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Grammar
Accent
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Vocabulary
Grammar
Accent
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Grammar: Imperative
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Grammar
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Vocabulary
Grammar
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Before you watch the video:
Vocabulary
Grammar
In our modern world we are surrounded by publicity. These ads come in print, audio and video formats. They can be one word, a phrase, an expression, a long web landing page, a musical jingle, a TV commerical, a cinema spot at the beginning of a film.
Some of these ads can bore us to death, some catch our attention momentarily, some stay in our memories for days and weeks…. and then there are the iconic ads that become part of our culture.
What ads, commericals, publicity do you remember?
If I give you a part of an ad jingle, can you give me the first or following part???
Let’s try:
- __ _______ , No Party! (a fairly young ad…. but already a classic!)
- Where the rubber meets ___ ____. (This is a very old ad, but I still remember the whole jingle and can sing it.)
What ads do you remember in your language? Can you translate them into English? Are they still as persuasive and memorable?
Here’s a video ad produced for Microsoft Advertising. Well, really, it is several ads containing a trailer and the sequel to a previous award-winning Microsoft Advertising ad called the “Break Up”. It’s got subtitles in English for the English dialogue as well, so enjoy and then share your thoughts…
What part of the ad did you like the most?
Which part was the easiest to understand?
Which part was the most difficult?
Now take a deep breath….
Ok?
Most of my students tell me that there’s so much here, that they hardly understood anything….
But when I start asking them questions, they realize they understood more than they thought!
The problem is, you see, that we language learners want to understand E-V-E-R-Y word! Instead, we should first focus on understanding the general meaning of what we saw and/or listened to….
Ok?
So, what did you understand? If you still feel overwhelmed by this video… go back… rewind…and
Ok, now try these Follow-up Questions:
Submit your answers to the following in the “Comments” box below:
Some comprehension questions:
Some lexical/vocabulary questions:
(And remember: You learn better and faster when you are enjoying yourself – so relax and have fun while you learn!)
In the next few lessons, we are going to read about the history of New York City.
In this lesson, we’ll read about the European discovery of the area that is now called New York City.
Do you know the nationalities of the explorers who came to this area?
Do you know why these explorers liked this area?
Do you know which nationality built the first settlement or trading post?
Before reading the text, look at some of the vocabulary that you’ll meet in this reading. If you don’t know the words, look them up on an online dictionary.
Vocabulary
deep
harbor
to marvel
seaport
hunter
gatherer
hunter-gatherer
to set eyes on, a phrasal verbs
to scout
to be named for
to map
to lay claim
New York City’s History
Part I: Discovery by the Europeans
There are many reasons why New York City
has become a leading city in the world.
But one of the most important reasons is its
large, deep natural harbor. In the 1500s,
European explorers marveled at the potential
this protected body of water had as a seaport and trading center.
Before the Europeans arrived, the area around what is
now lower New York State, New Jersey, and Delaware was
inhabited by the Lenape, an Algonquin-speaking nation of
hunter-gatherers.
According to the history books, the first European
to set eyes on New York harbor was Giovanni daVerrazano,
an Italian explorer scouting the Atlantic coast of America
in 1594 for the French crown. He apparently did not stay long,
but the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge that connects Brooklyn
to Staten Island is named for him.
The first European to really map this region was
the English explorer Henry Hudson. He was working for
the Dutch East India Company, which had employed him
to find a trading passage to Asia by sailing west across the
Atlantic.
In 1609, during Hudson’s exploration of the Atlantic
coast, he sailed into New York Harbor and up what is now
the Hudson River. He never found the passage to Asia,
but the Dutch laid claim to the land he had explored.
In 1613, the Dutch established a fur trading post
on the southern-most end of Manhattan island and called it
New Amsterdam. The area surrounding this new trading center,
they named after their own country; they called it New Netherlands.
Vocabulary
Grammar
Video
Vocabulary
Grammar
Video
Today we are going to start taking a bite out of the “Big Apple”, but before we begin:
- What do you know about New York City?
- When was it founded?
- Who founded it?
Can you guess what these words mean? If not, try to guess their meaning from their context in the article:
The Big Apple
In just a few centuries, what we now call New York City went from a wilderness to an enormous megalopolis that is known around the world. And although, New York City is a huge city and very busy, the people who live in New York City, the New Yorkers, love this noisy, crowded city and call it home!
Painters, writers and filmmakers have all tried to capture the spirit and attraction of New York City. But, really, to understand the Big Apple you have to go there. You have to walk its streets, meet its people, feel its unique rhythms.
New York City is not an old city like Rome or Beijing which have existed for millennia. Compared to those cities, New York is young. It does not have their long history. However, reflecting on New York City’s youth it has grown and prospered very quickly. In fact, “The City”, as people call it, is considered one of the greatest cities of civilization.
This great city is made up of five boroughs (sections of the city): Manhattan, Brooklyn, The Bronx, Queens, and Staten Island. However, when people speak of New York City, they are usually talking about the island of Manhattan.
New York City actually has its roots in Manhattan. It was at the tip of the island of Manhattan that the first village was built by the Dutch. It is this tip that is still the center of New York’s financial area around Wall Street. It was near this area that the Twin Towers, The World Trade Center, once stood before September 11, 2001. And it is on the island of Manhattan that the buildings still scrape the sky.
Now for a few questions:
- In general, what do the New Yorkers think of their city?
- What’s the best way to understand New York City?
- What are 2 other names for New York City?
- How many boroughs or section of New York are there? Can you name them?
- The famous Wall Street is in which borough?
- In which borough were the Twin Towers?
Now, go back and look at these verbs: compare, reflect, speak, talk, to be made up …..
What prepositions follow each verb?
(This article has been adapted by Eileen O’Neill from the article, New York, New York, written by Thomas W. Santos in the English Teaching Forum Journal, 2008, vol.1, U.S. State Dept, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.)