Hi I know I'm writing this post a little late but I was a little afraid because I was no sure how to explain it.
Denise, our teacher, told us about the Halloween tradition in the States, we did some exercises and worked about the topic. On Wednesday we joined together (both groups) and Jane told us about the Halloween tradition in Scotland, Ireland and Great Britain in general and I noticed that it was a very old festival from Celtic tradition. Denise told us about Halloween in America ("Trick or truck", very known, you know),
In the link below you can find information about this festival.
He has a strong accent (Scottish) but I liked it because it reminded me Edinburgh.
SONG: John told about San Sebastian.San Sebastan is Piornal's patron Saint (and Acebo's too, I must say!) so I decided to show U a song about this saint from a tradicional group from Extremadura called Acetre. In this song they told us about Jarramplas
We have course some Fridays. We met some people who live in Sierra de Gata but they are foreigner, from an English speaking country (except Mansour,of course) and they've told us about their life and why they are now here,in Sierra de Gata. The talks are called "Life Stories"
On Friday, 15th November Mansour Zaeni was our speaker. He's from Iran and so he told us about Iranian traditions, geography (Iran is like a cat shape) and some of their traditional food. He told us when the Iranian revolution came, he went to Great Britain (he's a exiliated man), his family decided to send there because he spoke English (He told us Iranian education was one of the hardest in the world). He was living there for many years and at last he decided go to Spain; in Andalusia a friend invited him to move to Ibiza. He lived there, played guitar and gave massages to earn his life. One day a friend told him about Sierra de Gata. He decided visit Sierra de Gata, and now he's living here. He lives in Hoyos and gives a kind of therapeutic massage (I'm sorry but I don't remember the name, I'll ask Elo next day!). It was very interesting. He said it was the first time he told in a Pale course but he did it very well. His English is very well and (I think) for Spanish ears is very easy to understand.
I'll show U an Iranian recipe that Mansour show us
Hi We are studying with Denise different skills about language, vocabulary & pronunciation, and also we have conversations and do exercises in our class (and homework, of course). I think it's a good idea because we need to do all this kind of things to improve our English level.
But, also, we listen to music. We did a very funny exercise: Denise gave us a lyric: Don't be cruel, a very famous Elvis Presley song, and we tried to complete the blanks with the words we'd listened.
Hi. In our second class Jane told us about our groups: advanced group, upstairs and intermediate group, downstairs.
Then we played games together.
WARM UP
The first one was about how can we greeting in different situations:
You meet a person very close to you but you don't see him long time ago.
You meet a person you love but the other one doesn't love you.
You meet a person who owe you money.
When we finished Jane put on our backs a piece of paper with a Scottish people,Irish people or Spanish people wrote in the paper (about literature, art, music and so on) in order to become this person. You couldn't see your name so you must ask for clues about you, like: -Am I a man or a woman? -Am I dead or alive? -Am I from Scotland, Ireland or Spain? -And so on And last you might discover the person who you was. E.g. :Bono (from U2), Robert Louis Stevenson, ....
It was very interesting!!!
SONG: Today is Saturday: time for "fiesta" so I've decided to show you two songs of the disco music years (seventy s)
The first one is Thelma Houston and her song "Don't leave me this way"
The second one is a Bee Gees song. Their hit "Stayin' Alive", from Saturday Night Fever film
Hi I've started a new PALE course in CPR Hoyos two weeks ago. We passed a little test to know about our English level and then we met our teachers: Jane Marshall (advanced level) and Denise Elekes -my teacher- (intermediate level) . I'm very happy I'll try to improve my English level and learn new things. I'm so happy because I met Virginia & Raúl again.
SONGS: Today, Jimmy Hendrix. one of the most popular guitar player of ever. He followed one of the slogans of sixties :" live fast, die young and leave a beautiful corpse".
Our last step!. When we finished our visit to Stirling Castle we caught our van back to Edinburgh but we stopped to see one of the most Scottish famous bridges : Forth Bridge ; it was amazing! It was a fantastic Sunday because we knew a little of the north of Scotland. Maybe we could see the rest in the future, (who knows!!!!)
SONGS: Today, Murray Head. He's a British singer and actor. I think he is not so popular like another singers but he sings one of my favourites songs of ever : "Say It Aint's So, Joe"
And now a cover in Spanish.
But I think the most famous Murray Head song was this one: "One Night in Bangkok"
Hi everybody! Summer is gone and autumn is here with us!
After lunch went to Stirling on our bus and there we could see Stirling Castle. Before we went in we could see a view of Wallace Monument from the esplanade. It was very interesting but I think Edinburgh Castle liked me more that this one; why? Edinburgh Castle was bigger and, for me, Stirling Castle looked so naked (no furniture, pictures ...) but it's only my opinion! It's a good idea to visit it? Yes, If you've got time enough.
Bus driver told us histories about William Wallace and the differences between "Braveheart" and the real Wallace (for example, he was a very tall man, about 2 metres)
SONGS: Today Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan
The first one is "Who built the Road". It remember me Nick Cave & Kyle Minogue's song "Where the wild roses grow"
Hi When we finished our cruise we took our bus and went to an area called "The Trossachs", on the southern edge of the Highlands: a wonderful place, with marvellous views : we saw a lot of different flowers, bushes and so on. We made a lot of photos and then we went to visit a castle: Doune Castle. So I'll show you some photographs and I hope you'll enjoy them.
