Tu Ingls!

Syllabus
(Plan de estudios)

http://www.Tu-Ingles.com

(Thanks to Gustavo Meschino for his help preparing this list!)

# Session Contents
1 Excerpt about The snow. Conjugation of some verbs.
Thats English: I am vs. tengo.
English of the Rich and Famous: Kennedy, Sister republics south of our border.
2 Selection of the day: Is America ready for a black president?
Thats English: Thank you / You are welcome.
English of the Rich and Famous: Interview with Barack Obama.
3 Selection of the day: Brians trip to Spain.
Thats English: fun / funny.
English of the Rich and Famous: Thomas Friedman, The World is Flat.
4 Selection of the day: Holy Week.
Thats English: Words that are quite similar in English and Spanish.
English of the Rich and Famous: Martin Luther King Jr., I Have a Dream.
5 Selection of the day: Foreign Language Obsession.
Thats English: The auxiliary verb do.
English of the Rich and Famous: A poem from Robert Frost, The Road Less Travelled.
6 Vocabulary: ages, money, emotions.
Selection of the day: Brians first car.
Thats English: Gerunds.
English of the Rich and Famous: Albert Gore, Global warming.
7 What do you say? Cecilia travels the streets of Boston.
English of the Rich and Famous: Michael Klare, about his book, Blood And Oil.
8 Selection of the day: A Bar Mitzvah (throwing a party).
Vocabulary: have to, boring/bored, interesting/interested, to become, to get.
English of the Rich and Famous: Angelina Jolie, about poverty, hunger, and disease.
9 What do you say? Cecilia waits for her flight in an airport.
Thats English: The i sound. The accent.
10 An interview with Carmen, from Spain, about her experience living in the USA and learning English.
Thats English: The h sound. The accent.
11 Vocabulary: celebrate, confusing/confused, despite, to encourage, beer, peasant.
Selection of the day: May 5 in Mexico.
English of the Rich and Famous: Lady Di.
12 What do you say? Cecilia stays in a hotel in New York City.
English of the Rich and Famous: Excerpt of an interview Madonna gave in 1993.
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13 Selection of the day: Law and Order in the United States.
Thats English: Contractions and accelerators.
English of the Rich and Famous: Gloria Steinem, about The womens movement.
14 Differences about bodies in English than in Spanish.
Thats English: Telling jokes.
English of the Rich and Famous: Listening a valley girl, from the film Clueless.
15 A virtual walk in the woods with Cecilia near Brians house.
Vocabulary: take a stroll, take a hike, mud, muddy, Do you mind?, etc.
16 Selection of the day: About the Spanish TV program El Internado.
Vocabulary: "impressed," "impressive," "to remind."
Thats English: Verbs "to see" and "to watch".
17 What do you say? Cecilia goes to the beach.

18 Selection of the day: About the Fourth of July in USA.
English of the Rich and Famous: Hillary Clinton speaking at a United Nations conference about
women.
19 What do you say? Going to a restaurant to eat Indian food.
20 Reading some English translations of poems by Federico Garcia Lorca.

21 Pronunciation: sounds in English that are difficult to say for native Spanish speakers.
English of the Rich and Famous: A comedy skit made in the year 1961, with a character named Jose
Jimenez.
22 Selection of the day: Discussion of Colombia.
Vocabulary: amazing, advice, dangerous, to improve, to travel, to suggest, suggestion, proud.
23 What do you say? Cecilia goes to a job interview with an American company in Mexico.
Vocabulary: To hire, job, appointment, "have a seat", "Im glad", "thats too bad", "I have a degree in",
salary, "I am looking forward".

24 Selection of the day: a new rule in golf.
Vocabulary: to be able to, the best, the worst, enable, to achieve, to survive, advantage, Ladies and
Gentlemen.
English of the Rich and Famous: An excerpt of a Severiano Seve Ballesteros (a Spanish golfer)
interview.
25 Irregular verbs. Their pronunciation, translations, past and past participles.

26 Meeting Maria, a woman from Spain who now lives in the United States. Taking a tour of Marias new
house.
Vocabulary: lawn, grass, garden, to garden, the kitchen, basement, washing machine, dryer, the second
floor, bathroom, shower, bedroom, tree, apple tree.
27 Reading a chapter of the novel Uncle Toms Cabin, from Harriet Beecher Stowe.
Vocabulary: kind, bought, to pay, to borrow, to loan, to owe, to promise.
28 What do you say? Cecilia goes shopping in a supermarket, to get ingredients to make paella.

29 Verbs in the Conditional Tense. Would. Could. Should.

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30 Phrasal verbs: agree with, be about to, be back, be out of, be over, be up, come across, run across,
come on, drop by, fall through, figure out, find out, get along, give up, hang on, hold on, hand in, let in,
look out, make fun of, pick on, stay up, talk into, talk out of, to use up, spice up.
Exam 1 Exam time! We review and take a quiz on Sessions 1-6 of Tu Ingles.
Xmas The Night Before Christmas. We listen to a famous poem about Santa Claus.
31 What do you say? Cecilia goes to the shopping mall to buy some clothes.

