If You Don’t Pick It Up They Will

Although the visual aspect of this ad is a statement, the message behind it speaks even louder.

One Direction and Bert (Sesame Street) Sing the Alphabet

Plastic Bags Kill

Let animal “voices” be heard and let’s help these animals to create more awareness of the situations that their in. 

Woman’s reaction to England World Cup knockout

England’s defeat isn’t just a ‘knock out’ for the team. Results from a research paper published in the journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency showing “a match day trend that the risk of domestic abuse rose by 26% when the England team won or drew, and a 38% increase when the national team lost.”

This powerful video comes from Tender, the British charity using theatre and the arts to end abuse. They know how to make a viral.

Tender: “Though research on the rise of domestic violence during the World Cup is relatively new and for lack of a better word, sparse, the trend is alarming and impossible to ignore.  The weather is getting warmer, more drinks will be consumed, emotions will be heightened, and none of this excuses violence. We ask that individuals and organisations to stand together this World Cup season and say ‘No excuses’.”

Road Safety : You can never control the consequences if you speed

'The aim of this campaign is to challenge and dispel, once and for all, through this emotional and uncomfortable message, the false perceptions that many road users have as to the truly horrifying consequences of speeding.' 

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2664537/Watch-The-road-safety-advert-shocking-banned-screens-9pm.html#ixzz35dyWOTRe

Past Simple - irregular verbs - interactive matching exercise

10 Funny English Idioms with examples and explanations

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1. The lights are on but nobody’s home – used to describe a stupid person

Example: She really has no clue- the lights are on but nobody’s home!

2. When pigs fly – about something that will never happen

Example: Yea, right! You will get Taylor Swift to ask you on a date when pigs fly!

3. To have Van Gogh’s ear for music – to be tone deaf (Van Gogh only had one ear!)

Example: Xavi really shouldn’t play the piano- he has Van Gogh’s ear for music.

4. To pig out – to eat a lot very quickly

Example: After the marathon, the runners pigged out at a dinner buffet.

5. Everything but the kitchen sink – almost everything has been included

Example: Maria was trying so hard to get the question right, she was throwing out everything but the kitchen sink!

6. To put a sock in it – to tell someone noisy to be quiet

Example: Jane was yelling while I was studying so I told her to put a sock in it.

7. To have a cast iron stomach – to have no problems eating or drinking anything

Example: I think I would be sick if I ate all that food, but Joe seems to have a cast iron stomach.

8. To drink like a fish – to drink heavily

Example: The group at the bar seems to being having a party and you can tell he’s the birthday boy because he is drinking like a fish!

9. Use your loaf – use your head, think smart

Example: Come on Parker, use your loaf! I know you can solve this problem!

10. Finger lickin’ good – extremely tasty

Example: My mom makes the best steak! It’s finger lickin’ good!

Impasse - Without words, we're left to consider whether love and attraction can break through the impasse of human intolerance.

Find out what makes a word “real”.

Find out what makes a word “real”.

Daily routine vocabulary - listening comprehension exercises II

Daily routine vocabulary - listening comprehension exercises I

Plurals - Interactive Exercise: Write the plural of the words you read.

15 Years Later: Remembering JFK Jr.

The son of the 35th president was 38-years-old when his plane was lost at sea Fifteen years ago Wednesday, a shocked nation grieved as the Kennedy family lost another one of their own.

John Fitzgerald Kennedy Jr., 38, died in a plane crash with his wife and sister-in-law on July 16, 1999. “He was lost on that troubled night, but we will always wake for him, so that his time, which was not doubled but cut in half, will live forever in our memory and in our beguiled and broken hearts,” then-Sen.

Ted Kennedy said in a eulogy for his nephew, an American icon turned magazine editor. Kennedy outlived his nephew by 10 years, passing away in 2009 after nearly a half-century in the U.S. Senate. In that same eulogy, Kennedy praised the “lifelong mutual admiration society” shared between JFK Jr. and his sister Caroline, who now serves as the United State ambassador to Japan. Kennedy was often asked whether he would further the political legacy of his father, who died when his son was only two years old. JFK Jr. once said of his father, “He inspired a lot of hope and created a sense of possibility, and then the possibility was cut short and never realized.”

