Loads of Online Vocabulary Games for Advanced Learners

http://a4esl.org/a/v5.html

Try the homonym quizzes!

The Borgias: The saga of a crime family in 1492 Italy

The Borgias historical drama delves into the lives of the most notorious family dynasty of the Italian Renaissance. Jeremy Irons stars as Borgia family patriarch Rodrigo Borgia who becomes Pope Alexander VI.
 
 Find episodes here: http://www.tv-links.eu/tv-shows/The-Borgias_25197/

Dylan Moran Live in Dublin + Czech Subtitles

Who wouldn't want to listen to a stark raving mad Irishman go on about what's wrong in the world?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRnSTQE6hzU

David Attenborough's "Life" - will literally blow your mind!

David Attenborough's legendary BBC crew explains and shows wildlife all over planet earth in 10 episodes. The first is an overview the challenges facing life, the others are dedicated to hunting, the deep sea and various major evolutionary groups of creatures: plants, primates and other large sections of other vertebrates and invertebrates.

http://www.tv-links.eu/tv-shows/Life_28830/

And for a limited time!!!
Listen to David Attenborough "Life" episodes on BBC Radio

Songsters (available til 19/04/2012)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00pgrq6/David_Attenboroughs_Life_Stories_Series_1_Songsters/

Bower Birds (available til 20/04/2012)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00pgwgs/David_Attenboroughs_Life_Stories_Series_1_Bowerbirds/

Peep Show

Award-winning sitcom. David Mitchell and Robert Webb play two dysfunctional flatmates who reveal all their inner thoughts - whether dark, stupid or embarrassing. Or, occasionally, all three...

Mark and Jez are a couple of twenty-something roommates who have nothing in common - except for the fact that their lives are anything but normal. Mayhem ensues as the pair strive to cope with day-to-day life.

http://watchseries.eu/serie/peep_show

Season 1, Episode 1, Part 1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePejwCWPwwg
"YES! I am the Lord of the Bus, said he."

Come Dine with Me (great way to get to know British accents)

A group of five strangers, each an amateur chef, compete to host the best dinner party, each party solely for the competitors and to be held on consecutive evenings. With a set amount of money provided for the party, each host must submit a menu in advance of the week, the menu to consist of at least a starter, a main and a dessert/pudding. At the end of each party, each guest rates the party on a scale of one to ten inclusive. Each guest can use whatever criteria he/she deems important to rate the party, the quality of the food only being one possible factor. At the end of the last party, the host of that party gets the voting results, which he/she reads to the other competitors. The competitor with the highest score wins £1,000. By the end of the last party, each competitor gets to know their fellow competitors a little better. Some may become friends for life, while others wish they had never met.

 

http://watchseries.eu/serie/come_dine_with_me

Any Human Heart: Jim Broadbent, Matthew Macfadyen and Sam Claflin take the lead role in William Boyd's funny, moving and ambitious adaptation of his best-selling novel, exploring one man's tumultuous and unpredictable journey through the 20th century.

A novelist's life ricochets from 1920s Paris to '50s New York and '80s London. Along the way he meets Ernest Hemingway, Ian Fleming and the Duke and Duchess of Windsor - the exiled British king and his mistress Wallis Simpson.

http://www.tv-links.eu/tv-shows/Any-Human-Heart_25862/

"Archaesoup" brought to you by Marc Astles.

Really interesting video productions about history and archaeology. Check out "Hidden Histories".

http://archaeosoup.com/

Also worth checking out his Youtube channel here: http://www.youtube.com/user/Archaeos0up

Upstairs Downstairs (2010)

Upstairs Downstairs explores the relationship between the classes in 1930s pre-war Britain, based on a classic TV show of the same name (Upstairs, Downstairs) from the 1970s.


