AmazEnglish

Do you know why English has different names for animals and their meat?

2012-01-26T12:07:00.002+01:00

I'm sure everybody knows the famous beef steak? But why is it called beef if the animal it comes from is the cow?

The story goes back to old times. When in 1066, following the battle of Hastings, William the Conqueror began to rule England along with Normandy, most of the aristocracy became Norman (French).

The Norman Flag

The Battle of Hastings 1066 on the Bayeux Tapestry

William the Conqueror

The peasants on the fields spoke old English but the landlords and their chefs in the castles spoke French.

Therefore in the field an animal had an English name but once it got to the kitchen the French name was used.

Norman castle in Portchester, England

Over time, these words passed on to regular people as ingredients used by the royal chefs.

The words have changed a little but you can still see their French origin:

beef – Old French: boef (ox)
pork – Old French: porc, from latin: porcus (pig)
venison – Old French: venaison (meat of large game, boar or deer, in French it means "to hunt")
mutton – Old French: mouton (sheep)
veal - French: veau (calf)

The word "bacon" also comes from French: cured pig's meat.

Apart from the original farm animals, the ones coming later have still the same animal and meat names, such as turkey etc.

Match the meat names with the pictures.

venison (2), beef, hen, duck, pork, veal, mutton, turkey, lamb, goose

What is your resolution for the New Year?

2012-01-03T12:34:00.000+01:00

According to researchers, making resolutions is useful. If you make a resolution you are more likely to attain your goals.

Have you made one for 2012? The most typical intentions are to lose weight or quit smoking, here is a song which gives you more ideas and makes you laugh perhaps:)

Task: Fill in the gaps while listening.

New Year Resolution song

Working out, losing ……………

maybe using tanning spray

becoming more attractive in general

reading more, watching less

learning all the rules for chess

becoming somewhat ………………. in general

eating fish, not fingernails

……………… to save the whales

becoming a better guy in general

…………… more, spending less

yes I will wax my chest

dating more girls in general

But not this year. No this year is different!

As different as a gazelle. Yes, a gazelle from a deer. (They're actually not that different.)

After all these …………… resolutions.

My future is clear, the future is near!

Just forget those resolutions you

know that you are never gonna do

and adopt a more realistical …………….

by …………….. to things that come easily to you

like eat at least one ………….. meal a week

or put the correct shoes on the correct feet

just "Raise the bar to walk effortlessly underneath!"

Just …………… the fact you've always thought

those resolutions don't mean squat

Settle in to a comfortable spot

embrace all the things you know you are not.

Hit the snooze, roll over, then repeat

Make large ………….., then lose the ……………….

just "Raise the bar to walk effortlessly underneath!"

The best Christmas movies

2012-01-03T12:24:00.000+01:00

Watch the best Christmas dvd-s during the holidays!

The Holiday with Cameron Diaz and Jude Law

Love Actually with Hugh Grant

Joyeux Noel

Bad Santa

The old favourite: Christmas Vacation with Chevy Chase

Home Alone

Noel

Holiday in Handcuffs

We wish you all a Wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Christmas Markets in Europe

2011-12-01T11:17:00.001+01:00

I am spending this week in Prague, that is how I got the inspiration to write about Christmas markets. It is definitely worth visiting any European capitals at this time of the year even if the weather is quite cold. You can enjoy walking round the main squares, looking at the stalls selling different kinds of Christmas products, having a warm drink and some food and listening to music.

The advent markets:
Budapest

Prague

Vienna

Bratislava day and night

The typical products you can buy on the Christmas markets:

Christmas ornaments

Snow globes

Akvarell paintings

Gingerbread figures

Typical food and drink choice:

Sausages

Mulled wine

Kürtöskalács (chimney cake)

Roasted chestnuts

There are still three more weekends until Christmas! Have a nice visit!

Thanksgiving Day

2011-11-24T12:17:00.000+01:00

Previously we dealt with a British traditional holiday. Now it is the American's turn as today is the fourth Thursday of November.

Thanksgiving Day is always the fourth Thursday in November. It is a federal holiday in the USA, so schools, banks, post offices, and government offices are closed. Thanksgiving was the first holiday celebrated in America.

