For all you dedicated bloggers ...
G’day and hey up! (Look, I’m bilingual!!!)
This post is entirely dedicated to those of you who are faithfully posting comments – if you keep reading, you’ll find your name somewhere, I guarantee it! And please do keep them coming (I know say this every time, but it’s absolutely fantastic to have a global classroom of such interesting people!). Satya, I’ve read your last two posts with interest, and certainly haven’t forgotten your questions – I promise I’ll get to them in my next post!
Before I start, some quick feedback on the homework; most of you got the answers to my questions right:
1. I wish I HADN’T eaten so much for lunch – I feel really sick now.
2. Owen, I wish you WOULD stop putting your toys in the fridge.
(No, he doesn’t really do this, but only because he can’t open the door!)
3. I wish I HAD a faster internet connection – uploading this post will take ages!
4. I wish I COULD be the BBC teacher blogger again next year.
Well done on having a go at some sentences of your own, too – just make sure you keep an eye out for wish + would; if you’re not complaining about something, it’s better to use could.
As for the difference between have the day off and take the day off – a lot of you got this right and also expressed the difference very clearly, so well done for that too! (I just reread your comments to see if there was one I could pinch, but so many of you got it right it wouldn’t be fair, so I guess I’ll have to do it myself!)
Have the day off – someone has given me the day off (e.g. it’s a public holiday, the office is closed, etc)
Take the day off - I have decided myself that I’ll have the day off (e.g. I’m sick, I don’t feel like going to work, etc).
I also need to apologise that I’m only posting this now – I had intended to get it on the site yesterday, but hope you will all forgive me! (And NO HOMEWORK today otherwise we’ll be here forever!!) I have a couple of really exciting things coming up that I plan to tell you about – tomorrow night I’m going to the Night Noodle Market in the city, and on Sunday I’m doing my favourite Sydney walk, from Coogee Beach to Bondi Beach, so more on those as they happen.
OK, let’s get down to it – apologies if I misspell anyone’s name (my spell check doesn’t even recognise the word blog, so I don’t hold out much hope!). I hope I’ve replied to all of you – if I’ve missed anyone out, send me a comment and complain, and I’ll rectify it as soon as I can!
Bye for now,
Rachel
Silwal Kishor from Nepal – Thank you for all your comments, and for the interesting information you’re telling us about your country. I didn’t realise that in Nepal you celebrate birthdays according the lunar calendar (I think the Koreans do as well – does anyone else?). I think you’re right about people seeing Australia as a place of opportunity, as I’ve met a lot more Nepalese people recently through work than when I first arrived here. I’m glad you’re using the blog to brush up your English – especially the phrasal verbs! – that’s great!
Adriana from Brazil – Believe it or not, although the koalas look very soft and fluffy (which they are), they also smell very strongly of eucalyptus, because that’s all they eat, and if you stroke one a couple of times your hands will smell too! Kangaroos can cause a lot of damage to cars – they are quite common on country roads especially around dusk and dawn, when they can be quite hard to see, and because they’re such big animals they can really damage a car if it hits them at high speed. For this reason, many cars in the country are equipped with “roo bars”, which are metal bars fixed to the front of the car to avoid damage if a kangaroo is hit. I’m very impressed that you’ve been reading the Sydney Morning Herald (the website is: if anyone else is interested in having a look). Keep up with the comments!
Ana Paula from Brazil – Good work on all the vocab; I’m really impressed by your dedication! Are you studying for one of the Cambridge exams, or just using the website to practise your English? There’s another really good website with Cambridge practice activities: I’m sure you know of it already, but just in case you don’t, here’s the address: . Please say G’day to your sister from me, and tell her to keep on letting you use the computer!
Naheed from Pakistan – How great that you’re using a grammar book to practise the language points we discuss on the blog – good thinking! Owen isn’t really good with chopsticks – he just wanted them because we had them, but it didn’t take him long to figure out that if you bang them on the table you can make a really loud noise!
Rafique from Pakistan – Well done on all your answers to the homework! Australians do indeed have a horror of the rule book, which is why there is so much slang! Watch this space for more … and keep commenting!
Carolina from Argentina – Welcome to the blog! I’m really glad you’re so motivated to reply to all my posts, it’s great to hear from you so regularly! I hope you had a wonderful Mother’s Day last weekend and didn’t have to do any housework at all! I missed out on the UK Mother’s Day (in March) this year because I was here, and I missed out on Aussie Mother’s Day (in May) because I was in the UK! That’s doing well, isn’t it?!
