Young blood by Birdy

Do you know Birdy?

Jasmine van den Bogaerde (Birdy) is a 16 year old British musician. She became famous when she won an important music contest being only 12. She was born on 15 May 1996, in Lymington, Hampshire. Her mother is a concert pianist, and Birdy learned to play the piano at the age of seven, and began to write her own music at the age of eight. 

Her stage name comes from the nickname her parents gave her as a baby because she opened her mouth like a little bird when fed. Her whole family calls her Birdy, but her friends, especially at school, call her Jasmine.

This next song, Young Blood, is about adolescence. Being a teenager is not always easy, and Birdy knows it very well because she is 16. Listen to the song and enjoy it. You can translate it to understand better what she says on it. Do you agree with Birdy? Is being a teenager so bittersweet?

LISTEN TO THE SONG: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7ZBygcSBzE

LYRICS

We're all young and naive still

We require certain skill

The motive changes like the wind

Hard to control when it begins

The bittersweet between my teeth

Trying to find the in-between

Fall back in love eventually

Yeah yeah yeah yeah

Can't help myself but count the flaws

Claw my way out through these walls

One temporary escape

Feel it start to permeate

We lie beneath the stars at night

Our hands gripping each other tight

You keep my secrets hope to die

Promises, swear them to the sky

The bittersweet between my teeth

Trying to find the in-between

Fall back in love eventually

Yeah yeah yeah yeah

As it withers

Brittle it shakes

Can you whisper

As it crumbles and breaks

As you shiver

We're all young and naive still

We require certain skill

The motive changes like the wind

Hard to control when it begins

The bittersweet between my teeth

Trying to find the in-between

Fall back in love eventually

Yeah yeah yeah yeah

Can't help myself but count the flaws

Claw my way out through these walls

One temporary escape

Feel it start to permeate

We lie beneath the stars at night

Our hands gripping each other tight

You keep my secrets hope to die

Promises, swear them to the sky

The bittersweet between my teeth

Trying to find the in-between

Fall back in love eventually

Yeah yeah yeah yeah

As it withers

Brittle it shakes

Can you whisper

As it crumbles and breaks

As you shiver

Count up all your mistakes

Pair of forgivers

Let go before it's too late

Can you whisper

Can you whisper

Can you whisper

Can you whisper

The bittersweet between my teeth

Trying to find the in-between

Fall back in love eventually

Yeah yeah yeah yeah

The bittersweet between my teeth

Trying to find the in-between

Fall back in love eventually

Yeah yeah yeah yeah

Birdy

Writing 1.1: Summer Holiday (Past Simple) (Correction)

ANA WROTE:

"On last summer i was in my apartament,we swam,plaied,listen miusic,danced,song,chating on the internet,taking photos,...
i was very good because i was with my best friends of all and i walked in the beach .
The last summer was the best summer of my live".

Thanks for your writing! Though it's very good, it's necessary to do some corrections. Let's see what's wrong here...

·        "...i was..." When you are talking about yourself, you must put "I" (capital letter).  Always, always, always. It's a very important rule ;)

·        "...apartment,we..." When you write comma, you must leave a space between it and the next word. If you don't, it looks like a dirty writing and you don't feel the reading comfortable. 

·        "plaied" The verb "to play" is a regular verb that forms Past Simple just adding "-ed", so you don't have to change the "y" for "i". 

·        "listen miusic" First of all, remember that we are talking about the past, so “listen” should be “listened” (because it’s a regular verb too). Secondly, the word “listen” is always followed by “to”. For example, “I’m listening to the music” or “I don’t want to listen to that”. “Miusic” doesn’t exist, maybe you wanted to say “music”.

·         “song” This word is a noun. For example, you can talk about the song “Let it be” by The Beatles, or the song “Bad Romance” by Lady Gaga. The verb is “to sing”, and its past simple is “sang”. So, in the past, you sang songs with your friends J.

·         “i walked in the beach” Prepositions are really complicated, so it’s normal to make mistakes. “To walk in” means “to enter”. I think you wanted to say “walked through the beach”, which means you walk through the seashore.

I hope it helps you to learn J If you have any doubts, don’t worry, we will check them out tomorrow. Very good darling! See you soon! 

Writing 1: Summer holiday (Past Simple)

Last Monday we were talking about Past Simple. With this verb tense, we refer to actions that happened in the past. 

For example: 

We painted the wall yesterday.

She studied the lesson at the school.

He was in the kitchen two hours ago.

She became a famous singer.

They chose the wrong answer. 

The past simple can be formed with regular verbs (adding "-ed" at the end of the infinitive without "to") or irregular verbs (they have a different way to form the past). 

Example of regular verb: worked, walked, looked. 

Example of irregular verb: was/were, became, chose, caught. 

REMEMBER:

Affirmative: Subject + verb in the past + complements.

Example: Columbus discovered America in 1492. 

Negative: Subject + did not (didn't) + infinitive (without 'to') + complements.

Example: Dickens didn't write "Hamlet". 

Interrogative: Did + subject + infinitive (without 'to') + complements...?

Example: Did Dickens write 'Oliver Twist'?

TO LEARN MORE:

Revise the explanation pages of our book "Essential Grammar in Use" (Cambridge), Units 10 and 11 (don't do the excersises, just look the contents if you have any doubt). 

Take a look to these videos:

Past simple: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YF2jRfFe82Y&feature=plcp

Irregular verbs: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJ5xnJyXvTk&feature=plcp

_________________________________________________________________________________

SO, WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO DO?

Try to write a text in this blog (about 60 words) about your summer holiday, with a new entry. It happened in the past, so make sure you use the correct form of the verb when you write it! You can add pictures, links to music or whatever you want. Good luck! ;)

Welcome

Hi!

It's been a while since the last time we meet. Our english lessons are starting again tomorrow, and I'm really, really excited because of it!

I'm glad to introduce our new resource to learn English. The English Blue Room is a space where we can write anything we want about this beautiful language. It'll allow us to practice writing and also sharing interesting things to keep learning a bit more everyday. 

The most important rule of this blog is that every word has to be in English.

Are you ready for the adventure? 

See you soon!