Thursday, November 22, 2012

Happy Thanksgiving!





The fourth Thursday in November is always Thanksgiving, and that's today!  Thanksgiving is a holiday similar to the German Erntedankfest, but in the United States the focus is on food native to and traditional in North America-turkey, squash, sweet potatoes, cranberries and co.

My family usually eats turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, green beans, squash, corn, cranberry sauce, and pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving dinner.  What would you like to have for Thanksgiving dinner?  Please visit this site (or do some research of your own online) and prepare a Thanksgiving menu.  Send us your menu at sarah@virtualingua.de.  If you are already a student with us, you can do this as homework.  If you aren't studying English with us yet, you can do this exercise and send it to us to test our tutoring for free!

Thursday, November 1, 2012

Happy Halloween!

Yesterday was Halloween, a much-loved and fun holiday in the United States.  Halloween is not a public holiday, so schools and public offices are open, it's mainly celebrated in the evening. 

Read more about it here in simple English:  http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halloween

Answer these questions: 
1.  What do children do on Halloween?
2.  What is the origin of Halloween?
3.  Do you or people in your area celebrate Halloween?

Send us your answers to tutor@virtualingua.de.  If you area student with us already, you can do this as one of your tutored exercises, if you're new to Virtualingua, test us for free!


Friday, August 10, 2012

Summer vacation!

It's summertime!  Are you ready to go on a summer vacation, or did you already take a vacation this year?  What is or was your destination?  What did you see?  What did you do?  Write us an email at tutor@virtualingua.de and tell us about your vacation.  We'll correct your writing and send it back to you.  If you are already a student with us, you can do this as a tutored exercise for your Virtualingua course, if you are not a student with us yet, test our tutoring for free and send us an email!  You will get free corrections and learning tips!

vacation-Urlaub (American) holiday-Urlaub (British)
take a vacation-Urlaub machen
destination-Reiseziel

Es ist Sommer!  Sind Sie Urlaubsreif?  Oder waren sie schon dieses Jahr im Urlaub?  Wohin geht oder ging die Reise?  Was haben Sie gesehen und gemacht?  Schreiben Sie uns einen Text auf Englisch über Ihre Urlaubsreise unter tutor@virtualingua.de.  Wir korrigieren den Text und schicken Sie ihn zurück.  Wenn Sie schon Virtualingua Schüler sind, können Sie diese Aufgabe als Tutoraufgabe machen, sonst schreiben Sie uns und testen Sie unser Tutoring kostenlos.  Sie bekommen eine Korrektur und Lerntipps! 

Thursday, July 12, 2012

Book review: The Gruffalo

 
Sometimes it's interesting for my students to read children's books to practice their English, that's why I'm reviewing a children's book today.  The book of the day is "The Gruffalo", a children's book that is relatively simple, yet tells the sweet story of a happy little mouse just living his life in the forest.  He meets many animals who want to eat him, including a scary monster, but he outsmarts them all.  If you're interested in reading children's books in English, then this one is great.  It's especially fun to read aloud and has great pictures, too.  If you really get excited about the story, there's a film version of the book, too, which is also a delight!

Enjoy!

Here's a link to this book on amazon.de:  http://www.amazon.de/The-Gruffalo-Bilderb%C3%BCcher-Julia-Donaldson/dp/0333710932/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1342118209&sr=8-1

Manchmal interessieren sich Englischlerner für Kinderbücher auf Englisch, damit sie ihr Englisch auf einem einfachen Niveau üben können.  Deshalb schreibe ich heute über ein englisches Kinderbuch.  Das Buch des Tages ist "Der Grüffelo", ein Kinderbuch, das relativ einfach ist.  Es erzählt die Geschichte von einer kleinen Maus im Wald.  Sie trifft viele Tiere, die sie fressen möchten.  Ein schreckliches Monster kommt zum Schluss auch dazu, die Maus ist aber zu schlau für alle.  Wenn Sie sich für englische Kinderbücher interessieren, dann ist dieses Buch eine tolle Wahl!  Es macht auch viel Spaß, das Buch vorzulesen.  Wenn Sie die Geschichte ganz toll finden, gibt es auch eine Verfilmung der Geschichte, die auch zu empfehlen ist. 

Viel Spaß!

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Films and movies

In British English it's more typical to say "film" in American English, it's "movie".  Where do we go to see these if we don't want to stay home and watch a DVD?  That's different, too.  In British English it's the cinema, in American English, the movie theater.  Theater is spelled "theatre" in British English!  But one thing that's the same in probably all of the English-speaking countries is that we all love Alfred Hitchcock movies (or films, if you prefer).  Hitchcock was a master of scary movies, creating classics like The Birds, Psycho, and Vertigo, to name just a few.

Director Alfred Hitchcock (1899-1980)
If you're planning a trip to London this summer, then be sure not to miss the British Film Institute's showings of Hitchcock's films--they'll be showing all of the British director's 58 films over the course of the summer! 

For more on Alfred Hitchcock and a little vocabulary exercise, visit spoton.de here:  http://www.spoton.de/test-your-english/vocabulary/celebrating-hitchcock-the-master-of-suspense

Sunday, May 6, 2012

Thin TV, fat man?

Hello English learners!
Please look at the comic below and answer the questions below.  Email your answers to us at tutor@virtualingua.de

Liebe Englischlerner!
Schauen Sie bitte die Zeichnung an und beantworten Sie die untenstehenden Fragen.  Schicken Sie uns Ihre Antworten unter tutor@virtualingua.de

1.  What happened to the man?  Was ist mit dem Mann passiert?
2.  What happened to the TV?  Was ist mit dem Fernseher passiert?
3.  Why did this happen?  Warum ist das passiert?
4.  Do you think this comic is correct?  Denken Sie, dass das, was abgebildet ist, stimmt?