New Year's resolutions difficult to keep

Click on the image to listen to this article.

New Year is when we make plans to change our life over the next twelve months. A professor said: "January 1 is a 'magical' date and a vow made on this day is much more powerful than one made on August 26." Most of our promises to quit, start or change things are usually broken by January 31st. They are usually the same resolutions that were not fulfilled from previous years. People tend to make the same resolutions even though they cannot keep them.

Around 45 per cent of us make resolutions. The most common ones are to lose weight, volunteer, quit smoking, save money, and get fit. Others include eating healthier food and drinking less alcohol. Most of us do not stick to these. A study found that 71 per cent of us stick to them for the first two weeks. This goes down to 50 per cent after six months. Most people give up because they lack willpower. They 'escape' by thinking they will 'try again next year'.

2. SYNONYM MATCH:Match the following synonyms from the article.

1.	start	a.	widespread
2	forthcoming	b.	regrettably
3.	vow	c.	yearly
4.	unfortunately	d.	promise
5.	hard	e.	approaching
6.	common	f.	shows
7.	fit	g.	get out
8.	reveals	h.	tough
9.	annual	i.	in good shape
10.	escape	j.	beginning

From: Breakingnewsenglish.com

A food festival

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Click here to read the script.

(Try to finish the exercise before reading the script.)

Listen to a radio interview with a woman who has organised a food festival. Write a word or
phrase in each gap to complete the text.

Sarah works for a local charity organisation that gives poor children an opportunity to (1)
__________. This year ‘Wish you were here’ has organised a food festival to raise enough
money to send (2) __________ children to Cornwall in the summer. They are hoping to attract a
lot of visitors and they have already decided that if the food festival is popular, it will take place
(3) __________ year.
There is plenty to do and see at the festival. You can buy food from many (4) __________ and
you don’t need to break the bank because meals are inexpensive. Children are welcome and
their meals only cost (5) __________.
You can learn new skills at the festival too. A famous chef is going to teach festival-goers how to
cook (6) __________. Organisers are hoping this will attract a lot of would-be chefs.
Other events at the festival include face-painting and a (7) __________ competition which is
open to participants from all age groups. Families will be especially pleased to see an area
where their children can (8) __________.
The food festival is on (9) __________ and it starts at 10 o’clock. There is parking space for
around 200 cars and admission is (10) __________.


From: British Council

Getting used to new things

If you want to complete a grammar task, click here

World Toilet Day

November the 19th is World Toilet Day (WTD).



Click on the first image to listen to this article.

November the 19th is World Toilet Day (WTD). This day celebrates the importance of something we never really think about too much – the toilet. Imagine life without one. There are many world issues regarding toilets. WTD is a global day of action to raise awareness of the fact that millions of people have no clean toilet. This creates serious health problems in many countries. No toilets or sewage systems means human waste is in the streets. This gets into the water supply and affects crops. WTD is run by the World Toilet Organization. This is a worldwide non-profit group that aims to increase the number of toilets in poor countries. It has a global network of over 200 different organizations in 56 countries.

Toilets have been around for thousands of years. The first known toilets and sewage systems were in the Indus Valley, in India and Pakistan. The modern flush toilet dates back to the sixteenth century. It was designed by an Englishman called John Harrington in 1596. It took another 250 years for his invention to become popular. In the late nineteenth century, rich Londoners installed them in their houses. Toilet design stayed the same for the next three hundred years. Modern technology is now changing the toilet. Japanese makers are making “smart” toilets that can analyze our waste and give us a report on our health. These may help keep all of us healthier in the future by checking our blood pressure and blood sugar levels.

You'll find an exercise below

TOM CRUISE

Click on the image for a reading and listening exercise on line.

Airport announcements

The Netherlands - where people openly smoke marijuana

Click on the image to watch this video.

The BBC's Anna Holligan visited a cafe in Amsterdam where people smoke as much marijuana as they like, and the government gets a share of the proceeds.

