Resources for EFL learners and teachers: 2008

14 December 2008

http://www.primermagazine.com/2008/live/the-secret-to-successful-small-talk
http://www.primermagazine.com/2008/live/the-secret-to-successful-small-talk

Listening and phrasal verbs

Great site - you can actually slow down whatever you're listening to!
http://www.phrasalverbdemon.com/listening.htm

10 December 2008

7 December 2008

Obama's victory speech with transcript

http://elections.nytimes.com/2008/results/president/speeches/obama-victory-speech.html#

12 November 2008

FCE practice tests

http://www.flo-joe.co.uk/fce/students/tests/tsindex.htm

11 November 2008

Is the dancer turning clockwise or anti-clockwise? - brain game

http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,22535838-5012895,00.html

10 November 2008

Primary resources

games, PPTs etc, great for kids and/or beginners
http://www.primaryresources.co.uk/foundation/foundation.htm

Fat tax?

Fat people paid to walk their children to school
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1084492/Fat-people-paid-walk-children-school-30m-scheme-tackle-growing-obesity-crisis.html

5 November 2008

Obama victory speech video!

http://index.hu/politika/kulfold/usa/feher_haz/2008/11/05/obama_gyozelmi_beszede_magyarul/

4 November 2008

FCE (B2) materials and practice

http://www.portalweblog.com/fce/

28 October 2008

FCE and PET online tests

FCE tests
http://www.examenglish.com/FCE/index.php
PET Writing and Reading
http://www.examenglish.com/PET/index.php

18 October 2008

(Actual lyrics start at 1:50)

Fill in the gaps with 1 word.

Uh, uh, some deep shit, uh, uh

Momma please stop cryin', I can’t (1)........... the sound
Your pain is (2)...........and it's tearin' me down
I hear glasses breakin' as I sit (3)........... in my bed
I told dad you didn’t mean those (4)........... things you
said

You (5) ........... about money, 'bout me and my brother
And this I come home to, this is my (6) ...........
It ain’t easy growin' up in World War III
Never knowin' what love could be, you’ll see
I don’t want love to (7) ........... me like it has done my family

Can we (8)............ it out? Can we be a family?
I promise I’ll be better, Mommy I’ll do anything
Can we (8)............it out? Can we be a family?
I promise I’ll be better, Daddy please don’t
leave

Daddy please stop yellin', I can’t (9) ........... the sound
Make mama stop cryin', coz I need you (10) ............
My mama she loves you, no (11) ........... what she says it's true
I know that she hurts you, but remember I love you, too

I ran away today, ran from the (12) ........... , ran away
Don’t wanna go back to that place, but don’t have no (13) ..........., no way
It ain’t easy growin' up in World War III
Never knowin' what love could be, well I've seen
I don’t want love to (7) ........... me like it did my family

Can we (8) ............it out? Can we be a family?
I promise I’ll be better, Mommy I’ll do anything
Can we (8) ............it out? Can we be a family?
I promise I’ll be better, Daddy please don’t leave

In our family portrait, we look (11) ........... happy
Let’s play (12) ..........., let's act like it comes naturally
I don’t wanna have to (13)........... the holidays
I don’t want two addresses
I don’t want a (14) ........... anyways
And I don’t want my mom to have to change her last name

In our family portrait, we look (11) ........... happy
We look pretty normal, let's go back to that
In our family portrait, we look (11) ........... happy

Let’s play (12) ..........., let's act like it comes naturally

In our family portrait, we look (11) ........... happy
(Can we (8) ............it out? Can we be a family?)
We look pretty normal, let's go back to that
(I promise I’ll be better, Mommy I’ll do
anything)
In our family portrait, we look (11) ........... happy
(Can we (8) .........it out? Can we be a family?)
Let’s play (12) ..........., let's act like it comes naturally

(I promise I’ll be better, Daddy please don't
leave)
In our family portrait, we look (11) ........... happy
(Can we work it out? Can we be a family?)
We look pretty normal, let's go back to that
(I promise I’ll be better, Daddy please don't
leave)

Daddy don’t leave
Daddy don’t leave
Daddy don’t leave

1 October 2008

25 Fascinating Love Facts

25 Fascinating Love Facts
By Laura Schaefer
(from msnbc.com)

Love is mysterious, fascinating, and when you find it with the right person, there's nothing better. Here are 25 surprising love facts to puzzle over and embrace.
Love is a many-splendored thing … and a very surprising thing, too. As if you needed proof of that, here are 25 funny little facts about love. Study them, scratch your head over them, and share them with someone you fancy.

