Carnival

So the past couple of weeks have been un poco locas, owing to lots of work, things to organise, trips and of course, carnival.

It turns out that people allow you to sit on
the Carnival Throne if you're foreign...

Carnival is a fiesta I had never celebrated before and to be honest, I wasn't very sure what it was all in aid of. One of my students told me that it's about letting your hair down and enjoying yourself before giving something up at Lent and it turns out he was right, it is something along those lines.

Basically, in the olden days, you had to use up all of your good food and drink before Lent came along in order to ensure it wouldn't be there to tempt you. And no-one could think of a better excuse than this to throw a big party and don some fancy dress, not least the Spaniards.

The interesting thing I found about celebrations here is that the fancy dress isn't an individual thing, whole groups of friends go out and buy exactly the same costume. So you'll see 24 bottles of San Miguel walking towards you, 10 Rihannas dancing along the street and 20 brides walking down a makeshift aisle. It's quite an experience.

And the fancy dress isn't very much like what you'd see at Halloween in the UK or the US, where everyone tries to be desperately sexy. Just check out our outfits if you don't believe me.

'Boy Scouts on Tour 2012'

Un poco de gramática...

I said back in January that I wasn't quite sure how the whole teaching thing was going and I admit I still have the odd moment wondering what the hell I am doing trying to explain grammar to a bunch of teenagers. Happily, though, I'm feeling a lot more comfortable in the classroom these days and an experienced teacher told me that she liked the way I taught, which really boosted my confidence! She also said something very interesting though, which was that it really shows that I've studied a language before.  A lot of assistants arrive into her class with no idea of how grammar works, nor what the main problems with language learning are, which is a real shame.  In my humble opinion, you can't really teach a language very effectively if you've never tried learning another one.

In fact, I often really wish I could speak better Spanish to understand why some of my students make the mistakes that they do. Sometimes the only way you can explain something well is by making reference to your pupil's mother tongue and I don't know about anyone else, but I get frustrated when I can't do it!

That said, there are some things that I'm beginning to understand better as I learn more about good old Castellano and I'm noticing some mistakes that seem to recur across all age groups and levels. So here, for the benefit of teachers, Spaniards and anyone who can be arsed reading it, I've compiled a list of the 10 most common, and thankfully really easily fixable, English errors.

Top 10 Really Easily Fixable English Errors en España

1)  Pronunciation of 'u' in the Spanish way instead of the English way ('oo' instead of 'uh'). Remember   you're not having a Boorger King after a game of roogby. You're having a B-uh-rger King after a game of r-uh-gby.

2)  Using prepositions lifted directly from Spanish. One that could cause some quite unfortunate misunderstandings is saying 'to dream with someone' (soñar con alguién) rather than 'to dream of/about someone.'

3)  Forgetting prepositions altogether. If I had a penny for every time I have heard a student saying 'I listen music', I'd be a millionaire. 'Escuchar música' in Spanish; 'listen TO music' in English. (See below for a further list of examples)

4)  This is a strange one and I don't know why it happens, but ALL of my students used to mix up 'trip' and 'travel' (not any more, of course, because they've been constantly reminded of the difference!) 'Trip' is the noun and 'to travel' is the verb. Simples.

5)  Making sentences with the verb 'to like.' Again, it's also very simple. The rule is that there are three things you can put after the verb – a noun, an infinitive and a gerund. So I like music (noun), I like singing (gerund) and I like to play guitar (infinitive). [Note here you play the guitar and don't touch it!!]

6)  Describing the purpose of something. Many of my students used to say 'a pen for write' rather than 'a pen for writing' or 'a pen to write.' Again, the gerund and the infinitive are your friends.

7)  Mixing up (one of those awful phrasal verbs which means 'to confuse') 'for', 'since' and 'during.' 'For' and 'during' describe how long something happens/happened for, the former with a period of time and the latter with a noun. So I have been writing this for 10 minutes (time period) during my lunch break (noun). 'Since' tells you the point in time at which the action started and can be used with either a noun or a verb. I have been here since the morning (noun)/ I have been here since you arrived (verb).

8)  Pronunciation of the letter 'z'. This is perfectly understandable because there is no equivalent sound to the English 'z' in the Spanish language, but to speak like a native, you must perfect the sound that LL Cool J makes in the 'Control Myself' video. Skip to 3.12 and repeat after Mr. Cool J - Z, Z, Z, Z, Z, Z, Z... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1CbL1Vxjzw.

9)  Superfluous 'thes' in sentences. For example, saying 'the last week' instead of 'last week' or going to 'the bed' instead of simply 'going to bed.' Remember you can usually omit the article in English unless you want to really emphasise the noun.

10)  Putting 's's on the end of irregular plurals. Children, not childrens. Sheep, not sheeps. Women, not womens. Et cetera, et cetera...

Verbs where preposition is used in English and not in Spanish

indicar – to point out                              quitarse – to take off

huir – to flee from                                   poner – to put, to place, to turn on

saber – to know, to know how to         yacer – to lie down

mirar – to look at                                     platicar – to chat, to talk over

llevar – to take away                              esperar – to hope, to wait for

pagar – to pay for                                   sacar – to take out

pedir – to ask for                                    entregar – to hand over

criar – to raise, to bring up                    averiguar – to find out

destacar – to stand out                         apagar – to turn off

caerse – to fall down                             encender – to turn on

Che!

