TV family hour: not what it used to be

How much television do you watch? What kind of programmes do you usually watch - sports, soap operas, the news, talk shows? How do you rate the quality of TV programmes in Brazil? A recent study in the U.S. reveals that American families are exposed to more sex and violence on television now than a few years ago. Do you think the same thing happens in Brazil? Should parents control what their kids watch? Here is a listening activity in which people discuss whether or not TV is a good thing.

Welsh writer Roald Dahl (the author of children's books like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) wrote this poem about children and television. What is his opinion?

Crazy English

This poem jokes with the idea that the past form of English verbs does not always follow a logic... Look at the verbs in bold; their past form is wrong. Can you correct them? Check the answers (and find more activities) here.


The verbs in English are a fright.
How can we learn to read and write?
Today we speak, but first we spoke;
Some faucets leak, but never loke.
Today we write, but first we wrote;
We bite our tongues, but never bote.

Each day I teach, for years I taught;
And preachers preach, but never praught.
This tale I tell, this tale I told;
I smell the flowers, but never smold.
If knights still slay as once they slew,
Then do we play as once we plew?
If I still do as once I did,
Then do cows moo as once they mid?

I love to win, and games I won;
I seldom sin, and never son.
I hate to lose, and games I lost;
I didn't choose, and never chost.
I love to sing, and songs I sang;
I fling the ball, but never flang.
I strike the ball, that ball I struck;
This poem I like, but never luck.

I take a break, a break I took;
I bake a cake, but never book.
I eat that cake, that cake I ate.
I beat an egg, but never bate.
I often swim, as once I swam;
I skim some milk, but never skam.
I fly a kite that once I flew;
I tie a knot, but never tew.

I see the truth, the truth I saw;
I flee from falsehhod, never flaw.
I stand for truth, as once I stood;
I land a fish, but never lood.
About these verbs I sit and think.
These verbs don't fit. They seem to wink
At me, who sat for years and thought
Of verbs that never fat or wought.

Richard Lederer

It's Valentine's Day in Brazil

While in most countries Valentine's Day is on Feb. 14, Brazilians celebrate the date on June 12. Here is a beautiful love poem, "My love is like a red, red rose", written by the Scottish poet Robert Burns and sung here by the Rollins Concert Choir. The words you see below are from the original poem. If you would like to read a version in standard modern English, click here. In the song, the order of the lines in verses 3 and 4 has been altered slightly. Happy Valentine's Day!



1. O, my luve's like a red, red rose,
That's newly sprung in June.
O, my luve's like the melodie,
That's sweetly play'd in tune.

2. As fair art thou, my bonie lass,
So deep in luve am I,
And I will luve thee still, my Dear,
Till a' the seas gang dry.

3. Till a' the seas gang dry, my Dear,
And the rocks melt wi' the sun!
O I will luve thee still, my Dear,
While the sands o' life shall run.

4. And fare thee weel, my only Luve,
And fare thee weel a while!
And I will come again, my Luve,
Tho' it were ten thousand mile!