English is FUNtastic: 04/01/2016

30.4.16

29.4.16

28.4.16

27.4.16

Fashion Claims More Victims Than You Think

26.4.16

How are you feeling? - listening comprehension exercises

Click on the picture... listen... and... have fun!

25.4.16

Top 10 Must Visit American Cities - video

24.4.16

Listen and watch this animated story - Thumbelina

23.4.16

Shakespeare's most famous lines translated into everyday English

Four hundred years after he rested his quill for the last time, the words and works of William Shakespeare continue to inspire performers and creators.~

Read through some passages of the playwright's most famous scenes and find out what he meant in contemporary English with the help of QUT's head of creative writing and literary studies, Glen Thomas — the actual meanings might surprise you.

Romeo & Juliet

GIF: Romeo and Juliet in the 1996 Baz Luhrmann film adaptation

ROMEO: But, soft! what light through yonder window breaks?
It is the east, and Juliet is the sun.
Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon,
Who is already sick and pale with grief...

JULIET: O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo?
Deny thy father and refuse thy name;
Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love,
And I'll no longer be a Capulet...
'Tis but thy name that is my enemy;
Thou art thyself, though not a Montague. What's Montague? it is nor hand, nor foot,
Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part
Belonging to a man. O, be some other name!
What's in a name? that which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet

Hamlet

PHOTO: Dr Who star David Tennant plays in Royal Shakespeare Company's Hamlet. (blogs.discovermagazine.com)

To be, or not to be: that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them? To die: to sleep;
No more; and by a sleep to say we end
The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks
'That flesh is heir to, 'tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wish'd. To die, to sleep;

Merchant of Venice

PHOTO: Al Pacino as Shylock in the 2004 film Merchant of Venice. (IMDB)

PORTIA: Then must the Jew be merciful.

SHYLOCK: On what compulsion must I? tell me that.

PORTIA: The quality of mercy is not strain'd,
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath: it is twice blest;
It blesseth him that gives and him that takes:
'Tis mightiest in the mightiest: it becomes
The throned monarch better than his crown;
His sceptre shows the force of temporal power
The attribute to awe and majesty,
Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings;

Macbeth

PHOTO: Hollywood actor Hugo Weaving played Macbeth for Sydney Theatre Company. (Sydney Theatre Company)

She should have died hereafter;
There would have been a time for such a word.
To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day
To the last syllable of recorded time,
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more: it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing.

Much Ado About Nothing

PHOTO: Michael Keaton as clueless Dogberry in 1993's Much Ado About Nothing film. (IMBD: MGM)

CONRADE: Away! You are an ass, you are an ass.

DOGBERRY: Dost thou not suspect my place? Dost thou not
suspect my years? O that he were here to write me
down an ass! But, masters, remember that I am an
ass; though it be not written down, yet forget not that I am an ass.
No, thou villain, thou art full of piety, as shall be proved upon thee by good witness.

22.4.16

Animal Idioms

21.4.16

90 stunning photographs marking the Queen's 90th birthday

She’s our longest reigning monarch, the iconic face of the nation and the most prestigious elder Stateswoman in the world.

But, as these 90 beautiful pictures show, the Queen has always risen to the occasion with grace, dignity and often a touch of humour.

From her early life as a carefree girl, where she was educated at home with her sister Princess Margaret, to meeting heads of state, the world’s biggest celebrities and thousands of ordinary people, much of the Queen’s life has been captured on camera.

Photographs have captured Royal births, marriages, including the Queen’s own toPrince Philip, and some of the biggest events our country has seen in the last 90 years.

From her early childhood, to her time as a mechanic during World War 2, and from State functions to her happiest times on her estate at Balmoral with her family and beloved dogs, the photos are an insight into the life of our longest reigning monarch.

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