Exam 2 Exam time again! We review and take a quiz on Sessions 7-13 of Tu Ingles.
32 Pronunciation of regular, past-tense verbs. The three different ways to pronounce the ed ending.
Reading of an excerpt from The Metamorphosis, by Franz Kafka.
Thats English: "Working hard vs. hardly working".
33 One-year anniversary of Tu Ingles. Brian speaks about his future trip to Bogota.
Thats English: Importance of emphasis in the pronunciation of English: verbs and nouns.
English of the Rich and Famous: Michelle Obama gives a speech about her husband.
34 Selection of the day: Spring Break. Some vocabulary related to studies: college, graduate,
undergraduate.
35 Power words! Taking your English to the next level, with subordinating conjunctions: although, unless,
while, despite, instead of, rather than, so that, since, even if, however, besides, furthermore, therefore,
consequently, as a result, in fact, in contrast, nevertheless.
36 More power words: Im glad, Im sorry, Thats too bad, Of course, regarding, Has to do
with, I agree, I cant stand, To pay attention, by the way, Not at all, Its because, If I were
you, I just did something.
Exam 3 Time for another exam! We review and take a quiz on Sessions 14-22 of Tu Ingles.
37 The perfect tense. The auxiliaries have, has and had.

38 Reading an adaption of the Shakespeare drama, Romeo and Juliet.

39 English of the Rich and Famous: Cecilia has to identify interviews with Michael Jackson, Emma
Watson, Lance Armstrong, Marta Gomez.
Exam 4 Exam! We review and take a quiz on Sessions 23-30 of Tu Ingles.
Video:
Trabalenguas!
Brian gives us 10 tongue twisters (trabalenguas) that contain sounds that are difficult for many native
Spanish speakers to pronounce in English.
40 Demonstrative adjectives: this, that, these, and those.
41 The verbs to do and to make.

42 The English prepositions in, on, and at.

Xmas stories We listen to three stories about Christmas: "Babushka," "The Gift of the Magi," y "The Little Match
Girl."
43 False friends: words that sound or look the same in English and Spanish, but which have different
meanings.
Exam 5 Exam! We review and take a quiz on Sessions 31-38 of Tu Ingles.
44 Business-related idiomatic expressions (modismos) in English.
Excerpt about Working in an American corporation using a lot of idiomatic expressions.
45 Reading of the story The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky.
46 Adverbs: always, sometimes, usually, ago, too much, a lot, too, etc.
47 Serious ear training: pitch and peach, kiss and keys, a beat and a bit, etc.
48 Contractions. The need for speed: informal and formal contractions, relaxed pronunciation.
49 Numbers in English. Practicing dictation.
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Mr. Butts dictates some numbers to Cecilia.
50 Celebrating our 50th session by telling corny jokes.

51 Listening to and solving some brain teasers (adivinanzas).

Exam 6 Exam time! We review and take a quiz on Sessions 39-45 of Tu Ingles.
52 The word it and its big importance.

53 The future tense. The auxiliary verb Will. The expression going to. The words might and
may.
Cecilia helps Mr. Butts to create some messages for fortune cookies.
54 A Pronunciation Workshop: listening to fables from the Greek writer, Aesop (read by some Tu Ingles
listeners).
Exam 7 Exam time! We review and take a quiz on Sessions 46-52 of Tu Ingles.
55 The subjunctive mood: "I want you to...," "I need you to...," "I insist that...," "I recommend that...," I
propose that...," "I suggest that...," "I ask that...," "If I were you..."
56 Reported speech: "What did she tell you?" "What did you say to them?" etc. "To say" and "to tell." "To
speak" and "to talk."
Cecilia helps Mr. Butts acting as an interpreter. He needs to make a call to Colombia. He speaks with
Leonora Oviedo to negotiate a new contract.
57 Dudas! Brian and Cecilia answer questions and problems from Tu Ingles listeners. They clear up all
doubts. I have a question. I am in doubt. Here you go. Here is. `Do you agree? The word
"such". "Another and other. "I have other plans." "How much" and "How many." People and
"person. What is Boston like?
58 Slang! Learning some slang words and expressions.

59 Money! Learning words and phrases including moola, "I am broke," bucks, bread, dough, quid, cash,
Checking account, Savings account, accounting, accountant, the cashier, ATM, withdraw, salary,
minimum wage, benefits, bonus. Debt, loans, borrow, owes, To pay back, investments, investments,
fellowship, mortgage.
Cecilia asks her boss Mr. Butts for a raise!
60 Exercising the ear with a play: The Owl, the Bull, and the Forest.

61 Talk like a geek! Vocabulario relacionado con computadores e internet.
Exam 8 Exam time! We review and take a quiz on Sessions 53-59 of Tu Ingles.
62 The language of love! Vocabulario relacionado con amor y relaciones sentimentales.
63 Good advice! We listen to people from around the English-speaking world reading some good advice
for the New Year.
64 Emphasis! Hablar como un nativo usando correctamente el concepto de nfasis.
65 What do you say when you dont understand? Hablamos de varias estrategias tiles para encargarte
de tales situaciones. Practicamos con Cecilia tcnicas como "playback" y "clarifying questions"
Exam 9 Exam time! We review and take a quiz on Sessions 60-65 of Tu Ingles.
66 Phrasal verbs! Practicamos unos trucos sencillos pero efectivos para aprender verbos con
preposiciones.
67 An accent safari! Vamos a buscar en su hbitat natural diversos acentos de ingls estadounidense.
68 We celebrate the holiday season with a play! The play is an adaptation of a radio program that was
popular in the United States in the 1940s. En nuestra versin, hemos cambiado un poco el guin para
hacerlo mas didctico y para modernizar algunas cosas.
69 Pronunciation! Vamos a hablar un poco de la historia del idioma y como lleg a tener una
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pronunciacin tan loca. Despus, con la ayuda de Cecilia, vamos a practicar unos trucos para tener mas
confianza y, ojala, menos frustracin con la pronunciacin.