Aprender ingles gratis con La Mansion del Ingles. Un podcast para mejorar la gramatica, el vocabulario y la pronunciacion del ingles. Una leccion del ingles con ejemplos y ejercicios.

Learn English free with podcasts from La Mansion del Ingles. Improve your grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation. This English lesson contains examples and exercises.

Hello again. Welcome,  and thank you for downloading this Mansión Inglés podcast. This is podcast number 47 recorded for March 2012.

Este mes, en el nivel básico un pequeño repaso de gramática. Verb collocations and two-word vocabulary expressions at intermediate level. And at advanced level, some more idioms and key-word transformations from the Cambridge CAE exam. There's telephone vocabulary in business English this month, and there's also a dictation, an activity for your children and many more ways to improve your English and take it to the next level. 

En los podcasts mensuales hablamos de los temas, vocabulario y ejercicios que salen en nuestro cuaderno mensual. Así podáis practicar la pronunciación y repasar el material del cuaderno. Si quieres recibir gratis el cuaderno cada mes, ver la trascripción de este podcast o leer los anteriores, vete a mansioningles.com y sigue los enlaces en la página principal.

So, let's get started - vamos a empezar con el nivel básico y las frases básicas en el repaso de gramática. Escucha y repite las frases conmigo:

Where is he from? Te acuerdas la contración? - Where is - where's - repite: where's - where's he from? - intenta copiar la intonación: Where's he from? - Where's she from?

- What’s that? - ¿Qué es esto? - repite: What's that? - Intonación - What's that? - It’s an iPod.

We go to the cinema every Saturday. Repite: We go to the cinema every Saturday - go to = /gote/ - /We gote/ - We go to the cinema every Saturday.

Was your dad born in Madrid? Escucha: /wez/ - /ye/ - /wezye/ - Was your dad born in Madrid? Repite: Was your dad born in Madrid?

Is Juan Maria’s husband? Repite: Is Juan Maria’s husband?

Today's hotter than yesterday. - Today's hotter than yesterday. Repite: hotter - hotter than - hotter than yesterday - Today's hotter than yesterday.

- What do they do? - cuatro palabras: What - do - they - do: Escucha: What do they do? - What do they do? - What's their job? - They’re office workers. What do they do?  Repite: What do they do?  

I really like reggae music - Repite: I really like - I really like reggae - I really like jazz - I really like rock music.

I’m always late - I am = I'm - I'm always. Las dos palabras se juntan. No se dice: I'm always, se dice I'malways. Repite: I'm always - I'm always late - I'm never early, I'm always late.

- How much coffee do you drink?    

- quite a lot (mucho) - /kwaita/ - Quite a = /kwaita/ - Quite a lot. I drink quite a lot of coffee - I drink quite a lot of beer - I drink quite a lot of wine.

Very good! - ¡Muy bien!

Vamos a continuar con más frases:

Do your parents drive? - ¿Tus padres conducen? - Acuerdate que padres en inglés es parents y no fathers - Repite: Do your parents drive? Do they drive?

Who's that boy over there? - Who's - who is - ¿Quién es? _ Who's that boy over there? - over there - allá - Repite: Who's that boy over there?

Whose is this phone? - Whose - de quién - Whose is this phone?. ¡Ojo! la pronunciación de la contracción who's (who is) y el pronombre whose W-H-O-S-E es lo mismo Who's y whose - suena igual. Solo el contexto te ayuda distinguir entre los dos. Repite: Whose is this phone? - It's mine! (es mio) Repite: It's mine!

I don't want any cake - I don't want any cake - any se utiliza muchas veces en las frases negativas. Repite: I don't want any cake - There isn't any beer - I don't have any money.

My dad's 65 years old - ¡Ojo! - no dicemos XMy dad has 65 years.X El verbo en español para hablar de las edades es tener - I have - pero no en inglés. En inglés se emplea el verbo to be. I am - I'm 34 or I'm 34 years old. He's 65 or he's 65 years old. Repite: He's 65 - I'm 34. My sister's 28.

I'm hardly ever ill - Te acuerdas el adverbio de frecuencia hardly ever? Hemos practicado los adverbios de frecuencia en el cuaderno del mes pasado. Si los quieres repasarlos o ver todos los cuadernos anteriores, vete a mansioningles.com y pulse en Consulta nuestros cuadernos de inglés en la página principal. hardly ever - casi nunca - Repite: I´m hardly ever ill - I´m hardly ever ill - I hardly ever watch TV - We hardly ever speak English - I hardly ever see you!

What would you like to drink? - What would you like? ¿Qué quería? - ¿Qué quería usted para beber? - What would you like to drink? Repite: What would you like? What would you like to drink?

Paris is more expensive than Lisbon. more expensive than es un comparativo. Repite: more expensive than - It's more expensive than I thought. Paris is more expensive than Lisbon. New York is more expensive than Valencia. Rome is more expensive than Cairo.

What did you do? - ¿Qué hiciste? - What did you do last Saturday? Repite: What did you do last Saturday? What did you do yesterday? What did you do last night? What did you do this morning?

In the intermediate section this month, we practised some verb collocations. I'll read the nouns and the noun phrases and you try to say the verb that goes with them. For example, I say money, energy and someone's life. Which verb collocates or goes together with those three? money, energy and someone's life? - save. You save money, you save energy and you save someone's life.

Ok then, what about a trip, a diet and strike? - to go on. Repeat: go on strike - The workers went on strike, go on a trip - He's gone on a business trip, go on a diet - I must go on a diet next year.

What about; your way, your temper and your wallet? - lose. Repeat: lose your temper - I lost my temper with my bloody computer, lose your wallet - I lost my wallet last night, lose your way - Try not to lose your way.

Ok, next is; a mistake, a mess, the bed - make. Repeat: make a mistake - I made a big mistake, make a mess - don't make a mess, make the bed - Did you make the bed?

Ok, 3 more; a business, a marathon, away - to run Repeat:  run away - He ran away from the police, run a marathon - I'm training to run a marathon - run a business - it's not easy to run a business.

Then we had; the TV, your jacket and a lot on weight - put on. Repeat: Can you put the TV on please? - Put on your jacket, it's cold outside - She's put on a lot of weight you know.

Finally, vegetables, a beard and old - to grow - Repeat: to grow old - He's grown old these last few years. - grow a beard - I think I'll grow a beard - grow vegetables - We used to grow our own vegetables.

Also in the intermediate section we had an exercise with pairs of words that have a fixed order in English. It's interesting that in Spanish you say blanco y negro, for example, but in English we say black and white. It's not very common to hear white and black!

Fish and chips is another example. It sounds strange to say "I think I'll have some chips and fish".

Neat and tidy. In the last exercise we had the expression to make a mess - hacer un lio. If you make a mess you are not being tidy. You are being very untidy, very messy. I like things to be neat and tidy. A place for everything and everything in its place. Repeat: neat and tidy. My flat is neat and tidy. My desk is neat and tidy, my wardrobe is neat and tidy, my drawers (mis cajónes) - my drawers are neat and tidy. God, it must be a nightmare to live with me. I'm so neat and tidy.

Pros and cons - the advantages and disadvantages - Repeat: pros and cons - the positive things and the negative things. We speak about the pros and cons of a situation. Repeat: What are the pros and cons?

Gin and tonic - that's and easy one. In fact, the spirit is said first in mixed drinks the same as in Spanish. So you ask for a vodka and orange juice, a Bacardi and coke, a whisky and dry ginger etc.

Trial and error - try something, make a mistake and learn from the mistake. Repeat: trial and error - I learnt by trial and error.

Peace and quiet - I go to the countryside for some peace and quiet. Repeat: peace and quiet. I go to the beach for some peace and quiet.

Stocks and shares - acciones - Repeat: stocks and shares - We're going to invest in some stocks and shares.

Thunder and lightening. Which is truenos? - thunder. Lightening in Spanish is un rayo, I think. Repeat: thunder and lightening.

Ladies and gentlemen is a good way to begin a speech - but we don't usually say 'gentlemen and ladies' we put the ladies first, as you should of course! Repeat: Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for coming today.

It's a matter of life and death. It's really important - It's a really important thing. Repeat: It's a matter of life and death.

And finally, right and wrong. Do you know the difference between right and wrong? I'm sure you do! The right thing to do is to listen to this short advertisement.

Ahora un anuncio, así que puedes hacer fast forward si no quieres escuchar. Pero no lo hagas. You should know about a special offer we have on our product page at mansioningles.com. The Complete Pack, el pack ahorro completo, de La Mansión del Inglés. ALL of our cds at a fanstastic price. All 8 of our CDs help you learn English. All this for only 99 Euros. You save 112 Euros, and we pay the postage wherever you are in the world. Now that’s a good deal. Es una oferta muy buena. Para ver más detalles, haz click on the cd icon on the right side of the home page at mansioningles.com.

There were more idioms this month in the advanced section. Let's see if you can remember the idioms if I say the translation in Spanish.

For example, what's the English idiom for matar dos pájaros de un tiro  - Kill two birds with one stone.

What about, La risa es el mejor remedio. - Laughter is the best medicine.

Da lo mismo (una cosa que otra). - It's six of one and half a dozen of the other. A dozen in English is 12, and half a dozen is 6. So, it's six of one and half a dozen of the other. - Da lo mismo.

El que tiene tejado de vidrio no tira piedras al de su vecino. - Well, you can translate this literally and say "people in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.", but there's another idiom that means something similar, and It's one of my favourites. It's "the pot calling the kettle black". Think of a kitchen and years ago on the stove where your grandmother or great grandmother used to cook there would be a black pot (una olla) for cooking and a black kettle (una tetera) for boiling water. Black, probably because of the soot (hollín) from the fire. If the pot calls the kettle black or says that the kettle is black it's a bit silly because they are both equally black and in the same position. El que tiene tejado de vidrio no tira piedras al de su vecino. - It's the pot calling the kettle black.

A lo hecho, pecho -Do you remember that in English? Something to do with milk being spilled (to spill is derramar, verter o volcar) -  It's no use crying over spilled milk. If the milk has already been spilled, there's no sense in crying. - no tiene sentido - That makes sense to me. It's no use crying over spilled milk.

And finally, Mas se perdio en Cuba - Which sounds very strange to me - More was lost in Cuba? Why? If anyone knows the origin or has an explanation for Más se perdio in Cuba, please send me a note on Facebook - anyway, the translation is - It's not the end of the world. - Don't worry, it's not the worst thing that can happen. - It's not the end the world. You can also say "Worse things happen at sea."

Let's look at some of the expressions in the key word transformation exercise in the advanced section. If something is someone's fault, you can say put it down to that person. The disaster was put down to pilot error, for example - it was the pilot's fault. You can use 'put down to' in a question; Repeat: What was it (put) down to? What was the reason for it?

To be under the impression means to believe that something is true. Repeat: I was under the impression I had to pay for these fantastic podcasts. No sir, you were under the wrong impression. They're free!

Don't hesitate to get in contact with me if you have any questions. Repeat: Be my guest - Feel free - Don't hesitate to send me an email.

If there is little chance that something will happen, it is very unlikely. There's a very small possibility. Repeat: There's little chance I'll be having a holiday this year. There's little chance I'll be going away anywhere.

The expression to break down in tears means to cry a lot, or to cry uncontrollably. To cry your eyes out. Tears are lagrimas, of course, and to break down means to lose to control. Repeat: She broke down in tears when I told her. She cried her eyes out.

It makes no difference me da igual, me da lo mismo - Repeat:It makes no difference to me. I really don't care. - I don't care one way or the other. It makes absolutely no difference. - It's all the same to me.

Little did we know Repeat: Little did we know - We would never have guessed - We had no idea - It came as a complete surprise to us - Little did we know.

In the Business English section, we revised and  practised some telephone expressions.

Listen and repeat the expressions:

I’ll get back to you - I’ll phone again - I'll call you back - I'll phone back tomorrow - Can you call me back? - When can you call me back? - I'll give you a ring

To call es más común en el inglés americano y to phone o phone me, I'll phone you o I'll give you a ring es más común en el inglés británico. Pero ambos sirven y todos se entienden.

Repeat: Could I have your name? – Who’s calling please?

I’m putting you through – I’m connecting you - Just a moment, I'm putting you through

Would you like to hold? –  Do you mind waiting? - Please hold the line, I'm putting you through - Can you hold on please?

The line’s engaged – I’m afraid it’s busy - I'm sorry, the line's engaged. English people like to apologise and they are always saying I'm sorry, I'm afraid, please and thank you. - Repeat: I'm afraid he's out of the office. - I'm sorry would you like to hold. -

How can I help you? –  What can I do for you? - Good morning, La Mansión del Inglés, How can I help you?

¿Cómo se dice marcar un número en ingles? - to dial a number. Repeat: to dial a number.

If you dial a number and there’s no reply, you can sometimes leave a message on voicemail.

If you can't hear someone, if they're speaking too softly, ask them to speak up. Repeat: Can you speak up please? - I'm sorry, could you speak up? - I'm afraid I can't hear you, would you mind speaking up? ¡Ojo!, despues de would you mind el verbo es gerundio. Repeat: Would you mind speaking up? Would you mind taking a message? Would you mind phoning me back? Would you mind holding?

If you get back to someone you return their call or send them an answer by email. You return the communication. Repeat: I'll get back to you tomorrow - I'll get back to you as soon as possible - Can you get back to me today? - When can you get back to me on that?

When a phone rings you pick it up. To pick up the phone means to answer the call. Repeat: The phones ringing. Can you pick it up? The opposite is to hang up. Telephones used to be on the wall many years ago and you used to hang up the phone in a similar way as you hang up your jacket or hang up your coat. Now you just press a button, but we still say hang up. The verb to hang - colgar - is irregular. It's hang - hung - hung. Repeat: He hung up on me! I was speaking and he hung up the phone!

If you get cut off on the phone the line goes dead. To cut is cortar, so the line is cut and you have to phone back, or wait for the other person to phone you back. Repeat: We were cut off. - I'm sorry, i think we were cut off. - I'm afraid we were cut off.

Of course, with VoIP - Voice over the Internet calls using Skype and similar software, communication is changing rapidly. Skype is a verb now. I'll Skype you tomorrow. Let's Skype at the weekend. Skype me when you can.

Well, that’s it for this month, so thank you very much for your time, and thank you for being part of the community of La Mansión del Inglés.

Remember, If you want to contact us you can find us on Facebook. Just search Facebook for La Mansión del Inglés and join our growing community of fans. Or send an email to: mansionteachers@yahoo.es. You can also follow us on Twitter. Our Twitter name is MansionTwit.

También tenemos dos aplicaciones para el nivel principiante y el nivel básico a la venta en la tienda de iTunes. Para encontrarlas, busca imansionauto. El precio de cada aplicación es de 2,39 euros.

Until next month then, take care, keep practising and taking your English to the next level! Bye for now!

The music in this month’s podcast was by Revolution Void, the album was The Politics of Desire and the track was Outer Orbit.

Puedes ver el cuaderno mensual de marzo , y todos los cuadernos anteriores aquí: http://www.cuadernodeingles.com/

Puedes recibir gratis nuestro Cuaderno mensual de Inglés aquí: http://www.mansioningles.net/formulario/altacuaderno.asp

 

 

 

 

 

Aprender ingles gratis con La Mansion del Ingles. Un podcast para mejorar la gramatica, el vocabulario y la pronunciacion del ingles. Una leccion del ingles con ejemplos y ejercicios.

