Secondly, welcome to Navneet who was born in India but now lives in...well, I'll let her tell you more later.

You mention typical games. I don't know 'last and first': can you explain it? Many years ago one of our bloggers explained the rules of a game with a handkerchief: I still play it with children even now. Children's games bring back memories and are even great ice-breakers for adults. The children I work with love the '2p game'. A 2p is a British coin of small value. It is brown in colour and so if you play this game on a wooden or brown coloured floor it works very well. This is how to play. You need two teams. They sit on chairs (or on the floor) opposite each other. Give everyone in team 1 a number. Give everyone in team 2 a number - but start at the opposite end of the line. This means that if you have 2 teams of ten, number 1 in one team sits opposite number 10 in the opposing team. In a line down the middle of the floor between the 2 teams, place 5 coins. Mark a square on the ground (or put a chair) at each end of the room.

One square belongs to team 1 and one square to team 2. The aim of the game is to get 3 coins in your square. This is how you do it. The person in charge of the game calls out a number. The 2 people with that number run to the middle, pick up a coin, run to their square, put the coin in the square and then run back to pick up a second coin and put it in their square. Of course there is now only one coin left, so it is a race to see who can pick up the last coin and take it back to their square. The person who has three coins, wins a point for their team. The coins are then replaced and another number is called. This is very simple, but kids get very excited and there's a lot of screaming! I'm looking forward to hearing about typical children's games from your country!

Navneet, your English is very good and you write in a nice, chatty style. A couple of points to pick up, before I set you some homework.

"My mother has been a typical Indian homemaker." Is she still a homemaker? If so, it would be better to say 'My mother is a typical Indian homemaker.' (you could also use the word 'housewife') or you could say 'My mother has always been...'.

"From typical": the correct phrase here is 'By typical'

Lovely use of the phrase "the empty nest syndrome creeps in"

"Inter-religion marriages still raise eyebrows and are not fully accepted by the society...": you don't need an article with the word 'society'

"As much as I remember...": the phrase you need here is 'As far as I can remember...'

"...stand up and face so many audiences!!" In this case, audience is a singular word, so it doesn't take "many". You could either say 'face so many people' or maybe 'face such a big audience'.

So...now to the homework. You use "Mom" to talk about your mother. Of course, it's correct, but it's not British English. British English would be "Mum". So here's a short quiz about some of the differences between British and American English. Can you match the British English words 1-24 with the American English words A-X?

British English
1. Pavement
2. Aubergine
3. Chips
4. Crisps
5. Caravan
6. Petrol
7. Autumn
8. Football
9. Queue
10. Handbag
11. Bill
12. Vest
13. Waistcoat
14. Gearbox
15. Lift
16. Trousers
17. Pants
18. Postcode
19. Jam
20. Boot
21. Courgette
22. Biscuit
23. Curtains
24. Bank note

American English
A. Fries
B. Gas
C. Fall
D. Zucchini
E. Undershirt
F. Jelly
G. Trunk
H. Chips
I. Transmission
J. Cookie
K. Purse
L. Elevator
M. Drapes
N. Trailer
O. Zipcode
P. Eggplant
Q. Check
R. Bill
S. Pants
T. Underpants
U. Vest
V. Soccer
W. Sidewalk
X. Line

Take care...and don't forget to tell me about tradional children's games in your country.

Carrie

ice-breakers: games and activities designed to help people get to know each other
in charge of: in control of

Omar, I love your idea of a website with lots of checklists on it. I would definitely sign up for that!

I understand exactly what you mean by saying "life's teachers". Whilst a "role model" is technically the correct term, I think "life's teachers" is more evocative. A role model is someone who is regarded as a good example to follow. They haven't necessarily given you any good advice or taught you anything: but the way they live their life is inspiring. I think what you mean by "life's teachers" is something even more than that?
Your English is, as always, very good. I thought today we'd take a quick look at comparatives and superlatives.

We use comparatives to compare one person or thing with one other person or thing. We use superlatives to compare one person or thing with many other people or things. My colleague Sean says "It's easy - when you compare it's comparatives (better than/more interesting than etc); when it's super duper it's superlatives (the best / the most interesting!)..."

There are some rules when making comparatives and superlatives:

• The simple rule is that if the word has one syllable like 'small', 'cold' we add '-er' for a comparative e.g. old/older; fast/faster and '-est' for a superlative e.g. fast/fastest. We never use 'more' + a comparative ending in 'er'


• With words of three or more syllables like intelligent we can't add 'er'. So we say 'more intelligent' and 'most intelligent'.


