A Family Holiday I Didn't Enjoy

I was born in Cádiz, like my brother. However, I only lived there for 10 years. My father is a building services Engineer, and he have had to travel so much for job. Consequently, my family moved many times with him. 

When I was sixteen, we were living in Alcalá de Henares (Madrid) and I was studying at secondary school. The family's summer holidays were always the same. My brother and I spent one month in Carcabuey with our grandparents while my parents remained working in Alcalá. My parents took holidays the second month of the summer and we all went together for a couple of weeks to Cádiz.

The beaches in Cádiz were still very unspoiled and natural. They were calm, unoccupied and pleasant,... There weren't buildings closer to them neither restaurants or shopping centers. They were simply a place to relax.

That year I convinced my parents to change the beach. "Let's go to Torrevieja beach this time!" - I told them over and over. I had been trying to persuade them since September and finally my parents had given in. My friends of school went every summer to the same beach and they enjoyed the holidays all together. I wanted to join them. My parents asked me why I wanted to go there, and I gave them a lot of reasons except for the real one.

I knew I was wrong as soon as we arrived there. Torrevieja was overpopulated. There were enormeous buildings everywhere and the people who lived there were always around. The beach had so manuy people that it was difficult to lie down or even to go for a swim. We missed so much our calm and natural beach in Cádiz.

I felt so bad that I told my family why I had told to go to Torrevieja. My parents were very angry with me and they punished me with the worst of all possible punishments: I only could see my friends a couple of days during the holidays.


PS: You could find more vocabulary about holidays and other topics (and its pronuntiation) here. 


Please, If you find any mistake or you have another point of view about the information that I have posted, please leave a comment. We can all learn together! This blog feeds on your coments!!  

Carrying My House In My Back

There is an Spanish expression that means you are carrying your house in your back, just like snails. This expression is "con la casa a cuestas". I have been looking for a similar expression in English and I have found this one, "always on the move", but I am not sure if it is really right.

I studied Computer Engineering, but after 6 years working on it as a professional, I decided to make a change in my life and I became a mathematics teacher in Secondary School (in Spain, it is from twelve to eighteen years old). I had to work and study hard to get it, because after you get an university degree (in Spain, it takes you at least six years), you must get a master's degree in pedagogy. Once you both degrees, you are able to take a State exam. 

This exam has 4 parts: a written theory exam (you must expound on one lesson completely - selected randomly from 70 possible ones-, in only two hours), a practical written exam (where you have to solve five high-level mathematics problems, in two hours), a educational project (where you must develop a memory about an hypothetical complete course from Secondary School and you have to deliver it on exam day) and a practical oral exam (where you have to explain how you'd organize a lesson - selected randomly from the lessons you have included in your project - and how you'd explain it to the students, in one hour).  Only if you pass all of them, will you get into the State Education Employment exchange. To remain on it, you must pass this exam every 2 years.

Once you are in this Employment exchange, you can be called to work at any moment during the academic course (from 1th of September to 30th of Jun). You can be very lucky and get a vacancy for the rest of the course, or more likely you only get to work for a few months, weeks or even days. When the teaching possition is finishes, you go back again onto the Employment exchange and can be called once again until the course is over.  In any case, you have to move away to the city where your new school is. We are always carrying our houses in our backs.

 Today I am in 9th possition in the Employment exchange, so I think that I am going to move out very soon... Always "con la casa a cuestas" ;-)

PS: You could find more vocabulary about job and other topics (and its pronuntiation) here. 

Please, If you find any mistake or you have another point of view about the information that I have posted, please leave a comment. We can all learn together! This blog feeds on your coments!!

New Year Resolutions

Since I was a child, I have been scared of needles. I mean, the sort of needles that are placed in a vein - only those make me feel panicky. I have always had a bad relationship with them:

• When I was 5 years old, doctors prescribe my first blood test: When my parents and I arrived at the health clinic, nurses had to tie me (literally) in order to extract me blood.
• Every time I have had a blood test since then, I have felt dizzy and even fainted.

