English in Madrid

Source: Mark Rall on Unsplash Ancient Origins Halloween's origins date back to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain (pronounced sow-in). The Celts, who lived 2,000 years ago in the area that is now Ireland, the United Kingdom, and northern France, celebrated their new year on November 1. This day marked the end of summer and the harvest and the beginning of the dark, cold winter, a time of year that was often associated with human death. Celts believed that on the night before the new year, the boundary between the worlds of the living and the dead became blurred . On the night of October 31, they celebrated Samhain, when it was believed that the ghosts of the dead returned to earth. In addition to causing trouble and damaging crops , Celts thought that the presence of the otherworldly spirits made it easier for the Druids, or Celtic priests , to make predictions about the future. For a people entirely dependent on the volatile natural world, these prophecies wer...

The BBC has created a soap-opera to help English language learners. It's called "The Flatmates" and is updated weekly. Here is episode 37 - "The Interview". There is a short conversation which you can read or hide and listen to. There is a Language Point, which in this episode is the Present Perfect Continuous followed by a quiz which tests your ability to use the tense correctly. In the Talk section, you have the chance to discuss with other language learners a topic related to the episode. This week is episode 115 but you can review all the episodes in the Archives. In this week's   Grammar Challenge  you also have the chance to practice the Present Perfect Continuous !

Source: Hunters Race en Unsplash Source: ShireChic (You Tube)   Key words: Catherine Tate offensive translator Can such humour be offensive? What languages do you find funny ?

Image source: Wikipedia     Catch Me If You Can is a 2002 motion picture set in the 1960s . It was co-produced and directed by Steven Spielberg and adapted by Jeff Nathanson loosely from the book by Frank Abagnale Jr. and Stan Redding. It stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hanks . Plot: The film begins with an FBI agent, Carl Hanratty Jr. (Tom Hanks), arriving at a French jail in 1969 to meet an imprisoned and sick Frank, who attempts to escape. The scene flashes back six years earlier. Frank's father, Frank Sr. cons   a woman to lend him a suit for Frank Jr., who later guises as a driver for Frank Sr. to get a loan   from Chase Manhattan Bank. When the loan is denied ( due to   IRS tax evasions by Frank Sr.), the family is forced to move from their grand home to a small apartment, with tension building between the family; it also appears that his mother is having an adulterous affair with the bank agent as well. Frank Jr., feeling he will not fit...

I found this article about a liar who has made headlines recently: Suspected bogus 9/11 survivor from Barcelona The sacked   head of a 9/11 survivors network alleged to have invented her experience of the attacks on New York's World Trade Center is of Spanish origin, a newspaper reported Saturday, quoting acquaintances as saying she always sought to be the centre of attention. The Catalonian daily La Vanguardia said Tania Head was better known in Barcelona as Alicia Esteve Head, publishing a photograph of her with colleagues taken when she worked as a management secretary in the city between 1998 and 2000. Associates told the newspaper she often recounted unlikely   stories which put herself at the centre of the action, notably one of a high-speed car crash in which she was badly hurt . Tania Head was sacked from the prominent survivors' group on Wednesday, a day before the New York Times ran a front-page story that said "the pieces just didn't fit ...

Source:  Joshua Hoehne en Unsplash Do you remember these words from last week's class? to spot to give away to get away with to fidget / fidgety to sweat / sweaty to mess around to live off to chat up to date (someone) / to have a date with (someone) to slow down to cheer up to cheat to be in charge of to stumble a liar / to tell a lie rude unusual a colleague a spokesperson a neighbourhood likely This is just some of the vocabulary that you came across during lessons last week. I encourage you to organize your notes well, think how you would use the words and create some sentences with them. Get into a routine of reviewing the vocabulary regularly and send the example sentences to me. Complete the following sentences I have created with a word from the above list. Put the word into the correct tense/form. ________! Surely things aren't that bad. Stop _________ and sit still! It's really _______ weather for this time of year. Normally it...

Source:  Foto de Brett Jordan en Unsplash Here are some mistakes that I heard in the classroom this week. Can you spot them? I won't be here next week. I am going on a travel to Paris for work. I thought about it but I decided not to go at the end. You shouldn't lie. You should always say the true. Richard works in the informatic department. Now he's in charge of maintenance. He used to working in a different area. I'm afraid I'm not agree with you. I have a new about Sarah - she's going to get married. How many were here on Monday? We were three. It's inpolite to ask people how much they earn. People say that the Scots are mean but that is just a topic. Both of my fathers were born in Madrid. The trip to Bilbao by car takes about 4 hours. I don't like my actual job. I preferred my old one. People hasn't much time to study languages. I can't remember; could you say me again, please?

Take a look at BBC Learning English . I can't praise this site enough ; it's great! I suggest you make good use of it . The site is divided into various sections. There are many articles to read, and clips to listen to and watch. There are loads of grammar and vocabulary exercises to do. There is a series called The Flatmates   to keep up to date with . There are quizzes and even a blog ( needless to say , not as good as ours is going to be!). Every section is updated regularly but also has a large store of archives. Source:  Nick Fewings en Unsplash Have a look at the latest addition to the Grammar Challenge section. It is another chance to practice the pronunciation of the tricky -ed endings. It is divided into 4 parts. First listen to the Grammar Challenge programme and refresh your memory of the rules. Then do Practice Quizzes 1 and 2. Finally, go to the Use the Grammar section and read the work of other students.  Once you have done all that, I'd like you to...