Learn English free with podcasts from La Mansion del Ingles. Improve your grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation. This English lesson contains examples and exercises.

Hello again and thank you for downloading this Mansión Inglés podcast. This is podcast number 46 recorded for February 2012.

 Este mes, en el nivel, básico los adverbios y las expresiones de frecuencia. At intermediate level some more common collocations, and at advanced level idioms and advanced collocations. There's business vocabulary, dictation and many more activities to improve your English and take it to the next level. 

 En los podcasts mensuales hablamos de los temas, vocabulario y ejercicios que salen en nuestro cuaderno mensual. Así podáis practicar la pronunciación y repasar el material del cuaderno. Si quieres recibir gratis el cuaderno cada mes, ver la trascripción de este podcast o leer los anteriores, vete a mansioningles.com y sigue los enlaces en la página principal.

 Ok, en el nivel básico este mes, hemos estudiado los adverbios de frecuencia - Adverbs of frequency, y hemos dicho que los adverbios de frecuencia indican la frecuencia con que se realiza la acción.

Vamos a ver si te acuerdas los adverbios de frecuencia en inglés. Primero voy a decirlos en español y quiero que los dices en inglés antes que los digo yo. Luego, repítelos para practicar la pronunciación. ¿Listo? Are you ready? OK.

      siempre - always

casi siempre - almost always

normalmente - usually, normally

a menudo - often

a veces - sometimes

raremente - rarely

casi nunca - hardly ever

nunca - never

¡Muy bien! Very good. Now, Remember - acuerdate que  los adverbios estos generalmente, se colocan los adverbios de frecuencia antes del verbo principal:

¿Cómo se dice en inglés "Usualmente me levanto a las 8."? - I usually get up at 8. - repite: I usually get up at 8.

¿Cómo se dice en inglés "Siempre me levanto temprano."? - I always get up early. - repite: I always get up early.

¿Cómo se dice en inglés "Nunca me levanto tarde."? - I never get up late. - repite: I never get up late.

Nota que  los adverbios de frecuencia se ponen después del verbo "to be":

I am never late - nunca llego tarde. Con la contracción; I am cambia a I'm -  I'm never late. Repíte: I'm never late. I'm always late. I'm sometimes late.

También se puede encontrar en posición final o inicial:

Normally, I get up at 8. Repíte: Normally, I get up at 8.

I get up at 8, normally. Repíte: I get up at 8, normally.

I'm late sometimes. Repíte: I'm late sometimes.

Sometimes I'm early. Repíte: Sometimes I'm early.

Good. OK. Ahora vamos a repasar algunas  expresiones de frecuencia - y como antes, voy a decirlos en español y quiero que los dices en inglés antes que los digo yo. Luego, repítelos para practicar la pronunciación. OK. Ready? - ¿Listo?

una vez a la semana - once a week - once a week

dos veces al día - twice a day  - twice a day 

tres o cuatro veces al mes - three or four times a month - three or four times a month

todos los viernes - every Friday - every Friday

cada dos horas - every two hours - every two hours

todos los días - every day - every day

Muchas veces utilizamos los adverbios y las expresiones de frecuencia para contestar a la pregunta "How often........?" - ¿Con qué frecuencia.....?

Por ejemplo: How often do you see her? - ¿Con qué frecuencia la ves? / ¿cada cuánto la ves? - How often do you see her?

Para contestar se puede decir:

        - I see her three or four times a month.

        - I see her every day.

        - I often see her.

        - I hardly ever see her.

Escucha y repite algunos ejemplos con estas expresiones en un contexto:

I always have toast for breakfast

I never drink beer.

Do you usually go by bus?

She doesn’t often go to discos.

I rarely listen to music.

She hardly ever watches TV.

How often do you go out?

I rarely buy clothes.

They’re sometimes late.

He's never happy.

I’m always late for work.

I never have breakfast in bed.

I almost always use public transport.

We hardly ever go out.

What time do you usually finish work?

I’m never hungry in the morning.

I don’t often read the newspaper.

The food here is usually very good.

I always take sugar in my coffee.

Very good. Well done! - ¡Bien hecho!

In the intermediate section this month we looked at some common collocations in English. Let's see - vamos a ver - let's see what you remember.

A party. Do we say take, do or have a party? - Have a party. Repeat: I'm having a party next Saturday.

So, do we make an example of somebody, take an example of somebody or do an example of some one? - The collocation is make an example of somebody or some one. The judge made an example of the graffiti artist and sent him to prison for three months.

What about a favour - un favor? Is it do a favour, make a favour, take a favour or have a favour? - Do a favour. Repeat: Can you do me a favour? Hey, do me a favour and hold this for me.

Now, do we say have friends, do friends or make friends with someone? - we say make friends with. Repeat: I made a lot of friends in London.

What about investment? do an investment, take an investment or make an investment? - It's to make an investment. Repeat: That's a good investment to make.

¿y las listas? Do we do lists or make lists? Make lists. Repeat. I need to make a shopping list. Make a list of things to do tomorrow. Make a list of new vocabulary.

A mistake - do or make or take? Make. We make mistakes. We do our best not to make mistakes. Repeat: Do your best - Don't make mistakes. What's the worst mistake you've ever made?

Money? do we make or do money? Make money. We do business to make money.

And finally, a noise - un ruido - do, make, take, have a noise? We say make a noise. Shhhhh! Don't make a noise. You're dad's asleep. Repeat: He makes a lot of noise. - He's very noisy. Why are you making so much noise?

Ahora un anuncio, así que puedes hacer fast forward si no quieres escuchar. Pero no lo hagas. You should know about a special offer we have on our product page at mansioningles.com. The Complete Pack, el pack ahorro completo, de La Mansión del Inglés. ALL of our cds at a fanstastic price. All 8 of our CDs plus a free cd of 100 software programs to help you learn English. All this for only 99 Euros. You save 112 Euros, and we pay the postage wherever you are in the world. Now that’s a good deal. Es una oferta muy buena. Para ver más detalles, haz click on the cd icon on the right side of the home page at mansioningles.com.

There were more idioms this month in the advanced section. Let's see if you can remember the idioms if I say the translation in Spanish.

For example, what's the English idiom for Lo que fácil viene, fácil se va. - Easy come, easy go. - Repeat: Easy come, easy go.

What about, No hay mas de temer que una mujer despechada - It's quite difficult this one, and it has the words hell and the verb to scorn, which means desdeñar o despreciar. Do you remember?   Hell has no fury like a woman scorned. Fury is ira or furia. - Hell has no fury like a woman scorned.

What about this one, Procura lo mejor, espera lo peor y toma lo que viniere. - Hope for the best and prepare for the worst. Now that's what I call bloody good advice; Hope for the best and prepare for the worst.

Next is an idiom that my dad uses very often: Si vale la pena hacerlo, vale la pena hacerlo bien. - But my Dad is English of course and he says; Son, If a job is worth doing, it's worth doing well. Repeat: If a job is worth doing, it's worth doing well.

This next idiom is quite common, it's El que la sigue la consigue. Do you remember? If at first you don't succeed, try, try again. Repeat: If at first you don't succeed, try, try again.

Ya que estamos en el baile, bailemos. - The English equivalent has the words penny and pound in it. - In for a penny, in for a pound. Repeat: In for a penny, in for a pound.

El mundo es un panuelo. - No! we don't say the world is a handkerchief. Yes, I know panuelo is handkerchief in English, but the idiom translates as "It's a small world!" or "What a small world!" I met my next door neighbour when I was on holiday in Kenya. What a small world! - It's a small world, isn't it?

And finally we have the idiom that my mum always used when she asked me to tidy up my bedroom, put my clothes away and my games in the cupboard. Of course I didn't do it and she said; Es como hablar a la pared.- Which in English is; It's like talking to a brick wall. Repeat: It's like talking to a brick wall.

Listen and repeat the idioms again:

Easy come, easy go.

Hell has no fury like a woman scorned.

Hope for the best and prepare for the worst.

If a job's worth doing, it's worth doing well.

If at first you don't succeed, try, try again.

In for a penny, in for a pound.

It's a small world! 

It's like talking to a brick wall.

Also in the advanced section we had some common collocations. For example to take someone hostage. To take someone hostage means to keep, or retain a person or group of people until a specific demand is met (hostage in Spanish is rehén). Repeat: They robbed the bank and took 23 people hostage.

To a have a grudge against someone means tenerle/guardarle rencilla/rencor a algn. We also say to bear a grudge or hold a grudge against someone. Repeat: Why are you holding a grudge against her. You should forgive her.

If you make a mockery of something you ridiculizar algo

He made a mockery of the meeting by dressing up as a clown.

Do you remember how to say hacer daño in English? To do harm. Repeat: Those spiders won't do you any harm. They are completely harmless.

To make a stop means to have a break in the middle of a journey.

Repeat: Can we make a stop soon I'm dying to go to the toilet.

How do we say hacer una fortuna en ingés? To make a fortune. So we make money and if we make a lot of money we can make a fortune. Repeat: He made a fortune out of re-selling old coat hangers.

To take the lead means llevar/tomar la delantera

Repeat: Alonso has taken the lead in the last lap of the race.

We need to take the lead in the software market.

To do well means tener éxito (opposite = to do badly). Repeat: He's doing very well in New York, you know.

I'm so sorry to hear your company's doing badly.

¿Como se dice hacer un modelo? - to make a model. Repeat: Can you make me a plastic model of the project?

What about research - investigar, hacer investigaciones. Do we say do research or make research? - do research. Repeat: I'm doing scientific research for my degree. - Which web sites do you use when you do research?

In the Business English section this month we looked at some business English vocabulary.

Do you remember what you have to fill out or complete when you apply for a job or a course? It's a special kind of form - an application form. Repeat: Application form. To fill out an application form. The phrasal verb to fill out means rellenar. Sometimes you hear fill in. Fill in a form or fill out a form. You usually send your CV with an application form.

How do you say 'puesto de trabajo' in English? - a post or a position. You apply for a post or a position in a company. Repeat. I'm applying for the post of office manager.

Another word for company (empresa) is firm - F-I-R-M. The Firm was a good film starring Tom Cruise in which he was a young lawyer. Tom Cruise joined a successful law firm and Gene Hackman was his boss. It was a good film. The Firm - The company. Repeat: How much is your firm paying you? What's the name of your firm? What does your firm do? What firm do you work for? Do you work for a large firm?

If your application is successful. If your CV is impressive, you may be asked to attend an interview - una entrevista - Repeat: to attend an interview. Can you attend an interview next Thursday? When can you come in for an interview?

Another way to say “Why did you hand in your notice?” is  “Why did you resign?” When you hand in your notice or give notice you formally tell your company that you intend to leave. Some firms ask you to give 2 weeks notice, some firms require you to tell them one month before you leave. They require one months notice.

Job candidates are often asked to provide references from previous teachers or employers. A reference is written by a person who can write about the skills and qualifications that you have for the job you are applying for.

A person who lives outside a city and travels into the centre to work every day is called a commuter. It's sometimes quite expensive to live in the city centre, so many people live in the suburbs outside the city and travel in to work. They commute to work on a daily basis. When I lived in London, I had a 45-minute commute into the city where my office was.

Regular annual increases in your salary are called increments - increments. and another way to say “What’s your job?” is "What do you do for a living?” or just "What do you do?" Repeat: What do you do? - What do you do for a living?” If an American asks you "What do you make?" He or she is asking about your salary - How much do you earn? What do you make? but this question is not very polite unless you know someone quite well.

The extra things you receive in addition to your salary, such as a company car, health benefits and travel expenses, are called fringe benefits or perks. Repeat: What perks do you get with your job? What are the fringe benefits? Some companies offer such perks as a company car, dental treatment, travel costs and they pay for you to stay in the best 5 star hotels. As a teacher, my perks include a free pen!

Well, that’s it for this month, so thank you very much for your time, and thank you for being part of the community of La Mansión del Inglés.

Remember, If you want to contact us you can find us on Facebook. Just search Facebook for La Mansión del Inglés and join our growing community of fans. Or send an email to: mansionteachers@yahoo.es. You can also follow us on Twitter. Our Twitter name is MansionTwit.

También tenemos dos aplicaciones para el nivel principiante y el nivel básico a la venta en la tienda de iTunes. Para encontrarlas, busca imansionauto. El precio de cada aplicación es de 2,39 euros.

Until next month then, take care, keep practising and taking your English to the next level! Bye for now!

The music in this month’s podcast was by Revolution Void, the album was The Politics of Desire and the track was Outer Orbit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Aprender ingles gratis con La Mansion del Ingles. Un podcast para mejorar la gramatica, el vocabulario y la pronunciacion del ingles. Una leccion del ingles con ejemplos y ejercicios.

Learn English free with podcasts from La Mansion del Ingles. Improve your grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation. This English lesson contains examples and exercises.

Hello again and Happy New Year! Thank you for downloading this Mansión Inglés podcast. This is podcast number 45 recorded for January 2012. I hope that together we can improve your English and take it to the next level.

This month we have más verbos y vocabulario en el nivel básico. At intermediate level some grammar - the causative have - and some cinema vocabulary. There's a video to watch on YouTube about applying for a job in the business section. Idioms and expressions for advanced students and much much more.

En los podcasts mensuales hablamos de los temas, vocabulario y ejercicios que salen en nuestro cuaderno mensual. Así podáis practicar la pronunciación y repasar el material del cuaderno. Si quieres recibir gratis el cuaderno cada mes, ver la trascripción de este podcast o leer los anteriores, vete a mansioningles.com y sigue los enlaces en la página principal.

En el nivel básico hemos practicado algunos verbos que gastamos con mucha frecuencia en ingles. Escucha y repite las frases siguientes.

to speak - hablar - My friend Jimmy speaks French, he speaks German and he speaks Japanese.

to play - tocar - Paula plays the piano. - Denis plays the drums - Gordon plays the guitar and Barry plays the bass.

to do - hacer - Roberto does his homework.

to like - gustar - Spanish people like rice. I like fish and chips

to write - escribir - Please write your name, Can you write your address? Please write your passport number.

to use - utilizar - Pepito uses Facebook I use Twitter - Do you use Twitter? Follow us on Twitter - Siguenos en Twitter

to go - ir - Dave goes swimming after work.

to study - estudiar - My girlfriend studies business

to wear - llevar - My dad wears socks and sandals - in the summer!

to drive - conducir - Gary drives a blue car.

Very good! - ¡Muy bien!

Ahora escucha y repite los grupos de vocabulario.

Monday Tuesday Wednesday, Thursday Friday Saturday

May, June, July, August, September

Summer, autumn (UK) Fall (US), winter, spring

England-English, Spain-Spanish, Germany-German, France-French, Italy-Italian.

go-went-gone, speak-spoke, spoken, fly-flew-flown, see-saw. seen, have-had, had, drive-drove-driven.

Fantastic!

In the intermediate section this month there is a grammar point that may be a bit difficult for some listeners, so I'll repeat it here. It's the causative have and we use it when someone does something for us and we don't so it ourselves.

For example. most people do not cut their hair themselves. Do you cut your hair by yourself? In the bathroom in front of the mirror? Well maybe, but probably not. You probably go to a hairdresser (una peluquería), don't you?

