English in Madrid

Which of the following sentences is the only one that is grammatically correct? (question from Facebook poll) Can you help me move the furniture ? It's too heavy for me to lift.  😍 I have a good new - the boss isn't coming to work today.   😡 I have some good news - the boss isn't coming to work today.  😍 Have you corrected my homeworks yet?  😡 Have you corrected my homework yet?  😍 If I were rich, I'd go on a travel around the world.  😡 If I were rich, I'd go on a round the world trip .  😍 If you need an advice , you should ask your sister.  😡 If you need (some) advice , you should ask your sister.  😍 The informations that they gave me were wrong.   😡 The information that they gave me was wrong.  😍 Furniture, *news, homework, *travel, advice and information are all examples of uncountable nouns. We do not usually use the indefinite article a/an with uncountable nouns, nor do they have p...

Spain rejects Peruvian claim to shipwreck treasure Spain on Monday rejected Peru's claim to a huge multi-million-dollar undersea treasure recovered from the wreckage of a ship that had left from Lima's port more than 200 years ago. Spain recovered the nearly 600,000 coins – mostly silver but a few made of gold – on Saturday after they were flown to Madrid from the United States. That marked the culmination of Spain's five-year battle in US courts with a Florida deep-sea exploration firm that in 2007 found the remains of a ship believed to be the Spanish frigate Nuestra Senora de las Mercedes. The Florida-based Odyssey Marine Exploration found the shipwreck off Portugal near the Strait of Gibraltar, taking the booty first to the British colony of Gibraltar at Spain's southern tip and then to Florida. On Monday, Spain's education, culture and sports minister, Jose Ignacio Wert, told a packed news conference the final US court ruling stated that "...

Source: Wikipedia (Dave souza)    Shrove Tuesday , also known as Pancake Day in Britain, is the day before Ash Wednesday and the start of Lent - 'Shrove' stems from old English word 'shrive', meaning 'confess all sins '. It is called Pancake Day because it is the day traditionally for eating pancakes as pancake recipes were a way to use up any stocks of milk, butter and eggs which were forbidden during the abstinence of Lent. Source: about.com A great recipe for Pancake Day - just add orange or lemon zest , a pinch of cinnamon , or even finely chopped herbs and a topping of your choice.  Makes 12   INGREDIENTS   140g/5oz plain flour   200ml/7fl oz whole milk  2 eggs  25g/1oz unsalted butter, melted , plus a little extra for the pan   METHOD  Sift the flour with a pinch of salt into a medium-sized bowl and make a well in the middle.  Mix the milk and 100ml water together. Break the eggs into the well and start ...

Source: Wikipedia (Heart Attack Grill)   Diner suffers cardiac arrest while eating a Triple Bypass Burger in restaurant called the Heart Attack Grill  Paramedics wheel man in his 40s out of restaurant's Las Vegas branch   He was eating a 6,000-calorie burger when he suffered a heart attack  Triple Bypass Burger contains three slabs of meat, 12 bacon rashers, cheese, red onion, sliced tomato and 'unique special sauce'  It was always going to be unwise naming a restaurant that glorifies unhealthy food the Heart Attack Grill.  And on Saturday the inevitable happened when a customer suffered a cardiac arrest in the chain's Las Vegas branch.  An onlooker captured video of paramedics wheeling the unidentified man, thought to be in his 40s, out of the fast-food diner.  He was midway through eating a 6,000-calorie Triple Bypass Burger when he began experiencing chest pains.  The restaurant chain - founded in 2005 using the catchphrase 'T...

Source:  Steven Lasry en Unsplash Carnival in Spain Banned during the Franco years, Carnaval is now undergoing a new popularity in Spain Carnival, that explosion of colour, music and celebration which takes place just before Lent, is believed to owe its origins to the pagan festivals which were held by the Romans to celebrate the end of the harsh winter and welcome in the Spring. There are a number of theories as to the origins of the name itself: from the ‘carrus navalis,’ a wheeled boat which was used to carry the high priest of the god of wine, Bacchus, or from the Latin ‘carne vale,’ farewell to meat. * Source: typicallyspanish.com   * The link to the text no longer works.  Vocabulary : to ban - to undergo - to owe - to hold (a festival) - harsh (adj) - to welcome in - a priest - farewell - Lent - a s far as sb/sth is concerned - trading links - to carry on - ahead of sb/sth - a choir - a heat - to back (a group, singer) - ...