España y Francia

I was having a conversation the other day about the differences between living in Spain and France and it got me thinking about my experiences in both countries. So for anyone who's interested in finding out if France really is as chic as it seems and whether in Spain, 'la gente está muy loca' (as someone once said to their mate Johnny), read on...

Stereotypical as it is, I had to sum up France in one word, I think it'd probably be 'sophisticated.'  France is, after all, the land of haute couture, expensive perfume, champagne and fine dining. It's also a land of intellectuals, poets and philosophers, where you can go to the opera or strike up a conversation about existentialism in many circles without being thought of as pretentious.

Michelle Obama perfectly captures the sentiments of
any woman who finds herself in the company of a super-chic
française...

The problem, however, is that all the classiness and intellectualism surrounding France results in an almost rigid formality, bordering on unfriendliness. Try smiling at someone on the metro in the land of the frogs and you'll see what I mean. The person in question will either quickly avert their eyes or glare at you suspiciously like you want something from them. Ne vous inquiétez pas, mon ami, la suele chose que je veux est que vous me souriez...

Spain, in comparison, is a much more laid back place to live. In my experience, Spanish people are much more open than the French and their motto really is 'viva la fiesta!'  Smile at someone at the bus stop in Spain (Logroño is too small for a metro!) and they're ten times more likely to strike up a conversation than to simply ignore you.

A good example of the differences between French and Spanish culture can also be shown through the language and eating habits in each country. Firstly, I was initially quite shocked at the informality of language here. The formal, 'usted' form of the verb is very rarely used in Spain, in comparison with the frequent use of the 'vous' form in France. Spaniards answer the phone with a simple 'sí?' ('yes?') or a 'dime' ('tell me') and in comparison to when I lived in France, I have yet to find myself in a situation in which I'd feel uncomfortable swearing.

Whereas France has a reputation for fancy, Michelin starred restaurants and haute cuisine, Spain's famous pinchos/tapas are made from simple recipes and ingredients. The food, and the people, don't themselves too seriously and that's where all the charm lies. Indeed, it's true that sometimes, 'simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.'

And whilst we're on the subject of food (sorry, it's impossible for this not to be a recurring theme!), Logroño was voted as the gastronomic capital of Spain today, so now I'm enjoying the best food AND the best wine in the country :) See: http://www.conmuchagula.com/2012/02/03/logrono-capital-espanola-de-la-gastronomia-2012/

All the Spanish need to do now is learn how to make a decent croissant...  

Momentos graciosos en clase

A few of the highlights of my classes so far:

Activity on the kids' ideal school:

Q. Who is the school for?

A. 'It's for beutifol girl and me.'

Q. What classes would be on offer?

A. 50 Cent gives raping class. (A most unfortunate spelling error.)

Q. 'What are the teachers like?'

A. 'Can I write: “I like Claire?”'

Activity on describing photographs:

I handed out a photograph to each pair of pupils and asked them to guess what they thought was going on in the picture. I purposely didn't give two 13 year old boys a photo of me and a particularly buxom pal at a wedding, because I knew that their little hormones probably couldn't take it, but they leaned over the desk and looked at it anyway. 'Woooah,' one said to the other, 'qué melones tiene!' (basically, 'her tits are like melons.') The funniest part was when he realised that I had understood him ('Joooderrr, ha entendido!! Perdón!!')

A letter to Santa:

Activity: Please make a list of all the things you would like for Christmas.

Answer: 'A girlfriend.'

Trying to encourage the pupil in question to write a little bit more, I asked him to describe his fantasy woman. 'What would she look like,' I asked, 'Tall? Blonde? Would it be a famous person?' All he replied was: 'I don't care, I just want her to be normal and not lie to me.' Pobrecito, apparently his heart had been broken before he'd even hit puberty.

Activity: Complete the sentence – 'Santa, if you cannot bring me all the things that I want, please...'

Answer: 'Die.'

Predictions for 2012:

Activity: Make predictions for your classmates in a number of different categories.

Health: “Claire, cómo se dice vas a tener una enfermedad de transmisión sexual?” (“Claire, how do you say you're going to get an STI?”)

Half way through this class, one boy asked me how to translate 'tu te jodes.' I told him that a good way of putting it would be 'you're fucked', depending on the context (with the added caveat that he should NOT normally say this in the classroom!) When I collected his answers, he'd written:

Love prediction - In 2012, you will get married. You're fucked.

Sometimes I love my pupils.

La Felicidad

"The happiest people are those who think the most interesting thoughts. Those who decide to use leisure as a means of mental development, who love good music, good books, good pictures, good company, good conversation, are the happiest people in the world. And they are not only happy in themselves, they are the cause of happiness in others."

— William Phelps

Una ganga para las mujeres!

Anyone who knows me will know that I don't wear a lot of make up, nor am I obsessed with beauty products.  There is, however, one thing that I use every day and always have in my handbag - Elizabeth Arden's 8 Hour Cream.  It's reeeeally versatile (see http://learnmore.elizabetharden.com/eight-hour-cream/uses/ for some uses) and it's hands down best lip balm I have ever used.

You may (rightly) be wondering why am I telling you this on a travel blog.  The reason is that you get a 30ml tube of 8 Hour Cream, and a diary, free with this month's Spanish Cosmo.  4.10 for a magazine, a diary and a product that is worth at least 10 Euro seemed to be an offer too good to keep to myself!  

(Just remember that if you take up this offer, don't believe everything you read in the magazine!)