-Today's lesson was all the same: students doing
nothing but talking to each other, and not in English. So far, nothing strange,
however, there was a question that I'd like to clarify. Not just because
of the question itself, but simply because of someone's comment and
composition. You know what: students wanted to catch me. Oops! I think I nailed it. So, the question is as follows: Can you write usually at the beginning of a
sentence?
Yes, absolutely. Here's an example:
Usually we are melting snow or ice so we don't bother, but this trip could see us near stagnant water.
This example above was taken from the British National Corpus, which is like the Spanish Real Academia de la Lengua, but in the UK. You can also have a look at more examples
like this one, clicking on here and here for further practice on Adverb order. So, do you still think that I was wrong in class? Of
course, NOT. -"You've completely nailed it, teacher."
Today's lesson is about how to write a short description of people’s clothes, but let’s first set an everyday situation: Imagine that you are thinking about the clothes that you’ll be wearing on the coming Friday party with your friends. So, you need to go through some typical expressions and vocabulary about the same topic. Here’s a document for that, and please feel free to leave your comment with your ideal way of dressing, whenever you get together or even go clubbing on a Friday night.
Today's issue is about correcting language mistakes
and fossilized errors.
Do you remember your first words in your own language?
Of course, you don't, but please ask your parents and you'll probably find out that your first words were mamá or papá in Spanish. You've been brought up by listening to your parents'
language corrections. So, now it's time to do so, but with some English correction for a
change.
Here's your document for you to have a look right before you write any essay, composition, letter or something like that.
A
man sat at a metro station in Washington DC and started to play the violin; it
was a cold January morning. He played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes.
During that time, since it was rush hour, it was calculated that thousands of
people went through the station, most of them on their way to work.
Three minutes went by and a middle aged man noticed there was musician playing.
He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds and then hurried up to meet
his schedule.
A minute later, the violinist received his first dollar tip: a woman threw the
money in the till and without stopping continued to walk.
A few minutes later, someone leaned against the wall to listen to him, but the
man looked at his watch and started to walk again. Clearly he was late for
work.
The one who paid the most attention was a 3 year old boy. His mother tagged him
along, hurried but the kid stopped to look at the violinist.
Finally the mother pushed hard and the child continued to walk turning his head
all the time. This action was repeated by several other children. All the
parents, without exception, forced them to move on.
In the 45 minutes the musician played, only 6 people stopped and stayed for a
while. About 20 gave him money but continued to walk their normal pace. He
collected $32. When he finished playing and silence took over, no one noticed
it. No one applauded, nor was there any recognition.
No one knew this but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the top musicians in
the world. He played one of the most intricate pieces ever written, with a
violin worth 3.5 million dollars.
Two days before his playing in the subway, Joshua Bell sold out at a theater in
Boston and the seats average $100.
This is a real story. Joshua Bell playing incognito in the metro station
was organized by the Washington Post as part of a social experiment about
perception, taste and priorities of people. The outlines were: in a commonplace
environment at an inappropriate hour: Do we perceive beauty?
Do we stop to appreciate it? Do we recognize the talent in an unexpected
context?
One of the possible conclusions from this experience could be: If we do not
have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world
playing the best music ever written, how many other things are we missing?
Ok, please do not panic: this is not so complicated. I know that the words above are more difficult than the English that you normally read about. So,
here’s the Spanish version of the same piece of news, but written by a
different journalist.
And now it’s your turn. What do you think about this experiment? Is our
society changing? Please, do not hesitate to post your comments to answer these two questions above about our famous violinist, Joshua Bell.
-"Hey! teacher, you've really nailed it!"