• This also applies to adjectives formed with -ing and -ed and those ending in -ious and -ful e.g. boring/more boring/most boring; beautiful/more beautiful/most beautiful


• With words that end in 'y': change the 'y' to 'i' and ad '-er' for a comparative e.g. easy/easier; lovely/lovelier and '-est' for a superlative e.g. easy/easiest; lovely/loveliest

Of course, this is English, so there are always irregulars! e.g. good/better/best; bad/worse/worst

You said "although the more older I become" - here you have used a mixture of the rules! Remember, 'old' is a short word, so you just add -er and you don't need the 'more'. If you had used the word 'ancient', that would have been 'more ancient'.

'Although the older I become, the more like him I become' sounds better and is a bit more informal. You can use 'like' instead of 'similar to'

Homework
Are you missing the Olympics? I am. So, here's an idea for you to practise your comparatives and superlatives. Think of your favourite athletes or country and - using these adjectives or others of your choice - list some things about them! Lists again! Try to use a comparative and superlative.

Fast (eg: Usain Bolt was faster than Yohan Blake. In fact, he was the fastest in the world as he broke the Olympic record.)
Strong
Beautiful
Long
Great
Brave
Good

Quadruple London Paralympics champion David Weir

Take care

Carrie
Sad: in this context it means embarrassing not unhappy
Super duper: slang meaning great, wonderful, marvellous!

but now I'm back and raring to go!

Before I pick holes (only joking) in your blogs, I thought I'd tell you about my own experience of the Olympics. This week I feel my Olympic journey has come a full circle. Let me explain. In 2005 London was one of the cities shortlisted to host the 2012 Olympics. On 6 July I was sitting in the BBC office in the centre of London, just before lunch, when it was announced that the choice was between Paris and London. I quickly left the office and rushed down to Trafalgar Square to await the result of the vote. Thousands of us were squashed into the Square. At the front there was a huge stage, a giant screen and loudspeakers. On the screen we could see Jacques Rogge. He said "The International Olympic Committee has the honour of announcing that the games of the thirtieth Olympiad in 2012 are awarded to the city of......." And then there was a long pause. All of a sudden the people right at the front of the crowd starting cheering - then he said ".....London!" and the whole of Trafalgar Square erupted. You can see the BBC news report here

Minutes after the announcement was made there was a roaring overhead and the Red Arrows flew over the Square, trailing red, white and blue smoke.

This Sunday marked the end of the Olympics and Paralympics. On Monday there was a huge parade through the streets of London. The GB athletes were carried through the streets on 21 giant trailers pulled by lorries. I, along with thousands and thousands of other people (some newspapers say there were 1 million people), waited for hours to see the athletes pass by.

As the parade reached Buckingham Palace, I found myself once again standing in Trafalgar Square. And once again, there was a roaring overhead....and there were the Red Arrows again, trailing red, white and blue smoke. So you see: a full circle!

Now then, back to your blogs. I'm not going to say anything about your first blog, as I think it was such a great way to get people talking. Actually, I am going to say something: well done to everyone who commented and joined in the discussion: this is another way to improve your English. Don't be afraid to have a go at writing something: whether it's a single line or a whole essay.

Let's start with a few vocabulary bits from your other two blogs. Nothing major!

• Play and games "And what kind of plays do they play?" To play as a verb is used in sport (to play football); but as a noun (a play or plays) it's theatre! For sport, the noun is a game. So, "And what kind of games do they play?"

• Make a party: "They make a very big party" - here you need to use 'throw a party' or simply 'have a party'.

• Skinned: "They were so skinned, lightweight..." I think you mean skinny (very thin)? Do you know that if you go in to a coffee shop and ask for a "Skinny latte" you will get an espresso coffee with nonfat milk?