So, you don't cut your hair. You personally don't cut your hair, you have your hair cut. You have your hair cut by a hairdresser.

Many years ago when I was young, and poor, I painted my flat myself, I actually worked as a painter for a few months. So I know how to paint and so I painted my flat. Now I'm older, I have a little more money and I pay someone to paint my flat. I have my flat painted. I had may flat painted about 6 months ago, actually. I can say I have my flat painted or I get my flat painted. I had my flat painted or I got my flat painted. Tiene la misma significado pero el get es un poco más informal.

Entonces el causative es el verbo have (or get) + el objecto + el participio pasado - I had (el verbo have) my flat (el objeto) painted (el participio)

Repeat: I have my flat painted - You should get your teeth checked - I must have my back examined - We had air-conditioning installed - Where did you get your hair cut? - I'm having my car serviced (a car service is una revisión del coche) Repeat: - I'm having my car serviced - Where does he have his suits made? - You should get this carpet cleaned - I'm getting my eyes checked - Why don't you have this TV fixed? - I got my ears pierced - I want to get my nose pierced.

Ok, moving on to cinema vocabulary. Now, I'll say some words in Spanish, in my bad pronunciation, that are connected to the cinema, and I want you to say the English translation before I do. Then, repeat the word to practise pronunciation. Ready?

banda sonora - soundtrack

papel - role

guión - script

ensayo - rehearsal - the verb is to rehearse - ensayar - to rehearse for a play, concert or film

público, espectadores - audience  (remember it's audience for the cinema, for music concerts, plays etc and spectators for football matches and other sports events.)

critica - review (remember, critic is a false friend, un amigo falso - critic is the person and review is the thing the critic writes or says about the film, book or play.)

reparto - cast

Ok, let’s see if you can remember the idioms from this month’s cuaderno selection. I’ll say an idiom in Spanish and you say the equivalent idiom in English before I do. Then you should repeat the idiom in English to practice pronunciation. I'll give you a clue (una pista) by saying a word that's in the idiom. Ok, ready? Oh, and before I start I apologise in advance for my bad Spanish pronunciation.

Cuando hay hambre, no hay mal pan / pan duro. - PORT - Any port in a storm.

A todos les llega su momento de gloria. - DOG - Every dog has its day.

Sobre gustos, no hay nada escrito. - STROKES - Different strokes for different folks.

Los genios pensamos igual. - GREAT - Great minds think alike.

El necio es atrevido y el sabio comedido - FOOLS - Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.

Quien paga elige. - PIPER - He who pays the piper calls the tune.

Also in the advanced section we looked at some every day expressions that you may know the meaning of but may not necessarily use in your normal day to day English. I hope you'll choose on or two and start using them now when you speak.

So, the first one was Each and every one of you. You can also say every last one or every single one. It means, of course, every individual in a group, for example; Each and every student must register by tomorrow, or I've sent every last one of my Christmas cards, or Every single one of his answers was wrong. All of these phrases are generally used for emphasis.

One by one means one at a time, uno por uno - I searched through the cupboards one by one but I couldn't find the cup you bought me.

Second to none - the best - lo máximo, insuperable - Our podcasts are second to none. Actually, our podcasts are second to many other, better podcasts, but I like the example! Perhaps our enthusiasm and motivation is second to none. What we lack in quality, we make up for in enthusiasm (to make up for means compensar)

We've got an awful lot to do, an awful lot is a great amount or a great number - muchísimas cosas tenemos que hacer - We've got an awful lot to do. There are an awful lot of people in the queue.

Precious little is the opposite - I've got precious little time - not much time, hardly any time - escasísimo - You've got precious little to worry about.

Either way means de cualquier manera - You can fly or go by train. Either way the trip is going to be expensive.

Make the most of means to take advantage of. I think in Spanish it's something like sacar partido de algo or sacar lo más posible. You only get one chance so make the most of it. These podcasts are free, so make the most of them.

A good few means several. For example, at the conference, I was surprised to meet a good few people who had heard of our company.

All too often means something like demasiado seguido. For example, drug addicts, all too often, steal from their families to get money for drugs. All too often.

Ahora un anuncio, así que puedes hacer fast forward si no quieres escuchar. Pero no lo hagas. You should know about a special offer we have on our product page at mansioningles.com. The Complete Pack el pack ahorro completo de La Mansión del Inglés. ALL of our cds at a fanstastic price. All 8 of our CDs plus a free cd of 100 software programs to help you learn English. All this for only 99 Euros. You save 112 Euros, and we pay the postage wherever you are in the world. Now that’s a good deal. Es una oferta muy buena. Para ver más detalles, haz click on the cd icon on the right side of the home page at mansioningles.com.

Now, Business English. I hope you liked the video exercise about applying for a job and I hope it was useful. Oh, and thanks to LinguaTV.com for allowing us to link to the video. I think there were some useful expressions in the video. Listen and repeat some of them with me now. Fíjate en la entonación de las preguntas y intenta copiarla:

Is it a full time or a part time position?

What would my responsibilities be?

Can I make an appointment for an interview?

What is your educational background?

What work experience do you have?

Could you please tell me what the job would entail?

Could you please email me your résumé?

Could you please email me your references?

Could you give me your email address please?

Could you please spell your last name for me?

Good, Ok. Now, résumé in Spanish is currículum. I think it's from the French word. It sounds French to me résumé. In British English we say CV, which stands for the Latin currículum vitae, CV in the UK, résumé in the US. Can you send me your CV? Could you please email me your CV?

Ok, now repeat these other useful phrases and questions from the video:

May I please speak with Miss Thomson?

Ok, put her through please.

Jane Thomson speaking. How can I help you? - How can I help you?

I'm sorry, but I didn't catch your name.

Would you mind if I first ask you some questions?

Can you repeat your name please?

I'm pretty good at organising things.

I'm fluent in Spanish and Italian.

That sounds like an exciting challenge to me.

I'll send you my CV within the hour.

Thank you very much for your time.

Well, that’s it for this month, so thank you very much for your time, and thank you for being part of the community of La Mansión del Inglés.

Remember, If you want to contact us you can find us on Facebook. Just search Facebook for La Mansión del Inglés and join our growing community of fans. Or send an email to: mansionteachers@yahoo.es. You can also follow us on Twitter. Our Twitter name is MansionTwit.

Until next month then, take care, keep practising and taking your English to the next level! Bye for now!

The music in this month’s podcast was by Revolution Void, the album was The Politics of Desire and the track was Outer Orbit.

 

Puedes ver el cuaderno mensual de enero 2012, y todos los cuadernos anteriores aquí: http://www.cuadernodeingles.com/

Puedes recibir gratis nuestro Cuaderno mensual de Inglés cada mes aquí: http://www.mansioningles.net/formulario/altacuaderno.asp

 

 

 

 

Aprender ingles gratis con La Mansion del Ingles. Un podcast para mejorar la gramatica, el vocabulario y la pronunciacion del ingles. Una leccion del ingles con ejemplos y ejercicios.

Learn English free with podcasts from La Mansion del Ingles. Improve your grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation. This English lesson contains examples and exercises.

Hello again to all of you and welcome to Mansión Inglés Christmas podcast. A very merry Christmas to all of you! This is podcast number 44, recorded for December 2011. Taking your English to the next level and into the year 2012.

En los podcasts mensuales hablamos de los temas, vocabulario y ejercicios que salen en nuestro cuaderno mensual. Así podáis practicar la pronunciación y repasar el material del cuaderno. Si quieres recibir gratis el cuaderno o leer los anteriores, vete a mansioningles.com y sigue los enlaces en la página principal.

Bueno, en el cuaderno este mes tenemos mucho vocabulario de navidad, por supuesto - of course! -y algunas hechos interesantes de la historia de navidad. La canción de navidad este año es "Do They know It's Christmas?" by Band Aid. We also have some commonly confused words for advanced students, and in the business section I tell you a true story about a Company Christmas party I had when I worked in the UK many years ago.

Pero vamos a empezar en el nivel básico con la pronunciacóon del vocabulario en el primer ejercicio del cuaderno.

¿Cómo se dice en inglés pastel de navidad? - Christmas cake - repeat Christmas cake.

¿cómo se dice arból de navidad? - Christmas tree

y muñeco de nieve? - a snowman - repeat - snowman.

Papa Noel es Father Christmas y también Santa Claus

¿Como se dice regalo? - present. So Christmas presents son....regalos de Navidad. Repeat: Christmas presents. Cartas de navidad son Christmas cards y un reno es reindeer - repeat: reindeer. How many reindeer does Santa have? Hmmm there's Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, and Blitzen. That's 8. So Santa has 8 reindeer.

Santa goes down the chimney. Chimney is similar in Spanish - chimenea. Repeat: Santa goes down the chimney. He takes presents down the chimney. Children put a Christmas stocking, or calcetin de navidad, above the chimney. Santa puts presents in the stocking. Sweets are caramelos, dulces. Repeat: sweets. Se dice sweets in British English y candy in American English. Sometimes Santa puts sweets in the Christmas stocking.

Listen and repeat - escucha y repite:

Father Christmas is too fat.

There's a reindeer in the chimney.

There aren't many presents this year.

Where are the presents?

The presents are under the tree.

There are some sweets in the Christmas stocking.

Look, it's snowing! Let's make a snowman.

The 25th of December is Christmas Day. The 24th of December is Christmas Eve. What's the 26th of December? - Boxing Day. Boxing Day es un día festivo en Gran Bretaña. Repeat Christmas Day, Christmas Eve, Boxing Day. January the 1st is New Year's Day and December the 31st is New Year's Eve. New Year's Eve is the last day of the year.

Listen and repeat some more Christmas expressions from the intermediate section:

Christmas decorations

Christmas pudding

the three wise men

Christmas crackers

carol singers

Christmas stocking

Can you believe that the English parliament once passed a law that made Christmas illegal? Well yes, In 1647 all festivities were banned (prohibido) by Oliver Cromwell. He thought that it was immoral to celebrate and have fun on a holy day (un día santo=a holy day). The ban was lifted only when Cromwell lost power in 1660. So it's not only these days that governments are stupid.

Another interesting Christmas fact is that in Russia it was forbidden to celebrate Christmas until 1992. This is because Christmas celebrations were banned after the Russian Revolution in 1917.

Saint Nicholas is the patron saint (el patrón) of sailors (marineros), merchants (comerciantes), archers (arqueros), thieves (ladrónes), children (niños), and students.

On average, only 13 per cent of British families attend church on Christmas Day. Only 13% in Britain go to church.

The first Christmas tree with lights was in 1882. It was made by a friend of Thomas Edison, the famous inventor, and it was displayed on Fifth Avenue in New York City. The very first Christmas tree.

And the film Bad Santa starring Billy Bob Thornton, the ex-husband of Angelina Jolie, holds the record for the most swearwords (tacos) in a Christmas film. But it's in the uncut version which may not be easy to find. I've already tried.

Now listen to some words and expressions from this exercise in Spanish, and try to say the English translation before I do. Ready?

aprobar una ley - to pass a law

prohibir - to ban - Christmas was banned - smoking is banned (prohibido).

quitar una prohibición - to lift a ban - the ban was lifted.

sabio - wise - He's a wise man.

los Reyes Magos - The Three Wise men

un par de medias - a pair of stockings

calcetín navideño - Christmas stocking

prohibido - forbidden  

bombilla - light bulb - B-U-L-B light bulb

nuez - walnut

I enjoyed writing the exercise for the Christmas song this year, "Do They Know It's Christmas", and I also enjoyed watching it on YouTube. I remember when Bob Geldoff from the Boomtown Rats and Midge Ure from Ultravox formed Band Aid in the 1980's. And now all those stars have changed so much: Sting, Phil Collins, Bono, George Michael. Paul Weller and others from some great British bands like Status Quo, Duran Duran, Spandau Ballet. But now I'm just showing my age!

Listen and repeat these words from the song that have the same vowel sound - el mismo sonido vocal:

sun / ones

flow / grows

tears / fear

afraid / shade

instead /spread

smile /life

Listen to some words from the song in Spanish, and try to say the English translation before I do. Ok?

sombra - shade or shadow - shade es un lugar sin sol. If the sun is too strong, sit in the shade. - and shadow es una proyección - las sombras de los árboles - the shadows of the trees, for example.

abundancia - plenty - There's plenty of food.

alegría - joy

extender, difundir - to spread - you spread butter on bread, for example, or spread joy and happiness at Christmas time.

oración - prayer - Say a prayer for me. ¿Cómo se dice rezar en inglés? - to pray - They go to church to pray

lagrimas - tears - How do you say llorar in English? - to cry - I cried for you - So cry is the verb and tears, the  noun, the water that comes from your eyes when you cry - you can also cry tears of joy if you're happy.

fluir - is to flow - a river flows and if you cry a lot, tears can flow

picadura - sting - the verb and the noun are the same - to sting and a sting - a bee or a wasp can sting you. So can scorpions. In the song they sang about picadura amarga - bitter sting - the bitter sting of tears - "The only water flowing is the bitter sting of tears."

¿Cómo se dice en inglés en vez de, en lugar de? - instead of - Repeat:  Instead of - I'll have tea instead of coffee - Let's go to the beach instead of the pub - Nah - Let's go to the pub instead of the beach!

regalo - gift - Before we translated regalo as present, but you can also say gift. I've got a gift for you - Please accept this gift from all of us.

da de comer, alimentar - is to feed - food -F-O-O-D is a noun, and to feed - F-E-E-D is the verb. - Don't forget to feed the dog - How often do you have to feed a baby?

In the advanced section we had some advanced vocabulary. Do you remember these words?

Sleigh - Eight reindeer pull Santa's sleigh. Sleigh is trineo. The spelling is a bit strange - S-L-E-I-G-H. Repeat: sleigh - Here's a definition from Wikipedia with two similar words: "A sled - S-L-E-D, sledge - S-L-E-D-G-E, or sleigh is a land vehicle with a smooth underside or possessing a separate body supported by two or more smooth, relatively narrow, longitudinal runners that travels by sliding across a surface."

Holly in Spanish is acebo and mistletoe is muérdago. Repeat: mistletoe. It's traditional to kiss someone under the mistletoe. When I lived in London I used this tradition at Christmas with mixed results, especially with strangers, and especially after a few drinks!

Eggnog is a popular Christmas drink. It's made with milk or cream, sugar, beaten eggs and liquor such as brandy, rum or maybe whisky with also some cinnamon or nutmeg on top. I've never liked it much, It's much too sweet for me, but my grandmother liked it. I prefer a glass or two of Jack Daniels or single malt whiskey.

Mice pies are small round pastry tarts filled with mincemeat (carne picada). I don't like them, but I love Christmas pudding. You would probably find mince pies, Christmas pudding and Christmas cake in a Christmas hamper. A hamper is a cesta - Christmas hamper - cesta de navidad. Companies in the UK used to give Christmas hampers to their employees when I lived their, but with the recession I'm not sure how many companies still do this. many companies probably can't afford it.

Do you know how to say pesebre in English? manger. The baby Jesus lay in a manger.

In the confusing words exercise you could find a lot of the answers from the prepositions that go together with the words. Try to remember the prepositions that go with words. For example, insist -  He insisted ON seeing the manager. Accustomed TO - He's not accustomed to driving on the right hand side of the road. To be familiar WITH someone or something - Are you familiar with the law? To be aware OF - Are you aware of the rules? To be used TO something - Are you used to the food?

