SONGS, MOVIES AND SERIES TO PRACTISE SPOKEN ENGLISH

This entry is dedicated to practice language in real spoken situations.

Enjoy watching this series and samples from popular films!

Hollywood English website: 




Sheldon and the Conditionals:



Conditional sentences in songs:








Listen to this classic to spot the sentences where there is a regret about a past situation:

INTERNATIONAL WOMEN´S DAY 2018

CELEBRATING INTERNATIONAL WOMEN´S DAY

PRESS FOR PROGRESS

What date is International Women’s Day 2018, what is this year’s theme and how is the day celebrated?

By Edward Hyatt. 7th March 2018

 

This annual event celebrates women's achievements and pushes forward towards gender equality.
It has been observed for over 100 years and is now marked around the world. Here's everything you need to know:

When is International Women's Day 2018 and what is the theme this year?

International Women's Day falls on March 8 every year - that means that it falls on Thursday this week.
The day brings together global governments, women's organisations, businesses and charities together under the banner of International Women's Day.
The day itself will be marked with talks, performances, rallies, networking events and marches.
With the recent scandals in Hollywood, and the World Economic Forums' Global Gender Gap Report showing that it will take 217 years to close the gender parity gap, it's more important than ever that aim for progress.
The theme of this year's International Women's Day is #PressforProgress.
The website argues: "We can't be complacent. Now, more than ever, there's a strong call-to-action to press forward and progress gender parity.
"A strong call to #PressforProgress. A strong call to motivate and unite friends, colleagues and whole communities to think, act and be gender inclusive."

The event has been celebrated on March 8 since 1913.

What are International Women's Day's origins?

The earliest observance of a Woman's Day was held in New York on February 28, 1909, and was organised by the Socialist Party of America.
A year later, at the International Women's Conference in Copenhagen, Socialist representatives proposed that there be an International Women's Day, inspired by the demonstration in New York.
The delegates agreed that an international day should be formed as part of a strategy to promote equal rights for women and women's suffrage.
It was celebrated for the first time in Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland on March 19, 1911.
Two years later, in 1913, it was proposed that the date be moved to March 8 and it has been celebrated on this day ever since.

Why do we still celebrate International Women's Day?

The original aim of International Women's Day was to achieve gender equality for women - this has not yet been realised.
The Gender Pay Gap still exists in the UK where women earn up to 14% less than men. In January 2018, Ladbrokes, EasyJet and Virgin Money revealed pay gaps of over 15% in favour of men.
This story is told around the world for a number of reasons, including the lack of women's representation in politics and business.
The World Economic Forum found in 2017 that at the current rate of progress the global gender gap will take 100 years to close.
This represents quite the decline over 2016 where it was estimated to be 83 years.
Last year also saw the rise of the #metoo movement where women from all over the world came forward to share their story of sexually harassment.
The women who broke their silence on sexual assault and harassment were named Time's Person of the Year - The Silence Breakers.

A FEW POPULAR TED TALKS TO MAKE US THINK:

TEACH GIRLS BRAVERY, NOT PERFECTION. TED TALKS. RESHMA SAUJANI is an education activist, founder of "Girls Who Code": 

BRING ON THE FEMALE SUPERHEROES!BY CHRISTOPHER BELL (Media studies scholar)

THE DATA BEHIND HOLLYWOOD´S SEXISM. BY STACEY SMITH (Media researcher)

WHAT IF...?

IF YOU LOVE SPEAKING ENGLISH YOU´LL LOVE THIS NEW LESSON!

Talking about hypothetical situations, giving advice, expressing your views on a moral dilemma or even making a polite request or an angry remark. These are but some, situations we may encounter when speaking English!

Let´s start with a famous song that uses conditional sentences to talk about a hypothetical situation:



How many sentences starting with If can you spot in this song?
Please make a list


Watch Dan´s quick review, by BBC Learning English, of the different types of conditional sentences in English and choose one of them to explain to the rest of the class with examples:




Zero and first conditional

Listen to this video by 6 minutes grammar from BBC Learning English and discuss the examples given:





How about using conditional sentences to think about these moral dilemmas:

What would you do if...?

- You found a 100 € note as you were walking  a busy street
- You were given the wrong change (extra money ) at a shop or a restaurant
- The only parking space available was the disabled parking space
- You were driving on a road and you knew there are no speed cameras
- You wanted to take a day off work and you didn´t have an excuse...

Can you think of any other moral dilemmas?


A BIT MORE CHALLENGING! MIXED CONDITIONALS




Stop Saying series: how to use unfinished conditional sentences

Sometimes in spoken English is not necessary to finish your sentences as the speaker will probably understand what you want to say...




PRACTISE THE SECOND CONDITIONAL WITH FRIENDS!



TEARS IN HEAVEN- ERIC CLAPTON