Weekend with Music: Perfect (Ed Sheeran)

Engramme's Weekend with Music #13 (New Series): Ed Sheeran's "Perfect" (Listening A2-B1)

Welcome back to another Saturday: Song Day on Engramme, where we introduce you to a new or classic English song every weekend. This weekend, we are going to take a listen to Ed Sheeran's new pop single: "Perfect". Stay tuned!

Watch, Listen & Enjoy

Ed Sheeran is the pop star of the 2010s: He is a young singer/songwriter who uses various styles of music - from pop and hip-hop to folk, rock, dance, and soul - to create a sound that is unique to him. His big hits, including "The A Team", "Sing", "Thinking Out Loud", and "Shape of You" have appeared at the top of music charts worldwide.

Listen to the Song (Do NOT Watch the Video Yet!): How much of the song do you understand without looking at the lyrics? What is the theme of the song?

Let's Learn

Listen Again: There are 18 spelling-pronunciation mistakes in the 'song lyrics' below. Can you find and correct them?

(hold Ctrl & + on your computer keyboard to enlarge)

I found a love for me Darling just dive right in And follow my read Well I found a girl beautiful and suite I never knew you were the someone waiting for me 'Cause we were just kids when we felt in love Not knowing what it was I will not give you off this time Darling, just kiss me slow, your hurt is all I own And in your eyes you're holding mine Baby, I'm dancing in the dark with you between my arms Bearfoot on the grass, listening to our favorite song When you said you looked a mess, I whispered underneath my bread But you heard it, darling, you look perfect tonight Well I found a woman, stranger than anyone I know She shares my dreams, I hope that someday I'll share her comb I found a love, to carry more than just my secrets To carry life, to carry children of our own We are still kids, but we're so in love Fighting again all odds I know we'll be alright this time Darling, just fold my hand Be my girl, I'll be your man I see my feature in your eyes Baby, I'm dancing in the dark, with you between my arms Bearfoot on the grass, listening to our favorite song When I saw you in that bless, looking so beautiful I don't deserve this, darling, you look perfect tonight Baby, I'm dancing in the dark, with you between my arms Bearfoot on the grass, listening to our favorite song I have fate in what I see Now I know I have met an angle in person And she looks perfect I don't deserve this You look perfect tonight

(Now watch the video to compare;)

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Have a Colorful Weekend! If you missed any of our new series' posts this week, click here to see them all. Like or share this content (buttons below) or enter your email (top right of the blog) and receive each new lesson right in your inbox (no spam).

Here's a sheet containing the song lyrics (with mistakes) For Teachers to use in the classroom.

Weekend with TV: Black Mirror

Engramme's Weekend with TV #13 (New Series): Black Mirror (Listening A2-B2)

Welcome to another Engramme edition of Weekend with TV Series where each weekend we help you improve your English skills by analyzing the language in a scene from a TV series. This weekend, we will be watching a short extract from S03-E01 of Black Mirror:

Watch, Listen & Enjoy

Black Mirror is the name of a British television drama series that explores a high-tech near-future where humans' greatest technological innovations create a dark world for them to live in.

In 'Nosedive' (S03E01), we are introduced to Lacie, a woman who lives in a near future world where people's status depends on their ratings (number of likes & dislikes) on social media. On her way to an old college friend's wedding, she gets into situations where her ratings drop, preventing her from making it on time to her friend's wedding ceremony.

Watch the Scene: What makes Lacie lose points on her status at the airport? Can she finally get on a flight?

Let's Learn

Here's another example of a real-life conversation situation that we discussed in our yesterday's post. However, there also are many useful words and phrases related to airports and flying in this exchange scene. You, too, can learn to use them when you are checking in at the airport.

Watch & Listen Again: Fill in the blanks with the words you hear:

(mouse over the colored words to see their meaning¹)

- Hi there. How are you doing? - I am wonderful. - I am so sorry. That flight is ________. - No, no, no! - Customer incident at the other end. - What? So when is the next _______? - Yeah, they're all kind of full. - I _______ this weeks ago; it's my best friend's wedding. - I'm sorry. - I have to get there, I have to! - Okay, let’s see what we could do. - Thank you. - I see there's one standby ______ on another plane leaving tonight. Ah, that's ________ for members of our prime flight program. You gotta be a 4.2 or over to qualify. - Oh, I'm a 4.2. - Uh-uh! I'm afraid you're actually a 4.183. - Oh, well, that's not my fault. Some woman dinged me down in the…Can’t you just… - I'm sorry, it won’t let me ______ it without the correct ranking. - But it's so close. - There's just nothing I can do. - Christ! I mean, surely. - I'm gonna have to ask you to moderate your language. - Sorry, it's just… I’m maid of honor and I cannot ______ this wedding. - And I am so sorry about that. - Can you call your supervisor? - I cannot do that. - Can you just call the supervisor? - I cannot do that. - Call the [beep] supervisor. - Okay, that's profanity; we’re zero tolerance on profanity. - I’m sorry. It's just… - I have to serve the next ________. - No no no no no no! - Can you step away, ma’m? - You’ve got to [beep] help me. - I’m so sorry. - I've called ________. - Oh no no no! Please don't do that. I’m five-starring you. Five stars! - What’s the ______ here, Hannah? - Intimidation and profanity. - Oh, no no! I was not intimidating. I was just trying to… - Okay! So in order to restore calm, I'm invoking my authority as airport security to dock you one full ranking point as a punitive measure. This is a temporary measure. The score reverts to normal in 24 ______. - No no no! But I need it now. - During this period, all down votes are subject to a x2 multiplier. We recommend you avoid negative feedback at this time. - I'm on double damage? - Please, _______ yourself from the airport immediately.