The first Thanksgiving was in 1621 when the pilgrims (a small group of people who sailed from England to North America in order to start a new life) invited the Indians to a three-day feast to celebrate the autumn harvest.

The pilgrims and the Indians feasting together

Typical Thanksgiving Day meal:

Main Course: Stuffed turkey with mashed potatoes and gravy and cranberry sauce

Gravy

Cranberry sauce

Desert: Pumpkin pie with whipped cream

Order the directions how to roast a turkey.

- Put 3 tablespoons of butter on both sides between the skin and breast meat

- Place the turkey in a roasting pan

- Preheat oven to 175 degrees C

- Cover with foil

- Sprinkle seasoning salt over the turkey

- Rinse and wash the turkey

- Separate the skin over the breast to make little pockets

- For the last 45 minutes or so, remove the foil so the turkey will brown nicely

- Bake it in the preheated oven 3 ½ to 4 hours

Guy Fawkes Night

2011-11-24T12:05:00.001+01:00

History

The conspirators

The Gunpowder Plot is the name given to the conspiracy to blow up the Houses of Parliament on 5th November 1605, which was discovered the night before. The plot centred around five conspirators, among them Guy (or Guido) Fawkes.

Guy Fawkes

They were determined to blow up the House of Lords in 1605. The detonation was to take place on State Opening day, when the King, Lords and Commons would all be present in the Lords Chamber.

The Houses of Parliament in old times

On the 4th November, due to an anonymous letter warning one of the MPs not to attend the event, the Parliament was searched and Fawkes was found in the cellar at midnight with the gunpowder. He was then arrested and executed for treason in the Tower of London along with the co-conspirators.

Tower Hill - the execution site in the Tower of London

Tradition

The 5th November is variously called 'Firework Night', 'Bonfire Night' or 'Guy Fawkes Day'. It is still the custom for Britain on, or around, 5th November to let off fireworks and children to make guys.

Burning Guy in the Bonfire

The Houses of Parliament are still searched by the Yeomen of the Guard just before the State Opening (normally held in November since 1928) to ensure no latter-day Fawkes is in the cellars, though this is retained as a picturesque custom rather than a serious anti-terrorist precaution.

the Yeomen

source: www.parliament.uk

Vocabulary

Match the vocabulary items with their definition. There is one extra word.

conspiracy, cellar, gunpowder, arrest, execute, treason, custom, fireworks, yeoman, precaution

1. an underground room often used for storing things

2. an accepted way of behaving or of doing things in a society or a community

3. (in Britain in the past) a farmer who owned and worked on his land

4. explosive powder used especially in bombs or fireworks

5. something that is done in advance in order to prevent problems or to avoid danger

6. a secret plan by a group of people to do something harmful or illegal

7. to kill somebody, especially as a legal punishment

8. the crime of doing something that could cause danger to your country, such as helping its enemies during a war

9. to be taken to a police station and kept there because the police believe they may be guilty of a crime

Questions

Answer the following questions

What is the Gunpowder Plot?

When was it revealed?

Who was Guy Fawkes?

What happened to the conspirators?

How do British People commemorate this historical event?

Halloween

2011-11-01T13:19:00.002+01:00

Halloween is now celebrated across the world on the night of 31st October. Modern day celebrations generally involve groups of children dressed in scary costumes going from house to house, demanding “trick-or-treat”.

Children ask for treats (chocolates, candies, etc.) on Halloween and threaten to play tricks on those who refuse.

The Origins

It is believed that Halloween originates from a Celtic tradition called Samhain. The dark half of the year was beginning at the night of Oct. 31. The Celts believed the dead returned to Earth and the boundaries of the living and dead were blurred.

In the mid-19th century Irish and other immigrants took Halloween customs to the USA and by 1900 it was a popular festival.

The Jack-o-lantern

Every time we carve a pumpkin head at Halloween, we honour “Stingy Jack.,” but who is he?

Stingy Jack was a miserable, old drunk who loved playing tricks on anyone. One dark, Halloween night, Jack ran into the Devil himself in a local public house (pub). Jack tricked the Devil by offering his soul in exchange for one last drink.