From: BBC News

First woman swims across the Atlantic

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A 56-year-old has become the first woman to swim across the Atlantic Ocean. Jennifer Figge climbed out of the water in Trinidad on February the 5th to write her name in the record books. She left the Cape Verde Islands near Africa’s west coast on January the 12th. Her original plan was to swim in a straight line to the Bahamas. However, bad weather forced her to change direction and she had to swim an extra 1,600 kilometres to Trinidad. She spent almost a month in the water, swimming for up to eight hours at a time. Her day started at 7.00am with a huge breakfast to keep her energy levels high. She burnt up to 8,000 calories a day during her epic adventure. Her team threw her energy drinks as she swam to keep her going.

Figge first decided to swim the Atlantic when she was a teenager. She was on a stormy flight to the USA and decided if the plane crashed, she could swim back to shore. She got inspiration from French swimmer Benoite Lecomte, who became the first man to achieve the feat a decade ago. She trained for her trans-Atlantic marathon in an outdoor swimming pool surrounded by snow. Figge said she was never afraid during her swim, even though she used a shark cage. She said she never saw any sharks, but did see lots of whales, dolphins and turtles. She thought a lot about her family and her pet dog while in the water and told the Associated Press news agency: "My dog doesn't know where I am. It's time for me to get back home to Hank."

SYNONYM MATCH: Match the following synonyms from the article:

1.	woman	a.	drove
2	left	b.	influence
3.	forced	c.	informed
4.	huge	d.	female
5.	epic	e.	rough
6.	stormy	f.	enormous
7.	inspiration	g.	frightened
8.	trained	h.	departed
9.	afraid	i.	heroic
10.	told	j.	practiced

Carla Bruni says Nicolas Sarkozy is Faithful

Click on the image to listen to this.

French first lady Carla Bruni has spoken about rumours her marriage to French president Nicolas Sarkozy is over. She said many teasing things in an interview with the British TV network Sky News. French newspapers are full of stories about the high-profile couple’s future together. However, British newspapers and television appear hungrier for news. The French rarely seem to get excited by scandals, whereas the Brits love them. Ms Bruni’s latest interview has given people a lot to talk about. She told interviewer Anna Botting that she married her husband in a hurry and that she didn’t know if she would stay with him forever. Ms Bruni also talked about her relationships with rock and roll stars Eric Clapton and Mick Jagger.

Carla Bruni, a former model and now singer-songwriter, was very honest in her interview with Sky News. She said she married Nicolas Sarkozy just three months after meeting him and that they had to get married. She explained it "wasn't possible" to be with him without getting married because of non-stop gossip and rumours in the French press. Bruni joked: "It wasn't about 'hey, let's date', we had to do it fast to calm the people down." She said she was sure her husband was not seeing anyone else and asked the interviewer: “Have you ever seen a picture of him having an affair?" Bruni described her marriage as a dream: “The real fairytale is how lucky, how incredibly lucky it was for me to fall in love at 40 years old and meet someone I could marry," she said.

. SYNONYM MATCH: Match the following synonyms from the article.

1.	rumours	a.	romances
2	over	b.	more eager
3.	high-profile	c.	cheating
4.	hungrier	d.	unbelievably
5.	relationships	e.	never-ending
6.	former	f.	finished
7.	non-stop	g.	quieten
8.	calm	h.	gossip
9.	having an affair	i.	ex-
10.	incredibly	j.	prominent

Beijing Listening

                                               Click on the first image to try a listening exercise about Beijing .

Countries and nationalities

Click on the image. You will listen to different countries.

Which ones?

How are you ?

Plants listening

Click here to listen. Try to complete the sentences.

Jokes

Some jokes!, not very good ones I'm afraid.

Crime report

Click on the image to listen to the radio news report, then read the newspaper story and answer this question:

What are the differences between the radio report and the newspaper ??

How to agree with someone in an informal conversation

One of our last topics in class was about how to agree and disagree.
If you want to find out more about how to agree with someone in informal English click here , 
here for the script , and on the image for and exercise.