Afandi English

2021-09-05 09:24:17 #28 YouTube Channel Recommendation: Johnny Harris

English Level: Upper

Subtitles: Available

Topics: Politics, history, geography, nature, travel, autobiography, explainers

Content: Johnny Harris is an American YouTuber who used to work at Vox, a popular news platform for young adult audiences. He’s a modern-day storyteller who has set new standards in presenting and animating content. Just one caveat (=warning that sth may not be true or effective), recently his videos include quite a bit of advertising and allegedly (=sth claimed but not proven) also propaganda.

Link: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmGSJVG3mCRXVOP4yZrU1Dw

@afandi_english #youtube Open / Comment

2021-09-04 19:06:01 ---Vocab---
a thing of the past = sth old-fashioned and outdated plot = story of a play or movie mythology = collection of ancient stories curiously = strangely Cockney accent = working-class dialect from the east part of London feminist = sb who supports and/or fights for equal rights for women lesbian = a woman who loves another woman playwright = author of a theatre play exlusively = only spectators = people watching sth leftist = supporting socialist policies liberal = allowing changes in society, not conservative intellectual = highly educated person sth is a bargain = sth is very cheap Open / Comment

2021-09-04 19:05:29 #52 Travelogue UK: Feminist theatre

Time moves so fast that nowadays movies are becoming a thing of the past – who can spend 1.5 hours away from their smartphone after all? Theatre is even older, and London has a long tradition.

Upon a friend’s recommendation I went to see the play “Paradise”. Let me share some impressions:

The Plot
The story of the play was set on some imaginary island that people couldn’t get away from. This was somehow mixed with Ancient Greek mythology in mysterious ways. Curiously, one of the roles had a Cockney accent.

The Performers
The play was written by a feminist lesbian playwright and performed exclusively by women, including the male roles.

The Audience
Most of the spectators were leftist liberal intellectuals. You could tell by the way they dress and style themselves and by their great respect for covid restrictions.

The Cost
Only £20 – that’s 300,000 soum. A real bargain!

@afandi_english #travelogue_uk Open / Comment

2021-09-03 19:00:02 #3 World Food: Sushi from Japan

In this series of posts Afandi English brings you the best food this world has to offer. Knowing the world’s famous dishes is not only minimum knowledge of the world, of course you can also imagine what it might taste like or even try to cook it at home.

Sushi is …:

... made with:
Special sushi rice that sticks together, different types of raw fish, shrimps and/or fish eggs and sheets of seaweed (=grass that grows in the sea). Sometimes vegetables, avocado or square-cut steamed egg are added.

... eaten with:
Soya sauce, wasabi (=Japanese green mustard), preserved (=not fresh but made to keep for a long time) sliced ginger and sometimes mayonnaise.

Healthy or not?
Easy to make?
Cheap enough?

@afandi_english #world_food Open / Comment

2021-09-02 19:00:12 #86 Our favourite mistakes: Pronunciation

Try pronouncing the following words:
• colleagues
• friends
• parents
• sometimes
• states
• themselves
• tourists
• words

What do these words have in common?

Uzbeks often insert a little [ɪ] before the final -s. For clarity in Cyrillic (not Russian pronunciation):
• colleagues – wrong: коллийгиз, correct: коллийгз
• friends – wrong: фрэндиз, correct: фрэндз
• parents – wrong: перентис, correct: перентс
• sometimes – wrong: самтаймиз, correct: самтаймз
• states – wrong: стейтис, correct: стейтс
• themselves – wrong: земселвиз, correct: земселвз
• tourists – wrong: туристис, correct: туристс
• words – wrong: вѳрдиз, correct: вѳрдз

@afandi_english #pronunciation Open / Comment

2021-09-01 19:07:23 #3 Short Film: The Crush

Here’s a short film from Ireland about a schoolboy who has a crush on (=fancies, is in love with) his teacher. Can he win her heart? See for yourself!

Subtitles provided.

@afandi_english #short_film Open / Comment

2021-09-01 17:29:23 Good job, mostly!

After Germany’s defeat in World War II people used to have an uneasy relationship with the national flag - up until 2006 when Germany hosted the FIFA World Cup. Suddenly showing the flag became a normal thing but only really in the context of football. Taiwan is not a football nation at all, so our Taiwanese tourist may not be aware of football tournaments. Open / Comment

2021-08-31 19:05:24 #49 Afandi Quiz: Cultural Misunderstanding

Today’s quiz is about a cultural misunderstanding in the following situation:

Chuifang is a traveller from Taiwan on a two-week trip around Europe. As she touches down (=lands, arrives by plane) in Frankfurt and starts her trip in Germany she sees a lot of German flags everywhere. She’s puzzled (=very confused) because in her travel guide book she read that Germans are not very patriotic and seldom express any love for their country.

@afandi_english #culture_quiz Open / Comment