When he died, he was allowed to enter neither heaven nor hell. The Devil gave him an ember from the flames of Hell to help him light his way. Jack placed the ember in a hollowed out turnip, one of his favorite foods which he always carried around with him whenever he could steal one. For that day onward, Stingy Jack roamed the earth without a resting place, lighting his way as he went with his "Jack O'Lantern".

That is why originally, Jack-o-lanterns were made of turnips and potatoes in Ireland, and of beats in England. When the European immigrants came to America, and found the pumpkin they started to make the lanterns of it.

Tökfesztivál in Rácalmás

2011-09-28T08:36:00.001+02:00

Whether we call it Marrow, Squash or Pumpkin Festival in English, it is still the biggest event of Rácalmás in autumn. Rácalmás is a little town on the bank of the Danube, located 65 kms south from the capital city, Budapest.

This year the festival takes place from 30th September to 2nd October in Jankovich Kúria (Mansion). Apart from the handicraft market, the program includes a lot of interesting concerts and performances.

You can see the detailed program here: Tökfesztivál program

Do you know the English names of the different cucurbita species?

Marrow (British English)

Pattypan squash

Courgette (British English) / Zucchini (American English)

Pumpkin

If you visit the festival, you can taste some typical squash dishes.

Pumpkin Cream Soup

Courgette Ratatioulle (similar to Hungarian lecsó)

If you are still hungry, let's have some Tökös-mákos rétes (marrow-poppy seed strudel) for dessert.

September: Harvesting Grapes

2011-09-19T12:03:00.001+02:00

Most grapes are harvested during the weeks of September. If your family owns a vineyard, it can be a funny weekend program to invite friends and relatives to pick the grapes together.

After processing the grapes, at first must is created.

Must = freshly pressed grape juice

The fermentation begins with adding yeast to the juice. Finally the taste of the wine depends on the experience of the winemaker and the quality of the grapes.
There are different kinds of wine: white, rose and red.

Have you ever heard about Schiller wine?
The Schiller wine is a rose-colored wine produced from a mixture of red and white grapes, which are harvested and pressed at the same time. The two types of grapes have to be blended before fermentation.

Hungary has plenty of famous wine regions, for example Tokaj which is famous for its Aszú, a kind of sweet white wine or Eger with the popular Bull's Blood.

The Hungarian wine regions

Hungarian people don't usually drink wine from foreign countries because the wine we produce is of very good quality.
But if I travel with my English friend around the world we prefer South American and Spanish types.

Either a bottle of Rioja from the north of Spain or a bottle of Argentinian Malbec is always part of our holidays.

Gossip Girl - Season 5 from 26th September

2011-09-11T09:10:00.000+02:00

I can't imagine any teenagers in America who doesn't watch Gossip Girl. The episodes of one of the most popular US series are also followed by many youngsters in Europe. A lot of our students download it every week and watch it with either English or Hungarian subtitles. It's definitely a good English practice for them! Even if they read Hungarian subtitles, their pronunciation improves a lot. They acquire the language while enjoying the stories of Blair, Serena, Chuck and the others. If you are keen on fashion and English but haven't seen any episodes, it is time to download them!

We've collected some interesting quotes said by the characters in the course of the first 4 seasons.

Blair Waldorf: "I'm not a stop-along-the-way. I'm a destination, and if you refuse to attend, I'm gonna have to find a replacement. Girls, the waiting list!"

Serena Van der Woodsen: "I even made a list of pros and cons. Dan: Good shoulders to cry on. Nate: Good shoulders."

Chuck Bass: "Women like to pretend their complicated. I know better."

Serena to Blair: "Right now, I’m with exactly who I want to be with—my best friend. You are high school to me. All of the boyfriends and mean girls and tests and teachers and our crazy mothers, we learned through it together. We raised each other. You’re my sister."

Dan Humphrey: " Life is giving you signs, and you're ignoring them because you're afraid of the thing they're signaling you to do."

Blair: "Changing your name doesn't change who you are."
Chuck: "It's a good start. A chance to live simply, earn people's respect. Maybe become a person someone could love."
Blair: "Someone did love you. And... you owe it to her and everyone else you're leaving behind not to run away. Which is what you're doing. And I don't think that great man you're talking about wanting to be is a coward. I think he would face up to what he did."
Chuck: "I destroyed the only thing I ever loved."
Blair: "I don't love you anymore. But it takes more than even you to destroy Blair Waldorf."
Chuck: "Your world would be easier if I didn't come back."
Blair: "That's true. But it wouldn't be my world without you in it."

