English

English. The new disease?
It pours out of television speakers and computer screens
Disregarding Babel with its very cocky fluency
Sticking on its labellings at every opportunity.
Nothing’s safe; it won’t stop when it begins to spread
it dominates the airwaves and reigns/rains on the internet
leaving cultures altered and confused as to what’s what
turns the dialecting of the youths to a hotch-potch
rag-tag scrabble bag; everyone’s affected
the little languages will not survive unprotected.
So hold your own, but get a firm hold of English
and every last one of us shall be a multilinguist …”

New Year's resolutions

You know every year we start the New Year in January feeling guilty about something we didn't do last year, or something we did wrong, that is to say, feeling guilty about something we would like to change. That's the reason why we make New Year's resolutions, promises that we'll probably break very soon. Listen to this BBC radio programme about the subject. Click here.

Superstar Kesha

Do you know Kesha and her latest song? Here there's a radio interview for you to listen to. Listen and read the article.

The curious incident of the dog in th...

 

The curious incident of the dog in the night time tells us the story of a very special boy with autism who does not know anything about emotions. Really surprising it is when he achieves everything he wants, because he is a really clever child, and he demonstrates it whenever he talks about maths, some planets, or whatever it comes to his mind.

 

This book is amusing and really interesting. I must confess that it is kind of tedious at the beginning, since nothing really interesting happens there, and the little boy always tells the same things. But as you go through its pages, you realise that you have got hooked! Then, there is a sad part of the book which touches your heart (at least it has certainly touched mine) and ever since that moment our emotions get compromised.

So, if I were you, I would not miss the oportunity of reading it, definitely.

My

AUTOBIOGRAPHY

I was born in a rainy morning on the twelfth of October 1986. One of my mother’s sisters  gave my mum the idea of calling me Cristina. When I think about it I feel happy that she was there, I really like my name! My childhood was quite ordinary, even though I still have bad memories about school because it was hard for me to make friends. When I had to attend high school at the age of twelve I found myself shy and not talkative at all. I was pretty afraid of meeting new people but year after year I became more sociable and I learnt that there are also good people out of my family.

Later on, when I began my last year at highschool, before I graduated; things went better. I met some of my current friends and I myself changed a lot beacause I realized that things are not so difficult if you work hard and you truly believe in your possibilities.That way my goal was about to come. In the last year in high school I failed two subjects. I found myself so sick and tired that I decided to drop out . As a result, my family was not exactly happy and proud of me so I was rather uncomfortable at home; I argued too often with my parents and things like that. I felt I was the odd-one out. But I was not wasting my time, of course, I started to work really hard on my music in order to improve it because it had been very neglected and that was all my fault. After a year working on dead-end jobs I realized that I was going nowhere, just trapping myself in a vicious circle of getting money but not being happy and satisfied with my life. I did not want to continue like that.

However, I had to make a very difficult decision, my music was improving and my English too but I had to continue working. What of these three things did I have to give up? The correct answer was music, the hardest one for me, but I did . I promised myself to take it up again after I graduated from high school. Despite the fact that it was hard, it was at the same time the best and most grown-up decision I have ever made in my whole life. A new chapter of my life was beginning, but I was not aware of it back then. In my new high school I met really nice people and I made a new friend whose name is Cristina, as anybody could guess, this fact turned out to be a funny situation the day we were introduced to each other. Besides, we both hit it off immediately.

Naturally, I passed my language and final exams at high school. Nowadays, I am working hard to improve my performance in music and my foreing languages. I do not know if I will get my goal in a few years’ time but at the very least I am trying my best! (C.S)

CHILDHOOD

Quiz on childhood and vocabulary related. Some of those useful phrasal verbs which can be a bit confusing at times! From BBC Learning English.

autobiographies to be published on January 2010

I was born on December 16th 1989 in the city where I still live: Valladolid. I have a sister who is five years older than me. But there are five of us in my family: my parents, my elder sister and my grandmother from my mother’s side, who is living with us. My parents used to work when I was a child, so it was my grandparents who brought my sister and me up. It was them who walked us to school too. Looking back on my childhood I remember it as a blissful period of my life.