1. Men who kiss their wives in the morning live five years longer than those who don't.
2. People are more likely to tilt their heads to the right when kissing instead of the left (65 percent of people go to the right!)
3. When it comes to doing the deed early in the relationship, 78 percent of women would decline an intimate rendezvous if they had not shaved their legs or underarms.
4. Feminist women are more likely than other females to be in a romantic relationship.
5. Two-thirds of people report that they fall in love with someone they've known for some time vs. someone that they just met.
6. There's a reason why office romances occur: The single biggest predictor of love is proximity.
7. Falling in love can induce a calming effect on the body and mind and raises levels of nerve growth factor for about a year, which helps to restore the nervous system and improves the lover's memory.
8. Love can also exert the same stress on your body as deep fear. You see the same physiological responses — pupil dilation, sweaty palms, and increased heart rate.
9. Brain scans show that people who view photos of a beloved experience an activation of the caudate — the part of the brain involving cravings.
10. The women of the Tiwi tribe in the South Pacific are married at birth.
11. The "Love Detector" service from Korean cell phone operator KTF uses technology that is supposed to analyze voice patterns to see if a lover is speaking honestly and with affection. Users later receive an analysis of the conversation delivered through text message that breaks down the amount of affection, surprise, concentration and honesty of the other speaker.
12. Eleven percent of women have gone online and done research on a person they were dating or were about to meet, versus seven percent of men.
13. Couples' personalities converge over time to make partners more and more similar.
14. The oldest known love song was written 4,000 years ago and comes from an area between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers.
15. The tradition of the diamond engagement ring comes from Archduke Maximillian of Austria who, in the 15th century, gave a diamond ring to his fiancée, Mary of Burgundy.
16. Forty-three percent of women prefer their partners never sign "love" to a card unless they are ready for commitment.
17. People who are newly in love produce decreased levels of the hormone serotonin — as low as levels seen in people with obsessive-compulsive disorder. Perhaps that's why it's so easy to feel obsessed when you're smitten.
18. Philadelphia International Airport finished as the No. 1 best airport for making a love connection, according to an online survey.
19. According to mathematical theory, we should date a dozen people before choosing a long-term partner; that provides the best chance that you'll make a love match.
20. A man's beard grows fastest when he anticipates sex.
21. Every Valentine's Day, Verona, the Italian city where Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet took place, receives around 1,000 letters addressed to Juliet.
21. When we get dumped, for a period of time we love the person who rejected us even more, says Dr. Helen Fisher of Rutgers University and author of Why We Love. The brain regions that lit up when we were in a happy union continue to be active.
22. People telling the story of how they fell in love overwhelmingly believe the process is out of their control.
23. Familiarity breeds comfort and closeness … and romance.
24. One in five long-term love relationships began with one or both partners being involved with others.
25. OK, this one may not surprise you, but we had to share it: Having a romantic relationship makes both genders happier. The stronger the commitment, the greater the happiness!

28 September 2008

Shakira ~ Objection Tango

Fill in the gaps with the correct form of the word in brackets, or a preposition (dotted line).

It's not her fault that she's so _________ (resist)
But all the damage she's caused is ____________ (fix)
Every twenty seconds you repeat her name
But when it comes ……… me you don't care
If I'm _______ (live) or ________ (die)

So ___________ (object) I don't wanna be the __________ (except)
To get a bit ……… your __________ (attend)
I love you ……… free and I'm not your mother
But you don't even bother

___________ (object) I'm tired ……… this triangle
Got dizzy dancing tango
I'm falling ………… in your hands again
No way I've got to get …………

Next ……… her cheap silicon I look _________ (minimum)
That's why in front ……… your eyes I'm ___________ (visible)
But you gotta know small things also count
You better put your feet ……… the ground
And see what it's all about

__________ (object) I don't wanna be the _________ (except)
To get a bit ……… your _________ (attend)
I love you ……… free and I'm not your mother
But you don't even bother

____________ (object) the angles ……… this triangle
Got dizzy dancing tango
I'm falling ……… in your hands again
No way...no no no no no

I wish there was a chance ……… you and me
I wish you couldn't find a place ……… be
………… from here

This is pathetic and sardonic
It's sadistic and psychotic
Tango is not ……… three
Was never meant ……… be

But you can try it
Rehearse it
Or train like a horse it
But don't you count …… me
Don't you count ……… me boy

So __________ (object) I don't wanna be the _________ (except)
To get a bit …… your _________ (attend)
I love you …… free and I'm not your mother
But you don't even bother

So ___________ (object) I'm tired ……… this triangle
Got dizzy dancing tango
I'm falling ……… in your hands again
No way I've got to get ………

I'm falling ……… in your hands again
No way I've got to get …………
Get ………, get …………, hey hey hey get ……… hey hey

I'm falling ………… in your hands again
get ………… hey hey get ………… he heyyy

get …………!

