Movie

For my task I have decided to describe a part of a movie called Magnolia. I played it from the middle without sound and I have just started recording myself. I did not find it very difficult in comparison with the Simpsons where the scenes change very fast and you may be lost very easily. In this movie the scenes did not change so fast but after listening to my recording I found some stupid mistakes that I had made. The main problem was with the tenses. Sometimes I used present continuous instead of present simple. For example: he is wearing a white coat - he wears a white coat, he is coming - he comes/approaches, they are waiting - they wait. Then I mispronounced the word sterile and used maybe too often the word suddenly. I could have used something else instead. At the end I said the word papers, but I think a prescription would be more appropriate in this situation. Once I did not hear an article - with the word shop. But after all, I think it was not so bad. I expected the recording to be even worse. However, I still need to improve my speaking and I think this exercise is a great way for practising.

Describing a picture

The picture that we had to describe was really weird and at the same time interesting. I started recording myself immediately after opening the picture and I think it went quite well. I practise this task very often the last few weeks and I see an improvement. After listening to my recording I recorded again the parts that I would say in another way and some words that I pronounced incorrectly. Here it is: For the individual task I decided to practise reading again because I struggle with fluency sometimes. I found an article on the Internet and tried to read it first without recording. I found the correct pronunciation for words that I was not sure about and then recorded myself. The first recording was not as good as I wanted, so I tried one more time and it was better.

Instructions

This was my favorite exercise! I listened to the original recording many times, made notes and then tried to say it at the same time with the woman from the recording. She was speaking quite fast for me, but with every attemp I was improving myself. Then I recorded myself three times, and with the third recording I was finally almost 100% satisfied. Of course, my voice sounds completely different than the woman's voice, so I can't compare it in this aspect. But when speaking about the instructions, I suppose it isn't so bad. For my individual task I was considering for a long time whether to record myself reading again or practise one more time my TH sound. At the end, I practised both and published online the TH sound because the reading needs more practise and I'm a bit ashamed of it. I know it sounds silly, but when I don't feel comfortable about something, I can't publish it anywhere until I'm satisfied. So, hopefully next time I will be better.

American vs. British English

I generally prefer British English even though most of the movies and series are American. I would say that in my everyday life I hear much more American than British English. Right now we don't even have a British teacher which is quite sad because I would appreciate to hear the British accent more often. Sometimes I just mix up everything together, but I definitely don't do it on purpose, I'm just not fully aware that some words are pronounced somehow only in America. So, when I hear the pronunciation of some unknown words, I pronounce them in this way without actually knowing that in British English it sounds completely different. For my individual task I decided to try some reading. I found an article in my textbook and marked difficult words to pronounce, th sound and tried to read it about 6 times before I started the recording. I recorded my reading practise 3 times before I was quite satisfied with the result. At the beginning I was reading slower and concentrated on too many words. But with the next attempts I improved my reading even though it is not perfect. I think I will do this practise more often because it helps me to concentrate on the stress of the sentence, not just each word.

Strong and weak forms

This week's task was to record myself reading sentences and pronouncing either strong or weak form of a possessive, conjunction and preposition. In my opinion, it wasn't so difficult to decide which form of the word should be pronounced. On the other hand, sometimes in a daily communication it can be more difficult to pay attention on it, because it doesn't come so naturally yet. But after practising it for some time, I believe I would be more careful next time. It was interesting for me and for sure useful. For my individual task I decided to record myself pronouncing the strong or weak forms in short poems. The first one focused on the weak form of AND, the second one on OF, then BUT, AT, and finally YOUR. I really tried to say it many times before I was quite satisfied with myself. I spent the most of the time with the weak form of BUT, it's definitely the most difficult for me. I hope the result isn't ashaming so much, I really tried to do my best.

Connected speech + r sound

The first practice of the connected speech was sometimes quite challenging as normally I don't pay so much attention to it while speaking. There are some phrases that I connect together without even thinking about it, it is just natural and automatic. On the other hand, there are some words that are difficult for me to connect them, and it just took me more time to practice them. At the end I think the recording isn't so bad. The individual task for this week is the "r" sound, because sometimes I just pronounce it in a different way than I should. I found some exercises on Youtube that really helped me to use the muscles in my mouth properly. And I have to admit that after practising the sound I felt so much pain in my mouth and tongue, just like I went out of a gym! I wouldn't ever believe that it's so difficult. I spend quite a lot of time with the "r" sound, so I hope my muscles would remember what to do next time.

