July's English Book of the Month

North and South

by Elizabeth Gaskell

 Advert of the Month - July

 Improve Your English Through Adverts

Haribo

Click on the link below to watch the ad and then click "Read More" for the transcript.

Watch it here:-

Haribo

Breakfast’s Ready!

by Margaret Watson

All of us are used to foreign cuisine, even if we have never left our home country. We have at least heard of, if not tried, food from many lands - pasta perhaps or pizza, curry or moussaka , couscous and Salad Nicoise. Few of us have problems with such things. Breakfasts though can be another matter. Go into a French supermarket for instance and look in vain for your favourite cereal or even English sausage and bacon. In Germany my daughter was offered doughnuts and sauerkraut. I think my weirdest breakfast ever was on a plane which served a very spicy, stone cold, spinach omelette which I was assured was a ‘Full English Breakfast’. Americans eat bacon with syrup and pancakes and I know at least one Australian who eats grated beetroot for breakfast on the days she doesn’t eat grated apple - but she was just strange whatever her nationality. When I lived in Pakistan a kind hearted neighbour bought me what she had for breakfast several times a week until I plucked up the courage to tell her that large amounts of boiled, spicy spinach just weren’t my thing.

Build Your Business English Skills

(and More through Reading Annual Reports)

It seems multi-tasking is the flash word of the digital age. With a plethora of technology around us, gadgets and gizmos allow us to do many things at once. With hand-held mobile devices we can be listening to music, while text messaging a friend. All the while, we're watching a digital monitor at an airport to catch that flight to wherever we're going.

Writing Definition Essays

You'll Definitely Require a Plethora of Information

Sometimes, writing essays requires that you describe something exactly. You want to give your readers a complete picture of the subject of your essay. This may be an essay on a certain idea. It may be you writing about a person, place, or thing. It may simply be you describing or stating what a word or term means, and it means you are in effect writing a definition essay.

Take Advantage of Technology

Build Your English Reading Skills and your Digital Library

by Mike Ugilini

Innovative advances in technology always present new opportunities for engaging in learning activities. When it comes to building your English reading skills you no longer have to limit yourself to print format presentations of your favourite works. Today, you have the luxury of utilizing new tools for learning English and building a digital library.

July's Poem of the Month

The Mosquito

by D.H. Lawrence

When did you start your tricks,
Monsieur?
 
What do you stand on such high legs for?
Why this length of shredded shank,
You exaltation?

Listen Here

Silly Poems and Rhymes # 36

Dr Foster Went to Gloucester

Click on Read More to read the words, but first:-

Listen Here

July's English Joke of the Month

Mr. Smith was a traveling salesman and frequent flyer, so he was always very, VERY careful to mark his luggage so that no one would mistakenly take his bags. He always did this with brightly coloured ribbons and tape, so on one trip as he got to the luggage carousel he was very surprised to see his bags being grabbed by a well dressed man.

July's photo of the month.

Every month I choose a photograph from Flickr to appear here.  Hopefully something interesting and informative.

July's quote of the month

Every month I choose a quote from people far wiser than me to appear here.

The Duchess

The film tells the story of Georgiana Duchess of Devonshire, who was beautiful, glamorous and adored by the public. But while her beauty and charisma made her a household name, one thing always seemed to escape her: love.  Many people have drawn parallels between her life and the life of Princess Diana.

Beneath Georgiana's glamorous façade lay an intelligent, vulnerable woman stranded in a loveless marriage to the Duke, one of the richest and most powerful men in England. Frustrated by the limitations imposed on her by virtue of her sex and her class, she rebelled, entering into an intense relationship with the beautiful Lady Foster, thereby setting up a complex ménage a trois with the Duke. Georgiana's rebellion extended to the public sphere where she tore down the conventions, becoming a political campaigner for the liberal party. In so doing she fell for Earl Grey, the future Prime Minister, finally discovering the meaning of true love. But can true love survive the strictures of the Duke, of Bess and of Society - the pressures of marriage and motherhood, of friendship and loyalty, of class and celebrity?

What followed was tragic, but Georgiana's unquenchable spirit sustained her and, unlike Diana, she ultimately found peace...

More about this film  

Blog of the month - July

Crafty This and That is a lovely craft blog, full of ideas about how to use everyday things to make new stuff. From my favourite, the belly button brush, to CD photo albums. 

Site of the Month - July

James Rizzi - One of my favourite artists.

July's Travel Article

Top Ten London With Kids

by Max Clarke

Having now accepted our status as dedicated, if frazzled and rapidly aging, parents, my partner and I are devoting time to planning some activities for wet weekends and hyper half-terms joined by nephews and nieces.

Sports Diary

Injury Time

by Patrick O'Connor

STITCHES in a head wound.

Jaw injury, possibly a fracture.

A selection of headlines from stories in the news.  They use English in a way that you might think is intended to confuse, but it's all perfectly clear to the native speaker.

A selection of headlines from stories in the news.  They use English in a way that you might think is intended to confuse, but it's all perfectly clear to the native speaker.

English Song Lyrics - July

This song is good for illustrating opposites:-

Hot 'N [And] Cold

by Katy Perry

 You change your mind
Like a girl changes clothes
Yeah you, PMS
Like a bitch
I would know

Listen to this song on You Tube