Gerund vs Infinitive

Some online practice:

Battleships, http://www.quia.com/ba/52505.html :a very basic and slighly infuriating version of the game, topped off by an actual grammar mistake! It's We SANK, not "sunk" in the simple past, as YOU all know.

http://esl.about.com/library/quiz/bl_verbform1.htm

http://esl.about.com/library/quiz/bl_verbform2.htm

http://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/grammar/infinitive-gerund#exercises

"En guarde" another slightly surreal game: http://www.eslgamesworld.com/members/games/grammar/En%20garde/gerunds%20infinitive/gerunds%20or%20infinitive.html

http://academic.cuesta.edu/ahalderma/gerinfinq.htm

http://a4esl.org/q/f/z/zz97mkm.htm

http://a4esl.org/q/h/9801/el-to-ing.html

http://www.usingenglish.com/quizzes/420.html

http://www.eflnet.com/grammar/gerinf1.php

http://www.learn4good.com/languages/evrd_grammar/gerund_infinitive_ex.htm

Congrats so far, culés

Well, you know I'm not a Barcelona supporter, but the noise all my neighbours were making last night (and the poor show up for the last class: only six people came, of whom 2 decamped at 20.30) made it impossible to ignore the proceedings.

Congratulations so far to all the culés. Read about the match here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/13191779.stm

"Messy" by name but not by nature

Plants and flowers

Hi people!

I just wanted to show off the beautiful plants and flowers I have on my terrace, as my friends are already sick of them (year after year) and it's spring, after all. :)

A lot of them are hybrid Clematis, which for some reason aren't very common here, which is a shame because they seem to grow quite happily in this climate.

The others are Hardenbergia, Laurentia and a lesser known geranium hybrid called "Fireworks".

Next to start blooming will be the Hybiscuses, the Bouganvillea and the Passifloras.

Do you like gardening?

Easter and the ex-USSR

Hiya people!

Are you enjoying your holidays? I am!

Ok, I couldn't find anything interesting related to Easter*, so I thought you might like this song/video: the "Complete History Of The Soviet Union, Arranged To The Melody Of Tetris" by Pig with the Face of a Boy.

I think it's funny and clever, and you'll especially like it if you're interested in history.

You can find the lyrics on their page, here: http://pigfaceboy.co.uk/tetris-lyrics/

*admittedly I didn't try very hard

June exam date

The other day some of you mentioned that you still didn't know the date of the exam.

If that's you, here's the link to all the information: both levels, different timetables, different languages, plus other info: http://phobos.xtec.cat/eoi/index.php?module=detic_portal&ref=lliures

However, I suppose the bit you're interested in is the date of the wriitten "avançat" level, English, which is, as you can see, the 14th of June.

The speaking dates aren't decided yet. As soon as I know anything I'll let you know.

More about internet addition

Homograph game

Choose one or two players, the points you want to try for, then try and guess the word(s) being described:

http://www.quia.com/cb/8285.html

Another good but very short game is this one on synonyms, antonyms, homonyms, and homographs:

http://www.quia.com/rr/3116.html

And another problem with it is that at the end it says that you've won $1,000,000, which is kind of cruel.

Something to do next year

I saw this in Vilanova this weekend, and among other things (political, economical, social), it got me thinking about what you're going to do next year, when you've passed English and don't know what to do*.

The answer is of course to take up another language at the EOI!

Don't let those brain cells die, after putting in so much effort to maintain and improve your English!

Maybe a 4th (or 5th or 6th...) language will never come in useful but maybe one day it will. And I'm sure no one ever regrets knowing several languages.

What do you think?

*although remember you also have the great option of joining the EOIX

The customer is always right

Read some surreal but supposedly real exchanges between shop assistants or waiters and their customers: http://notalwaysright.com/a-b-c-easy-as-d-u-h/5086

For more, just click on the "random" or the "popular" tab. I was lucky with the "random" one and got a lot of funny ones.

Here's the A-B-C one:

A-B-C, Easy As D-U-H
Bookstore | Massachusetts, USA

Customer: “Hey, can you help me find this book?”

Me: “Sure.”

(He holds up a piece of paper with the title and author of a book on it. I find it on the shelves and hand it to him.)

Customer: “Thanks! How’d you do that so fast?”

Me: “Well, I’ve worked here awhile, and the books are all in alphabetical order by author’s name.”

Customer: “What do you mean?”

Me: “Alphabetical order. Like the alphabet song? You know, A’s before B’s?”

(He looks confused, but then widens his eyes.)

Customer: “The letters actually go in that order? I thought that song was just to remember them all!”

PS. See, don't say I never include anything American. :P

Arguments for debates

My colleague Carlos has passed me the link to this great page with debate topics with their arguments for and against: http://debatepedia.idebate.org/en/index.php/Past_Debate_Digest_topics

It also has a list of links to other interesting pages on debates: http://debatepedia.idebate.org/en/index.php/Useful_links

Very useful for vocabulary and good inspiration for your writing and speaking.

