Archive for May, 2009

Marketing and the English Metas Cat

Wednesday, May 27th, 2009

Grumpy Gram (short for Grammar) The English Metas Corporate Cat.

Eh, Grumpy Gram, here at English Metas we don’t bite, especially not our co-workers!
“One day, I decided to give my pet cat, Lito, a business card. I gave her the title “Corporate Mascot.” She played a vital role in my office productivity. Whenever I needed an [...]

Can you have your cake and eat it too?

Wednesday, May 20th, 2009

A well-known English expression is to have your cake and eat it too. Which means, to have what you want, AND also be able to make use of it. If you’re like me, you know that sometimes even LOOKING at the cake will make your thighs expand. So, can you have your cake and eat [...]

HUMAN REsort

Tuesday, May 19th, 2009

Over the past few years, I’ve seen so many BAD decisions suffer from employees made by Companies. Fortunately, there are some CEO’s and Managers that have been influenced with valuable, professional information received from Business Schools like Harvard or LBS and this has created a different Human Resources mindset.
Therefore nowdays, these valuables CEO’s and Directors [...]

RAINBOW. SNOWMAN. ICECREAM

Tuesday, May 19th, 2009

Hello Fellow Teachers, and blog readers.
I must share with you a heartwarming story about a young boy of the age of 12 that my wife and I had the pleasure of meeting earlier this month as we travelled by train from Figueres to Barcelona.
The boy’s name was Sebastian, from Columbia, and he was accompanied [...]

On the dangers of “free with purchase.”

Wednesday, May 13th, 2009

Free 70s style photo with purchase. Brut cologne and stylin’ sunglasses not included.
In today’s world of over-the-top marketing and publicity, it seems like everything comes with a “free gift.” Isn’t a gift, by definition, free? Is anything that comes with purchase actually free? Isn’t it probably included in the price? Or some sort [...]

Que…. Uh…. Que…..Uh……..Subjunctive Cop Out

Tuesday, May 12th, 2009

Metas teachers, and blog followers,
Apologies for the odd topic, but I could not contain the shame and excitement I felt after seeing myself in a video on the La Vanguardia website! That’s right I’m famous:
http://www.lavanguardia.es/el-lector-opina/noticias/20090512/53701486549/els-gats-de-lave-2a-part-jordi-miro.html

^^^^ CLICK HERE (video is working now)
Click the above link to see a video of my wife and I working at [...]

To Do List

Friday, May 8th, 2009

Nowdays surely all of us are being devoured by Globalisation.
During the last 15 years I have been asked to learn so many things: Languages, Computers, Managament, Administration, etc, etc.  As a consequence, we should do more things better and faster.
In this sense, It is interesting to improve our organisational skills, especially learning how to handle our [...]

As if learning English weren’t complicated enough, “Englishes” the new frontier in language learning….

Wednesday, May 6th, 2009

“The emergence of English as a global phenomenom—as either a first, second, or foreign language—has recently inspired the idea … that we should talk not of English, but of many Englishes, especially in Third world countries where the use of English is no longer part of the colonial legacy, but the result of decisions made [...]