I am totally with you on cockroaches – they are truly disgusting creatures that make my skin crawl to think of them! They’re not so common in the UK, so I really got a shock when I came to Oz, especially because they’re so big! And they fly! Eugh!
Your husband is absolutely right about the rugby- one day soon I’ll do a post on Aussie sport (I’ll have to get Chris to check it before I put it up in case I make any mistakes!). Actually, I’m OK on rugby, it’s cricket that causes problems!
Yvonne from Germany, NRW, Ahaus – Hi! Thanks for all your comments and for being so good about the homework! I will try and write a bit more about Yorkshire and also (of course) about Sydney. I would love to hear a bit about where you come from – I have visited Germany several times (never been to Berlin, though), and am curious to know what NRW stands for, and whereabouts it is. It was interesting to read about how you celebrate your national holiday; there is a similar event in Oz on January 26th, called Australia Day.
What sort of work would you like to do in the UK?
Paulraj from India – Yes, Aussies definitely love their sport! (You’re talking to the wrong person about cricket, though, I just don’t get it!). I’m sure Chris would love to sit down and have a chinwag with you on the topic – he’s a mad fan and is also a member of one of the local teams – they play every Saturday. Owen made his day recently by saying “Do you want to play cricket with me, Daddy?” I’m not sure he knows what cricket is, really, but Chris was pleased to bits!
You ask a good question about Owen’s accent – it’s kind of a mixture of both, but mainly mine because I’m the one who he spends the most time with. I guess when he starts preschool he’ll become a proper little Aussie and all my hard work will be lost!
I really enjoyed your description of the peacocks and tigers – there were some peacocks at the wildlife park (even a white one, which was really beautiful). We are big fans of tigers in our house, and also of elephants (when Owen was younger, he couldn’t say elephant so he used to say “hennant” instead!). I should plan a trip to the zoo, really, so he can see them for himself.
Yes, you are right about my use of the past perfect in my post about the unbirthday party – great to see you picking up on examples from my writing!
And regarding dingoes, I’m actually not sure whether they’re dangerous or not – I suspect they’re fairly unthreatening creatures as long as they’re not provoked. I’ll do some research and see if I can find out (that means I’ll ask Chris!).
Marianna from Slovakia – Dobry den! Well done on the Germany sentence – very good! That’s not the first time someone’s said that to me, actually … wonder why?! Chris studied Ancient Greek as part of his Master’s degree at Durham Uni in England (that’s where we met). He’s also done some Latin and German, and a bit of French (my sister lives in France, so we both madly try and brush up our French whenever we go and see her!). Actually, I can tell you a story about Chris’s Ancient Greek lessons (I’m sure he won’t mind). The lessons used to be held first thing on Monday mornings (always a bad time, in my opinion!!), and the teacher was a rather elderly man who believed in round-the-class translation. I’m sure if you’ve ever had a teacher like that you know what happens – you work out which sentence you will have to translate and then don’t pay attention to anything else! Anyway, Chris used to walk into class, fall asleep, wake up to translate his sentence and then go back to sleep for the rest of the lesson! Occasionally he didn’t wake up, then his mate had to poke him in the ribs and point out which sentence they were up to in the text!
Regarding what you say about wombats, it is hard to see them in the wild, generally – I hadn’t seen one until a couple of years ago when my parents came over for Owen’s naming ceremony. We rented a house in Kangaroo Valley (about 2 hrs south of Sydney) for a few days, and there were heaps of them! They’re nocturnal, so we used to go outside at dusk and keep an eye out for them then.
Wisarut from Thailand – Thai food! Yay! I’d never tried Thai food before I came here, and I love it! I still find it hard to eat really spicy food, though (Chris does – I don’t think he has any sensation in his mouth at all, as he can eat things that would make my mouth explode! You know on cartoons where you see someone eat something spicy and then steam comes out of their ears? That’s me!). Owen is a big fan of chicken satay, and I’m slowly trying to introduce other things as well – what sort of foods did you eat when you were little? Anything you would recommend for a two-year-old?
How’s work going – hope it’s less frustrating now! I’ll tell you a lot more about Oz if you tell us a lot more about Thailand – it’s one of the countries that’s on my list of places to visit (unfortunately it’s a very long list, and I don’t think I’ll ever get round to going everywhere! Oh well!).
Abdul Razaq from Afghanistan – First of all, Happy Birthday to Tawab for yesterday - even though my sense of world time is really bad, I'm pretty sure it's no longer 9th Oct in Afghanistan! Please wish him a happy birthday from Australia, even if you’re not going to celebrate it until the end of the fast! How old is he?
