Happy New Year!

Terms For Snack Time

“Elevenses” And 6 Other Terms...  from Dictionary.com

Is It True “W” Can Be Used As A Vowel?

Review what vowels are on this Dictionary.com article.

Glottal & Flapped "-t-"

 

Spanish News in English

Dear readers,

Alarm bells are ringing in Spain over the sixth coronavirus wave, which has seen a record-breaking number of new cases. In a bid to curb the surge, the Spanish government announced that face masks would once again be mandatory in outdoor spaces. It has also promised to strengthen the contact tracking system and ramp up vaccination. But health experts say these measures do not go far enough, and are calling for stricter tools to reduce transmission.

Catalonia has announced tougher restrictions: a return to a nighttime curfew, the closure of nighttime venues and limits on capacity in restaurants and cultural spaces. While in the southeastern region of Murcia, all non-essential activity must shut down between 1am and 6am starting on December 24 and extending until January 14.

In the meantime, the spike in cases is putting Spain’s healthcare system under greater pressure. Primary healthcare centers are overwhelmed, and contact tracers say they do not have the time and resources to manage the growing workload.

In other, better news, an experimental treatment developed by a public hospital in Barcelona has seen 18 cancer patients go into complete remission.

We hope you enjoy this selection of articles from the EL PAÍS English Edition.

Thanks for reading and happy holidays!
MELISSA KITSON

Merry Christmas!!!

Christmas Jokes

Santa might have left a present on the Aula Virtual 😊

Why Xmas?

Learn why Xmas may be spelled like that here.

New Courses at our EOI

 

AaEoiCt Navidad 2021

The Year in Pictures 2021

Visions of a Volatile World (By Meaghan Looram, The New York Times Director of Photography)

The year 2021 opened with the promise of vaccines, and the belief that we would all return to “normal” after the tumultuous year of the pandemic. But the year instead took off with an insurrection in the U.S. Capitol, and saw a summer of carefree gatherings derailed by a fast-spreading virus...

[Bye 2💩21]

Sing along!!!

 

Another Xmas Talk

We will be enjoying another Zoom talk Merry Christmas by Navjot (our American language assistant) this evening at 7. Find the link on Aula Virtual.

More Christmas Activities

We will be enjoying a talk about Christmas by Max (our British language assistant) on Wednesday afternoon at 5. Find the link in your email.

C2 Talking about Conversations

Passing the time of day and talking shop... Check words and phrases that describe various types of conversation in this Cambridge Blog Article.

You can also have a look at Collocations Connected with Communication (by the same author).

... And some more conversation phrases here.

Christmas Activities

As we cannot do any Christmas activity together at the school due to present regulations, you can attend an interesting talk about "La Huertecica" this afternoon at 5. Check your emails to find the link.

Ask Santa!!!

Dear readers,

This week was once again dominated by news of the coronavirus pandemic. With infections continuing to rise – the 14-day incidence rate was 473 cases per 100,000 on Thursday – Spanish health authorities approved booster shots for the over-40 population. Spain has also begun vaccinating children between the ages of five and 11.

In other news, the volcanic eruption on La Palma, in Spain's Canary Islands, came to a complete stop on Tuesday night. While experts say it is unlikely that it will reactivate, they want to wait until at least Christmas before confirming that the eruption has come to an end.

And finally, we looked at the discovery in Cádiz of what might be the legendary temple of Hercules Gaditanus, known as Melqart in Phoenician times.

We hope you enjoy this selection of articles from the EL PAÍS English Edition.

Thanks for reading.
MELISSA KITSON

Checklist to improve your writing: C1 Advanced

Even though this writing checklist is for Cambridge Exams, it could be applied to our writing tasks perfectly as well. Do it before editing your writing tasks and remember you have a similar one (specific for each type of writing) at the end of every writing section in every module in the textbook (below the Useful Language Section, right hand column).

You could also check C1 Advanced self-access learning Writing Part 1 – the discursive essay for extra tips.

Frases en inglés que los nativos NUNCA usan

British vs American vs Canadian ENGLISH Differences! (very different!)

US vs CAN vs UK Vocab

Spanish News in English

Dear readers,

Concern is growing over the rising number of coronavirus cases in Spain. According to the latest figures, the incidence rate over the last 14 days now stands at 305 per 100,000. With infections on the rise, health experts have called on the public to take care over the Christmas festive season, warning that social gatherings may turn into superspreader events.

This is what happened in Málaga, when a Christmas lunch for health workers at Regional University Hospital triggered an outbreak, with at least 80 coronavirus cases detected. Experts are also concerned about outbreaks in schools. In a bid to contain the spread, Spain will begin vaccinating children between the ages of five and 11 from December 15.

In other news, an English judge has called on Spain to clarify whether emeritus king Juan Carlos I is still a member of the royal family. The question has been raised due to a lawsuit that has been filed against the former monarch by his ex-lover Corinna Larsen. Whether or not it prospers will depend on if the court considers Juan Carlos to be protected by immunity as a sovereign.

And finally, we looked at the rare birds that have been sighted in Spain – including two North American snowy owls who landed in Asturias after being blown off course by a storm.

We hope you enjoy this selection of articles from the EL PAÍS English Edition.

Thanks for reading.
MELISSA KITSON

10 Advanced Adjectives to use

Word Formation: Adding Affixes

An affix is a set of letters generally added to the beginning or end of a root word or base word to modify its meaning. The root is the portion of the word that remains when all prefixes and suffixes have been removed.

Have a close look at some affixes used to change types of words in this word formation sheet and underline / highlight new info.

Spanish News in English

Dear readers,

The headlines this week were dominated by news of the omicron variant of the coronavirus, which has more than 30 mutations and is believed to be more contagious than other strains.

In response to the concerns over the variant, Spain announced tighter restrictions on travel as well as quarantine measures for travelers from at-risk countries. Close contacts of omicron cases will also have to self-isolate for 10 days even if they are vaccinated.

By midday Friday, seven cases of the omicron variant had been detected in Spain: three in Madrid, two in Catalonia and two in the Balearic Islands. All of the cases, with the exception of one in the Madrid region, were among people who had recently arrived from South Africa. Meanwhile, coronavirus cases continue to rise across the country, with the 14-day incidence rate now standing at 234 cases per 100,000.

And finally, we looked at the leadership change at Spanish fashion giant Inditex, which has a market value of €87 billion. As of April, Marta Ortega – the daughter of the company's founder Amancio Ortega – will be chair, a move that has sparked many questions, in particular: why now?

We hope you enjoy this selection of articles from the EL PAÍS English Edition.

Thanks for reading.
MELISSA KITSON

Disappearing Syllables

 

C1 UNCOUNTABLE Nouns Revision

Air     Advice    Behaviour    Equipment    Evidence    Food     Furniture     Gossip    Homework    Information    Knowledge    Luggage    Marriage    Money    News    Power    Research    Scaffolding    Toast    Underwear    Weather    Work 

Read the examples below and make true sentences for you using the uncountable nouns you're less familiar with:

• That's the best (piece of) news I've heard for a long time!
• They are carrying out/conducting/doing (some) fascinating research into/on the language of dolphins.
• I usually have (a slice of) toast and (some) marmalade for breakfast.
• ...
• ...
• ...

You can create a list and add new ones as you keep on finding more of them.

List (A to Z) of most common uncountable nouns.

Be careful because some may be both (usually different meanings): Nouns which may be countable & uncountable.

Take some practice here!