 

   However, all of a sudden, almost everything in my life changed. When I was eleven, my grandfather underwent an operation which left him paralyzed down one side. I had to come to terms with that and look after him. Really difficult it was to adapt to that new but awkward situation at the same time. As time went by, I could live with it. It was then when I realised that I was growing up faster than anyone else of my same age. Nonetheless, the turning point of my life was his death. It took me as much as two years to get over it.

 

   But regardless of that dramatic experience I had to go through, my feeling is that I have always been a very happy and lucky person. The main reason why I think that is because my family are a close-knit one, and I have always been fulfilled in each field of my life. If I happen to have children someday, I will definitely bring them up as I have been. (S.C)

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I was born as the middle child between two sisters and was raised in a very small village in the east of Thailand. My father used to work abroad as a chef and my mother, apart from running a beauty salon, had other sideline jobs. As a result, they did not have much time to spend with us and the memories of the five of us together are very vague and rare. I went to a local Christian-run elementary school, which, like many other religious schools in the country, organized a lot of extracurricular activities for its students. They kept me busy and far from feeling lonely and abandoned. In fact, looking back on my childhood, I remember it as the happiest and most carefree chapter of my life.

At the age of 12, I started attending secondary school in Amphur Muang, which was the most important city in my province. It was during this period that I learned to be more responsible and self-reliant. As my parents continued to be wrapped up in their work, my sisters and I had to take care of all the household chores. Besides, we all got our first job as waiters at a local restaurant in order to earn some extra pocket money. At school, I made a few friends, and would follow them around like a puppy and let them make decisions for me. I entered the sciences program with them while my true interest lay in languages and arts. I did not have a mind of my own. Nevertheless, I came to my senses in my final year of high school, which, come to think of it, marked a major turning point for me. I took control of my life and learned French on my own, so I could have a shot at getting a place to study humanities at a state university.  

 

The year 1996 meant a big change in my social life. I moved to Bangkok for my university studies and lived in a dormitory, sharing a room with three other students. It was there that I learned to live with other people, compromise and be more tolerant. At school, I was very self-conscious at first, fearing that my classmates would think of me as a “hick” but as time went by, we grew to accept one another exactly as we were. In fact, most of my bosom friends now are those I met at university. Soon after my graduation, I started to work as a sales clerk at a small jewelry store. It was definitely the most difficult time for me as I was struggling to make ends meet with an overly underpaid job. After a couple of years, I finally caught a glimpse of the light at the end of the tunnel and things started to turn around when I was offered a job as a research assistant at a university in Bangkok. I worked there for almost a year and in 2005 I was awarded a scholarship to do a Master’s Degree in Translation in Spain.

 

During my first few weeks here, I felt very gloomy as I could barely get by with my broken Spanish, let alone understand what was being said in class, so I decided to take it more seriously. A few months later, my Spanish improved substantially and I began to feel happier. However, shortlyafter finishing my MA two years ago, I fell into a deep depression, torn between going back to Thailand to start a career and staying on a little longer to master my Spanish skills. Luckily, things fell right into place when a couple of weeks afterward I happened to find a part-time job, which helped convince me to stay. I enrolled in a PhD program in the same field that week and I am currently working on my thesis. Although I do not know what the future has in store for me, I try to live my life optimistically while pursuing my dream of becoming a lecturer of Spanish at a Thai university one day. (S.J)

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I was born in Oviedo, Asturias, on 16^th October 1978, at the same time as John Paul II was named Pope. I am the eldest of two siblings and part of a close-knit family. When I look back on my childhood I remember it as a happy period. I have fond memories of my first school, where I spent the first twelve years as a schoolgirl, weekends at my grandparents’ and endless summers with my cousins in a fishing village in Galicia.

However, all that changed abruptly when at the age of fifteen we had to move to Valladolid. The first year was chaotic. We moved home three times and I started to attend higher secondary-education course in a cold and elitist school, very different from the old one. At first I was longing for my previous life in Asturias. As time went on, however, I slowly started to make friends and I got used to living here.