Instead of, apart from etc.

If you make an announcement, you say something publicly. I have an announcement to make. We're getting married. The Prime Minister made an announcement on TV last night.

How do you say warning? - A warning is una advertencia. Let this be a warning - que esto sirva de advertencia

It happened without warning - sin previo aviso

Advice is consejo and it's an uncountable noun so we say a piece of advice or some advice. Let me give you a piece of advice, son.

A notice can be a written sign un aviso to put up a notice in the street, for example.

You can take notice of someone - hacer caso - or not take notice. Don't take any notice of him, he's an idiot!

at work you can hand in your notice if you decide to leave your job- (de dimisión o despido) preaviso: I have to give a month's notice - tengo que avisar con un mes de antelación.

You can also do something at short notice - con poca antelación.

until further notice means hasta nuevo aviso - There will be no trains leaving this station until further notice.

Do you say reunión in Spanish or reencuentro? - a reunion of school friends. For example,  when you get together and meet up after a long time. You can have a family reunion - una reunión familiar.

In the dictionary newscaster is presentador de informativo or locutor. I also found busto parlante which is an expression I hadn't heard before.

If you get lost you ask for directions, except if you're a man in which case you insist you know the way and you keep driving until you find your way again or run out of petrol!

Signs can be carteles, pancartas, símbolos or signos, but a road sign es una señal, in Spain anyway.

In the business English section I told a true story about when I used to work in an insurance office in London, and every Christmas we would have a firm's Christmas party. Firm F-I-R-M is another word for company - empresa. We don't often use the word enterprise when we speak about companies in English, although it does also mean empresa.

 

I'll read the text to you. Try to remember as much of the text as possible because I will test you after.

The Firm's Christmas Party

I used to work for a very large and successful insurance company in London. Every year, in the middle of December, we would have a Christmas party, paid for by the company.

They had a lot of money. Back in the 1980's I suppose our office alone employed over 600 people, and there must have been around 1,000 at the party.

It usually took place on Friday evening. This meant that no work was done after lunch, because lunch would be in the pub! We'd start drinking about 1pm and after 3 or 4 drinks, we'd get on the train to the centre of London or take the coach provided by the firm.

The venue was a huge theatre and dance hall in the Strand in the centre of London, but we wouldn't go straight there. Each department generally went with their workmates to a pub nearby for more drinks. I remember that there were mostly men at the 'pre-party' drink. Maybe the girls were getting ready and putting on evening dresses and make up. There was a special atmosphere in the pubs at Christmas time. People in London actually spoke to each other and were friendly. They lost their English coldness and stuffiness.

When we finally arrived at the party most of us were drunk, and very hungry. The food was always good, but I mainly remember the music and the incredible amount of alcohol everyone consumed. I don't remember anyone being sober.

Boyfriends, girlfriends, husbands and wives were banned from the event, and it was common for employees to 'pair-up' for a kiss and a dance for the evening. Things were a little crazy. Only once a year, at Christmas time, 1,000 office workers stopped being boring and English and actually enjoyed themselves, they let their hair down and went a bit wild!

 

Ok, listen again and when I stop speaking, try to remember the next word and say it before I do. Ready?

 

The Firm's Christmas Party

I used to work for a very large and ...............successful insurance company in............ London. Every year, in the middle of ..............December, we would have a Christmas party, paid for by the .............company.

They had a lot of ............money. Back in the 1980's I suppose our office alone employed over 600 ............people, and there must have been around 1,000 at the party.

It usually took place on Friday ..............evening. This meant that no work was done after .............lunch, because lunch would be in the ...........pub! We'd start ............drinking about 1pm and after 3 or 4 drinks, we'd get on the .............train to the centre of London or take the ..............coach provided by the firm.

The venue was a huge theatre and dance hall in the Strand in the centre of ..........London, but we wouldn't go straight there. Each department generally went with their............ workmates to a pub nearby for more ............drinks. I remember that there were mostly .........men at the 'pre-party' drink. Maybe the girls were getting ready and putting on evening .........dresses and .........make up. There was a special ..........atmosphere in the pubs at Christmas time. People actually spoke to each other and were ............friendly. They lost their English coldness and stuffiness.

When we finally arrived at the party most of us were ..........drunk, and very ..........hungry. The food was always .........good, but I mainly remember the ........music and the incredible amount of ...........alcohol everyone consumed. I don't remember anyone being ...........sober.

Boyfriends, girlfriends, husbands and ..........wives were ...........banned from the event, and it was common for employees to 'pair-up' for a ........kiss and a ........dance for the evening. Things were a little .........crazy. Only once a year, at Christmas time, 1,000 office workers stopped being ...........boring and English and actually enjoyed themselves, let their hair ...........down and went a bit ...........wild! (¡Muy bien! - wonderful!)

 

Let's finish with some Christmas expressions. Listen to some expressions and try to say the English translation before I do. Ready?

¡Feliz Navidad!  - Happy Christmas! or Merry Christmas!

Papá Noel - Father Christmas or Santa Claus

regalo de navidad - Christmas present or Christmas gift

muñeco de nieve - snowman

chimenea - Chimney

una estrella – star

un burro - a donkey

el acebo - holly

el muérdago - mistletoe

el pavo - turkey  

un villancico - Christmas carol

una cesta de Navidad - a Christmas hamper

pastor - shepherd

Nochebuena  - Christmas Eve 

Día de navidad - Christmas Day

diciembre 26 – Boxing Day

Nochevieja - New Year's Eve

El día de año nuevo - New Year's Day

¡Felices fiestas! - Season's greetings!

Salud! - Cheers!

¡Feliz Navidad y Próspero Año Nuevo!  - Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

¿Qué te regalaron para Navidad?  - What did you get for Christmas?

 

Well, that’s it for this month, and for this year. Thanks to all of you for all your support during 2011. And, if you want to contact us you can find us on Facebook. Just search Facebook for La Mansión del Inglés and join our growing community of fans. Or send an email to: mansionteachers@yahoo.es. You can also follow us on Twitter. Our Twitter name is MansionTwit.

 

Until next month then, take care and keep practising to take your English to the next level! Bye for now and Merry Christmas!

 

Puedes ver el cuaderno mensual de diciembre aquí: http://www.cuadernodeingles.com/cuaderno_mes/versionweb_mesesanteriores/cuaderno_11_dic.htm

Puedes ver todos los cuadernos anteriores aquí. http://www.cuadernodeingles.com/

Puedes recibir gratis nuestro Cuaderno mensual de Inglés aquí. http://www.mansioningles.net/formulario/altacuaderno.asp

 

The music in this month’s podcast was by Revolution Void, the album was The Politics of Desire and the track was Outer Orbit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Aprender ingles gratis con La Mansion del Ingles. Un podcast para mejorar la gramatica, el vocabulario y la pronunciacion del ingles. Una leccion del ingles con ejemplos y ejercicios.

Learn English free with podcasts from La Mansion del Ingles. Improve your grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation. This English lesson contains examples and exercises.

Hello again to all of you and welcome to Mansión Inglés podcast number 43, recorded for November 2011. Taking your English to the next level.

En el nivel básico este mes hemos practicado los verbos en el presente. Vamos a comprobar el significado de los verbos.

¿Cómo se dice fumar en inglés? – to smoke. Do you smoke? Repite: Do you smoke? I smoke, she smokes, he…smokes. He smokes 2 packs a day. – 2 paquetes al día. Repite: He smokes 2 packs a day.

¿Cómo se dice trabajar? – to work. I work, you work, he….works, she?....works. She works hard –trabaja duro – Repite: She works hard - she works in a café – Repite: - she works in a café - she works at home.

¿Qué es el verbo beber en ingles? – to drink – He drinks a lot of beer. Repite: He drinks a lot of beer. I don’t drink wine – I don’t drink tea or coffee – Do you drink tea?

 ¿Cómo se dice “Ir al cine” en ingles?: go to the cinema. Go to – go to - go to work – Repite:  go to work - go to school – go to university – El pasado de go es…. went – I went to New York - I went to New York last year - Repite:   I went to New York last year – We went to Paris on Holiday. Where did you go last weekend? – Last weekend – go last weekend - Where did you go last weekend?

 Escuchar en ingles es: to listen. No olvides que normalmente listen lleva la preposición ‘to’. I listen to music every day. Repite:  I listen to music every day.  Do you listen to the BBC? You should listen to your mum. – Un significado del verbo tener es have. – I have - I have a new car.

El uso de ‘got' - `I've got a new car' está mucho más extendido en el inglés británico que en el inglés americano. Los americanos prefieren la forma `I have’. Entonces,  “I’ve got” en el ingles británico, “I have” en el ingles americano. Repite: I have a new car' – I have, you have, we have, he….has, she….has, it…..has, they….have. They have five children – Repite: They have five children or They’ve got five children. Repite: They’ve got five children. - They’ve got five children.

El verbo To watch es mirar o ver – Watch me! – mirame – repite: Watch me! - My mum watches TV in the morning. Fichate en la pronunciación de la tercera persona he watches, she watches - Repite: he watches – he watches TV - she watches - she watches - she watches TV in the morning.

¿Cómo se dice leer en ingles? – to read – I read photography magazines. Repite: I read photography magazines. – magazines = revistas - I can’t read French. Repite: I can’t read French. - Do you read newspapers? Repite: Do you read newspapers?

El verbo vivir es to live. Where do you live? Repite: Where do you live?  - I live in Valencia. My family lives in Spain.

Very good! - ¡Muy bién!

También hemos practicado him, her, it and them. Listen and repeat - Escucha y repite:

Do you like Swimming?   Yes, I love it.

What do you think of Lady Gaga?  I don’t like her

Do I like chocolate cookies? Yes I love them

What do I think about golf? I hate it

Monday mornings?  I hate them

Do you like shopping for clothes? Yes, I love it

Do you like Colin Farrell? Yes, I really like him

What’s your opinion of classical music? I don’t really like it

What do you think about cats? I don’t like them

Do I like getting up early? I don’t mind it

Do you like horror films? No, I hate them

Jennifer Lopez? I love her

Escucha de nuevo y contesta las preguntas usando him, her, it o them.

Do you like Swimming?  

What do you think of Lady Gaga? 

Do you like chocolate cookies?

What do you think about golf?

Do you like Monday mornings? 

Do you like shopping for clothes?

Do you like Colin Farrell?

What’s your opinion of classical music?

What do you think about cats?

Do you like getting up early?

Do you like horror films?

Do you like Jennifer Lopez?

Great! – Now, moving on to our intermediate section this month we looked at Comparatives and Superlatives

But before that I want to talk to you about our PACK COMPLETO. The Mansion Ingles Pack ahorro complete. It’s a special offer of ALL of our cds at a great price. All 9 Mansion Ingles cds. There’s a business English cd, a cd for the Cambridge FCE exam. There’s Mansion Travel and many more. 9 cds for only 99 Euros. You save 112 Euros, and we pay the postage wherever you are in the world. Now that’s a good deal. Es una oferta muy buena. For more details, and to order the cds, just click the cd icon on the right side of the home page at mansioningles.com.

Ok, back to the English and comparatives and superlatives. Superlatives have the definite article the in front of them. For example: The fastest – lo más rápido - The fastest - the oldest, the smallest, the most expensive. If the word is quite long, say 3 syllables or more, use most and least (most=más y least= menos). The most expensive, the least attractive. If the word is short, add –est: The smallest, the nicest, the ugliest etc.

Listen and repeat:

I like you the most. – This is the worst coffee I’ve ever tasted – My phone was cheaper than yours. – Which is the best Beatles song? – Where’s the nearest supermarket? – This jacket is much warmer – He’s the most intelligent person I know. – He’s funnier than you – iPhones are more expensive than Nokia phones. – Of all the cities in the UK, I like Birmingham the least. – I’m better at art than science.

Great! – Ok, now let’s look at some confusing vocabulary. First the differerence between to meet and to know because in Spanish it’s the same verb – conocer – Como se dice “Me algro a conocerte” en inglés – Nice to meet you. Repeat: Nice to meet you. – Use the verb to meet when it’s the first time you meet someone. – la primera vez – the first time. After the first time, after the introduction, you know the person.- Lo conoces – you know them -  Here are two examples: I met Maria last July – I’ve known her for 4 months. Repeat: When did you meet her? How long have you known her?

Another confusing pair of words is to lend and to borrow. You lend TO someone and borrow FROM someone. So, the bank lends you money. You borrow money from the bank. Repeat: Can I borrow your pen? - Can you lend me your pen? David lent me his camera. – I borrowed this camera from David.

Next are the two verbs to listen and to hear. As I said at the beginning of the podcast, listen is often followed by to. Repeat: listen to music – listen to the news – Listen to this!

Listening describes an intentional activity. Lo haces a propósito -  When you are listening, you are actively trying to hear something.

But hearing is something that happens without any special effort. You can hear something even when you don't want to hear it and don't try to hear it.

Listen: - I listened outside the door, but I couldn't hear what they were saying inside.”

  “His story was so long and boring that I stopped listening, until suddenly I heard my name.”

The verbs to earn and to win can also be confusing because they can both be translated as ganar in Spanish. Ha ganado la lotería – Repeat: He’s won the lottery – Él gana más que yo – Repeat: He earns more than me. - Do you earn a good living? - ¿Ganas mucho? - Do you earn a good living?

To look like means to resemble physically – parecerse a – Repeat: I look like my dad – My sister looks like my mum - Who do you look like? He looks a bit like Tom Cruise.

The verbs to wear and to dress can be confusing also. To wear translates as llevar. Repeat: What are you wearing tonight? – He always wears that old brown jacket. – That’s a nice ring you’re wearing.

Dress, as a noun, means vestido and to get dressed is vestirse. The phrasal verb to dress up means to dress smartly – ponerse elegante – Repeat: Are you dressing up for the party tomorrow? Do I have to dress up? – fancy dress es un disfraz.

 

In the advanced section this month we looked at some words that we can use to describe anger.

To go berserk means ponerse como un loco. Listen and repeat:

I went berserk when I found out. – Why are you going berserk? What happened?

Heated and argument like to collocate. If an argument is heated, there are some strong opinions and feelings involved. Repeat: We had a heated argument about politics.

Cross C-R-O-S-S means angry, enfadado, enojado. To get cross is enfadarse, enojarse. Repeat. Why are you cross with me? Don’t do that or you’ll make me cross – It makes me so cross – me da rabía – It makes me so cross.

How do you say furio en inglés? Rage – R-A-G-E. Rage is violent anger and the expression to fly into a rage means to become very angry. Repeat: My dad flew into a rage. – montó en cólera – He flew into a rage. Why are you in such a rage? – Blind rage is extreme anger – ira ciega - If something is all the rage it’s popular at the moment. Es el ultimo grito – Lady Gaga is all the rage at the moment.

If someone blows their top, they lose their temper. To blow one’s top is an informal way of saying to get angry or lose one’s temper. Repeat: He blew his top when he found out.

 

Ok, let’s see if you remember the idioms from this month’s cuaderno selection. I’ll say an idiom in Spanish and you say the equivalent idiom in English before I do. Then you should repeat the idiom in English to practice pronunciation. Ok, ready? So,

“Quien la hace, la paga.” - “What goes around comes around.”

