My blog is aimed at anyone who wants to improve their English. I try to post two or three times a week and include grammar tips, interesting links, exam skills and some brief summaries of some activities we've been doing in class.
The question is to celebrate your birthday or not? My take on birthdays is that we like our age or not, we have lived for another year and that's always something to celebrate, right?
What do you normally do on your birthday? Let's try using some frequency adverbs to talk about that:-
ALWAYS
USUALLY
NORMALLY
OFTEN
SOMETIMES
RARELY
SELDOM
HARDLY EVER
NEVER
Remember to put the frequency adverb between the subject and the verb:-
On my birthday, I sometimes go bowling with friends.
BUT if we're using an aux. verb it the frequency adverb needs to be after the aux. verb and before the main verb:-
On my birthday, I don't usually have a party.
OR
On my birthday, I am always very excited about celebrating it.
Now, let's think about another scenario, when it's a friend or a relative's birthday.
What do you usually buy people for their birthday?
Some food or drink they like?
Perfume?
A voucher for a ride in a hot air balloon?
Or something else?
Watch this video and try to answer the presenters' questions:-
How often do you have a snack? Or, more importantly, what do you have for a snack? Chocolate? Crisps? Biscuits? Or perhaps something healthy?
This is an extract from a text about snacks on the British Council website:- Snack facts
Young people in Britain eat more snacks than people of the same age in other European countries. A recent survey has discovered that 64 per cent of under-20-year-olds snack between meals. How does this compare with other countries? 58.7 per cent of young people snack in Germany, 53 per cent in France and only 40.7 per cent in Spain.
What are these young Brits eating? Savoury snacks, especially crisps, are the favourite snack in the UK. Snack researchers found that the average person in Britain spends £43 on savoury snacks each year, compared with £12 for the French and only £7 for the Italians. British people are spending a total of about £2.8 billion a year on savoury snacks!
I have underlined two parts that I find particularly surprising, but on the other hand I know, being British, that eating habits in the UK are very different to other places in Europe.
Now, let's read and complete some short texts with other snack facts about crisps, chocolate and health.
First thing's first, Happy New Year!!! Let's talk about new year's resolutions.... The promises you make to yourself about what you'll do in the new year. We normally use "be going to" for plans and intentions, OR "will" for things we think will happen or might happen, for instance:- - This year, I'm going to start saving some money every week. (That's my firm intention) - Maybe I will be able to save some money this year. (It might happen but it might not) Very typically resolutions are:- - This year I'm going to go to the gym twice a week. OR - This year I'm going to follow a healthy diet. In my case I'm not going to use going to for those resolutions as I doubt I will follow them, so let's say:- Maybe I'll do more exercise this year.
OR I think I will eat more healthily during the year, except when I go on holiday or at the weekend :) Here are some other examples that I have more faith in:- * This year I'm going to read as much as possible, as it's something that's really relaxing for me and I need to find time to do it more often. * This year I'm going to look after myself and my family, I'm going to get my priorities right (this expression means "lo primero es lo primero"). * This year I'm going to make as many nice memories as I can with the people I love. * This year I'm going to carry on following my heart, which of course is something I always try to do but isn't always possible. * This year I'm going to be grateful for what I have, every day. * This year I'm going to try to enjoy my free time and not worry about things that aren't so important. I'd love to hear about your resolutions, leave them in the comments! Here are some New Year's Resolutions people normally make at this time of the year according to the BBC:- https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/42522336
I know everyone works hard on their English throughout the year but the Christmas holidays can be a great time to practice English in unconventional ways...... If you need listening practice and like Christmas carols I have the perfect solution for you:- https://es.lyricstraining.com/en/genre/christmas Yes! Lyricstraining.com has a whole Christmas category... If you're not familiar with lyricstraining, it's a website that has music videos you play and complete (there are gaps in the lyrics). You can choose between four different levels and hundreds of songs. If you need speaking practice and you like party games try this app:- https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.xinora.charadasadivinalapalabra&hl=es_419 It's like the classic Christmas party game "charades" but instead of mimicking the words you must describe them to your partner so they can guess what they are. There are several different lexical categories and most importantly you can change the language to English. If you're more into watching something or just listening (or even some cooking!) check this out:- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dU8-hqOPw-U Amigos ingleses is a lovely channel with short dialogues in video format or podcasts. Top quality material that I would recommend to anybody! I hope this helps to give you some inspiration for your holiday English practice!
Where do you normally do your Christmas shopping? This year I have done my christmas shopping, mostly, online. For several reasons; a lack of time to go shopping on the High Street, better prices online and having everything delivered to a pick-up point or your front door being so convenient. However, there are still some things that I needed to resort to a shopping centre or the High Street to get. That's my take on Christmas as a shopper but what's Christmas like for retailers? Let's do this reading activity and find out:-
Christmas as a top-selling season
Christmas is generally a top-selling season for retailers in many countries around the world. Because it is a season where people buy gifts, decorations, and supplies to celebrate, sales escalate rapidly. In the U.S., the "Christmas shopping season" starts as early as October. In Canada, merchants begin advertising campaigns just before Halloween (October 31) and step up their marketing following Remembrance Day on November 11. In the UK and Ireland, the Christmas shopping season starts from mid-November, around the time when high street Christmas lights are turned on.