You asked about improving your speaking and writing; I can certainly give you some ideas, but I’d like to see if anyone else has any suggestions? How do you all improve your spoken and written English? Regarding writing, a lot of the students I teach keep a diary so that they can practise writing in English, especially the new grammar and structures that they have learned. There are also some good websites for this (have a look at my comment to Ana Paula for one suggestion). Regarding speaking, I don’t know how much access you have to English materials, but one way would be to listen to a TV or radio program in English and try to repeat some of the words or phrases to practise the pronunciation. If you have any examples of written English, try reading it aloud, slowly and first and then more quickly to get used to how it sounds and links together. (You could even use the posts on the Teacher Blog for this!). Your vocabulary is already very good, so use your knowledge of English words and phrases whenever you’re writing and speaking so you can consolidate this too. Hope that helps – and please keep the comments coming!
Sara from Saudi Arabia – Yes, there are lots of differences between Aussie English and British English (especially regarding slang). I’ll have a think about some examples and post them for you all to have a look at. You’re right, G’Day is a short form of Good Day, and goodonya for working it out! (Now can you guess what goodonya means?!)
Myen from Vietnam – I have indeed tried Vietnamese food (and love it!); see my response to Lam Tran below for more details! Well done on the homework – I’m not keen on Aussie spiders either, believe me! Eugh! Owen loved the kangaroos; you can actually buy food for them and feed them as you walk around, and he loved doing that. I felt a bit sorry for them, though, as there were heaps of people doing the same thing and I think they must have been a bit sick of it after a while! Thank you so much for all your comments – keep them coming!
Adek from Poland – Thanks for all your comments; it’s great that you check in so regularly. I think Pom can be used a bit disparagingly, but I’ve mainly encountered it as a statement of fact. Aussies and Kiwis often tend to refer to people from the UK as “whinging Poms” in reference to the fact that British people complain a lot (I just say that if Oz was more like England we wouldn’t need to complain, and then they shut up!). It’s funny, though, I’d rather be called a Pom than a Brit – isn’t that interesting? I wonder why? (You don’t have to answer that!)
I was OK with Owen getting that close to the kangaroos – at the wildlife park they’re quite used to people touching them, and there are people-free areas where they can go if they’ve had enough. I was watching him pretty closely, though, and would have whisked him away at the first sign of trouble! There was one point where he nearly trod on a sleeping kangaroo’s tail (accidentally), which could potentially have been a bit tricky!!
Rocio from México – Yes, Sydney is a very beautiful city, and there will definitely be more pictures, now I know how to do it!! Well done on the homework – you’re spot on! Thanks for your request about gerunds and infinitives; I think a lot of people find that difficult, so I’ll do a focus on that for everyone next week sometime – keep checking in and commenting, it’s great to hear from you!
Lam Tran from Vietnam – I loved your descriptions of Women’s Day and Teacher’s day; sounds like I should plan to visit Vietnam between October and November so I can be involved in both! (That would be great, actually, because then I could spend my birthday there too!) Yes, I have tried Vietnamese food, and I love it! I’m really lucky where I live because not only is the Vietnamese restaurant in Dulwich Hill fantastic, but also there is a large Vietnamese population in Marrickville (the next suburb down from Dulwich Hill) with lots of really good restaurants. I especially love the fresh prawn rolls (I think they’re called goi cuon, is that right?), but I’d love to hear any recommendations for things to try! Keep the comments coming!
Zainab from Iran – You’re absolutely right about the difference between have the day off and take the day off – well done!!
Paco from Spain – Thanks for your comments, and well done on the homework – top marks! Glad you liked the photos; watch this space and there will be more!
Sara from Bahrain – What a good idea to turn Mother’s Day into Family Day; that covers everyone! Please keep on reading and commenting; it would be good to hear from you again.
Milan from Viet Nam – It was great to hear how you spend Father’s Day. I like the idea of karaoke, but I don’t think I could convince Chris! (Maybe I could do a surprise unbirthday karaoke next year!) I think you’re onto something with an unbirthday party for either you or your mum so you don’t have two parties in the same month – let me know if you do it and how it works out!
Hyoshil from Lincoln – Thank you so much for your reassurance about Thomas the Tank Engine – it’s nice to know there is light at the end of the tunnel (also nice to know that my boy is not the only one with a train obsession!). Did you enjoy your time in Oz? And what do you think of Lincoln? Lincoln is not too far from where I’m from – I was born and grew up in Doncaster.
