What's your favorite dish?

My favorite dish is a traditional stew from Spain. 
Cocido madrileño ("Madrilenian stew") is a traditional chickpea-based stew from Madrid, Spain. A substantial and nourishing dish prepared with meat and vegetables: It consists of three courses: broth with vermicelli pasta; chick peas and vegetables, typically cabbage and carrots; and finally, a meat dish of spicy chorizo sausage, boiled beef, chicken, blood sausage (morcilla), chorizo and bone marrow. There are dozens of variants, and everybody says that only their mother really knows how to make it.
My favorite is the Andalusian version, which consists of two courses: the broth, the cheack peas and the vegetables all together as a first course and then the meat and fresh bacon. 

 stew  /stjuː/ nm (slow-cooked dish)= estofado, guiso, guisado, cocido 
nourishing  /ˈnʌrɪʃɪŋ/ adj (food: health-giving)= nutritivo, alimenticio 
broth  /brɒθ/ nf (cooking)= caldo, sopa 

 And what's your favorite dish? 
Can you describe paella and tapas?



customes and customs at carnival times

Mind the pronunciation and meaning of these two confusing words:

costume /ˈkɒstjuːm/ (dress-up clothes)⇒ disfraz, vestuario
custom /ˈkʌstəm/ (habit, tradition)⇒ costumbre, tradición, hábito

customs /ˈkʌstəmz/ (airport baggage-check area)⇒ aduana

dress up  (in costume)⇒ disfrazarse
disguise /dɪsˈɡaɪz/⇒ disfraz, disfrazar
fancy dress (costume, disguise)⇒ disfraz

Carnival is a public celebration which takes place in many cities and towns in many countries around the world, in February or March each year. Carnival can sometimes last for several weeks. In some places there is only one day of celebration. There are often street parades, bands, costumes and many people wear masks. Carnival is linked to religious traditions in the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches, and it is also linked to local customs. USA Carnival celebrations, usually referred to as Mardi Gras, were first celebrated in the Gulf Coast area of the United States, but now occur in many other states.

Is it a custom in your city to disguise in funny costumes at carnival times?

You Wanted A Hit, by LCD Soundsystem

LCD Soundsystem was an American alternative dance band from New York City. It was fronted by singer-songwriter and producer James Murphy, co-founder of record label DFA Records. The group released three critically acclaimed albums: their eponymous debut (2005), Sound of Silver (2007) and This Is Happening (2010); the last brought them commercial success, charting in the Top 10 of the Billboard 200 and the UK Albums Chart. The band is a three-time Grammy Award nominee.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 play the song

Note the pronunciation in tough /tʌf/ and enough /ɪˈnʌf/

You Wanted A Hit

 You wanted a hit
But maybe we don't do hits
I try and try
It ends up feeling kind of wrong

 You wanted it tough
But is it ever tough enough?
No, nothing's ever tough enough
Until we hit the road

 Yeah, you wanted it lush
But honestly you must hush
No honestly you know too much
So leave us, leave us on our own

 And so you wanted a hit
Well, this is how we do hits
You wanted the hit
But that's not what we do

 You wanted it real
But can you tell me what's real?
There's lights and sounds and stories
Music's just a part

 Yeah, you wanted the truth
And then you said you want proof
I guess you're used to liars
Saying what they want

 And we won't be your babies anymore
We won't be your babies anymore
We won't be your babies
'Til you take us home

 No, we won't be your babies anymore
We won't be your babies anymore
We can't be your babies
'Til you take us home

 Yeah, you wanted it smart
But honestly I'm not smart
No, honestly we're never smart
We fake it, fake it all the time

 Yeah, you wanted the time
But maybe I can't do time
Oh, we both know that's an awful line
But it doesn't make it wrong

 You wanted it right
No out of mind and out of sight
No dirty bus and early flight
No seven days and forty nights

 Yeah, you wanted a hit
But tell me where's the point in it?
You wanted the hit
But that's not what we do

 And we won't be your babies anymore
We won't be your babies anymore
We won't be your babies
'Til you take us home

 No, we won't be your babies anymore
We won't be your babies anymore
We can't be your babies 
'Til you take us home

 And we won't be your babies anymore
We won't be your babies anymore
We won't be your babies
'Til you take us home