Now then, here's some homework:
You wrote:
"I recollect it from the ground". Recollect is a formal way of saying 'remember' e.g. "Do you recollect when we used to go to the seaside for our holidays?" I think you were thinking of the word 'collect', but what you should have said was "I picked it up from the ground". Pick + up = verb + preposition. However, sometimes the second word (in this case 'up') gives a special meaning to the verb. This is called a 'phrasal verb'. So, "I picked up my cup of coffee" = verb + preposition. "I went home after work to pick up my car" - meaning I went home to collect my car, not literally pick it up - is a phrasal verb. Take a look at the eight sentences and decide whether they contain a verb + preposition or a phrasal verb:

1. Have you had your interview? How did you get on?
2. He failed his exams, so he dropped out of college.
3. She dropped her keys and had to pick them up from the floor.
4. I was very angry, so I shouted at him.
5. She fell asleep in the car and crashed into a tree.
6. I go to the gym every day to work out.
7. They saw their friends in the street and ran out to say hello.
8. We couldn't have a cup of tea this morning because we had run out of milk.

Raring to...: to be eager to do something
To pick holes in something: to find weak points in something
Erupt: in this case, to suddenly start shouting and cheering
The Red Arrows: the Royal Air Force Aerobatic Team

What an interesting tradition! It's not one I've heard of before - so maybe it is unique to the church in Armenia? Why are the grapes blessed? Is it a thanksgiving for the grapes? Or is it a symbolic way of purifying them?

Many churches will then have a "harvest lunch" (or a harvest supper the night before). These are often called "faith" lunches. Why? Because every member of the congregation is asked to bring some food to share with others - and you have to have to "faith" that there will be enough to go round!

A "faith" lunch

Now let's look at your blog! This time, I've made a few corrections:

• Armenia is a country of traditions! The tradition I want introduce [calls] is called "Grape Blessing Day". You need to use the passive here: am/are/is + past participle

• Every year in August the (those articles again!) Armenian Apostolic Church with great exultation and sublimity [is celebrating] celebrates the feast Assumption of the Virgin Mary. Here you need to use the present simple as this is recurring event: it happens every year.

• After the (articles again!) church ceremony we start to celebrate the (articles again!) fruit festival.

And finally:

• It is very [tastefully] tasty. Here you need to use an adjective rather than an adverb. The adjective tasteful means something or someone with good taste or style: it has nothing to do with food!

1. I can never remember where I have left my car keys. I'm so _______________ful.

2. She has long hair, and big brown eyes. She is so _________ful.

3. It's really quiet in the woods. The only sound you can hear is the sound of the wind in the trees. It is really ____________ful.

4. He fell over in the street. Now his leg is really __________ful.

5. She always brings me flowers when she comes to visit. She's so _______ful.

6. Thank you so much for helping me clean my car. I'm so __________ful.

Take care

Carrie
purify: to make something pure by removing harmful or dirty substances from it
gather in: to collect
tinned: food that has been preserved by being sealed in a tin
needy: someone who is poor
congregation: people who attend a church service
go round: in this case, enough food for everyone to eat

We all get older: but it's difficult to imagine that when you're young. We have a saying in England: you know you're getting old when policemen look young!

Abdallah mentioned keeping calm. What do you do to keep calm? Some people do yoga, some people listen to music, some people find that having a pet keeps them calm. Of course, everyone gets irritated by something or someone. It's human nature.

The other day I visited the largest lavender fields in the UK. Surprisingly they are not far from London.

Lavender has so many uses: the oil can be used on insect bites, it's used in bath products and dried lavender flowers in your pillow can help sleep. Crushing lavender flowers between your fingers and breathing in the scent can calm you down and works as a stress relief. Maybe you should offer Sona a lavender bouquet?

First you need to make lavender sugar by mixing 1kg of sugar with two teaspoons of dried lavender flowers. For this recipe you only need 125g. You can keep the rest in an airtight container.

Ingredients

• 125g lavender sugar (plus extra for the tops of the shortbread)


• 225g soft unsalted butter


• 300g plain flour


• 50g ground rice

• Line two large baking trays with baking paper.


• Sieve the sugar into a bowl. The lavender will be left in the sieve. Keep it!


• Add the butter and cream the sugar and butter together.


• Sift the flour and ground rice into the mixture.


• Add the lavender and mix until the mixture looks like breadcrumbs.


• Put some flour on your hands and work the mixture together to form a smooth paste.


• Tip onto a lightly floured surface and knead gently until the dough is smooth.


• Chill the dough in the fridge for 15 minutes.


• Roll the dough out until it is about 5mm thick and cut out biscuits using a biscuit (cookie) cutter.


• Place the biscuits onto the baking trays, and sprinkle with a little extra lavender sugar.


• Put back in the fridge to chill for a further 30 minutes.


• Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 180C/ 350F/Gas 4.


• Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until pale golden-brown. Carefully put the biscuits onto a cooling rack, sprinkle with extra lavender sugar and leave to cool completely.

We use listen to describe paying attention to sounds that are going on. For example, 'Last night, I listened to my Beatles CD'.

We use hear for sounds that come to our ears, without us necessarily trying to hear them! For example, 'I heard someone shouting'.

So, you can hear something without wanting to, but you can only listen to something intentionally.
Following those rules, you should have said:
One day I was coming home from work and heard very noisy shouting" and "I knocked but nobody heard me....".
The same rule applies for the verbs see and watch. See is used for sights that come to our eyes without us trying to see them. For example, 'Did you see that beautiful rainbow?'

Watch is used to describe paying attention to sights that are going on. For example, 'I watched the Olympics on TV.'

So, here's some homework. In each sentence you need to decide which of the verbs in brackets is correct:

• Last night I sat on my balcony and _____ the birds (watched/saw)


• Today I ____ my friend in the street (watched/saw)


• Have you ____ the news about Sarah? (heard/listened to)


• I just ____ a fantastic concert on the radio (heard/listened to)


• He always ____ football on TV (watches/sees)


• Have you ____? They are getting married! (heard/listened)


• Did you ____ what she said? (hear/listen)


• Have you ____ my keys? I've lost them. (Seen/watched)


• Are you ____ to me? (listening to/hearing)

thought-provoking : something that makes you think about a subject
pearls of wisdom: an idiom meaning wise pieces of advice
BTW: by the way
fudge: a soft, brown sweet made from sugar, milk and butter
the nitty-gritty: the most basic and important part of something

You put some fantastic photos in your second blog: what a beautiful country! I'm looking forward learning more - especially about your food: I see you have promised to share a recipe with us!

Qarahunj looks fascinating - and I can see the similarities to Stonehenge. When I was a child I visited Stonehenge with my family. In those days, you could walk amongst the stones and touch them. Sadly, now the visitors are kept at a distance, in case the ancient monument is defaced or eroded. It is estimated that Stonehenge was built in 3100 BC. No-one really knows why it was built: like Qarahunj, it may have been used for astronomy - or it may have been used for human sacrifice. Yuck! It certainly is a dramatic sight.

Now let's look a little bit at your writing. First of all, it's OK to make mistakes: it's by making mistakes that we learn. This time I'm going to concentrate on a very common mistake. English uses articles all the time: "a" and "the". I don't think you have an equivalent to "a" or "an" in Armenian, do you?

"a" or "an" (before a vowel) is called the indefinite article because it doesn't define a particular thing or person, but is used in general.

In English we use "a" and "an"(before a vowel) to say what kind of thing somebody or something is.

• a children's home

We use it for people's jobs:

• she wants to be a model;


• he is a doctor.

And we also use "a" and "an" for describing something:

• a shiny girl (Zibaxa, I'm not sure here what you mean by shiny? Perhaps you mean radiant? That's a quality, referring to someone's personality. We'd use shiny more for things, like jewels or a new car - sometimes for people if someone has shiny face or a shiny head if they're bald!);


• an old man.

• The first time I entered the children's home (you have already told us you volunteered at a children's home - in your next sentence you are telling us what happened when you went to that particular home)

We also use "the" with some place names, with seas, rivers, mountain ranges and deserts:

• The Vorotan river

Articles are very complicated - so don't despair if you don't always get it right!

Just one more thing today: you need to be careful with your spelling: English is not a phonetic language, so it's a good idea to check your spelling with a dictionary. For your homework, can you correct the following?

• Smileing
• Minite
• Beleve
• Fellings
• Older then
• Plent trees

You're doing a great job: keep it up! I love the way that you are interacting with everyone who leaves comments!

Take care

Carrie

At the heart of: to be at the centre of something
Bit: part
Defaced: to spoil something by writing or drawing on it
Erode: to gradually destroy something - in this case by touching the stones
Yuck!: an expression meaning something is disgusting
Don't despair: Don't lose hope

Today I'd like to share with you a blog from Hamish, a former BBC Learning English producer, who founded the BBC Learning English website back in 1996. This week, as we celebrate 80 years of the World Service (you can read more here), Hamish thinks about the past and wonders about the future.

