Feeling blue!

It's been a grey day in Buenos Aires. Rainy days make me feel blue. No, don't worry! I haven't turned into a Smurf (or Smurfette). To "feel blue" is "to be sad" and is an instance of an idiom. What is an "idiom"? It's a combination of words that has a meaning which is different from the meaning of the individual words themselves. There are many colour idioms in English. Some are easy to translate because we have similar expressions in Spanish whereas some are more difficult to work out.

If you want to learn more idioms like this, you can watch this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-A67e-isDR0

Or read some definitions before practising:
http://www.learn-english-today.com/idioms/idiom-categories/colour-idioms.htm
http://www.idiomconnection.com/color.html

For practice:
http://www.tolearnenglish.com/exercises/exercise-english-2/exercise-english-64903.php
http://www.ihbristol.com/learn-online/exercise-general/advanced/vocabulary/colour-idioms/70/

By the way, you'll find 2 spellings for the word "colour/color". The spelling -our is used in British English and the spelling -or is used in American English. This rule applies to all the words with that ending (e.g behaviour, favour, neighbour, etc)

London!!

After a long break, I'm back, and this time with some info about London. I was fortunate enough to be there in January and I think this video summarizes the best of the city. If you've never been there, watch it to learn where to go on your next trip. If you find it too difficult, don't worry and just enjoy the beautiful landmarks shown.

Which of the places do you like the most?

You can also check how much you know about this cosmopolitan city by clicking onto:
http://www.quibblo.com/quiz/1ezZsKP/London-quiz
http://abceda.com/lonqz.htm
http://users.telenet.be/christiaan.bosmans/advanced/london_mcquiz.htm

Christmas shopping

Already? Yes, it is time to think of the gift we'll buy our loved ones for Christmas. In the States, people do this well in advance. There shopping starts soon, on the day known as Black Friday. Now, in the era of technology, they can also shop on Cyber Monday, an option that is becoming quite popular.
Watch this video to learn more about this:

Multisource political news, world news, and entertainment news analysis by Newsy.com

If you want to read the script, click on:
http://www.newsy.com/videos/cyber-monday-big-as-black-friday/

Big Brother is watching you!

The idea on which the reality show "Big Brother" is based comes from a novel called 1984 by George Orwell. The book is a wonderful read and confronts us with the risks of a totalitarian government. You can watch the trailer and read the author's biography.


http://www.george-orwell.org/l_biography.html
If you've read it you can leave your comments here.