Halloween is here!

Halloween is almost upon us. For many Spanish people this is just another commercial holiday imported from America and the UK. However, it is not just about dressing up in strange costumes and going around the neighbourhood asking for sweets with a cheeky call of 'Trick or treat." Halloween originated many, many years ago. You should find out more about this pagan festival by visiting the trusty History.com website and watching the videos, reading the articles, playing the games and of course, practising your English. You might be surprised by what you find out!

GO TO THE HALLOWEEN FEATURE ON HISTORY.COM > > >

Email English Returns

For those of you who did the Email English abbreviations quiz earlier in the month, you might like to check your answers while learning more about email abbreviations and emoticons. Don't worry if you didn't do the email quiz, you still might find the Oxford Better Writing website useful, especially if you are thinking of doing an exam. And for those of you who are not interested in exams or improving your writing, the site also has some groovy word games such as crosswords, hangman and scrabble. So there is no excuse! Go check it out now!

Online Supplementary Material

If you study in the actual academy of the BLC, you no doubt have a coursebook. Did you know that each suite of coursebooks has it's own website where you can access games, revision quizzes and tests based on the level and the individual units of your book? You should know this because the web address comes on the front or back cover of each student book. If you didn't know, don't fear for I am hear to inform you!

Click here....

If your book is a HEADWAY book > > >
If your book is a CUTTING EDGE book> > >
If your book is a NATURAL ENGLISH book > > >
If your book is a GOLD book > > >
If your book is a NEW ENGLISH FILE book > > >

If you are following a business book you can also benefit from online resources.

Click here to see the MARKET LEADER website > > >

Have fun learning and testing your own progress from the comfort of your own home, or from your work desk when you have a few spare minutes.

Wordgames

So, last night my mother told me about this game she had found on the internet since she knows how I love a good word game, like Scrabble or Boggle and I thought that I would share it with you.

It's called Fowl words, after the hens that lay eggs as you play the game and not because the words you have to come up with are foul! It's a bad pun, I know!

The aim of the game is to make as many words from the letters you are given in the time allowed. (Between certain levels you will have to watch a little advert but just wait for it to finish and you can continue playing)

Play Fowl Words > > >

Movie Mania

Actors, directors and writers are waiting with bated breath as Hollywood prepares to host the 80th Annual Academy Awards on the 24th of February. The awards, more commonly known as The Oscars, recognise the hard work and expertise of different members of the Film Industry.

Are you interested in films? What kind of films do you prefer? Sci-fi films, biopics, comedies, documentaries, slasher movies, or chick flicks? Would you consider yourself a film buff? If so, perhaps you'd like to test your knowledge on the Filmfour Oscars Quiz.

Go to the Filmfour Quiz > > >

But if that isn't challenging enough for you, you could pit your wits against Jon Mullich who reckons his Oscars quiz is ultra-hard.

Go to Jon's quiz > > >

If you are not at all interested in quizzes but you would like to find out more about this year's Academy Awards, you should check out the official Oscars website. You can find out who is nominated this year and read more about the nominees > > > in their star biographies. You can also watch trailers > > > of all the films that are nominated in each category, but in original version of course and without subtitles!

So what are you waiting for, you only have two days to get clued up on all that is happening in Hollywood before the actual event on Sunday!

Go to the official Oscars Website > > >

Fun and Games - Play and Learn!

While surfing the net in search of ideas for the blog I came across this fantastic website of word games and puzzles to practise English spelling and vocabulary. The games seem to be meant for native school children but they are fab for students of English too. I quickly became addicted to the first game I played, WHOMP. The game is similar to Boggle, you have to make words by using boxes that are next to each other and you are in competition with the computer to get the most points. You can change the level by picking a higher grade between two and seven.
There is also a cool interactive Hangman you can play too, but you need to be quick because the alien doesn't give you too many guesses!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Today is the fourth Thursday in November which means that the Americans are celebrating Thanksgiving. Tables all over the US will be laden with roast turkeys, vegetables, mashed potatoes, pumpkin pies and pecan pies as families celebrate all that they have to be thankful for.

If you want to learn more about the tradition behind Thanksgiving celebrations check out this website which includes an interesting video about the history of the festival, interviews with pilgrims and thanksgiving recipes for you to try out at home!

When you have read and learnt a bit more about Thanksgiving you may want to try out some of these games and activities for a little bit of vocabulary fun!

• Thanksgiving Hangman
• Pumpkin Crossword
• Thanksgiving Wordsearch