What's it Famous for?

Week 25^th – 27^th May 

Hi! How’s everybody?

Let’s remember what we did in our last lessons.

We started the week chatting! “We talk and talk until the cows came home”; this idiomatic expression means to talk for a long time. (In Spanish I ‘d say something like ‘…and we talked for so long that it was time to take the New Year’s Eve grapes!’ Of course this is Spanish not English! Do you remember the books ‘From lost to the River’ or ‘Speaking Silver’?)

You can download the book on PDF if you'rre interested in it, here.

So, we talked about all the events from the previous weekend: the end of the Spanish Football League, the Eurovision Contest and the Elections!

  We also finished talking about our school days and who was or wasn’t a rebel at that time.

Here’s a summary of the different ways of talking about the past.

Past Simple	Finished / completed actions in the past.	She worked in London for five years.
	Actions that happened one after another.	He opened the door, took off his shoes and sat on the sofa.
Past continuous	To set a story.	The sun was shining and people were happy that spring afternoon.
	An action in progress at some time in the past.	The kids were studying for the exam in the kitchen.
Used to + infinitive	States or repetitive actions in the past which are no longer true.	Her daughter used to have long black hair. (Now, she is blonde) I used to go to the cinema once a moth. (Now, I don’t usually go)

Remember that in the same way we use “am/is/are going to” for the future, we can use “was/were going to”, to express a future action in the past!

After that, we listened to and talked about “The Mothers of Invention”

Did you know that:

… disposable nappies, bullet-proof vests, the dishwasher and the windscreen wipers were invented by women?

Text- messaging was invented by the Finnish (from Finland) company Nokia to help Finnish teenagers who were very shy.

Light bulbs are made specially to last only a certain number of hours so that the manufacturers make money.

The first Harry Potter book was written in a café in Edinburgh.

The 2010 Football World cup was won by the national Spanish football team.

“Vicky, Cristina, Barcelona” is a famous movie that was filmed in Spain.America was discovered by Cristopher Columbus.

“Callos” and “Cocido Madrileño” are eaten a lot in Madrid.

The Iberian lynx is only found in Spain.

This is how we make passive sentences:

Farmers	grow	bananas	in the Canary Islands.
Subject	V	Object
Bananas	Are grown	In the Canary Islands
Subject	Passive V
Shakespeare	wrote	Hamlet.
Subject	V	Object
Hamlet	Was written	by Shakespeare.
Subject	Passive V	Agent

The object becomes the subject of the passive sentence. The subject becomes the agent. When the agent isn’t important or it’s a pronoun, it isn’t necessary to write it.

The verb changes into passive voice by writing the verb “to be” in the same tense as in the active sentence + the participle of the verb used in the active sentence.

Like this:

Present simple	produce		Present simple of “to be”	Am / is/are	+	participle	Is produced
They produce coffee in Brazil.			Coffee is produced in Brazil
Past simple	wrote		Past simple of “to be”	Was/were	+	participle	Was written
Dickens wrote ‘Oliver Twist’			‘Oliver Twist’ was written by Dickens.
Future simple	Will sell		Future of “to be”	Will be	+	participle	Will be sold
They will sell hundreds of tickets.			Hundreds of tickets will be sold.
Infinitive	buy		Infinitive of “to be”	be	+	participle	Be bought
You can buy the tickets on the net.			Tickets can be bought on the net.

We’ll continue on Monday. Have a nice weekend! Bye!

What did you Use to be Like? Did you Use to Like School? Did you Use to be a Rebel?

Week 18^th – 20^th May

Hello again!

How’s your weekend?

Yesterday it was the Eurovision Song Contest. As usual Spain didn’t get a good position. The winners were Swedish. This contest is always a good excuse to review how to say countries in English.

Today, it’s Election Day in Spain. We vote to choose the politicians that will represent us in the communities and councils. Here’s some useful vocabulary…or not?

