Have you tried ORORO TV?
A fabulous website with dozens of online series and films with subtitles. FREE!!! NO WAITING!!!
And a great feature is that if you hold the mouse over any word you don’t understand, you’ll see the translation.
click on this image to go there…
Last week, Al Gore rocked TED with one of the most electrifying talks on our planet’s future you’ll ever hear. He asks three questions about climate change: Do we have to change? (Oh, yes we do; stunning stats and some jawdropping footage help make his case.) Second question: Can we change? And here’s the surprising part: We’ve already started. So then, he asks the big question: Will we change? In this challenging, inspiring talk, Gore says yes: “We’re going to win this.” If you’ve got climate-change fatigue, feeling helpless and hopeless — take the time to watch this rousing talk on the state of Earth right now.
Well, now school’s out for summer you’ll all be dying for some extra work over the long, hot months! How about taking a look at this video – see how many idioms you catch. Try learning some of the ones that you find most interesting or useful; ones that you feel you are most likely to use. Try them out during the holidays with your friends and family (or even any tourists you meet)!
Note: You’ll find a list of all the idioms at the end of the video. But it’s up to you to find out their meaning and use. Just “google” each one and start using some of these fun and colourful expressions. Don’t forget, you can leave a comment below – try to use an idiom in a suitable context (you might try to tell an anecdote, for example) and I’ll let you know if I think you’ve used it appropriately!
This post has nothing to do with Christmas, but I’ve just found a site that I think could be really great for learning English. It’s called TED. You can find speeches, conferences and conversations. It’s invaluable for learning at an advanced level, but even lower levels will find it great, as you can look for speeches subtitled in Spanish. (Some even have Catalan subtitles!) All the speeches have the transcript in English! You can look for speeches based on different criteria, including length, or even these:
It’s also possible to find famous people’s favourite speeches, like Bono, or Bill Gates! Bono lists the 8 talks that give him most hope. Bill Gates lists his 13 favourite talks.
This is the speech I’ve chosen for Christmas. It’s by a chap called Steven Addis and is called “A father-daughter bond, one photo at a time”. As I say, it has nothing to do with the festive season, but I liked the idea of the speech – that of taking an active role in consciously creating memories. I hope this speech does that for you. And remember, take your time to look at the script, once you’ve see and listened to the video, and check out any words or phrases you think are worth learning.
Here are some I think are good:
to run off with something
to reach new milestones
for the very first time
to stop dead in one’s tracks
Helendipity 