To give blood was not only a recurring "new year resolution", but also a "life resolution": I would like to help people to feel better and healthy.  It seems to be so easy that I always feel bad with myself when I don't take a step forward to give blood.

Last Friday, my mother had her back-checked at Puerta del Mar Hospital, in Cádiz. She was operated on 9 months ago. She had 4 slipped discs (hernias) at the bottom of her back (lumbar spine) and she needs to have the screws and the plate checked to see that they haven't moved. Normally, this type of checking takes a long time, so I don't know why but I decided to spend this time in banishing my fear.  

Today I can say that on 28 December 2012 it was just the first time I gave blood. It made me feel so so happy and proud of myself.   

And what about your resolutions? Did you carry them out in 2012? Have you thought abut your 2013 resolutions?

In relation to this post, I want to upload my next note here, and this one is about vocabulary for healthy (Illness And Treatment).


Please, If you find any mistake or you have another point of view about the information that I have posted, please leave a comment. We can all learn together! This blog feeds on your coments!!

Christmas Greetings

Two days ago I was in my mother's house and I wanted to send an email to my English friends with a Christmas greeting. But I hadn't time to look for the correct vocabulary, so I wrote to them only the classic "Merry Christmas". 

This evening I have decided to search for a way to express wishing or greeting to other people and I have just found it. The better way is using the word "May". 

The word "may" is a modal verb. Surely, you have read sometimes a text where "may" was used in expressing contingency (We may have to take a later flight), possibility (It may rain today) or even opportunity (I may be able to go to the beach this week). It is very useful when you speak to British people, because they are very polite. Especially if you need English for working, you shouldn't forget not only "May" but also "Could", "Please", etc.

Anyway, today I know that the word "may" has another meaning. It is also used frequently to express a prayer or even a wish. And here we are! We may do Christmas greetings using this meaning of the word "may". 

In the following lines you can read the better greetings I've found with word "may":

• May you have the best of Christmas this year and may all your dreams come true.
• May the peace and joy of Christmas live in your heart in the new year.
• May the miracle of Christmas fill your heart with warmth and love.
• Christmas is a special time of year to remember those who are close to our hearts!
  May your days be bright, and your heart be light!
• Wish I could spend the Christmas Hols with you. I am missing you so much. May you have the best of Christmas.
• Christmas is the time of giving and sharing. It is the time of loving and forgiving.. And to feel the Joy and Happiness of being Loved and to be Loved.. May this Christmas be a Joyous one as You Ever Had!!

And my favourite greeting for all of you is:  Merry Christmas!. Make merry not just on this wonderful holiday but all through the new year!!

PS: You can learn more about may verb here.


Please, If you find any mistake or you have another point of view about the information that I have posted, please leave a comment. We can all learn together! This blog feeds on your coments!!

Vocabulary For Descriptions

Tomorrow I have an English exam. Whatever mark I get on it, won't be taken into account in the final course evaluation. However, it's important for me to know I am doing right my learning, and this is a good way to found out (It's a good way to get feedback on my learning).

This exam will be the quarter exam: we should revise everything we have been learning during the last three months. This includes the following topics:

- Personality,

- Clothes and Fashion,

- Illness and treatment, 

- Psychic and Fortune-tellers,
- Air travel.

In secondary school, teachers say to us that we may study using our own schemas and doing our own reviews. In my opinion, it is a good way to memorize and internalize the knowledge. Consequently, I always make reviews of my knowledge. 

I want to post my notes here, and the first one is about vocabulary for descriptions; not only personality descriptions, but also physical descriptions (clothes and fashion).

I hope you might find useful.

PS: You could find more vocabulary about descriptions and other topics (and its pronuntiation) here.


Please, If you find any mistake or you have another point of view about the information that I have posted, please leave a comment. We can all learn together! This blog feeds on your coments!!