(see the first comment to compare answers)

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We Wish You a Wonderful Weekend! We will be back on Saturday with another edition of Weekend with Music on this blog. Make sure you follow us on g+ or via e-mail (see top right of the blog).

Review the Vocabulary from this lesson HERE

Want to learn more Vocabulary Related to Airports, Flying & Security? Check out this link

Teachers can Download a pdf Copy of this post for classroom use HERE

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1 Note that you do not have to learn or know all these words to understand the main points in the conversation. We have provided these definitions as extra information in case you are interested to find out more.^↩

English Daily: Customer Service

Engramme: Your Daily English Programme #51 (New Series): Customer Service Issues (Listening A2-B2)

Think Before You Listen

Have you ever called a company's call center to get over-the-phone customer service for a faulty product you had bought earlier?
How did the customer service representative respond to you? Was s/he helpful?
Did you get the results you wanted? Why (not)?

Sometimes contacting a company's customer service is similar to finding your way through a maze. The representative taking your call may not have had customer service training, or you may not be able to communicate clearly what problem(s) you are experiencing with the product. At other times, the person on the other side of the phone may turn out to be impolite or little concerned about your problem or difficulty. Today's lesson, a video from Awkward Puppets, takes a look at the issue of customer service irresponsibility or inefficiency in dealing with customers' requests.

Watch and Listen

Watch the Video: What is the caller's problem? Does the customer care representative help resolve the issue? Why (not)?

Let's Practice

You realize that things between the two people got a little out of hand, probably because the representative had not been well trained or was being rude in his interaction with the customer.

Watch & Listen Again: Fill in the blanks with the words you hear:

	What ______ to be the problem?		Could you ______ your voice, please?
	For some reason, I can’t _______ to the Internet.		I want to speak to your ________.
	Can you help me ____ it?		Please hold [the line].
	I want to ____ the Internet.		I am so sorry about that. That is __________.
	Your ____ isn’t to tell me what to do!		I’m going to take _____ of it right now.
	This is so _________!		That’s it! I'm hanging ___!

(Turn on the video subtitles to check your answers)

Listen One Last Time: Which sentences (above) are said by the customer service representative? Which does the caller say? Put an (R) for the 'Representative' and a (C) for the 'Caller' next to each sentence:

Over to You

Look at this customer satisfaction survey from Wufoo.com: Think about a product/service you recently purchased. Answer the questions based on your level of satisfaction with the product/service:

click to enlarge

Share your answers with a friend or a classmate. How similar/different were your answers? Explain why you chose a particular answer.

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Want to Practice the Vocabulary from this lesson? Please click here.

View this link to download a Print-Friendly Copy of this lesson for classroom use (teachers' version).

Did You Notice? If you move your mouse over the underlined words/phrases in the post, you can see their meaning and much more ;)

English Daily: The Tonight Show

Engramme: Your Daily English Programme #50 (New Series): The Tonight Show Starring... (Listening B1-C1)

Think Before You Listen

Take a look at these pictures from a popular, prime-time American TV show: What do you think this TV program is about? Why do you think it is so popular?

The Tonight Show is a long-running American late-night television talk show that began broadcasting on NBC on September 27, 1954. The show has been running non-stop to this day and has had six principal hosts, with Steve Allen as its first and Jimmy Fallon as its current host. From the monologs, to the guests, comedy sketches, and musical acts, there has never been a dull moment in The Tonight Show's long, rich history. A lot of famous people, from politicians and actors to comedians and musicians, have been guest stars on its many programs.

Watch and Listen

Watch the Video: Do you know the actor in this episode? What does he do on the show?

Let's Practice

English as a Foreign Language (EFL) textbooks often give learners the false impression that English conversation is neat: that it lacks repetition, rephrasing and/or self-corrections. Nothing could be further from the truth. Real-time conversation in any language is messy: people sometimes change their words or sentences to match the ideas they want to express; they sometimes correct themselves or others, and may repeat themselves to make sure the other person understood what they said or meant to say; unfinished sentences and interruptions are also a common characteristic of spoken dialog between two or more people. Add to this the environmental noise that often surrounds conversation situations (traffic, people, etc). Therefore, it is important to train your ear in perceiving what is said in conversation in spite of all the factors that make listening, and spoken interaction, difficult for your as a learner. The following activity will help you improve your listening and learn some common expressions in English while recognizing some of the features of real-life conversation:

Watch and Listen Again: Try and find out what the missing words are (you may need to listen more than once)

(mouse over the colored words to see their meaning)