 No, we won't be your babies anymore
We won't be your babies anymore
We can't be your babies 
'Til you take us home

Mobile phone vocabulary

mobile /məʊbaɪl/ phone vocabulary:

to run out of: quedarse sin

me estoy quedando sin batería, ¿hay algún enchufe para recargarla? / I'm running out of battery, is there any socket to recharge it?

tener cobertura: to have reception

luego te llamo, tengo poca cobertura aquí / I'll call you later, I have poor reception here

de guatemala a guatepeor; Idioms with 'fire'

Hay expresiones en español que tienen su equivalente en inglés de forma parecida, otras no tienen nada que ver en las dos lenguas. Aquí tienes tres expresiones (idioms) que contienen la palabra 'fuego' y sus posibles correspondencias en español:

1- (there's) no smoke without fire
If something bad is said about somebody, there is often some truth in it (Cuando el río suena, agua lleva)

They say they're just friends and they never sleep together, but I think there's no smoke without fire


2- add fuel to the fire
Make a bad situation worse (Añadir leña al fuego)

Shouting at a crying child just adds fuel to the fire


3-out of the frying pan to the fire
From a bad situation to something even worse (De guatemala a guatepeor)

She got out of the frying pan to the fire when she left her cheating boyfriend and married another, who turned out to be a drunkard

Improve your English

Improve  /ɪmˈpruːv/: to make or become better in quality. 
Mejorar, hacer mejoras

 Improve your English

 All English learners want to improve their English, but as you know, it can be difficult! For you to learn, you need to work on all areas.

 The four main areas for you to focus on are: Reading, Writing, Speaking, and Listening. 

 Mistakes

 None of us want to make mistakes in front of others; however, your mistakes are very important and will actually help you learn English. The key is, not to be afraid to make mistakes. Don’t waste a chance to speak English because you were too nervous about making a mistake. This is especially true if you study in an English language school, teachers want to hear your mistakes, so they can correct them for you. Don’t be shy; be confident, having an ‘I can do it’ attitude will help you learn. Above all, try not to worry, learning English should be fun! The more fun you have, the easier you will learn! You can NOT be afraid to make a mistake when you speak. If you make a mistake, someone will correct you = you are improving your English!
Goals

 Set yourself a goal and keep it in mind, it will motivate you to learn. For example, think about why you started to learn English. Do you need to learn English, to pass a test, for business, to travel or to watch movies? Whatever the reason, you’ll find that you work harder when you focus on a target. Choose a goal that you want to achieve and then create a time-frame to achieve it by. Plan what you want to be able to do with your English ability by this time next year or in six months. Make sure that your goal is realistic and that you keep working towards it. It’s worth making plans to take an English test, so you have something very real you need to learn English for. Whatever you decide to do, don't give up!

Look, see or watch?

look /lʊk/: (often followed by at) to direct the eyes (towards)
see /siː/(sees, seeing, saw, seen): to perceive with the eyes
watch /wɒtʃ/: to look at or observe closely or attentively



¿Sabes deletrear tu email en inglés? Can you spell your email address?

Al deletrear tenemos que asegurarnos de pronunciar bien no sólo las letras, y no confundir por ejemplo la J /dʒeɪ/ con la G /dʒiː/ o la B /biː/ con la V /viː/, sino también los signos:

 @ (arroba): at
.(punto): dot 
- (guión): hyphen  /ˈhaɪfən/ or dash  /dæʃ/
/ (barra): slash  /slæʃ/

 Recuerda  la pronunciación de las vocales:
A  /eɪ/
E   /iː/
I /aɪ/ 
O  /əʊ/
U  /juː/

 Escucha el alfabeto aquí  (video by KidsTV123)


 Puedes reducir equívocos o malentendidos con un ejemplo de la letra, como en la siguiente lista:
A as in "apple"
B as in "boy"
C as in "car"
D as in "dog"
E as in "ear"
F as in "flag"
G as in "great"
H as in "house"
I as in "insect"
J as in "joy"
K as in "kind"
L as in "light"
M as in "magic"
N as in "night"
O as in "orchestra"
P as in "people"
Q as in "question"
R as in "red"
S as in "sure"
T as in "truck"
U as in "unique"
V as in "video"
W as in "wow"
X as in "xerox"
Y as in "yes"
Z as in "zebra"