British Politics and Election Vocabulary      Useful Vocabulary

Things you might see around election time
ballot paper(s)
leaflet(s) / pamphlet(s)
party political broadcast
politician(s)
poll card(s)
poster(s)
postal vote(s)
vote(s)
voting booth(s)

Main Political Parties in the UK - from left to right. Their Colours and Logos

Labour - Red - Rose	Liberal Democrats - Gold - Bird	Conservatives - Blue - Tree

Words you might see or hear during an election

block vote	A way of voting in which your vote represents other members of your organization, especially at trade union meetings.
by-election	A special election, held between regular elections, when an area votes. A by-election can be 'called' if an existing M.P. dies or retires.
campaign (n)	In an election a campaign is a political campaign is an organized effort which seeks to win the vote of the electorate. Often called a 'political campaign' or an 'election campaign'.
campaign (v)	The things a candidate does to be elected. (KIssing babies, shaking hands, giving speeches to the WI etc.)
candidate (n)	The person who is running in an election.
coalition (n)	If there's no outright winner in an election a government can be formed in which several parties cooperate.
constituent (n)	A citizen who is represented in a government by officials for whom he or she votes.
constituency (n)	Each of the electoral areas or divisions in the UK which elect one or more members to parliament.
debate (n)	A formal discussion of the merits of something.
debate (v)	To argue for and against something.
deposit (n)	The sum of money that a candidate must pay in return for the right to stand in British parliamentary elections.
dissolution (n)	The termination of the current parliament, which has to take place before a general election.
dissolved (v)	Once the dissolution of parliament has been announced, we say it has been dissolved.
elect (v)	The act of voting to select the winner of a political office.
election (n)	The formal decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual to hold public office.
electorate (n)	The people who are eligible to vote in an election.
general election	An election held for a nation's primary legislative body.
gerrymander	To redraw electoral district boundaries for political advantage.
government	The political body with the power to make and/or enforce laws for a country,
House of Commons	The lower house of the British parliament.
House of Lords	The upper house of the British parliament.
independent	A candidate who is not controlled by a political party.
leader	The person who runs a political party. (Margaret Thatcher was the leader of the Conservatives).
local election	County, unitary authority, borough, district, city, town or parish elections.
MP	Abbreviation of Member of Parliament.
Member of Parliament	The person who represents their constituency in the House of Commons.
opposition	The major political party opposed to the party in office and prepared to replace it if elected.
party	An organization formed to gain political power.
policy	A deliberate act of government that in some way alters or influences the society or economy outside the government.
political	Related to politics.
politician	A person active in politics.
politics	The process by which governments make decisions.
PM	Abbreviation of Prime Minister.
prime minister	The person who holds the position of head of the government.
proxy vote	The delegation of someone to vote on someone else's behalf.
rhetoric	The art of using language as a means to persuade someone to your way of thinking.
run	To campaign to stand for a political position.
spin	To present the facts in such a way as to sway public opinion.
spin doctor
veto	A vote that blocks a decision.

Build Up - Different forms of government / political power

Autocracy

A system of government in which supreme political power to direct all the activities of the state is concentrated in the hands of one person, whose decisions are subject to neither external legal restraints nor regularized mechanisms of popular control (except perhaps for the implicit threat of coup d'etat or mass insurrection).

Aristocracy

A privileged social class whose members possess disproportionately large shares of a society's wealth, social prestige, educational attainment and political influence, with these advantages having been acquired principally through gift or inheritance from a long line of similarly privileged and cultivated ancestors. The term refers also to a form of government in which the state is effectively controlled by the members of such a class. The term tends to have a somewhat unsavory or derogatory connotation today in the light of democratic theories, but in classical political philosophy it meant rule by “the best people” of the society, who were expected to feel a paternalistic concern for the humbler members of the society that would keep them from ruling in a purely self-seeking fashion.

Communism

Severe government interference in economics. Centralized planning by the government, ONE PARTY rule, and stresses that there should be only one class of people.

Democracy

A system of government in which effective political power is vested in the people. In older usage (for example, in the writings of the classical Greek and Roman philosophers or in the Federalist Papers), the term was reserved exclusively for governmental systems in which the populace exercised this power directly through general assemblies or referenda to decide the most important questions of law or policy. In more contemporary usage, the term has been broadened to include also what the American Founding Fathers called a republic -- a governmental system in which the power of the people is normally exercised only indirectly, through freely elected representatives who are supposed to make government decisions according to the popular will, or at least according to the supposed values and interests of the population.