23 September 2008

Grammar songs

if2
The Cardigans: No Sleep
Pocahontas: If I never knew you

if2, time expressions
Colin Blunstone: Old and Wise

indirect questions
Enya: Only Time

mixed tenses
Eric Clapton: Layla
Travis: Why does it always rain on me

ought to
Katie Melua: Lilac Wine

past simple
James Blunt: You´re Beautiful

past simple, past modals
Kelly Rowland: Stole

past simple/passive
Mike Oldfield: Moonlight shadow

present perf.cont., reported speech, future cont.
Billy Joel: Lullaby

questions
Eric Clapton: My father's eyes

superlative
Brian Adams: Inside Out

used to/would
The Cranberries: Just my Imagination

will for prediction
Katie Melua: 9 million bicycles

will for promises
Pink: Family portrait
Muse: Our time is running out

4 August 2008

Accents game

http://www.languagetrainersgroup.com/accent_game.html
You can try and guess where people are from based on their accent. Not easy at all!

9 June 2008

Target English

Online nyelvoktató szoftver - gyors regsztráció után ingyenes, verigúd!
Lásd a bal oldalon a "useful links" alatt.

19 May 2008

Monty Python - Dirty Hungarian Phrasebook

script:
http://www.thisisawar.com/LaughterMPHungarian.htm

13 May 2008

FCE Parts 3 and 4 Special interests

Sample task

FCE Paper 5

Sample questions

5 May 2008

Ameriquest - 10 Hilarious Ads

Mastercard - Blow Job (NC-17)

Find the grammatical mistake :)

23 April 2008

The Beautiful South - Rotterdam

And the women tug their hair
Like they’re trying to prove it won’t fall out
And all the men are gargoyles
Dipped long in Irish stout

The whole place is pickled
The people are pickles for sure
And no-one knows if they’ve done more here
Than they ever would do in a jar

This could be Rotterdamor anywhere
Liverpool or Rome
’cause Rotterdam is anywhere
Anywhere alone x2

And everyone is blonde
And everyone is beautiful
And when blondes and beautiful are multiple
They become so dull and dutiful

And when faced with dull and dutiful
They fire red warning flares
Battle-khaki personality
With red underwear

This could be Rotterdam or anywhere
Liverpool or Rome
’cause Rotterdam is anywhere
Anywhere alone x2

The whole place is pickled
...

This could be rotterdam or anywhere
...

Green Day - Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life)

Another turning point;
a fork stuck in the road.
Time grabs you by the wrist;
directs you where to go.
So make the best of this test
and don't ask why.
It's not a question
but a lesson learned in time.

It's something unpredictable
but in the end it's right.
I hope you had the time of your life.

So take the photographs
and still frames in your mind.
Hang it on a shelf
In good health and good time.
Tattoos of memories
and dead skin on trial.
For what it's worth,
it was worth all the while.

[chorus]

Nickleback - How you remind me

Never made it as a wise man
I couldn't cut it as a poor man stealing
Tired of living like a blind man
I'm sick of sight without a sense of feeling
And this is how you remind me
This is how you remind me
Of what I really am x2

It's not like you to say sorry
I was waiting on a different story
This time I'm mistaken
for handing you a heart worth breaking
and I've been wrong, I've been down,
been to the bottom of every bottle
these five words in my head
scream "are we having fun yet?"

yeah, yeah, yeah, no, no x2

it's not like you didn't know that
I said I love you and I swear I still do
And it must have been so bad
Cause living with me must have damn near killed you

And this is how, you remind me
Of what I really am x2

It's not like you to say sorry
I was waiting on a different story
This time I'm mistaken
for handing you a heart worth breaking
and I've been wrong, I've been down,
been to the bottom of every bottle
these five words in my head
scream "are we having fun yet?"

yet, yet, yet, no, no x4

Never made it as a wise man
I couldn't cut it as a poor man stealing
And this is how you remind me
This is how you remind me
This is how you remind me
Of what I really am ...

