Comparisons. Are we really better and bigger?

 We live in the age of technology and we have all the statistics we could possibly need at the click of a key but do we really know what we are in comparison to what people in other countries are?

Imagine there are 100 people in the world...what do you think would happen?

Try using the second conditional to predict.

IF + past simple, SB + would / could / should + INF

E.g. If the world were 100 people, 20 people would be very rich.

Let's see if your predictions were right:-

If The World Were 100 People | TED-Ed

Now we have watched the video, let's try to make some other sentences about the most surprising facts you've seen. These sentences could be with the second conditional or with the comparatives:-

• If the world were 100 people, only 86 would be able to read.

• One person is richer than the other 99 people.

• There would be more Asian people than Europeans.

EXTRA WORK

To practise the second conditional you can do:-

Beyoncé - If I Were A Boy  (lyricstraining.com)| Vídeo Musical, Letra de la Canción y Karaoke

To practise your comparatives you can do:-

Daft Punk - Harder Better Faster Stronger | Vídeo Musical, Letra de la Canción y Karaoke (lyricstraining.com)

For some more information about my services and myself see my webpage

 

I'm very proud to announce that I have recently built a webpage to share information about myself and my services, please take a look:-

www.britishbusinessenglish.es

Thanks!!

Some information about my training sessions and myself

Here's a video about myself and my training sessions.

If you don't know me personally, here's the chance to see a little bit more about what I am like and what I do:-

https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6757479957707952128/

COVID-19 More restrictions than ever? (Modal Verbs for Obligation, Necessity and Permission)

 

Nowadays there are times that you're not sure if you're breaking the law with all these restrictions due to the pandemic. They seem to change on a daily basis and it's almost impossible to keep up with them.

Thinking about them in English we need modal verbs to express them, like:-

Obligation:-

MUST

MUSTN'T

SHOULD / SHOULDN'T

HAVE TO

DON'T HAVE TO

Permission:-

CAN

COULD

MAY

BE ALLOWED TO

Now try using some of these modal verbs to write sentences regarding restrictions about the following pictures:-

Now please watch this short video and use the advice prompts given to make sentences with modal verbs about how not to spread COVID 19:-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QH5zpa8xbic&feature=emb_logo

Feel free to write your examples in the comments below!

Thanks!

The three kings OR the three wise men??? (Los reyes magos)

 

Tonight's the night!!!

Vienen los reyes magos 😊😊😊

In English (especially British English) we normally refer to them as the three wise men and we don't get presents on the 5th or 6th of January. 

Here's what Wikipedia has to say about them in English:-

The biblical Magi^[a] (/ˈmeɪdʒaɪ/ or /ˈmædʒaɪ/;^[1] singular: magus), also referred to as the (Three) Wise Men or (Three) Kings, were distinguished foreigners in the Gospel of Matthew and Christian tradition. They are said to have visited Jesus after his birth, bearing gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. They are regular figures in traditional accounts of the nativity celebrations of Christmas and are an important part of Christian tradition.

And what about their names???

Later tellings of the story identified the magi by name and identified their lands of origin: Melchior hailed from Persia, Gaspar (also called "Caspar" or "Jaspar") from India, and Balthazar from Arabia

Hello, Julie speaking! Let's pick up the phone

 Today we're going to focus on some typical mistakes everyone makes on the phone.

When you pick up the phone in Spanish, we use the verb to be in first person.... e.g. Diga, si soy Julie.

In English that would be wrong, in English we would say it's Julie.

Let's try and correct some typical mistakes we make on the phone:-

1. I'm calling on part of my manager.
2. I'm sorry but it's communicating.
3. Keep on a minute, please.
4. Can you tell me who is the responsible for the H.R. department?
5. Can you please pass me through to Mr Jones?

You will find the answers in the comments below.

Here is an example telephone conversation:-

You may have seen some of the answers for the mistakes on the lefthand side on the page.

Here's the rest of the conversation:-

 Can you answer the questions about the conversation?

Feel free to leave your answers in the comments below!!!

COVID - 19 - Is it fake news or genuine news? Why are people compelled to believe it and share it???? (PASSIVE VOICE)

 At a higher level of English we can start putting certain grammar into a certain context.

For example, we can use the passive voice in the news.... Even in fake news.

To practise this we are going to use a current affair as is the COVID-19 pandemic.

I'm going to give you an example of an active sentence related to this topic and we're going to put it into the passive voice:-

A: In Brazil, people were opening coffins full of stones to prove people weren't killed by COVID-19

P: In Brazil, coffins full of stones were being opened by people to prove people weren't killed (OR weren't being killed) by COVID-19

How did we transform this sentence?

Step 1. Change the Sb and the Obj

Step 2. Put the verb to be in the same tense as the Main Verb.

Step 3. Put the M.V. in past participle (with ed or from the 3rd column of the irregular verb list)

Step 4. Add by and the previous SB (*** this can be omitted when we don't know who the SB is or when it is obvious that those people do that action, e.g. the police arrest people... Three people were arrested (by the police).

There is a very interesting video on the BBC language website that gives examples of fake news related to COVID - 19:-

VIDEO 1: https://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/english/course/fakenews/unit-1/session-4

In this video we saw some very interesting vocabulary like:-

Key vocabulary 

raise a red flag
make you think that something may not be true

fact-check
research if something is true or not

debunk
show that something is false, not true

verify
check that something is true

buy (into) something
believe something is true

groundless
without evidence

Now we're going to take the next step, using the passive voice to give news facts or fake news and speculate about their veracity. I'm going to give you three "news" statements about COVID-19 and I would like you to try to guess if they are true or false:-

1. A couple in Salisbury, USA, aged 65 & 67 were killed by COVID - 19, in hospital, within four minutes of difference.

2. On 17/09/20 almost 300 million cases in 188 countries have been declared by the World Health Organization (WHO). 

3. On 17/09/20 a death toll fast approaching one million victims has been observed across the world.

You can look into these statements using the links below in the comments.

So.... Why were you compelled to believe any of them? Or compelled not to believe them?

Here's a video that explains why some people are compelled to believe fake news:-

https://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/english/course/fakenews/unit-1/session-5

Here's a quick summary of the key vocabulary that appears in this second video with a twist, I would like you to match the words with their definitions:-

Key vocabulary 

identity signalling     /    agenda   /   motive   /   algorithm  /  actor  

1. a plan of things to be done that may be secret or hidden
2. a person, state or organisation that uses power and influence to  promote an agenda
3. a reason for doing something 
4. showing that you belong to a group by sharing content whether you think it is true or not
5. a set of software instructions that, for example, shows you personalised content on social media

Whether we like it or not fake news is part of our lives and it doesn't help to overcome this pandemic at all.