HOMER SIMPSON AND KING JUAN CARLOS GAP-FILLING READING EXERCISE

Homer Blog

Voice Recognition Elevator

Many thanks to Neus for this hilarious video about how hard it can be to understand the Scottish accent. It reminds me of my times in Edinburgh... ha, ha!

BLACK FRIDAY

I'm sure you've all heard of Thanksgiving in the USA (which will be celebrated on Thursday 25th november this year), but probably you know nothing about Black Friday. Your classmate Santiago sent me this interesting article with some basic facts about this day. Please read it and we'll talk about it next week.

 

Black Friday is the day after Thanksgiving in the USA and falls on the Friday after the fourth Thursday in November. It is a busy shopping day as many people do not have to work. Many start shopping for the upcoming Christmas season.

Black Friday is the day after Thanksgiving in the USA and falls on the Friday after the fourth Thursday in November. It is a busy shopping day as many people do not have to work. Many start shopping for the upcoming Christmas season.

Black Friday is a busy shopping day for many people. ©iStockphoto.com/ zeeyy

What do people do?

Many people have a day off work or choose to take a day from their quota of annual leave on Black Friday. Some people use this to make trips to see family members or friends who live in other areas or to go on vacation. Others use it to start shopping for the Christmas season.
In the United States, it is very popular to start Christmas shopping on Black Friday. Many stores have special offers with very low prices on some goods, particularly on electronics and popular toys. Traditionally, people bought these as Christmas gifts, although now many are re-sold on internet sites. Many stores only have a few of the most popular items at very low prices. This means that some people choose to queue from very early in the morning or even overnight to make sure that they will be at the front of the queue when a particular store opens. Sometimes there are large skirmishes to get to the door when the store opens.

Public life

Black Friday is not a federal holiday. However, many organizations shut for the Thanksgiving weekend. In addition, many people take a day of their annual leave on the day after Thanksgiving. If you will need a particular service on Black Friday, it is wise to check carefully whether the organization or company will be open as normal. Public transit systems may run on their normal schedule or may have changes.
As shopping is a very popular activity on Black Friday and many stores have sales or special bargains, it can be incredibly busy in stores and malls. Some stores have extended opening hours to cope with the extra shoppers. There can also be congestion on roads to popular shopping destinations.

Background

Many people think that Black Friday is the busiest shopping day in the year. It has, for many years, been a popular day for many people visit brick-and-mortar stores. However, it has been said that the day on which most money was spent was usually the Saturday before Christmas.
There are two popular theories as to why the day after Thanksgiving is called Black Friday. One theory says that it is because of the extremely heavy traffic on the roads on this day. The wheels of the vehicles left a lot of black markings on the road surface, leading to the term Black Friday.
The other theory is that it comes from an old-fashioned way of recording business accounts. Losses were recorded in red ink and profits in black ink. Many businesses, particularly small retail stores, only started making profits in the run up to Christmas. Many hoped that they would start showing a profit, which could be marked in black ink, on the day after Thanksgiving. This theory does not apply to many large corporations, but may be a fact of life for smaller businesses.
The events on Black Friday are often followed closely by the local media. Television shows may show films of people queuing at night and then emerging victoriously from the store with the items they wanted to purchase. The large number of people shopping and the competition to obtain the cheapest goods means that some people now avoid the stores on Black Friday. Some groups organize a "Buy Nothing Day" on Black Friday to protest at the increasing level of consumerism in the USA and Canada.

GROW YOUR OWN DRUGS WORDBUILD EXERCISE

Grow Your Own Drugs

GROW YOUR OWN DRUGS

I take it you already know.... (pronunciation poem)

Listen to this man reading the poem we've seen in class. Why don't you give it a try?

How to complain

Hello.
Please have a look at this link with loads of useful advice on how to complain: http://www.squidoo.com/how_to_complain
I'm sure you'll find it very useful, especially because "writing a letter of complaint" is a typical exam question!

How many texts do teenagers send in a month?

Check out this article about how many texts teeanges send in a month: http://mashable.com/2010/10/14/nielsen-texting-stats/ . Over 3,000! Even with pitfalls such as thumb arthritis or “Blackberry thumb” (excellent neologism, check it in Wikipedia)ha, ha!), the trend for SMS texting continues apace. The article quotes a recent study in which the ability to send texts was the number one reason teenagers bought a mobile phone. The scariest part of this article is the fact that spoken language has decreased in teens by 14%. Will we bother speaking to each other at all in ten years’ time? A worrying thought, don’t you think? Please post your comments (or text them to me, ha, ha!)

WE'RE GOING TO DUBLIN!!!!!

Hi class! Just in case you haven't been able to come to class lately, I want to inform you that we're organising this year's trip. We'll be going to Dublin, Malahide and Galway from 15 to 19 April for just... 425€. If you're interested, please let me know before 25 November.

SEXTING gap-filling reading exercise

Sex Ting

Learning English with your Mobile Phone

Fill in the gaps in the following text with the help of your mobile phone once you've changed its language settings to English.
Learning English With Your Mobile Phone

The Life and Death of the Mobile Phone BBC programme

The Life and Death of the Mobile Phone Listening Comprehension activities

Life and Death of the Mobile Telephone Ok

BISHOPS' HALLOWEEN ADVICE

Bishops Halloween Advice