Yes, we know it’s already October and that this is our very first ( and very late) post in this new school year. Our lame excuse is that we’ve been suffering from a severe attack of post vacacional depression. Hopefully it’s all over now thanks to the steps we had followed from this blog:
http://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/2014/01/16/post-vacation-depression/4494763/
You must have noticed that the best way to overcome the blues, according to the author of the blog post and our personal opinion, is to be planning a new trip. This can also be a good motivational tip to start practicing your English again.
Get online and check out the places you’d like to visit, but only visit sites in English, no matter where you are planning to go. Take part in forums or chats, dream your way to your next holiday destination and do it all in English. It doesn’t matter when you’ll be off or if you will travel at all. What matters is that you’ll be doing an enjoyable and relaxing activity without even noticing that you’re expanding your vocabulary.While daydreaming about your favourite destination, you will probably learn a number of synonyms for the word: GREAT,
http://www.urbandictionary.com/thesaurus.php?term=great
as well as many more slang expressions meaning the very opposite:
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=horrible
And here’s a lesson for you to get an idea how slang is used.
While away in a foreign land you were exposed to some GREAT and not so great English. One of the main reasons for non native speakers making mistakes is that they are constantly trying to translate certain words or concepts into English. Sometimes this impedes understanding , sometimes it just makes us chuckle but very often there are words or concepts that just can’t be translated.
Here is a video with 10 such words.Needlesss to say, there are many more and you are free to investigate.However, the best characteristic of this video is that you have a chance of hearing people speak English in 10 different foreign accents. Have fun!
Finally, we can’t help but make a little suggestion. Have a fantastic daydreaming trip!
advanced students corner 