Catcher in the Rye quiz

Test your knowledge on the book, after reading it:

http://classiclit.about.com/library/bl-quiz/titles/catcherinrye/bl-start.htm

Pears

Actually one of the few fruits that I like, so I don't feel guilty.

Ipaditis: iPad addiction

I don't have an iPad but if I did I'd probably be like this too.

If you can't see it (???), try the link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/clips/p00fx5v7/spout_ipaditis/

75-year-old leaves country without internet

I thought this was very funny.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/apr/06/georgian-woman-cuts-web-access

New conversation class timetables

After very intense negotiations this is the new timetable for the conversation classes.

I know that some of you won't be happy about it, but please understand that bearing in mind the different levels, numbers of groups for each level, different days and times for class, and varying number of people who actually go to the sessions, it was impossible to keep everybody happy.

As they say, "you can please some of the people all of the time, and all the people some of the time", or something like that. You get the gist.

Smoking Law Debate

We watched this in 5A yesterday, as they were the actual participants, but for those of you who missed it, would like to watch it again, or for whatever reason, here you are: the Smoking Law Debate tht we did the last Friday class in 5A.

IMPORTANT Disclaimer: I know it's a crappy video. I know there are weird bits of other scenes mixed in. I know the volume is too low and you can hardly hear what they're saying. I know I filmed it in the wrong resolution and have no idea if that can be fixed.

But you can make fun at my pathetic attempts at video-making; I don't mind.

It was a good laugh on the day and this way we have a souvenir. And I've passed the course... :P

The 10 most pointless salad ingredients

So you think you're oh-so-healthy because you eat a lot of salads?

Are you sure? Read about it here: http://www.thedailymeal.com/10-most-pointless-salad-ingredients?nocache=1

And watch the slideshow of the the 10 most pointless things to put in a salad (according to them) here: http://www.thedailymeal.com/10-most-pointless-salad-ingredients-slideshow-0

Mmmmm sweet corn, mmmmm croutons, mmmmmm crispy bacon...

What we see vs. what kids see

More pictures here: http://pleated-jeans.com/2011/03/28/what-we-see-vs-what-kids-see/

In some cases I agree with the kids.

Trinitat and nuclear power

Good morning people!

Sorry about the misleading title. Just to clarify: the Trinitat Chapel is (probably) NOT powered by nuclear energy.

Did you have a nice weekend? I did. Yesterday, aka the "first day of my healthy lifestyle and diet ha ha", I joined the "secta's" organised hike up to La Trinitat, which was lovely and came to an end much too soon for my liking.

I can't believe this is the only photo I took, hauntingly similar to one I took last year. Did anyone else take photos?

Really, it was nice: a day out enjoying nature and spring, doing exercise, eating outdoors, having the time to talk to people nice and relaxed instead of always being in a hurry, seeing old ex-students again...

But now, Monday again, with the usual obligations, my online course to do (today's the deadline), classes to prepare, writing tasks to correct, meals to prepare, etc, etc, etc.

But as usual I'm glued to the computer, this time researching nuclear energy, as lately people have given me some really scary looks when I've said I'm in favour. Yesterday I'm pretty sure that they were eying the cliff and toying with the idea of giving me a swift push.

So today I'm reading about the arguments in favour and against nuclear energy, apart from the usual "prophecy of doom" scaremongering that we hear all the time from environmentalists*.

I've read this: http://www.slate.com/id/2259986/, and this http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121432182593500119.html and this http://timeforchange.org/pros-and-cons-of-nuclear-power-and-sustainability and this http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-12746129 and this http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/worldhaveyoursay/2011/03/is_japans_fear_of_radiation_wo.html

and this http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-12860842 ("We should stop running away from radiation")

These pages deal mostly with the arguments for and against nuclear energy.

Then with increased interest I've read about how nuclear energy could be used more efficiently and a lot more safely, if this theory can be put into practice: http://www.evworld.com/currents.cfm?jid=84 and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traveling_wave_reactor

Now THAT would be a way forward, because, let's face it, we ALL want an endless electrical supply for all our gadgets, even though we moan about our electricity bill.

It's just that I do have a lot of faith in science and I like the idea of progressing, finding a way forward, not backwards to candles and horse-drawn carts like the Amish.

(Remember that people used to think that travelling above 25km/h would kill you!)

There's only ONE thing that got my attention in one of the articles, and made me think "hmmmm, that's true, and very worrying." and that's the possibility of nuclear plants being targetted in a terrorist attack. I think that would be the only thing that would make me change my mind. One thing is an accident, which obviously could and can happen, which is why there's such a strict protocol. A completely different thing is somebody actually wanting to cause harm...

... which kind of brings us back to the human race and how nice animals are, really, doesn't it?

Well I can imagine your opinions on this but let me have them anyway.

Or we could have a class debate: everybody against me...

*I have nothing against environmentalists, in fact I actually used to be a member of Greenpeace. However I just don't find them so convincing anymore, maybe it's all those beards, and some of them come across as a bit fanatical, which is always scary.