6.30.2011

It's TOUR time!


You know it's summer when the Tour de France starts! Here are three web pages that will help keep you up to date on what's happening:

Bicycling Magazine - BICYCLING used to be the best source of information about anything and everything that had to do with Lance Armstrong (which meant that if you wanted to read about any other American rider, you had to look elsewhere.) Recently, however, it's become a lot more diverse, and provides tons of information about training, nutrition and people who enjoy cycling. It's diverse, but it's not too hard to understand.

NY Velocity was originally set up as an information website for amateur and professional bike racers in New York City. Most people, however, read the page for its very sarcastic (and very funny!) comic strip, "As the Toto Turns", which imitates a soap opera (=telenovela) and has some very funny insights into life in the pro pelotón.

CyclingNews is one of the most diverse websites that talks about cycling (road, mountain, and cyclocross). Its coverage of Spanish cycling isn't so great (it looks like most of the articles were taken directly from AS and MARCA) but it's a great place to get results and statistics, and it's also one of the few websites that covers women's cycling.

6.29.2011

Great listening practice this summer...

As a Canadian, one of the things I love about the European Union is that it motivates countries and organizations to work together. To give you an example: take a look at NORTH BY SOUTHWEST, a new radio documentary series that the British Council and Radio Nacional de España are collaborating on.

I especially like the episode about bilingual education - there's some good stuff to think about in there.


6.22.2011

Bookmark this page!

Madrid doesn't have a lot of websites that try to bring together Spanish and English speakers - you see websites for English speakers who work in Spain, and websites for Spanish speakers who want to learn English.

Now there's a website that combines the best of both. English Warehouse is a website that provides practical help for students who want to know how to take their English to the next letter; and there's also a section for English speakers who want to make the most of their time in Madrid.

Check it out!

Hey, at least he's trying...

Seen on "Alguna Pregunta Mès"...musician Mario Vaquerizo, giving English his best effort. It may not be very elaborate, but hey! At least he's trying....

6.20.2011

One way to remember participle adjectives

If you have problems remembering which participle adjective to use (bored or boring?), here's one trick that you can use.

-ING adjectives can be used to talk about the reason why you use something:
running shoes
frying pan
hiking boots
mixing bowl

-ED adjectives are used to describe what has happened to the thing. (This is why you see -ED adjectives used a lot in the names of foods:)
baked potatoes
fried fish
toasted almonds
roasted chicken
barbecued ribs
chocolate-dipped peanuts (like Conguitos)

And see the photo below to see a perfect example of how NOT to use participle adjectives to describe food.

6.11.2011

If you're looking for conversation classes this summer...

One of the academies I teach for, Hexagone Idiomas, is offering a very special price for English classes this summer - €30 for eight hours of conversation.

I should say that the main focus of the course is conversation, but I've put in a proposal to do other courses as well - a course on phrasal verbs, a shorter version of the Stop Spanglish course, and maybe one on writing. It depends on the demand.

If you're interested, contact Céline or Eva at Hexagone... (91) 563 2148.

6.10.2011

Think you know your irregular past tense verbs?

So you think you know your irregular past tense verbs?

Take out a piece of paper and set your watch/mobile phone to time you for five minutes. In five minutes, can you write down...

a) fifteen irregular past tense verbs you did before 1PM yesterday?
b) ten irregular past tense verbs that have more than six letters?
c) ten irregular past tense verbs that you did when you were a kid, but that you don't do now?