If wishes were horses...

"If wishes were horses, beggars would ride.

If turnips were watches, I'd wear one by my side.

If "if's" and "and's" were pots and pans,

There'd be no work for tinkers' hands."

(Traditional nursery rhyme)

We use the verb "wish" when we want something we can't have. At least for the moment. (here's a version of the nursery rhyme on Youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JtzuVToJp4M )

Here's a good summary of all the ways you can use the word wish. As you can see, there are many. (Please check http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/english/course/towards-advanced/unit-23/session-1 for the whole lesson)



Also, remember we use "wish+were" in formal speech, not "Wish+was", which is very common but considered not standard (for more information, see https://ludwig.guru/blog/i-wish-i-was-vs-i-wish-i-were/ ) 

Here you have a song where you can see the use of wish. 

Wish + past tense




The prologue to the musical "Into the Woods" also has a lot of examples of how to use "wish". You can try to write down what each character wishes for. You will probably recognize them, as they all come from traditional fairy tales.



And if you watch the whole musical, you'll realize that wishing sometimes you have to be careful what you wish for...

Reported speech presentations

famous companies

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFy9rQLLBWSaU3yED5a_iOcCBhahytX_T

Gerund or infinitive? (BACHILLERATO)

Please revise when to use the gerund and the infinitive in this presentation.



You can also check out this unit on BBC Learning English to do some exercises.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/english/course/lower-intermediate/unit-10/session-1

As usual, Agendaweb.org is a great source of exercises to practice this. https://agendaweb.org/verbs/infinitive_gerund-exercises.html

Here is a fun collection of songs that use gerund or infinitive https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fyr5WhdXoE8

I've also created a small playlist of songs that appear in the presentation:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFy9rQLLBWSYoQ0sb0zdXdAl0f9wfITTM

The Civil Rights Movement

The Civil Rights Movement was one of the most important events in US History. During the 1950s and 60s, African-Americans fought for equal rights to voting rights, education, healthcare, justice and more.
Before we watch the video, can you think of people and events that happened during this period?



Look at the infographic. Which events on the video are mentioned in the image?

On the third Monday of January every year, the US celebrates the birth of one of the main leaders of the movement, Martin Luther King, who was born on the 15th of January.

What do you know about MLK? Watch the video and check if the facts match what you believe. Who else is in the video? Why do you think that is?




Martin Luther King was a great speech writer. His best known speech is probably the "I have a dream" speech, which he gave during the Civil Rights March on Washington in 1963. It is believed that 250.000 attended this protest.



The speech is so famous that it has been put into song by rapper Common for the soundtrack of the film Freedom Writers.

 

Another famous film about the Civil Rights Movement is the film Selma, which received an Oscar  nomination for Best Film in 2015. The main soundtrack song, Glory, received the award for Best Song on the same year.


. .

Selma deals with the difficulties the black population in the American South faced in order to register to vote and participate in elections. Here's a fragment of the film. What do you think about how the two people in the clip behave? What conclusions do you draw about the situation in the 1960s in the US?




Finally, February is Black History Month. Do you think it's still relevant to celebrate this month? Why?

More conditional songs

Here are two more songs that use conditional sentences. Can you guess which types of conditional we are talking about?

 

For more conditional sentences in songs, you can click here https://goodatenglish.blogspot.com/2018/05/conditional-songs.html

World Heritage Sites

We've been reading about World Heritage Sites in class. Here is an interactive map of all the heritage sites in the world https://whc.unesco.org/en/interactive-map/

 The Great Barrier Reef in the Pacific Ocean, and the dugong. 

The Great Pyramid's and the history of Egypt's pyramids.

   

 The historical center of the city of Córdoba in Spain.

 

Finally, did you know some World Heritage Sites are at risk? Why do you think that is?

Monday 18th answers

American vs. British English.

Just a fun TikTok video about some of the differences between British and American English. We can see cleary whose side the author is on. 😉

Credit: https://www.tiktok.com/@justsammorris