“Yo tengo una tía que toca la guitarra.” - “What does that have to do with the price of tea in China?”

“Mas de un cocinero, se echa a perder el quiso” - “Too many cooks spoil the broth."

“La ausencia es al amor lo que el aire al fuego”, o “Apaga el pequeño y aviva el grande" - “Absence makes the heart grow fonder.”

“Con un cambio de actividad se renuevan las energias.” - “A change is as good as a rest.”

“A los tontos no les dura el dinero.” - “A fool and his money are soon parted.” 

“Las palabras se las lleva el viento.” - “Actions speak louder than words.”

“Mucho ruido y pocas nueces.” - “All mouth and no trousers.”

(I’m sorry about my bad Spanish pronunciation!)

 

In the Business English section this month we looked at ways of changing arrangements and appointments. Listen and repeat the expressions.

I’m sorry, I can’t make it. – Can you make it tomorrow?

Does Thursday afternoon work for you? Does it suit you? Yes it works for me – Si, esto esta bien - Yes it works for me - Yes, that works.

I afraid I’m completely snowed under at the moment. – to be snowed under – I can’t make it I’m sorry. I’m really snowed under. – I’m too busy – I’m snowed under.

I’ll get back in touch next week. – Can we get back in touch soon? – Let’s stay in touch – Don’t lose touch, will you?

Let’s leave it open for now – Can we leave it open? I think we should leave it open until next month.

How about – How about discussing it at lunch? – How about meeting next Wednesday? – How about having lunch tomorrow? – How about going for a drink after work?

Something’s come up - I’m really sorry, but something’s come up – to come up – sugir – something came up during the meeting – Has something come up?

To put it off - Can we put it off until Tuesday? The phrasal verb to put off means postpone or delay – aplazar – They’ve put off launching the new product. - Han aplazado el lanzamiento del nuevo producto.

Repeat: Can we put off the meeting? – Can we put the meeting off? – Do you mind putting off the meeting until next week?

Well, that’s it for this month. Thanks to all of you for listening. And, if you want to contact us you can find us on Facebook. Just search Facebook for La Mansión del Inglés and join our growing community of fans. Or send an email to: mansionteachers@yahoo.es. You can also follow us on Twitter. Our Twitter name is MansionTwit.

Until next month then, take care, keep practising and taking your English to the next level! Bye!

Puedes ver el cuaderno mensual de noviemre 2010 aquí: http://www.cuadernodeingles.com/cuaderno_mes/versionweb_mesesanteriores/cuaderno_11_nov.htm

Puedes ver todos los cuadernos anteriores aquí. http://www.cuadernodeingles.com/ 

Puedes recibir gratis nuestro Cuaderno mensual de Inglés aquí. http://www.mansioningles.net/formulario/altacuaderno.asp

 

The music in this month’s podcast was by Revolution Void, the album was The Politics of Desire and the track was Outer Orbit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Aprender ingles gratis con La Mansion del Ingles. Un podcast para mejorar la gramatica, el vocabulario y la pronunciacion del ingles. Una leccion del ingles con ejemplos y ejercicios.

Learn English free with podcasts from La Mansion del Ingles. Improve your grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation. This English lesson contains examples and exercises.

Well hello again everyone and welcome to this Mansión Inglés podcast, recorded for October 2011.

En el nivel básico este mes hemos practicado el pasado del verbo To be (ser o estar). To be or not to be. That is the question! ¿Te acuerdas como se dice el verbo To be en el presente? I… am, you…. are, he….. is, she…. is, it….. is, we…… are, they…… are. Good. El pasado del verbo to be tiene dos formas. Was W-A-S y were W-E-R-E. I was, he was, she was, it was – we were, you were, they were. La pronunciación del were puede ser un poco difícil. El sonido vocal es /ɜː/ repite: were. We were – Cuando were esta colocada en medio de una frase normalmente se pronuncia débil con el sonido /ə/ Repite: /ə/ - cambia a /wə/. Repite:/wə/- we were happy – we were late – we were early – we were excited – we were going to work – we were living in Madrid! – We were there – Very good. Muy bien!

Ahora escucha y repite algunas frases del cuaderno de este mes.

Where were you born? - ¿Dondé naciste? – Where were you born? – you born – were you born – Where were you born?

I was born in London – Where were you born? -I was born in London – Where were you born?

I was born in a hospital! Of course! – ¡por supuesto!  - of couse - I was born in hospital!

Were you born in Argentina? – in Argentina? Were you – Were you born in Argentina?

Where was your sister born? – your sister born – Where was your sister born?

Where were you yesterday? – Where were you? – I phoned you – Where were you at 11 o’clock? – I was looking for you. Where were you all morning? – Where were you on Saturday night? – on Saturday night – Where were you on Saturday night? Who were you with?  - Who - were - you - with? Who were you with on Saturday? Were you with him? Were you with Paul on Saturday?

Where were you last night?

Were you sick last week? Sick significa enfermo. Repite. Were you sick last week? – Last week - la semana pasada – last week – Were you sick last week?

What was the date yesterday? The date – la fecha – What was the date yesterday? o What was yesterday’s date? Repite: What was yesterday’s date? Was it the 16^th? Was it the 17^th? What was it?

Este mes también  hemos repasado los opuestos de algunos adjetivos. Ahora voy a decir los adjetivos y tu tienes que decir el opuesto en ingles antes que lo digo yo. ¿Listos? Ready?

High (alto) high – el opuesto es….low (bajo) low

hot – cold

empty – full – F-U-L-L- full

dry (seco) dry – wet

interesting – boring

dangerous – safe

the opposite of weak W-E-A-K weak – strong

healthy – unhealthy o sick

beautiful – ugly

fat – thin

 ¡Estupendo! – That’s great!

Los verbos en inglés, como en otros idiomas, se juntan con palabras y frases específicas. Esto se llama collocation – la colocación. Por ejemplo. Se dice do the washing up (lavar los platos) y no X make the washing up X. Se dice ‘do the washing up’, con el verbo ‘to do’. Se dice ‘have a coffee’ (tomar un café) y no X take a coffee. X, como se dice en español. ’Have a coffee’ – tomar un café.

Escucha y repite algunas frases del ejercicio en el cuaderno de octubre.

Have a beer, have a coffee, have breakfast, have a sandwich, have some pizza, have some wine, have a drink, have lunch with my family, Let’s have dinner on Saturday.

Listen - Listen to music, listen to a song, listen to the Beatles, listen to Snow Patrol, listen to the radio, Listen to me! Listen to me! Please listen!

El verbo ‘to do’. Do the ironing (the ironing - la plancha). Do the ironing - Do the washing up, do the shopping

The verb ‘to watch’ W-A-T-C-H - Watch a film, watch the TV, watch a film at the cinema, watch a football match, watch basketball (baloncesto) – watch basketball.

Go for a walk (pasear) Go for a walk - I’m going for a walk. Go to bed, go to the beach, go shopping, I’m going shopping, go on holiday, When are you going on holiday? - go to the cinema – Let’s go to the cinema! -  go to a restaurant, to go out  is salir. I’m going out – Where are you going? – I’m going out.

Great! – Now, moving on to our intermediate section this month we looked at some word families and some confusing vocabulary. But before that I want to talk to you about our PACK COMPLETO. The Mansion Ingles Pack ahorro completo is a special offer of ALL of our cds at a great price. All 9 Mansion Ingles cds. So, that’s our complete web site on Mansion CD, Mansion Business for Business English at intermediate level, There’s Mansion First for the Cambridge FCE exam. There’s Mansion Travel with dialogues and useful conversations and expressions for travelling abroad. There’s  Mansion Listen for advanced listenings, Mansion Books for lovers of literature, and Mansion Auto 1 and 2 in MP3 audio for beginners. So that’s all 8 CDs plus a free cd of 100 software programs to help you learn English. All this for only 99 Euros. You save 112 Euros, and we pay the postage wherever you are in the world. Now that’s a good deal. Es una oferta muy buena. For more details, and to order the cds, just click the cd icon on the right side of the home page at mansioningles.com.

Now, where were we? Where were we? Ah yes, word families. Now, the word “strong” what is it a noun? a verb? An adjective? A strong man – yep! It’s an adjective. So, if strong is an adjective, What’s the noun? Strength. – S-T-R-E-N-G-T-H- Your strength is impressive Mr. Bond! What are your strengths? Ok, so what’s the verb of strength? - To strengthen. Muchas de estas palabras se forman el verbo con el sufijo en - EN. For example, wide (ancho) – to widen, length – to lengthen – broad – to broaden – short – to shorten etc.

We need to strengthen our relationship.

How do you say sordo in English? – Deaf – D-E-A-F – Are you deaf? I’m sorry, I can’t hear you. I’m a little deaf in my right ear. What’s the verb? – to deafen. If a sound is very loud it deafens you. The noise at the concert was deafening. The noun of deaf is deafness.

What’s the opposite of short? – long. Short and long are adjectives. The noun of long is…..length, with a ‘g’, L-E-N-G-T-H and the verb is to….lengthen, good! What’s the noun of short? – shortness. Do you remember? A shortness of breath. I suffer from a shortness of breath. The verb of short is…..to shorten. Would you mind shortening the sleeves on this jacket? The sleeves – las mangas. Would you mind shortening the sleeves on this jacket? They’re much too long.

Deep is an adjective (profundo) What’s the noun? – depth – D-E-P-T-H. We dived to a depth of 12 metres. What’s the verb? – to deepen. The mystery deepened.

How do you say ancho o ancha in English? – wide. How wide is the balcony? What’s the noun? The noun of wide is…width – W-I-D-T-H. What’s the width of the garage? The width is more important than the length. The verb of width is to….. widen. We’re having our patio widened.

Now, what’s the opposite of strength? – weakness. Weakness is a noun. A popular question in a job interview is “What are your strengths and weaknesses?” - “What are your strengths and weaknesses?”. The verb is to weaken. The earthquake has weakened the bridge. earthquake – terremoto. What’s the adjective of weaken? Weak. She has a weak heart. I prefer weak tea. W-E-A-K - and the same pronunciation as week (semana) W-E-E-K.

And lastly, the adjective high – alto / alta. How high is that block of flats? What’s the noun of high? Height. How do you spell it? H-E-I-G-H-T. What’s the height of that building? Wearing socks with sandals is definitely not the height of fashion. Hmmm…someone should tell my dad that.

Next we looked at some confusing vocabulary. If you have any questions about difficult or confusing vocabulary, go to Facebook.com/mansioningles and post a question. I’ll do my best to help you and answer your questions. If I can’t there’s usually someone on our Facebook fan page who can help.

Apartment is the American English word for piso, apartamento. In British English, we say flat. Flats are on different floors in blocks of flats (or apartment buildings in the US). How do you say la planta baja in English? – The ground floor. I live on the ground floor. I have a ground floor flat. Storey S-T-O-R-E-Y also means planta. It’s used to describe the height of a building. For example, I work in a 30-storey building – Trabajo en un edificio de 30 pisos. How many storeys does this building have?

An advertisement es un anuncio. Sometimes advertisement is shortened to advert or just ad – A-D. There’s a great ad on the TV for the new Ford Focus. A warning es una advertencia. A word of warning, don’t be late. – Una advertencia, no llegues tarde. The verb is to warn – W-A-R-N. I’m warning you!

A speech es un discurso, and it often collocates, or goes together, with the verb make. You make a speech or give a speech. People often make speeches at weddings and on formal occasions.

Advice is consejo. Remember that advice is an uncountable noun in English. Repeat: Can I give you some advice? Let me give you a piece of advice.

Notice is un aviso. Repeat: Did you see the notice on the wall? Notice is also a verb: He pretended not to notice me - Hizo como si no me hubiera visto.

In the dictonary, publicity se traduce como publicidad, pero no confundas publicity con advertising. Publicity se refiere a la publicidad que se consigue sin buscarla. For example, “Accusing this bank of unfair competition has only given them some publicity” - Acusar a este banco de competencia desleal les ha dado cierta publicidad), mientras que advertising hace referencia a la publicidad por la cual se paga: For example, “How much did they spend on their advertising campaign?”, ¿Cuánto gastaron en su campaña publicitaria?

And I apologise for my bad Spanish pronunciation.

In the advanced section this month, the first exercise looked at advanced vocabulary collocation. In the first example we saw the expression “To set aside a few minutes” If you set aside some time, you save a period of time to do something specific. I try to set aside half an hour before I go to bed to do some reading. You know, a lot of people say to me “Oh I can’t do that. I can’t study English, I don’t have the time” Well, a lot of people do have time to do stuff. They need to set time aside. I hate to say it, but it’s true. I hate to say it is another strong collocation. Yesterday a friend said to me, “I hate to say it Craig, but you’ve put on a lot of weight lately.” Yes, I know.” I said, “I must set aside an hour every day for exercise.”

Next was to make a purchase. The verb to purchase means to buy - comprar. I think it’s used more in American English than British. I often hear Americans say things like “I’m going to purchase a mew mobile phone” for example. Purchase is used in British English as a verb and a noun, but it usually has a more formal use. “When did you make your purchase, sir?” – “Did you purchase the item at this store, madam?”

The verb to prove can mean probar, verificar, comprobar, but in the example the expression was to prove yourself. Give me the opportunity to prove myself. “He was given three months to prove himself” - Le dieron tres meses para que demostrara su valía.

The word prompt P-R-O-M-P-T means rápido, pronto. To take prompt action is a strong collocation. Also, “He must receive prompt treatment”   - Se lo debe tratar inmediatamente or sin demora. And, “They are prompt in their payments” - Pagan puntualmente

The last collocation was closing date. I don’t know why we don’t say “ending date” or “shutting date”, but we don’t. Closing date means fecha tope. There was another translation for fecha tope in the business section of this month’s newsletter. Do you remember it? It was deadline. The deadline for the project is May 25^th. The closing date is May 25^th.

Ok, let’s see if you remember the idioms from this month’s collection. I’ll say an idiom in Spanish and you say the equivalent idiom in English before I do. Then you should repeat the idiom in English to practice pronunciation. Ok, ready?

A quien madruga, Dios le ayuda. - "The early bird catches the worm."

Les da uno la mano y se toman hasta el codo. - “Give him an inch and he'll take a mile.”

No es oro todo lo que reluce. - “All that glitters is not gold.”

Caras vemos, corazones no sabemos / El hábito no hace al monje. - “Don't judge a book by its cover.”

Another one:

Moro viejo nunca será buen cristiano. (Hmm that rounds a bit racist to me) Moro viejo nunca será buen cristiano. In English?...- "A leopard can't change its spots."

Del dicho al hecho hay mucho trecho - "Easier said than done."

Ojos que no ven, corazón que no siente - In English?...-  "Out of sight out of mind."

And finally, Perro ladrador, poco mordedor. - That was difficult to say. I’ll try again: Perro ladrador, poco mordedor. In English? - “His bark is worse than his bite.”

My boss, he..he’s ok really. My boss, his bark is worse than his bite.

Good! Ok, in Business English this month we practised a few questions that you may be asked in a job interview. Of course, it’s very difficult to know exactly what you’ll be asked in an interview before you go in, but I think there are some things that you can prepare and think about before you find yourself in the hot seat.

You should definitely research the company before you go. Find out as much as you can about the company’s culture and the company’s history. Use Google and use the company’s website. When you’re answering questions, you can often give answers that relate directly to the company you are interviewing with, if you know the company’s background.

