30 November 2011 / by Radmila Gurkova

EU and US Summit. Listen to our leaders speak english...

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=We-eNqzmtEw

"Talks of a joint working group to explore how to enhance “untapped potential” of a ‘Transatlantic economic co-operation’ were high on the agenda this week as both US and EU leader’s held a bi-lateral trade talk at the White House with President Obama."


DEBATE



  • Are you concerned about the debt crisis or do you find it tiresome listening to people talk continually about Spain's debt and Europe's issues?

  • Are we to blame for overspending?

  • Would you accept help from other nations, such as the United States?


KEYWORDS





























































Word Image Definition Example Listen
Summit the highest level of
diplomatic or other
governmental officials.
A summit conference.
Neighbour a person or thing that
is near another
one of our
neighbour nations.
Eurozone another name for Euroland All European countries Listen
Encourage to inspire with courage,
spirit, or confidence
One of the chief
duties of a teacher is
to encourage students.
Treaty the formal document
embodying such an
international agreement.
The two tribes formed a treaty
Transatlantic on or from the other side of the Atlantic The boat sailed from the USA to the UK Listen
Globalisation worldwide integration
and development
Globablization has resulted in the loss of some
individual cultural identities.

EASY GRAMMAR

Topic: Formal Expressions Used in Meetings

Level: Easy to Medium

Task: Can you complete the expressions below with texts from the video?





























Introducing a subject



Transition between elements



Concluding


Good morning, everybody.

 
Let me make two points: one on … and one on ...

 
Finally, I hope you (have a good visit).

 
I am very pleased to welcome  you to ...

 
My first point regards…

My second point regards …

 
Let me conclude…

 
Let me first thank you for your hospitality.

 
With regard to …

 
Thank you very much, everybody.

 
I very much appreciated our discussion here at the White House today.

 
I am happy to say that …

 
 

 

Topic: Word Formation

Level: Medium to Advanced

Task: Can you identify which words appear in the video? Can you extract more examples  from the text?






































Root Prefix Suffix 1 Suffix 2 Prefix and suffix
Sustain   sustainable Sustainability  
Like Dislike Likely Likelihood Unlikely
Think       Unthinkable
Accept   Acceptable   Unacceptable

 

Level: Advanced

Topic: Inversion

In formal language we often want to emphasize one idea over the rest in a sentence. We do it by placing the idea to emphasize first in the sentence.

Have a look at two possible ways of achieving this.

  1. Using  WHAT


What hasn’t  changed though is the fundamental bonds that exist between the European union and the United States.

2.  Using NOT SINCE

Not since the end of the Cold War has the world seen such a degree of transformation in global affairs.

17

February 2012
Friday Fun: The History of English #7
by Radmila Gurkova
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7W7UgFxri8 The history of English series now reaches the first dictionaries. This shows an attempt to control and record the English language by writing the meanings of words in a rather large book. However, as the video demonstrates 'English is a very rich language' and there are always new words being intro...

16

February 2012
January Monthly Quiz
by Radmila Gurkova
You can now test your knowledge with our January Monthly Quiz ...

10

February 2012
Choosing to be homeless..?
by Radmila Gurkova
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KvvjDOtS2sw Becky Blanton was Homeless  - but of her own volition – for one year. She is a journalist but decided, after her father died, to hide from the world, travel and become homeless. She had camped her whole life so thought driving off into the sunset with her dog and cat, in a Chevy van w...

10

February 2012
Language - the endangered species
by Radmila Gurkova
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=McF3CoVHbYM There are 6,500 languages in the world and 3,500 are “endangered”! How many languages can you think of? Every two weeks a unique language dies when the last speakers pass away. Mark Turin is an anthropologist working on language death as an academic linguist and has been living within a...

10

February 2012
When do we add 'ly' ending?
by Radmila Gurkova
Do you know when to add -ly to a word? For example, He walks slow or he walks slowly? Adverbs modify adjectives, verbs, and other adver...

10

February 2012
They eventually learnt English....
by Radmila Gurkova
Adverbs of time: already, still, yet, finally, eventually, soon, last, just We normally use eventually before ver...

10

February 2012
I ALSO agree with you!
by Radmila Gurkova
Also is use...

10

February 2012
I had never seen so many students in one class...
by Radmila Gurkova
PAST Perfect Tense USE: We use the past participle to talk about actions in the p...

10

February 2012
Friday Fun: The History of English #6
by Radmila Gurkova
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ES3qDORQjAA&feature=youtu.be The history of the English language continues with this video that looks at the British Empire and it's effect on the world. Do you know any of the phrases that are mentioned in this video? ...

04

February 2012
Kids really brought their imagination…
by Radmila Gurkova
Kids really brought their imagination… Bring shows movement toward the speaker Can you take me a bottle of water? Incorrect Can you bring me a bottle of water? Correct Bring ----> toward speaker A common mistake for English learning is Bring and Take. They ...