...Where the two shall be as one

For our next meeting, Mon Nov 17th, we are going to focus on Marriages. "To get or not to get... married, that is the question". Most young people are a bit reluctant to get married nowadays  Is it simply that they cannot afford all the expenses a "typical wedding" conveys, or is it something else; perhaps they are afraid of commitment? Let's not forget that not so long ago marriage used to be 'till death do us part', which by the way is the title of a very sentimental song by Madonna from her album Like A Prayer.
Child marriage is a very serious problem in many countries. Visit Save The Children for further information. Is there an ideal age to marry?

As usual, let's have a look at some quotations on marriage and see if you identify yourself with any of them. 

I guess we couldn't end this post without mentioning what Kalhil Gibran wrote "On Marriage" in his well-known book 'The Prophet'

And finally let me present you with a beautiful song by Peter, Paul and Mary called "The wedding song (There is love)" which I always loved and would like to share with you today. 

Blogs. How much do we know about them?

Next Monday, Nov 10th, we want to talk about Blogs and share our experience with them and how fond we are of blogs. Check vocabulary and useful questions here.
We have also uploaded a reading text describing why some people started writing their own blogs. 

Blogging has become a very popular activity over the last few years and we believe it is having a dramatic influence on journalism and on what and how people read nowadays. 
As usual, if you wish to read a bit more before the meeting, here are some links:

• Visit the wikipedia for a definition of blog. 
• Want to have a go at creating your own blog? Visit Blogger, a free weblog publishing tool from Google, for sharing text, photos and video.
• Here's a short YouTube video explaining how to start a blog using Blogger.
• If you are not yet convinced of starting your own blog, here are 15 reasons why you should do it. 
• Technicals aspects are usually a drawback. Here are some FAQ related to creating a blog or website. 

And one more week we shall be looking forward to seeing you on next Monday's meeting!! Bye. 

Friendship

For our Nov 3rd Workshop meeting we are going to talk about Friendship. One of my favourite quotes about friendship is this: "Friends are God's way of apologizing to us for our families." What do you think about it? If you wish to read more quotes about friendship here you have a good selection. Have a look at them and see if you have a favourite one or maybe you have a definition of your own for friendship.

See if you can answer some of the questions in this quiz about friends. We'll talk about them in our Monday meeting. Good night.

The Beatles sang a song called "I get by with a little help from my friends." Click here to hear the song with the lyrics.

Come on, don't be shy and post a comment sharing with us how important friends are for you.

PS Oh dear, How could I possibly forget "You've got a friend" by James Taylor?Don't miss it! If any problem with the lyrics, try here.

The happiest day of my life

Next Monday, Oct 27th, we are going to talk about happiness and we are going to share the happiest moments in our lives. Check vocabulary and useful questions here.
Do you think most people around you would consider themselves happy people?

Happiness is probably one of the most frequent words in our vocabulary and I'm sure if you asked people what they understand by happiness, they'd come up with very different answers? What makes a person happy?
If you wish to read a bit more before the meeting, here are some links:

• Read what a young girl wrote to describe the happiest day of her life. A man wrote something quite different. 
• "I want to thank you for giving me the best day of my life. Oh, just to be with you is having the best day of my life", sings Dido in her song "Thank you". Love and happiness walk hand in hand.
• Are we putting the key to our happiness in the hands of too many people? In this blog you'll find little tips that will help you to make your life happier. 
• "Happiness is a perfume you cannot pour on others without getting a few drops on yourself" This is my favourite quote on happiness. Do you have a favourite quotation?

And as usual we shall be looking forward to seeing you on next Monday's meeting!! Bye!

Homelessness

On our Workshop session # 3, on Monday Oct 20th we shall be talking about Homelessness. Here you can download an interesting article published by The Guardian and slightly adapted for school purposes. At the end of the article there are some questions if you want to check your level of reading comprehension (keys are included).

We have also posted a glossary and a series of questions that might help you to participate in our Workshop meeting.

And finally, here you have a few links with extra information related to this week's topic for discussion:

• Visit the wikipedia for a definition of 'homelessness'.
• Australian website with plenty of information on homelessness, pictures, statistics... Rebecca's Community is a community group whose staff and volunteers work with people who experience homelessness in Sydney, Australia.
• Go on and read some real stories behind people who are or were in the street.
• This famous song, Suzanne, by Leonard Cohen, has always reminded me of a homeless lady.
• “Another day in paradise” (1989) by Phil Collins. Collins sings the song from a third-person perspective, observing as a man crosses the street to ignore a homeless woman, and he implores listeners not to turn a blind eye to homelessness because, by drawing a religious allusion, "it's just another day for you and me in paradise". Collins also appeals directly to God by singing: "Oh lord, is there nothing more anybody can do? Oh lord, there must be something you can say!" 

Enjoy yourself and... see you on Monday!! Don't miss out!
By the way, this week we'll have the visit of Ms Mary Whitefrizz, an English lady who regularly collaborates with Café y Calor, a programme run by Cáritas for homeless people in La Línea. She'll be happy to share her experience with us all and answer our questions.

Learning a new language: what a challenge!

(Workshop. Sessions # 1 and 2. Oct 6th and 14th 2014)
Here's the content suggested for our first meeting. I thought it might be a good idea to start by sharing our difficulties and achievements in the process of learning English.
Learning to speak a second or third language has become a necessity in our modern world. Everybody agrees on this, but the task proves to be difficult and many people give up somewhere along the way. 

Why is it so difficult for us Spaniards to learn a new language? It is so frustrating to confirm that after  studying a foreign language (usually English) at school for an endless number of years we are still incapable of communicating successfully in that language. Is it something universal or we Spaniards are too dumb to succeed in learning a foreign language? And perhaps the crucial issue, how long does it really take to get to fluency? 
Here are some tips to study a foreign language. Do not desperate if you are not completely happy with your accent speaking English.

