Best Wishes

I’ve tried to update with my corrections. However try to understand if there is one among your posts that has not been corrected. This will happen. If I don’t correct everything it doesn’t mean you do not have to write. You MUST WRITE in order to get loose, to practise, to respond more naturally. It is a constant training.

Enjoy the holidays but do not forget your English completely during these days. Enjoy yourself and use the language for your own benefit. Each of you learns in a different way. Find your own learning way!!!

Suggestions? Films, English TV programmes, articles on topics you are interested in, pod casts, going to the country if possible really or virtually…

I’m leaving for Marseille in a few hours. I will not be able to check my mail, so meanwhile I do hope that you enjoy your holidays and send you my best wishes for the New Year.

And do not be too “shopaholic”…

Bits of daily/weekly life

Hi there!

I can understand how difficult it is to find time to write for some of you. I specially understand you now with my daily railway problems. I’m stolen a couple of hours of my “leisure” time everyday going up and down trains and busses. I’m quite desperate. I have to admit I feel more exhausted than I’ve ever been. Probably because I’m getting a “little” older but in any case this lost is by no means justifiable. These works drive me crazy!

I promised I was going to write from Galicia (25-27 October) but time flew! I was really busy and a little nervous before my presentation. After my presentation everything was easier. People were really interested in the topic and many teachers ended up by creating their own blogs. These teachers are now writing to me saying how thrilled they feel with their new toy: their BLOGS.

But I want to tell about a moment that was really special to me. You know these times in life that you do not know why but they reach you and you perceive them in a very special way… It was Friday. I had finished all my presentations and workshops and we were wandering around the streets of Santiago. I find this city so special…!!! All of a sudden I could listen to a crowd of heavenly voices. The moon up in the sky was full, the streets were empty and I thought there was a kind of magic in the air… We got into the church of “Las Ánimas”, and all the choir people from England were gracefully singing. There was an international choir meeting and they were surprisingly singing in front of a very scarce audience. I was sorry but at the same time the silence, the dim light and the emptiness of the church contributed to the magic. I was delighted.



Last long week end was quite nice too (1-4 November). I enjoyed my visit to Majorca with my little granddaughter. We went to see the loquat she planted two years ago. It had grown!! And we all enjoyed the stay at my friend’s country house and the visit to Porto Colom to another friend’s house by the port. The latter is the house of my dreams, not only because of the building but from what you see from inside out. A house overlooking the sea, the port in this case which at the time it was quiet and the light at sunset was incredible. I love the Mediterranean. It is the thing I miss most when I am away from it. What do you miss most when you are away?

Last week end I spend shopping, cooking and correcting. No time at all during the week!! Not really thrilling but it was necessary. I think I have almost updated all my corrections!

Keep going and writing of course!

Bits of myself

After reading your wonderful presentations, I feel I owe a debt of gratitude to you. What can I say about me? I think the teacher cannot be anyone else but herself, so let’s tell you a little bit about myself, my real self.
I was born in Sitges, a town I dearly love because living there made me more open minded and curious than if I had been born somewhere else, I think.

When I was a little girl I was delighted at the different languages that were spoken in my town. The undistinguishable sounds were a “music” that I have been listening to all my life. Funny enough, I recalled my childhood when I was living in New York a few years ago. Walking in the streets and listening to so many different languages was a real pleasure! So, foreign languages have to do with my pleasures as well as with my profession.

I call myself “Virginia” on the blog because I am a real fan of Virginia Woolf. I adore her literature and I have been, for ages, fascinated by her character. My favourite book is To the Lighthouse, maybe because I felt identified with the main character at the time I read it. I will never, never in my life, unfortunately, be able to write like her. She is a real delight and challenge to read! I enjoyed A Room of One’s Own a lecture she gave encouraging women to have a little space of their own to be able to write, when women did not have many privileges at the beginning of the 20th century.

There are many more things you will involuntarily discover about the teacher during this year while we establish this complicity in the classroom. That’s the only way I’ve found to really involve learners in their learning and… I DO care for your learning!

That’s all for now… the rest, little by little. I encourage you to ask questions about me if you are curious enough because this… this is just the beginning!

Enjoy the experience!

Welcome to the Teacher's Blog

Dear Students,

I am starting a new, well quite new experience with you. As you know it is very important that you loosen yourselves up with writing, reading and specially speaking this school year. You have to believe in that! So, it also means you have to work hard to get easy with communication. No secrets, a simple piece of advice: write, read and find many chances to speak the language you are learning. Only if you do so, you will improve your skills. A few things to consider and talk about in class before we meet:

1. We are going to work with anonymous blogs. Do you know what a blog is? Find out here: https://www.blogger.com/start and if you succeed in opening one the better but do not give the blog your real name, give it a nickname. It will be more fun but if you want to be yourselves, go ahead with your own name.

2. We are going to have a class page to share links basically but we shall use it to send mails or communicate with people from the class. The page is in www.nicenet.org and this is your key to access the class: 82Z5Z5746. In this page you should not be anonymous. So use a username that has to do with your name and use a password for you to access the page. This password you will only know. Write it down when you register. Some students forget their password and you are going to need it every time you access the page.

That’s all for now!
I’ll see you very soon.
All the best,

The teacher