Storm in a teacup

Hi Jiae,
It’s interesting to hear about your rainy season – as I’m sure you know, in Britain we love banging on about the weather! Of course, that’s a stereotype, but it isn’t far from the truth. The climate is so unpredictable, it can be sunny one minute, raining the next, then suddenly windy and cold – I think this is why people talk about it, because you never know what’s coming next. It’s also a form of small talk. It’s an easy subject to talk about with strangers, nothing too personal. I hope the rain passes and you don’t get too many floods. A couple of years ago I worked at a summer school in Oxford. It was one of the worst summers on record, raining constantly and parts of the city and surrounding area were flooded. Thankfully, this year is looking better so far...

Your story about watching the floods when you were a nipper made me think of an event which happened when I was 9 years old. Near where I used to live in London, there is a grand old building called Alexandra Palace, or ‘Ally Pally’ to those who know it well. It was built in the 19th century and became famous as the location from which the first public television broadcast was made in 1936. Anyway, one night many years ago, the building went up in flames. My entire family walked up to a vantage point on a hill to watch the huge fire…… without me! They didn’t see fit to wake me up and let me come to see this momentous event with them but instead left me sleeping! Unbelievable! So, this is my story of what (didn’t) happen to me all those years ago.

Have you got an interesting anecdote from your childhood? Something funny or dramatic? I’d love to hear from you if you have.

Vocabulary

to bang on (about sth) - to talk about sth all the time, without stopping

small talk - conversation about unimportant subjects (often between strangers)

nipper - child (informal)

a vantage point - a good place from which to watch something

see fit to - to think something is a good idea to do

momentous - of great importance or significance

anecdote- a short account of an interesting or funny event

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On the subject of food… Here’s a picture I took at a restaurant in Seoul.



I think this is ‘bulgogi’. Is that right? Whatever it’s called, it was very nice.
I have a confession to make....I'm not a big fan of kimchi! I know many people can't live without it but I don't see what all the fuss is about! For me it's just a bunch of spicy, pickled vegetables...I was impressed by kimchi fridges though.
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Your comments:

I loved reading all your comments about Antony Gormley's art project. There was a wide variety of different opinions, both positive and negative.

Here are some of them:

Leila argues that the lack of an element of surprise means that the performance doesn't work. As I look at the site now, there's a young woman wearing angel's wings throwing free sweets to the onlookers and blowing bubbles. It's not Leonardo da Vinci is it? Paulraj wondered if he would stand for an hour as a preacher or politician, or perhaps a social worker but in the end seemed undecided. Toni poured scorn on the idea, suggesting that it's just a way to make money. Benka reckons that the artists can learn something about themselves buts questions whether the public can learn anything - but she likes the idea of ordinary people being involved in an art project. Asma believes it's a waste of time and money and says she would take a good book if she was a plinther. Funnily enough, last time I checked the plinth there was a young woman sitting there reading a book, looking very calm and unconcerned with what was going on around her. Sook explains that we are trained only to accept framed art, artefacts or performances as art and I reckon she's got a point. Kuldeep compares the idea to some people who stand on one leg in India for a long period of time in order to pray. Ramilton sticks up for the project, writing that it makes us reflect about ourselves and the meaning of what the people do, while Ana Paula suggests that the plinthers should perform some music. Finally Naheed believes the plinth is a platform for common people who know something and want to show it to others. Does that sound a bit like this blog?

When all's said and done, does it really matter whether it is art or not? I suppose it's made us think about the question "What is art?" and it's given us a different topic to talk about, and in that sense, it has fulfilled an important role. I'll end this post with a quote from English novelist E.M.Forster: "To make us feel small in the right way is a function of art; men can only make us feel small in the wrong way."

* You might notice that I use a lot of 'reporting verbs' (suggest/point out/argue etc) in the comments section to describe what commenters said. It's a good idea to try to use a variety of words and expressions for reporting instead of just 'said' or 'wrote'.

Vocabulary

to pour scorn on - to criticise something severely

reckon - an informal word for think or believe

to stick up for - to give your support to somebody or something

ps I hope my comment about kimchi doesn't provoke a 'storm in a teacup'!

Famous for an hour…

Q: What is a plinth?
A: A block or slab on which a pedestal, column, or statue is placed.
Q: Where is ‘the fourth plinth’?
A: It’s in Trafalgar Square in Central London.
Q: What is special about the ‘fourth plinth’?
A: It was built for a statue in 1841 but no statue was ever put on it so for around 150 years it was empty.
Q: So what?
A: It’s now a space for art and a new project by scultptor Antony Gormley. He has invited ‘ordinary people’ to apply to stand on the plinth for one hour at a time. Anyone can apply, the idea being that the plinth is continuously occupied by ordinary folk for 100 days. It started yesterday at 9am.



Quiz question: Who's the fellow standing on top of the column in the picture?
(The picture is one of the other plinths in Trafalgar Square - the horse isn't really blue..)

If you have a decent internet connection, you can watch a live feed of the art project at One and Other. Yes, it’s just somebody standing around doing nothing…
Looking at it today though, it seems to say a lot about Britain and the British. For one thing, it’s the middle of summer, and it's raining. Then there’s the young guy on the plinth. He looks a bit awkward. Doesn’t really know what to do with himself. A small crowd have gathered but nobody really knows what to do. Even the crowd seem slightly embarrassed. No fun-loving exhibitionists here! You’re going on the fourth plinth? Don’t forget to take an umbrella! What about some sandwiches in case you get peckish….
Maybe this is one of art’s functions? Maybe it should make us reflect on who we are and what we are doing?

