September 2011

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

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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 [e-mail]. 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.