Seen This FLICK?

BEND IT LIKE BECKHAM

Bend It Like Beckham is a British film released in 2002 in the UK and released in the United States in March 2003. The film was directed by Gurinder Chadha and was based on the screenplay she wrote with Paul Berges and Guljit Bindra.

The film was a box office success and has achieved a cult-like status. It tells the tale of two young London women from different backgrounds who share an aptitude for football (soccer) and pressure from their families to conform. One is a British Indian Sikh girl who struggles against her family's orthodox mindset to fulfill her dream of playing professional football; the other is a white girl who has to combat her mother's stereotypes about athletic prowess and lesbianism.

The film's title is a reference to the English footballer David Beckham and his skill at scoring from free-kicks by "bending" (curving) the ball (making it swerve as it flies through the air). The movie was filmed in West London, specifically Hounslow (where the main characters live) and Southall, and central London, including Soho for the football store and pub, and Piccadilly Circus. Scenes were also shot in Hamburg, Germany.

The film is a coming-of-age tale about 18-year-old Jesminder "Jess" Bhamra (Parminder Nagra), a Sikh girl living in the western suburbs of London, not far from Heathrow Airport. Her first-generation Punjabi immigrant parents push her hard to study to get into university and become a solicitor, and wish to arrange a marriage for her in due course. Jess instead dreams of football, inspired by one of England's most famous players, David Beckham. She displays unusual talent for the game in park matches with the local boys, running them ragged with her evasive skills.

This extract is part of an article copied from an article on Wikipedia® - the free encyclopedia created and edited by online user community. Although the vast majority of the Wikipedia® encyclopedia articles provide accurate and timely information please do not assume the accuracy of any particular article. This article is distributed under the terms of GNU Free Documentation License.

I Love PHOTOGRAPHY

David and Victoria Beckham

Courtesy: Doll Fashionistas

Figure of SPEECH

Figure of Speech

The use of special effects in language, intended to make the text memorable, pleasing or surprising. Language that is rich in figures of speech is called 'figurative language.'

eg. 1. Fully fit, David Beckham could be the scourge of summer.

*The repetition of the letters f (fully, fit) and s (scourge, summer) make the text vivid.

eg. 2. Ronaldo remains a constant butcher of international soccer.

*To call a soccer player a 'butcher' makes the reader sit up and take notice.

I D I O M - Mania

No sweat!(informal)
Something that you say which means that you can do something easily.
eg. Joe: 'Do you think you'll be able to move all those things out of the garage yourself?' Jerry: 'Yeah, no sweat!'

Sweat at (informal) To work hard at something. eg. I have been sweating at my assignment all night.

Sweat on (informal) To feel worried or impatient about something. eg. I was sweating on losing my job because I was late for work again.

Dictionary term:
Sweat
1. (verb)
To give out a salty liquid through the skin when you are too hot.
eg. Working in the hot sun makes you sweat.

2. (noun)
The liquid produced when you sweat.
eg. The sweat on the man's forehead rolled down his face.

My WORD!

DEFAULT

(n, uncount)
1. Neglect or failure to act or do something you should do.
2. Computer term - a course which a program automatically follows when there are no other specific instructions.
eg. If you do not select a function, the computer will automatically choose a default function which is built into the system already.
3. (v) to fail in doing something you should have done.
4. (phrase) by default - because no other options are available.
eg. The Bears won the football match by default because The Tigers did not show up for the game.

WEALTH Education

The only two four-letter words you need: 1. Plan 2. Save.

CURIOUS Tabitha

Here is a brain teaser from Curious Tabitha.

A man is wearing black. Black shoes, socks, trousers, jumper, gloves and balaclava. He is walking down a black street with all the street lamps off. A black car is coming towards him with its lights off but somehow manages to stop in time. How did the driver see the man?

. . . * * * * * *

. . .

(A: It was daytime!)

Do you know any brain teasers? If so, please send us one for our blog, and we will post it for you!

QUOTE me on that

The secret of success in life is to be ready for the opportunity when it comes.

Benjamin Disraeli

(Some people describe this as 'luck.' So, do you create your own luck?? Mmmm..... something to think about!)

Don't Forget the LYRICS

GREEN DAY

21 GUNS

Do you know what's worth fighting for,

When it's not worth dying for?

Does it take your breath away

And you feel yourself suffocating?

Does the pain weigh out the pride?

And you look for a place to hide?

Did someone break your heart inside?

You're in ruins.

Chorus:

One, 21 guns

Lay down your arms

Give up the fight

One, 21 guns

Throw up your arms into the sky,

You and I

When you're at the end of the road

And you lost all sense of control

And your thoughts have taken their toll

When your mind breaks the spirit of your soul

Your faith walks on broken glass

And the hangover doesn't pass

Nothing's ever built to last

You're in ruins.

(Go to Chorus)

Did you try to live on your own

When you burned down the house and home?

Did you stand too close to the fire?

Like a liar looking for forgiveness from a stone

When it's time to live and let die

And you can't get another try

Something inside this heart has died

You're in ruins.

(Go to Chorus)

_____
This Green Day song can be found on:

http://www.songlyrics.com/green-day/21-guns-lyrics/

Here is a comment from an anonymous blogger from the songlyrics blog:

The "One, 21 Guns" is referring to the one twenty-one gun "Salute" soldiers of an honor guard deliver to the fallen soldiers of war. It's quite heart-wrenching to hear this song although I love it. It means (Well, to me anyway) a lot, especially after losing so many friends and family to this war in the military, and being a Marine myself, it's nice to have a group like Green Day (my fave band since I was about 4) devote a song like this to the soldiers and such during a time such as this... Thank you, Green Day.