What do you think?

Is this art?
Does it tell us anything about ourselves?
If you had one hour in a public space like this, what would you do?
Is it a complete waste of time and money?

Interestingly, the project seems to have given birth to a new word in the language. ‘Plinther’ - in other words, someone who will be standing on the plinth for an hour as part of the project.

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Reading all your stories has suddenly filled me with wanderlust. Just a few weeks ago I was in Scotland but already I can hear the call of the mountains and the sea again... Sadly, it will have to remain unanswered as I have 16 essays to mark!! Below you’ll find some of my favourite sentences from the previous task, those which gave me itchy feet. Forgive me if I used my ‘teacher’s licence’ to make a few small changes here and there!

‘A magnificent whale, gently floating on the sea, calm and mighty, exposing itself to the summer sun before diving into the unknown.’

‘Trees were wearing a blanket of moss or lichen and often ferns on top of that. Tree trunks bulged like gored skirts and their roots looked like tangled snakes.’

‘A large city full of warm people talking funny’

‘We started walking after rambunctious greetings - through pitch-dark, hilly and winding paths - only hearing night owls cooing from afar.’

‘On arrival to the end destination your legs are throbbing and a dip in the sea is well earned.’

‘There is an excellent road, newly built which takes you to the top of the mountain. You can see a private palace and a hotel close by.’

‘We sneaked into the mango groves and plucked the mangoes.’

‘We went fishing in a wooden boat on the calm sea at night, throwing nets, lighting the lamps, pulling the nets out of the sea.’

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Jiae - I know what you mean about being busy... why do you think people are always in such a hurry? In fact, I've heard about the education system in Korea from a lot of Korean students I've taught and I'm amazed by how hard and competitive it seems to be. If you're a student, you must be consantly busy - it sounds like a nightmare!

I'd be surprised if you hadn't been to Seoraksan. Lots of people I met travelling said it was one of the most beautiful places in Korea and there were a lot of visitors when I went. I remember hearing something about a sacred or legendary mountain but I think it may be just over the border in North Korea? Do you know the one I mean? One thing I really liked about Korea was the mountains - I love mountains and climbing so it was great for me.

Generally, the article isn't used when talking about mountains. We say Mount Everest for example, or Ben Nevis (the highest mountain in the UK), MontBlanc or Kilimanjaro. You would probably say 'I climbed Soback' or 'Soback mountain' if the person doesn't know the mountain in question.

- thanks for the/your welcome or thanks for the warm welcome
- the world's best camera
- if you have a/the chance to come to Korea.... (any chance of coming is OK)
- college residence
- we really didn't know what we would find / what to expect (find out is used for information, or to answer a specific question, not in this more general sense of discovering somewhere new)
- why lists of chat? why not 'we chatted for hours' for example?
- we arrived at Pusan station at 4.30 in the morning

(all the others you corrected yourself, well done!)


Your comments


Thanks Abdisamad – it certainly does get more difficult learning languages as we get older, but perhaps when we’re older we appreciate the value and power of language that little bit more. Although vocabulary becomes more difficult to memorize, we can perhaps enjoy language in ways we couldn’t before.
Benka, your story is lovely, you and Daniella were obviously young entrepreneurs.
Can you add three adjectives or adverbs to make it exactly 50 words?
Kuldeep, I’m glad you liked the photo – hope it helps you to relax!
Vijay, I can’t see any reason why it should be 24 hours in a day either – indeed, why should there be 60 minutes in an hour or 365 days in a year?? Like you say, it doesn’t matter what you call it, it’s what you do with your time that counts.
A nice little story – it must be good to ‘turn the tables’ now that you are the one who is in demand. I revel on – what exactly do you mean by this? I’m not sure. Can you think of another way to phrase it?
Rabail, the Ashes series starts this week so keep an eye out to see if anything should be banned. I hope it’s a good, competitive series, unlike the last one which England lost 5 – 0!
A nice description – preparation is uncountable in this case. I couldn’t wait to get it over with /or/ for it to be over, nerve-racking.
Hyoshil, I didn’t spend much time in Pusan, in fact I was mostly in Seoul although I did visit Seoraksan national park which was gorgeous. I’ve taught countless Korean students in my time at various different schools.
Cheikh Vall, I’m sure you could describe an experience in 50 words if you really put your mind to it! Your English is certainly good enough to do it…
Mauricio, I’ve heard really good things about Salvador and would like to visit some time. Brazil is so huge that travelling around it must be like visiting different countries as you say. I’ve been to Rio de Janeiro, but only for 4 days, and would love one day to go back and see more of your beautiful country!
Sook, I like the way you use metaphors to enhance your description – trees wearing a blanket of moss, roots like snakes – excellent! Tamara, I would love to go whale watching. Your description sums up very well exactly why I want to do it. Thank you!

Phew, what a scorcher!

Last Thursday was a scorcher, the hottest day of the year so far, and, as luck would have it, I had an unexpected free day because there was a strike at the university. My friend Simon had called the week before saying he had a spare ticket for a big concert in Hyde Park. It was a reunion gig for a band called Blur who were big in the 90s. We got there to find thousands of people sitting out in the sunshine enjoying the atmosphere. There were a few support bands playing so we sat around, shooting the breeze and quenching our thirst and then at about 8pm the main attraction, Blur, came on stage to a rapturous reception. They played for two hours and even though they hadn’t played together for ages, they were superb. The audience of 30 and 40 somethings had a chance to relive their youth, forget their troubles and pretend they were 18 again! Magic!

