Show 1108 Monday 16 November
Watch today’s show at YouTube or BlipTV.
Hi, I’m Sarah, welcome to The Daily English Show. Today’s guest is Craig. Craig is originally from London in England and he’s been living in Spain for the past twelve years. In Spain he teaches English and he also has a website for Spanish speakers who are learning English.
Craig and his partner visited Japan in August and they came and saw us in Niseko which was great. They are lovely people and we thoroughly enjoyed meeting them and spending the day with them. And we also interviewed each other. And you can see his interview of me on his YouTube channel, here.
I asked Craig about teaching English and learning Spanish and I also asked him to tell us a bit about his website.
The website’s called Mansion Ingles and it’s a website for Spanish students learning English. And there are three full interactive courses on the website, and so you could just go into the website and study. Ah, there are listening exercises, vocabulary exercises and grammar that’s translated into Spanish. So it’s really for Spanish speakers.
And you also make a podcast?
Yeah, we have a monthly newsletter that’s free to subscribe to. And it goes out to, um, to people who are interested in learning English. And on the newsletter, apart from exercises in English, um, there’s podcasts that you can download to your media player, your iPod, and listen to whenever you like.
And do you do any videos?
Just started. We’ve got a channel on YouTube, LaMansionDelIngles, and so I’ve just started getting interested in how I can use video to help people learn English.
STICK NEWS
Kia ora, in Stick News today for the second time ever the All Whites are going to the World Cup.
The national soccer team in New Zealand is called the All Whites.
They’ve only been to the World Cup once before, in 1982.
On Saturday night the All Whites beat Bahrain 1-0. This means they can now play in the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
And that was Stick News for Monday the 16th of November.
Kia ora.
conversations with sarah
#701 Why did you move to Spain?
Step 1: Repeat Sarah’s lines.
Step 2: Read Sarah’s lines and talk to Craig.
Sarah Why did you move to Spain?
Craig Well my family moved before me - my parents, my sister, my brother-in-law - and I’d been travelling before hand so I thought, um, I’d like to spent some time with my family. And luckily I, I found work, um, in Spain and I stayed.
Sarah Did you speak any Spanish before you got there?
Craig I’d taken a course, ah, but not, not much, no.
Sarah How did you learn it?
Craig I learned, I met a Spanish, ah, girl and she taught me quite a lot. And she’s still teaching me. And, um, I did a formal, a couple of formal courses in Valencia.
Sarah What was the thing that helped improve your Spanish the most?
Craig I think being in situations with Spanish people, social situations, where you, um, have to explain things and, and have social conversations with, with people. Helps your listening and, and your fluency.
Sarah What do you enjoy about teaching English?
Craig I like the interaction in the classroom and I like the unpredictability of lessons, even though you have a plan, you never really know what’ll happen and what feedback you’ll get from the students. I really like that.
Sarah Have you taught in any other countries?
Craig I taught in Israel for a while in an Arab-Jewish community centre. And I taught briefly in, in Thailand. And in the UK.
Sarah How did you find out about The Daily English Show?
Craig A friend of mine at work, John, um, saw it about three years ago, and he said, hey look at this, this is, this is really new and this is, ah, this is a great site. So as soon as I saw it, I realized it was worth going back to, so I’ve been following The Daily English Show for, for about three years.
Sarah Why did you come to Japan?
Craig I’ve always wanted to see Japan, since, ah, I studied Karate when I was a kid. And I’ve always been interested in the culture. It just never happened. So, ah, when my girlfriend suggested Japan I thought yeah, great, let’s go. So we’re here for a month, travelling around the country.
Sarah Apart from Spanish, have you learnt any other languages?
Craig I learnt Hebrew when I was in Israel and I speak a little French. That’s it.
Sarah Can you tell us some things that Spanish English learners have trouble with?
Craig Um, pronunciation can be a problem. Especially the h which is very soft in English - it’s hello. In Spanish, you tend to say hello from the throat. And that’s one, that’s one problem. Um, phrasal verbs I think are problematic for any learner.
Sarah Do you have any advice for people who are learning English?
Craig Yeah, one thing, um, probably the best thing somebody could do would be to go to an English-speaking country and just put themselves in a situation where they have to speak English. But the most important thing is to do something in English that you enjoy, that you like. So, whatever your interests are, if you pursue those in English. Then, ah, it’ll be more fun and if you’re having fun, you’re probably learning.
links
today's STICK NEWS pictures
music
show start
artist: Kevin MacLeod
track: Future Cha Cha
from: Brooklyn, NY, United States
artist site
cws start
artist: Kevin MacLeod
track: The Jazz Woman
from: Brooklyn, NY, United States
artist site
qa start
artist: ioeo
album: triptracks
track: triptrack2
from: Saint Raphael, France
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo
artist site
qa bgm
artist: Paul D. Miller aka Dj Spooky
album: Dj Spooky's contribution for the 'One Laptop Per Child Project'
track: Moon rain
from: New York, United States
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo
artist site
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