SPELLING Fairy

ACCEPTABLE

The two suffixes that often get confused are -ible and -able. To help you remember how to spell Acceptable, just remember this little 'verse' - "Accept any TABLE offered to you in a restaurant." (ACCEPT - ABLE)

*Spelling Fairy's Tip for remembering the correct spelling of words: make up a small verse or 'story' to go with the word. This method is called memory by association, i.e. you make something up to connect it to whatever it is you want to recall (eg. 'Kagi' in Japanese means, 'key.' To remember this word, I associate/connect it with something similar in English, 'car key').

My classmates and I made up funny verses to help us learn to write Hiragana and Katakana in Japanese by describing what the characters looked like! It's great fun making up silly things to help us remember! Why not try it - it works!

Student Task - if you do not know this word, look it up! http://www.dictionary.com/

An ORANGE A Day

WITHIN YOU IS THE DEVINE CAPACITY TO MANIFEST AND ATTRACT

ALL THAT YOU NEED AND DESIRE

In the NEWS

Girl Praised for Saving Mum's Life
Sep 13 2009 ninemsn news

A young north Queensland girl is being praised for saving her mother's life.
Four-year-old Alex Wood called triple-zero when her mum Rebecca Stanley collapsed on the floor of their Kirwan, Townsville, home with severe abdominal pain.
With only her twin brother and one-year-old sister by her side, Alex called the emergency line and spoke calmly to Queensland Ambulance Service (QAS) emergency medical dispatcher Leonie Richards for nearly 10 minutes until paramedics arrived to treat her mum.
"Alex was able to tell us her address, that her mother had collapsed and that she needed an ambulance right away," Ms Richards said in a statement.
"She listened carefully and was able to answer all of my questions. She really did a fantastic job."
Ms Stanley said she was extremely proud of her daughter and how she handled the August 31 emergency.
"I would hate to think what may have happened had Alex not learnt triple-zero. She is my little hero and I'm just so proud of her," she said.
"My husband and I have been teaching our children about triple-zero and I am so glad that all that repetitive learning paid off in this instance," she said.
QAS northern region assistant commissioner Rodney Walz said Alex was one of the youngest Queenslanders to call triple-zero.
"It is unusual that we have such a young caller through the triple-zero service and this really highlights the importance of teaching the emergency number to your children as early as they can understand it because you never know when they may need to use it," he said in a statement.

*Triple-zero = 000 (the national emergency number in Australia)

STUDENT TASK

1. Look up the following words in the dictionary (http://www.dictionary.com/)

praise

collapse

severe

abdominal

dispatcher

handle

repetitive

highlight

statement

Tip 1: Any time you are studying vocabulary, be sure to write sample sentences and mark also what part of speech it is, e.g. verb/adjective/noun/adverb. You may copy the way the words are used where you found them (i.e. you can copy the sentences from the above article. Do not feel that this is cheating, because you are merely learning the use of these words for the first time. But later, you need to repeat these words when you are speaking or writing English so that it becomes part of your English memory bank!)

Tip 2: Another way of really cementing into your memory bank new vocabulary, is to make sentences in different tenses, question forms and negative forms.

Here is a sample of the way to complete the student task.

(to) praise (v) - to say that you admire or approve of someone or something.

e.g.

1. original: A young north Queensland girl is being praised for saving her mother's life.

2. negative: The girl is not being praised.

3. question: Is the girl being praised?

4. past tense: The girl was praised.

5. future tense: The girl will be praised.

Tip 3: You may continue in this manner using other grammar forms so you can become more familiar with their usage. This way, you can, "kill two birds with one stone," because not only are hou learning new vocabulary, you are at the same time learning and practising grammar!

Tip 4: Take note of what the mother said in the above article about how she and her husband taught their young children to remember the emergency number and procedures: REPETITIVE LEARNING! "Practise makes perfect?" There is no shortcut!

EXPRESS Yourself

THE WORLD IS YOUR OYSTER

This means that you can have whatever it is that you want in this world. You have the world at your fingertips. It is often said to young people who are about to go on a journey into adulthood, such as after they graduate from school.

BOOK Worm

WIN PEOPLE TO YOUR WAY OF THINKING

Here are 12 Secrets to Dealing with People:

1. The only way to get the best out of an arguement is to avoid it.

2. Show respect for the other person's opinion. Never say, "You're wrong."

3. If you are wrong, admit it quickly and emphatically.

4. Begin in a friendly way.

5. Get the other person saying, "yes, yes" immediately.

6. Let the other person do a great deal of thinking.

7. Let the other person feel that the idea is his or hers.

8. Try honestly to see things from the other person's point of view.

9. Be sympathetic with the other person's ideas and desires.

10. Appeal to the nobler motives.

11. Dramatise your ideas.

12. Throw down a challenge.

To read more, grab the book, "How to Win Friends and Influence People" By Dale Carnegie. It is such a famous book! I do not know many people who have not read it! This book is all about building relationships. With good relationships, personal and business success are easy! It is a must for anyone who wants to learn how to deal with people effectively, both personally and professionally. This great book is also very easy to read for students of English as a second language. This book should be at the top of your 'must read' list!