A scorcher - a very hot day

As luck would have it - by chance or by good fortune

Gig - a concert

To be big - to be popular

To shoot the breeze - to chat

Quench your thirst - to drink so you don’t feel thirsty anymore

A rapturous reception - a huge and friendly welcome

30 somethings - people who are in their 30s

Magic - great


Hi Jiae,
The question about the photo was a little tricky I admit. I actually took it in Seoraksan National park. Have you been there? It’s really beautiful – great for walking and escaping the rat race for a while.

It’s a shame I wasn’t able to stop in Pusan, it looks really nice from your pictures. I also wanted to go to Jeju island but I was en route to Japan and could not stay any longer. Have you been to Jeju island?

Again, you write beautifully. I’m impressed by your use of idiomatic expressions, modal verbs, tenses – everything in fact. I’ve picked out a few sentences which I’d like you to think about though - can you see anything wrong with them? These are minor problems, but you’ve set the bar very high! (what does that mean?)

I will try to respond your comments

Thanks for welcoming!

the world best camera

If you have a chance of coming to Korea…

I finished my final exam the last Sunday.

I was sick and tired of being at the collage residence after having done all the work for the semester. So did my friends.

we really didn’t know what we would find out

We did long lists of chatting

At last, we arrived in the Pusan Station at 4.30 in the morning.

Near the beach there is an island called Dongbeksum, where you can also take a walk through with feeling a nice sea breeze and it’s leading to Nurimaru APEC House.

Really good descriptive writing is very difficult – both for native speakers and non-native speakers. The best descriptive writers are able to paint pictures with language and words, they use a great variety of adjectives and adverbs, metaphor and analogy and different sentence structures to communicate ideas, images and sensations. Jiae, you’re doing pretty well so far!
Here’s an example by an Indian writer called Arundhati Roy who wrote a fantastic book called ‘The God of Small Things’:

It was raining when Rahel came back to Ayemenem. Slanting silver ropes slammed into loose earth, ploughing it up like gunfire. The old house on the hill wore its steep, gabled roof pulled up over its ears like a low hat. The walls, streaked with moss, had grown soft, and bulged a little with dampness that seeped up from the ground. The wild, overgrown garden was full of the whisper and scurry of small lives. In the undergrowth a rat snake rubbed itself against a glistening stone. Hopeful yellow bullfrogs cruised the scummy pond for mates. A drenched mongoose flashed across the leaf-strewn driveway.


I love the idea of a house wearing its roof like a hat!


LE bloggers! You wrote some fantastic mini descriptions of important moments in your lives. Great stuff – well done! In my next post I’ll try to respond to anyone who sent in a mini-story.

Time marches on...

Crikey! Half way through another year already! Where does all the time go? As you get older, the days, months and years seem to pass more quickly. I'm happy to say that I'll be with you for another month, so let's enjoy it while we can...

I'd like everyone to put their hands together and give a warm round of applause for Taru, who’s been blogging with us this last few weeks and has given us all plenty of food for thought. I don’t say goodbye because I hope she will keep reading and send us her comments from time to time. Thanks Taru – great job! You have a really great ‘turn of phrase’ in English, in other words, you use the language really well and with imagination. I hope that you have learnt something this month and will reflect on the experience and think of it as a positive one. Look forward to hearing from you again soon.



Welcome Jiae – what an impressive first post! I’d be interested to know a bit more about the summer school you are currently enjoying. How does it work? What do you study? What other activities do you do there?
I spent a short time in Korea last year, in fact I took a ferry from Pusan across to Japan. I was just passing through so I didn’t have time to stay there, so I’ll be interested to hear more about your trip. Can you guess or do you know where the photo below was taken?



Dream destinations

I promised to write about my dream destination but, now I’ve thought about it, it seems like a thankless task. How can I possibly choose one out of so many? I’ve travelled a fair bit, and although I was born and grew up in a city, what really floats my boat is nature; landscapes, scenery, mountains and lakes, islands, sea, forests, flora and fauna. That’s not to say I don’t like cities – they’re exciting and vibrant and also great places to visit. But experiencing the beauty of the natural world speaks to my soul, gives me peace, fills me with awe and wonder, with joy and sadness at the same time, makes me feel powerless but at the same time empowered.

thankless task - a task you have to do for which you will get no reward

a fair bit - quite a lot

floats my boat - interests and excites me


A new challenge for today’s post. I’ve decided to try to describe, in exactly 50 words, a memorable experience I’ve had on my travels. When I was teaching in Ecuador, I used to enjoy weekends outside the city in the Andes, walking and climbing. Two friends and I decided to climb the highest peak in the country. Here’s my description.

Chimborazo
We climbed through the night, through snow, ice, cold and exhaustion. Ice axe, crampons, frozen breath. Dawn broke, at last - the summit. Breathless relief and exaltation – we had made it. As far as the eye could see, snow, volcanoes, clouds, everything white. For a moment, it belonged to us.