Ordinal numbers (1st/10th) - listening comprehension exercises

Sesame Street Video: Evan Lysacek and Elmo talk about the word "confidence"

Mysteries of Vernacular - "clue"

Past Simple - verb to be - affirmative and interrogative

School objects - listening and interactive exercises

Personal Pronouns - write HE, SHE, IT or THEY

Click on the picture and... have fun!

Ordinal Numbers - Interactive Word List

Why do you like football? - video, tapescript, interactive exercises and downloadable worksheet

Artur: I don’t know everything about football makes me excited. Just thinking I’m going to the game or thinking about the Goal... or the crowd chanting the chorus... Ah, it just makes me feel good.

Aloisio: I guess that every Brazilian loves football. It’s all about our culture. We grew up seeing football and I grew up playing football so that’s why I like it.

Victor: Being a Brazilian, I don’t have any choice. It’s part of our culture. You must have a team, even if you’re not really a fan, but you know it’s social networking.

Patricia: I like it’s because it’s simple; anyone can understand it, follow it. The rules are easy to understand so it’s very democratic.

Emanuela: I think football brings people together so... I don’t really like it or like to watch it, but yeah I think it’s very important.

Fernando: I think it’s a representation of collaboration, friendship, excitement... There are so many positive values associated with football.

Karina: I like football because I think it’s a sport that most people like and we can just all gather around and watch the football. It’s something really fun and sociable.

Caio: Football is a sport that I like too much because it’s... erm... a unique sport.

Joao: It’s so much adrenaline to see a football game and it’s pretty amazing when you see your team scoring a goal.

Andre: It’s the most famous game in Brazil. Everyone plays it and it’s a good sport to play with your friends.

Peter: I like football because it’s a team game, but you can also make a brilliant appearance by being a surprise element and have a goal on your own.

Joao Pedro: Football... I like it because it’s an art... and is very magical how it includes everybody. So that’s why I like it.

The FIFA World Cup kicks off on June 12th in Brazil. How much do you know about the 32 teams that are taking part? Do you know what groups they're in? Do you know what their flags look like? If you want to get your football facts up to speed for the World Cup check out this video. 

Months of the year - interactive crosswords

click on the picture and... have fun!