After leaving school I got a place to study Chemistry at university and gained my degree five years later. In my final year I got in touch with a research group and I started to train in their laboratory. It was during that period I developed an interest on research work and got a scholarship for the PhD. Around this time I had the chance of giving lessons and talks to other students, and was then when I realized that what really fascinated me was teaching.

A few months ago I finally got my Ph degree in Organic Chemistry, which is undoubtedly the highlight of my university career. In six months’ time I will sit an examination for secondary school teacher. I am hoping that in one years’ time I will teach secondary-school pupils and, who knows, maybe I might be able to arouse their interest in science after all! (A.M)

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I was born on January 13^th 1962 in Cologne/Germany and I have two elder brothers. My childhood was marked by the fact that both parents were traumatized by what they had experienced during World War II. I knew my father only as a sick person and I remember him always sitting in his armchair, wrapped in a blanket and reading some book, whereas my mother was haunted by nightmares and therefore used to take sleeping pills. On holiday we always went to Belgium and France to visit my grandparents and other relatives.

 

Although I had been really keen on attending primary school, after a while it turned out to be a bit boring. Nevertheless, in 1983 I finished secondary school and started to study history, politics and hispanism at Cologne University. Two years later I was granted a scholarship to do two years of field studies in Argentina and Chile and eventually graduated at Cologne University in 1990.

 

My first job was teaching German to foreign students at Cologne University. After a year I changed my job and started to work in a NGO that was aimed to help children in need in the so called Third World. However, since my suggestions for improvements remained futile, I then decided to make an another change. While I went on working there, I did the required pedagogical studies in order to become a teacher. From 1999 onwards I worked at the European School of Bornheim/Germany.

 

In 1994 I got married. But, six years later, my husband lost his health due to a stroke, and since the doctors told us he would be better off in his home country, in 2003 we moved to Spain. For several reasons, I have not been able to re-establish my professional life here. So, I have made a training as a translator, hoping to be able to establish soon as a freelance, translating and teaching languages. (M.L)

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I
was born on August 11th 1990 in the city of Burgos. My parents already
lived in Valladolid when this happened but my mother wanted me to be
born in Burgos so, to her amazement, her desire came true. Most of my relatives live there and my parents had to move here because of my father’s job. There are four of us living in Valladolid , including me. I live with my mother, my father, and my brother, who is older than me.

 

Here in Valladolid is where I have grown up. At the age of six I started school and I finished when I was eleven. But I did not study in the same school all that period; I changed to another one when I was nine. This event was
a big step because in that new school I met some of the most important
people in my life right now. When I was nine years old I started learning how to play the guitar and after some years I started playing the piano and then the violin for the last two years. Unfortunately, I gave them up when I was seventeen. I wish I had not had to do it but I had to choose between my studies and music so I went for the more important choice from my point of view.

 

After leaving school I went to high
school for six years. I finished at the age of eighteen and I started
university. In my first year there, I was accepted in Chemistry but I realized that I did not like it at all so the next year I applied for another degree. Fortunately,
I was accepted in Speech Therapy. Now I am in the first year of this
degree and I like it very much, so I expect to finish it successfully. (C.S)

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My name is Laura Moncada. I was born on December 15th 1982 in Valladolid. I am an only child. I did not have
any brothers or sisters to play with, but I had a happy childhood
because I had a very big family, and a lot of cousins to play with. When
I was a child, my father travelled a lot around the world and I was
looked after by my mother, but when my father returned from his trips,
we enjoyed doing a lot of activities together.

 

I studied in a convent school called "Hijas de
Jesús". I had a lot of friends, and this period of time was one of the
happiest periods in my life. Nowadays, I still have the same friends
from my school. We keep in touch and go out at the weekends. One of
these friends is "my special friend". I say "special friend" because I do not
like the word "boyfriend". His name is Javi and I have known him since
we were 5 years old. We started going out togheter 8 years ago.