P – I have no idea why Aussies speak so quickly, but you’re right, they do! Your question about written styles is a good one – written English is pretty much the same in Oz and the UK; it seems to be the US that’s different. Spoken English, though, as I guess you’ve worked out, is a totally different story!
Manas from India – Well done with the “wish” homework; perfect! Glad you liked the photos – more coming soon, hopefully!
Antonio from Belgium – Thanks for the comments! Please keep reading the posts and letting me know what you think!
Pary from Iran – How’s your boy doing? Sounds like he keeps you on your toes as much as mine does! I’d love to hear more about the different celebrations you have in Iran, as there doesn’t seem to be nearly as many in Oz. I especially like the sound of Teacher’s Day!!
Josie from The Netherlands – Lovely to hear so much about you! What’s it like having a six-year-old? (I can’t imagine that at the moment, although I’m sure it will happen to me sooner than I expect!) Tiago is a lovely name – I wonder what the English version is? Does anyone have any ideas? Please pluck up the courage to write again – we’d love to hear from you!!
Filippo from Italy – Ciao! Yes, Chris eventually recovered from Australia’s loss to Italy (I didn’t care, I was supporting England – pointlessly, as it turned out!!). Actually, your comment made me think a bit about the World Cup – as I’m sure you know, there’s a large Italian population in Australia (especially in Sydney and Melbourne), and in fact one of our closest friends is an Italian-Australian; there was a real case of divided loyalties when Oz made it through into the cup. In our case, our friend was supporting Oz, until they were knocked out, but he took a lot of stick for it from people who thought he should have been supporting Italy. Interesting stuff!
The concert in Rome sounds fantastic – have you ever been?
Anna Yin from Toronto – That’s a very tricky question – thank you! (It’s always nice to get tricky questions!). I’m going to throw it at a few of my colleagues for their suggestions, and I’ll get back to you – hope that’s OK!
Sunday from Beijing,China – Well done on your first comment! Great stuff! I’m glad you’re learning so much from the site, and I’m looking forward to reading more comments in the future.
Reza from Belgium – Thank you for your feedback; the reason I don’t include a definition for the new words is I’d like you to try to guess them from the context (that’s a really good skill to have when dealing with vocab). I also try and reuse the new words in my other posts, if I can, so you can see other ways they are used. What I plan to do is post a list of definitions every two weeks, so you can check up on any that you weren’t sure of. Hope that helps!
Tiasha, Sri Lanka – I’m glad to meet you too! Thank you very much for your comments; keep reading and writing to us!
Sylvia from Leeds, Yorkshire UK – Now I’m the one who’s excited (let me explain!). I lived in Leeds for 3 years when I was at University there, and loved it! So your comment brought all sorts of memories flooding back, especially about the cold and dark! But how lovely it will be when they switch on the Christmas illuminations (do they still do that?). How’s the teacher training going?
David from from China and living in Germany – Here’s a bit of trivia for you - do you know another symbol of Australia? (It’s on the coat of arms.) It’s the emu, and the reason these two animals are on the coat of arms (instead of wombats, for example!) is that neither of them can walk/move backwards. As for the difference between dingoes and wolves, there my knowledge fails me (except that they’re both part of the dog family). If I ever do find out, though, you’ll be the first to know!
Chandra from India - I will indeed keep saying more and more about Australia (until my knowledge runs out, and then Chris will be doing the blogging!)
Daria from Russia – I’m so glad we’ve inspired you to pluck up your courage and start some active learning – that’s fantastic! Keep the comments coming!
Pilar from Spain – Glad you liked the photos; Aussie animals are pretty special, aren’t they! Does your dog really bite the furniture? Maybe you could put his toys in the fridge as a punishment ;-)
Leila from Finland – G’day possum! Are you sure you’re not an Aussie Sheila yourself? (For those who wanted some slang, Sheila means “woman”, although it’s not so common any more, so my Aussie husband informs me! The equivalent for a man is “bloke” – doesn’t seem quite even to me!). Great to have you back on the blog!
Suchitra from Nepal – Yes, Sydney is a great place to live, although I never thought I’d end up here! You’re absolutely right about the diversity of cultures here, and I totally agree that it’s good to experience so many things – I went to a lovely Nepalese restaurant a couple of weeks ago with a friend, and really enjoyed it! So did my friend, and she’s lived in Sydney for years and never tried Nepalese food (I guess that’s the downside to such a variety – it takes ages to try everything!) I’m glad you enjoyed the Aussie animals – so did we!
