Can you improve your English by playing board games? Why not? #trivialchallenge

I'm sure all of you have played Trivial Pursuit at sometime, the game all depends on your level of general knowledge but in this case just asking and trying to answer those questions can be a great way to boost your English knowledge.

Take a chance at #trivialchallenge

Look at the following questions, one per each category of the well-loved board game. 

The first person who can correctly write the six answers in the comments below or on LinkedIn will be entitled to a free 30 minute skype/telephone lesson OR a novel in English (according to your level). 

The challenge will run from today 24/02/19 - 03/03/19, so any answers after 03/03/19 won't be valid. 

Good luck!!!

1st Category - GEOGRAPHY

2nd Category - ENTERTAINMENT

3rd Category - HISTORY

4th Category - ART & LITERATURE

5th Category - SCIENCE & NATURE

6th Category - SPORT & LEISURE

Effective Presentation Openings in English - Part 1

When you attend a presentation as a viewer you realize that it needs to catch your attention right from the start to make it interesting enough to carry on listening. So what we're going to look at is how to make your opening catchy.

One way to make your presentation catchy is to use a problem scenario (related to the topic) to get the audience engaged from the very first minute.

Here are some question examples that would get people participating:-

What would you do if you went to a meeting and discovered you had forgotten your notes / powerpoint presentation / laptop, etc?

How many people here this morning / afternoon / evening have had an unpleasant colleague at work? If so, how did you deal with him or her?

Suppose you had to present a product and when you had to give a demonstration, the product wouldn't work, what would you do?

Can you think of other similar examples that are relevant to your sector / speciality?
Feel free to leave them in the comments!!!

Storytelling

Have you ever had to improvise at a meeting, while giving a presentation or to entertain visitors?

This is something that is a walk in the park in your native language but how about in English?

Perhaps you have your own repertoire of tried and tested anecdotes or stories but let's imagine you have to improvise.

First of all, we will need some connectors, such as:-

• AT FIRST
• IN THE END
• JUST THEN
• HOWEVER
• WHEN
• SUDDENLY
• BECAUSE OF THIS
• EVENTUALLY
• IN ORDER TO
• BUT SOON
• SO 
• LATER
• FINALLY

So let's put this into practice, take a look at the photo below and try to tell an imaginary story/ancedote using the pictures on the dice and at least five of these connectors.

Now think about if your story has:-

1. An introduction
2. Background (context)
3. A problem or main event
4. The resolution or continuation
5. A final comment or conclusion

Feel free to leave your stories or anecdotes in the comments below!

Food Safety (Back of House) Part 1 - Setting up

Do you work with or are you going to work with food? If the answer is yes, this is for you!

Food safety is crucial for anyone who comes in contact with food and it's not always easy to talk about in English. Whether you're a quality manager or a cook, this vocabulary could come in handy.

Our first scenario (http://esol.britishcouncil.org/catering):-

Let's imagine you're a deli attendant (you work serving customers at a deli counter).

1) Here are a list of checks that staff might do before a café/canteen/restaurant opens or after it closes. They are mixed up. Are they opening or closing checks? Write O for opening and C for closing next to each type of check.

• food should be stored correctly and not left out
• staff should be fit for work and wearing clean work clothes
• cold counters and equipment should be working properly
• dirty cloths should be removed for cleaning and replaced with clean ones
• waste should be removed and new bags put into the bins
• there should be plenty of handwashing and cleaning materials (soap, paper towels, cloths, etc.)
• food should be disposed of correctly
• surfaces should be clean (counter tops, floors, equipment, utensils, etc.)
• the serving area should be clean and tidy, shelves stocked up, etc.
• customer dining areas should be prepared for table/tray service
• any food past its "use by" date, or any damaged or unfit (e.g. mouldy) foods should be thrown away 

2) Deli counter attendant: Vocabulary matching

Here are some related words/expressions. Match them to their definitions

DELI BAR (DELICATESSEN)                    PRE-MADE

FILLINGS                                                     VEGETARIAN OPTIONS

WOODEN BOARD                                      FOOD SAFETY & HYGIENE

FROM SCRATCH

1. standards for making sure everything is clean and food is safe to eat
2. used for chopping food
3. food to go in a sandwich, e.g. tuna mayo (mayonnaise)
4. a place selling food such as cold meats, cheeses, sandwiches, salads, etc.
5. from the beginning, starting from raw ingredients
6. food suitable for people who don't eat meat
7. ready made / prepared in advance

3) We're going to watch a video about setting up the deli counter. Does the counter attendant say these things (yes or no)?

http://esol.britishcouncil.org/content/learners/english-work/catering/back-house-setting

• you need to know your layout
• keep the vegetarian and meat fillings separate
• everything is pre-made
• fillings are made up from scratch
• there's no particular order when preparing food
• her job's easy when you have experience

Birthdays; Something to celebrate or not?

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:-

http://www.rtve.es/alacarta/videos/thats-english/thats-english-module-2-unit-1b-shes-kind-and-generous/4941622/?pais=ES&pais=ES

Feel free to leave your comments about birthdays below!

Do you snack a lot?

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.

https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/sites/teacheng/files/October_snack_facts_photocopiable_texts.pdf

Feel free to comment and tell me about what you have for a snack!

New Year's Resolutions?

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

Here are some tips about how to make attainable New Year's Resolutions:-

https://learnenglishteens.britishcouncil.org/magazine/life-around-world/new-years-resolutions-0