Christmas Greetings

I wish you health, good luck, success and all that makes for happiness... today, tomorrow and always.

Merry christmas, happy winter, happy new year and happy life! 

May all your wishes and dreams come true.

Keep smiling and be happy :-)

The power of smiling! =)

**It is a simple act, but sometimes takes a lot of effort.

A smile can cause boundaries to melt, hearts to warm up,

and distances to reduce.

Why don’t we smile more often? Is it too tough to smile?

The answer lies in our attitude towards life.

If we are more accepting of situations, we will be able to smile more easily.

Always wear a smile. Remember, without your smile,

your attire is incomplete.**

~ Simran Khurana

From: www.womanofworth.co.za/blog

Biographies. BIO channel

“Hollywood is a place where they'll pay you a $1,000 for a kiss and 50¢ for your soul.”

Do you know about Marilyn Monroe's life?

This is only one of the videos you can watch on this website: (and you can find her biography to read, too!)

www.biography.com

BIO is about real people and their real lives: up close and personal, gritty and provocative, always unfiltered

I recommend you this webside, not only for the videos, but also for the biographies, news, photos, etc, you can find on it. It can be useful to improve English and learn more about your favourite celebrities' lives, curiosities, etc. There are funny games  as well and more interesting things!

Take a look and enjoy it!

GRAMMAR. Definite / indefinite article

• THE; exercise 1
• THE; exercise 2
• A/AN; exercise 3
• Articles; exercise 4
• Gap fill exercise
• Gap fill exercise (a/an; the)

LISTENING: The butterfly circus

THE BUTTERFLY CIRCUS

Visit the webpage

This short 20-minute film is nothing short of amazing. It’s so powerful you would want to watch it more than once. Filled with hope and redeeming metaphors it may be what you need to watch today to help you overcome limitations set by yourself and by others.

(Jorge Fusaro)

How you see yourself is important. How you see others is equally important. We often underestimate how much our perceptions shape both realities.

(Michael Hyatt)

“The greater the struggle, the most glorious the triumph”

“All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players: they have their exits and their entrances.” W. Shakespeare

More info:

• on Wikipedia
• Tapescript (part 1)
• Tapescript (part 2)
• Giving opinion

READING. How to have a lovely day!

From WIKIHOW 

Living in a society often focused solely on the materialistic, where money takes place of everything from morals to happiness, can be pretty exhausting and demoralizing. Yet, it doesn't have to be this way and just because millions of people around you ascribe to consuming away their days doesn't mean you need to join. In fact, opting out can be the perfect recipe for having a lovely day.

Whether you want to escape from the daily grind and embrace another way of seeing your world or you just want a little break from your everyday life, planning a lovely day can be the solution to overcoming your jaded outlook on what is, essentially, a very miraculous life. Here is how to restore a sense of wonder.

Here you have some steps and tips!  

Have a lovely day =) CLICK ON THIS LINK TO READ MORE

VIDEO: new sprite advertising campaign

IDEAS, I HAVE MILLION... BUT YOU HAVE TO MAKE IT...
The campaign has nine spots in total, it's an amazing and interesting campaign, full of inspirational words.
This is one of the spots, in English.

GRAMMAR: PAST > simple VS. continuous

PAST SIMPLE & PAST CONTINUOUS

activities

1. Activity 1. Past continuous
2. Activity 2. Fill in the blanks
3. Activity 3. Past simple or continuous?
4. Activity 4. Complete using past simple or continuous
5. Activity 5. Test!

GRAMMAR: Once upon a time... SIMPLE PAST

• Irregular verbs
• Irregular verbs Crossword
• Irregular verbs 3
• Simple Past 1
• Simple Past 2
• Simple Past 3
• Exercises PDF with answers. You can print them
• Fill in the blanks exercise. Past simple text
• Fill in the blanks. CINDERELLA

LISTENING: curiosities and ads

Take a look to this original video from Ikea in Belgium and practice your listening skills >> Try to understand the way this new ikea campaign works and what it is about.

IKEA

Catch the Swedish light

Instead of traditional advertising, they created an interactive campaign around the products. It's an interactive game and people have to watch 48 ads in order to catch the Swedish light. They can win some ikea products.

LISTENING: comprehension activities to practise more (films)

You have to click on the video, watch it and pay attention to it.
Then you can answer the questions and check your answers.
Webpage

Anyway we go (American English)

a) The parents are moving to Antwerp in ..........................
b) Why is the young man upset?
c) How long had the parents been talking about moving before they finally decided to do it?
d) How far will the parents be from the grandchild?
e) How does the father refer to Antwerp?

GRAMMAR: adjectives -ed / -ing

Activities to practise:

1. Matching exercise
2. Use the correct form
3. Explanations, examples, vocabulary and activity (I recommend you only to read the English part, since the translation isn't quite good)
4. Exercises. PDF worksheet
5. Fill in the gaps

LISTENING: connecting dots

Steve Jobs' 2005 Stanford Commencement Address

This video shows the commencement address delivered by Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Computer and of Pixar Animation Studios, on June 12, 2005.

1.- VOCABULARY

Using the help of a dictionary find these meanings: 


Big deal, dots, dropped out, quit, unwed, popped out, relented, naively, 
Figure it out, pretty scary, stumbled, settle, gut, fired, falling out


2.- QUESTIONS
After watching the video, answer these questions: 
A) What are the three stories Steve Jobs talks about?

B) How do you join the dots of your life?
C) How does Steve got his dots joined?
D) What could be a one – word to describe his life experience?
E) What does “death” meant to Steve Jobs?
- A quote he read when he was 17:
- Some advices he gave on his speech:

STEVE JOBS' SPEECH (text)

GRAMMAR. Simple Present & Present continuous

1. Grammar explanations Simple vs Continuous
2. Simple or Continuous??01
3. Simple or Continuous??02
4. Simple or Continuous??03
5. Simple or Continuous??04
6. Simple or Continuous??05

LISTENING activities. Once upon a time...

Here you have some tales and stories in English! You can practice many skills listening to these stories: listening, reading (there are subtitles in English), vocabulary,... Try to practice pronunciation too!

• Tales in English: Poor dog. / Robin Hood. / The black ants.

• Listening practice and activities  >> The interesting most boring man in the world
• An audio soap! Big city small world