TH sound

Today I focused on TH sound again because it is the most problematic sound for me. I believe that by practising again and again I will never make a mistake in the future. Sometimes I just concentrate too much on what I want to say and I completely forget about the pronunciation of TH in some words. I really want to get rid of it and make the TH pronunciation automatic for me.

20 names

This task was quite funny and entertaining for me. I have to say that I really enjoyed it. It is interesting to hear the proper pronunciation of words that are pronounced differently than I thought. It was useful because I use names of actors, singers, cities, etc. quite frequently in my speech, so I hope I wouldn't use the Czech pronunciation ever again. Some names from the list were easy for me. On the other hand, some of them were surprising.

TH sound

For my individual recording I decided to focus on the TH sound, which is the most problematic one for me. After practising the sound in various exercises I recorded the most difficult sentences, where the sound appeared in more words than just one in a sentence. Unfortunately, my laptop is not the youngest one, that's why the sound might be a bit weird and not 100% real. After my practice I feel a bit more confident about the sound, but I still need to concentrate on it when I speak fast. I hope it'd improve with the time, and it'd be always 100% th sound.

Pronunciation

This task was quite difficult for me, mainly because my most serious problem is the pronunciation. I practiced the words many times before I had started the recording, but I ended up recording this task five times and then finally I was almost satisfied. I say almost because I still know that I don't sound like a native speaker, but I really tried to do my best. I'm still in the process of getting used to my own voice, and I hope it'd be more bearable soon. I think that this recording was really helpful :-)

Introduction

This is the first recording and I really hope that the last recording I publish here would sound much better than this one. I'm aware of my pronunciation problems that I try to make better. I made a resolution to concentrate on the sounds much more than I ever did before and I want to finally improve my pronunciation and sound more natural. Introducing myself wasn't as easy as I thought it'd be. I had to record it twice, because the first time I started speaking and then I suddenly stopped and didn't know how to continue. But the second time I had an idea in my mind and it was a bit better, even though I have a problem to actually listen to myself. But the beginnings are always the most difficult...

what if there were no Google...

Can you imagine how your life would be without Google? I Google, therefore I am. In our technological world Google is our best friend, always. We don’t spend hours and hours in a library searching for some information, we are too lazy. That’s why our friend Google is here to provide us whatever we need. Try to imagine your day and think for how many times you searched for something on Google. It's hard to say exactly how the world would look without Google, the world's most frequently visited Web site. Google is a big company, employing around 30,000 people as of this writing. It also tries to share the wealth; in 2010, Google's charitable giving topped $184 million.

Google offers a whole suite of applications (too many to list here), and a lot of them are free. You can use Gmail for e-mail, Docs for sharing all sorts of documents, Maps for navigation, Earth for geographic information, Calendar, Blogger to set up a blog for both personal and professional purposes, etc. Google simply offers a lot of ways to accomplish a lot of different tasks, for not a lot of money. When Google first appeared in 1998, search engines were a matter of personal preference. Some people opted for the visually busy layout of Yahoo or others. But then Google arrived, with its supercharged algorithms that returned more relevant results, and suddenly, it was the fastest and easiest way to find Web-based data. Older search sites located relevant information by finding keywords on Web pages. The company was following through on its stated mission, which is to "organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful," and to be an engine that "understands exactly what you mean and gives you back exactly what you want." Google became a part of our life, that is for sure. And I would be positive about it, because it has so many advantages as I listed. It makes our life easier in some way, and sometimes it can be fun to try to search for funny phrases.

