Weekend with TV: Wicked City

Engramme's Weekend with TV #10 - Wicked City (Listening B1-B2)

When we look at a big city, especially one that we like, all we see is beauty. But rarely do we notice that a big city also breeds crime. And sometimes the police have to go above and beyond the call of duty to prevent or eliminate it.

Watch, Listen & Enjoy

Wicked City is the story of a notorious serial killer who would kill his victims, women he picked up in bars, after he drugged or abused them. LAPD's best team of detectives was after him, but he was too smart to leave behind any trace of himself.

Although the story was appealing, the TV station, ABC, had to cancel the series after only one season due to low ratings. Although the end of the season somehow meant the end of the story, the creators also made sure they left ABC the chance to take up the story at a later date if they wished the series to make a comeback.

Watch the Series' Featurette: What is contradictory about the character of the killer?

Let's Learn

As is usual with commercials, the descriptive language in this promotional video contains many examples of useful collocations that learners of English could learn and use in their own speaking and/or writing.

Watch and Listen Again: Fill in the blanks with the words you hear (the blanks and the boldface words accompanying them show examples of common English collocations):

(mouse over the underlined words to see their meaning)

This is a story in 1980 on the Sunset Strip where we deal with a whole lot of different people from different ______ of life in the world of rock and roll. The focus was ______ yourself in music, rock and roll, and sex and drugs; for some: murder! -          “That's right, folks. Another day, another corpse!” Los Angeles during that time was the serial killer capital of world. -          “_________ murders, our guy’s done this before.” Ed Westwick plays Kent, the serial killer we are introduced to in this world. -          “I'm _______ on a story.” -          “What’s the story?” -          “All this.” He uses young girls’ ambitions to lure them into his ______. -          “I was you once; people helped me out. So kill me, I like giving back.” -          “All right.” And then he kills ‘em! It was a very loud era. The problem with loudness is that some very dark,   nefarious creatures can easily move behind the sound. -          “I'd like to make a __________.” During the course of our pilot, he meets a young woman named Betty. -          “Everybody's looking for love, right? And that's the Sunset Strip. Accept me for who I am. You see what I'm seeing?” -          “That's so true!” They form this unusual _________ because underneath it all she's a sociopath, too. -          “Do you like kids?” -          “I absolutely love children.” The juxtaposition between these two characters who are able to show love, not only to each other, but to young children… -          “Hey, Mary! You’re a lifesaver Kent.” And then on the other side of that, they _______ be more devious and couldn't be darker. And together they form this kind of Bonnie-and-Clyde-like serial killer duo. What makes this show different is that we give equal time to the cops and their families, and equal time to the killers that are working the strip. We follow a[n] ensemble ______ of characters as this serial killer is drawing everybody into his world. Really looks at the glamor of it all, and it turns it _______ and looks at what's underneath the darkness beneath. It’s balancing that dark subject matter with enough of the glitz and enough of the fun that was _______  ___ at the time. It's rock and roll, it's frightening, it's emotional, it's really sexy. I think this show is a really bold show for ABC to make. They're really _______ a chance, a risk, and it's very exciting to be a part of that. -          “I've never done anything like that.” -          “This is just the _________.”

(click here to compare your answers)

---

Good Job! And that wraps up this week's lessons. We'll be back tomorrow, Saturday, for another edition of Weekend with Music lesson. If you like our posts, subscribe (top right of the blog) through g+ or email and receive the posts as soon as we upload them here. Click the buttons (below) to share this post with your fellow learners.

You can also Review the Vocabulary from this lesson HERE

Teacher's can Download a Print-friendly Copy of the post HERE

English Every Day: Remembering Princess Diana

Your Daily English Programme #39 - Diana Spencer: The People's Princess (Caption Reading B2-C1)

Think Before You Read

Do you know the woman in the picture? Do you know why her image is printed on British stamps?

Source: staticflickr.com

On August 31, 1997, Diana, Princess of Wales, died in a car crash in a road tunnel in Paris.

Diana Spencer was born on July 1, 1961, into the Spencer family, a family of British nobility. On July 29, 1981, She married the heir to the British throne, Prince Charles, and officially became a member of the British royal family. They had two sons, the Princes William and Harry, but their marriage ended in divorce on August, 28, 1996. Diana died only a year later in a fatal car crash in Paris. Because of her charitable work and immense popularity among people, Diana was dubbed the "People's Princess".

Watch and Read

Watch and Read: Why do the video producers believe that Diana was a royal 'like no other'?

Let's Practice

Did You Notice? The video captions are full of very interesting and useful English idioms that you can also learn to use in your own writing, or even speaking (though some are too formal to be used in casual speech). Below are some of the sentences from the video captions: Watch again and find the missing words in each idiomatic expression:

(move your mouse over the phrases to see their meanings and more)

1. Dubbed the ‘People’s Princess’, she captured the public’s _________ . 2. Initially, she seemed to live a _________ life. 3. She made __________ dancing with John Travolta at the White House. 4. She used media interest to draw attention to charitable causes, and to help remove the ________ attached to those living with AIDS. 5. Intimate details of the royal couple’s problems were laid ______ . 6. Even after the divorce, her life was the _______ of worldwide scrutiny. 7. The Princess’s death led to an _________ of public grief. 8. A nation stood still as thousands paid ________ to the late Princess. 9. Her _______ lives on through her sons, Princes William and Harry. 10. They (Princes William & Harry) remain __________ to continuing her charitable work.

Over to You

Have there been any public figures (royalty, politicians, actors, etc) similar to Princess Diana in your country? Why are they loved and admired? What were/are their greatest accomplishments? (share your answers with us in the comments below)

---

Well Done! You've successfully completed another day's lesson on Engramme: Your Daily English Programme. For more lessons and topics like this, please click here

Wanna Practice the Vocabulary from this post? Go here

Teachers who wish to use this content in their classroom are welcome to Download a Print-Friendly Copy by clicking here

English Every Day: Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

Your Daily English Programme #38 - Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (Reading B1-B2)

Think Before You Read

Have you read this story (picture, left) before? Do you know what it's about? Do you know the name of the author (picture, right)? (let us know in the comments below)

Time to Read

Read the Text Below, without paying attention to the missing words. Then read again, and place the missing adjectives in the right blanks (In some cases, more than one adjective may fit):

mouse over the words to see their meaning

isolated	horrified	brilliant	profound
chilling	horrifying	obsessed	renowned

In 1815, the ________ poet Lord Byron proposed a challenge to a few literary guests he had invited to his house on Lake Geneva: Who could write the most ________ ghost story?

Mary Shelley, Percy, John Polidori, and Lord Byron himself set pen to paper, each writing their own best version of a horror story. After thinking for days, eighteen-year-old Mary dreamed about a scientist who created life and was ________ by what he had made; and over the next few months, she composed the story that would later take the world by storm: “Frankenstein.”.

Frankenstein is the story of a ________ scientist by the name of Victor Frankenstein. ________ with creating a living human being all by himself, Frankenstein assembles a creature using body parts from a graveyard. But once his creation comes to life, he is so terrified that he runs away. He wants to make friends with humans, but his ugliness and clumsiness stand in the way and scare everybody away. Finding himself _________ and lonely, the innocent creature gradually turns into an enraged monster who now wants to take revenge on his creator, Frankenstein.

But Frankenstein does not just tell a ________ story. It also raises ________ questions about the nature of life and the place of humankind within the cosmos: How far can we go in our pursuit of knowledge? What does it mean to be human? What responsibilities do we have to each other?

(see answer in the first comment below)

Let's Practice

Take a Look at the Passage Again: 

a. Which paragraph gives a synopsis of the story?

b. Which paragraph tells about the major themes in the novel?

c. Which paragraphs describe the circumstances that led to the writing of the novel?

(see answer in the first comment below)

Over to You

Would You Like to (re)read the story? You can read the original novel chapter by chapter on Literature.org

Would You Like to listen to an audio version of the novel? You can listen to the audio-book in full here

---

Congratulations! You've successfully finished another lesson on Engramme: Your Daily English Programme. If you liked this post, please press the buttons below to share with your fellow learners :)

Review the Vocabulary from this post HERE

Teachers Can Download a pdf version of this lesson HERE

English Every Day: Natural Disasters: Hurricanes

Your Daily English Programme #37 - Natural Disasters: Hurricanes (Listening B1-C1)

Think Before You Listen

Do you know which one of the following natural disasters is shown in the photos below? (mouse over the words in the table to see their meaning)

an avalanche

drought

an earthquake

a hurricane

volcanic eruption

Watch and Listen

Hurricanes have been among the costliest and deadliest of natural disasters, especially in the USA. Hurricane Katrina (photos above), which began on August 23, 2005 and ended on August 26 the same year, killed at least 1,245 people and brought about nearly $110 billion worth of damage to New Orleans, Louisana.

Overnight from August 24 to 29, 2017, Hurricane Harvey caused unprecedented and catastrophic flooding in southeastern Texas, especially in Houston, America's 4th largest city.

Watch This 101 Guide to Hurricanes: Write down a maximum of 2 words in response to the following items:

a. Two other names for ‘hurricanes’:
b. Hurricanes form in these two seasons:
c. The ‘calm area’ in the center of a hurricane:

(see answers in the first comment below)

Let's Practice

Listen Again: Can you fill in the blanks in the following sentences? (you may need to listen more than once)

1. The hallmarks of a hurricane are ____________, ____________, and ____________ . 2. An average hurricane's energy is equal to the explosion of ____________ small atomic bombs. 3. Upper level winds and surface winds gather together to form a circular pattern of clouds known as a _______________ . 4. A fully formed hurricane may stretch up to _____________ in diameter. 5. Among the nearly 45,000 people killed in hurricanes in the 20th century, _________ were in the US. 6. Hurricane Andrew was the most expensive natural disaster in US history, costing more than _____________ worth of damage. 7. Special planes called hurricane hunters fly in the eye of the hurricane and drop sensors to measure ______________, ___________ and _________________ .

(see answers in the first comment below)

Over to You

Do any natural disasters plague the area you live in? Have you ever been caught up in one? What did you have to do to stay safe? (type up your answers in the comments further below)

---

Thank You for following our posts on Engramme: Your Daily English Programme. We hope these daily lessons help you boost your knowledge of English and improve your skills in English as a second/foreign language.

Would you like to Review the Vocabulary from this lesson? Click here

You're a Teacher interested in using this content in your lessons? Here's a print-friendly pdf copy for your classroom use

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

English Every Day: 'I Have a Dream' by Martin Luther King

Your Daily English Programme #36 - Martin Luther King Jr.: 'I Have a Dream' (Listening B1-C1)

Welcome to #Week10 on Engramme: Your Daily English Programme. In this post, we will be looking at an important event in American history. Are you ready?

Think Before You Listen

Watch This Short Video (1:11): Do you know who the speaker is? Have you heard this speech of his before? Do you know why he gave this speech and why it is so important in American history?

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (1929-1968) was an American Baptist minister, social activist and Civil Rights leader who stood against racism and social injustice. He dedicated all his life to achieving equality and justice for all Americans of all colors. Dr. King strongly believed that civil disobedience (peaceful refusal to obey unjust laws, demands and commands of a government) was the best way to bring about social change. He received the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1964. On April 4, 1968, King was assassinated on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee, which is now the National Civil Rights Museum.

On August 28, 1963, Dr. King delivered his most famous and influential public speech, "I Have a Dream" from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. The speech, which called for civil and economic rights and an end to racism in the US, marked a defining moment in the American Civil Rights Movement.

Watch and Listen

Watch the Video: According to the report, has the Civil Rights Movement reached all the goals it set out to achieve more than 50 years ago?

Let's Practice

In today's lesson, we're not only going to listen to different voices, but we'll also look at various verb 'tenses' in English. Often in a report such as the following, many different people speak (they may also have different accents), and various tenses are used depending on each speaker's perspective (the past, present, or future). For one thing, it is essential that you get used to listening to different voices (and accents) and understand what is being said; for another, it is important to realize what point in time they are referring to - the past, present or future - depending on the event or period of time they are talking about.

Watch the Video Again: Fill in the blanks with the 'verbs' that the speakers use (note that some verbs are preceded by one or more auxiliary verbs):

mouse over the underlined words to see their meaning

Reporter: 50 years ago today, about a quarter million people _________ on the National Mall on Washington to demand change. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.: sharing his dream for America from the steps of the Lincoln memorial. His indelible words: a watershed moment in the Civil Rights Movement. Today, thousands ____  ________ once again to commemorate those now famous words that forever changed our country. Rep. John Lewis: 50 years ago, there _____ so much fear. People were afraid to be afraid. The fear ___  ______. Our country is better and we are better people. We still _______ a distance to go. Reporter: That distance front and center today, as the nation's first black president _____  ____ his vision as the marquee speaker at the anniversary celebration. President Obama acknowledges that, while a lot of progress _____  ______  ______, King would not be satisfied. Former President Obama: We have not made as much progress as the civil and social progress that we've made, and that it's not enough just to have a black president. Reporter: There ______ renewed calls for addressing socio-economic and racial disparities. The recent acquittal of George Zimmerman and the shooting death of Trayvon Martin _______ many to the streets across the country in protest. The president, reacting with personal candor: Former President Obama: There are very few African-American men in this country who _______  _____ the experience of being followed when they were shopping in a department store; that includes me. Reporter: This from a president criticized by some in the black community for not being more outspoken about race. Speaker: I like to see him be more passionate about race questions. Reporter: Last week in New York, Mr. Obama may have given a glimpse into his address today honoring the Civil Rights leader: Former President Obama: Each generation _______ wiser in terms of wanting to treat people fairly and do the right thing and not discriminate. And that's a great victory that we should all be very proud of. Reporter: Former presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter _____  ____ there as well, so will actor Jamie Foxx, and media mogul Oprah Winfrey who credits King for much of her success. Oprah Winfrey: It is because of Dr. King and all those who _______ with him that I stand, and because of them I have a voice that can ____  _______.

(click to see full transcript with answers+tips)

Over to You

Dr. Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech is deemed not only one of the most influential, but also one of the greatest motivational speeches of all time. Would you like to listen to the speech in full? Click here.

---

Well Done! And that is all for today on Engramme: Your Daily English Programme. To find out about our other lessons and resources, please see here.

To Review the Vocabulary from this post, click here.

Teachers Who Would Like to use this content in their lessons can download a print-friendly pdf copy HERE

Weekend with Music (The Classics): What a Wonderful World

Engramme's Weekend with Music #9 (The Classics #1) - What a Wonderful World (Listening A1-A2)

So Saturday is here again, and this weekend we would like to give you the chance to listen to perhaps the sweetest and most peaceful of classic English songs: "What a Wonderful World".

Song Lyrics

"What a Wonderful World" is a song written by Bob Thiele and George David Weiss and first performed by Louis Armstrong back in 1967. Due to the song's beauty and simplicity, many more singers decided to sing the song, including more recently, Rod Stewart whose live performance we are presenting to you in this post.

Below are the 'song lyrics': Can you guess what the missing words could be? (Don't worry: they are some of the simplest English words that you've heard many times ;)

I see ______ of green, red ______ too I see them bloom for me and you And I think to myself: what a wonderful world. I see ______ of blue and ______ of white The bright blessed day, the dark sacred _______ And I think to myself: what a wonderful world. The colors of the ________, so pretty in the sky Are also on the ______ of people passing by I see friends ________ hands saying 'how do you do' But they're really saying 'I love you'. I hear _______ crying, and I watched them grow They'll learn much more than I'll ever ______ And I think to myself: what a wonderful world. Yes, I think to myself: what a wonderful world…

Watch, Listen & Enjoy

Watch this thrilling live performance by Rod Stewart: How many of your guesses above were right?!

Over to You

Some of you may be interested in hearing the original song by Louis Armstrong himself? Well, look no further than this lyrics video with the original singer's recording:

---

We wish everyone here a Wonderful Weekend! And we hope you enjoyed this lesson. For more lessons like this, please click here

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