Prepositions



Los 20 'false friends' más comunes

Un falso amigo (o cognado) es una palabra de otro idioma que se parece, en la escritura o en la pronunciación, a una palabra en la lengua materna del hablante, pero que tiene un significado diferente. El propio término «falso amigo» es un calco semántico del francés faux-ami, y fue usado por primera vez por Koessler y Derocquigny en su libro Les faux-amis ou les trahisons du vocabulaire anglais (‘Los falsos amigos o las traiciones del vocabulario inglés’) de 1928.
False friends are pairs of words or phrases in two languages or dialects that look or sound similar, but differ significantly in meaning. An example is the English embarrassed and the Spanish embarazada, which does not in fact mean 'embarrassed' but rather 'pregnant'.

 actual  /ˈæktjʊəl/: real (no actual)
actually  /ˈæktjʊəl/: en realidad, de hecho (no actualmente)
advice  /ˈæktjʊəl/: consejo (no aviso)
assist   /əˈsɪst/: ayudar (no asistir)
career /kəˈrɪəʳ/: carrera profesional (no universitaria)
carpet /ˈkɑːpɪt/: alfombra (no carpeta)
casualty /ˈkæʒjʊəltɪ/: víctima, herido (no casualidad)
commodity  /kəˈmɒdɪtɪ/: producto, mercancía (no comodidad)
constipated /ˈkɒnstɪpeɪtɪd/: estreñido (no constipado)
diversion   /daɪˈv3ːʃən/: desviación, desvío (no diversión)
embarrassed  /ɪmˈbærəst/: avergonzada, -o ( no embarazada, -o)
exit  /ˈeksɪt/: salida (no éxito)
eventually  /ɪˈventʃʊəlɪ/: con el tiempo, a la larga, finalmente (no eventualmente)
facilities  /fəˈsɪlɪtɪz/: instalaciones (no facilidades)
large  /lɑːdʒ/: grande (no largo)
library  /ˈlaɪbrərɪ/: biblioteca (no librería)
piles  /paɪlz/: almorranas (no pilas)
realize /ˈrɪəlaɪz/: darse cuenta (no realizar)
sensible  /ˈsensəbl/: sensato, prudente, razonable (no sensible)
sensitive  /ˈsensɪtɪv/: sensible (no sensitivo)
success  /səkˈses/: éxito (no suceso)

12 English tenses

Aquí tienes 12 tiempos verbales y las distintas situaciones temporales en las que suceden. Toma la línea vertical como referencia del "ahora", "en este momento", quedando el tiempo pasado hacia la izquierda y el futuro hacia la derecha:

Presente simple
 En Alaska nieva
Veo la tele todos los días
 Siempre visito a mi primo 
Pasado simple
Ayer nevó 
Anoche vi la tele
Visité a mi primo el año pasado

Futuro simple
Nevará mañana
Veré la tele esta noche
Visitaré a mi primo más tarde

Presente continuo
(él) Está durmiendo ahora mismo

Pasado continuo
(él) Estaba durmiendo cuando llegué
Futuro continuo
(él) Estará durmiendo cuando lleguemos

Presente perfecto
Ya he comido
Pasado perfecto
Ya había comido cuando ellos llegaron

 Futuro perfecto
Ya habré comido cuando ellos lleguen
Presente perfecto continuo
He estado estudiando durante dos horas

Pasado perfecto continuo
(yo) Había estado estudiando durante dos horas antes de que llegaran mis amigos
Futuro perfecto continuo
Habré estado estudiando dos horas para cuando lleguéis

Tips: When it's perfect = have/had + past participle
         When it's progressive = -ing

Tabla ejemplo de los tiempos verbales

Aquí tienes una tabla ejemplo con los tiempos verbales en inglés. Try and make a new one using the following example: I write you an email everyday

4 construcciones para expresar el futuro

Además de WILL + inf, aquí tienes otras construcciones para expresar el futuro en inglés:
GOING TO + inf. para planes, intenciones y predicciones (con evidencia). The agreement is going to be hard.
WILL + inf. para decisiones inmediatas, predicciones (sin evidencia), ofertas y promesas. Wait for me when you arrive, I will pick you up at the airport
PRESENT CONTINOUS para citas, reuniones, planes y acuerdos. What time are we meeting tonight?
PRESENT SIMPLE para horarios y programaciones. The concert starts at 23h

Just a joke!





