English Without End

Today's post: Vocabulary: crime and criminals Violence Police, detectives and prison Words in the news: listening Chinese electronics tycoon in court Parisian shop sues crime writer Goa's tourism hit by attacks on visitors As for TV series, I recommend you to see episode 20, season 5 from How I met your mother , where Marshall was mugged ... by a monkey! Absolutely hilarious:)

Exercise 1 Exercise 2 Exercise 3 Exercise 4 Examples of participle sentences in use can be found anywhere but I particularly remember a TV series called Pushing Daisies . The story being told by a narrator makes the use of participle clauses a common device. I'm afraid I don't remember any extract so that you can see participle clauses in context but here you have a video which will help you make up your mind about this TV series. I warn you, it is a bit odd but I like it, anyway.

Guess what? I've just come across this absolutely amazing website for you to improve your English through songs (if you are learning other languages, songs in French, Italian, German and Spanish are also provided). Look, there are almost 400 songs divided into three levels (easy, medium and hard) and the most important feature of this website is that, once you've chosen the song you want to listen to, you are asked to select the game mode (beginner, intermediate or expert). Depending on the mode, the exercise will be more or less difficult but the best part is that the song waits for you while you are completing the lines, can you believe that? Lyrics Training So, if you like music, games and English, this is one of the website in which you really have fun while you are learning. Great, isn't it? Two songs I chose for you: I wish you were here by Pink Floyd Something stupid by Frank Sinatra

For those of you who feel like doing more passive voice exercises, here you have some direct links: Exercises 1 Exercises 2 Exercises 3 Out of reach by Gabrielle

This year some teachers from the English department (me included) prepared a trip to New York. What started as an ambitious project, finished with a group of 50 students plus 3 teachers, all of them exploring the Big Apple from the 24th to the 30th of April. And now the time comes when we can't stop telling anecdotes to our families, friends and classmates. Besides, this week we are holding the school's cultural week dedicated to ... New York (difficult to guess, wasn't it?). We are having an exposition of photographs from the trip (there will be a prize for the best photograph), conferences and get-togethers for students so that they can share their travelling experiences in NY at the same time that they practise their English. So, here you have some background music about this utterly incredible city. I hope you enjoy the music and the pictures. Empire State of Mind (J-Ray and Alicia Keys) With lyrics And a classic, New York, New York by Frank Sinatra Fancy singing? I