Anyway, I’ll read the questions from the cuaderno to you now. Err..you should pause after each question and answer them as best you can. Then, then press play and listen to my suggested answers. So let’s imagine that you are at an interview now, and tell me….

What is your greatest weakness?

I like to make sure that my work is perfect, so I tend to perhaps spend a little too much time checking it. However, I've come to a good balance by setting up a system to ensure everything is done correctly the first time.

What is your greatest strength?

Well, my time management skills are excellent and I'm organized, efficient, and take pride in excelling at my work.

How would you describe yourself?

I'm a creative thinker. I like to explore alternative solutions to problems and I have an open mind about what will work best.

Do you take work home with you?

When I need to, that’s not a problem. I realize the importance of meeting deadlines and getting work done on time.

How many hours do you normally work?

Hmmm…It depends. Working a lot of hours doesn't always mean high productivity. I typically work as many hours as necessary in order to do get the job done effectively.

How do you handle stress and pressure?

I react to situations, rather than to stress. That way, the situation’s handled and doesn't become stressful. I actually work better under pressure and I've found that I enjoy working in a challenging environment.

What motivates you?

I've always been motivated by the desire to do a good job at whatever position I'm in. I want to excel and be successful in my job, both for my own personal satisfaction and for my employer.

Do you remember the meaning of the following vocabulary from the interviews?

to handle – What does that mean? – to handle -  In Spanish tratar, manejar

tend to - soler, tener tendencia

efficient - eficiente, eficaz

pride - to take pride in something. Pride is orgullo

deadline, you should remember - fecha tope o fecha límite

challenging – I enjoy working in a challenging environment – challenging - que supone o constituye un reto or un desafío

environment - ambiente

desire means deseo

and to excel - I want to excel and be successful - destacar, sobresalir – I want to excel in my work.

Well, that’s it for this month. Thanks to all of you for listening. And, if you want to contact us you can find us on Facebook. Just search Facebook for La Mansión del Inglés and join our growing community of fans. Or send an email to: mansionteachers@yahoo.es. You can also follow us on Twitter. Our Twitter name is MansionTwit.

Y también si tienes una pregunta sobre cualquier cosa relacionada con el aprendizaje del inglés o la cultura inglesa, grábalo en un fichero de mp3 y mándanoslo por email – como un adjunto. Vamos a incluir vuestras preguntas y las respuestas en los podcasts mensuales del cuaderno. Ok?

Until next month then, take care and keep practising English! Bye!

The music in this month’s podcast was by Revolution Void, the album was The Politics of Desire and the track was Outer Orbit.

Puedes ver el cuaderno mensual de octubre aquí. 

http://www.cuadernodeingles.com/cuaderno_mes/versionweb_mesesanteriores/cuaderno_11_oct.htm

Puedes ver todos los cuadernos anteriores aquí. http://www.cuadernodeingles.com/

Puedes recibir gratis nuestro Cuaderno mensual de Inglés aquí. http://www.mansioningles.net/formulario/altacuaderno.asp

 

 

 

 

 

Aprender ingles gratis con La Mansion del Ingles. Un podcast para mejorar la gramatica, el vocabulario y la pronunciacion del inglés. Una leccion del ingles con ejemplos y ejercicios.

Learn English free with podcasts from La Mansion del Ingles. Improve your grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation. This English lesson contains examples and exercises.

 

Hello everyone! How are you? Welcome to another Mansión Inglés podcast, recorded for September 2011.

En el nivel básico este mes hemos practicado un poco de pronunciación con los sonidos vocales. No voy a repetir lo mismo porque los sonidos están en el cuaderno de septiembre.

Pero si podemos practicar los plurales. Yo voy a decir los sustantivos en singular, y tú dices el plural antes que lo digo yo. Ready? ¿Listos?

One photo -  two photos

One glass – two glasses

One city – two cities

One key (una llave) – two keys

One man – two men

One party – two parties

One baby – two babies

One week – two weeks

One child – two children

Very good! ¡Muy bien!

In the intermediate section this month we practised the past continuous tense.

The past continuous, sometimes called the past progressive, is used to say that something was happening around a particular time in the past

Repeat the examples: I was having lunch at 2 o’clock.

What were you doing when I phoned?

They weren’t sitting in the restaurant when we arrived.

We can use the past continuous and past simple together. When this happens, the past continuous is used for the longer action and to provide background. The past simple is used for the shorter action.

Listen to the examples:

We were driving along when suddenly a dog ran out in front of the car.

The driving was the long action and the dog ran out was the short action in the middle.

She sent me a text message while I was waiting for her.

Listen and repeat the following examples of the past continuous:

Sofia broke her arm shile she was skiing.

When I arived, they were talking about football.

This time last week we were walking along 5th avenue in New York eating a hot dog.

When I left home, the sun was shining, the birds were singing. It felt good to be alive.

I looked out of the car window and I saw that we were driving past Big Ben.

When I saw Sandra she was drinking Guinness!

I met my girlfriend while I was travelling around Australia.

When I got home my son was drinking my whisky.

He told me that his wife was having an affair.

While I was waiting for the train, someone stole my iPod.

Next we practiced So am I and Neither am I

So am I significa yo también. We can also say “I am too”.

So does she means “she does too”. So has he means “he has too” etc.

Neither am I and nor am I significan yo tampoco. We can also say “I’m not either”.

Listen and repeat the examples:

He’s Spanish, and so am I.

She’s from Buenos Aires, and so am I.

I was angry, and so was my wife.

I can’t speak French, and neither can he.

I hate swimming, and so does she.

‘I’ve forgotten his name.’ – ‘So have I!’

'She's learning Chinese, and so is her husband."

‘I’ve decided to lose weight, and so has my wife.’

I can’t drive, and neither can my wife.

‘I love travelling.’ – ‘So do I.’

Julie won’t be at the meeting, and nor will Stuart.

‘I bought an iPhone.’ – ‘So did Gary’.

‘He’s tall and really attractive.’ – ‘So is his brother.’

‘You look tired.’ – ‘So do you.’

‘We weren’t surprised.’ – ‘Neither were we.’

The hotel was terrible, and so was the food.

In the advanced section this month we practised some more phrasal nouns.

Many people say that if you take enough vitamin C at the onset of a cold, you'll often recover faster. Onset here means at the beginning. – el comienzo – Yu sometimes hear people speaking about the onset of an illness, when the illness first started.

Outbreak can be translated as brote - The World Health Organization website is a useful resource for tracking the outbreak of diseases worldwide. You should take precautions against the outbreak of flu.

Page layout is the part of graphic design that deals with the arrangement and style treatment of elements (or content) on a page. Layout often means deseño and it’s common when talking about web page design, the page layout. It can also be used when talking about the inside of a house, for example. What’s the layout of the living room? I like the way the flat is laid out. – Me gusta la distribución del piso.

The word outlet can mean salida, mercado, punto de venta and válvula de escape. - An outlet store is a brick and mortar or online retail store in which manufacturers sell their stock directly to the public. Playing tennis was a good outlet for her. - Jugar al tenis le servía para relajarse

Take-off is the phase of flight in which an aircraft goes through a transition from moving along the ground, or taxiing, to flying in the air, usually starting on a runway. To take off is the phrasal verb – What time does the flight take off? And also the phrasal noun – Please get ready for take-off.

Warm up is another example of phrasal verb and phrasal noun. Don’t forget to warm up before the match. A good warm up before exercise can help prevent injury.

Now I’m going to read the Student Banking text from the monthly newsletter, el cuaderno mensual,  and I want you to guess the word when I pause. Now, this is quite difficult so you may want to do the gap fill exercise in the newsletter before you listen, read it again now or just listen to the text two or three times. Try to remember the vocabulary and repeat it after me. Ready? Here we go!

Nowadays there is a wide…… choice of financial packages on offer for students, and it is……. advisable to talk to someone about the best….. deals available.

Many banks have employees who specialize in student finances, they are called…… consultants, and they can advise you on how to make provisions for your needs during your…. course. Now is the time to work out your probable… spending on food, accommodation and…. books; and if you have any… savings, you should decide whether to draw them out. Credits cards are a mixed…. blessing. It’s easy to misuse them and find yourself unable to keep up with…. payments.

However, don’t be disheartened with all this. Your earnings as a…. graduate should enable you to clear your…. debts with in a few years.

In the Business English section, we practised vocabulary of office stationary and equipment. Listen to the words in Spanish and try to say the English translation before I do. Then repeat the words to practise pronunciation.

sujetapapeles - paper clips

papelera - wastepaper basket

tijeras - scissors

archivos/carpetas - files/folders

maletín - briefcase

goma - rubber (uk) / eraser (us)

perforadora - hole punch

archivador - filing cabinet

grapadora - stapler

sacapuntos - pencil sharpener

Mansion Business is our complete business course in CD Rom. Mansion Business es un completo y moderno Curso de Inglés Comercial con material relacionada con el mundo de la empresa y los negocios.

Mansion Business contains business expressions and vocabulary, listenings and dialogues, reading texts and business functions like making presentations, speaking in meetings, describing market trends and lots more.

There are 4 review tests to maximise learning, and over 120 hours of lesson time. The course level in Mansion Business is intermediate to upper intermediate, and you can buy this CD only from La Mansión del Inglés for 34 euros plus postage.

So, if you need English for Business, you need Mansion Business. To order your CD, go to mansioningles.com, click on the CDs icon on the right side of the home page.

Allí puedes ver todo el contenido del CD y bajar la primera lección gratis para probar sin compromiso.

Well, that’s it for this month. Thanks to all of you for listening. If you want to contact us you can find us on Facebook. Just search Facebook for La Mansión del Inglés and join our growing community of fans. Or send an email to mansionteachers@yahoo.es. And you can also follow us on Twitter. Our Twitter name is MansionTwit.

Until next month then, take care and keep practising English! Bye!

Puedes ver el cuaderno mensual de septiembre aquí.

Puedes ver todos los cuadernos anteriores aquí.

Puedes recibir gratis nuestro Cuaderno mensual de Inglés aquí. 

 

The music in this month’s podcast was by Revolution Void, the album was The Politics of Desire and the track was Outer Orbit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Aprender ingles gratis con La Mansion del Ingles. Un podcast para mejorar la gramatica, el vocabulario y la pronunciacion del inglés. Una leccion del ingles con ejemplos y ejercicios.

Learn English free with podcasts from La Mansion del Ingles. Improve your grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation. This English lesson contains examples and exercises.

Hello everyone! Hello again. It’s good to be back with you again, and thank you for downloading this Mansión Inglés podcast, recorded for August 2011.

En el nivel básico este mes, hemos practicado el vocabulario del hogar. ¿Te acuerdas como se dice salón en ingles? – living room. Repite: living room. ¿Cómo se dice? en inglés es How do you say? Es muy útil esta expressión. Repitela How do you say? How do you say baño in English? – bathroom. Bueno en el sud de inglesterra se dice bathroom, en el norte se dice bathroom. No tiene importancia. Pero si es importante poner el énfasis en la primera silaba y no en el segundo. Se dice bathroom y no XbathroomX. Repite bathroom, bathroom. How do you say cocina? . kitchen Repite: kitchen. How do you say dormitorio in English? Bedroom. El enfasis esta en la primera silaba. Repite, bedroom. How do you say habitación de invitados? – spare room or guest room. Repite: spare room , guest room. And aseo, a very important word – una palabra muy importante. How do you say aseo in English? Toilet. Repite: toilet.

 Ahora voy a decir las palabras en español y tu tienes que decir la tradución en ingles antes que lo digo yo. ¿Listos? Ready?

salon - living-room

baño - bathroom

aseo - toilet

dormitorio - bedroom

habitación de invitados - spare room

cocina - kitchen

 Luego hemos practicado las preguntas con is there (singular) y are there (plural). Escucha y repite:

Is there a computer in your house?  computer = ordenador. Repite: Is there a computer in your house? 

Are there any pictures on the wall? pictures son cuadros y wall = pared - Repeat: Are there any pictures on the wall?

How many bedrooms are there? Repeat: How many bedrooms are there?

Are there any good restaurants? Repeat: Are there any good restaurants?

Is there air-conditioning? air-conditioning significa aire acondicionado Repeat: Is there air-conditioning?

Is there a television? Repeat: Is there a television? Is there a TV?

How many chairs are there? Chairs = sillas - Repeat: How many chairs are there?

Are there any plants? Plants of course are plantas Repeat: Are there any plants?

Is there a microwave? Microwave in Spanish is microondas Repeat: Is there a microwave?

Is there a window? What’s window in Spanish? Yes, it’s una ventana. You know that! ¡Sabías esto! Repeat: Is there a window?

Is there a mirror? A mirror es un espejo Repeat: Is there a mirror?

Is there central heating? central heating = califacción central Repeat: Is there central heating?

Very good! - ¡Muy bien!

Mira nuestro curso de iniciación para más práctica en www.mansioningles.com

In the intermediate section we continued practising the wonderfully exciting gerunds and infinitives. This month we looked at some expressions in English that are followed by gerunds. For example, expressions like There’s no point in… – There’s no point in taking the car. – There’s no point - no tiene sentido repeat: There’s no point in taking the car. You may remember that after prepositions (in, at, on, about, for etc) we put a gerund. Well, in is a preposition, so ….gerund – Repeat: There’s no point in taking the car.

I can’t help… – I can’t help thinking I made a mistake. – I can’t help thinking… - No puedo evitar pensar… – I couldn’t help laughing. – no podia evitar reirme. Repeat: I can’t help thinking I made a mistake. I couldn’t help laughing when he told me.

I can’t stand… – I can’t stand waiting for people. Can’t stand means no soporta or no aguanta it means to dislike strongly. Repeat: I can’t stand queueing. – I can’t stand driving in big cities.

Next was the expression to have a problem or have (some) problems or to have no problem… For example, I’m afraid I’m having problems understanding your accent. Repeat: I’m having problems learning English. She had a problem using the software program. We had no problems finding the hotel.

It’s no use… – It’s no use asking me to give you a lift. It’s no use means it’s pointless, es inútil, - no serve de nada – it’s a waste of time. Repeat: It’s no use - It’s no use flying, the pilots are on strike. It’s no use shouting at him - It's no use crying over spilt milk  - "De nada sirve llorar sobre la leche derramada" - "A lo hecho, pecho" / " Lo hecho, hecho está"  - It's no use crying over spilt milk

It’s a waste of time/money… – It’s a waste of time – es una pérdida de tiempo. It’s a waste of money – Es tirar el dinero – Repeat: It’s a waste of money buying mobile phone applications. It’s a waste of time learning phrasal verbs.

Remember, you can learn more about gerunds and infinitives in our grammar section, and in our intermediate course, both free at mansioningles.com.

In the advanced section this month we revised some verb tenses. I’m going to read the example sentences from the newsletter and I’d like you to tell me which verb tenses you hear. Ready? So, identify the verb tenses.

First were three sentences with the verb to have

1. We were having a fantastic time until the police came and broke up the party. (‘We were having’ - past continuous or past progressive)
2. Please don’t come round between 3 and 4 in the afternoon. We’ll be having a siesta then. ‘We’ll be having (future continuous – we will be having, we’ll be having)
3. Don’t you think it’s time we bought a new bed? We’ve had this one for nearly 15 years. (present perfect simple – we have had – we’ve had - We’ve had this one for nearly 15 years.)                                                                      
4. 
   