The following exercise is really for my Mon/Wed Int+ class, but of course, anyone is welcome to have a go. Correct the mistakes in the following sentences.  I hope you will come to Madrid, not other city. Please let me know where are you going and we organise all. I'm happy to know that your parents let you come here one year in France. I'm sure that you enjoy your experience.  Even if you don't know yet the place you'll be, we could see each other. That's all for now but we keep in touch to give you more advices. Look at the following letters/e-mails. Can you guess the missing words? A. Hi Zoe, How are things (1) ? Sorry for not (2) in touch sooner but I have (3) really busy looking for a new job. Unfortunately, I (4) haven't found one but I have a couple of interviews next week, so fingers crossed! B. Dear Caroline, Thanks for your postcard. I wish I (5) have a holiday too because I'm really stressed out at work. ... How about (6) for ...

Source: Wikipedia (Victor Santa Maria)   Spain Judge Baltasar Garzon vows to fight conviction Spanish Judge Baltasar Garzon has vowed to fight his conviction for authorising illegal phonetapping despite the court barring him from appealing. In a statement, he said his rights had been "systematically violated" with the ruling, which saw him suspended from the judiciary for 11 years. Hundreds of people protested in Madrid in support of the campaigning judge. But Mr Garzon is also involved in two other legal cases and observers say he may be facing years of struggle.  The 56-year-old campaigning judge is best known for helping to secure the arrest of the former Chilean leader Augusto Pinochet in London.  In Thursday's finding, he was convicted of authorising illegal recordings of conversations between lawyers and detainees accused of pay ing off politicians of the now-ruling conservative Popular Party in exchange for lucrative contracts.  As well as being suspen...

Today the 200th anniversary of Charles Dickens' birth is being celebrated. What do you know about him and his works? Read this summary of his life and watch the video that follows: Source: adonais9991 (You Tube)   key words: life charles dickens bbc Video Vocabulary : siblings - adulthood - an ambitious drive - widespread (adj) - to set sail - to be mobbed by crowds - upon his return - a refuge - spellbound (adj) - fateful (adj) - the injured - to retrieve - wrecked carriage - shaken (adj) - a while - to fail (health) - a stroke to be buried - Now answer the following questions about the video: How many brothers and sisters did he have? When did the Dickens family move to London? What did Charles' work consist of in the "blacking" factory? Why was Charles' father sent to prison? What job did he begin in 1827? What job did he begin in 1831? What two things happened to Charles in 1835? What were the rumours tha...

Archbishop of Granada attacks youngsters who want to be civil servants He criticised those who expected their problems to be solved for them by others The Archbishop of Granada, Javier Martínez, has attacked youngsters who want to become civil servants, considering the Spanish mentality of a ‘subsidised society’ as a ‘social illness’, especially in a time of crisis such as now. * Source: typicallyspanish *The complete text can no longer be seen. Do you agree with the bishop? Why/why not? Public exams are a test of faith   Fifty-six percent of Spanish youth want a job with the government These young people are seeking the security that public employment affords But the crisis has limited the opportunities available The Spanish province with the highest unemployment rate is Cádiz, at 35 percent. Maybe that's why 23-year-old Carolina Villarreal is quick to point out that when she was looking for work a few months ago, she didn't place any geographical limits on her...

Source: Wikipedia (Nasa/Bill Ingalls)   The moment a princess became a queen It is exactly 60 years since Princess Elizabeth, on a trip to Kenya, became Queen. What were the events that followed, and how prepared was the 25-year-old? It was February 1952 and Princess Elizabeth was enjoying a short break in Kenya with Prince Philip, her husband of five years. It was a brief respite from their royal duties. They were standing in for George VI on a long-planned international tour that was to also take in Australia and New Zealand. The 56-year-old King, thousands of miles away at Sandringham, had been too ill to travel. The pair were relaxing at a game-viewing lodge, at the now-famous Treetops Hotel just over 100 miles (165km) from Nairobi. Elizabeth had spent the day of 5 February taking cine films of elephants at a nearby watering hole before retiring with the Duke of Edinburgh to their cabin high up in the trees. They spent the night surrounded by wild animals. And it was he...

Source:  Josh Hild en Unsplash   Here is a handy   list for when it's cold outside - I hope I haven't left anything out ! :-) an avalanche - a large amount of snow that falls down the side of a mountain below freezing - under zero ºC bitterly cold - extremely and unpleasantly cold biting (adj) - extremely cold weather that can cause pain a blizzard - a severe snow storm with strong winds a chill (n) - a feeling of cold chilly (adj) - cold a cold spell - a short period of cold weather degrees - measurement of temperature a drop in temperature - a fall in temperature a flurry - a sudden, light fall of snow, blown in different directions by the wind to freeze (froze, frozen) - when sth goes below 0ºC and becomes hard freezing cold (adj) - very cold frost (n) - a white, powdery layer of ice frosty (adj) - very cold, with ice crystals frostbite (n) - skin condition (on toes and fingers) caused by severe cold frozen solid - turned to hard ice ...