CV and covering letter

2011-09-02T16:02:00.002+02:00

If you want to apply for a job these days, apart from your curriculum vitae, you surely need to write a covering letter too. Because of the multinational companies and Hungarian firms trading with foreign partners, you might need these documents in English as well for your application.

You can download both a sample CV and a covering letter from our website if you register: Download

Also, you can find some useful expressions below which you can use in your documents:

Positions	engineer, lawyer, manager, waiter, sales representative, doctor, nurse, accountant, computer programmer, dentist, driver, electrician, teacher, receptionist, secretary, assistant
Universities	technical university, economic university, medical university,
Skills	computer skills, communication skills, organization skills, management skills, problem-solving skills, working in a team
Levels of language knowledge	elementary, intermediate, advanced, proficiency

Language courses

2011-08-29T13:06:00.002+02:00

Nyelvtanfolyamok

Hamarosan itt a szeptember. Eljött az ideje, hogy a jól megérdemelt nyári pihenés után beiratkozz egy nyelvtanfolyamra.
Tanfolyamra a honlapunkon is tudsz jelentkezni: Jelentkezés
Ha arra vagy kiváncsi, milyen szinten állsz jelenleg, töltsd ki ingyenes online szintfelmérő tesztünket: Szintfelmérő

It is September soon. After your deserved summer holiday, it's time to enrol on a language course.
You can register for a course online: Register
If you are curious about the level of your current knowledge, fill in our online Placement test.

Coffee Break

2011-08-09T16:27:00.001+02:00

One of our teachers has also tried himself as a film director recently. Read his article about the background of his latest film!

Me and my indie filmmaker group, Syntax Films Entertainment, have been making no-budget movies since 2008. I took the inspiration for Coffee Break from Richard Linklater’s Before Sunset, which is one of my all time favourites. My story is about a man and a woman who haven’t met for a long time and one day they meet by accident. They decide to take a walk and as they are talking the past is revealed and the future is changing moment by moment. I wanted to make a realistic, simple and loveable movie which is driven by dialogue.

In September, 2010, I started to write the script and finished it within a month. Pre-production took almost half a year. First, Gabriella Szaksz joined the cast then we found Gergely Boronyák. They were both very enthusiastic because they liked the script after first reading. After looking for locations in Dunaújváros, we started shooting in April, 2011. It took 3 days to shoot and one more day for dubbing. Post-production (editing, scoring music, cover design) ended in June, 2011.

The movie made its debut at the I. Dunaújvárosi Amatőrfilmes Fesztivál (1st Amateur Film Festival of Dunaujvaros) and was voted as Best Picture by the audience.

You can watch the film here:

Coffee Break on YouTube

and give your feedback:

Imdb site

Amy Winehouse joins the 'Forever 27' Club

2011-07-30T11:23:00.002+02:00

Amy Winehouse was found dead at her London home on 23rd July, two months before her 28th birthday. She was not the only musician who died at the age of 27.

Listen to one of her songs, Cherry and fill in the gaps!
Amy Winehouse - Cherry

Her name is Cherry
We've just met
But ................ she knows me
Better than you
She understands me
After eighteen years
And you still don't see me
Like you .................. to do

Maybe we could talk 'bout things
If you was made of ................ and strings
While I love her every sound
I dunno how to turn you down
You're so thick and my ................. thin
So I got me a knew best friend
With a pickup that puts you to ..................
And Cherry is her name

And when I'm .................
Cherry's there
And she plays along
While I sing out my blues
I could be crying
And you don't care
You won't call me back
You're .................... as mule
Maybe we could talk 'bout things
If you was made of ................ and strings
You might think I've gone too far
I'm talking 'bout my new guitar

Other members of the '27 Club":
Do you know who they are?