Carrie

When I joined BBC English by Radio and Television (as BBC Learning English was then called) I found a vast range of modern teaching tools to use - at least, modern in the 1970's. Short Wave radio. Stencil and spirit copying machines for scripts. (No photocopiers of course - they came later.) And 8mm films of the department's television programmes - black and white and - wow! - colour. Moving pictures plus sound - a great resource, as I tried to demonstrate to groups of teachers. The trouble with film was that if you tried to freeze-frame for too long, the projector caught fire!

Then, along came video - despite assurances from experts that this new technology would never be used in classrooms. Philips 1500, V2000, Betamax - and eventually the standard format, VHS. The BBC series Follow Me combined TV, radio books, audio and video cassettes. Most importantly, underlying the project was the recent Council of Europe language framework, Threshold Level. This analysed language in new ways, looking at functions - what the language was doing - and not just its structure.

Around 1992, a cousin of mine came over from the USA and introduced me to the internet by plugging a small computer into my aunt's phone socket. (Much to her surprise.) You could communicate with people anywhere, and read pages of grey text on a grey background. There wasn't much chance of ever getting sound or video on the internet - but, like film, it seemed to have great possibilities for teaching. And, in March 1996, we launched the BBC's first English language teaching website. Four months later, during the BBC English Language Summer School, we made one audio file available, and soon afterwards started an email discussion group. And then learned how to put video on the web. And, a few years later, tried mobile phones.

Next year, BBC Learning English will celebrate its 70th birthday - the first BBC English language teaching broadcast was on 4th July 1943. Let's look a bit ahead. How do you think people will want to learn English by the year 2050? What type of English? And, most importantly, is there anything around now - in technology, linguistics, psychology and so on - that might grow in importance by then?

Glossary
Mimic - imitate (here, for amusement: I had a habit of saying "Right...ummm....errrr...now..." and the pupils had great fun copying me)
Spirit copying machine - a machine for producing a limited number of copies of a typed or hand drawn document. Also known as Banda machines. The spirit is the alcohol based ink used.
Freeze-frame - to pause a film or video on one frame or individual image
Function / structure - A language function is what you do with language - for instance, "Requesting someone to close the window". The different structures used to do this may include: "Is that window open?" (Question), "Shut the window" (Command) and "That window is letting a lot of cold air into the room" (Statement)
Background - in the early 1990's many web pages had no colour, just different shades of grey
Email discussion group - the bbc-elt discussion group, launched in January 1997, used email to allow learners to discuss topics with the help of a moderator

Happy Year of the Dragon! As I'm sure you know, 2012 is the Chinese Year of the Dragon. The Chinese Zodiac has 12 signs: each year is a different animal. People take on the characteristics of the animal of the year they were born in. I'm a Rat: apparently I'm intelligent, adaptable, quick-witted, charming, artistic and sociable. On the downside, Rats can be intolerant and scheming! Hmmm.

I collect dragons. Not real ones, obviously, but china dragons, pottery dragons, flying dragons, cuddly dragons......you get the general idea. I must have around 100 dragons -they are perched all over my flat: on shelves, cupboards and bookcases. For Christmas and birthdays, I usually get given at least one dragon. When I go on holiday I always scour the shops for dragons. This is particularly good when I go to Wales, as there is a dragon on the national flag of Wales and so you can buy lots of dragon souvenirs (some of them are very tacky!)

But why do I collect dragons? Actually I have no idea - maybe there is something in my blood as I am half Welsh. Maybe it's because when I was an impressionable teenager I loved reading JRR Tolkien (his dragon, Smaug, isn't particularly nice though). Later I read all of Anne McCaffrey's books about dragons - her dragons are much nicer!

The strange thing is that I don't actually like flying things: I almost have a phobia about flies and I'm not keen on butterflies or birds! And I definitely don't like reptiles of any kind - although this lizard that I saw in Cornwall is pretty cute:

A couple of years ago I went to a festival in London and was amazed to see a walking dragon! It moved its head, opened its mouth to pick up things, breathed out steam and even blinked! It's called "Lo monstre"and comes from a remote corner of Catalonia and is really amazing to see. It's mechanical, but moves so gracefully that it gives the impression that it's really alive. You can see a film of it here.

It's a bit too big to add to my collection though!

Do you collect anything? And do you have the characteristics of your Chinese sign? Let me know.