 

After leaving school, I decided to study Industrial engineering, and I am still studying it now. It is a very
difficult degree, but I like it a lot. Last year, while I was studying,
I applied for a scholarship in a construction company. I had an
interview and was hired. Now, I am working in this firm and I am learning a lot. I think that this experience will be very good for my future.

 

I hope, that in four years´
time I will finish my degree, and I would like to marry and to have a
child. It would be very interesting to get a well-paid satisfying job,
but , nowadays, that is very difficult. However, I hope that in four years´ time the world will have changed for the better in the job market. If that does not happen, I would like to go abroad to improve my English, and this way, my chances of employment will improve. (L.M)

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When I look back on my childhood, in my birth place, Oviedo
, I remember it as a very happy period of my life. One of my first
memories leads me to my nursery school. It was a heavenly place for a
child : an ancient stone building surrounded by a land full of old and
gorgeous trees. But, unfortunately as many things in our lives ,  it didn´t last for ever.

 At the age of five I began attending the  school I would go to for  almost thirteen years. It is quite difficult to summarize those years in a few words. In retrospect,
I consider that my upbringing   was quite good. I am the second of five
siblings, and my home was always full of people. My parents tried to
teach us the importance of   honesty, generosity, and, especially, the
importance of facing problems with a positive attitude .I believe that
they can be proud of having brought up a very close-knit family.

 

 After getting a degree in Law at the University of Oviedo I studied hard to pass the State exams. Eighteen months later I started working as a teacher in Alicante. 
It marked a major turning point for me. In spite of my first fears, all
I can say about this period   is that it was a   very enriching
experience.

 

 But life is sometimes unpredictable, and love was the reason that made me move to Valladolid. To cut a long story short, I will say that I  married Pedro,  my teenage sweetheart and I have lived here  in Valladolid ever since. (P.F)

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I was born on October 24th 1979 in a quaint seacoast town in the south-west of Cuba. I was the joy of a close-knit and incredibly never-ending family. I had three brothers, all of them older than me. My parents used to work long hours, thus since the very first days of my life I was sent to a child-day-care centre where ,unlike others, I spent a delightful and pleasant time. I was very active and whenever I look back on those years I remember the early and nevermore, reciter, actress, singer, group leader, contestant child I was; always surrounded by relatives, friends and childminders. On the whole ,I had a happy childhood.

 

Nonetheless, those sweet and memorable days soon passed away. At the turn of primary school my parents got divorced. That was a real bitter pill for me and I completely ran out of steam. As a result I lost all interest in my studies, lowered the bar, kept away from friends and cried my eyes out every single night. But time puts things to rights so after several months I began to be my old self again. It was then when I decided to take exams to get into senior high and later into university where, after five long years of self-sacrifice, I graduated with honours which was by all accounts the highlight of my career.

 

After graduating I moved to Havana City and ran my own business as a private teacher to underwrite living costs. Four years later, I came over to Spain and settled down in Valladolid. Since my arrival I have been taking courses of all kinds and I have desperately also been looking for a job with no results. At present I am studying both English and Chinese which I hope will help me to find the most suitable way out to reach my goals. (K.G)

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I was born in Burgos and at the age of one my parents and I came to Valladolid. It was here,  four and a half years later, where I stopped being an only child because of the birth of my younger brother. Looking back on my early childhood, I remember living in different villages of my region because my mother works as a secondary school teacher and in those days she had to travel a lot. So, until my mother got a steady place, my brother and I were brougth up mainly by her and we only saw my father at weekends and holidays.  Ever since, the four of us have been living together and we are a close-knit family.

 

I used to be a good student at primary and secondary school where I  met  good classmates, some of them are still my friends to date. I will never forget going to Italy in my final year, before graduating from High Shool, I really enjoyed that trip a lot. It was such a beautiful country that I would like to go again in the future.

 

After
leaving High School I got a place at University to study Chemistry. I
consider myself a hard-working person, but at first it was quite hard,
however, as time went on, I started to like it more and to discover how
useful chemistry could be. During this period I also worked  as a private teacher, I studied  English, I met good friends and these  have been by far the happiest years of my life up to now. 

