King of Pop, Michael Jackson, passed away

We already know that Michael Jackson, the King of Pop, has died. Sad news for all those people who like him and love his music. From this site I just want to pay my humble tribute to this Music Star who will live forever in our hearts. His songs will make him live in eternity. Three videos conform my tribute:

* I Just Can't Stop Loving You, (with Siedah Garret, live Bucharest 1992). A very young Michael with his glorious voice seventeen years ago!!!!! Siedah Garret's voice is almost celestial. It's said that this song was written and dedicated to an impossible love, an unrequited love.



* Liberian Girl, maybe not a very well-known song but with a soft and smooth rhythm and with lots of famous people (actors, actresses, singers...).



* Billie Jean (live), New York 2001, absolute magic, the most energetic Jackob I've ever seen on stage.

Carlos Tevez's awful English

Surfing the Net I have just come across this video by Carlos Tevez from Manchester United Footbal Team. Watch it and listen to the conversation between the journalist and Tevez himself. Terrible spoken English!!! How is it possible that somebody (Tevez, working and living in England for more than 3 years and earning a great amount of money)) can speak such a horrible English? Please, send him to an English Language School as soon as possible; he's too young to speak English so poorly. A bad example for Secondary School students.

FALSE FRIENDS!!!

Do you know what a False Friend is? It's not a matter of friendship, it's a matter of using the correct word in the appropriate context. A False Friend is a word which is written similarly (or almost similarly) in Spanish and English, but whose meanings and uses are different. What follows is a list of some of the most common False Friends with which Spanish students of English as a foreign language show a greater difficulty.

actually in Spanish means en realidad / exactamente not actualmente

attend in Spanish means asistir (a clases, a un curso...) not atender

advice in Spanish means consejo not aviso

carpet in Spanish means alfombra / moqueta not carpeta

casual in Spanish means informal / superficial not casual

conductor in Spanish means director de orquesta not conductor

constipated in Spanish means estreñido-a not constipado-a

disgust in Spanish means asco / repugnancia not disgusto

embarrassed in Spanish means avergonzado-a not embarazada

exit in Spanish means salida not éxito

fabric in Spanish means tejido / tela not fábrica

to intend in Spanish means tener la intención de not intentar

large in Spanish means grande / extenso / amplio not largo

lecture in Spanish means conferencia / sermón not lectura

library in Spanish means biblioteca not librería

notice in Spanish means anuncio not noticia

parents in Spanish means padres (padre y madre) not parientes

to pretend in Spanish means fingir not pretender

to realize in Spanish means darse cuenta / cumplir not realizar

to record in Spanish means grabar / registrar not recordar

sensible in Spanish means sensato-a not sensible

stranger in Spanish means desconocido-a / forastero-a not extranjero-a

success in Spanish means éxito not suceso

Imagine if someone says: "I'm constipated" (estoy estreñido) and what he really wants to communicate is: "I've got a cold" (estoy constipado).

Another example: "I went to the Giraldillo library to buy El Quijote". What this person means is not a library but a book-shop.

Roast beef, baked potatoes or boiled egss???

When cooking we generally use different verbs depending on the food we want to cook and how we want to cook it. The most frequent verbs that we may find are:

* ROAST: to cook large pieces of meat, potatoes, etc in an oven or over or in front of a fire. Examples: roast beef, roast chicken, roast potatoes...

*GRILL: to cook small or flat pieces of meat, fish using a gridiron and placing it under direct heat or fire (in American English BROIL)

* FRY: to cook meat, fish, vegetables, eggs, chips, etc in shallow oil using a frying-pan

* BAKE: to cook bread, cakes, potatoes, beans, etc in an oven by means of dry heat.

* BOIL: to cover vegetables, eggs, rice, etc with water and heat them.

* STEAM: to place fish, pudding above boiling water.

* SAUTÉ: (French word) to fry vegetables very quickly in a small amount of oil.

Barry White and Lucciano Pavarotti

If Barry White is the King of kings... what about Lucciano Pavarotti??? I could never imagine them singing together in their own languages. For those of you who love them, here we've got the celestial beauty of both their voices. Are they "Our first, our last, our everything"?

While My Guitar Gently Weeps

Isn't it funny how Elton John introduces George Harrison and Ringo Starr? Wonderful speech!!! and... isn't it amazing "the dialogue" between George Harrison's guitar and Eric Clapton's guitar towards the end of the song?????

The Nature of Crime

Most people (students included) say that English language has a large, active vocabulary and that there are a lot of different words referring to the same (or almost the same) concept or idea. One of the reasons for this large vocabulary might be due to the fact that England was invaded several times by other countries and during these invasions a considerable number of words was transferred from the other languages to the English language.

Another subjective reason could be related to the whimsical feature of some languages, English among them. Did I say "whimsical"? Of course. Did you know that English has four different words to refer to the person who steals? Depending on the Nature of the Crime, we will use BURGLAR, SHOPLIFTER, PICKPOCKET or ROBBER. However, if we do not know which word should be used in the appropriate context, THIEF is the most common word that students and people in general employ to refer to the person who steals. Today's issue 'defines crime in terms of who commits it'.

* BURGLAR: a person who breaks into a house or building with the intention to steal from inside. The verb is TO BURGLE and the action is known as BURGLARY.

* SHOPLIFTER: someone who steals goods from a shop while pretending to be a customer. The verb is TO SHOPLIFT and the action is known as SHOPLIFTING.

* PICKPOCKET: a person who steals money, wallets, etc, from the pockets of people usually in public places. There is no verb for this word as it is a compound of two items: pick (verb) + pocket.

* ROBBER: a person who steals something from somebody or from a place by using force or violence. Examples: to rob a bank, a train, a jewellery shop, etc. The verb is TO ROB and the action is known as ROBBERY.

Spanish in Manchester

Not only English is taught and learned as a foreign language, Spanish is also advertised in the same way. Look at this ad that I saw in Manchester.

More about Scotland

Scotland wouldn't be so without pipes and pipers

Did you know that...?

This picture belongs to a castle (Dunnotar Castle) in the North-East of Scotland, near a town called Stonehaven. A famous film (starring Mel Gibson) was filmed there. Do you know the title of this film?

Look at this picture

Look at this picture and talk about it. Feel free to express yourself

That's English exams

13th March, Friday: Module 1 (from 17.00 to 18.00)
Module 7 (from 18.30 to 20.00)

20th March, Friday: Module 2 (from 17.00 18.00)
Module 8 (from 18.30 to 20.00)

Welcome to the world of English

I have just created my blog, it's Tuesday, March the 3rd, 2009. Today my little English Universe is different and from now on, it will be different. Let's enjoy the English Universe, my English Universe, our English Universe.