Sky from China – G’day! I like kangaroos too (but I like wombats even more!). You’re absolutely right about one man’s meat being another man’s poison, but you have to remember that kangaroos are very common in Oz, and are often farmed for meat and skins etc. Personally, I am a bit squeamish about eating kangaroo (as I am about duck, rabbit and other fluffy animals!), although I have done it once, in a Thai restaurant!! It was actually quite nice – it was served in a curry with peanuts and potatoes (I think it’s called Massaman curry, is that right, Wisarut?), but I don’t think I really need to eat it again (the kangaroo, not the curry! I believe the traditional way to eat it is wtih beef, which suits me much better!). Hope you do come back again, it would be nice to hear more from you!
Tanuja from India – Thanks for your comments! Keep checking in, and we’d love to hear from you again!
Phuong Nga from Vietnam – Glad you like the blogs! Keep checking in and seeing what’s happening (and what homework I can come up with!)
Fatemeh from Afghanistan – Welcome! It’s always nice to meet someone new! Keep reading the blog (and adding comments). You did a good job with the first homework, so try the others and see how you do.
Anna from Warsaw, Poland – I certainly can tell you about traditional Australian food (food being my favourite topic!). I think maybe other people might be interested in this too, so I’ll do a post on it soon (maybe with some recipes?)
Hualan from Melbourne – Yes, I know exactly which holiday you are talking about! Everyone else, you’ll have to wait until November (aren’t I mean?!) to find out all about it! And well done on knowing all the animals!
And just a little bit of vocab - if you've managed to read until the end of this enormous post, congratulations! Give yourself a pat on the back!
to keep an eye out for sth (expr)
to brush up (phr vb)
to make your skin crawl (expr)
a chinwag (n, informal)
to be pleased to bits (expr)
to provoke sb (v)
goodonya (Aus. slang)
disparaging (adj)
to be onto sth (expr)
there's light at the end of the tunnel (expr)
to pluck up (one's) courage (expr)
to bring (a memory or experience) flooding back (expr)
squeamish (adj)
Comments
Dear Rachel, In my last post I just used word “have the day off” and “take the day off “based on my working situation. I work in one of the night club in Nepal which is operated 365 days. Generally, most of the staffs have day of fall in weekday. In my case, I have a day of on Tuesday but last Saturday I took day off in stead of Tuesday. In normal working situation people get day of on weekend. Here is the meaning of words/phrases to keep an eye out for sth (expr) - look after something to brush up (phr vb) - to improve your knowledge of something already learned but partly forgotten to make your skin crawl (expr) - to make someone very anxious or frightened a chinwag (n, informal) - a long and pleasant conversation between friends to be pleased to bits (expr) - be pleased to do sth to provoke sb (v) - to cause a reaction, especially a negative one goodonya (Aus. slang) –nice going disparaging (adj) - critical, in a way that shows you do not respect or value someone to be onto sth (expr) - to have an easy and pleasant life there's light at the end of the tunnel (expr) - signs of improvement in a situation which has been bad for a long time, or signs that a long and difficult piece of work is almost completed to pluck up (one's) courage (expr) - to force yourself to be brave enough to do something, although you are frightened or anxious about it to bring (a memory or experience) flooding back (expr) –Remembering old events squeamish (adj) - easily upset or shocked by things which you find unpleasant or which you do not approve of
NRW is situated in the north-west of Germany and it is our biggest state (by population). Sorry I´ve missed that out in my first answering comment. ;-)) Ahaus in NRW is also in the north-west of the state, nearby the Netherlands.
