Merry Christmas to all!! Digital story of the Nativity

I post this entry to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Espero que aprovechéis al máximo estos días y encontréis tiempo para descansar, pasar tiempo con la familia y amigos, viajar y empezar el nuevo año con energías renovadas.

I guess (and hope!) you all know the history of Christmas. I found a digital version of the story on the Internet and I wanted to share it with you. It's so good! I hope you enjoy it!

También espero que encontréis tiempo para repasar / estudiar lo que hemos visto en este trimestre. Recordad que a la vuelta de Navidad tenemos una semana de clase antes del examen, por lo que podréis preguntar todas las dudas que tengáis.

See you on the 10th January.

Listening ("Christmas is coming")

Hi everyone,

This week we only had one day of class: Monday 20th. We talked about Christmas and we saw the history of Father Christmas and Santa Claus. Then we listened to a conversation between a dad and his two children, a daughter and a son. They talked about Christmas presents and Santa Claus.

Click here to listen to their conversation again. Then do the activities below (at the end of the document you have the answers):
Christmas is coming

Finally, we saw some typical Christmas dishes (Christmas cake, Christmas pudding, roast turkey, etc.) and we learnt how to make Yule log!

Merry Christmas to all! The digital story of the Nativity

I post this entry to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

I hope you make the most of these days, find time to relax, switch off, spend time with the family, travel, and start the New Year with renewed energy.


I guess (and hope!) you all know the history of Christmas. I found a digital version of the story on the Internet and I wanted to share it with you. It's so good! I hope you enjoy it!

I would also like you to organise yourselves properly so that you can find time to revise / study English as well. Remember that we have one week of class before the exam, so you can ask me all the questions you have.

See you on the 10th January.

Cardinal and ordinal numbers; prepositions "in", "on", "at"

Hi all,

Here you have the summary of this week and the last one (we only had one day of class - Thursday 9th).

On Monday / Tuesday we talked about fascinating festivals around the world. We saw a powerpoint presentation with three pictures (la tomatina, los san fermines and las fallas). You discussed them in pairs and then we saw them together.

Then we read the text in file 3D and we learnt how to say the dates, the months and the seasons. Remember that in English we say dates with an ordinal number: today is 19th December / December 19th. When we speak we say, "today is the 19th of December" (BrE) OR today is December the 19th (AmE).

Click here for a list of cardinal and ordinal numbers with their pronunciation.




Finally, we read an interview about a novelist's favourite times of the day, we practised in groups and then we listened to Cristina and Udom talking about this.

On Wednesday / Thursday we learnt that we can use three different prepositions to talk about time: in, on, at.

• Use in with:
• months (in January)
• years (in 2005)
• times of the day (in the morning, in the afternoon, in the evening).

• Use on with:
• dates (on the 17th of December 2010)
• days of the week (on Monday)

• Use at with:
• times (at half past five)
• festivals / public holidays (at Easter, at Christmas)
• at the weekend
• at night

Click here and here for two online activities to practise this.

Finally, we saw a situation in a coffee shop. Please, study the vocabulary and expressions in these situations (on a plane, at the airport, in a hotel, etc.) because they are extremely useful and they will be in the oral exam.

I hope you have a good weekend!

Complementary activities

Hi again,

I'm writing now to remind you of the two complementary activities we have at the Official Language School next week:

On Tuesday 21st December we'll have a "Latin Dancing Workshop" conducted by an experienced dancer and teacher at the We (a famous gym in Granada). The activity will start at 17.30.

At 19.00, we'll have a Karaoke with songs in the different languages taught at the school: English, French, German, Arab and Spanish.

On Wednesday 22nd December we'll watch the film "Love Actually" in original version with subtitles. The activity will start at 17.30 and finish at around 19.30. If you don't know what this film is about, read the plot here.

I remind you that complementary activities are a very good opportunity to know a little bit more about the culture of other countries and to meet people who are also interested in learning languages.

I'll appreciate your attendance.

Air controllers' strike

As you know, the air controllers strike has been the focus of attention during the whole bank holiday, both in Spain and abroad. I guess you've all seen the Spanish news / read the Spanish newspapers and know about the reactions in our country. But how has the rest of the world seen the strike?

Well, here you have an article by The Guardian. It was published on Sunday and it gives a full account of the whole odyssey that started on Friday afternoon. The BBC also has some videos and telephone conversations of Britons that were stranded at the airport. Click here to watch / listen to them. Finally, here you have an article entitled "Your Stories", where several people tell their experiences at the airport.