hear Australians say. That's because Australian slang is different from American slang.

See if you can figure out what these sentences mean using TFK's own Aussie Glossary below.

"Hey, mate! Come along to our barbie this arvo. We've got some charcoal chook, and Grandpa's going to cook the snags."

I don't mean to grizzle, but I was feeling pretty crook during Chrissie. That, and there weren't enough lollies!
Now get the hang of Aussie slang!

(Note: A few of the words below are old-fashioned and are no longer spoken by most Aussies.)


arvo: afternoon ; barbie: barbecue ; billabong: waterhole in a dry riverbed; chook: a chicken ; Chrissie: Christmas; crook: broken or sick ; drongo: a foolish person ;
grizzle: to complain ; jumbuck: sheep ; lollies: candy, sweets ; mate: a best buddy; mozzie: mosquito ; snags: sausages