Online Newspapers

Reading newspapers, even if only the headlines, is a great way to learn a language. Bearing in mind that the use of the language in newspapers is a bit different from language in everyday life, you can learn so much.
Thanks to the internet, foreign newspapers and magazines are widely available online. This is my selection of free newspapers online:

The Guardian This British newspaper's online edition was the third most widely read in the world as of June 2012
The London Evening Standard is a local, free daily newspaper, published Monday to Friday in tabloid format in London.
Metro UK is a free newspaper published in tabloid format in the United Kingdom.
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper,published in New York City. It has won more Pulitzer Prizes than any other news organization.
The Huffington Post  It calls itself the Internet Newspaper as there is no paper edition. This is the link to the American edition.
The Village Voice is a free weekly tabloid-format newspaper and news and features website in New York City that features investigative articles, analysis of current affairs and culture, arts and music coverage, and events listings for New York City.

Welcome to a New School Year!

I am so not ready but what can I do? These first few days, even weeks, are the hardest because I don't know my students and they don't know me. Hopefully, we'll get used to each other soon and everything will run like clockwork. In the meantime, I'll try my best. So far, this year looks promising. I like my students. They're eager to learn, they listen and most importantly, they're fearless! I'm feeling optimistic!
Good Luck to everyone! I hope this is a year full of learning and fun!

Goodbye, Mr Reed!!

Yesterday was not a perfect day, as the great Lou Reed passed away. There'll be no more concerts nor songs from him. It was a sad day for music or, as Don Mclean would have said, it was the day the music died. But true artists like him never die. His music will live on forever.
Enjoy!

How good are the Spanish at English? Not very, sadly.

Languageknowledge.eu is a visualization of language knowledge in Europe by Jonathan Van Parys, launched to coincide with the 2012 European Day of Languages. The site uses data from the Europeans and their languages survey by the European Commission.
When the European Commission published a new Eurobarometer survey on languages in the summer of 2012, he thought it would be fun to do something interactive with language data in order to visualize language dynamics in Europe: which languages are growing in popularity, which languages are most spoken in each country, which countries are lagging behind in language skills, etc.
It's really interesting for us, teachers of English as a foreign language, to see what's the state of things in our country. It is sad to see that little has changed and we are still far behind our fellow Europeans.

Go to the site yourselves and see the Data. The site is interactive so you can choose any language spoken in the European Union, not only English.

Malala for the Nobel Peace Prize

Soon we'll find out who will be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize this year. I must say that to many of us that award doesn't mean much anymore, too many undeserving recipients... But Malala is different: She is an inspiration; a strong, powerful young woman who hopefully will help change this world for the better. After watching her recent interview on The Daily Show, I feel as much in awe as Jon Stewart himself. Please watch and enjoy this wonderful interview!

Welcome to a new school year!!

After a few months of inactivity and with the start of the new school year, this blog is coming alive again. Hopefully, and with the help of readers like you, its life will be long and fruitful ;) So please, don't forget to comment!

Are you thinking about going to the UK? Some useful links

These are difficult times for everyone in Spain and some of us are thinking about trying another life somewhere else. Even if you are thinking of only going for a short time in order to learn the language, here's some useful links in case you are planning to go to the UK:

Floodlight is the place to go to look for courses. You can find any course and at any price here. You can also go to a public library to get more information about free courses. At least, they used to have lists when I was much younger!

Loot is the place to go to find ANYTHING: Loot is the UK's original classified ads paper with editions in London, Manchester and Liverpool. You can find a job, accomodation... anything you'll need.

If you need a temporary cheap place to stay when you first arrive in the UK, check out the YHA website. Once there it will be easier to find a more permanent place and a job too!

 You can find Job offers for Spanish speaking people here, Portal de empleo de la Consejería del Ministerio de Empleo y Seguridad Social en el Reino Unido.

If what you are looking for is summer language courses abroad, Inturjoven has a wide range of courses.


Good luck!!!