Take care

Carrie

downside: the disadvantage; the negative part
to perch: to sit on the edge of something
to scour: to search for
a souvenir: somthing which you buy or keep to remind you of a holiday
tacky: badly made, cheap and with no style!
something in my blood:if a quality or talent is in your blood, it is part of your nature, and other members of your family have it too
Welsh: someone from Wales
impressionable: easy to influence
to be keen on something or someone: to like it/them very much

The Student Blog is taking a break for the month of September. There will be a new student blogger in October - you'll be able to read her first blog soon!

In the meantime, we hope you enjoy Graciela and Neil's Staff Blogs.

Take care

Carrie

A couple of weeks ago, on my way to Cornwall, I visited the last castle to be built in England.
It's built on a hill, overlooking a deep gorge in Devon - and is not yet 100 years old.

...but to my mind it's not a real castle. It's certainly not how I imagined a castle to look, when I was a child. The castles of my childhood were populated by King Arthur and his knights. Or by wizards and dragons (maybe that's why I collect dragons now?). Or by The Famous Five. Who? The Famous Five are characters from a series children's books written by Enid Blyton in the 1940s, 50s and 60s. They (4 children and a dog) have a whole series of adventures - the first one in a ruined castle - and do all sorts of exciting things like camping and exploring. As a child, that was my idea of heaven. What was your idea of heaven when you were a child?

Oh dear, I've got sidetracked! I was only going write about castles - and I've ended up writing about children's literature and collecting dragons! So, back to castles. The idiom in the title of this blog means means that English people believe they should be able to control what happens in their own homes, and that no one else should tell them what to do there. When I was writing that, I started thinking about other idioms about castles. Can you work out what these idioms mean? (No cheating and looking on the internet ;-) )

• To build castles in the air

• To be king of the castle

Finally, while I was in Cornwall I took a couple of other photos of castles and homes that I thought I would share with you:

Who do you think lives behind this door?

This one is definitely a kind of house that the Famous Five would have enjoyed. I know it's not really a castle, but....

>

...and my favourite kind of castle

Take care

Carrie

gorge: a narrow, steep-sided valley
gorge: an of south west England
to my mind : in my opinion
sidetracked: to forget what you are suppose to be doing and start doing something else

A couple of weeks ago, I took a group of teenage girls away for a cooking weekend - basically a weekend spent teaching them how to cook some traditional British dishes (you'll find one of the recipes here: in the next few days). Spending time in a kitchen with a group of teenagers, you get to hear some interesting conversations! It wasn't long before the adults realised some of the girls were speaking a completely different language and so we sat down with them and had an English language lesson!

My teenage dictionary experts!

But with this generation, language seems to be changing faster than ever before - the spoken language and the written language (then again, maybe I'm just getting older). I made two of them sit down with me and write a dictionary. I've explained the first few words, but can you work out what the rest of them mean? Here goes:

• Innit = I agree - this can be used at the end of a sentence as a question or just as a statement in reply to someone
• Peak/peaky-peaky = shame or "how embarrassing"
• Younger = a good friend who is younger than you
• Older = a good friend who is older than you
• Wasteman = an idiot
• Butters = ugly (this isn't very polite at all!)

• Bounce
• My bad
• Jars - as in "It jars me"

Strangely, some of the written text language used on mobile phones has now become spoken language too. For example: LOL - means laugh out loud. Apparently, as well as using it in reply to a funny text message, you can also say it when someone tells you something funny - either spelling out the letters L.O.L. or saying lol as if it was a word. And how about that most common of slang words: OK? Well OK has been around for almost 200 years - but when teenagers want to send a text message on their mobiles they type "kk" instead of "ok" as it's quicker. Now OK has become kk in spoken language too. Hmmmm.

And finally... one of the words the teenagers told me was "beef" meaning an argument, but that was a word I understood and didn't need explained. So I did a bit of digging on the internet and discovered that this meaning of "beef" has been around since the late 1800s!! So it just goes to show that not everything is new!!
Don't forget to let me know what you think those teenage slang words mean!

Take care

Carrie

Groovy: Cool (today's teenagers would say "sick" instead of groovy!)
Fab: short for fabulous
Buzz off: Go away!
A chick: a pretty woman

Well, it was a bit too easy wasn't it? Yes, as of today there are only 521 days left until the opening of the London 2012 Olympics. If you've read any of my previous blogs you'll know that I'm a big fan of the London Olympics.

