Practise speaking

We mentioned this website before, but it's worth mentioning again.

English Central

A great website where you can practise your English speaking by watching videos and recording your speaking. The site will give you a score and you can listen to the correct pronunciation if you make a mistake.

Find videos that are of interest to you: films, news etc. and practise away!

Happy speaking!

Practise listening

I'm sure you all agree that when you learn a language it's good to practise listening. As well as improving your listening skills, it will also help you develop your vocabulary and grammar.

Here's a website where you can listen to podcasts: Podcasts in English. You can choose the level that's right for you and listen to something interesting. You can also read the transcript and use worksheets and vocabulary tasks.

Happy listening and learning!

A new hero in the news!

Watch this news story from England, then you can post a comment (click on the 'comment' button and leave your answers - see if other people agree with you!) below and answer the following questions:

- Was the lady right to do what she did?

- Why did nobody else do it?

- What would you have done in the same situation?

- Should the lady get a reward, or should all people be expected to do this?

- Would this happen in Tbilisi?

Some vocabulary from the story:

sledgehammer

passer-by

footage

heroine

moped

lash out

flee

suspect

Can you guess what happened, now you know the words? Watch the film and see!

Learning tip

Do you like music? Do you like learning English?

Now you can practise your listening and vocabulary by testing yourself when listening to songs you like, by going to this website.

Fill in the missing words as you listen to your favourite songs!

Have fun...

Friday's 'happy' news story

By Tim MastersEntertainment correspondent, BBC News

A pistol held by Sean Connery as James Bond in a poster to promote the 1963 film From Russia With Love has sold at auction for £277,250.

The Walther air pistol fetched more than 10 times its estimate of £15,000-£20,000 at Christie's in London on Thursday.

Meanwhile, a rare Darth Vader costume made for Star Wars film The Empire Strikes Back failed to sell.

It had been expected to fetch up to £230,000.

The costume, which was being sold by a private collector from the US who acquired it in 2003, was believed to have been the first complete Vader costume to be offered at auction.

Another James Bond pistol, that appeared in 1974 film The Man With The Golden Gun, sold for £15,000.

Last month an American car enthusiast paid £2.6m to buy a 1964 Aston Martin DB5 - complete with revolving number plates, ejector seat and bullet-proof shield - featured in Bond films Goldfinger and Thunderball.

Among the other items sold at Thursday's Popular Culture: Film and Entertainment auction was a dinosaur model from the 1933 King Kong film that went for £25,000.

A metal box that contained the glowing red eye of the computer HAL from the film 2001: A Space Odyssey sold for £17,500

A pair of trunks worn by Christopher Reeve in the 1984 film Superman III failed to sell.

BBC © MMX

Our thought from today

"Example is the school of mankind, and they will learn at no other." (Edmund Burke)

We all learn things by following the example of others. For example, if you want to be good at a sport, you watch someone who is good at it and follow their example. Maybe they'll tell you how they are doing something, or what exactly they are doing, but you have to then try it. The first time, you won't do it well. The second time you won't do it well, but the more you try, and the more you watch the other people, the better you'll get at it and the easier it will get.

For example, learning to walk. As a baby, nobody told you how to walk. You watched other people for about a year, then started trying yourself. At first, someone held you up and helped you. Then, you fell over. So, you tried again. Soon, you could walk, but very badly, and you kept falling over and crashing into things. But, you kept trying and kept watching other people. Now, you have had so much practice that you are an expert walker. You can walk easily without even thinking about it.

Learning English is exactly the same. When you try something, it's wrong, or not very good. But you try again, keep practising, and watch the people who are good at it (and listen to them...). Eventually, it becomes easier and you get better at it.

Everyone can learn to walk, and everyone can learn to speak English. :-)