Yolanda's blog

The next U.S. President will be elected in November, 2016. But the race is already packed with candidates. There are more than two dozen major candidates who are seeking the job as president. Running for president is difficult and exhausting, so why would so many people want to run? There are many reasons, both legitimate and delusional. Without an incumbent president, a lot of people think they have a chance to win this election. Some candidates hope to bring attention to their message and some to cash in on their new celebrity. Listen to hear about this race and the reasons so many people are running for President this year. Listening Comprehension Questions:   How many people are running for President?  What are the reasons this Presidential race has so many candidates?   What do candidates hope to gain by running?   How are candidates able to push an agenda? WANT TO READ THE TRANSCRIPT?   CLICK HERE

This animated short about literacy introduces us to Meena, a young girl who hates books even though her parents love to read. Books are everywhere in Meena's house, in cupboards, drawers and even piled up on the stairs. Still, she refuses to even open one up ...

PD James is one of Britain's most admired and best loved writers. Long considered the queen of crime and the doyenne of detective novelists, she has a large readership beyond the confines of the genre. In this interview with Jennifer Byrne, PD James discusses her amazing career and her two big interests - the detective novel and Jane Austen. TRANSCRIPT

In the time that Sir David Attenborough has been making natural history programmes, the world's population has tripled. In this short film, he explains why he thinks this rapid growth is the source of the major environmental problems facing each one of us today. While environmental change manifests itself in different ways in different parts of the globe, Sir David argues that the major issues -- including how to produce enough power to support the population, and ensuring everyone has access to clean water and sanitation -- affect us all. Sir David concludes with his thoughts on the Wellcome Trust, an organisation that has as one of its five research challenges 'Connecting environment, nutrition and health'. By committing to this research in this area, the Trust will explore what role it can play in helping to relieve the strain that our planet is under, be it related to food and nutrition, water or the health impacts of climate change

The actor is speaking out about his secret trip to Mexico to meet notorious drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman. Mexico recaptured the cartel leader a week ago. Penn made headlines the following day when Rolling Stone published his account of visiting the kingpin in hiding last October. In an interview for this Sunday's “60 Minutes,” Penn spoke to “CBS This Morning” co-host Charlie Rose in Santa Monica to talk about his seven hours with Guzman.

These are some more examples of six-word stories: Chainsmoking Scot, made living from death Andrew McKie, Telegraph obituaries editor Five novels; two kids; insufficient sex Louise Doughty, novelist Everyone who loved me is dead Ellen Fanning Fifteen years since last professional haircut Dave Eggers, novelist I like big butts; can't lie Dave Russ They attacked, we survived; let's eat Charles Hollander Can that really be the time? Alex Clark, deputy editor, Granta We're bound to meet again soon Christopher Howse, Sacred Mysteries columnist Bad brakes discovered at high speed Johan Baumeister Foetus, son, brother, husband, father, vegetable Dick Hadfield Liars! Hysterectomy didn't improve sex life Joan Rivers, comedienne I am trying, in every regard Lionel Shriver, novelist Fancied self as haiku. Was clerihew Sam Leith, Telegraph literary editor Still breathing, too early to tell Simon Heffer, Telegraph columnist ...

What are proverbs? Every culture has a collection of wise sayings that offer  advice  about how to live your life. These sayings are called "proverbs". How can you use proverbs to learn English? It's good to know the really common English proverbs because you hear them come up in conversation all the time. Sometimes people say the entire proverb to give advice to a friend. More often, someone will say just part of a proverb like this: You know what they say: when the going gets tough... (Read #5 below to learn the rest of this proverb and what it means.) Learning proverbs can also help you to understand the way that people in English-speaking cultures think about the world. Proverbs can also give you good example sentences which you can memorize and use as models for building your own sentences. This is a list of some of the most important and well-known English proverbs. Below each one, there's a simple explanation. The meanings of some of these phra...