Buildings - vocabulary video

Present Continuous – Interactive Rally Game

Asking about names

Past Simple - irregular verbs - affirmative

Rewrite the sentences in the negative

Sting: How I started writing songs again

 ♪ It's all there in gospels ♪

0:18♪A Magdalene girl comes to pay her respects ♪

0:22♪ But her mind is awhirl ♪

0:23♪ When she finds the tomb empty ♪

0:26♪ Straw had been rolled ♪

0:28♪ Not a sign of a corpse ♪

0:30♪ In the dark and the cold ♪

0:32♪ When she reaches the door ♪

0:34♪ Sees an unholy sight ♪

0:36♪ There's a solitary figure and a halo of light ♪

0:40♪ He just carries on floating past Calvary Hill ♪

0:44♪ In an Almighty hurry ♪

0:45♪ Aye, but she might catch him still ♪

0:48♪ Tell me where are you gone, Lord ♪

0:50♪ And why in such haste? ♪

0:52♪ Oh don't hinder me, woman ♪ ♪ I've no time to waste ♪

0:56♪ For they're launching a boat on the morrow at noon ♪

1:00♪ And I have to be there before daybreak ♪

1:04♪ Oh I cannot be missing ♪

1:06♪ The lads'll expect me ♪

1:08♪ Why else would the Good Lord Himself resurrect me? ♪

1:12♪ For nothing'll stop me. I have to prevail ♪

1:15♪ Through the teeth of this tempest ♪

1:18♪ In the mouth of a gale ♪

1:20♪ May the angels protect me ♪

1:22♪ If all else should fail ♪

1:24♪ And the last ship sails ♪

1:27♪ Oh the roar of the chains ♪

1:31♪ And the cracking of timbers ♪

1:32♪ The noise at the end of the world in your ears ♪

1:36♪ As a mountain of steel makes its way to the sea ♪

1:41♪ And the last ship sails ♪

1:47So I was born and raised in the shadow of a shipyard in a little town on the northeast coast of England.Some of my earliest memories are of giant ships blocking the end of my street, as well as the sun, for a lot of the year. Every morning as a child, I'd watch thousands of men walk down that hill to work in the shipyard. I'd watch those same men walking back home every night. It has to be said, the shipyard was not the most pleasant place to live next door to, or indeed work in. The shipyard was noisy, dangerous,highly toxic, with an appalling health and safety record.

2:34Despite that, the men and women who worked on those ships were extraordinarily proud of the work they did, and justifiably so. Some of the largest vessels ever constructed on planet Earth were built right at the end of my street.

2:51My grandfather had been a shipwright, and as a child, as there were few other jobs in the town, I would wonder with some anxiety whether that would be my destiny too. I was fairly determined that it wouldn't be. I had other dreams, not necessarily practical ones, but at the age of eight, I was bequeathed a guitar. It was a battered old thing with five rusty strings, and was out of tune, but quickly I learned to play it and realized that I'd found a friend for life, an accomplice, a co-conspirator in my plan to escape from this surreal industrial landscape.

3:37Well, they say if you dream something hard enough, it will come to pass. Either that, or I was extremely lucky, but this was my dream. I dreamt I would leave this town, and just like those ships, once they were launched, I'd never come back. I dreamt I'd become a writer of songs, that I would sing those songs to vast numbers of people all over the world, that I would be paid extravagant amounts of money,that I'd become famous, that I'd marry a beautiful woman, have children, raise a family, buy a big house in the country, keep dogs, grow wine, have rooms full of Grammy Awards, platinum discs, and what have you. So far, so good, right? (Laughter)

4:25And then one day, the songs stopped coming, and while you've suffered from periods of writer's block before, albeit briefly, this is something chronic. Day after day, you face a blank page, and nothing's coming. And those days turned to weeks, and weeks to months, and pretty soon those months have turned into years with very little to show for your efforts. No songs. So you start asking yourself questions. What have I done to offend the gods that they would abandon me so? Is the gift of songwriting taken away as easily as it seems to have been bestowed? Or perhaps there's a more -- a deeper psychological reason. It was always a Faustian pact anyway. You're rewarded for revealingyour innermost thoughts, your private emotions on the page for the entertainment of others, for the analysis, the scrutiny of others, and perhaps you've given enough of your privacy away.

5:30And yet, if you look at your work, could it be argued that your best work wasn't about you at all, it was about somebody else? Did your best work occur when you sidestepped your own ego and you stopped telling your story, but told someone else's story, someone perhaps without a voice, where empathetically, you stood in his shoes for a while or saw the world through his eyes?

5:58Well they say, write what you know. If you can't write about yourself anymore, then who do you write about? So it's ironic that the landscape I'd worked so hard to escape from, and the community that I'd more or less abandoned and exiled myself from should be the very landscape, the very community I would have to return to to find my missing muse.

6:24And as soon as I did that, as soon as I decided to honor the community I came from and tell their story,that the songs started to come thick and fast. I've described it as a kind of projectile vomiting, a torrent of ideas, of characters, of voices, of verses, couplets, entire songs almost formed whole, materialized in front of me as if they'd been bottled up inside me for many, many years. One of the first things I wrote was just a list of names of people I'd known, and they become characters in a kind of three-dimensional drama, where they explain who they are, what they do, their hopes and their fears for the future.

7:14This is Jackie White. He's the foreman of the shipyard.