Think of a memorable experience you have had – can you describe it in exactly 50 words? It’s harder than it seems as you have to choose each word really carefully. I look forward to reading your descriptions! (this activity is loosely based on the idea of the 'minisaga')



Comments corner

Adek – I wonder why tennis isn’t so popular in Poland. Is it because the facilities are not so good? I think it's quite surprising as lots of other countries in Central and Eastern Europe have produced so many great players.
Hi Bahij, well done for trying to correct those mistakes. It’s not an easy exercise for any level – I don’t want the exercises I set to be just for high level students. Please keep trying the exercises! You can also learn from other students’ comments when they try to do the same exercise.
Thanks Valeria, Wimbledon is quite unique in terms of atmosphere, tradition and history. It’s a wonderful place to visit, even for people who are not great tennis fans.
Cheikh Vall, I deliberately put some mistakes with verb tenses as a way to see whether students were able to recognise them as they often make similar mistakes. There's more than one way to skin a cat…. 'An orderly line would form' is fine as the orderly line is seen as the subject of the sentence. The line is seen as forming itself (rather than being formed by an outside agent). Another example might be 'The queue grew longer as the day went on' (not was grown).
Hello Sora! Yes, it is possible to book tickets in advance for Wimbledon, but it has to be quite a long time in advance. Some people enter a special ‘raffle’ and are lucky enough to win tickets. I only decided to go at short notice so I wasn’t able to buy a ticket – still, it was certainly worth going, despite the queue!
Toni, I’m sorry you couldn’t be with us for the past month. Better late than never though, and I hope you’ll keep checking out our blog for July.
Hyoshil, you’re almost a grammar genius, but in fact you’re a plucky loser! Look at number 6 again… To be fair to the referee, it must have been difficult having divided loyalties between the two players. A yellow card for dissent seems like a fair punishment to me – in fact, maybe you’re lucky it wasn’t red!
Leila, I hope it’s a healthy addiction for you! It sounds like you have some fond and still vivid memories of your time here, I hope you had fun reminding your daughter of those times. Marianna, thanks for reminding me about homework – I’ll have to set double for my next post! Benka, the ‘cult of celebrity’ is something which I find really hard to understand. Why does having a large fake chest and a pink horse make somebody a role model? Ana Ivanovic, from the little I know of her, seems to be a good role model. I just hope her head doesn’t get turned by all the stuff that seems to accompany women’s sports these days, or that if it does, it doesn’t distract her from her gift, which is tennis. Abdisamad, your English is very good – in your comments it’s hard for me to find any mistakes. Where did you learn English? What is the ‘status’ of English in Uganda? I admit that I’m surprised to learn that it rains all the time in Kampala – I guess we all have our preconceived ideas of places and it’s good to have them corrected sometimes. Asma, thanks for putting me right about the storms – can you rephrase this sentence: ‘the more stronger the wind, the more severe will be the storm’? Ana Paula – I didn’t realise Star Wars had such a loyal following in Brazil - glad you enjoyed yourself at that and 'bloomsday'.

Run for the hills..

The weekend here in London was quite humid and a mixture of sunshine and really heavy showers. Not ideal weather, then, for the 10km run which I foolishly agreed to do on Sunday. It was an event held in a beautiful park in North London called Trent Park. My brother-in-law Tim often takes part in these runs - I've done one before so I thought I'd have another go. The weather was sticky when we arrived and the course had lots of hills. My heart sank - as usual, I asked myself 'Why do I do it?'. But I survived! - after I finished I was already looking forward to the next one.

The worst part - waiting around before the start



The best part - finsishing!




Comments (from June 23rd)

Leila – glad you enjoyed the homework. I also remember the weather being great even though I was quite young then. It was the year of the ‘Royal Wedding’, as you say, but also of the Brixton riots, two very different faces of the UK in stark contrast - from the ‘pomp and splendour’ of the wedding to the anger, frustration and violence in Brixton.

Hyoshil – scantily clad women – yes maybe it is a boy thing! It’s funny that your son grunts when he plays – did the opponent complain? I think grunting adds to the drama and excitement – above all, it’s quite funny. In my view, players should be professional enough not to let it disturb their concentration. Yes, I do know about the division between South and North Korea, but I had no idea that they had had joint sports teams – not anymore though right? When was the last one, and what sport was it? Good homework – well done!

Benka – I’m glad you liked the homework. Do factories ‘damp’ waste??

Paulraj, it’s amazing how 20-20 cricket has become so popular in such a short time. There’s no doubt it’s an exciting format and appeals to our desire to have everything more and more quickly. A 5-day test match can be exciting though, as this year’s Ashes series will hopefully show..

Cheikh Vall – you were right in about half your sentences. You might want to look up number 1,4 and 5 again.

Rabail, I love the idea that in Pakistan people cook a special meal when it rains – it says so much about how weather influences our lives. In the UK, as you know, we see quite a lot of rain so getting the umbrella out is certainly nothing to celebrate. It’s interesting to read that you’re not a fan of grunting. Do you think there is anything in cricket which should be outlawed? Really great work for that vocabulary. I didn’t manage to see any of the Twenty20 games but the tournament was a great success and perhaps if it comes back here I might try to get tickets.

YPW – I don’t have a particular favourite. I used to love watching players like Bjorn Borg, Jimmy Connors and John McEnroe – I remember some epic contests between them when I was growing up. Oh, and I like Ana Ivanovic also….

Naheed, do you never get tired of the sunshine in Karachi? Those power cuts must be really irritating, especially if you’re in the middle of writing your blog! Glad you’re enjoying ‘Keep your English up to date’!

Kuldeep, I really appreciate your comments about my blog, thank you. ‘It’s been a while since there was a British man in with a chance of winning the tournament’ means that a lot of time has passed since any British man came close to winning Wimbledon. ‘It’s been a while’ here actually means quite a large amount of time, although it doesn’t denote a specific period of time. ‘Having have’ is not possible grammatically – ‘having had’ is a perfect infinitive and can be found in sentences such as ‘Having had lunch, they decided to have a short siesta.’ It’s a nice way to avoid something longer such as ‘After they had had lunch..’.