Dictatorship

Government by a single person (or group) whose discretion in using the powers and resources of the state is unrestrained by any fixed legal or constitutional rules and who is (are) in no effective way held responsible to the general population or their elected representatives.

Generic term used to describe any government controlled by a single individual and giving the people little or no individual freedom. Typically a person who rules by threat of force. People who are loyal to a dictatorship swear allegiance to the person first and the country second. Fascism, Theocracies, Monarchies and Communism can all be dictatorships. A Republic cannot be a dictatorship.

Fascism

A class of political ideologies (and historical political regimes) that takes its name from the movement led by Benito Mussolini that took power in Italy in 1922. Mussolini's ideas and practices directly and indirectly influenced political movements in Germany (especially the Nazi Party), Spain (Franco's Falange Party), France, Argentina, and many other European and non-European countries right up to the present day.

Marxism

The theory of government based on the ideals of Karl Marx and Frederick Engels in the book The Communist Manifesto written in the 1800's. Marxism advocates the "workers" (Proletariats and petite-bourgeoisie) rise up and overthrow businesses and government and take control themselves. Marxism advocates a classless society in which everything is shared and owned by all. In its true form it follows the mandates of a Direct Democracy in which the mob or general population rules and allocates resources based upon the will of the majority with equal consideration given to all without exclusions or privileges to any.

Monarchy

A government that has a single person who is generally considered the ruler by the title and birthright. Titles include: Czar, King, Queen, Emperor, Caesar, etc... Power is absolute and is either taken through conquest or passed down to family members without regard for ability or appropriateness. Society is formed around feudal groups or tribes in which the ruling family delegates power and authority based upon the desires of a single individual. Power struggles are common. A monarchy is based upon a class system where those of a certain birthright are perceived to be of superior intellect and strength to those not of the same family line. The resources and wealth of a country is generally preserved solely for the hedonistic and self-fulfilling desires of the reigning monarch with little regard for the general population or its welfare. The inhabitants of a country under a monarch are alive to serve the monarch. In contrast the inhabitants of a republic are served by the their leaders.

Oligarchy

Any system of government in which virtually all political power is held by a very small number of wealthy but otherwise unmeritorious people who shape public policy primarily to benefit themselves financially through direct subsidies to their agricultural estates or business firms, lucrative government contracts, and protectionist measures aimed at damaging their economic competitors — while displaying little or no concern for the broader interests of the rest of the citizenry. “Oligarchy” is also used as a collective term to denote all the individual members of the small corrupt ruling group in such a system. The term always has a negative or derogatory connotation in both contemporary and classical usage, in contrast to aristocracy (which sometimes has a derogatory connotation in modern usage, but never in classical).

Republic

Originally, any form of government not headed by an hereditary monarch. In modern American usage, the term usually refers more specifically to a form of government (a.k.a. “representative democracy”) in which ultimate political power is theoretically vested in the people but in which popular control is exercised only intermittently and indirectly through the popular election of government officials and/or delegates to a legislative assembly rather than directly through frequent mass assemblies or legislation by referendum.

Socialism

Limited government interference in business activity, (as opposed to communism) but more than in capitalism. Certain areas of an individual's life are controlled and representation tends to be parliamentary in nature. In other words, people vote for a particular party and the party elects the leaders of the country. The notable difference here is that there is more than one party.

Theocracy

A government which claims to be immediately directed by God, and divinely blessed. The country tends to be intolerant either passively or overtly to faiths other than that recognized by the state. The country identifies itself and its laws within religion and religious doctrine. There is no legal separation between church and state, and citizens of other faiths are often excluded or hampered from participation or expelled. Because a theocracy is exclusionary, it can never be a democracy which requires inclusion without exception of all equally. It cannot be a republic because a republic requires the separation of church and state and equal rights to all.Naturally Speaking

Voting
I'd like to register to vote. I'm on the electoral registry. I haven't had my poll card, yet. Where is the polling station? Have you voted, yet? Are you going to vote? Which party are you voting for?* Who are you going to vote for?* Who got the most votes?
*Be careful about asking this. For many people in the UK, voting is a personal matter.
Watch and listen to this walk-through on how to vote in the UK. Dialogue

Mr and Mrs Smith are discussing the elections.