Coldplay - Yellow

Look at the stars,
Look how they shine for you,
And everything you do,
Yeah they were all yellow,

I came along
I wrote a song for you
And all the things you do
And it was called yellow

So then I took my turn
Oh all the things I've done
And it was all yellow

Your skin
Oh yeah your skin and bones
Turn into something beautiful
D'you know you know I love you so
You know I love you so

I swam across
I jumped across for you
Oh all the things you do
Cause you were all yellow

I drew a line
I drew a line for you
Oh what a thing to do
And it was all yellow

Your skin
Oh yeah your skin and bones
Turn into something beautiful
D'you know for you I bleed myself dry
For you I bleed myself dry

It's true look how they shine for you
look how they shine for you x4

look how they shine
look at the stars look how they shine for you

18 April 2008

Pink Floyd - Another Brick in the Wall

You! Yes, you! Stand still laddy!
When we grew up and went to school
There were certain teachers who would
Hurt the children anyway they could
By pouring their derision
Upon anything we did
Exposing every weakness
However carefully hidden by the kids

What have we here laddie?
Mysterious scribblings? A secret code?
No - poems, no less - poems everybody!
The laddie recons himself a poet!
"Money gets back
I'm all right Jack
Keep your hands off my stack
New car, Caviar,
Four star daydream twinkle by me
A football team"
Absolute rubbish, laddie!
(smack!)
Get on with your work!
Repeat after me:
An acre is the area of a rectangle......

But in the town it was well known
When they got home at night their fat and
Psychopathic wives would thrash them
Within inches of their lives

We don't need no education
We don't need no thought control
No dark sarcasm in the classroom
Teacher leave the kids alone
Hey teacher leave the kids alone!
All in all it's just another brick in the wall
All in all you're just another brick in the wall

15 April 2008

The Cranberries - Just my Imagination

There was a game we used to play
We would hit the town on friday night
And stay in bed until Sunday
We used to be so free
We were living for the love we had and
Living not for reality

It was just my imagination x3
There was a time I used to pray
I have always kept my faith in love
It's the greatest thing from the man above
The game I used to play
I've always put my cards upon the table
Let it never be said that I'd be unstable

It was just my imagination x3

There is a game I like to play
I like to hit the town on friday night
And stay in bed until Sunday
We'll always be this free
We will be living for the love we have
Living not for reality

It's not my imagination x3
Not my x18

The Cranberries - Animal Instinct

Suddenly something has happened to me
As I was having my cup of tea
Suddenly I was feeling depressed
I was utterly and totally stressed
Do you know you made me cry
Do you know you made me die

And the thing that gets to me
Is you'll never really see
And the thing that freaks me out
Is I'll always be in doubt
It is a lovely thing that we have
It is a lovely thing that we
It is a lovely thing, the animal
The animal instinct

So take my hands and come with me
We will change reality
So take my hands and we will pray
They won't take you away
They will never make me cry, no
They will never make me die
And the thing that gets to me
Is you'll never really see
And the thing that freaks me out
Is I'll always be in doubt

The animal, the animal,
The animal instinct in me
It's the animal, the animal,
The animal instinct in me
It's the animal, it's the animal,
It's the animal instinct in me x2

9 April 2008

More cartoons

Notting Hill - Comprehension questions

Notting Hill – Happiness isn’t happiness without a violin-playing goat.
I.
Julia Roberts
Character’s name:………………….
Job:……………………
Hugh Grant
Character’s name:…………………
Job:………………….
II.
1. What’s Notting Hill?
2. What does Rufus (the man in the bookshop) want to do?
3. List 10 food and drink that is mentioned/showed in the film.
4. What messages did Spike forget to tell William?
5. What false names does Anna use when she stays at a hotel?
6. Which magazine does William say he’s from?
7. Why aren’t there any horses in Anna’s film?
8. How much money did Anna get for her last film?
9. Why’s Bella (William’s friend) in a wheelchair?
10. Where can you read this? “For June who loved this garden – from Joseph who always sat beside her”
11.What is William looking for before his date (when he’s only wearing a towel)?
12. Where do Anna and William go after going to the cinema?
13. What happens when William goes up to Anna’s hotel room?
14. What’s a fruitarian?
15. Why is Anna on the first page of newspapers?
16. Where do Anna and William read lines?
17. Whose bottom do they talk about when they’re eating ice-cream?
18. What do Anna and William talk about in the morning in bed?
19. What happens when William opens the door?
20. What’s changing when William is walking in the market?
21. What does Honey (William’s sister) give William in the bookshop?
22. Where are William and his friends having dinner?
23. What is Honey’s announcement?
24. What’s Anna doing back in London?
25. Why does William leave the film set early?
26. What film / actors do Anna and Martin (William’s assistant) talk about?
27. Who tells William first that he has made the wrong decision?
28. Why does Max (Bella’s husband) stop in the middle of the road with the car?
29. Why does the Japanese man kiss the receptionist?
30. What’s Anna doing in the Savoy?

