It’s a new year and it is time for a new challenge. Once a month, we want to give you an objective to help you enjoy the art of English. We thought we would propose some ideas and give you as many resources as possible to help you achieve it! What do you think?

It is chilly (cold) outside and there is nothing better than curling up (to sit or lie in a position with your arms and legs close to your body) on the sofa with a good book, magazine, blog and reading the hours away.

So, for January, we want you to read more! Here are our suggestions on how to start motivating yourselves to pick something up in English and read!

Claire Suggests:

 if you want a real magazine to read then The Economist or Newsweek are both good as they give a summary of world events for the week. They can also be accessed online of course, but for a fee.

Madeleine Suggests:

Brain Pickings http://www.brainpickings.org — A fantastic blog which never fails to deliver something great and life inspiring!

Guardian’s Architecture and Design Critic Blog – Oliver Wainright http://www.theguardian.com/profile/oliver-wainwright —         If you’re interested in Design, this is a great writer to follow. As a critic, his writing is normally full of British irony and some fun colloquial vocabulary!

It’s Not Luck, Eliyahu M. Goldratt (Book) http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/It%27s_Not_Luck_(novel) —

Written more like a novel, this is a business book with a difference. The story takes you on a journey of a man as he tries to juggle (balance) life and work, (with some key business methods and theories within the text.)

* Great for extending business (Economics/ Marketing/ Production/ Manufacturing) and general vocabulary

Tim Suggests:

I prefer real books and magazines! But stumbleupon.com is a favorite of mine for finding amazing stuff…Kind of like a search engine that brings you not just anything at all, but wacky different sites relating to what you are looking for. Downside you can waste entire lifetimes stumbling from site to site!!!

Heidi Suggests:

If the above ideas have not got the best of your curiosity, try reading short stories. My favorite writer to use in class is                John Cheever

For newspapers from all over the world, try Kisoko.net

My all time favorite magazine: The New Yorker

Visit your local bookstore for some suggestions as well! In Barcelona, you can try Come In or Bcn Books

Here are some Famous Authors sharing their opinion on reading to help inspire you.

And if that isn’t enough, how about giving yourself a reading challenge checklist? Check it out HERE

HAVE FUN READING AND EXPLORING!!

Photo Source: http://browndresswithwhitedots.tumblr.com/post/100170763514

What if you were the last person to speak your language?

Did you know that over 7,000 languages are endangered (in danger of extinction) and at least one language dies every two weeks! Read this article for some interesting facts

This woman is the last woman to speak Wukchumni, a Native American Language. She is the LAST one! Watch her fascinating story HERE (advanced video)

And check out this interactive map on the languages that are disappearing.

The 25 most endangered languages in the world…

Finally, fascinating maps of languages

So, what’s your opinion? How does this affect us? What would you do to save a dying a language? Do you or anyone you know speaks an endangered or at risk language?

Photo Source: http://unescoeducation.blogspot.com.es/2009/03/unesco-courier-endangered-languages.html

May you all have a wonderful 2015 and we can’t wait to start working on new objectives with you and making you speak out Loud & Clear!

Here is look back at the Best of 2014:

The Best in Photos: Time Magazine

The Best in Movies, Books, Music and TV: NPR 2014

The Best of Everything: The Guardian 2014

A Few Classy Tunes for fun: A Few Classy Tunes

A quiz on the news in 2014: News Quiz 2014

Photo Source: A Man Feeding Swans in the Snow in Krakow, Poland By Marcin Ryczek