Heart Beach

Welcome to our Heart Beach. The Heart Beach is a long sand beach with clean waters on the island‘s northeast coast. The beach was named Heart Beach because of a very simple reason - its shape brings to mind a real shape of heart. The beach is accessible by car, ship or on foot from the centre of the town (10 minutes). You can enjoy here different water sports, or you can just relax on the most comfortable wooden sun beds that belong to the Paradise Bar. The bar is made only from wood, so it creates an indescribably cosy feeling. People of every age are welcomed, the bar offers not only alcoholic beverages, but also non-alcoholic, refreshments, and sandwiches. If you buy something at the bar, the sun beds are for free. Otherwise it is 2 Euro/day. When visiting Heart Beach make sure to add a walk by the river up to the famous waterfalls. The walk, about 2 km, will take you through a lovely forest and eventually ends at a small lake where you can take a swim and enjoy the pure nature. You can finish your amazing day in a restaurant that is situated near the waterfalls on a rock. The most beautiful and breathtaking view is only from this restaurant. You have the opportunity to taste local meal and enjoy it together with a glass of local wine and sunset that reflects in the sea. We wish you a gorgeous vacation full of unforgettable moments!

magical place

In my life I have travelled to many beautiful places. Most of them are a blur in my mind, but one place I have never forgotten. My favourite waterfalls that are situated on a Greek island. It’s a hot day, outside it feels like in a sauna. I wear only light clothes and flip-flops. You feel sweat even when you wear only a swimsuit, and maybe that’s exactly the reason why I love to escape to a cooler place. A very tiny path leads me to the forest that is completely green. It looks like a wild jungle, every plant, tree, or animal has its own freedom. The air seems to be refreshing exactly as an ice-cream in a very hot day. I breathe and enjoy the feeling inside my body. The trees imitate a sunshade, so you can imagine how it is for me to be hidden from the sun for a while. Some roots of the trees work as steps or bridges over a small river. Everything here is created by nature, no human touched anything. I listen to the birds singing and soon I come to the waterfall. The sound of the water falling down from the rock is fascinating. I sit down in the grass and I just listen to the power of water, I can smell how pure the water is. It absolutely clears my mind and I feel more powerful, like I was running and the adrenaline is running through my veins. I like the image in my mind that we can’t stop the water, it always finds a way to go, and it’s the same with our life, it just goes on…

The impact of technology on our life

Nowadays we’re able to communicate with people through mobile phones and we can see each other through a small screen on smart phones even if we’re thousands of kilometres away.  On the contrary, it’s not always an advantage. Everyone can see on our Facebook profile how many friends we have in our friends list. But how many real and true friends do we have? Moreover, we publicly say where exactly we’re and what we’re doing. But most of the time we don’t see the consequences it can have. Not all the people use modern technology for a good reason. There are paedophiles, stalkers and a lot of strangers that can become very dangerous because of the data we share on the Internet. 

Our lives are full of smart phones, tablets, laptops, etc., we’re connected to the whole world, we can transfer ourselves to exotic places, play poker, watch live streaming concert and mainly we can chat with more than just one friend at the same time. But if you look behind the screen, you see a lonely person sitting at home without any friends and concerts, only surrounded by his/her “technological kingdom”. On the other hand, we don’t know how to communicate with people face-to-face, we aren’t used to react without thinking of the proper answer, and mostly we don’t enjoy anything around us when we don’t watch it through a screen.

In conclusion, social media networks help us to connect with other people, learn new things, see interesting places, and make us feel like we belong in a community that shares our opinions and believes. Nevertheless, we should have some real friends to talk to face-to-face; we should enjoy doing some sport or any activity (e. g. cooking, fishing, participation in public affairs), because the Internet will never replace the real friends and life. Don’t let technology overtake your life!

22 emotions are written on our faces

I must admit that I was never interested in this topic. Actually, who cares about the number of emotions that we can show on our face? But after reading this article, I find it quite surprising. To be honest, I didn't know that scientists believed that we can express only six basic emotions. I'm not a scientist and I'd claim that we can express more than only six. I believe that it'd be amazing to know more about our personalities or illness from our face. Then all the killers, schizophrenics, perverts, etc. would go to prison or madhouse before they'd be actually able to commit a crime. What a nice idea of the perfect world! Back to the topic, in my opinion some people are able to express more emotions than others. Someone's face looks like it's made of stone, nothing changes when the person is happy, angry or sad. All the time the same motionless face. On the other hand, when I imagine for example Jim Carrey performing some funny faces, I know for sure that no one else can do it. The scientists should probably focus on Jim and we'll be surprised what they discover. Do you think that we should express all our feelings, or is it sometimes better to pretend that nothing happened?