 

On
graduating, I have continued at Valladolid University doing my thesis,
which I hope to finish in some years’ time. I don’t have a clear idea
about my future. Even
though I would obviously like to get a job related to my studies, I
might take a gap year in a foreign country before that; and in due time
I will hopefully have my own family. (E.A)

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My name is A. I was born on the ninth of March 1971 in Madrid. I have two siblings.
My father worked in a factory,  he is retired  now, and my mother works
as a houswife. We lived in a block of flats and I went to a primary
school opposite my house. So I used to wake up fifteen minutes before
lessons started. I remember my childhood as a wonderful period in my
life. However, when I attended seconday school I had to take the bus at
five past eight in order to be on time. It is easy for me to make
friends , so I enjoyed those years very much, too.

After leaving school I studied Bussiness
at university and I worked at  the weekends in order to pay for my
expenses. I took my degree in 1994. On graduating , I obtained a grant
to colaborate in an international firm. Then I stayed there for three
odd years and worked as a controller in the Budget Department where I
developed my analythical thought, numerancy and ability to manage
projects. I dedicated my life to my job. I worked very hard because I
wanted to be promoted. It was around this time that I met Frank, who meant a major turning point for me. He lived in Valladolid. After four years we got married and I moved to Valladolid with him.

Since my arrival I have been working in
a phone company, but last June I decided to leave my job and look for
something totally different. Maybe I have to start from  scratch , I am
on the dole now. I have no cares in the world
and I usually do everything with enthusiasm. Now I am able to spend
much time with my family, specially with my darling daughters, and
friends. I always try to arrange something special for the weekends
such as a drive in the country with the whole family. I believe that
taking care of my family is a job in itself and one that I take great
pride in. Anyway, I hope to achieve one of my dreams one day which is
to own a contryside hotel. (A. G)

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I was born almost twenty eight years ago on the most important day in the whole year- at least for Christians- 25th December.Ever since I
came into existence, my brother, who had been an only child for three
and a half years, became the typical jealous elder brother. As my
parents both worked, we were brought up by several nannies. I guess we gave all those girls a lot of hassle, because none of them spent more than two months in our house.

At the age of eight, my family was given an exceptional dog,
Seper. At first, I was frightened of it because it was much bigger than
me and, as any puppy, it did not stop playing. As time went on,
however, I became very fond of it, needless to say how sad I was when
it died eleven years later.

 

At the age of eighteen, I got a place at university after having
received both primary and secondary education in the same private
convent school. I started to do a Chemistry degree which I am about to
finish. It has taken me a long time, partly because I have been working
all these years but largely because I did not like it much. I would
rather have studied Environmental Science but in those days this degree
did not exist in Valladolid and I did not dare to go away from home.
Looking back, it was the most stupid decision I have ever made.
Nevertheless, owning to my degree, I have met my boyfriend as he is a
private Chemistry tutor.

 

I am currently doing some training in a company and when I finish
it in three months' time I would like to get a job related to the
Environment. What is more, in just a few years'
time I might even start a family with my boyfriend, three children plus
a dog sound like a dream come true! (A.B)

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I was born in a medium size city called Valladolid. I’m an only child, I have no siblings but many cousins and I remember there were
always some of them at home, spending their holidays or even working in
my father’s office. But looking back, when I was nine years old, I really enjoyed myself. I spent nearly a month of my holidays on the beach with my grandparents, very near my grandmother’s sister's cottage, which was always full of children, so I felt at home and it was a marvellous experience.

 

During the next years, I was happy too, although I had to work harder than before. I was growing up and the homework and the responsibilities were increasing too. On finishing my physics degree my first turning point took place: my mother passed away in a car accident. I suddenly became an adult.

 

Several years after I got married, I had my four children. And then I had my worst turning point when  one night I  had to face these words uttered by an emergency doctor: “Your child has a cancer and we cannot practise any surgery on him ”. It was as if the world as I had known it had come to an end. To cut a long story short, fortunately, he could be treated and finally his illness was cured. But things are not the same now. We are worried about him just in case the cancer comes back, although I am nearly convinced that it will not turn over, but you are not the owner of   your fears.