Dear Rachel, Thank you for your explantion about "wish" in grammar. Before I had a problem to use the word wish. Now I know how to use wish in sentense. Even if I don't comment on your blog I read your blog almost every day. Your son is very cute. I wolud like to caddle and squiz him. I have friend who live in sydney Asutralia.Sometimes we talk on the phone, we always tal about family matters. I have two teenage girls who always make me busy. My older daughter is coming from college today. I am very excited.she like home food ,so after work I have to make my special food chiken briyani , cucumber salad and eggplant chatney. Rachel, Do you like indian food?. Srilankan food and south indian food are more like same. My kind regards
Hey up! I hope you are doing well Rachel. Thank you so much for the reply and you don't have to be sorry for not posting the entry a day earlier because we all like you so much:). I will be looking forward to reading about the Night Noodle Market and your Sydney walk. I read you comment to Carolina about cockroaches, well, you will get to see cockroaches here too. I have given an interesting name to a flying cockroach and that is 'Superman Cockroach'. My father often recalls the days when I was around 2 and he says that I used to eat cockroaches and once he had caught me red handed. Sorry! If I made you feel nauseous. In answering to your question to us all that what do we do to improve our speaking and writing in English. The best way to improve speaking is to speak a lot; this can be done by forming a small learning circle of 4, 8 learners or it can be more. This learning circle can be formed with friends, relatives, neighbors and etc. I have formed a learning English circle with my other three sisters and this has helped a lot(I had got this from the BBC LE website). To improve writing is to keep a diary as you suggested. People often write down recipes when they learn it from someone, in that case it is a good practice to write the recipe in English instead of your own language. Writing comments on the BBC blogs is also very useful, this way we can get to see others' writing styles too. And the teacher's blog is very helpful to learn how native speakers write. To learn any language, it is important to read, write, listen and speak as much as possible and keep it in practice everyday even for 20 minutes. Forgive me if you find my comment too long! Naheed:)
G´Day Rachel :-)!!! Thank you very much for your kind answer. Well, I started to visit BBC LE site 2 years ago in order to brush up my English, once I had classes only once a week and I didn´t have much contact with the English language in my day by day( I spoke to a native English speaker at the first time last July. Oh my mum was so proud of me :-)), so BBC LE site was perfect to me. Then through my visits to this site I´ve realised that just brushing up my English it wasn´t enough. Something was missing. I wanted to learn more. I wanted to have a international certification( this will also help me to get a better job position). Well Rachel, I can tell you BBC LE helped me to make the decision to choose the FCE Cambridge exam. So in the begining of this year I enrolled at a FCE course( I´ve been studying English for 8 years at an American English school). Oh Rachel, the course has been tough because I didn´t learn grammar in my school time, but in the other hand it´s been also so enjoyable. I´ve been learning so much and therefore I´m very happy :-). Oh, by the way Rachel, I couldn´t see the site you recommended. Is there any chance you are talking about Flo-Joe website? I visit this site to practise word formation and key word transformation exercises. It´s great indeed. Ah, and I´d like to tell you it´s a pleasure for me being your virtual student. You are a great teacher :-). My sister said thank you, and she said G´day for you too! Oh, and now the today vocab: to keep an eye out for sth (expr): to watch carefully for sth to appear; to brush up (phr vb): to improve; to make your skin crawl (expr): to think sth or someone is very unpleasant our frightening; a chinwag (n, informal): a long and pleasant conversation between friends; to be pleased to bits (expr): I´m not sure, I´m going to guess this one: to be very happy (?); to provoke sb (v): to make sb angry; goodonya (Aus. slang) I´m going to guess this one too Rachel: good job, well done (?); disparaging (adj): to be critical (negative); to be onto sth (expr): fully aware about it; there's light at the end of the tunnel (expr): there´s hope; to pluck up (one's) courage (expr): to have the courage; to bring (a memory or experience) flooding back (expr): to remember; squeamish (adj): don´t like very much sth. Oh my God! It´s late! Well Rachel, I´m looking forward to reading more about Oz and also about you and your family. All the best, Ana Paula.