TV eating our brain

Try to imagine the world without TV…How do you feel? Depressed, happy, or relieved? People who feel depressed should stop reading this article and rather continue watching their favourite series. The rest of you can read farther and support my opinions. Does TV give us anything we need to survive? No! Actually, life without TV is much easier, you have more free time and more space in your living room as well. If you decide to read the news, we all know where to go….the Internet! I advise you not to try to watch the news on TV, a total waste of time and a lot of grey hair from being angry. What about all the never ending series? Do we live our own life or do we prefer to be invisible in someone else’s life, where we’re waiting what’s going to happen in the next episode? If your life is boring, you should start with some action, but it’ll definitely never change by ignoring your own life. People behind TV are trying to brainwash us, to make us more like a sheep, they decide what to tell us and what to hide from us. But it’s everywhere around us nowadays…

The Help

The basic key to understand this excellent movie is that you have to realize you watch a female drama. The movie is an adaptation of the famous novel called The Help written by Kathryn Stockett. We appear in the world of rich and spoilt women, where the husbands only pass by or they just have a tiny look in what’s going on. In the whole movie we see just two men, who in fact don’t say more than few unimportant words. We peek into the kitchen, lounges, houses of black people…but the men are all the time outside of the house.  Such a beautiful movie about such terrible things. We meet black and white characters that show us how different their lives, opinions and behaviour are. It’s greatly showed that money and a high social status doesn’t win all the time. When watching the movie, you feel anger, hate, love, empathy, etc. And you don’t understand that something like this is possible to happen. I enjoy watching the contrast, I don’t blame anyone in the movie, I only feel sorry for some of the white characters that their brains led them to behave worse than animals. I presume that some men wouldn’t like this movie as much as I do. However, the heartfelt story about strong women that were able to change the history and helped to end the racial inequality is really impressive.

Description of a picture

This photo is definitely one of my favorite of all time. It makes me smile and I feel totally free. My mind starts wandering and there are so many things or memories that appear in my imagination. First of all, I love traveling by train. It’s connected with holidays and adventure in my life. When summer comes I start to be a different person. I enjoy wearing more and more colors, all the combinations are possible during this season. I could literally wear shorts and t-shirt all day, all night. My parents always called me a savage when summer started. It’s not possible to control me, I really live the life and I do whatever I feel. My style isn’t the same, everything must be free and it doesn’t have any boundaries. The more worn something is, the better it is. That’s for sure. I do crazy things all the 12 months, but you know, in winter it isn’t so easy to wear only light clothes, and to jump in water without having flu. I’m a total sea-lover, I’ll never have enough of it. I was probably a fish in my previous life, because I can stay in the water for 24 hours without the need to eat or drink. I love to have salty hair that after they become dry, they look totally wonderful and so summery. However, trying to comb the hair after this beauty procedure turns into a nightmare. But it’s definitely worth all the joy it gives me.

Content of a Pop Song.

I couldn't resist and I chose to write a comment about this extremely truthful graph. Well, I don't think that this graph was made according to some real data, but in my opinion it doesn't need any deep research and from everyday life you know that it's truth.

Sometimes everybody is in a romantic mood, and that's the time for pop songs. You know, crying a river in your pillow, or being incredibly happy/sad/hate the whole world...Of course there are some pop songs that make your life probably better, and some of them are truly great. On the other hand, most of the songs that you can hear in the radio these days are full of idiotic lyrics, and the story is always the same. A boy fell in love with the most beautiful girl in the world, she is the princess, and he loves her so much but she doesn't know about it, so all the story is only in his mind and dreams. Did you remember any song like this? Ok, there are more stories possible, but the principle is still the same. As you can see on my professional graph, a very huge part of the songs contain just "Yeah" to make the song more gangster. And believe me, the more you use it in the song the more gangster you are! Another beautiful word used in the songs is "Ooh". Here I'm a little bit confused whether the author wanted to sound romantic and heart-broken or if he/she is just bored to sing. Now the best - "Baby"! Do you hear how sweet it is? Every girl must go to her knees, that's for sure. And the tiny green part is the actual lyrics that carry some meaning. But we all know that songs are not about anything like this, we love to hear many times "Baby" in a row. Let's turn on the radio and enjoy it, yeah.