7:19My name is Jackie White, and I'm foreman of the yard, and you don't mess with Jackie on this quayside. I'm as hard as iron plate, woe betide you if you're late when we have to push a boat out on the spring tide. Now you can die and hope for heaven, but you need to work your shift, and I'd expect you all to back us to the hilt, for if St. Peter at his gate were to ask you why you're late, why, you tell him that you had to get a ship built. We build battleships and cruisers for Her Majesty the Queen, supertankers for Onassis, and all the classes in between, We built the greatest ship in tonnage what the world has ever seen

7:59♪ And the only life worth knowing is in the shipyard ♪

8:03♪ Steel in the stockyard, iron in the soul ♪

8:06♪ Would conjure up a ship ♪

8:07♪ Where there used to be a hull ♪

8:11♪ And we don't know what we'll do ♪

8:13♪ If this yard gets sold ♪

8:16♪ For the only life worth knowing is in the shipyard ♪

8:21

So having decided to write about other people instead of myself, a further irony is that sometimes you reveal more about yourself than you'd ever intended. This song is called "Dead Man's Boots," which is an expression which describes how difficult it is to get a job; in other words, you'd only get a job in the shipyard if somebody else died. Or perhaps your father could finagle you an apprenticeship at the age of 15. But sometimes a father's love can be misconstrued as controlling, and conversely, the scope of his son's ambition can seem like some pie-in-the-sky fantasy. (Music)

9:09♪ You see these work boots in my hands ♪

9:12♪ They'll probably fit you now, my son ♪

9:15♪ Take them, they're a gift from me ♪

9:17♪ Why don't you try them on? ♪

9:20♪ It would do your old man good to see ♪

9:23♪ You walking in these boots one day ♪

9:25♪ And take your place among the men ♪

9:28♪ Who work upon the slipway ♪

9:31♪ These dead man's boots, though they're old and curled ♪

9:34♪ When a fellow needs a job and a place in the world ♪

9:37♪ And it's time for a man to put down roots ♪

9:41♪ And walk to the river in his old man's boots ♪

9:49♪ He said, "I'm dying, son, and asking ♪

9:52♪ That you do one final thing for me ♪

9:55♪ You're barely but a sapling, and you think that you're a tree ♪

10:00♪ If you need a seed to prosper ♪

10:03♪ You must first put down some roots ♪

10:06♪ Just one foot then the other in ♪

10:08♪ These dead man's boots" ♪

10:11♪ These dead man's boots, though they're old and curled ♪

10:14♪ When a fellow needs a job and a place in the world ♪

10:17♪ And it's time for a man to put down roots ♪

10:22♪ And walk to the river in his old man's boots ♪

10:27♪ I said, "Why in the hell would I do that? ♪

10:30♪ Why would I agree?" ♪

10:32♪ When his hand was all that I'd received ♪

10:35♪ As far as I remember ♪

10:38♪ It's not as if he'd spoiled me with his kindness ♪

10:41♪ Up to then, you see ♪

10:43♪ I'd a plan of my own and I'd quit this place ♪

10:46♪ When I came of age September ♪

10:48♪ These dead man's boots know their way down the hill ♪

10:52♪ They could walk there themselves, and they probably will ♪

10:54♪ I've plenty of choices, I've plenty other routes ♪

10:59♪ And you'll never see me walking in these dead man's boots ♪

11:05♪ What was it made him think ♪

11:07♪ I'd be happy ending up like him ♪

11:10♪ When he'd hardly got two halfpennies left ♪

11:12♪ Or a broken pot to piss in? ♪

11:15♪ He wanted this same thing for me ♪

11:18♪ Was that his final wish? ♪

11:20♪ He said, "What the hell are you gonna do?" ♪

11:23♪ I said, "Anything but this!" ♪

11:26♪ These dead man's boots know their way down the hill ♪

11:29♪ They can walk there themselves and they probably will ♪

11:32♪ But they won't walk with me ‘cause I'm off the other way ♪

11:35♪ I've had it up to here, I'm gonna have my say ♪

11:37♪ When all you've got left is that cross on the wall ♪

11:40♪ I want nothing from you, I want nothing at all ♪

11:43♪ Not a pension, nor a pittance, when your whole life is through ♪

11:46♪ Get this through your head, I'm nothing like you ♪

11:49♪ I'm done with all the arguments, there'll be no more disputes ♪

11:54♪ And you'll die before you see me in your dead man's boots ♪

12:03Thank you.

