Blogger Widgets Blogger Widgets ¡Mira que luna......! Look at that moon....! Resources for learning English: Listening practice

!Mira que luna! Look at that moon! Resources for learning English

!Mira que luna! Look at that moon! Resources for learning English
Fernando Olivera: El rapto.- TEXT FROM THE NOVEL The goldfinch by Donna Tartt (...) One night we were in San Antonio, and I was having a bit of a melt-down, wanting my own room, you know, my dog, my own bed, and Daddy lifted me up on the fairgrounds and told me to look at the moon. When "you feel homesick", he said, just look up. Because the moon is the same wherever you go". So after he died, and I had to go to Aunt Bess -I mean, even now, in the city, when I see a full moon, it's like he's telling me not to look back or feel sad about things, that home is wherever I am. She kissed me on the nose. Or where you are, puppy. The center of my earth is you". The goldfinch Donna Tartt 4441 English edition

Saturday, April 4, 2015

Listening practice



Apr 03 2015
Intro
Even though Sia has been performing and writing music for more than twenty years, she has recently gained a lot of popularity from her newest album. This is even more unexpected since Sia has decided to hide her face. She’s shy and doesn’t like being famous.

Instead, Sia has actors and dancers who are already famous wear a wig that looks like her own hairstyle to perform in her place. In her latest music videos for the songs “Chandelier” and “Elastic Heart,” a young dancer wears the light-colored wig and does some amazing interpretive dancing to her music.

Marni really enjoys the artistry of the new popular music videos, but Brian doesn’t really understand them. Find out more in today’s English lesson about the singer Sia.
Dialogue
English, baby! English lesson audio.
Brian: Hey, Marni. Have you seen this new artist who did the “Chandelier” video?
Marni:  Sia?
Brian:  Yeah, what did you think of that?
Marni:  So, are we talking about “Chandelier,” or her new one, “Elastic Heart”?
Brian:  They’re very similar, aren’t they?
Marni:  There’s the same girl who’s in both of them, who isdonning a Sia wig.
Brian:  They both just have interpretive dancing in them.
Marni:  Yes. I think they’re amazing. There’s such artistry in them. I just find them captivating.
Brian:  Really? I just don’t get it.
Marni:  Really?
Brian:  I just think they’re bizarre just to be bizarre.
Marni:  Hmm, interesting. Maybe I’m such a fan of dance and I just think there’s such interesting stories that can be told through interpretive dance. They are a little bizarre, especially “Elastic Heart.” But I think they’re really engaging. I like that people are using dance to tell stories.
Brian:  I will say that when I watched them, what happened was completely unexpected.
Marni:  There you go.
Brian:  Quite surprising.
Marni:  I think that’s part of what an artist wants is to have unexpected reactions.
Discussion
In Sia’s newest music videos for the songs “Chandelier” and “Elastic Heart,” a young dancer brings the songs to life. Marni loves the artistry of the dancing and how it can show the meaning of the songs. She is a big fan of dance and thinks that it’s a great way to tell stories.

But Brian doesn’t feel the same way. In fact, he thinks that the videos are really weird and he doesn’t understand them. Not everyone can understand the use of dance to tell stories, even if it is done in a very interesting way.

Have you seen the Sia videos? What do you think about dancing as a way to tell a story?
Grammar Point
Tag Questions

When talking about the newest Sia music videos, Brian asks, “They’re very similar, aren’t they?” Brian asks a tag question.

Tag questions are two word tags added to the end of a statement to make a question. Tag questions give the other person a chance to reply to something that has been said. Although we can use different words to make tag questions, they all mean the same thing: “Do you agree?” or “Am I right?”

We can make tag questions with both positive and negative statements. Positive statements will always have negative question tags, and negative statements will always have positive question tags.

To make a tag for a positive statement, use the negative form of the first auxiliary verb + subject (or its pronoun), as in, “Jane has already seen the movie, hasn’t she?” or, “You are studying tonight, aren’t you?”

To make a tag for a negative statement, use the positive form of the auxiliary verb + subject (or pronoun), as in, “We didn’t eat very much, did we?” or, “He isn’t interested, is he?”

For sentences that do not have auxiliary verbs, use do, does or did. Like other tag questions, make a negative tag for a positive sentence and make a positive tag for a negative sentence. For example, “They don’t have a car, do they?” or, “I forgot my lunch again, didn’t I?”

Tag questions can be used in past, present, or future tense, so it’s important to match the tense of the tag question to the tense of the original statement. For example, “We didn’t get very far,did we?” or, “They will be there, won’t they?”

Which is correct, “She isn’t finished with her homework, isn’t she?” or, “She isn’t finished with her homework, is she?”
Quiz

  1. Why does Marni like the Sia music videos?
  2. What does interpretive dancing mean?
  3. The videos were very __ and I couldn’t stop watching them.
  4. Which sentence has a tag question?

See the full English lesson at English, baby!

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