Asma, are the fogs a kind of sandstorm? Or are they caused by moisture in the air?

Nice to meet you too Jingjing! Good homework, although ‘mumbling’ isn’t what the tennis players are doing..

Answers to the vocabulary quiz

Smog – this is a ‘portmanteau’ word formed from ‘smoke and fog’ = air pollution.

Infamous – notorious

Slap on – apply/put on

Soak up – enjoy/take in

Grunting – groaning with exertion

Ploy – trick/strategy

Flying the flag – representing a country

In with a shout – to have/stand a chance/have the possibility of…






Some answers to the last quiz…(June 26th)

Prepositions

Concentrate on (although I would probably rephrase it to say something like ‘the course mainly/mostly focuses on adult education’)

Divided into

…happens in organised situations according to some …. (could rephrase this ‘Non-formal learning occurs/happens in an organised context under some kind of supervision…’)

Online/on (the) internet/through (the) internet

In contact with people

From time to time

Looking through a window/seeing a reflection in a weekend


Comments from June 26th

Taru – yes, indeed. July! And ‘flu’! Marianna, I agree with you – grammar explanations can get tiring – that must be why you missed the problem with the Present Perfect sentence ‘When I have read…’! Paulraj, I’m glad that I encouraged you to read Taru’s blog. I’m sure you’ll agree that it’s interesting – I think we can all learn from each other. Good homework, just one mistake! Benka, well done for having a go at the grammar exercises, even though they aren’t your cup of tea. It’s always nice to see students thinking and reflecting on their knowledge.

Verb tenses

The problem with the sentence ‘When I have read these theories…’ is really about inconsistency of tenses. You could say 'When I read these theories and try to apply them to practice I realise that...'. But this would change the meaning slightly to mean 'every time I read these theories' - if that is what Taru means, then fine. I think, though, that she means that her reading of the theories at an unspecified time in the past has made her realise (now) that informal learning is what we're doing (now) The problem is the word ‘When’ – it can't apply to the unspecified occasions related to the two verbs in the Present Perfect and also to the present time - this is the 'inconsistency' I mentioned. What would work well here is a perfect participle: Having read these theories and tried to apply them to practice I (now) realise that actually we are doing it (informal learning) here with this blog. Does that make sense Taru? Hope this long-winded explanation helps!

There are lots of good examples of verb tense use in the post. For more on basic tense usage, see the LE Ask about English section on verbs and verb tenses.


Past tenses (Friday’s post)

I arrived at 3pm and was told by a steward that the wait would be 3 or 4 hours! The organisation was military – everyone was given a card, queue jumping was strictly forbidden and no pushing in would be tolerated. To add insult to injury, as soon as I arrived, I called my friend who was already there. He had a ticket and was in the third row of Centre Court watching Maria Sharapova (who was losing her match)… Fortunately it was a lovely, sunny day, I had a book and some grapes so I was happy.

Well done to everyone who managed to identify the dodgy verb tenses…

The art of queueing...

It is said that the British like queueing. As soon as there's a need to wait for something, an orderly line will form, as if by magic, and we'll all stand dutifully in line, waiting our turn. The same folks who say this might also contrast the way we queue over here to the disorganised rabble that masquerades as a queue in some other countries. I'm not so sure... maybe the art of queueing is dead. I've been in bus queues recently where it's every man for himself. Still, though it may be a dying art, it's certainly alive and well at Wimbledon.




I have arrived at 3pm and was being told by a steward that the wait would be 3 or 4 hours! The organisation were military - everyone was give a card, queue jumping was strictly forbidded and no pushing in would be tolerated. To add insult to injury, as soon as I arrived, I had called my friend who was already been there. He has a ticket and was in the third row of Centre Court watching Maria Sharapova (who was losing her match)... Fortunately it was a lovely, sunny day, I was having a book and some grapes so I was happy.

Did you notice anything in that last paragraph? I hope so. I suddenly forgot how to use verb tenses - can you help me? If you find 8 mistakes in the previous paragraph, you might even be a grammar genius...


When I eventually got in I wasn't really too bothered about the tennis. I met up with my friends, we had a drink and wandered around the outside courts, watching a variety of games, singles, doubles, mixed doubles and so on. It's an exciting place to be, and the longer the tournament goes with a Brit still in it, the more the excitement mounts. There's a grass hill at one end for anyone not lucky enough to get tickets for one of the show courts. They can watch all the action on a huge screen and cheer on their favourite players. It used to be called Henman Hill because of our perennial 'plucky loser' Tim Henman (see picture below - he's now there as a commentator). It's now called Murray Mount - we'll see how far Murray gets this year, and how high the excitement grows towards the end of next week.....


Here are some pictures of the day....nobody famous I'm afraid! (at least I don't think so...)

Concentration...



Action...



Victory...



And the unsung heroes... the ballboys and ballgirls.





Some vocabulary


orderly - well-organised and controlled

rabble - a disorganised or disorderly crowd of people

to masquerade as - to pretend to be someone or something else

every man for himself - a phrase used to mean that everybody (man or woman) has to compete with everybone else, on their own

bothered - if you're not bothered about something, you don't care about it or it doesn't matter

Brit - a British person

plucky loser - a brave and loser who shows good spirit (but still loses!)

unsung heroes - people who act in a heroic way or perform a very good job but are not often recognised for their actions


I'll reply to some more of your comments over the weekend. Have a good one - keep studying!