 

To conclude, my whises for the future whould be on one hand set on my children’s health and happiness and on the other hand I would like to go on with my routine, for instance, giving my first class in English in the very near future. In the long term, I would like to share many grandchildren with my husband, see them running around as we age  and, from time to time, travel and relax together. (P.C)

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I was born on November 8th 
in a city called Burgos, in the north of Spain. I lived with my parents
and my brother, who was two years younger than me.  I was brought up by my parents because they spent a lot of time with my brother and me trying to turn us into good people. At the age of three I started to go to primary school in Río Arlanzon, a school near my house. There I met some of my current friends. When I think about my childhood, I remember it as a very happy period.

Then, nine years later, I finished primary school and I had to change to another school in order to start secondary school. There I made new friends and I also kept in touch with my childhood friends because some of them came with me to the same secondary school. In this period
I started to go out, I had my first love, I made a lot of friends and I
also started to think about becoming a journalist. I tried my best at school getting good marks in order to apply for university, and I graduated in 2007.

After leaving secondary
school, I took a gap year with my group of friends. We did something
called "interrail" which involves travelling by train or bus to a lot of countries at a very low cost. After the gap year, I applied for a place in journalism at Valladolid Univesity. I was offered the place, so I moved to a student residence in Valladolid.

Alhough I live in Valladolid now, I visit my family, friends and my boyfriend, a guy I met three years ago, every weekend in Burgos. Currently, I am studying the second year of journalism and I love it. I hope some day I will be an important journalist. (N.G)

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My name is S. R. and I was born on January 27^th
1985 in a city in the north west of Spain called Valladolid. I was the
oldest of two siblings and part of a close-knit family. My father
worked as a bus driver and my mother was unemployed. I was not brought
up by my granparents, like a lot of friends of mine, because my mother
spent all day with me and my brother, Álvaro. My happiest moments as a
child were when I played with him at home and when we went on holidays
to Torrevieja every summer.

 

At
the age of five I went to primary school and I remember it as a happy
period. However, things changed when I started secondary school, at
fourteen. I loathed it, but as time went on, I started to make friends
and, three years later met my current boyfriend. It was during this
period that I developed an interest in languages and journalism.

 

When
I finished secondary school I got a place at the University of
Valladolid. I started to study Chemical Engineering because I thought
that those studies could help me to find a good job in which I earned a
lot of money. However, one year later, I realized that I did not want
to work as an engineer and I dropped out my studies. At the age of
nineteen I started Journalism and two years later I worked in a
newspaper of my region, “El Norte de Castilla”, and in a local
television channel.

 

After finishing my studies, in June of this year,  I got a grant to work in the Spanish news agency Efe for a year. Nowadays,  I am working and studying English and Italian and I got a work placement for one year. I hope to find a job because, some day, I would like to rent a flat and live with my boyfriend. (S.R)

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When I look back on 
my childhood I remember that I belonged to a traditional Spanish family
where I was the second of four siblings and I was the only girl, so I was very spoilt by my family, especially by my father.

However, all this ended abruptly when at the age of seven my father died and it was a dramatic change in my life because on my father's death, we moved to my grandma's place in a different area. To make matters worse I was sent away to another school; therefore it took me some time to adapt to the change in those days, nevertherless, I attended this place for five years. Fortunately, I finished my Primary school studies in a new one next to my house and it  marked a major turning point for me because I had a teacher who infused me with the passion for the English language.

After leaving school I did vocational training but on my second year I dropped out of my technical college to take a gap year in order to work as a babysitter, in a cleaning company and shop assistant
in a supermarket which ended up closing down so I became a
seventeen-year-old  unemployed girl who did not want to work for
peanuts so I followed my mother`s advice and I finished my management studies.

On graduating, to cut a long story short, I got engaged to
my boyfriend and we got married two years later. Subsequently, and
according to my strong sense of family, I had my two wonderful  children in the following five years but in spite of having a couple of good apportunities to work out of home, I turned them down because I decided to look after my children and bring them up myself and , to be honest, I have never regretted having made that decision. (E.V)

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