Live at Pompeii

We do not learn a foreign language to write exercises. We study it to communicate and to obtain news on the items that excite it.

For example, listen to David Gilmour, a British musician. He recalls his recent concert in the old Roman town of Pompeii.

"It's a fantastic building”, Gilmour says. “It's an extraordinary place to be because it was preserved exactly as it was. If you visit any other antiquity-type sites throughout the world, they're very damaged with what's gone on over the centuries since they were abandoned. But this one was just, like, sealed, so you're looking at rock surfaces and the carving of letters and names in the stones looks like it was done yesterday."

That was an opinion by David Gilmour. How do you feel about modern music performed in ancient theatres? Please write a comment below.

Podcast

Is it easy to tell a story?

My students who are native speakers of Russian find it difficult to express themselves in English. Therefore, I ask them to tell me about things that are the most familiar to them, like how the pupil spent the recent weekend or what he/she is planning to do at the upcoming weekend.

The student is supposed to talk for a few minutes focusing on the following:

-         Making minimum seven phrases of 5 – 10 words in each phrase;

-         Keeping all the verbs in Past Simple or Past Continuous when related to the recent events; Future Simple and Present Continuous when referring to the future activities;

-         Trying to use various verbs.

If the pupil is very young, like 8 – 11 years old, I may offer him/her a list of verbs to use. For older, more experienced students I may suggest the usage of a few introductory phrases.

I always listen until the end of the story, asking questions and correcting possible errors at the end of the task.

The focus here lies in a systematic approach: the young English speaker should know that he/she will have to create a new story every week, attempting to tell it a little differently each time. Such a timetable might make the mission easier while continuity should ensure step by step progress.