Whitney Houston, In Memoriam

This week we´ve celebrated Saint Valentine´s Day, for many the day of love, but on Sunday, 12th February, I woke up to the sad news of the decease of  someone who used to sing to love sublimely but who, paradoxically, seemed to lack love so much. As a child, Whitney cherished music like her aunt (Dionne Warwick) or her mum did and she, undoubtedly, inherited their talent and developed it to a mastery level despite her ups and downs in life. One may think that she was ill-treated by life or, rather, that she ill-treated her own life.

Whitney Houston
Image credit

Many artists before her couldn´t possibly handle fame and money and their successful careers ran in parallel with their miserable lives. Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, Kurt Cobain, Michael Hutchence, Amy Winehouse and many other musicians tragically ended their lives far too soon. They left this world but yet, they will always live in their music and their talent will be relished and praised by those who can appreciate their work forever.

Let me invite you to see and listen to one of Whitney´s most memorable performances in the following video: 

Alternatively, you can follow this link to the page Lyrics Training to listen to the same song as you exercise your listening skill by filling in the gaps:

Charles Dickens' 200th Anniversary

On the 7th of February, the world celebrated the 200th Anniversary of the birth of Charles Dickens, who is today considered the greatest writer of the Victorian period and whose stories and characters are still as vivid and powerful as when they were created, many years ago.

Charles Dickens

In the following exercise we are going to watch a video about the life of this English writer. After that, you can answer some comprehension questions about the contents of the video.

Alternatively, you can do the same exercise by clicking here