Blog

On the 13th of May, 1924, the London Underground witnessed something truly extraordinary unfold 23 metres beneath the streets…

In the UK, and several countries around the world, April 1st is known as April Fool’s Day. It’s a day for playing jokes and pranks on people and, if they fall for it, they are then labelled an April Fool.

I’ll readily admit that I under-achieved in my life, though some would say, due to the type of childhood that I had, I probably ended up over-achieving, and I owe a debt of gratitude to my grandparents for that.

The rules of modern football were first developed in Britain and many of the first football clubs in Spain were established by British expatriates.

Almost as soon as school starts in September, the back-to-school promotions end… But it’s once the Christmas things are taken away that the shops begin to promote my most hated festival of the year; Valentine’s Day.

As a connoisseur of all things spooky, it’s not much of a surprise that my favourite lesson is Gothic Legends, where we go over some of the most popular horror stories and characters in English literature.

Students sometimes ask me whether it is better to speak English with a British or an American accent. The answer is, of course, both, or neither. Why not an Australian, a South African or a Jamaican accent?

For several years the eagerly awaited Christmas TV commercials from some of the UK’s biggest retailers have kick-started the festive season all across the country.

The older I get the more I think about the past, especially my childhood. I think of all the people I met, who for varying reasons, left their mark on me during those early years. I’d like to share just a few.

Ask any teenage student at a secondary school in Spain if they like literature and the reaction will probably be one of complete disinterest or just totally negative. 

As I sit here typing away, I can hear the wind howling outside my window and I’m reminded that Halloween is around the corner.

As I get older and the memory starts to fade, I’ve noticed there are certain things I still remember as clearly now as the day they happened, and many of them have one thing in common. They were firsts.

One question I am often asked is whether I miss England. People are often surprised to learn that I have lived more of my life outside the UK than in it!

There is hardly a child in Ireland that hasn’t tried his or her hand at hurling at some time or other.

September, love it or hate it, is always a special time of year for students and teachers alike.

Like many language teachers, my first class back after the summer holidays was getting my students to talk about what they did over the summer.

Marmite is a sticky brown spread used on sandwiches, toast or crackers, across the English speaking world. It is part of British heritage and it helped the nation survive two world wars.

“Is that an iPhone?” A student asked me after giving a class. When I didn’t know the answer she was shocked! Then when I told her I wasn’t a mobile phone person her shock turned to confusion.

As a British child growing up in Spain in the 70’s and 80’s watching American and British films and series, dubbing was the norm. We simply didn’t know any better. When I went to university in Barcelona in the first half of the 90’s I discovered a whole new world in this respect: films in VO.

“What’s in a name. That which we call a rose by any other name would smell just as sweet”. Shakespeare uses this line in Romeo and Juliet to argue that names are irrelevant. Well, I hate to disagree with the Bard of Avon, but names can tell us a great deal, especially when it comes to place names.