EnglishisEasy/Elinglésesfácil

"One of the soldiers pierced his side with a lance, and immediately there came out blood and water."  (John 19-34) This is perhaps the most mysterious of the three relics. It was the one that a Roman soldier, whose name was apparently Longinus, used to stab Jesus on one side to make sure he was dead. This was done to avoid breaking Jesus's legs to kill him once and for all and end his torture. Some people have speculated that Jesus was still alive and only apparently dead when he was stabbed by Longinus, and if this is true that would mean it was the spear what killed him not anything else. Does it make sense? Perhaps, it does. If Jesus truly was the son of God then kiliing him was not an easy task even if he was in human form then and even if he wished to die. All along the Bible it is hinted that God has the habit of "authorizing" things to happen, conferring unusual power to certain people or objects to carry on his will. This is what allowed Moses to

Well, the problem with this story is that there is not much to it. It's only a fairy tale with few things happening so whenever a film based on Snow White is produced a lot of creativity has to be put in order to fill the standard one hour and forty five minutes most movies last. This also means that every interpretation will imply a lot of liberties in order to deliver a story that Holliwood producers may  find potentially profitable.  The version with Julia Roberts is a family movie. There is humor, no unnecessary epic battles, no real violence; there is a Snow White that actually looks innocent, and no loose ends. The story moves at a good pace and the acting of most of the cast is acceptable with Julia Roberts being the natural star. Without her it would be just another movie. It's just a matter of seing her acting. She is the one that makes that movie interesting and her actions keep the film going. In fact at the beginning the witch queen announces the movie is ab

Well neither Rolando Vera nor Jefferson Pérez for that matter (both Ecuadorian) are CORRIDORS but a student of mine long ago came to the belief that was the right word in English. We know the correct word is ATHLETES (race-walkers to be more precise), but my student did not. How did it happen? It's really simple. The problem began because she did not use her bilingual dictionary properly and jumped into the conclusion that the first word listed there was the one she was looking for and thus ignored the rest among which there was the right one.  So what she ended up saying was that "Rolando Vera is a HALLWAY." In Spanish a runner is called corredor and a corridor is also called corredor (again a case of false cognates) which explains her mistake. Shy as she was, I decided to explain to her what the problem was with her example once the class was over and not before. Using a dictionary  can be tricky for the English learner. It is advisable to review all concepts or

No object in Christianity has been subject of so many searches as this one; none other has been inspiration of so many stories that also have been made movies (such as Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade). The Grail is said to be the cup that Joseph of  Arimathea used to collect Jesus Christ's blood while he took care of his body after the Crucifixion. The Grail is famous for having extraordinary abilities such as granting eternal youth and curing any disease to those who drank from it. The Grail or Holy Chalice was first mentioned in The Story of The Grail  by Chrétien de Troyes. Troyes wrote in a time where knighthood was the topic to write about, so The Grail itself became a recurrent theme of those stories and by extension an integral element of Arthurian mythology.  It is rumored The Grail still exists, guarded so it never falls on the wrong hands by some secret society or some powermonger. We cannot know for sure. If the powers alluded to the Grail are for real then who

Let's start by saying that in Spanish there is something called Sujeto Tácito which is similar to the absence of a subject when you give orders or instructions in English because we know the subject is always YOU. In Spanish this feature is used every time the Subject is clear to both the speaker and his/her audience. So if I say: "Andrés está aquí" (Andrés is here) I could continue by saying: "Llegó hace unos minutos" (He arrived a few minutes ago) with no need of the assistance of the pronoun HE. Even if we add ten more sentences if there is no clear change the subject will still be ANDRES. This is what perhaps causes confusion in EFL learners who ask: "What means SISTER?" (as in the pic) instead of "What does SISTER mean? It is hard for an EFL learner not to assume that is correct to ask "What means X?"  since in Spanish we ask "¿Qué significa X?" Another component of this problem is that learners tend to translate uncons

Green Lantern is gay, but not the Green Lantern most of us know. This is the original one, the one that appeared way back in the forties and his name is Alan Scott a multimillionaire that accidentally gained possession of the most powerful weapon in the universe: a ring that could emit unlimited quantities of green-colored energy that could also adopt any shape wished so by the ring bearer. The ring had two limitations: a. It could not affect anything made of wood. b. The bearer himself, since the ring responded to his will and imagination. In time a new version of Green Lantern was invented, some kind of space policeman who belonged to a Police force that patrolled the entire universe. His name was Hal Jordan and the movie made in 2011 featured him not Alan Scott. For a long while there was only Hal Jordan and others who served as his replacements in periods he was unable to serve as Lantern. Then the concept of multiple universes came along and it was revealed that Alan Scott w

The problem with explaining the difference between "Borrow" and "Lend" occurs when it has to be done in an EFL class full of Ecuadorian students. For some odd reason Ecuadorians, and in particular, Guayaquileans make no difference between Dar en préstamo (Lend) and Tomar prestado (Borrow); so instead of saying Dar prestado and Tomar prestado we only say Prestar which is confusing but old habits die hard. The easy way out for a EFL teacher is to translate also explaining the difference between one and the other. Still if you are determined to teach by using English only, it's better if you model the situation. For that have a student to help you. Tell "your assistant" you´re going to ask him/her  to give you something with the question "Can you lend me your pencil please?". When that happens say "Lend".  Have the same student pretend he doesn't know you need something of him/her, in this case an eraser.  Approach the stu