This is a weekly selection of recommended free online exercises, games, videos and resources so that you can improve your English language skills while having fun – ENJOY!
📜READING PICKS – Articles, blog posts, quizzes and more:
From BBC FUTURE: The obsolete tech that children can't recognise, Helene
Schumacher. Show your age by seeing if you recognise this list of
tech objects from the recent past. A recent study has revealed which kinds of tech have stood the test of
time – in terms of recognition, if not use. Would your children recognise
these? (And would you?). (Continue reading)
From Mind Tools Blog: Does Your Profession Reflect Who You Really Are?, by Bruce Murray. Toni
Morrison is a favorite author of mine, who recently brought to my mind one of
life’s fundamental questions: “Does the work that I do define me? Or is the
‘real me’ the person I am outside of my work?” – What Defines You? (Continue reading)
From BBC CAPITAL: This single phrase makes Japan go round, by Yukari Mitsuhashi.
“Yoroshiku onegaishimasu” is a term that is heard all the time
but hard to define. It’s the Swiss Army knife of the Japanese language, and it
goes a long way in any type of situation.
... “It’s a
phrase to convey respect and appreciation. It’s usually accompanied by a bow
that can range from a little tilt of the head to a full sweeping bow.” Goto
adds: “Yoroshiku onegaishimasu is critical to ensure that everyone is
appreciated for their different skills. I would say it to the hair stylist that
I am planning to see tomorrow. But I would say it much more seriously with
desperation if I needed to go see a doctor tomorrow for a medical emergency.
Both the stylist and the doctor play a role in society that makes the world go
round and it’s really a sort of verbal lubricant.”
Although
commonly translated in Japanese class textbooks or travel guides as ‘nice to
meet you’ or ‘please take care of me’, these fall far short of truly
encompassing its diverse uses and how it embodies Japanese culture and its
people.
🎬 VIDEO PICKS – Short and fun videos:
LESS-THAN-5-MINUTE VIDEOS:
LESS-THAN-5-MINUTE VIDEOS:
Stop Saying...: Avoiding direct language to sound more polite (3:02 minutes)
- The psychology behind irrational decisions - Sara Garofalo (4:38 minutes)
- The Problems of Being Very Beautiful (3:14 minutes)
- Da Vinci's Vitruvian Man of math - James Earle (3:20 minutes)
- Top 10 Ways You Can Say No Politely (4:19 minutes)
- Who were the Vestal Virgins, and what was their job? - Peta Greenfield (4:32 minutes)
- Steve Jobs talks about managing people (2:25 minutes)
- You Really Are Not You When You’re Hungry! (3:20 minutes)
5-TO-10-MINUTE VIDEOS:
Learn about cultural differences in 6 minutes (6:12 minutes)
- BBC 6 Minute English 2017: Why do cities make us rude? (6:17 minutes)
- How to Order Food in an American Restaurant – Travel English (9:35 minutes)
- News Review: Online extremism on the rise (8:19 minutes)
- Top 10 Oscar Wilde Quotes and Why He Said Them (7:43 minutes)
- The amazing ways plants defend themselves - Valentin Hammoudi (6:11 minutes)
- Japan's Yakuza: Inside the syndicate| The Economist (6:19 minutes)
Archetypes and Male Divinities: Crash Course World Mythology #15 (11:45 minutes)
- My 5 Favorite American Dishes – American Culture and Traditions (10:08 minutes)
- How To Speak English Better | 10 Great Tips (11:46 minutes)
- VLOG | Australia's BEST Burgers | How to ORDER FOOD in Australia (10:12 minutes)
- Everyday English: Countryside | Learn Vocabulary & Test English Listening Skills (13:42 minutes)
💬 VOCABULARY PICKS:
📌 This week's special ⇒ WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE?
Between or Among? (From Learn English with Emma)
After watching the video, take the quiz here ⇒ http://www.engvid.com/between-or-among/
- Among or between? ⇒ From OXFORD DICTIONARIES BLOG
- Between and Among (The Difference) ⇒ Brief explanation + top tips + short tests
- [PDF] 'Between' and 'among' – practice quiz – From BBC World Service
- Quiz: Beside & Besides
- Quiz: Hard & Hardly
- Personality Types (A list of different personality types) ⇒ Interactive game to practice the different types of personality
- Environment (A list of vocabulary about the environment with the definition of each word or expression) ⇒ You may also be interested in Endangered Species
- Text Completion Exercise 5 (DRAG & DROP exercise!)
- Text Completion Exercise 11 (DRAG & DROP exercise!)
- Text Completion Exercise 1 (DRAG & DROP exercise!)
- Articles with geographic names 1
- Articles with idioms 4
- Some and Any Exercise 1
- Some and Any Exercise 2
- First or second conditional? 2
- Conditional tenses (mixed) 1
- GERUND or INFINITIVE? 4
- Phrasal Verbs (TO TAKE)
- Phrasal Verbs with TAKE
- Adjectives + prepositions 2
- Quiz: Many or Many of
- Quiz: Because or Because Of?
MORE PICKS NEXT WEEK!