Summer vocabulary

2011-07-25T20:27:00.006+02:00

Nyári szókincsfejlesztő

Párosítsd a következő kifejezéseket a megfelelő képekkel.
Van egy kifejezés, amihez nem tartozik kép, ha megtaláltad, tölts fel egy ahhoz tartozó képet a Riverside Nyelvstúdió Facebook oldalára! Riverside Nyelvstúdió Facebook
Jó szórakozást!

Match the following expressions with the pictures.
There is one extra word with no matching picture, upload a picture of this word to our Facebook site! Riverside Studio Facebook

Have fun!

flip-flops lilo swimming trunks goggles parasol

watermelon deck chair paddle boat flippers

The Royal Wedding

2011-05-04T11:05:00.003+02:00

Is there a better topic for an English lesson this week than the royal wedding?

I don't think so. The ideas how you can discuss this event are endless. From family relations to dresses, there are countless things worth talking about.

I've collected some photographs with interesting facts and vocabulary. Enjoy it. Fashion blogs are also popular anyway:)

The royal couple: Prince William and Kate Middleton. While her wedding dress was designed by Sarah Burton, she had a DIY make-up! (DIY=Do it yourself.)

Kate's sister is holding her train! Its length is about 9 feet or 2 metres 70 cm. (1 foot = 0.3048 metres)

Kate's mother, Carole Middleton; Queen Elizabeth II and William's stepmother, Camilla were all wearing coat dresses in pale colours: sky-blue, canary yellow and champagne colour.

Page boys and little bridesmaids are important participants of all royal weddings. You can spot the inevitable ballerina shoes on the girls and lily-of-the-valley hair wreaths.

David Beckham's Ralph Lauren suit was stunning. Victoria is pregnant, she was wearing a dress of her own design and extremely high heels.

Oil spill

2010-05-31T19:06:00.011+02:00

Our environment is an important issue nowadays. The current oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico can be connected to a lesson about the environment. Many coursebooks deal with the topic of nature and present catastrophes can make our classes more interesting.

I simplified an article from The Times. There are two versions of this task.

The first one is for Intermediate students. The underlined words should be replaced with a synonym expression.

And the second version is for Upper-Intermediate students with more difficult phrases. Apart from the synonyms, the sentences in bold can be converted into Reported Speech again.

Also, if you prepare somebody for a language exam, it is sensible to discuss current affairs. They might appear among the exam tasks.

And then comes Reported Speech

2010-05-26T22:33:00.008+02:00

I still continue the same topic. I've collected some statements made by different people concerning the volcano eruption. All of them are in direct speech in quotation marks.

This way you can combine the volcano topic with practising Reported Speech. Students can connect the two clauses with a past introductory verb in the first clause and report the remarks.

It's a quick and useful task.

My favourite news sites are:

The Times - www.timesonline.co.uk
BBC - www.bbc.co.uk

Perhaps The Times is a bit more academic. If you want an easier reading then BBC will suit you best.

Current affairs in the English classroom

2010-05-26T10:05:00.001+02:00

I think it is a good idea to deal with news stories in a lesson. Students are usually interested in current issues, such as politics, disasters, celebrities and special events. Teachers can take advantage of their students' interest and teach them some new vocabulary. In addition, a lesson like this is certainly communicative as everybody must have an opinion about the actual happenings.

This time I prepared an exercise about the current volcano eruption.

At first students need to match the following expressions with the pictures.

FORECAST, CANCELLATIONS, ENGINE, VOLCANO, ASH, ERUPTION, GROUNDED TOURISTS, ICELAND

After naming the pictures, clarifying their meaning and pronunciation (especially: volcano = /vɒlˈkeɪnəʊ/ and eruption = /ɪˈrʌpʃn/ ) , I would ask a student to summarize the current story of the Icelandic volcano with the help of the new expressions.

Another exercise would be to match the two halves of some expressions still in connection with the eruption and its consequences.

Students would read the solutions one by one and form a sentence with each of the expressions.

Hope you like these exercises. Do you ever deal with current affairs in your lessons?

Statistics

2010-05-26T09:59:00.002+02:00

Enjoy learning English

2010-05-25T13:49:00.003+02:00

Welcome to everybody! This blog is for both students and teachers who learn or teach English as a foreign language. I'll show you plenty of tasks and ideas to make language learning more interesting. Hope you will all realize how amazing the English language is. Have fun! Reeka