12:13So whenever they'd launch a big ship, they would invite some dignitary up from London on the train to make a speech, break a bottle of champagne over the bows, launch it down the slipway into the river and out to sea. Occasionally on a really important ship, they'd get a member of the royal family to come, Duke of Edinburgh, Princess Anne or somebody. And you have to remember, it wasn't that long ago that the royal family in England were considered to have magical healing powers. Sick children were held up in crowds to try and touch the cloak of the king or the queen to cure them of some terrible disease. It wasn't like that in my day, but we still got very excited.

12:58So it's a launch day, it's a Saturday, and my mother has dressed me up in my Sunday best. I'm not very happy with her. All the kids are out in the street, and we have little Union Jacks to wave, and at the top of the hill, there's a motorcycle cortege appears. In the middle of the motorcycles, there's a big, black Rolls-Royce. Inside the Rolls-Royce is the Queen Mother. This is a big deal. So the procession is moving at a stately pace down my street, and as it approaches my house, I start to wave my flag vigorously, and there is the Queen Mother. I see her, and she seems to see me. She acknowledges me. She waves, and she smiles. And I wave my flag even more vigorously. We're having a moment, me and the Queen Mother. She's acknowledged me. And then she's gone.

13:50Well, I wasn't cured of anything. It was the opposite, actually. I was infected. I was infected with an idea. I don't belong in this street. I don't want to live in that house. I don't want to end up in that shipyard. I want to be in that car. (Laughter) I want a bigger life. I want a life beyond this town. I want a life that's out of the ordinary. It's my right. It's my right as much as hers. And so here I am at TED, I suppose to tell that story, and I think it's appropriate to say the obvious that there's a symbiotic and intrinsic link between storytelling and community, between community and art, between community and science and technology, between community and economics. It's my belief that abstract economic theory that denies the needs of community or denies the contribution that community makes to economy is shortsighted, cruel and untenable.

15:11The fact is, whether you're a rock star or whether you're a welder in a shipyard, or a tribesman in the upper Amazon, or the queen of England, at the end of the day, we're all in the same boat.

