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Welcome! This site is for students to practice their English and keep up to date with environmental issues.

TEN MINUTES OF ENGLISH A DAY!
You can find a mixture of reading, crosswords, videos and short English lessons: these will normally be vocabulary, but I may also treat you to some grammar!

There are now over 260 lessons on this blog. Look through the Blog archive, Post labels and Popular Posts to find what you want.

If you want to print a lesson, click on the lesson title and then look for the Print Friendly icon.

''Let nature be your teacher''
William Wordsworth, poet, 1770-1850

''Joy in looking and comprehending is nature's most beautiful gift''
Albert Einstein, physicist, 1879-1955

''... to find the word, or words, by which [an] idea may be most fitly and aptly expressed''
P.M. Roget, lexicographer, 1779-1869

Tuesday 8 July 2014

The Language of Maps

Level: Intermediate B1

Please click the 'Print Friendly' icon at the bottom of the page if you want to print this exercise.

Do you know how to read a map?
Do you know the vocabulary of maps?

Here is a good article which summarises the main vocabulary associated with maps.
Read the article and then answer the following questions

1) What is at 66 33 south?
2) What are the cardinal directions?
3) What do we call the lines parallel to the equator?
4) Which Tropic is further north, Cancer or Capricorn?
5) What is the name of the projection used by the National Geographic Society?


Answers below!



ANSWERS!

1) The Antarctic Circle
2) North, south, east and west
3) The Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn
4) The Tropic of Cancer
5) Winkel Tripel

Thursday 3 July 2014

Three Przewalski’s horses flown from Czech Republic to their homeland

Level: Intermediate B1

Please click the 'Print Friendly' icon at the bottom of the page if you want to print this exercise.

Three Przewalski's horses from Prague Zoo have been flown to Mongolia to begin a new life in their country of origin.
Read this article about it from Horsetalk.co.nz, then answer the following questions:

1) Are the horses male or female?
2) How many times has the Zoo sent horses to Mongolia?
3) Where will the horse's new home be?
4) Why did the horses almost become extinct?
5) Who is the horse species named after?


Answers below!



ANSWERS!


1) Female (mare is female)
2) Four
3) Gobi B National Park
4) Hunting and pressure from agriculture
5) Russian explorer Nikolai Przewalski