Hi Rachel!! Thanks a lot for answering our comments individually! You must have finished exhausted!! As I read till the end of the post I gave myself a pat on the back just as you recommended!! As regards the mother’s day…thanks a lot for you kind words but I it seems that I express myself wrongly when writing “ The 3° Sunday of October”, What I wanted to convey was that Mother’s day is celebrated in Argentina the 3° weekend of October which will be October 20TH this year! And as my husband always helps me with the housework I don’t expect nothing less for that day! (is this sentence correct? It sounds strange. Let me tell you that I have great problems with English! I understand more than I produce and spend years trying to write something coherent….help!…) Vocab for today!: #to keep an eye out for sth: (expr) to hope to notice or find something #to brush up: (phr vb) to quicly practise and improve you skills or knowledge #to make your skin crawl (expr) if someone or something makes your skin crawl, you think they are extremely unpleasant #a chinwag (n, informal) esp BrE an informal conversation; chat #to be pleased to bits (expr) to be extremely pleased?? #to provoke sb (v) to try to make someone angry by doing or saying things that you know annoy them #goodonya (Aus. slang) congratulations?? #disparaging (adj) dispariging remarks criticize someone or something and show that you don’t think they are very good #to be onto sth (expr) to be in a very good situation that gives you many advantages #there's light at the end of the tunnel (expr) something that gives you hope for the future affter a long and difficult period #to pluck up (one's) courage (expr) to force yourself to be brave and do something you are afraid of doing #to bring (a memory or experience) flooding back (expr) to remember suddenly a lot of things?? #squeamish (adj) easily shocked, upset or easily made to feel sick by unpleasant sights Bye Rachel
It is my first time to be here,and no doubt that it can be a habit. I like the photo of Kangaroo,and always amazing it's jump. Pity that I still have no chance to go abroad,Australia is such near to China,so it will be the first station when I have chance to out for travel. Will be back ... Thank you HOO
Hi Rachel! I'm very happy because of your reply and your love in Vietnamese foods, too. The VN traditional agricultural plant is rice, so we have lots of food made by rice, such as Rice vermicelli ( we call it Bun)- Vermicelli and grilled meat (Bun cha), and sour crab soup (Bun rieu), and shellfish soup (Bun oc)...; Noodle soup(Pho)- with beef(Pho bo), with chicken (pho ga),and especial Noodle rolls - Noodle sheet rolls with fried breef and vegetable... Very very delicious dish made by rice! And about dish you mentioned above, "Goi cuon" - the fresh prawn rolls, they made by rice sheet rolls raw prawn (or fish), vegetable... I love them too. Each country has own traditional culture of drinking and eating. I hope U'll introduce about foods in Aus and England in nest posts, may be the skilled cook of some. I also hope U'll visit Vietnam soon, and I will give U a tour and try lots of Vietnamese food. P/s: my birthday is also in November, so that would be great if U visit to Vietnam between Oct and Now. ^_^ See U soon.
Hey up and G´day, Rachel! NRW is the abbreviation of "North-Rhine-Westfalia" which is that one of our 16 states Ahaus is situated in. Ahaus is in the north-west of NRW and NRW is in the west of Germany. NRW is the biggest state by its population and it has Düsseldorf as its capital. Ahaus is part of a rural landscape called "Münsterland" what is up to its famous city "Münster" where the Westfalian Freedom took place in 1748 ( signing the peace-contract after years of argueing abuot regligiuos topics). This landscape is recommended by horse-riders and bikers. I prefer biking, but I´d like to learn riding a horse also.--------------- I´d like to start a career in retail trade by getting an apprenticeship an my dream, which comes definetly true one day, is to be a teacher of English in the UK. I started a new live yet, after years of working for my parents and it is not easy to get a chance for the first step, but I stay optimistic. Maybe someone reading here reads my comments and thinks of giving me a chance? :-)) I´d be glad and take it. I´d leave some contact dates, but it isn´t allowed in here and I don´t know if it would be given to you from the correctors working for BBC LE. As I live on welfare benefits I´d like to get any kind of tipps. You belong to the "Prekariat" (new German word for people like me with less chances and less good prospects, displaying them as a danger to society) if you are at that point of life. The thaughts about people like me are that they are not well educated, not willing/able to learn/work. I wish I could get the chance to show that tis thaughts aren´t the truth. I´d like to work in a place where I can use my English language skills, my knowledge of computing and office-work as well as my passion for books and reading.
Hey up, Rachel! Sorry, I´ve made a mistake by the date on Westfalian Freedom - it was the year 1648. Yvonne
Hey up, Rachel! Thank you for replying. "NRW" is the abbreviation of "North-Rhine-Westfalia" which is the one of our 16 states where Ahaus is situated and where I live in. I have been to Berlin several times but I love living here in a rural area which is recommended for horse-riding and cycling. I prefer cycling but I wish I could learn horse-riding as well, but that´s too expensive :-(. If I could find a way to get some kind of apprenticeship in the UK I would stand up and go there to start it. I apply nearly every day for an apprentisship here in Germany, but most bosses seem to be frightened to give someone in higher age (nearly 30) a chance to learn a job. I´d like to work in retail trade or in a book store. Now I think of using my ability in English language to sit for CPE (Cambridge Exam) and for TKT and start up as a Teacher of English. I am unemployed for several years now and it´s really not easy to live on welfare benefits and the bad reputation you get being at this point. "Prekariat" that is a new German word for people with less chances and prospects - like me. But I don´t let tear myself down to earth.... -------------------------------------------------Ican´t live this way my rest of life knowing I have such high abilities to do a good job.Thank you for putting an eye on my language and my case, ask if you are interested in anything else.Yvonne
Haha,I'm thrilled to find you also mentioned me in this post!Really!And to be honest,I didn't expect to find my name when I was skimming over it.Of course it encourages me to keep up reading your post and sending comments. Would you do me a favour?I want to make friends with a foreigner.Would you introduce someone to me?Thank you first:)
Hello Rachel :-) Thanks so much for answering my comments (and not only mine - you've done a really hard work!). I'd like to ask you about a grammar problem I haven't been able to find the answer to so far. You wrote a sentence 'What I plan to do is post a list...' without 'to' in front of 'post', and so far I've found some sentences of similar constructions, like 'His aim was to become president' and 'The aim of education is to prepare children for work'. As I noticed there is 'to' in front of the verb (to become, to prepare). Are both construction correct? Or in one case one of them is correct and in some other cases the other one is? I'm looking forward to your answer. Until next time.