Back on form!

Hi Taru. A very quick word about your previous post from Wednesday – I think we’ve all seen that you have a lot on your plate so I think it’s normal that you have had less time for blogging recently. Don’t worry, it’s good to see you back on form with your latest post. By the way, how do we spell the month after June and before August??? And the illness you have which makes you tired??
One more thing, I promised to tell you my dream destination (not my misery place….!) although the idea of a nightmare destination is also quite intriguing. That will be in my next post.

To have a lot on your plate – to be very busy

To be on form – you are ‘on form’ if you are feeling or performing well

Intriguing – something which fascinates you, often because it is a bit unusual



Today I’m going to set two separate tasks. Taru generally uses verb tenses very well, so the first, and easier task, is to identify four different verb tenses in her post and give an example with the name of the tense.

For example, in the second line she writes:

‘…when I do my studies in pedagogic studies and write this blog.’

These are both examples of the Present Simple, used here to describe something which is routine or habitual. For the more advanced bloggers out there, can you find a mistake with the Present Perfect?



For the second task, we come back to our old friends – Prepositions! Look for the following words and phrases in the text:

concentrate

divide

organized situations

internet

contact

time to time

looking

There is something wrong either before or after these words and phrases. Can you spot the problems and write the correct version?



Taru, what you have written is very thought-provoking. As a teacher, I’m constantly asking myself how new technology-driven learning strategies can be used in formal teaching. As I said earlier in the month, I have used blogs with my classes before and many students found it really motivating and stimulating, although some did not really take to it. Everyone has different learning styles, so what works for one student may not work for another. I’m currently doing a kind of experiment with my class – I’m using a WIKI (a collaborative website – watch out for a definition soon on ‘Keep your English up to date’). The idea is to get the whole class involved in creating their own learning ‘space’ – have a look if you want to get an idea of what I mean. I think the whole social networking phenomenon is important, especially for younger students. If we accept the fact that people are spending more and more time on this type of website or using more advanced applications on their phones, how can educators actually get them to use some of this time for learning? Oh dear, seems like I’ve been going on a bit too long again, time to get off my soapbox!

In my next post I’ll tell you about my day at Wimbledon and my dream destination. Have a great weekend!

Game, set and match!

A common idea about London is that it’s always raining or foggy. While I was teaching abroad, a student once asked me quite seriously whether there are any days in the year on which it is not foggy in London. While it’s true that it often rains and is quite grey sometimes, the fog idea probably goes back to the ‘pea-soupers’ or smog which was caused by Londoners burning coal to heat their homes. In 1952 there was an infamous smog which lasted 4 days and is said to have caused around 4000 deaths. Since then, regulations have been introduced to reduce air pollution and serious smog is very unusual now. Anyway, when the sun does shine and it’s hot, people really appreciate it. They know it probably won’t last so there’s often a kind of holiday atmosphere – people suddenly start acting like they're on holiday, slap on the suncream, sunbathe in the parks and pretend they don't have to go work!
Another regular feature of the British summer is Wimbledon. The tennis tournament has started – if you catch any of it on TV you’ll see what a beautiful day it was today. Every year when Wimbledon comes around, it seems only a matter of time before the umbrellas come out. So far, this year’s looking better. Tomorrow I’m meeting a friend down there after work to see if we can catch a match or two on the outside courts. Tickets for Centre Court and the main courts can be difficult to get on the day, but it’s nice to go down there to soak up the atmosphere and see a few of the less famous players.

The big talking point this year is ‘grunting’. This is the noise some (mostly female) players make when striking the ball. Some commentators seem to be suggesting that it’s a deliberate ploy to gain a psychological advantage over the opponent. The players generally say they can’t help it, and that it’s down to the physical strain of striking the ball. Hmm, what do you think? Should the rules change to outlaw grunting on court??
It’s been a while since there was a British man in with a chance of winning the tournament (I think it was the 1930s in fact…). This year though, Andy Murray, who is Scottish, is flying the flag for Great Britain and seems to be in with a shout (Rafa Nadal being injured obviously helps!) So, Andy Murray represents Great Britain in tennis, in the Olympics Great Britain (and Northern Ireland) did really well and came 4th, they’re trying to create a United Kingdom football team for the 2012 Olympics and England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland all have their own football teams. Eh? How do you work that out? It’s an odd situation that in different sports the four countries [England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland] sometimes compete individually, but at other times join together to form one team. Can you think of anywhere else which has a similar situation?

Your homework... Something slightly different this time. I'd like you to look at the words and expressions in bold and try to think of a synonym, or a way to rephrase each of them, while keeping the meaning the same (or as close as possible).

Well done to everyone who added their comments – there was some excellent writing there and the words and expressions were generally used very well. Here are some definitions...

Up to speed - if you are up to speed with a subject or an activity, you have all the latest information about it and are able to do it well

Cater for - to provide what is wanted or needed by someone or something

Alien to - strange and not familiar

Myriad - a very large number of something (literary)

Melting pot - a place where many different people and ideas exist together, often mixing and producing something new

Culture shock - a feeling of confusion felt by someone visiting a country or place that they do not know

Acculturation - cultural modification of an individual, group, or people by adapting to or borrowing traits from another culture

Preconceived - formed too early, especially without enough consideration or knowledge

Insularity – the concept of being interested only in your own country or group and not willing to accept different or foreign ideas

(Be on your) Soapbox - to express your opinions about a particular subject forcefully

Preach to the converted - to try to persuade people to believe things which they already believe

[these definitions came from Cambridge dictionaries and Merriam Webster's online dictionaries

In my next post, I'll come back to the 'thorny subject' of word formation, tell you about my dream destination (after Taru's last post about Arkhangelsk) and tell you about Wimbledon.

