Appearances

WHAT DOES HE/SHE LOOK LIKE?

This is a link where you can find some vocabulary (a lot, actually) about physical appearance. It is from a site to learn Spanish but the list is as valid for learners of English:

WORDS TO DESCRIBE PHYSICAL APPEARANCE, FROM

FALSE APPEARANCES

Who are these people?

They look like celebrities but they are not, they are Sophia Loren's, Robin William's and Prince's look-alikes.

Definition of "look-alike" (Wikipedia): A look-alike is a living person who closely resembles another living person. In popular Western culture, a look-alike is a person who bears a close physical resemblance to a celebrity, politician or member of royalty.

Definition of "impersonator" (Wikipedia): An impersonator is someone who imitates or copies the behavior or actions of another.

While look-alikes base their skills on mere resemblance, impersonators use make-up and other elements (clothes, wigs, etc.) to look like the person they try to copy but remind us of the person mostly because of their behaviour, voice and/or way of acting.

Who does she remind you of?

Watch the video and you will have not doubt about it:

Students sometimes impersonate their teachers or fellow students. Do you know of any cases? Did they get into trouble? Do you like that idea or you find it offensive?

First lesson after Christmas: presents, resolutions and manners.

Yes, the Three Wise Men won this year in class and most students received their presents on January 6th, or so they told us last Wednesday. This is a cartoon we worked on in this class, from "Cartoons for the Classroom":


When we analysed the items, iPods, Macs and their creators came up, and I promised to upload a link to an interesting speech by Steve Jobs, one of the founders of Apple. It comes in two parts, both subtitled in Spanish:

Part 1 (time 8:44):



Part 2 (time 5:48):




Then we talked about new year's resolutions and I asked you to send comments to the post on "Christmas diet and new year's resolutions" (24/12/08), writing about your own resolutions. We have received some interesting ones. Someone sent this (I corrected a little mistake):

"I´ll go to the gym everyday to get fit and to lose weight until I look like a model, after that I´ll look for a young and handsome English boyfriend, for speaking and improving my English"

And that reminded me of an advert I saw during Christmas, which I photographed and attach now:



Is English sexy? What do you think?


At the end of the lesson, we talked about "manners" but we could not watch a video about how good table manners may help you lose weight, so here it is:

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2009!!

Boxing Day

Wikipedia: "Boxing Day is a public holiday in the United Kingdom, Canada, New Zealand and Australia, as well as many other members of the Commonwealth of Nations and Greece. It is based on the tradition of giving gifts to the less fortunate members of society (...) It is usually celebrated on 26 December, the day after Christmas Day; however, its associated public holiday can be moved to the next weekday if 26 December is a Saturday or Sunday.

(...)

A Christmas box is, in English tradition, a clay box used in artisan shops. Apprentices, masters, visitors, customers, and others would put donations of money into the box, like a piggy bank, and then, after Christmas, the box would be shattered and all the contents shared among the workers of the shop. Thus, masters and customers could donate bonuses to the workers anonymously, and the employees could average their wages. The habit of breaking the Christmas box lent its name to Boxing Day. The term "Christmas box" now refers generally to a gift or pay bonus given to workers."

Christmas Messages

The first message comes from Her Royal Majesty:



If you are really interested in the British Royal Family, the following link might suit your needs better than the previous one:


But if what interests you is "real" messages, here is one, a cover of Ben E. King's classic "Stand By Me" sung and/or played by musicians around the world adding their part to the song as it travelled the globe:



Playing For Change: Song Around the World | Stand By Me from Concord Music Group on Vimeo.

You can add further messages using "comments" below.