5. Next were three sentences with the verb to sell.

1. My wife earns a pretty good living. She sells medical supplies to private hospitals and clinics. (present simple – my wife sells)
2. I really regret not buying that second hand electric guitar on eBay. It’ll have been sold by now. (future perfect simple passive – it will have been sold – it’ll have been sold by now)
3. If no one offers to buy our flat, it’ll be sold by auction at the end of the year. (future simple passive – it will be sold – it’ll be sold)

 Next was the verb to take

1. “I’m really busy today. I don’t think I’ll be able to get a refund on that coat I bought.”

-         “Don’t worry darling, give me the receipt and I’ll take it back for you.”

(future simple with will – I will take it back for you – I’ll take it back.)

2. My daughter’s so selfish lately. Yesterday she came in from work, took something to eat, changed her clothes and went out again without even speaking to me. (Past simple – My daughter took something to eat.)
3. I saw a terrible accident the other day. A young boy fell off his motorbike and was taken to hospital in an ambulance. (‘was taken’ is past simple passive – He was taken to hospital)

 Moving on to the verb to walk:

1. We didn’t use the tent the first night on the Camino de Santiago. We were so tired that we checked in to a hotel for the night. We’d been walking for 12 hours. (past perfect continuous – we had been walking – we’d been walking - We’d been walking for 12 hours.)
2. My granddad’s walking now. He had the hip replacement lat month and came out of hospital last weekend. (present continuous – he is walking now – My granddad’s walking now.)
3. “How did you get from the hotel to the exhibition?”
1. “I walked. It only took about 15 minutes.” (past simple – I walked)

 Finally, the verb to see:

1. If everything goes to plan, I’ll have seen all the countries I want to by the time I’m 55. (future perfect – I will have seen – I’ll have seen all the countries I want to by the time I’m 55.)
2. I’m sorry, I can’t make it for lunch tomorrow. I’m seeing/I’ll be seeing/I’m going to see my therapist at 1 o’clock. (Hmmm, three possibilities here to talk about future plans or arrangements. I’m seeing – present continuous used here to talk about future plans, I’ll be seeing – future continuous – I will be seeing, and the going to future I’m going to see.)
3. Charlie got the sack last week. He was seen taking money out of the cash register. (Past simple passive – He was seen)

 I want to take a minute to tell you about a special offer we have at the moment on our product page at mansioningles.com. The Complete Pack el pack ahorro completo de La Mansión del Inglés. We offer ALL of our cds at a great price. So, that’s our complete web site on Mansion CD, Mansion Business for Business English at intermediate level, Mansion First for the Cambridge FCE exam, Mansion Travel with dialogues and useful conversations and expressions for travelling abroad. There’s Mansion Listen for advanced listenings, Mansion Books for lovers of literature, and Mansion Auto 1 and 2 in MP3 audio for beginners. All 8 CDs plus a free cd of 100 software programs to help you learn English. All this for only 99 Euros. You save 112 Euros, and we pay the postage wherever you are in the world. Now that’s a good deal. Es una oferta muy buena. For more details, just click the cd icon on the right side of the home page at mansioningles.com.

In the vocabulary section at advanced level, there were some phrasal nouns to practise. For example, standby. You can be on standby if you’re waiting for a place to become available at the airport. British Airways have no tickets available on any flight to New York tomorrow, but they’ve put us on standby in case there’s a cancellation. You also have standby modes on many domestic electrical appliances. Standby kind of puts your device to sleep. It’s working, but not running on full power.

You check in at the airport and a hotel when you arrive. Check-in is a verb and a noun. “Excuse me, where’s the check-in?”

The next word, downfall, sort of translates as caída or perdición or ruína. We speak about the downfall of a dictator or a king, for example. Alcohol was his downfall. Drugs were her downfall. That’s what brought her down.

Takeover was the next word. Toma de poder. You can have a military takeover. A company can takeover another company. A strong collocation is a takeover bid – B-I-D - Samsung has made a takeover bid for Nokia.

A comeback is a return a revival – una vuelta, retorno – The fashions of the 1960’s are making a comeback.

If a concert is a sell-out there are no more tickets left. They’ve sold out. It was a sell-out tour.

Lastly, a check-up is revisión in Spanish. You should go to the dentists every six months so that he can check your teeth, or give you a check up (actually, I only go once a year). You can go to the doctor’s for a check-up too, but not for your car. Revisión del coche in English is a service, so you take your car for a service or you have your car serviced or get your car serviced.

And finally, in the Business English section this month we practised some business collocations with the word price. I’ll read the definition and you try to remember the collocations containing the word price. Ready?

When prices go down, decrease, fall, drop, it’s called a price….cut.

When prices go up or rise we say it is a price….increase.

When the government try to limit price increases, we say that they put price……. controls.

When companies fight with each other to get more of the market, and prices fall as a result, we say that there is a price…..war.

Una etiqueta del precio in English is a price….tag.

And finally, when there is a good period for sellers and prices rise quickly we say there is a price….boom.

Well, that’s it for this month. Thanks to all of you for listening. If you want to contact us you can find us on Facebook. Just search Facebook for La Mansión del Inglés and join our growing community. Or send an email to mansionteachers@yahoo.es. And you can also follow us on Twitter. Our Twitter name is MansionTwit.

You can sign up for our cuaderno mensual and see all the previous newsletters and podcasts by clicking on the link on the Mansión Inglés home page.

Until next month then, take care and keep practising English! Bye!

Puedes ver el cuaderno mensual de agosto aquí. 

Puedes ver todos los cuadernos anteriores aquí 

Puedes recibir gratis nuestro Cuaderno mensual de Inglés aquí. 

The music in this month’s podcast was by Revolution Void, the album was The Politics of Desire and the track was Outer Orbit.

 

 

 

 

 

Aprender ingles gratis con La Mansion del Ingles. Un podcast para mejorar la gramatica, el vocabulario y la pronunciacion del inglés. Una leccion del ingles con ejemplos y ejercicios.
Learn English free with podcasts from La Mansion del Ingles. Improve your grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation. This English lesson contains examples and exercises.

Hello everyone! How are you? It’s good to be back with you again, and thank you for downloading this Mansión Inglés podcast, recorded for July 2011.

Hemos empezado el cuaderno mensual de julio con los meses del año. No son muy difíciles por que muchos que suenen parecidos al español. Por ejemplo ¿Qué es el mes de November en español? Si, eso es noviembre. ¿and October? – Si, octobre. No olvides que hay que escribir los meses con una mayúscula en inglés. Ahora escucha los meses y repítelos.

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

También hemos practicado un poco de los números ordinales.

Fifth – F-I-F-T-H es un número ordinal. Los ordinales en inglés se forman normalmente con sólo añadir la terminación -th. Excepto los tres primeros que son totalmente irregulares.

Escucha y repite:

First, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh

Se usan los ordinales en inglés para los días del mes. Repite:

The first of May la preposición of se oye muy debil. Escucha y repite: The first of May - The first of May  - The first of May

También se dice May the first

Repite: The second of June

June the second

It’s the third of December

It’s December the third

Se usa el ordinal en los títulos de los reyes. Repite:

King Juan Carlos the First

Alphonso the Thirteenth

Elizabeth the Second

King Henry the Eighth

También se usa el ordinal en las plantas de los edificios. Repite:

I live on the second floor

His office is on the third floor

Aquí hay más ejemplos. Escucha y repítelos:

This is my third job - This is my third job

It’s my sister’s thirtieth birthday.

Is she your first wife?

Is today the fourteenth or the fifteenth?

It’s our seventh anniversary tomorrow

The expensive shops are on Fifth Avenue

Very good! - ¡Muy bien!

Ahora escucha y repite las siguiente fechas:

The fifth of November, 1998

The second of February, 2005

The twenty-first of September, 2013

The twenty-third of April, 2011

The thirtieth of October, 2015

The twenty-second of May, 1999

The sixth of July, 2007

The first of March, 2014

Si quieres practicar más, hay ejemplos y ejercicios adicionales en la parte de gramática de nuestra página web mansioningles.com. Si prefieres aprende inglés con todo el contenido de nuestra web en un solo cd, incluyendo nuestros 3 cursos de inglés, compra La Mansión en CD por solo 24 Euros. Infórmate en mansioningles.com

The words like and as can be confusing for Spanish speakers because they can both be translated to Spanish as como .

I work as a waiter. Trabajo como un camerero.

They stared at him like he was crazy  - Se quedaron mirándolo como si estuviera loco.

In the intermediate section this month, we practised some uses of like and as. Listen and repeat some example sentences.                                        

This tastes just like chicken.

My sister works as a nurse.

Why are you standing there like an idiot?

I’m looking or a job, just like you.

No, not like that. Do it like this.

This looks like gold.

It smells like onions. - It smells like onions.

It sounds like Britney Spears.

I’m tired, as usual. I haven’t got any money, as usual.

I do it as a hobby.

I love adventure sports like rock climbing and snow boarding.

Next we had a look at gerunds and infinitives after verbs.  Es decir, los gerundios y los infinitivos cuando vienen después de los verbos.

I’m going to say some verbs and I want you to say ‘gerund’ if the verb is followed by a gerund, and ‘infinitive’ if it’s followed by an infinitive. Let’s see how many you get right. Ready?

Ok, an easy one to begin with the verb want – gerund or infinitive? It’s infinitive. I want to go on holiday, I want to see you tomorrow. I want to say I love you.

Now, the verb enjoy? Gerund or infinitive? Well, enjoy is followed by a gerund. I enjoy going to parties. I enjoy playing tennis. We all enjoy studying English with Mansión Inglés, for example.

Now, what about the verb offer – ofrecer – gerund or infinitive? – infinitive – He offered to give me a lift to the airport. I offered to help her with her presentation. My boss offered to give me a rise in salary. Hmm.. actually I don’t think my boss would ever offer to give me a rise in salary. Hmm…actually, I don’t think my boss would ever offer to give me a rise in salary!

Next is the verb to happen – gerund or infinitive? Infinitive again. She happened to be there - dio la casualidad de que estaba ahí. In Spanish, the verb happen can mean pasar or suceder or ocurrir. But when happen is followed by an infinitive, it means por casualidad. - If you happen to see her… - si por casualidad la ves…

What about the verb refuse? – negarse or rechazar. Gerund or infinitive? – infinitive. She refused to see me. I refused to accept their offer. Are you refusing to do it?

What about mind? Like in the expression Would you mind? Gerund or infinitive? Gerund. Repeat: Would you mind phoning me back this afternoon? Would you mind helping me with this? Also ‘Do you mind..’. Repeat: Do you mind waiting a few minutes? Do you mind going by train?

What about the verb hope? Gerund or infinitive? Infinitive. Verbs that are used to speak about the future are usually followed by the infinitive. Repeat: I hope to retire when I’m 55. She hopes to change her car next year.

What about remind - recordarle? Remind is followed by the infinitive. Please remind me to phone David tomorrow. Notice that the object pronoun ME is after remind and before the infinitive. Remind me to phone. Repeat: She reminded me to phone her. – She reminded him to go. – They reminded us to buy etc.

Next we have the verb to admit. Gerund or infinitive? – gerund. Repeat: He admitted stealing the money – I admitted breaking the TV.

Agree? Gerund or infinitive? Infinitive. They agreed to go out for dinner. He’s agreed to lend me his video camera.

Suggest in Spanish is sugerir, proponer. Gerund or infinitive? Gerund. He suggested getting a pizza. They suggested leaving around 6 in the morning.

The verb to deny – negar – gerund or infinitive? Gerund. He denied making the mistake. She denied having an affair.

What about the verb consider? Consider is followed by a gerund. My wife and I are considering buying a house. I considered leaving my job.

And promise, to promise – is it followed by a gerund or an infinitive? – infinitive. I promise to phone you next week. Will you promise to always love me? She promised to tell me.

The verb to threaten in Spanish is amenazar. Gerund or infinitive? – Infinitive. He threatened to take us to court. She threatened to leave me.

Next was the verb to appreciate. Gerund or infinitive? Gerund. Repeat: I really appreciated spending time with you.

The verb to warn – W-A-R-N is advertir in Spanish. Gerund or infinitive? – infinitive. I warned you not to see him again. I’m warning you to stay away from her.

Afford means permitirse (el lujo) or proporcionar. Gerund or infinitive? – infinitive. I can’t afford to buy a new car. Can we really afford to go on holiday this year?

The verb advise? Gerund or infinitive? – Advise is followed by the infinitive. I advise you to make an offer on the flat. Notice that, like the verb to remind, the pronoun is between the verb and the infinitive. Repeat: They advised us to sell. She advised me to go. He advised her not to do it.

Our final verb is to help. Is help followed by a gerund or infinitive? – infinitive. I’ll help you to do it. Again, notice the pronoun YOU after the verb and before the infinitive. Repeat: He helped me to do it. She’s helping me to make the video. They helped us to move house.

Now, if you’re thinking of taking the Cambridge First Certificate exam, you need to study these gerunds and infinitives. You also need to prepare for the exam using the Mansion Ingles FCE preparation course. El curso lleva 60 horas de prácticas y estudio y ha sido desarrollado por profesores especializados en la formación práctica para la preparación a FCE. For more information, go to mansioningles.com and click the CDs icon on the right of the home page. Click on MansionFirst para ver el contenido del curso. Haz nuestra prueba de nivel de First Certificate to see if you have the level to take the exam. And you can also download course content free to try the course before you buy.

In the advanced section this month we looked at some idioms. Let’s see what you can remember. I’m going to say the Spanish idiom in my horrible Spanish accent, and I want you to say the English equivalent in your excellent English accent. And to make it easier to jog your memory (para refrescarte la memoria – to jog your memory) I’ll say a key word that is in the English translation, to help you. Ready?

Ok, the first one is “No vendas la piel del oso antes de cazarlo”, or “No vendas la leche antes de comprar la vaca.” – CHICKENS -  “Don't count your chickens before they hatch."

Another one:

“Dios los hace y ellos se juntan. or Dime con quién andas y te diré quién eres.” – BIRDS - “Birds of a feather flock together.”

Ok?

“No hay maestro como carne propia.” -  EXPERIENCE - “Experience is the best teacher.”

“No hay mal que por bien no venga.” – CLOUD -  “Every cloud has a silver lining.”

“Más vale pájaro en mano que ciento volando.” – BUSH - "A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush."

“Cuando el río suena, agua lleva.” – SMOKE - “Where there's smoke, there's fire.”

“A caballo regalado no se le miran los dientes”  GIFT - "Don't look a gift horse in the mouth."

“Árbol que nace torcido, jamás su tronco endereza” – DOG - "You can't teach an old dog new tricks."

How many did you remember? All of them? Well you can listen to this podcast again to jog your memory.

Now, in the business English section we practised the following words and expressions:

trade unions, to go on strike, technical support, personnel department, management, go slow, open-planned offices, an overtime ban, head office, office administration and industrial action.

I’m going to read the text from the monthly newsletter, el cuaderno mensual,  and I want you to guess a word when I pause. Now, this is quite difficult so you may want to do the gap fill exercise in the newsletter before you listen, or just listen to the text two or three times. Try to remember the vocabulary and repeat it after me. Ready? Try to guess the word. Here we go!