Summer starts here..

On Monday the 3 month summer pre-sessional courses start at my university. These are designed to get students up to speed with academic life here in the UK. My classes usually contain a great variety of different nationalities, sometimes more than 10, so one of the challenges for a teacher is to try to cater for so many different expectations and such a wide range of educational backgrounds. The importance of educational background is something which, as a teacher, you can’t underestimate. Higher educations systems around the world are very different – what is normal for a student in the UK, may be completely alien to someone from another country. My job on these courses is to try to prepare people for what to expect when they start their degree courses. What is the expected structure for an essay? How should students include references? What is the purpose of seminars? How can students improve their reading skills? How can I find reliable information online?
As you probably know, London is a multicultural city. Over 300 languages are spoken here, there are many different communities living side by side – go out on the street, on the bus, on the tube and you’ll hear myriad tongues and see people from all over the world. It is truly a melting pot. This can come as a shock to many students – perhaps their view has been informed by watching Mr Bean or studying from old coursebooks where everyone carries an umbrella and a briefcase, drinks tea at 5 o’clock and is absurdly polite. Often, the first reaction is culture shock.
Hang on a minute! It’s 5 o’clock – If you would be so kind as to excuse me, I’ll go and make my tea.
Ah, that’s better! In class today we had a really interesting seminar about culture. We talked about acculturation, and how students can adapt to the new culture in which they find themselves. For me, any opportunity for cultural exchange, whether it is educational, professional or social has to be a good thing. That’s one of the things I like about this blog – it’s a cultural exchange. It’s much easier to dismiss other cultures, simply because you don’t understand them. What I’ve learnt as a teacher is that any preconceived ideas I had about certain cultures or nationalities are constantly being challenged, and the only way this can happen is by interacting with other cultures. Insularity and the belief that one culture is superior to another can surely only cause conflict. Do we really want to live in cultural bubbles, separate and cut off from others? We’re all human beings aren’t we? Perhaps if an alien turns up one day, we’ll suddenly all realise we have more in common than we think..… anyway, I should probably get off my soapbox now. Besides, I guess I’m preaching to the converted… If you all weren’t interested in other cultures, you probably wouldn’t be reading this blog!

Your homework! Look up the words and expressions in bold and try to write sentences for a few of them to provide a context. I’ll give you some definitions and pick out some good examples in my next post…

Answers to the quiz: Well done to those of you who answered my quiz about Taru’s post (15 June) Good work! Here are my answers:

1. in recent days, at the table
2. It has been raining and windy recently/the last few days
3. my hobby
4. I took photos of people, children and nature or The photos I took were mostly of people, children and nature
5. decrease
6. on
7. We should be careful of one thing or A word of warning or There is one thing you need to watch out for
8. looking at a photo
9. consist of
10. How are they made? What colours do they use?
11. impressed and impressive – in this context ‘impressive’ fits. (impressionable adds 2 suffixes –ion and –able and has a rather different meaning)
12. addicted to
13. There are a lot of (useful) books and websites or A lot of books and websites can be found

Comments corner

Hi Cheik Vall. Where did your definition of culture come from? What’s the context? Does it mean after a certain community has been destroyed? It’s quite hard to get the sense of it without more context. I didn’t hear Obama’s speech, but I think what he means is that Islam and America can (and should) co-exist side by side. If we have one, it does not mean that we cannot have the other. The phrase often used is ‘mutually exclusive’.
Thanks Vijay, for your long and interesting comment about culture. I agree that an individual is a product of the culture in which they are raised as well as of their genes (nature vs nurture).
To everyone who wrote about the naked bike ride – it’s difficult to know what impact it had. It wasn’t widely reported in the media here as far as I could see. There are quite a lot of strange demonstrations and events in London so perhaps people grow a bit weary of them. For me, it was just a bit of fun, something a bit different, but I doubt whether an event like this can have much of an impact. What will get more people on their bikes in London? Proper provision of cycle lanes and facilities for cyclists, better education of drivers, especially bus and lorry drivers, better weather (a bit difficult that one!) Greener cars and car sharing schemes must be the way forward. Anyway, this protest was a laugh, people enjoyed it, no harm was done so why not? Vladimir says he wouldn’t be ready to join a demo in his birthday suit – nor would I (it must be quite uncomfortable..!)
The public and government response was minimal, although you can read what the government think about cycling more generally on their website here.
The picture in the park is of a couple of good friends of mine – we met at university, a (very) long time ago. My friend Matt is on the left, with his two boys, and his wife Gema from Spain (at the front, wearing sunglasses). John, in orange, is going out with Joanna, from Poland, (next to Matt). Joanna’s sister, on the right, has two boys (born in London, Polish parents)! Phew! That was complicated…a real United Nations as you can see! It was a lovely day.
Hyoshil, your story made me sad. Since when was a teacher’s job to stifle creativity and punish imagination?? I think it’s a great idea, sending soldiers into battle with no clothes on! How could they possibly take it seriously? Having said that, maybe your teacher did us all a favour – we’ve read and enjoyed your story, and your burning resentment may have made you more determined to use your imagination and learn all those idioms…
Ana Paola, it sounds really cold out there - did you see the naked bike ride? Did it get much coverage in the press? Abdisamad, there’s a very simple answer to your question. ‘No’. When you use the pronoun ‘I’ it always has to be capitalised, whatever it’s position in the sentence.
Keep those comments coming - bye for now!

