Using articles properly is one of the most important and most often overlooked areas of study when working to Make English Your Second Language. Know this: when a student truly understands the proper use of articles and prepositions – their grammar will come very close to perfection.
Tag Archives: free language videos
Prepositions & Vacuuming
There are a large number of prepositions in the English and they are absolutely necessary. One of the best things about them is that they drive the grammar. If you use propositions properly – your grammar will be perfect.
In the Kitchen – Make and Do
This is the second video to be posted, but at this time they are not being presented in a specific order. As we move toward the seminars that may change. Until then we hope this information on the use of Make and Do is helpful in your English studies.
Groundhog Day
Vocabulary & Worksheet
Story Synopsis from IMDB: TV weatherman Phil Connors is cynical, to say the least, and having to go yet again to Punxsutawney, Pa. on February 2 to see if Punxsutawney Phil sees his shadow isn’t his idea of fun. He’s grumpy with his segment producer Rita and downright nasty with cameraman Larry. He doesn’t take the shadow business at all seriously but the next morning, awakens to find he is reliving the same day. Initially disbelieving and fighting what is happening to him, Phil eventually accepts that he will re-live the same day over and over again. He uses the opportunity to acquire new skills – piano playing and ice carving among them – and soon becomes the most admired man in Punxsutawney. Just how times he relives the day however is anyone’s guess. – Written by garykmcd
Galaxy Quest
Vocabulary
Story Synopsis from IMDB: The sci-fi television series Galaxy Quest, which took place aboard the intergalactic spaceship NSEA Protector, starred Jason Nesmith as suave Commander Peter Quincy Taggert, Gwen DeMarco as sexy communications person Lt. Tawny Madison (a role which consisted solely of repeating what the computer stated, much to Gwen’s annoyance), Shakespearean trained Sir Alexander Dane as alien Dr. Lazarus, Fred Kwan as engineer Tech Sgt. Chen, and Tommy Webber as child gunner Laredo. Seventeen years after the show last aired, it lives on in the hearts of its rabid fans. However, it lives on in infamy for its stars, who have not been able to find meaningful acting work since. Their current lives revolve around cashing in on however those roles will afford, which usually entails attending fan conventions or worse, such as shopping mall openings. Only Jason seems to relish his lot in life, until he finds out that his co-stars detest him because of his superior attitude as “the Commander”
Flipped
Vocabulary
Story Synopsis from IMDB: Juli Baker devoutly believes in three things: the sanctity of trees (especially her beloved sycamore), the wholesomeness of the eggs she collects from her backyard flock of chickens, and that someday she will kiss Bryce Loski. Ever since she saw Bryce’s baby blues back in second grade, Juli has been smitten. Unfortunately, Bryce has never felt the same. Frankly, he thinks Juli Baker is a little weird–after all, what kind of freak raises chickens and sits in trees for fun? Then, in eighth grade, everything changes. Bryce begins to see that Juli’s unusual interests and pride in her family are, well, kind of cool. And Juli starts to think that maybe Bryce’s brilliant blue eyes are as empty as the rest of Bryce seems to be. After all, what kind of jerk doesn’t care about other people’s feelings about chickens and trees?
Find It Here
The Internet Archive
…is a great place to find lots of free materials to help with the study of English – https://archive.org/
Reading and Listening
Below are specific instructions to download FREE online audio books as well as the text versions, so that a student can read along while they listen. This is a very powerful learning technique.
To get both audio and digital text versions of a book start at https://librivox.org
Example: Search for Tom Sawyer and you find the book located at https://librivox.org/tom-sawyer-by-mark-twain/ where you can download the Audio file and you will see a link that says “Online Text.” When you click the Online Text link you will be taken to a page on a different website – in this case http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/74 where you will be able to download the digital book.
Additional Sites
- http://video.pbs.org/programs/ – many videos on all kinds of subject matter – FREE
- http://www.pbs.org/nova/ – is one of the best sites for science related videos – FREE
- http://www.netflix.com – 30 days free then $8. per month – streaming tv shows and movies
- http://www.hulu.com/ – some free movies and tv shows
- http://www.hulu.com/plus – 30 days free then $8. per month – streaming tv shows and movies
- https://order.hbonow.com – 30 days free then $15. per month – tv shows and movies + HBO shows
- http://www.amazon.com – streaming tv shows and videos that can be rented one at a time
- http://www.amazon.com/prime – 30 days free then $99. per year which includes:
- Unlimited streaming tv shows and movies
- FREE Two-Day shipping from Amazon
- Unlimited music streaming
- Free unlimited photo storage
- 30-minute early access to select Amazon Lightning Deals and MyHabit.com events
- 800,000 ebooks available to download FREE
- https://www.torproject.org/projects/torbrowser.html Tor Browser Bundle a special setup of the Firefox browser that will allow the user to connect to any site from any country.
- http://www.mey2l.com – a really wonderful esl site that offers many free videos, vocabulary and grammar guides, movie vocabulary, seminars and many many extras++:+)
This entire page is available as a pdf:
Field of Dreams
Vocabulary
Story Synopsis from IMDB: Iowa farmer Ray Kinsella hears a voice in his corn field tell him, “If you build it, he will come.” He interprets this message as an instruction to build a baseball field on his farm, upon which appear the ghosts of Shoeless Joe Jackson and the other seven Chicago White Sox players banned from the game for throwing the 1919 World Series. When the voices continue, Ray seeks out a reclusive author to help him understand the meaning of the messages and the purpose for his field.
– Written by Scott Renshaw
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Vocabulary
Story Synopsis from IMDB: Joel is stunned to discover that his girlfriend Clementine has had her memories of their tumultuous relationship erased. Out of desperation, he contracts the inventor of the process, Dr. Howard Mierzwaik, to have Clementine removed from his own memory. But as Joel’s memories progressively disappear, he begins to rediscover their earlier passion. From deep within the recesses of his brain, Joel attempts to escape the procedure. As Dr. Mierzwiak and his crew chase him through the maze of his memories, it’s clear that Joel just can’t get her out of his head.
– Written by Focus Features
Despicable Me
Vocabulary
Story Synopsis from IMDB: In a happy suburban neighborhood surrounded by white picket fences with flowering rose bushes, sits a black house with a dead lawn. Unbeknownst to the neighbors, hidden beneath this home is a vast secret hideout. Surrounded by a small army of minions, we discover Gru, planning the biggest heist in the history of the world. He is going to steal the moon. (Yes, the moon!) Gru delights in all things wicked. Armed with his arsenal of shrink rays, freeze rays, and battle-ready vehicles for land and air, he vanquishes all who stand in his way. Until the day he encounters the immense will of three little orphaned girls who look at him and see something that no one else has ever seen: a potential Dad. The world’s greatest villain has just met his greatest challenge: three little girls named Margo, Edith and Agnes