quite a blog! it seems that I'm about to take to visiting this page thanks that you are
Thanks for your detail answers. I didn’t even such kind of feedback from my teachers in the school and colleges. But with the help of internet we can get teachers corrections, even from faraway places. It is intriguing. When I see the comments like this, I want to write more and more and want to correct my mistakes. It gives me a confidence that I can be a good writer one day. Getting appreciation from the teacher will help the students to concentrate more on the lessons. This one for Chris, I was very happy to watch fourth One day match. After the gap of three years Australia was defeated. Indians players really played well in the final over both batting and fielding. It wasn’t last long. The story is different on today. It was a pathetic display of Indian players’ performance. Chris must be joyful man today. The next two matches won’t be much interesting one. Australians are now leading the series three one.
Hello Rachel! Wow! What a post! Thank you for explaining the grammar point and your reply. I like kangaroos as well. I wish I could feed them one day. Yeah, but loads of the same kind of food to stuff them would make them sick of. I hope there are various kinds of food for them? Oh, I'm glad that you love Vietnamese food especially 'gỏi cuốn'. That's also my favourite. Rachel, I have made a long list of my favourite ones. I'm crazy about food, too. :-). Seeing of beef suits you most, I recommend you two kinds of scrumptious beef (means 'bo') dishes, 'Pho bo' and 'Bun bo Hue'. The latter is a bit spicy so you should ask the cook not to add any chilly or steam comes out of your ears :-). And Rachel, 'Banh xeo' is another great stuff to try. I hope you will try and like them. Now, as to how to improve speaking and writing skills. I think a good listener would be a good speaker and the same thing is done with reading and writing. I usually listen to BBC radio or watch films on TV and form a small English speaking group between friends. It's a good idea to keep a diary. One more, after reading a text or an article I often try to write its summary. They are not so good though, they work. Besides, writing regular comments to this blog is a great help. So I'd like to say thank you to the BBC LE and the teacher and student bloggers that give me a nice chance to brush up my English. By the way, your story about Chris's Ancient Greek lessons is hilarious! I'm impressed. I used to be punished for sleeping in class :-(. Byebye Rachel. I look forward to your next post. All the best, Myen.
It's great to see so many comments, but just a quick reminder that we are unable to publish any comments that contain email addresses, so please don't include them.
Ciao Rachel! Yes, I know that several Italians especially from the north east and the south of the country moved to Australia last century. Sadly, I have never been to that concert, but I always watch it on tv. Thanks for taking time to answer to my comments. I really like reading your blog and I cannot wait to read your next post. All the best
Hi Rachel, thank you for your lovely reply. I promise I'll keep in touch. Until next time.
G'day Rachel! I´m so happy that you have the time to answer all of our comments,so it´s a great new that you´ll explain my question in other blog,thank you very much. I noticed that you like to talk a lot about food, jajaja so have you ever tried Mexican food? It´s spicy too but very delicious,in your city there aren´t Mexican restaurants? try to look for one,I wish you ate my favorite traditional food "TAMALES" and "POZOLE". Cheers! Rocio
Rachel, no I am not an Australian, I just love the down under. The reason is that I lived in New Zealand for five years and my sister-in-law from those times lives in Sydney even now. So you can imagine that I was thrilled to find out, that you were writing from the land of plenty. I am a Northern Finnish lass, who is still going strong, although I pushing 58. My past time hobby is to study, English studies I have done almost all my life and I am pleased to tell everyone, that studying is beneficial and fun. Talk to you all soon.
I find these very useful for me to upgrade my voca. Very often I get confused with those expressions. Thanks for your sharing!
This is the one I have been looking for. I have no confident of writing english. I am studying accounting and my english writing is poor. Thanks a lot.
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