- Benedict, I saw you do a magic trick on...somewhere online, and I didn't even know that you're a magician. - ________ did I, Jimmy. - I was wondering if you maybe could do the trick for us tonight. It involves _______. - Oh, okay! Well, last time I did this I had a magician off-camera teaching me how to do it. So, I’ll give it a ____! - How’s best to do it? - Shall I come around there? Or can I do it from here? - Yeah, sure, yeah. - So, I'll be your assistant? - I can't promise that this will work. Yeah, can I have a bit of _______, please? - Do you want to be on this side or that side, or does it matter? - Okay, okay. -Which side? - I don´t think it matters as long as I´ve got... - All right, good. - I don´t want to be too near electronics in case it goes ______. -Yeah, okay. - Ladies and gentlemen, here we have a bottle of water. - Okay. - Bottle of water for you guys [American pronunciation]. - Yeah, yeah, okay. Yeah, America, yeah, America. Water in England, but maybe it was... Could have been imported. - Could be. - _______  ___ water [British pronunciation], but now it´s water [American pronunciation]. - So I just broke … I just broke the seal, but that doesn´t matter. Look. There´s the bubble. It´s a bottle of water, bottle of water, water. Uh, I´m opening a bottle of water. Could be imported. Might be. We don´t know. It´s an unbranded bottle. - Unbranded bottle. - It´s not part of the magic. Not part of the magic sort. Okay, so. Uh... - The trick gets better than this, you guys. ______  ___. This is not the trick. - That´s it. It´s a bottle of water. - It´s him holding water. - That´s the whole ______. - Okay, so, if I get this right. If I think really hard, I should be able to -- See, I´m shaking because I´m so _______. I should be able to take my hand away, and no water will come out. Oooh. It might not work. It might not work. It might not work. Ahh. There we go. Okay. Got to keep this cup in case it does come out. If I concentrate – - Want me to hold it? - No. I think I got it. If I _________ really hard, the water should then come out. There you go. - That´s un -- how -- - That´s a normal bottle of water. It´s a normal bottle, and it´s not -- it´s, you know... - That´s what I´m talking about right there. - No water. Yeah, look. No water. - Benedict Cumberbatch, everybody. - Wait a minute. Where -- Where did it go? - "The Current War" opens ________  ____. When we come back, Benedict and I are playing a fun game. Stick around. How did you just – wait! - The water went into that. Now, where did the water go? - I don´t ________.

(Turn on the subtitles on the video to check your answers)

Over to You

Are you keen on watching some more episodes/scenes from the show while improving your listening skills? ...Click here for more

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Huge Congrats! If you have followed our regular, daily posts here, then you have covered 50 weekday lessons, and 25 weekend episodes, so far. Practicing English on a regular basis helps you improve your English skills and gain more confidence in your expression over time ;)

Review the Vocabulary from this post HERE

Teachers Can Download a pdf copy of this post for classroom use HERE

Did You Notice? If you move your mouse over the underlined/colored words in the text, you can see their meaning and much more

English Daily: 1 Queen 12 Presidents

Engramme: Your Daily English Programme #49 (New Series): One Queen, Twelve Presidents (Reading & Listening B1-C1)

Think Before You Listen

Between 1776 and 1789, the United States of America emerged as an independent country, creating and ratifying its new constitution, and establishing its national government.

George Washington, elected the 1st President in 1789, set up a cabinet form of government, with departments of State, Treasury, and War, along with an Attorney General. Based in New York, the new government acted quickly to rebuild the nation's financial structure¹.

On September 26, 1789, Thomas Jefferson was appointed the first Secretary of State, John Jay the first Chief Justice, and Edmund Randolph the first Attorney General of the United States².

To this date, there have been 45 U.S. Presidents, with Donald Trump as the current president. And there are currently 15 executive departments within the government.

But what has the political system been like in the United Kingdom as a constitutional monarchy? (Carry out a little online research and share the results with us in the comments below)

Watch and Listen

Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain is the longest-reigning monarch in British history. She celebrated 65 years on the throne in February 2017³. She has met with 12 U.S. Presidents ever since becoming a Queen in 1952.

Watch the Video: Which U.S. President did Queen Elizabeth II meet first? Has she met with President Trump yet?

Let's Practice

Watch Again: find out whether the following statements are True or False:

(mouse over the underlined words to see their meaning)

1	Elizabeth was a queen when she met her first president, Harry S. Truman.	True	False
2	She was crowned in 1953 and, 6 years later, hosted President Eisenhower in her residence in Scotland.	True	False
3	In 1961, she hosted President Kennedy at a banquet in Buckingham Palace.	True	False
4	She met with President Lyndon Johnson at Buckingham Palace in 1969.	True	False
5	It was President Ronald Reagan who received an honorary knighthood from the Queen.	True	False
6	George W. Bush invited the Queen to a state dinner at the White House where she criticized the relationship between the two countries.	True	False

(see the first comment to compare answers)

Over to You

What is the political system like in your country? When and how did the current political system in your country emerge? (type your answers in the comments' section below and receive feedback)

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1 Text courtesy of www.wikipedia.org^↩
2 Text from www.onthisday.com^↩
3 Text taken from www.biography.com^↩