What makes a good photo?

Taru - It’s fascinating to learn about some of the different techniques you use to create new images. I really like your ‘Blue moment’ picture – it’s very atmospheric. Looking at it I can almost feel the cold and the silence. Beautiful!

It seems to me that photography, like any art form, is very subjective. What is, for one person, a great photo, will leave somebody else cold. I use Photoshop Elements as I find I can do most of what I need with that basic version. It’s not very original, but for me the most satisfying photographs I take are the ones which require very little or no post-processing. I shoot pictures on Manual mode with my digital SLR, so it’s quite easy to get the exposure or aperture settings wrong. The closer I get to a good shot at the time of shooting, the happier I am. Having said that, I also like playing around with Photoshop and experimenting with different effects. It’s nice to use a dull picture or even a small section of a picture to try to create something different and original. The picture at the top is from a really dreary picture I took a while ago when I visited the Eden Project in Cornwall.
You write well about your experience and development in photography – use of verb tenses is accurate, there’s a good range of subject specific vocabulary. As usual, I want to highlight a few areas in which you could improve.

I’m going to set you, and our fellow members of the blogosphere, a little quiz based on your post. See how many of these questions you can answer:

Your Quiz...

1. Look at the first paragraph of Taru’s post ‘Processing photos’. Find one mistake with a preposition.
2. In the first paragraph, how could you change ‘on resent days’?
3. Can you find a spelling mistake in line 5 of the post?
4. Can you write a sentence which keeps the meaning ‘Taken photos presented people, children and nature.’ but which sounds more natural?
5. Can you find a word which means ‘reduce’ or ‘get lower’ which is spelt incorrectly?
6. What preposition normally follows the verb ‘concentrate’?
7. Find the sentence ‘It should be careful with one thing.’ What is ‘it’? How can we rephrase this sentence?
8. What is missing from ‘looking a photo’?

Now scroll down to the final two paragraphs of Taru’s post:

9. What preposition should follow ‘consist….’ (hmmm… haven’t we seen this somewhere before??)
10. What is the correct word order in questions? What is the problem with the questions ‘How they are made?’, ‘What kind of colours they use? Etc.
11. The verb ‘impress’ can add two different endings to create adjectives – what are they and which one would be appropriate in this paragraph?
12. Can you get addicted with something? What’s the correct preposition?
13. ‘there is made a lot of books and web sites’ – How can you rewrite this passive sentence correctly? What should go at the beginning?

Your comments

As always, thanks for all your comments. It’s a great feeling to read your ideas and points of view from all over the world. It’s funny to read more stories about lions and football – perhaps we’ve stumbled upon an important discovery. Lions like football.
Ana Paola – your writing is really good. Very descriptive. Hope you enjoyed Bloomsday!
Rabail - I'm glad you like the prepositions site. The word 'panoramic' usually describes a view, or landscape. To describe a website you could use the word 'comprehensive' (meaning with a broad range of information and a lot of detail). You asked about the use of contractions such as don't, won't and isn't in formal writing. In general, we tend to avoid using contractions in formal writing although it's fine for less formal writing such as blogs, letters to friends, most email correspondence. Its and it's? Have a look here.
Filippo - I'm glad to meet you too. Glad that some of those words have stuck in your mind. I'm an Arsenal supporter! - in fact, I work about 2 minutes walk from the Emirates stadium. How about you? What's your team in Italy? Do you like any English teams?
Hyoshil - some great expressions in your entry. I always enjoy reading what you have to say. I think remembering 10 words and expressions is pretty good... perhaps you could give YPW from Sweden some tips on how you remember them?! I've noticed that you often include them in your own writing - that's a great way to practise and really helps you to remember them I guess.. Abdisamad, I'm looking forward to your question next time. I know the book you mention and I think it's very good.
Lorial from Bali asks about the word 'having' and how to use it. Having is the present participle (-ing) form of the verb 'have'. Have is a very useful verb, as it can be used as an auxiliary (to help form a verb tense - I have been to Colombia) but also as a main verb 'I am having lunch'. It's important to realise that as a main verb it can be used to describe a state 'I have dark hair' or as an action verb 'My cat is having kittens'. You'll notice that as a state verb the -ing form is not used, so we can't say 'I am having a car'. For more on state verbs, have a look here 'Having' is sometimes used to form a 'perfect participle'. For example (active) 'Having failed his exam, he decided to give up and do something else.' Or (passive) 'Having been told he was no longer needed by the company, he stood up and walked calmly out of the room. He was never seen again...'
Gabija asked about good, not difficult and interesting English books. (but not graded readers). Hmmm. Tricky. A writer I like is Ian McEwan - he wrote Atonement which was made into a film recently. Might be a bit difficult though. Nick Hornby is a writer who shouldn't be too difficult for students. Mark Haddon wrote a book called 'The curious incident of the dog in the night-time' which you could try. Or why not try some short stories? Roald Dahl, for example. One of my favourite books when I was young was 'Danny the Champion of the World' - that's a children's book though.
Meo, I hope this blog can help keep you motivated and won't get your other half down too much!!

In my next post, I'll be returning to the subject of culture, and giving you some vocabulary related to various aspects of culture and life in London.