In the Office

The people who work for a company are its employees or personnel. Other names include staff, workforce and workers. The word for the group of people organising and leading the company is the management.

The most important office of a company or organization is called its head office. Some managers have their own individual offices, but in many businesses most employees work in large areas where people work together, called open-planned offices.

Office administration (or admin) is the everyday work that supports a company’s activities and it is often done by administration staff or support staff. For example, those giving technical help to buyers of the company’s products are in technical support.

Labour unions (in Spanish sindicatos) are organizations defending the rights and interests of the workers. In British English, they are called trade unions.

When workers are not happy with pay or conditions, they may take industrial action. If the workers walk out of their workplace and stop working for a time (hacer una huelga), they go on strike.

Workers may decide not to go on strike, but instead to continue to work, but slower than usual, they have a go slow.  Another kind of industrial action is where workers refuse to work more than the normal agreed number of hours that appear in their contract. This is called an overtime ban,

Larger organizations have what is called a human resources department, or HRD. This department deals with pay, recruitment etc. Another name for this department is the personnel department.

Well, that’s it for this week. Thanks to all of you for listening. If you want to contact us, you can find us on Facebook. Just search Facebook for La Mansión del Inglés and join our ever growing community of 13,000 or so fans. Or send an email to mansionteachers@yahoo.es. And you can also follow us on Twitter. Our Twitter name is MansionTwit.

You can sign up for our cuaderno mensual and see all the previous newsletters and podcasts by clicking on the link on the Mansion Ingles home page.

Until next month then, take care and keep practising English! Bye!

Puedes ver el cuaderno mensual de julio aquí. 

Puedes ver todos los cuadernos anteriores aquí 

Puedes recibir gratis nuestro Cuaderno mensual de Inglés aquí. 

 

The music in this month’s podcast was by Revolution Void, the album was The Politics of Desire and the track was Outer Orbit.

Aprender ingles gratis con La Mansion del Ingles. Un podcast para mejorar la gramatica, el vocabulario y la pronunciacion del inglés. Una leccion del ingles con ejemplos y ejercicios.

Learn English free with podcasts from La Mansion del Ingles. Improve your grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation. This English lesson contains examples and exercises.

Hello everyone! How are you? It’s good to be with you again, and thank you for downloading this Mansión Inglés podcast, recorded for June 2011.

Este mes en el nivel básico, hemos practicado algunas colocaciones con los verbos. Escucha y repítelas.

I live in a flat – Espera, ¿Cuantas palabras hay en esta frase? Escucha – I live in a flat. – Pues hay cinco palabras. I - live – in - a - flat. Nota como se juntan las palabras liveina – liveina- Repite: Liveina – I live in a flat.

I work in an office ¿Cuantas palabras hay? Escucha I work in an office – Aquí hay cinco palabras y se juntan cuatro palabras workinanoffice. Repite: workinanoffice – I work in an office. I work in an office - I have children. Repite: I have two children – I have three children. I have one child. I study economics repite: I study economics. I study law . Law – derrecho – I study medicine – medicina - I study medicine. I speak French – I drive a Mazda  - I read e-books – I sometimes read e-books. - I like animals – I go to the cinema – I watch television – I listen to music. No olivides la preposición ‘to’ con el verbo ‘listen’ – listen to music. Repite: Listen to music. I like listening to music. I like listening to rap music. I like listening to hip hop.

También en el cuaderno mensual habían frases para traducir. Escucha a las frases en español, e intenta traducirlas al inglés antes que yo. Ready? ¿Listos?

María no habla alemán. - María doesn’t speak German.

¿Le gusta su trabajo a Peter? - Does Peter like his job?

Leo gana mucho dinero. - Leo earns a lot of money.

¿Que hace la hermana de Dave? - What does Dave’s sister do? - What does Dave’s sister do?

Su hija (de ella) ve la tele en la cama. - Her daughter watches TV in bed.

Mike lleva gafas. - Mike wears glasses.

¿Cuantos años tiene la abuela de Debbie? - How old is Debbie’s grandmother? - How old is Debbie’s grandmother?

Simon es el hermano de Andrew. - Simon is Andrew’s brother.

Lo siento, no tengo la dirección del correo electrónico de Suzi. - I’m sorry, I don’t have Suzi’s email address. - I’m sorry, I don’t have Suzi’s email address.

¿Como están sus (de ella) padres? - How are her parents? - How are her parents?

¿Donde trabaja el marido de Sandra? - Where does Sandra’s husband work?

Su tio (de el) no esta casado. - His uncle isn’t married. - His uncle isn’t married.

La gente en Inglaterra comen muchas patatas fritas. - English people eat a lot of chips.

¡Muy bien! Very good!

In the intermediate section of this month’s cuaderno, we practiced clothes vocabulary.

I’m going to describe some clothes and you say the item of clothing I’m describing. Ready? Here we go.

You wear these on your feet when you do sport, go running, or want to dress casual – trainers

Ok, this clothing accessory is worn around your waist and stops your trousers from falling down – belt

You wear this in the winter on top of clothes to keep you warm when you go outside – coat

Men wear this to look smart, especially if they work in an office or have a formal job. The jacket and trousers are the same colour – suit

This accessory is worn around the neck in winter – scarf

These are blue trousers, originally worn by cowboys and made from denim – jeans

You wear these on your feet to go out in the street – shoes

Underwear that you also wear on your feet but under your shoes – socks

You wear these in the summer, when it’s hot and you do sport, because it’s uncomfortable to wear long trousers – shorts

You wear these in bed. They usually match, which means the top part is the same as the bottom part – pyjamas

Next, worn by ladies, this is an item of clothing that can be short in the summer, long in the winter and elegant for special occasions – dress

You bear these on your feet when you play football on grass, sometimes when you ride a motorbike or do heavy construction work. Ladies wear these ‘high shoes’ in the winter – boots

Often worn by sportsman, this comfortable item of clothing has trousers and a jacket. The Spanish word is chándal – tracksuit

This is winter wear for the top half of your body. It should keep you warm and is often worn over a shirt or a T-shirt. Other names for this are jumper and pullover – sweater

Moving on to intermediate grammar and the wonderfully exciting subject of gerunds and infinitives! Aren’t they awful? How do you know? How do you know whether to use a gerund after the verb agree or an infinitive? How do you know if the verb surprise is followed by to see or seeing? Well, I’m afraid you just have to study each individual verb and learn which group it belongs to. There’s no easy way.

The verb agree. I agree, he agrees etc. Agree is followed by the infinitive. Repeat: I agreed to see him. They have agreed to let us do the presentation. She agreed to give me a lift.

The expression to be happy is also followed by an infinitive. Repeat: I was happy to see you finished the project. I’ll be happy to discuss it tomorrow. We’re very happy to be invited. I’m happy to help you.

The gerund is used after prepositions. For example, the verb to arrest – detener - is often followed by the preposition FOR. He was arrested for stealing. Repeat: He was arrested for stealing. He was arrested for hitting his neighbour. She’ll be arrested for not paying her taxes.

When to be used to has the meaning estar acostumbrado/a, the verb following it is a gerund. For example,  I’m not used to getting up early at the weekend. Repeat: I’m not used to getting up early. She’s used to working long hours. He’s used to paying for everything. Surprise is followed by the infinitive. He was surprised to discover that he’d passed his final exams. I was surprised to get the job. Repeat - I was surprised to get the job. She was surprised to see me. He’ll be surprised to hear the news.

The expression to be worth – W-O-R-T-H – to be worth + a gerund means vale la pena. It’s worth doing – vale la pena hacerlo. It might be worth taking the DVD player to be repaired. Is it worth getting a new one? Repeat: Is it worth getting a new one? It’s worth phoning the shop. It’s worth asking them. Do you think it’s worth trying?

One thing that it is worth doing is going to mansioningles.com and practicing more gerunds and infinitives. You can find them in the intermediate course and also in the grammar section.

If you want to study our courses and material without connecting to the Internet, you can buy a complete CD of La Mansión del Inglés for 24 Euros. Go to mansioningles.com and click on the CD icon on the right side of the homepage.

Food and eating out was the topic of our advanced section of this month’s newsletter. Listen to the descriptions of some food vocabulary and try to say the word before I do. Ready?

A sauce added to a salad is a ….. dressing

Another word for a main dish is ….an entrée

A small dish at the start of a meal is ….an appetizer also sometimes called a starter or a first course. Remember that we speak about courses in English and not plates. A plate is the thing you put the food on. So primer plato is the first course, Segundo plato – second course etc. We had a three-course meal, a four-course meal. And we say that Paella is a typical Spanish dish, not plate. Lasagne is an Italian dish.

If you like your steak cooked just a little, or poco hecho in Spanish, you ask for it to it to be…..rare – R-A-R-E. I don’t like to see a lot of blood on my meat so I ask for it to be cooked a little more than rare, which is… medium rare. There’s still some blood but not too much. Cook it a bit more and you get to… medium. Sometimes I like my steak medium. Some people don’t like to see any blood at all so they ask for it to be bien hecho or….well done. I know that there may be different words in Argentina, Mexico and other Spanish–speaking countries, but I think you get the idea.

So what do you call layers of alcohol-soaked sponge cake with fruit, custard and whipped cream? It’s …trifle. I don’t like trifle very much, but my dad does, and when I was growing up my mum made a trifle nearly every week. I got sick of it!

A small herb, like an onion, that is often added to potatoes, - in Spanish cebollinos -  is called …..chives. Chives are great mixed in with mash potatoes, by the way. And if you add sausages you get a tasty Irish dish.

A kind of soup usually containing fish and vegetables is called….chowder – C-H-O-W-D-E-R - sopa de pescado. Clam chouder es crema de almejas.

All this talk of food is making me hungry, and it’s nearly  time for dinner.

So, moving quickly on the next part of the advanced section where we practiced some food idioms.

Take what he says with a pinch of salt, means he may not be telling the truth. Be careful he’s probably lying. Take everything he says with a pinch of salt.

If you are full of beans, estas lleno de vida. Beans could be frijoles, alubias, judías, habas - green beans are judías verdes - but to be full of beans means you have a lot of energy and you are very lively. Your daughter’s full of beans today. Where does she get her energy from?

Ok, how do you say Eres la niña de mis ojos in English? You are the apple of my eye. Repeat: The apple of my eye. Or, as Stevie Wonder said, “You are the sunshine of my life”.

The expression as warm as toast, obviously means very warm – like toast! You’re feet are as warm as toast. Your hands are as warm as toast.

As you know, the English tend to put butter on their bread and not olive oil, but if you know which side your bread is buttered, you’re careful not to upset people who you know can help you, you don’t act in ways that would lose you other people's approval, or lose you an advantage. Hmmm…Pepe’s just got another promotion. He get’s on very well with everyone at work. He knows which side his bread’s buttered.

What do you say in Spanish when someone is taking your photo? We say “cheese” because if you say cheese you’re smiling. “Come on, give us a nice big smile, say cheese!”

“If you pay peanuts you get monkeys” You should give people the salary they deserve. To pay someone peanuts – cacahuetes – means to pay them very little. - Don’t take that job, you’ll be working for peanuts.

We say something is selling like hot cakes if it’s selling very well. In some countries, you say que se vende como pan caliente, o como churros, o como rosquillas. The new Apple iPhone is selling like hot cakes.

If people are like two peas in a pod they are very similar. You can tell immediately that they’re brothers. They’re like two peas in a pod. They’re two of a kind. They’re so alike.

And to be as cool as a cucumber means to be clam and unruffled – in Spanish, sereno – He took the penalty and scored to win the championship. I really don’t know how he stayed as cool as a cucumber under all that pressure.

Something is a recipe for disaster if it's going to cause trouble or serious problems. Asking your mother to stay with us for a week is a recipe for disaster. Smoking, drinking, eating badly and not exercising is a recipe for disaster.

And finally, if something is your cup of tea, it pleases you or makes you happy. This expression is more commonly used in the negative. I’m sorry, but rollerblading is not really my cup of tea. Can’t we go shopping instead?

In the Business English section this month, we looked at some works using in banking. I’ll read the definitions to you and try to say the words before I do.

The difference between credits and debits in a bank account is…the balance

The money paid to a bank for the bank's services etc are called…bank charges

The local office of a bank (in Spanish: surcursal) is called ….a branch. Repeat: Where’s your nearest branch?

A type of bank account from which money may be taken at any time, and which usually pays low or no interest is called a current account (in the UK) and a checking account (in the US).

What’s the opposite of credit? The opposite of credit is…..debit – with a ‘d’. Debit is a noun and a verb. You have a debit in your account of 500 Euros. We need to debit your account for the amount of 80 Euros.

A bank account which pays you interest on your money is called a… a deposit account (in the UK) and a savings account (in the US)

Mansion Business is our complete business course in CD Rom. Mansion Business es un completo y moderno Curso de Inglés Comercial con material relacionada con el mundo de la empresa y los negocios.

Mansion Business contains business expressions and vocabulary, listenings and dialogues, reading texts and business functions like making presentations, speaking in meetings, describing market trends and lots more.

There are 4 review tests to maximise learning, and over 120 hours of lesson time. The course level is intermediate to upper intermediate, and you can buy this CD only from La Mansión del Inglés for 34 euros plus postage.

So, if you need English for Business, you need Mansion Business. To order your CD, go to mansioningles.com, click on the CDs icon on the right side of the home page.

Allí puedes ver todo el contenido del CD y bajar la primera lección gratis para probar sin compromiso.

Money lent to you by a bank that must be repaid with interest – in Spanish un préstamo – is called ….a loan – L-O-A-N – a loan.

Deficit in a bank account caused by taking out more money than is paid in (in Spanish: descubierto or sobregiro) is….an overdraft - an overdraft.

The expression to put money into a bank account is to….make a deposit or simply to deposit money into an account. Excuse me, I’d like to make a deposit of 200 Euros. I’d like to deposit 200 Euros. You can also use the phrasal verb to pay in. Can I pay this into my account, please? I’d like to pay in some money. The opposite of to make a deposit is to make a withdrawal or to withdraw money. To take money out of an account – to withdraw money. I’d like to make a withdrawal.

If you give an instruction to a bank to make regular payments to a company or a person (in Spanish: domiciliar, orden permanente de pago) it’s called …..a standing order, in English. It’s common to pay your rent by standing order and your telephone, gas and electric bills also.

And finally, if you need to see a record of transactions in your bank account, in Spanish you ask for un extracto de cuenta. In English, you ask for…a statement. A bank statement.

Well, that’s it for this week. Thanks to all of you for listening. If you want to contact us, you can find us on Facebook. Just search Facebook for La Mansión del Inglés and join our growing community of nearly 13,000 fans. Or send an email to mansionteachers@yahoo.es. And you can also follow us on Twitter. Our Twitter name is MansionTwit.

You can sign up for our cuaderno mensual and see all the previous newsletters and podcasts by clicking on the link on the Mansion Ingles home page.

Until next month then, take care and keep practising English! Bye!

Puedes ver el cuaderno mensual de junio aquí. 

Puedes ver todos los cuadernos anteriores aquí.

Puedes recibir gratis nuestro Cuaderno mensual de Inglés aquí. 

The music in this month’s podcast was by Revolution Void, the album was The Politics of Desire and the track was Outer Orbit.