Stand-up comedy

Robin Williams - Easter -

Ellen DeGeneres - Dressing rooms -

Robin Williams - TASK -
And here is for me, the one big (1) __________:
How do you get Crucifixion, Resurrection and (2) ____ chocholate bunnies, (3) ________ eggs?
How do you do that (4) _______? Even (5)________ are going: " (6) _________ don't lay eggs. (7) _________ is this?"
And you don't (8) _________ a kid biting the head off a (9) ______________ Jesus.
You don't want a (10) ________ filled (11) _________ going... No, you don’t want (12)______
You don't wanna be putting raspberry (13) _________ in the grass going:
"We're (14) ___________ for Jesus, kids, (15) ________ on!"

6 April 2008

Guardian Q&A

1 April 2008

Embarrassing

Funny signs

US controversy

Cartoons, etc

Poli Library Easy Readers

Book title (number of copies when I checked)

Starter
Drive into Danger (1)
Escape - Comic Strip (1)
King Arthur - Comic Strip (1)
Last Chance - Narrative (1)
Ocra - Narrative (1)
Oranges in the Snow - Interactive (1)
Police TV - Narrative (15)
Robin Hood - Comic Strip (1)
Sally's Phone - Narrative (1)
Taxi of Terror - Comic Strip (1)
Vampire Killer (1)

Stage 1
Aladdin and the Enchanted Lamp (1)
Goodbye Mr Hollywood (13+2)
Ned Kelly: A True Story (1)
Pocahontas (1)
Remember Miranda (1)
Sherlock Holmes and the Duke's Son (1)
The Butler Did It and Other Plays (1)
The Phantom of the Opera (2)
White Death (1)

Stage 2
Anne of Green Gables (1)
Dracula (1)
Grace Darling (7)
Henry the VIII and His Six Wives (1)
New Yorkers: Short Stories (1)
Seasons and Celebrations (Factfile)
Sherlock Holmas: Short Stories (1)
The Death of Karen Silkwood (10)
The Jungle Book (1)
The Murders in the Rue Morgue - Poe (many)

Stage 3
Frankenstein (1)
Go, Lovely Rose (6)
Love Story (1)
Moondial (9)
Rabbit-Proof Fence (1)
Recycling (Factfile)
Tales of Mystery and Imagination - Poe (1)
The Star Zoo (4)
Through the Looking Glass (6)

Stage 4
Lorna Doone (12)
Mr Midshipman Hornblower (12)
The Silver Sword (3)
The songs of Distant Earth - Short Stories (11)
The Whispering Knights (11)
We didn't mean to Go to Sea (12)
Black Beauty (1)

Stage 5
Do Androids Dream of Electric sheep? (1+)
Jeeves and Friends - Short Stories (6)
The Bride Price (6)

Stage 6
Deadheads (9)
Dublin People - Short Stories (9)
Night without end (5)
The Enemy (6)

31 March 2008

quotes

“He speaks to me as if he was addressing a public meeting.”
(Queen Victoria talking about Benjamin Disraeli, her Prime Minister)

"It is our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities." (Dumbledore)

"I believe people are in our lives for a reason. We are here to learn from each other." (Gillian Anderson)

"Tests make us all better learners." (Monica Geller)

"Come on, rules are good. They help control the fun." (Monica Geller)

30 March 2008

A Bit of Fry and Laurie

Oprah Winfrey
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGvfEFPf3a4&NR=1
Hospital Sketch
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qC5r6UH9x2U
Pass the Marmelade
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZkYwItNWsQg&feature=related
Barman
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_yXtaICt3Y&NR=1
(script: http://www.geocities.com/mmemym/bits4/fal0186.htm)
Sex talk in class
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwo8qxUit00