The story of a hard life in the USA

Real English
By Mike Marzio

Lesson 33:
General verbs review

Level: Upper Intermidiate

Story Time: Three Little Pigs

Let's sing in English!

We wish you a merry Christmas



Jingle bells



Merry Christmas



Silent night



White Christmas

Safe Schools

By Amnesty International

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights
Universal Declaration of Human Rights First sentence of Article 1

All girls have the right to an education.This right is essential not only for girls to grow and learn, but also so that they are able to be independent and make their own choices in their lives.

Schools are not just places to learn and realize potential - some are also places of fear and violence. Some girls face violence at school at the hands of teachers, school staff or other students.

Violence stops girls going to school. Girls must be able to pursue their education in an environment which is:

• Safe
• Respectful
• Non-discriminatory
  

Join forces in the global call for violence-free schools for girls. You have the power to make schools safe for girls!

Read the comic: 'Breaking Barriers'

Piano man

Video song: again and again

Words, words, words...

You can learn pronunciation by using the traditional method: listen and repeat. With this video you can practice 30 English restaurant words.

25 English shopping words:



25 English computer words:



31 English animal words:

Languages die too

Last week a woman called Marie Smith Jones died. She was 89 years old and she lived in Alaska in North America. Marie was the last person alive to speak a language called Eyak. Eyak is, or was, one of the native North American languages. Linguists have carefully recorded Eyak grammar and vocabulary and pronunciation. But no-one speaks Eyak any more. It is a dead language.

We do not have an official language in Britain, but most people of course speak English or a dialect of English. There are several other native or indigenous languages in Britain. They are descended from the languages spoken by the Celtic people who lived in Britain before the English arrived in the 4th and 5th centuries. The most important is Welsh, which is spoken by about more than half a million people in Wales, or about 20% of the population. Welsh and English now have equal official status in Wales. If you visit Wales, you will see that all road signs are in English and Welsh. Welsh is flourishing.

Two other Celtic languages, Scots Gaelic in Scotland and Irish Gaelic in Northern Ireland are spoken by only a few percent of the population. Another Celtic language in South-West England – called Cornish – died out completely in the 19th century, just like Eyak has died out. It was re-introduced about 100 years ago and today Cornish is spoken by a few thousand people.

It is interesting that we use some of the same words for languages as we use for plants and animals. Here are some examples:

• We talk about native or indigenous plants or animals – that means the plants and animals which live naturally in a place, and have been there a long time. Similarly, we talk about native or indigenous languages, like English in England, or Irish Gaelic in Ireland.
• We can say that modern horses are descended from wild horses. Similarly, we can say that modern Welsh is descended from an old Celtic language.
• We can say, for instance, that wolves have died out in Britain. Similarly, we can say that the Eyak language has died out.
• We can say that an animal like the rhinocerous is endangered; and we can also say that a language is endangered, if the number of people speaking it is very small.
• Of course some species of animals are flourishing – probably their numbers are growing and they are not likely to die out. Similarly, we can say that today the Welsh language is flourishing.
• And some species of animals or birds die out, but are then re-introduced into the wild. We have several examples of this in England, particularly a bird called the red kite. Similarly, we can say that the Cornish language has been re-introduced.

I have also read in the paper that some experts think that three quarters of the world’s languages will die out in the next 100 years. Do you think that this will happen? Perhaps languages and animals die out for similar reasons – reasons such as over-exploitation of natural resources, modern travel and tourism, and population movement. How many people will speak English one hundred years from now? English is widely spoken as a second language today, partly because of British colonial history, and partly because of American economic power. However, 100 years from now, British colonial history will be a long way in the past, and American economic power may be much less. What languages will your grandchildren and great-grandchildren learn? Chinese perhaps?

Immigration into Britain

A few years ago, there was an advertisement on a billboard close to where I live. It advertised a company called Western Union. You probably know about Western Union. Western Union sends money from one country to another. If you want to send money to your brother in South Africa, for example, you can go to a Western Union office in England and pay in some money. Then your brother can go to a Western Union office in South Africa, and collect the money which you have sent.

The unusual thing about this advertisement however was the language in which it was written. It was in Polish. It was aimed at Polish people who work in Britain, and who want to send money back to their families in Poland.

And last year, the local paper in Reading, a town close to London, printed one of its editions in Polish, for the benefit of the many Polish people who now live and work in Reading. You can see a photo of the paper on the website and on your iPod screens.

Since Poland joined the European Union in 2004, a lot of Polish people have come to this country. We sometimes joke in Britain about how all plumbers nowdays seem to be from Poland. And people have come from other East European countries as well. For example, I do not think that there are any buses still running in Lithuania, because there are so many Lithuanian bus drivers here in Birmingham.

Of course, immigration into Britain is not new. Over the last 50 years, a lot of immigrants have arrived here from for example Pakistan, India and the West Indies. But large scale immigration from Eastern Europe is new – it has been made possible by the European Union rules which say that people must be able to move freely throughout the Union and live and work in any EU member country.

You will find that many people in England do not have a positive view of immigration or of immigrants. They say that they take the jobs of British workers; and that they are a burden on our health, welfare and education systems. Some people say that immigrants are responsible for a lot of crime.

But a government report, published this week, takes a very different view. It says that in 2006, 12.5% of the workforce in this country were immigrants. Immigrants have, on average, higher skills than people in similar jobs who were born in Britain. They earn more as well, and so pay more in taxes. Many employers say that immigrant workers are more reliable, and are willing to work longer hours. Some sectors of the economy like agriculture and hotels and restaurants depend heavily on immigrant labour. The report concludes that, altogether, immigration into Britain contributes £6 billion a year to the British economy.

Of course, there are problems too. In Britain, house prices and rents are very high, and in some places immigration has pushed prices and rents even higher. Some immigrants have to live in poor housing, and are exploited by unscrupulous landlords. Other immigrants are employed by labour agencies or “gangmasters”, and some of these have a bad record for exploiting their workers. And there can be problems too when schools have to cope with a lot of pupils who do not speak English (though my experience is that children learn English very fast – it is adults who find new languages a problem).

The overall picture painted by the report is that immigration has greatly benefited Britain and the British economy. I guess that some of you who listen to my podcasts have come to Britain as immigrants, or you have worked in Britain and have now returned to your own countries. What do you think? Please post a comment on the podcast website saying what you like about living in Britain, and what you do not like.

Download MP3 (5:10min, 2MB)

Learn English though video- Planning a trip

Have you got a tight budget? Anyway, you can go on a tour and plan a cheap trip.
Learn about specific vocabulary about vacations, the use of superlatives, etc. Enjoy your trip!

Learn English through video- Time, time, time

Questions and answers about time.
Can you spare some time to listen to it?
Let's have a try! I hope you'll have a great Time.
See you next time!

Learn English through video- Food

Let's have a look at this video! The lesson helps you to express about the food you like or dislike, you can also talk about quantities, and so on.
Don't get frustrated if you don't understand everything! You will improve with time and practice.

And now, play the game to revise your vocabulary.