Christmas statistics
In the United States, it has been calculated that a quarter of all personal spending takes place during the Christmas/holiday shopping season. Statistics reveal that expenditure in department stores nationwide rose from $20.8 billion in November 2004 to $31.9 billion in December 2004, an increase of 54 percent. In other sectors, the pre-Christmas increase in spending was even greater. There was a November–December buying surge of 100 percent in bookstores and 170 percent in jewelry stores. In the same year employment in American retail stores rose from 1.6 million to 1.8 million in the two months leading up to Christmas. Industries completely dependent on Christmas include Christmas cards, of which 1.9 billion are sent in the United States each year, and live Christmas Trees, of which 20.8 million were cut in the U.S. in 2002. In the UK in 2010, up to £8 billion was expected to be spent online at Christmas, approximately a quarter of total retail festive sales.
The film industry also take the opportunity to make more money during the Chrismas holidays. Film studios release many high-budget movies during the holiday season, including Christmas films, fantasy movies or high-tone dramas with high production values hoping to maximize the chance of nominations for the Academy Awards.
Christmas Day
In most Western nations, Christmas Day is the least active day of the year for business and commerce; almost all retail, commercial and institutional businesses are closed, and almost all industries cease activity (more than any other day of the year), whether laws require such or not. In England and Wales, the Christmas Day (Trading) Act 2004 prevents all large shops from trading on Christmas Day. Scotland is currently planning similar legislation.
Protest against consumerism
Recently, many people have started protesting against the Christmas season consumerism. For example, Buy Nothing Christmas is an ongoing protest and reaction to the commercialization of the North American Christmas season. Contemporarily a movement was created to extend Adbusters magazine's Buy Nothing Day into the entire Christmas season. The idea advocated by this movement is that buying something never makes one happy. It is our human connections that are essential for our happiness. At a critical moment in human history when global warming is causing so much harm, this movement claims that it is wiser to ignore the advertisements that incite us to buy more, to buy things we do not really need.
Are the following sentences TRUE or FALSE?
Expenditure in department stores has tripled between November and December 2004. a. True b. False
The film industry releases movies during the Christmas season to make a lot of money and to have the chance to get nominated for the Academy Awards. a. True. b. False.
Most stores are open during Christmas day. a. True b. False
Christmas is only about three weeks away and we're still not ready. Let's see what's on my Christmas check list:- - I have to decorate my Christmas tree
- I have to write my Christmas cards for my friends and family
- I must buy and wrap a present for my secret santa (amig@ invisible)
As you can see I have my work cut out!
Let's talk about traditions....
In the UK it's very typical to:-
Eat roast turkey for lunch
Eat mince pies
Watch the Queen's speech
These are just some of our Christmas traditions, that people normally put into practice once a year but there's an exception.... Do you know who "Mr Christmas" is?
Several of my clients sell or distribute physical products which imply that they are, in general, packaged goods. Although vocabulary related to the good themselves is one of the first things they tend to ask me about sometimes we overlook the packaging itself. Here is a very interesting reading activity about packaging:- Surveys show that intense frustration and even injury caused by packaging is on the increase, especially amongst the elderly. Seventy per cent of over 50s admit to suffering cuts, sprains and bruises to fingers, hands and shoulders as a result of 'wrap rage', a new term used to describe the irritation and loss of self-control experienced when struggling to open wrapping. In recent years manufacturers have been under increasing pressure to keep food items sterile, to provide child-proof packaging for dangerous or toxic household cleaning products, to protect products during transport and to reduce in-shop shrinkage due to pilfering. At the same time, they are forced to keep costs to a minimum. As a result packaging has become ever more resistant to fingers, nails and even teeth. In their frustration with blister packs and welded plastic, which defeat all attempts to be pulled, torn or even cut open with scissors, consumers resort to stabbing it with screwdrivers, twisting it with pliers or slashing it with knives. At best, the product inside the packaging is at risk; at worst, it is hardly surprising that 60,000 people a year are injured in Great Britain alone. Some of the most common triggers of wrap rage are processed cheese packages, tightly wrapped CDs, child-proof tops on medicine bottles, and milk and juice cartons. Ring pull cans are particularly problematic for arthritic fingers and delicate skin. Even wrestling to remove price tags from items bought as gifts can raise blood pressure, and unnecessary overpackaging is a red rag to the ecologically-minded bull.
However it seems there's light at the end of the tunnel. Manufacturers are listening to customers' complaints, and some have begun to research and invest in more consumer friendly packaging. The bottom line is that if they don't react, they risk losing sales if customers simply stop buying products with packaging that offers too much resistance.
BUBBLE WRAP
Here are some activities regarding the text:- A) Read the text and answer the questions:- 1. What is wrap rage? 2. Who suffers from it? 3. What triggers it? 4. What are the underlying causes? B) Reformulate these phrases from the article in your own words. 1. to reduce in-shop shrinkage due to pilfering 2. the most common triggers of wrap rage 3. even wrestling to remove price tags.... can raise blood pressure 4. a red rag to the ecologically-minded bull 5. there's a light at the end of the of the tunnel 6. The bottom line is that if they don't react, they risk losing sales C) Now it's up to you:- 1. What sort of packaging do the products at your company come in? OR What sort of packaging do the products you buy come in? 2. Is this packaging easy to open?
Christmas is generally a top-selling season for retailers in many countries around the world. Because it is a season where people buy gifts, decorations, and supplies to celebrate, sales escalate rapidly. In the U.S., the "Christmas shopping season" starts as early as October. In Canada, merchants begin advertising campaigns just before 