In 1936, Sir Hallam Holland and his pretty young wife Lady Agnes return from a diplomatic posting abroad and take up residence at 165 Eaton Place, formerly the home of the Bellamy family but vacant for several years. By chance, they ask Rose Buck, herself a long-time servant in the Bellamy household, to find them a suitable staff. In the end, Rose herself joins them as the Housekeeper. The 1930s are a difficult time in England. The Depression has taken its toll with high levels of unemployment. Fascism, which has become popular on the Continent in Italy and Germany, is also finding followers in the UK with Oswald Mosely's British Union of Fascists. As the new staff begin their daily work, the downstairs family begins to take shape.

Search for "Upstairs Downstairs" here: http://www.tv-links.eu/ or http://www.watchseries.eu/
Enjoy!


Read the review on The Guardian newspaper website here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/tv-and-radio/2010/dec/24/upstairs-downstairs-is-back

The Secret Garden Episode 4

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00rlfy6/The_Secret_Garden_Episode_4

The Secret Garden, Part 2. *Intermediate-Advanced*

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00rglts/The_Secret_Garden_Episode_2/

"Birdsong" by Sebastian Faulks. Excellent 2 part drama. **Intermediate-Advanced**

As an English soldier fights in the horrific trenches of northern France, he is haunted by the memories of his forbidden love affair with a French woman.

Watch "Birdsong" here:

Part 1
http://www.putlocker.com/file/925CE91EF3F44A7B

Part 2
http://www.gorillavid.in/jrdjevewwq6m

or if these links are no longer working, try links here:
http://www.tv-links.eu/tv-shows/Birdsong_31113/

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett (Int. to Adv)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00rfqhm/The_Secret_Garden_Episode_1/

Frances Hodgson Burnett's classic tale finds young Mary sent to England after the tragic death of her parents. Stars Beryl Reid.

(Read the book here http://etext.virginia.edu/toc/modeng/public/BurSecr.html)

Watch the film here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lFJkdlK0qg

Author, Bali Rai talks about Racism (Intermediate - Advanced)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01bb7k6/Four_Thought_Series_2_Bali_Rai/

Author Bali Rai argues that stopping talking about race is the best way to stop racism. Four Thought is a series of talks which combine thought provoking ideas and engaging storytelling. Recorded live in front of an audience at the RSA (the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce) in London, speakers air their latest thinking on the trends, ideas, interests and passions that affect our culture and society.

Grammar & Vocabulary Online Games: Can you beat the "Article Wolf"?

Now, students of mine, you know how I feel about definite (the) and indefinite articles (a/an)... So... here's a fun game to practise using these beautiful little words that will make your teacher so very happy!

Can you help the rabbit build a wall to keep the article wolf away? Click on "Article Wolf" to test yourself.
http://www.english-online.org.uk/games/gamezone2.htm

Everyone can read in English... So.. Start Reading! **Beginner - Advanced**

http://www.cambridge.org/gb/elt/catalogue/subject/project/pricing/item2424295/Cambridge-Discovery-Readers-Pricing-and-availability/?site_locale=en_GB&currentSubjectID=382366

Cambridge Books for all different levels. Choose a book you will enjoy and your level.
Wondering about what level would be suitable for you? Ask me in your next lesson. :)

"The Painted Veil" by Somerset Maugham. Intermediate-Advanced

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01b1rww/Somerset_Maugham_The_Painted_Veil/

Kitty Fane is a frivolous young English woman who longs for romance and excitement, trapped in a loveless marriage to a staid Shanghai researcher. When her husband learns she has had an affair, he volunteers to fight a cholera epidemic in China's war-torn interior. Dr. Fane forces his wife to accompany him on the difficult and hazardous journey, endangering her life in the process.

Also I recommend the film with Naomi Watts, find links for the film here:
http://www.alluc.org/movies/watch-Painted-Veil-The-online/10361.html

CAE: "Cosmetic Surgery: Where do you draw the line between a cosmetic and a medicine?" 44min. Advanced.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01bb7j9/Womans_Hour_01_02_2012/

"Swallows", a short story by John McGahern. 21 minutes. Advanced (practice understanding of Irish accents)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00p1hnx/Short_Stories_by_John_McGahern_Swallows/

Tip: It may take you a while to get used to the accent, but be patient. Play it again and again.

Want to know more about John McGahern? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_McGahern