Narrative tenses

A few days ago Warsaw Will, from Random Idea English published the post Random Stories -Narrative tenses, with an interactive activitiy where users have to complete the blanks in a story by writing the verb given in the correct tense.

For some reason, English tenses seems to be an elusive grammar point for most English students, regardless of their level.

Warsaw Will's activity gives a chance to put our grasp of narrative tenses to the test, but he does much more than this. The story is a great and entertaining reading activity, and he has collected an extensive glossary of the vocabulary that comes up in the texts.

If this weren't enough, he also provides a list of links where we can read and listen to Roald Dahl's version of the story.

I think that all advanced students, which includes English teachers, should make a habit of visiting Random Idea English to keep their English alive and well.

Thank you, Warsaw Will.

Teens and sleep

This is an oldish PBS Frontline report about the importance of sleep for teenagers, but the ideas expresses are absolutely valid for today's adolescents.

You can read the transcript here.

H/T to Larry Ferlazzo.

Spiderman finally

One of the biggest financial bets in the history of theater, a musical about a comic book hero, was set to officially open Tuesday on Broadway after many high-profile problems in early production. Jeffrey Brown discusses "Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark" with The New York Times' Patrick Healy on this PBS video.

Watch the full episode. See more PBS NewsHour.

You can read the transcript here.

Language as a Window into Human Nature

In this new RSAnimate Steven Pinker shows us how the mind turns the finite building blocks of language into infinite meanings. Taken from the RSA's free public events programme www.thersa.org/events.

It’s a terrific talk, but if you don’t have time to watch the whole 11 minute video, try to watch it from 7 minutes in. He uses a wonderful example from the movie ‘When Harry met Sally’ to illustrate and explain why direct on the record statements can be less comfortable and more awkward than indirect ones. And if you don’t have time to watch any of it, in short he maintains it’s because lack of mutual knowledge helps us to maintain a fiction.



H/T to Learning to speak 'merican.

Summer movies

Listen to his NPR segment, where Washington Post film critic Ann Hornaday discusses the films in this year's Cannes Film Festival, which might be expected to be released for general viewing this summer.

Blockbuster game

This is an online version of the famous Blocbuster game. Click on the flashing letter and answer the question that will pop up. If words don't come easy, you can always click on the "answer" button.

Great game for vocabulary revision purposes.

H/T to DDeubel.