Tag: Learn English

What is the Zika Virus? – vocabulary, video, and exercises with answers.

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I suggest that you read this list of words you may not know before watching the video.

VOCABULARY

To spread : to become larger or to affect a large area.
Ex. The fire spread through the six-storey building via the single staircase which acted as a chimney.

To detect : to discover or ascertain the existence.
Ex. Irregularities were detected on seven of the websites.

To break out : if something dangerous or unpleasant breaks out, it suddenly starts.
Ex. War broke out in 1914.

To transmit : to give or pass from one person to another; to cause (a virus, disease, etc.) to be given to.
Ex. Hepatitis C is a life-threatening viral disease transmitted primarily by blood contact.

To link : to make a connection between two or more things, ideas or people.

Paralysis : a condition in which you can’t move or feel al or part of your body.

Spike : a very high level.

Outbreak : a sudden increase, rise.

Mild : not strong in action or effect.

Vaccine : a substance injected into a person or animal to protect against a particular disease.

Downloadable PDF: What is the Zika Virus – vocabulary

Answer the following questions:

  1. How many people could be affected by Zika virus this year?

  2. Where was it discovered and when?

  3. Where did it break out in 2015?

  4. How is this virus transmitted?

  5. What are some of the effects of Zika virus?

  6. Is there a treatment for this virus?

  7. When could be ready a vaccine against Zika virus?

Fill in the gaps with the correct word from the box.

fill in the gaps

 

  1. Zika virus could _________ tofour million people this year.

  2. It was ____________ in Uganda in the 1940’s.

  3. It ______________ in the Americas and the Caribbean in 2015.

  4. Zika is _______________ through a particular species of mosquito that ______________ mostly in tropical regions.

  5. Zika has been _______________ to paralysis and birth defects.

  6. Officials are now _____________ pregnant women not to travel to places where there is an active Zika ___________.

  7. Officials say finding a vaccine could _____________ to a decade.

Downoadable PDF: What is the Zika Virus – exercises

Downloadable PDF: What is the Zika Virus – correct answers

 

Who invented the Internet? And Why?

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VOCABULARY

Credit: praise or special attention that is given to someone for doing something or for making something happen.
Example: She got no credit for solving the problem.

To threaten: to tell someone that you will kill or hurt them or cause problems if they do not do what you want.
Example: They threatened the boy with a gun.

Geek: meaning.

Myriad: a very large number of things.

Mainframe: a large and very fast computer that can do many jobs at once.

*Interesting article on this topic: The First Mainframe .

Behemoth: something very big and powerful.

Packet switching:  a digital networking communications method that groups all transmitted data into suitably sized blocks called packets.

Congestion: too blocked or crowded and causing difficulties.
Example: Yesterday, there was a traffic congestion. 

Gateway: a hardware device that acts as a “gate” between two networks.

To spread: to open, arrange, or place (something) over a large area.
Example: The fire spread very rapidly because of the strong wind.

Steadily: not changing much.

Retail: the sale of goods in small quantities directly to customers.

Downloadable PDF: Who invented the Internet – Vocabulary

Verb tenses review

Fill in the gaps with the correct form of the verbs in the brackets:

  1. So, have you ever _____________ (to wonder) who actually _____________ (to invent) the Internet?
  2. Or _________ (to be) it thanks to a myriad of smart scientists ________________ (to work) on something they __________ (to know) _____________ (to be)  useful but _______________________ (to realize – negative form) would be so big?
  3. One popular but wrong story ________ (to be) that the internet ________________________ (to develop) by the USA so they ___________ (to have) a communication network that would survive a nuclear war.
  4. With time-sharing, these behemoths could ______________ (to process) several tasks at a time, which _____________ (to mean) their power could be used by several scientists at once.
  5. And, obviously, once you _________________ (to start) ___________________ (to connect) computers together you ________________ (to start) to wonder about what you ________________ (to need)to do to make communications between them easier.
  6. The French also _______________ (to play) a role. They _________________________ (to work) on a scientific network called CYCLADES, but they ______________ (to have – negative form) a big budget, so they ________________(to decide) to work on direct connections between computers, as opposed to working with gateway computers.
  7. The TCP/IP protocols _______________ (to form) the basic communication language of the internet, which _______________ (to label) the packets of data and ________________(to make) sure that even though some pieces of the same data ____________________ (to take) a different route, they all _________________ (to arrive) at their destination and can be reassembled.
  8. Networks really ________________ (to begin) ________________________ (to communicate) with each other in 1975, so you could _______________ (to argue) that __________________ (to be) the beginning of the internet.
  9. Most internet traffic in 1976 _____________ (to be) email, because academics ____________________ (to think) electronic post-it notes ______________ (to be) dead-core.
  10. He _____________ (to do) so by __________________ (to invent) an interface _________________ (to use) HTTP, HTML, and URLs that _________________ (to make) internet browsers possible.