SONGS:Today Manu Chao, the king of the "pachanga", a mixture of reggae,rock, rumba,ska ... He usually sings in French, Spanish, English ...
I FINISHED MY ENGLISH EXAMS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!,like a friend always says: 'sta los cojoooooonis...... (no tralation!)
SONGS: When I returned back home I was listening to an American singer: Chirs Isaak, so I decided to show you two Chris Isaak songs. The first one is "Wicked Game", from a David Lynch film.
Hi. Here I'm trying to remember last summer in Edinburgh. In our last weekend we went to a trip: from Edinburgh to Glasgow, then to the Loch Lomond and finally to Stirling. That Sunday we got up early to catch a van: our driver was our tourist guide too. It was a way to know a bit of Scotland. We went to the esplanade to wait our bus. When we were there we saw the Scottish guard: all soldiers dressed the Scottish uniform; it was very nice. At 8.30 we begun our trip. One hour later we visit Glasgow by bus. Only a view from the bus, we took some photos of the city and then ten minutes later we went to the Loch. Later we could saw the lake and we did a cruise around the lake.It's was very interesting and the views were wonderful. It was cold there but we enjoyed the lake.
SONGS: Now, Dido, a British songwriter. The first one is "White Flag"
I'm sorry but there are not link. Javier send me a message by facebook telling me that the link doesn't work, so I can't put it in the blog. I'm very sorry but it was an interesting work about the renewable energies.
Well, don't mind because we have...
SONGS: Today, Sarah McLachlan, a Canadian songwriter. The first song is "Angel"
Hi friends: Here you are another didactic unit. This is about Dublin and it was made by Inma, Mercedes & Salomé. It's very interesting and I think you can find a lot of ideas to work with your children in schools. Thank U so much girls!!!
Hi. We can say, now, that springtime has come: birds singing, flowers and sun!. We need sun; it was like Scottish weather : all day raining;I was sick and tired of rain, but that have just finished and now we've got the Sun!!
SONGS: Today Lou Reed.Singing alone or with his group The Velvet Underground. He is one of the most important influential person of popular music. The first one is "Beautiful Day"
Hi again. Today I'm going to talk about Leith. Leith is an Edinburgh district; it's the Edinburgh port and it's situated in the North of the city. The Royal Yacht Britannia is permanently moored. I was disappointed about the Yacht because I thinked that it was bigger. There are a big shop centre (shops, restaurants, etc) . There are, too, a gift-shop of Britannia objects.
Today it's Father's Day, my congratulations to fathers!!!!!!!
SONGS: Today, Oasis: one of the most popular British bands formed by Gallagher Brothers (Noel & Liam). Oasis formed part of the Britpop movement. The first one is "Go Let It Out"
And now another Didactic Unit from my colleages, but friends, Gaspar & Cristina : Honey. If you want to enjoy it you must put The Archies's song, Honey
Rosslyn Chapel is a church very famous because it appears in "The Da Vinci Code" (Dan Brown's best seller). When We visited it the the ceiling of the chapel is obscured by scaffolding and not visible. Unfortunately, now, you can take no photos or videos.
I found this video on the net
And here you are some photos.
SONGS: One of the most important British bands: The Kinks The first one is "You Really Got Me"
One thing that surprised me was, in Edinburgh, people go to cementeries whenever they want, just to take a walk or sit down. There's a lot of graveyards, for example near my residence there is one. I've just visited three: Old Calton Cementery, Cannongate Kirkyard and Greyfriars Churchyard. Each cementery has its own history and legends about ghosts, witches, etc; remember, Edinburgh is the city of the ghosts!!!!!
SONGS: Mercury Rev, an American band formed in Buffalo (New York) in late 1,980's. The first one is Goddess on a Hiway
One morning we went to the Royal Botanic Garden to see it and to practice some orientation exercises. We went to the Chinese Garden and put on a scarf to become blind fold; we did it in pairs, we made a route followed the orders :go straight on, turn right (or left), turn slightly to the left (or right), take one (or two) steps etc ; we had to lead our partners through parts of the garden and describe what we saw,and when we finished our route then we changed our role. It was strange because I felt helpless and a quite scared too. After we did it we realized another exercise: we must ask people in the Garden three questions to practice usual English: -Where are you from? -Is it the first time you have visited the Botanic? -Do you like it? We asked an Indian child, a couple from USA and a Scottish family.
SONGS: For me, the New Year's Eve hit was "I goota feeling" from Black Eyed Peas' last cd "the E.N.D. (Energy Never Dies), we sang and danced all night (and day).
My last post
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Well, I'm not sure but maybe it could be my last post so I want to say
thank you to all of you because I've felt like home.
I have no words so I think I'll ...
Bye, bye Cheltenham...
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Cheltenham Spa. When all the spanish people read the second word, we
supposed that our town would be a marvellous resort with large pools,
turkish bat...
Soy maestro.
Mis aficiones: la música,la música, la música y, aparte, los ordenadores, la lectura y los fines de semana pasarlos con los amigos y, cuando puedo, viajar.
I'm a teacher.
My hobbies: music, music, music and, also, computers, books, and on weekends enjoy with friends and when I can, travelling.