It's very easy to see the Olympic site, if you happen to be visiting London. The Docklands Light Railway, goes right past - you don't even have to get off the train! However, if you do get off, it's only a short walk up to a building called the "View Tube":

It's built out of old shipping containers - what a great bit of recycling! Inside there is a cafe and an education centre. From the balcony there are great views of the main stadium and the building site. The main site is almost complete, as you can see from these photos.

This is the Aquatic Centre:

And here's the main stadium:

Today, the first venue was officially opened - the velodrome, where all the cycling will take place. Now, you know what I'm like - I get easily sidetracked - so I thought I'd tell you a story about something that happened at a velodrome in Manchester last weekend. If you're squeamish, don't read the next paragraph!

Last weekend there was a cycling competition for cyclists from all over the world. One of the final races was on Saturday. British rider Sir Chris Hoy was in the lead. Just before he crossed the finish line, the other riders were involved in a dramatic crash - 4 of the 5 of them came off their bikes. It was an important race because the points for the winners counted toward Olympic qualification: so everyone was anxious to cross the finish line. Some of the riders started to run, pushing their bikes. One rider from New Zealand crossed the line and then collapsed with his shirt torn from his back. But the prize for the most dramatic injury? Well, Malaysian rider Azizulhasni Awang got back on his bike and cycled across the line - it was then discovered that he had a 20cm splinter of wood stuck right through his leg. In one side and out the other! He was taken to hospital, but they couldn't operate until the next day - imagine spending the night with a long piece of wood sticking through your leg! Yuck. You can see the film here.

So, my question to you is: what Olympic sport would you like to compete in? And would you go to the same lengths as Awang to complete a race? I'm pretty sure I wouldn't!

Take care

Carrie

to kick yourself: to be really annoyed with yourself
to be sidetracked : to forget what you are supposed to be doing and start doing something else
squeamish: easily upset by unpleasant sights or situations
a splinter: a thin, sharp piece of wood
to go to the same/great lengths : to try very hard or to do extreme things to achieve something

Come back on Monday to read more! Here's a clue.

Take care

Carrie

Just a quick note on behalf of all of us here at BBC Learning English to thank everyone who has written, commented on or just read the blogs in the last year. You've all been great! In January you will have a chance to catch up with all our past bloggers - students and teachers. It's going to be fun!

We wish you all a happy Christmas, and a peaceful, happy and healthy 2011.

Take care

Carrie and everyone in BBC Learning English

Sorry I haven't blogged for ages (goodness, it's actually over 3 months). My excuse is that I was waiting for Andrew to blog. ;-)

Anyway, yesterday I had no excuse as I was at home on a "snow day". Basically this means that I couldn't get in to the office because of the snow. Britain is not very good at dealing with snow - I guess it's because we don't have it very often. So when it starts to snow, the country kind of shuts down. Yesterday there were some trains running, so I made it in to work. But today, nothing....and I only live about 10 miles from the centre of London. Andrew is also snowed in - I've just sent him a message to see if he will do a blog, so you never know, you may have 2 of them to read!

On this ride, the riders sit in a giant tyre and travel down a man-made river, with rapids and spray everywhere. You get very wet.

On this ride, the aim is to get onlookers wet by firing water cannons at them. The trouble is, they can squirt water back at you! You get very, very wet!

My absolute favourite ride, though, is the log flume. Riders sit in an artificial tree trunk and float along an artificial river. At the very end of the ride, the log goes over a tall "waterfall" and lands at the bottom with a huge splash. You get very, very, very wet! This is of me and my Goddaughter going over the edge - and if you're wondering why we have coloured faces, we've just had our faces painted!

Do you like roller coasters? What about other fairground rides?

And talking (or rather writing) about going up and down: how about this for a job? I spotted these 2 men a couple of weeks ago, working on the windows of a new building near London Bridge station, called the Shard. When it's completed, it will be the tallest buidling in the European Union. It will stand over 300m tall. Can you imagine doing this every day?

Take care everyone,

Carrie

snowed in: to be stuck somewhere because there is so much snow
theme park: a park where there are rides and activties
scaredy cat: a very informal way to describe someone who is easily frightened
bumper cars: also called dodgems, these are small electric cars that are driven round a fenced area - the aim is to dodge or bump in to other cars!
merry-go-round: also called a carousel - a rotating platform with horses that go up and down
queasy: to feel as if you are going to be sick
onlookers: people standing and watching