Downloadable PDF: Who invented the Internet – fill in the gaps activity

Correct answers: Correct answers – Fill in the gaps activity – Who invented the internet

 

 

Visual Vocabulary 2

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Can you guess in what season was it taken?Landscape (1)

 Photo credit: Professor Bop / Foter.com / CC BY-NC-ND

These are wooden houses, houses made of wood:wooden houses

Photo credit: Cycling man / Foter.com / CC BY-NC-ND

This is a branch, it’s a part of a tree. On this branch there are six doves:

branch

Photo credit: Tambako the Jaguar / Foter.com / CC BY-ND

This is a tree trunk or ‘log‘:

tree trunk

Photo credit: rubyblossom. / Foter.com / CC BY-NC

This is a fence, a barrier enclosing or bordering a field, yard, etc., usually made of posts and wire or wood, used to prevent entrance, to confine, or to mark a boundary. This is a wooden fence because is made of wood:

fence

Photo credit: Timothy Valentine / Foter.com / CC BY-NC-SA

This is a field,  an area of cleared enclosed land used for cultivation or pasture:

field

Photo credit: Infomastern / Foter.com / CC BY-SA

Learn English Through Stories

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I found this channel on YouTube which I think could be extremely useful for beginners and intermediate students.
Besides, you have subtitles on each video which is great ;-).

This is a Level 1 video on London:

 

This is the channel’s link: Stories To Learn English

This is Beauty and the Beast (Level 1):

For more advanced English students, this is a Level 6 video. Pride and Prejudice:

‘Dedication’ – What does it mean?

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Dedication 1 Deducation 2

Dedication3

Image source

Example sentences from the web:

  • I am sure you will do it with great effectiveness and dedication.
  • His dedication went far beyond what would normally be expected of a chief election observer.
  • Her dedication to medicine was so great that she had time for little else.

DEDICATION – Noora Noor

This song is for my mother
Who told me to work harder
The way she loves
Makes me feel free

This song is for my brothers
With them, so much wiser
The way they love
I feel so complete

Everyone (love) thought that I could (love) do
Whatever, whenever, wherever I set my mind on
Everyone (love) thought that I could do (love)
Whatever, whenever, wherever I set my mind on

This song is for my sister
I melt when I’m around her
So much joy she brings for me to see

This song is for my father
Without him, I’m so much stronger
From Heaven he guides me through a rainy day

Everyone (love) thought that I could do (love)
Whatever, whenever, wherever I set my mind on
Everyone (love) thought that I could do (love)
Whatever, whenever, wherever I set my mind on

Believe in me
I believe in you
Believe in me
I believe in you
Believe in, believe in, believe in me
I believe in you, you
In you, you
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Yeah, yeah yeah…
I promise I’ll be better

Everyone (love) thought that I could do (love)
I set my mind ???? ????
Everyone (love) thought that I could do (love)
Do whatever, whenever, wherever I set my mind on
Yeah

Comic on this topic by British Council with comprehension test:
Comic on dedication.

Slideshare

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Slideshare is a community that allows people to upload and share slides and other resources. Its aim is to share knowledge online.

For example, this is a presentation on plural nouns in English:

This is a book on phrasal verbs in context:

This one could help you improve your vocabulary:

This is how it looks when you search for a topic:
Slideshare
First of all, you have to write the topic you are interested in (on the top), then you can click on the search icon. The image above shows you how it will appear on your screen. After you’ve clicked on the “search” button, you can change the language (look at the red arrow on the right). Thanks to this option, you will be able to find resources not only in English but also in other languages.

For example, choosing French, instead of English, this is what’ll appear on your screen:
slideshare_french

Lingro

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If you are English students and you want to improve your vocabulary/comprehension skills I suggest that you try this website. Lingro is an amazing resource if you want to read a blog, an online newspaper, etc. You just have to write the link of what you want to read (number one in the picture below). You can select a dictionary (as you can see, I marked “English dictionary” with a red rectangle, but it’s not the only one, there are also English-Spanish, Spanish-English, English-French, English-Italian, etc.).
This is the homepage:

lingro_home_pageLink: http://lingro.com/

For example, you want to read an article on the website http://www.nationalgeographic.com/ . Firstly, you have to find an article you like, for instance, I decided to read this one: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2015/04/150406-california-drought-snowpack-map-water-science/

national_geographic_articleThen, you have to copy the article’s link. Done that, from within the lingro’s website, you can enter the URL.
It’ll appear like this:

article_with_lingroYou can notice that I selected (I clicked the left mouse button) “warming” and “scarcity” .
Afterwards, you can study the words you didn’t know. There’s the possibility to create wordlists:

Word_list

You can also play with flashcards:

flashcards flash_cards flash_cards_2