Table 7 - Video

Past Simple vs. Present Simple - verb to be - affirmative interactive exercises

To do list - video

Past Simple - regular and irregular verbs - affirmative & negative interactive exercises

Cat Idioms - Video

Dairy Idioms - Video

"Bend over backwards" means...

"Be snowed under" means...

Idioms for "being quiet" with Examples and Explanations

Image Source

1. Put a sock in it

impolitely telling someone to stop talking or making a noise

- Couldn’t you put a sock in it? I’d love to do some work, but I can’t in this noise.
- Put a sock in it, there are people who are trying to sleep around here.

2. Cork it / put a cork in it
telling someone to be quiet

- It’s too late and we’re fed up with your stories – cork it and go to sleep.
- Don’t you want to work instead of talking all the time? Cork it and take your tools.

3. Button it
telling someone rudely to be quiet

- Button it, can’t you? I’m trying to concentrate.
- If you don’t button it, I’ll get up and go away.

4. Shut up / shut your pie hole
a rude way to tell someone to be quiet (pie hole = mouth /slang/)

- Shut your pie hole or I’ll shut it for you!
- Shut your pie hole and mind what you’re doing!

5. Zip (up) your lip(s) / zip it up
an informal way to tell someone to be quiet

- Zip your lips, boys, and listen to me.
- We told her to be quiet, but she just couldn’t zip it up.

6. Wind your neck in
a rude way to tell someone to be quiet and/or calm down

- Cool down, buddy, wind your neck in, you’ve made enough troubles already.
- Wind your neck in and sit quiet, we’ve taken the wrong road due to your talking nonsense.

7. Simmer down
calm down after anger or excitement; an informal way to tell someone to cool down

- Please don’t shout, simmer down, there’s no point in rejoicing yet.
- Simmer down, guys, we’d better work first and make a party later.

8. Pipe down
an informal way to tell someone to stop talking and/or to make less noise

- The teacher shouted at the kids to pipe down but all in vain, none of them stopped talking.
- Will you tell your mates to pipe down? I can’t work in this noise.

"Catch some Zs" means...

"Catch some Zs" means "to go to sleep, to take a nap".

Example: Max pulled over to the side of the road to catch some Zs.

Present Simple - Affirmative, negative and interrogative interactive exercises

Present Simple - Interrogative

Present Simple - Interrogative: click on the words to make questions:

Present Simple - Interrogative: click on the words, order them and build questions

A tongue twister challenge - video

Betty Botter bought a bit of butter.

The butter Betty Botter bought was a bit bitter

And made her batter bitter.

But a bit of better butter makes better batter.

So Betty Botter bought a bit of better butter

Making Betty Botter's bitter batter better.

Tongue twisters

Tongue twisters are a great way to improve and practice pronunciation when learning a foreign language. They are also a good way of improving our communication skills as they help us control our tone and rhythm while speaking. Our English Tongue Twisters book promotes learning through repetition and humour.

There are a multitude of tongue twisters in each language. Learning the ones from your target language will help you improve your skills in that language. They frequently contain the kind of challenging sounds and phrasing which are unique to that idiom, making them a great way to improve your skills – whilst making funny mistakes and coming out with hilarious unexpected meanings.   

Here are some tongue twisters in English that we encourage you to practice and learn to improve your communication skills…  Once you can say them perfectly, try going a little faster – that’s when the fun really starts!

Tongue twisters are a great way to improve and practice pronunciation when learning a foreign language. They are also a good way of improving our communication skills as they help us control our tone and rhythm while speaking. Our English Tongue Twisters book promotes learning through repetition and humour.

There are a multitude of tongue twisters in each language. Learning the ones from your target language will help you improve your skills in that language. They frequently contain the kind of challenging sounds and phrasing which are unique to that idiom, making them a great way to improve your skills – whilst making funny mistakes and coming out with hilarious unexpected meanings.   

Here are some tongue twisters in English that we encourage you to practice and learn to improve your communication skills…  Once you can say them perfectly, try going a little faster – that’s when the fun really starts!

Valentine's Day Interactive Quiz

It's Valentine's Day - interactive spot the differences game

Valentine's Day paid APPS

Candy Valentine Hearts

Create photo-realistic candy hearts (and now chocolate hearts, too) with any message you can think of. Write your own 1, 2, 3 or 4-line message, pick a color, decide whether to use one of the beautiful included backgrounds, choose a font size, and then this app creates a beautiful candy heart just for you! And, with one click you can save your creation to your Photo Album and then email to anyone you want, or use as your background wallpaper!

Matching Hearts

A fun matching game using candy hearts. Catchy tune and sound effects. 

Score is based on how fast you finish matching - 

compete against your friends to see who is faster!

i See-quence Valentine's Day Social Skills Stories

i See-quence... Valentine's Day is an application providing a photo social skill story for individuals that need support in understanding the process of Valentine's Day. Twenty-seven icons with real picture images are used to illustrate the sequence of events. Each page can be individualized for the user by adding personal photos taking pictures with an Apple camera ready device, add text and audio.

Biscuit's Valentine's Day

A sweet Valentine's story that can be read to you with silly animations and sounds on each page.

Also includes several games and activities!

Untranslatable Love Words From Around The World - infographic

Jimi Hendrix's London flat opens as a museum

Jimi Hendrix's London home is to open as a permanent museum for the public to visit on 10 February 2016.

The flat at 23 Brook Street, Mayfair, has undergone a £2.4m restoration with the help of money from the Heritage Lottery Fund and private donors.

Hendrix bought the third-floor flat in 1968 at a time when he was considering the next phase of his career. That summer he released his Electric Ladyland LP.

Tickets will go on sale on 2 November.

The flat is next door to the former home of the German-born composer George Frideric Handel, who lived at 25 Brook Street for 26 years and wrote many of his greatest works there, including the Messiah.

Both homes are owned by the Handel House Trust, which has been using the Hendrix flat as an office, only opening it occasionally to the public.

At the heart of the Hendrix flat will be the main living room, restored to how it would have been when Hendrix lived there.

Among the exhibits are previously unseen or rarely seen images of Hendrix taken at the flat and in the local area.

The museum will also include a new state-of-the-art studio to be used for teaching and as a concert venue.

Living at 23 Brook Street fuelled Hendrix's creativity and led to many hours of writing and countless jam sessions with visiting musicians.

He became fascinated by the fact that Handel had lived so close and went on to buy many records of the composer's works, the most notable of which is a copy of the Messiah performed by the English Chamber Orchestra.

This is now housed at the Experience Music Project in Seattle, Washington, along with a large section of Hendrix's record collection.

Hendrix shared the Brook Street flat with his girlfriend Kathy Etchingham and Hendrix referred to it as "the first real home of my own".

The couple lived there, in-between trips abroad, for around a year.