Let's share our experience and the frustration or success we've had in learning English. 

Welcome to Life Through English

We are back!!

Next October we are starting a new workshop in our EOI: Life Through English or shall we call it English Through Life? The idea is to use our knowledge of English to approach relevant aspects of life or, if you want to look at it this way, use our everyday life experiences to practise and improve our English.
We are looking for a group of 15/20 enthusiastic people with fairly good knowledge of English, willing to dedicate a couple of hours every week to experiment a language immersion in English.  
The final objective of the group is to have fun and enjoy our mutual company while exercising our English, meeting new people and learning new things. 

• Participants: EOI / former EOI students or any other people with enough knowledge of English to follow and take part in the activities proposed. 

• Requirements: strong willingness and motivation to become involved in the project and actively participate in the activities programmed. 

• Suggested activities: discussions and debates, presentations, guest speakers, written production, reading and sharing what we read, group reading, roleplaying, watching films and documentaries, theatre, reading along, a bit of language analysis and reflexion, etc.

• Venue and Meetings: a weekly 2-hour meeting on Monday afternoons (16:30-18:30), beginning on October 6th, at EOI San Roque. 

• The workshop will be given by José Luis Gómez Marfil, former teacher of EOI San Roque and Algeciras.

This blog will be adapted to become a guideline for the English Language Workshop Life Through English. Every week we will post plenty of information (readings, listenings, links, etc.) related to the topic to be discussed on next week's meeting. 

For further information and inscription, contact:

Asociación de Alumnos de la EOI de San Roque

or José Luis Gómez Marfil

Time out

I'm afraid we'll have to take some time out in our weekly meetings as I've just come back from Barcelona where I've had surgery on my right hip. I'm recovering quite well but I'll need a long while to rehab and I'll be on crutches  that time. 

Sorry about that. In the mean time I offer you this beautiful poem "To an English friend in Africa", by Ben Okri, a Nigerian poet and writer. I first heard about him through my daughter, at that time studying Politics at Edimburgh University back fifiteen years ago.

To an English friend in Africa

For Daisy Waugh

Be grateful for the freedom

To see other dreams.

Bless your loneliness as much as you drank

Of your former companionships.

All that you are experiencing now

Will become moods of future joys

So bless it all.

Do not think your way superior

To another's

Do not venture to judge

But see things with fresh and open eyes

Do not condemn

But praise when you dan

And when you can't, be silent.

Time now is a gift for you

A gift of freedom

To think and to remember and understand

The ever perplexing past

And to re-create yourself anew

In order to transform time.

Happy Summer!!

The school year is now over. Lots of work lies behind and now the time has come to enjoy a well-deserved rest. It has been a great pleasure to work with you this year. We have all learnt so many things that will be of great use in our lives. Thanks for your contribution and enthusiasm. I'll be looking forward to seeing you back again in September. Till then, all the best.

I will not update this blog during the summer as often as I have done during the school year. However don't forget to pay us a visit once in a while.

Relative clauses

Here's a bit of grammar to help you understand the use of relative clauses. And here you will find more information about relative clauses and lots of exercises and tests for further practice. Good luck!

Cycling for food

I just loved the title of this recording: "Cycling for food." Any good guess what it might be about? Let me give you a clue: it's a new Danish scheme which has to do with cycling, food and energy...

Well, if you give in, I'll tell you that it is the title of a 6 minute recording from the BBC. A very interesting initiative although I wonder if I'd be hungry after so much pedaling!! If you need help with the script, you'll find it here. Have fun!

Made in Spain

The Passive voice is a very important issue in English language. Maybe Spanish speakers are not aware of its importance because we don't use it that much in our own language; instead we use other structures which are more appropriate or popular. When we turn to English though, we must learn to appreciate what a useful structure the passive voice is and how many things we can express with it.

Basically speaking we use the active voice when want to put the stress on the subject of a sentence -I bought a new T-shirt yesterday. And we opt for the passive when the focus is on the action itself and we don't know or don't care about who or what performed that action -My car was stolen last night.

Click here you will find some notes explaining some aspects of the use of the passive voice in English. For further practice and more exercises use this link.

She refused to tell me what Mary had told her...

Reported speech means using our own words to report what another person has told us. Reported speech is so important in English first because we use it all the time and second, because it allows us to choose the most appropriate words in order to be as faithful as possible to the original message.

You can find a few grammar tips and exercises here. For further exercises click here.

Here a couple of tutorial videos to illustrate different aspects of the use of Reported Speech. The first one is focussed on the forms, and the second one deals with the use of "say" and "tell" among other things. I think they can be quite useful.

Shopping

If I needed to buy some meat, where should I go? Choose the right shop for each item. Test yourself with the following crossword.

International Day of the Book

April 23rd was declared as International Day of the Book by UNESCO in 1995. This day marks the nearly simultaneous deaths of Miguel de Cervantes and William Shakespeare, the two giants of literary history, on April 23, 1616.

This celebration of books, literature and music draws its inspiration from a Catalan tradition, the Festival of the Rose.

I liked what Natalia Crespo wrote on her blog about this day; I think it describes very accurately what we all have felt one time or another while reading a book.

We cannot finish this post without referring to one of the most beautiful Shakespeare's sonnets. Read sonnet 18, Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? Or maybe you'd rather listen to it.

Have a Happy Book Day.

PS. I found this video and thought it was very funny and clever. It makes us all look a bit ridiculous with so much "high technology". Sorry I couldn't find it in English.