Have you ever met Ronnie, the hilarious Canadian English teacher?
For me, she is one of the most interesting English teachers on Youtube, not only because of her knowledge but also for her sense of humor.
Anyway, as we are in July I think it´s a fantastic moment to learn about the beach, swimming suits, sunglasses and so on and so forth.
Enjoy it!
It was about time to listen to this Bobby McFerrin’s classic hit from the late 80´s, that was the first a capella song to reach the number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1988.
I´m pretty sure that you have heard this song many times, especially if you were born in the 70´s-80´s but I also think that you may have not noticed the lack of any musical instruments on it. In fact, the only instrument used to record this song is Bobby´s McFerrin voice, as well as different sounds made by him with his fingers and mouth.
It has a quite simple and positive message, encouraging people to face their problems instead of worrying about them, and the chorus of the song is inspired in Meher Baba´s (an Indian mystic) words: “Don´t worry, be happy”.
The lyrics are quite easy to understand but I´m sure that you can learn some new vocabulary from this song.
As usual, follow these steps to take the lesson:
1- Download the lyrics sheet, and go to pages 1-2 where you will find the song´s lyrics with some missing words (gaps).
2- Click this video and listen to the song while you try to fill the gaps with the words that you hear. I recommend listening at least twice to the song.
3- Check your results going to page 3 where you will find the whole lyrics of the song.
4- Take a look at the vocabulary below to understand every word of the song.
5- Listen again to the song,
without reading the lyrics and try to understand most of it.
WORKSHEET Don´t worry, be happy work sheet
VOCABULARY
To worry:
to think about problems or unpleasant things that might happen in a way that
makes you feel unhappy and frightened.
Note: a
single musical sound.
Trouble: problems
Ain´t: short informal form of am not, is not, is not, has
not or have not.
To lay:
to put something down somewhere. Sometimes is confused with to lie (to
put your body flat on something) because lay is also
the past simple form of to lie.
Landlord:
a man who owns the house that you live in and who you pay rent to.
To litigate:
to ask for a disagreement to be discussed in a court of law so that a judgment
can be made that must be accepted by both sides in the argument.
Cash:
money in form of coins and notes
Gal:
a woman or a girl (in British informal English)
´Cause: short informal form of because. Sometimes
it´s also written as cos or cuz.
To frown:
to bring your eyebrows together so that there are lines on your face above your
eyes showing that you are annoyed, worried, sad or thinking hard.
Do you want to palay a game to check how much Tourism vocabulary you know?
I have made a Roulette game where you have to guess more than twenty different words related with travels and tourism, each one starting with a different letter.
Are you ready?
Give it a shot!
As the previous video lesson (Video lesson#11: Shy) had some difficult vocabulary, I´ve chosen an easy song this time, called In the dark places.
This PJ Harvey´s song was released in 2011 in her album Let´s England shake and it talks about the history of England, concretely about the First World War. It describes a day in the life of the young soldiers lost in Europe´s fields with their guns, fighting other young soldiers without a reason that anyone could understand.
One of the things I like most about it is that it has a very simple vocabulary, with many words about nature like fields, mountains, forests or dirt. I´m sure that most of you already know these words, so I hope you just enjoy listening to this music and maybe discovering one of the most interesting British artists of the last decades.
As you know, follow these steps to follow the lesson:
1- Download the lyrics sheet, and go to page 1 where you will find the song´s lyrics with some missing words (gaps).
2- Click this video and listen to the song while you try to fill the gaps with the words that you hear. I recommend listening at least twice to the song.
3- Check your results going to page 2 where you will find the whole lyrics of the song.
4- Take a look at the vocabulary below to understand every word of the song.
5- Listen again to the song,
without reading the lyrics and try to understand most of it.
VOCABULARY
To get up:
to get out of bed, or to stand up.
Field:
an area of land used for growing crops or keeping animals.
Cross:
a symbol formed by two lines placed across each other.
Damned:
annoying, greatly disliked. The expression damn! It s commonly used to express
anger with someone or something.
Hellwards:
towards hell (the place where some people think bad people go when they
die)
Forest:
a large area of trees growing close together. Also known as woods
To pass
before: to pass in front of someone or something.
To reveal:
to tell someone a piece of secret information.
Hid: past
simple of the verb to hide (to go to a place where no one can see you)
Dirt:
any unclean substance such as mud, dust, etc, or just the soil in the ground.
Gun:
a weapon that you fire bullets out of.
Dark:
with no light or not much light.
Summer is here, July has just started and we really are not in the mood for an advanced English lesson, aren´t we?
Consequently, today´s lesson it´s about a fun fact, this time related with how the months of the calendar got their names.
Did you know that July and August didn´t exist in the ancient Roman calendar? And that both were named after two Caesars? Or that in the ancient Rome the first month of the year wasn´t January but March?
Let´s learn all
this things with this short video!
VOCABULARY
To lay out: to spread as to be easily seen.
Bud: a part of a plant that develops into a leaf or a flower.
Wedding: an official ceremony at which two persons get married.
Bunch: a number of things of the same type that are joined together.
Unaffiliated: with no connection between them.
Equinox: the time when the sun crosses the equator, twice a year. The spring equinox is around the 21st of March and the autumn equinox around the 23rd of September.
Mess: a situation in which there are a lot of problems.
Stuck: past simple and past participle of to stick (to put something somewhere).
Fashion: a way of
behaving, dressing, etc. which is popular at a certain time.
Have you ever board a flight? Have you noticed that year after year the boarding order is getting more and more complicated? Have you ever ...
