Practica tu listening en inglés B2 – C1:

¡Hola! Casi hemos terminado nuestro curso de practicar Conversación y Listening para niveles avanzados. Nuestro sexto video para practicar tu listening en inglés se encuentra al pie de esta página: “is Violence ever justified”

Si has perdido los videos anteriores tenemos una lista aquí

Nuestro ejercicio de listening es perfecto para prepararte para los exámenes de Cambridge FIRST or CAE (Cambridge Advanced Exam) o de Trinity ISE II+, lo hemos diseñado especialmente para los que quieren dar un empujón a su inglés. Hablamos con acento británico, sin tapujos y sin límites y ya que este curso de listening es para niveles avanzados, tenemos casi todo lo escrito en inglés. Disfrútalo y si te quedas con una duda, dínoslo en los comentarios abajo.

Más ejercicios para mejorar tu listening en inglés:

Para un reto más tenemos nuestro curso de inglés online para B2: Learn English with Short Films // “Aprender inglés con cortometrajes” en Udemy. En nuestro curso vas a practicar tu listening en inglés y te vas a ir acostumbrando a los varios acentos a través de nuestras charlas y los cortometrajes. Vale la pena (¿”vale la pena” en inglés?) echarle un vistazo si eres fan de películas inglesas y te gustaría mejorar el acento.

And now in English: Advanced listening practice B2/C1:

Hi there! “Is Violence Ever Justified?” is the sixth edition of our, soon to come, Conversation and Listening course for advanced levels. Please, take your time.

You’re here because you’ve watched our video and you’d like some more information about some of the advanced vocabulary that we used. Good work! If you haven’t seen the video yet, you can see it at the bottom of this article.

This is a fantastic listening exercise to practice for the Cambridge CAE (Cambridge Advanced Exam) or Trinity ISE II+ exam. Don’t forget, if you need a teacher, we are here to help! Contact us LINK and we can arrange a teacher for you.

You could also check out out B2 course: Learn English with Short Films on Udemy. You can watch short films and practice your listening with various accents from all over the world.

We think this is a pertinent moment to be publishing this video, right now we have George Floyd protests all over the US, Twitter has censored Trump’s glorification of violence and we still are in the midst of a myriad of violent conflicts across the globe.

Protests often bring violence with them.

Vocabulary from “Is violence ever justified”? Nuestro video para mejorar tu listening

To be frank – Our friend, Frank, is an honest man. (It’s a joke!) Yes, Frank is a man’s name, but “to be frank” means to be open and honest.

Let’s be frank, staying at home for 3 months isn’t great, but it’s given some people an opportunity to be self-reflective and improve their lives.

Hooligans/hooliganism – a hooligan is a violent person who causes damage in public places. “hooliganism” is the noun we use to refer to the general acts of hooligans! See hoodlum below.

Be careful when English football supporters come to watch the Champions League Final, there will be many hooligans in the city!

What springs to mind? – If something “springs to mind”, it comes to your mind, you suddenly think about something.

The first thing that springs to my mind when you say the word “Christmas” is my family.

Gang warfare – Violent conflict or fighting between gangs.

In some places, drug dealing has resulted in gang warfare.

Natural inclination towards (something) – If you have a natural inclination towards something, you are naturally attracted towards doing something.

Some people have a natural inclination towards violence and should probably see a therapist.

What springs to mind when you see this spring…? A clock? A picnic?

Take (somebody) out – While “taking someone out” can mean to go out on a date, in this context it means to attack, kill or destroy.

Due to the night time raid, the terrorists were taken out by the military.

Have a fall out – This means to have an argument with someone and to stop being friends (probably temporarily)

I had a fall out with Irene last week, but I apologised yesterday and now we are fine.

One sided argument – A one-sided argument is a discourse that doesn’t or can’t consider both sides of opinions.

Some documentaries present very one-sided arguments in order to manipulate people.

Moving swiftly on – To quickly change the subject and continue talking. (correr un tupido velo)

“I heard your ex is seeing someone else”
“What?! But she kissed me only yesterday!”
“Err, moving swiftly on… How’s the weather today?”

Back you up – To back someone up is to support them, this could be in a debate, or in a fight. There are many other contexts to this phrasal verb. Check them out here.

If this guy gets aggressive, will you back me up?

Herd behaviour comes from these guys. These guys are a herd. A herd of cattle.

Herd behaviour – This is the behaviour of people in a group, whereby individuals copy and follow what other people are doing. They often feel more comfortable doing something because they see others doing the same thing. Check out this cool animation for another explanation!

During riots, herd behaviour can lead to violence, one person begins looting and another one sees it happening…

To get carried away  – This is to lack restraint and normally implies doing too much of something you weren’t supposed to (dejarse llevar)

I went Christmas shopping for my kids and I think I got a little carried away. I ended up spending almost £500!

To chant – It looks like the verb “cantar”, and it is similar, but not exactly the same. This means to say or shout something, normally with rhythm. 

At the recent protests, I heard people chanting “YO SOY ESPAÑOL, ESPAÑOL, ESPAÑOL”. 

Monkey see, monkey do – This is an expression that we use when someone sees something and then copies them. It implies that someone doesn’t think logically about what they are copying. 

Be careful with how you act around children. Remember: Monkey see, monkey do!

To pee – to wee/piss/urinate/take a leak/wee-wee/pee-pee/relieve oneself/go for a number one. So many words! 

Stop peeing in the street and go and find a toilet!

An escaped goat or a scapegoat?

Hoodlum – Quite similar to hooligan. While hooligan has a social disturbance element, hoodlum sounds like a criminal. This website has a good comparison of the definitions.

Don’t hang around with him, he is a hoodlum and is known to cause trouble.

There’s an art to it – it means that there is a certain skill to be learnt. That it isn’t simple.

My mother’s sandwiches are incredible, I don’t know how she does it but there must be an art to it.

Natural predisposition – this is something that you tend to do.

Alex has a natural predisposition to chocolate, it’s something he can’t stop eating.

Scapegoat (v. n.)- This is a person or group of people that gets blamed for something in order to distract attention away from another group. Think, immigrants (often in US, UK and Spain), Jews (like in Nazi Germany), poor people. In Spanish it’s cabeza de turco.

Don’t listen to his excuse. Blaming the bank was just a scapegoat to hide the real crime of the elites.

Don’t try and scapegoat the working people of America.

A thorny question – this is a difficult question, if you grab it, it’s going to hurt.

Do you think that violence can ever be justified? Well, that’s a really thorny question, can we talk about it after we have breakfast.

It’s a tough one – this could be a tough question or a tough situation.

Should you learn English with a teacher in your country, or leave and learn abroad. That is a tough question.

Conclusion of our listening exercise:

By checking out these words and taking time to improve your English, you will get better: Simply by coming you have improved your English listening skills with the British accent and you’re one step closer to passing that exam, or understanding natives in real contexts. Good work!

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And before we forget, you can try our online course Learn English with Short Films // “Aprender inglés con cortometrajes” en Udemy.

Más videos para practicar el listening en inglés:

Hemos hecho ya muchos videos para practicar el listening en inglés, aquí te dejamos un listado de ellos: