Experimental school

Read this The New York Times lengthy article by Clifford J. Levy, who is a deputy metro editor of the Times. He won a Pulitzer Prize for international reporting for his coverage of Russia in 2011.

For four years three American siblings attended an experimental school in Moscow where instruction is only in Russian and classes are videotaped to improve teaching.

You can watch a video showing some of the highlights of the experience embedded in the newspaper article or by clicking here.

Tribute

Tribute is the best-known cinema magazine is Canada. If you visit their website, you will find a throve of cinema-related stuff that might be of interest for the advanced English learner in search of authentic material: trailers, interviews, news, and so on.

The commercial campus

Corporations are hiring students to promote their brand on campus. At the University of North Carolina, American Eagle helps first-year students move-in, while Target hosts the inaugural party.

Watch this The New York Times video to find out more about this business practice which might be a bit unusual for us and judge for yourself.



You can also read the related newspaper article here.

The New York Times also presents a slideshow with the most general ideas of the scheme.

Rebuilding Titanic

Titanic: one of the greatest maritime legends in history. When she set sail in April 1912, she was the largest, heaviest, most expensive, and most luxurious manmade moving object on the planet.

This is a really interesting infographic from the National Geographic I have learnt about through Larry Ferlazzo.

The National Geographic has recreated everything which had to do with this formidable ship.

You can find one of the embedded video below, but you can gain access to all the Titanic infographic by clicking on any of the links on this post entry or on the picture above.

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.

Living life conjoined

Watch this video from The New York Times on two US siamese sisters and answer the questions below about it.

WHO are Krista and Tatiana Hogan?
WHERE do they live?
WHERE did a documentary about them in their early years air?
WHEN did their mother discover she was carrying conjoined twins?
HOW do doctors think one twin with her eyes covered is able to “see” what the other twin is looking at?
WHAT is the twins’ relationship like?
WHY did the parents decide early on not to do a surgical separation?
WHY are there concerns about Tatiana’s heart?
WHY do you think their mother is so determined to make their lives “as normal as possible”?

You can read the related article here and a slideshow here.

Why do we believe in luck

Is there such a thing as a lucky person or a lucky streak? And does belief in good and bad luck play a part in whether we are prepared to take chances, asks Megan Lane.

I won a pair of cinema tickets recently. Then a free haircut. While sceptical about luck, I couldn't help but wonder if it might run in threes.

This is the way Megan Lane starts her article on luck on the BBC website. Read the article to find out more about it, and don't miss the three-minute video by Professors Mike Aitken and David Spiegelhalter on how to measure risk and on the real existence of luck.

School food

Read this The New York Times article about the quality of school food in NYC and watch the accompanying video City Critic: School lunches to get to know first hand information about the topic.

Awesome stories

Awesome stories is an interesting site for advanced learners of English, especially if they are keen on literature and current affairs issues.

On Awesome stories students have at their disposal a vast collection of stories, some of which include an audio file. They can also find video clips with extracts from films and interviews which revolve around issues our interest.

The Internet cheating game

Read this lengthy The Independent article about the dangers of using the Internet for everything connected to knowledge and finding out.

110 Things New Yorkers Talked about in 2010

The title of this The New York Times article is self-explanatory. Here you can read the hottest topics for New Yorkers in 2010.

How well acquainted are you with them? What topics do you know anything about? Which are news to you?

New Anti-smoking Rules

It seems that the new Spanish anti-smoking law has had great repercussion all over the world. Watch this Newsy video on the topic.

Multisource political news, world news, and entertainment news analysis by Newsy.com

You can read a transcript of the video here.

And if you want to read about this issue, the BBC published this article yesterday.

Words of the Year

The New York Times has published their pick of Words of the Year. Buzzwords in 2010 were vuvuzela, Belieber, double rainbow, inception, and many more.

Read all about it in this thorough article and grab the chance to update your English vocabulary with the newest words and expressions.

Using Menu Psychology to Attract Customers

Although this The New York Times article is a year old, its content is fully dated. Find out about the tricks restaurants use to attract customers on these special dates throughout the year. A good read, although a bit lengthy.

A home for the future

A Home for the Future is an interactive display for The New York Times about a solar-powered home. Click on the photo and sound icons on the interactive image to learn about the features of a solar-powered home.

You can read the full article here.

Should you google at dinner?

Read The New York Times article about the more and more widespread influence of the new technology, so much so that it is becoming a kind of addiction for some people.

Creative problem solving

We are all more likely to be successful in solving tasks if they are described as 'fun'. Some days back, The New York Times published a special edition on puzzles, including the article Tracking the Spark of Creating Problem-Solving.

As part of that special puzzle section, The New York Times has also included an intriguing interactive on sight.

Many thanks to Larry Ferlazzo for drawing my attention to this article.

Woody Allen

Listen to Woody Allen read his stories.

The Disunion Blog

Next year the 150th anniversary of the start of the US Civil War will be commemorated. In preparation for the event, The New York Times offers The Disunion Blog. The blog offers images, maps, timelines, diaries, and some other material to illustrate the causes of the US Civil War and the ensuing war.

Interactive tour of The Galapagos

NOVA offers an interactive tour of the Galapagos Islands as they appear today and as Darwin saw them. The tour of the islands highlights the unique animals and geologic features on the islands. As visitors progress through the tour they can view view videos and images and listen to audio tracks about the islands. In contrast to the modern imagery of the islands, visitors can select the "What Darwin Saw" tour to view Darwin's sketches, excerpts of his writings, and listen to experts talk about what Darwin saw.