Election  - Conversation
Mrs Smith:	Are you coming to vote? The polling station will be closing in an hour.
Mr Smith :	It's raining!
Mrs Smith:	So what?
Mr Smith:	I can't be bothered. It doesn't matter who I vote for, we always end up worse off. They're all as bad as each other.
Mrs Smith:	Well don't complain to me if you don't like the policies of whoever wins.
Mr Smith:	I don't think anyone will win. They're predicting a hung parliament.
Mrs Smith:	Well if no one bothers to vote, I guess they'll be right. I'll be back in ten.

- See more at: http://www.learnenglish.de/vocabulary/elections.html#sthash.mlyNyxtb.m5ApxICM.dpuf

As for our lessons, we finished the topic of agreeing and disagreeing last week. We read about twin sisters who are non-identical twins and who, despite being twins are “as different as chalk from cheese.” They like different things and have different personalities.

Then we started explaining the structure “used to.”

Used to + infinitive

States or repetitive actions in the past that are no longer true.

Her daughter used to have long black hair. (Now, she is blonde) I used to go to the cinema once a moth. (Now, I don’t usually go)

Remember that “used to” grammatically acts like any other ordinary verb in the past.

·           Did your friend use to wear glasses?

·           My friend used to wear glasses when she was a child.

·           She didn’t use to wear contact lenses.

We also talked about school days. They look so far now…

For some of us, me, they look like another life!

·         Did you use to be a rebel?

·         Did you use to wear a uniform?

·         Which subjects did you use to like?

·         Dani used to like P.E. (it stands for Physical Education)

·         I didn’t use to like P.E.

And that was all! Enjoy the rest of your Sunday! See you tomorrow!!!

I Like Chocolate. So do I!

Week 11^th -13^th May

Hello! How are you? I guess you are enjoying the weather and the long weekend…long weekend… just for Mónica!

What did we do last week?

We started the week with a review.

Interesting to know that if your partner was allergic to the dog you’d had for ten years, you wouldn’t give the dog away! (give as a present) All of us agreed that if a colleague was saying he was 45 years when, in fact he was 50, we wouldn’t give him away (reveal the truth). But when we came to the question of telling our daughter that her hamster had died, we had different opinions!

Then, we carry on (continue) talking, because we are very talkative, chatter boxes – in fact!

We talked about ‘twins’.

We read the story of two identical twins that had been brought up (raised by their families) separately. They met when they were forty and found out (discovered) that they had many things in common.

In this way we learnt how to agree and disagree.

AGREEING WITH AN AFFIRMATIVE OPINION		AGREEING WITH A NEGATIVE OPINION
I want to learn French	So do I / me,too	I don’t like cold countries	Neither do I / Me, neither
She can speak three languages	So can I / Me, too	They can’t speak Japanese	Neither can I / Me, neither
I’m going to buy a new car.	So am I / Me, too	I’m not going to travel by car.	Neither am I / Me neither
I went to London last year.	So did I / Me, too	I didn’t study French at school.	Neither did I / Me neither
He has arrived very early.	So have I / Me, too	They haven’t arrived yet.	Neither has Ellen.
I’d like to live in a bigger house.	So would I / Me, too	I wouldn’t like to have a lot of children.	Neither would I / Me neither.

As you can see, we use the structure “So do I” to agree with affirmative opinions. Take into account that you have to change “do” into the auxiliary used in the sentence you agree with.  And the same with the structure “neither do I”, which is used to agree in the negative.

To disagree, we use the auxiliary verb; not “yes” or “no”

I didn’t go to the cinema yesterday. I did. NOT Me, yes.

She’s studying for her exam. I’m not. NOT, Me, no.

And we also learnt some useful expressions:

·         Jim Springer looks exactly like Jim Lewis.

·         Jim Springer’s son has the same name as Jim Lewis’s son.

·         The two Jims both have dogs.

·         Jim Springer likes baseball and so does Jim Lewis.

·         Jim Lewis doesn’t like basketball and neither does Jim Springer.

·         Dr. Buouchanard didn’t expect them to be so similar to each other.

And that was the end of our week! See you tomorrow!