America's first Muslim college

There's an interesting feature today on VOAnews.com about the first American Muslim college. For those of you who are thinking about studying in the United States, it's worth remembering that many of the colleges and universities which are famous internationally were started by different churches; Harvard, for example, was started by well-off Protestants who settled in the Boston area and wanted a high-level university for their children.

You can listen to (and read) the feature here:
http://www1.voanews.com/english/news/usa/Americas-First-Muslim-College-Opens-this-Fall-99831529.html

The feature contains some ideas and vocabulary that you might find useful for the listening part of the TOEFL - especially those "not in classroom" discussions that you are tested on.

Now on Twitter!

STOP SPANGLISH is now on Twitter! Follow us at http://twitter.com/stopspanglish.

Wednesday's Word Challenge

Most irregular past tense verbs only have one syllable: ate, went, cut, put, dreamt.

How many irregular past simple verbs can you think of that have more than one syllable?

TOEFL Students: Why paraphrasing is important

One of the most serious mistakes that students make on the TOEFL Writing exam is not paraphrasing properly. It may seem ridiculous (why say it in your own words if it's already been said?), but it's important to remember that students in American and Canadian universities do a LOT more writing than in Spanish universities. The ability to write clear, accurate prose is fundamental, and part of that ability is to be able to say someone else's words in a different way - which allows you to compare and contrast ideas, thoughts and possibilities.

Problem is, a lot of students now think that it's acceptable to avoid this and to copy information directly from the Internet. This story from The New York Times explains how widespread (=common) the problem is, and why it's such a serious problem for universities.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/02/education/02cheat.html?_r=1&hp

(Of course, TOEFL students who are well-prepared won't have this problem!)

Open Topic: Motivation

The chances are that you're probably on holidays now and that you haven't thought about September, much less starting classes.

So here's an open topic for those of you who are practising English over the summer: What keeps you motivated? What inspires you to get better at speaking and using your English?

"Norwegians in Brooklyn"

If you decide to get a private English teacher this fall, I strongly suggest that you ask the person if she or he has ever tried to learn another language. It's not because you should have someone who speaks perfect Spanish (although it certainly helps.) Language teachers who have experience learning a language can often understand those strange little situations that happen to language students - such as what it's like to develop an accent that people don't expect you to have.

James Fallows, a writer for "The Atlantic Monthly", lived in Beijing for a number of years, and understands what it's like to learn a language, since he speaks fairly fluent Chinese. He's also been tracking and organizing stories about how different English accents can happen in the places where you least expect them. The story about the Chinese guy who talks like Deer Hunter actor Christopher Walken is priceless....

http://tinyurl.com/37ay65a

Beyond geeky!

Just found this via "The Atlantic Monthly" website. You will probably never, ever use these words in your life, but it's fun to know what these things are called:

http://www.buzzfeed.com/amandab10/10-words-for-things-you-didnt-know-have-names-1gad/

Couldn't have said it better myself

For a couple of months now, I've been trying to create a list of good reasons why students should use English-only dictionaries. English teacher Alex case has done a better job than I have, and he's included it on the UsingEnglish.com website. If this list doesn't convince you, nothing will!

http://www.usingenglish.com/articles/why-does-my-teacher-make-me-use-an-englishenglish-dictionary.html

If you're worried about the price of an English-only dictionary, don't be. I just got a paperback copy of the Merriam-Webster's Dictionary and Thesaurus (http://www.m-w.com) through Amazon.com for the equivalent of about €15 (including shipping).

Back from holidays!

Hi everyone...

Just a quick note to let you all know that Whiteshorts and I are back from holidays, so the posts and information will (hopefully) be up to the same levels that they were in June.

Listening practice for all you cycling fans!

I have to admit that BICYCLING magazine is not necessarily my favourite magazine about cycling. They recycle articles a little too frequently, and they're extremely biased towards Lance Armstrong (which means that you don't get to hear about other great American riders.)

One positive thing about BICYCLING, however, is that they've recently re-designed their website and added more features like video interviews. Here's an interview with Jens Voight, the German cyclist from the Saxo Bank team. This interview is easy to understand, since Jens's first language isn't English, but at the same time, he speaks really good English, so the interview isn't boring.

http://video.bicycling.com/video/Part-1-Jens-Voigt-Sits-Down-Wit

Enjoy!