English in Madrid

Source:  Call Me Fred en Unsplash Brexit: The UK's letter triggering Article 50   Dear President Tusk On 23 June last year, the people of the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union. As I have said before, that decision was no rejection of the values we share as fellow  Europeans . Nor was it an attempt to do harm to the European Union or any of the remaining member states. On the contrary, the United Kingdom wants the European Union to succeed and prosper. Instead , the referendum was a vote to restore, as we see it, our national self-determination. We are leaving the European Union, but we are not leaving Europe - and we want to remain committed partners and allies to our friends across the continent. Earlier this month, the United Kingdom Parliament confirmed the result of the referendum by voting with clear and convincing majorities in both of its Houses for the European Union (Notification of Withdrawal) Bill. The Bill was passed by Parliament...

Source: Attila Surányi en Unsplash   Boozy Spanish tourist hotspot Benidorm plots bid to become Unesco world heritage site alongside wonders of the world   The package holiday destination could join sites including the Grand Canyon and Great Barrier Reef on the list  BENIDORM – the home from home of boozed-up sunburnt Brits – could become a world heritage site alongside iconic landmarks such as the Taj Mahal, the Great Wall of China and the Great Barrier Reef. The Spanish town’s council plans to submit a bid to Unesco next year for heritage status, according to The Times. The Costa Blanca holiday hotspot would be a surprising addition to the list. But mayor Antonia Perez insisted the town has plenty to offer. He said: “We are unique both in terms of our natural beauty and our man-made model of a sustainable city. “We have beautiful beaches and a vertical city which is very sustainable. “Benidorm has expanded upwards unlike many other cities ...

Source:  Grafixart_photo Samir BELHAMRA   This time last week I was in the south of France. I stayed in a hotel near St Paul de Vence, in the hills surrounding Nice. On Saturday I had a lovely lunch in a famous restaurant in the village. Just out of interest , I checked out reviews on Tripadvisor. St Paul de Vence “ Charming Hill Top Village”  ***** Reviewed 4 weeks ago  The small hilltop village of St-Paul-De-Vence apparently had a quiet and largely uneventful history, until Pablo Picasso took up residence in the 1920s and helped transform it into an artists’ village. Today there are numerous galleries and studios with working artists throughout the narrow alleyways , interspersed with cafes, restaurants, souvenir shops and clothing stores. There are about 300 permanent residents and what seemed like 300,000 visitors each day in summer, or that’s what it seems like in the crowded alleyways and car parks. It is a popular day trip for people staying...

Source: You Tube (Happiness) Key Words: Black Lace conga Eat-and- flee gang hit second Spanish restaurant  Police are investigating whether a gang who ate thousands of euros of food in a restaurant in Spain before flee ing had targeted  another eatery . Last week, about 120 diners, who had consumed about 2,000 euros of food and drink, left a restaurant in northern Spain as dessert was due to   be served. It has now emerged a second restaurant only 10km (six miles) away was previously targeted in the same way. The owners said they believed they were the victims of the same group. In the first case, the group, purporting to be celebrating a baptism, paid a deposit  of €900 ($950; £770) to eat at the El Carmen restaurant in Bembibre, in the north-western Castile and Leon region. "It happened in the space of a minute," owner Antonio Rodriguez said. "It was something they had planned and they left in a stampede."  El Carmen's case felt more tha...

Reading and Use of English Part 1 - Read the text quickly to understand the topic, style and tone of the piece.  Read the whole text and don’t look at the possible answers on the next page: they are designed to confuse you! - Sometimes it is possible to guess the missing word without looking at the options.  - Pay close attention to the words before and after the gaps, they will help you decide what words can and can’t be used. - Now   look at the answer choices.  Select any answers that you guessed and then read the sentences carefully, before and after the gaps, to help you confirm you decision. - Don't spend too much time on this part. You can't find the answer using logic. If you don't know the answer, move on. Put an asterix next to the ones you are not sure about. Autoenglish (commonly confused words, phrasal verbs, preposition combinations, linking words and a timed example question) esl-lounge (18 quizzes) Flo-Joe (synonyms, collocations, ph...