15:35♪ Aye, the footmen are frantic in their indignation ♪

15:39♪ You see the queen's took a taxi herself to the station ♪

15:43♪ Where the porters, surprised by her lack of royal baggage ♪

15:47♪ Bustle her and three corgis to the rear of the carriage ♪

15:50♪ For the train it is crammed with all Europe's nobility ♪

15:54♪ And there's none of them famous for their compatibility ♪

15:58♪ There's a fight over seats ♪

16:00♪ "I beg pardon, Your Grace ♪

16:02♪ But you'll find that one's mine, so get back in your place!" ♪

16:07♪ "Aye, but where are they going?" ♪

16:09♪ All the porters debate ♪

16:11♪ "Why they're going to Newcastle and they daren't be late ♪

16:15♪ For they're launching a boat on the Tyne at high tide ♪

16:19♪ And they've come from all over, from far and from wide" ♪

16:22♪ There's the old Dalai Lama ♪

16:25♪ And the pontiff of Rome ♪

16:27♪ Every palace in Europe, and there's nay bugger home ♪

16:30♪ There's the Duchess of Cornwall and the loyal Prince of Wales ♪

16:34♪ Looking crushed and uncomfortable in his top hat and tails ♪

16:38♪ Well, they haven't got tickets ♪

16:40♪ Come now, it's just a detail ♪

16:42♪ There was no time to purchase and one simply has to prevail ♪

16:46♪ For we'll get to the shipyards or we'll end up in jail! ♪

16:50♪ When the last ship sails ♪

16:54♪ Oh the roar of the chains ♪

16:57♪ And the cracking of timbers ♪

16:59♪ The noise at the end of the world in your ears ♪

17:03♪ As a mountain of steel makes its way to the sea ♪

17:07♪ And the last ship sails ♪

17:10♪ And whatever you'd promised ♪

17:13♪ Whatever you've done ♪

17:15♪ And whatever the station in life you've become ♪

17:19♪ In the name of the Father, in the name of the Son ♪

17:23♪ And no matter the weave of this life that you've spun ♪

17:27♪ On the Earth or in Heaven or under the Sun ♪

17:31♪ When the last ship sails ♪

17:34♪ Oh the roar of the chains ♪

17:38♪ And the cracking of timbers ♪

17:39♪ The noise at the end of the world in your ears ♪

17:43♪ As a mountain of steel makes its way to the sea ♪

17:48♪ And the last ship sails ♪

17:57Thanks very much for listening to my song. Thank you. (Applause)

18:30Thank you.

18:36Okay, you have to join in if you know it. (Music) (Applause)

18:46♪ Just a castaway ♪

18:49♪ An island lost at sea, oh ♪

18:53♪ Another lonely day ♪

18:55♪ With no one here but me, oh ♪

18:59♪ More loneliness than any man could bear ♪

19:05♪ Rescue me before I fall into despair ♪

19:11♪ I'll send an S.O.S. to the world ♪

19:14♪ I'll send an S.O.S. to the world ♪

19:17♪ I hope that someone gets my ♪

19:21♪ I hope that someone gets my ♪

19:24♪ I hope that someone gets my ♪

19:27♪ Message in a bottle ♪

19:33♪ Message in a bottle ♪

19:40♪ A year has passed since I wrote my note ♪

19:46♪ I should have known this right from the start ♪

19:52♪ Only hope can keep me together ♪

19:59♪ Love can mend your life ♪

20:01♪ but love can break your heart ♪

20:05♪ I'll send an S.O.S. to the world ♪

20:08♪ I'll send an S.O.S. to the world ♪

20:11♪ I hope that someone gets my ♪

20:14♪ I hope that someone gets my ♪

20:17♪ I hope that someone gets my ♪

20:20♪ Message in a bottle ♪

20:27♪ Message in a bottle ♪

20:33♪ Message in a bottle ♪

20:39♪ Message in a bottle ♪

20:46♪ Walked out this morning ♪

20:49♪ I don't believe what I saw ♪

20:52♪ A hundred billion bottles ♪

20:55♪ Washed up on the shore ♪

20:58♪ Seems I'm not alone in being alone ♪

21:04♪ A hundred billion castaways ♪

21:07♪ Looking for a home ♪

21:10♪ I'll send an S.O.S. to the world ♪

21:14♪ I'll send an S.O.S. to the world ♪

21:17♪ I hope that someone gets my ♪

21:20♪ I hope that someone gets my ♪

21:23♪ I hope that someone gets my ♪

21:26♪ Message in a bottle ♪

21:32♪ Message in a bottle ♪

21:39♪ Message in a bottle ♪

21:45♪ Message in a bottle ♪

21:48So I'm going to ask you to sing after me, okay, the next part. It's very easy. Sing in unison. Here we go.

22:00♪ Sending out an S.O.S. ♪ Come on now.

22:04Audience: ♪ Sending out an S.O.S. ♪

22:07Sting: ♪ Sending out an S.O.S. ♪

22:10Audience: ♪ Sending out an S.O.S. ♪

22:13Sting: ♪ I'm sending out an S.O.S. ♪

22:16Audience: ♪ Sending out an S.O.S. ♪

22:19Sting: ♪ Sending out an S.O.S. ♪

22:22Audience: ♪ Sending out an S.O.S. ♪

22:25Sting: ♪ Sending out ♪

22:38♪ Sending out an S.O.S. ♪

22:40♪ Sending out an S.O.S. ♪

22:43♪ Sending out an S.O.S. ♪

22:46♪ Sending out an S.O.S. ♪

22:52♪ Yoooooooo ♪

23:01Thank you, TED. Goodnight.