Jokes






Comparatives

Mediterranean food is said to be healthy.
Homemade food is healthier than fast food.

How would you describe a tree?

A tree is a tall plant with a trunk and branches made of wood. It can live for many years. The four main parts of a tree are the roots, the trunk, the branches, and the leaves.
The roots of a tree are usually under the ground. One case for which this is not true are the roots of the mangrove tree. A single tree has many roots. The roots carry food and water from the ground through the trunk and branches to the leaves of the tree. They can also breathe in air. Sometimes, roots are specialized into aerial roots, which can also provide support, as is the case with the Banyan tree.
The trunk is the main body of the tree. The trunk is covered with bark which protects it from damage. Branches grow from the trunk. They spread out so that the leaves can get more sunlight.
The leaves of a tree are green most of the time, but they can come in many colours, shapes and sizes. The leaves take in sunlight and use water and food from the roots to make the tree grow, and to reproduce.

Thomas Hitzlsperger: 'I finally figured out that I preferred living with a man'

From The Guardian, Wednesday 8 January 2014

Former Premier League footballer and German international talks to Raphael Honigstein about how he wanted to tell the world he was gay while he was still playing in Germany for Wolfsburg, but was advised against it
Thomas Hitzlsperger had managed to stay away from his computer for a long time. In the morning he had become the highest-profile footballer to announce he is gay, and in the hours afterwards he had not checked the public reaction. When I speak to him I tell him that support has been flooding in from fans, fellow footballers, well-wishers – and yes, even Nick Clegg and Ed Miliband.

Continue reading the whole article from The Guardian

Thomas Hitzlsperger The guardian  Photograph Susannah Irelandeyevine

Winter Solstice


The December solstice marks the longest night in Northern Hemisphere and longest day in the Southern Hemisphere. Celebration time!
Late dawn. Early sunset. Short day. Long night. For us in the Northern Hemisphere, the December solstice marks the longest night and shortest day of the year. Meanwhile, the Southern Hemisphere is having its longest day and shortest night.


If you live near the equator, you won’t notice much difference in the amount of sunlight you receive throughout the year. The biggest noticeable difference is at the poles, where each solstice brings an extreme in the hours of sunlight you receive; in summer the Sun never properly sets for weeks, and in winter it never rises, creating some of the most inhospitable environments on Earth.

Stonehenge Winter Solstice Sunset

The earliest people on Earth knew that the sun’s path across the sky, the length of daylight, and the location of the sunrise and sunset all shifted in a regular way throughout the year. They built monuments such as Stonehenge in England – or, for example, at Machu Picchu in Peru – to follow the sun’s yearly progress.

The word solstice comes from Latin Sol (sun) and sistere (to not move), winter solstice meaning Sun standstill in winter.

Somos luz - We are light. Documental con subtítulos en inglés

Documental en español con subtítulos en inglés sobre la acción artística que BoaMistura realizó en El Chorrilo, Panamá, en marzo de 2013. 

 Boa Mistura is an urban art group formed at the end of 2001 in Madrid, Spain. The term "Boa Mistura", from the portuguese for "good mixture", refers to the diversity of perspectives of each member. Distinct visions which complement each other, and combine to create something unique and coherent. 
The collective is composed by the Architect Javier Serrano "Pahg", the Civil Engineer Rubén Martín "rDick", Pablo Purón "Purone", graduated in Advertising and Public Relations, and two Fine Art graduated: Pablo Ferreiro "Arkoh" and Juan Jaume "Derko". 
The group works mainly on the public space, and have developed projects in South Africa, Norway, Berlin, Sao Paulo or Río de Janeiro. Boa Mistura have taken part in exhibitions in art galleries such as the "Museo Reina Sofía", "Casa Encendida" and the "Museo DA2". They have collaborated with foundations like ONCE, Red Cross, Oxfam and Antonio Gala, and given lectures at universities such as Madrid, Seville, Cuenca or Alcalá de Henares.


SOMOS LUZ English Subtitles from boamistura on Vimeo.
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