BBC Learning English

OK people, after our class yesterday I started thinking about your comments and how you find "listening" difficult. Apart from the Oxford English web page that you have in the activity pages, the BBC have a very good web site. I have decided that what I am going to do is select at least one activity a week, one that I think will be useful for you. This page has so many possibilities that it is probabably a good idea for me to suggest sections for you to visit.

This week, I would like you to look at the "How to ... page". In yesterday's class, we were looking at the "language tests" that a student had to do in Polish. Here's a link to the BBC activity HOW TO TELL THE TIME. Remember you can listen only, or open the pdf file with the script. Don't forget to do the activities!!

The home page for the BBC Learning English page is here: Learning English BBC

See you all on Monday

Alicia went to Stockholm

My summer holiday was wonderful. I went to Stockholm with my boyfriend Carlos in August. We met his family and I got on well with them. We stayed in their home for fifteen days.
We had an exciting holiday because we had lots of things to do. We had his brother’s wedding. We visited all of Stockholm by car, bus and boat.
We visited the town hall, where there are forty weddings every Saturday. We also visited a Stockholm museum, a theatre…but the most interesting was the centre of the city with its stone small streets and their names. Although, the most fun was Gröna Lund (The Green Grove). This is an amusement park located in the seaward of the Djurgården island. In this attraction park we will find many attractions for children, teenagers and adults.

Gröna Lund

Also we visited a relaxing place in Dalarna. It’s located in the centre of Sweden. We stayed in a little house near the sea. It was romantic. We could fish and bath in the lake. But I was very sad because we couldn’t see a reindeer.

Dalarna

Marian is going to Paris

I think 6 six days is time enough for you to discover the most popular places in Paris and feel like a real Parisian. If you fly from Alicante I recommend Vueling airlines. In my opinion Vueling offers the cheapest flights from Alicante to Paris, around 150 euros per person.
For your accommodation I propose Delhy’s Hotel. It’s a very warm and hospitable hotel situated near “Notre Dame” in the city center. The price may be 74 euros per night for a double room with breakfast. It’s located very well, and you can visit a lot of popular monuments and places on foot. You will taste a real and delicious French breakfast: croissant, baguettes and “café au lait”.

Delhy's Hôtel
Now, I will explain the essential places to visit in Paris. For the first day I recommend  a tour on foot to have a general view of Paris, from the Eiffel Tower to The Arc de Triomphe. You can use the tube too, but if the weather is pleasant, it would be interesting to go for a walk around the city. If you have time, it'd be nice to queue up and go up the Eiffel Tower and see Paris from above. It will cost 12 euros.

At night, the most popular areas are the Champs Elysées and Bastille Area. I recommend these pubs: La Maison Blanche and Truskel Pub. 

And finally I suggest trying  a “cheese fondue” and French wines, going for a walk along the River Seine, going shopping at the flea market “Marché aux puces” and taking a cruise boat tour for 8€.

José went to Dublin for New Year

These holidays my girlfriend and I decided to visit Dublin, the capital city of Ireland. We stayed in Dublin from 27th of December to 1st of January. Our hotel was in the city centre in front of Trinity College and we enjoyed visiting and discovering different places, monuments and pubs a lot .

José in Dublin

We visited some of the most interesting places in Dublin. In the city centre there are a lot of historical monuments, places, factories and buildings that date from the Viking age to nowadays. For example we visited Christ Chruch, St. Audoen’s, St. Patrick’s Cathedral, National Museums, the Guinness Storehouse (!!), Jameson Distillery, Powerscout Townhouse, Dublin Castle, the Molly Malone statue, Stephen’s Green Park and a lot of different pubs and bars, that you can find in every corner of the city. 

The Temple Bar, Dublin

St. Audoen’s Church, from outside

 

The weather in Dublin was very cold and windy so we wore warm clothes, gloves and woollen hats every day. When it was raining and it was windy too we couldn’t use umbrellas because the wind broke them so we needed to get into a pub to drink beer. It was fantastic because it rained so many times in Dublin !!

Statue of Molly Malone, Dublin

Also one day we took the railway Dart and we visited Howth, a little fishing village near Dublin. In Howth port we could see seals and we enjoyed walking around the cliffs with wonderful sights.

On New Year’s Eve we went to Christ Church, where there is a clock tower and many people go to celebrate the twelve strokes of midnight at the start of the new year. When the strokes had finished, it started to snow, it was reallly nice! On the other hand it was funny to see that only Spanish people were eating grapes with the twelve strokes while the others were drinking Guinness beer.
We had a fantastic holiday and a happy new year’s eve in Dublin.

Raquel and Rosa are heading to the Seychelles

We are Rachel and Rose, two friends from Spain. We met each other in Torrevieja and we have been working together for 3 years. We will have two months off next summer so we are planning to spend our holidays together. We have been searching for a nice place where we can rest, enjoy the weather and visit interesting places. After this research we decided to travel to the Seychelles islands. We have booked flight tickets to leave on the 2nd of July and return on the 8th of July. We will fly with Emirates Airline. We will stay at the Hilton Seychelles Northolme Resort and Spa on Mahé Island. Mahé is the principal island and Victoria, its capital, is the world’s tiniest capital and the cultural and economic hub of the nation. The hotel is very luxurious and expensive and it is on the beachfront. The hotel equipment includes a big garden, a tennis court that you can book for free, a leisure club, a big swimming-pool where you have a nice view of the beach while you are on a sun-bed and a great spa in order to relax.

Hilton Seychelles Northolme Resort

After all year working we will be tired so we will need some rest and relax. Walking along the coast line, lying on the sand and having a warm bath will help with that. Rachel would like to visit the Ansé a la Mouch beach and Anse Boileau beach because his brother was in the Seychelles last year and he told her that these beaches are really amazing. Rose would like to visit the Anse Aux Pins and Turtle Bay Beach and Anse Interdance because she likes  adventure sports, snorkelling and surfing so we will visit the four beaches.

Mahé has a lot of cultural things to do!! We will go to the main gallery on the island called Adelaide Studio. We will also visit the Bel Air Cemetery which is a national monument (the oldest history site in Seychelles) and The Cousin Island Special Reserve.

Bel Air Cemetery 

In order to enjoy the night-life we will go to the Amusement Centre, a casino, where we can relax and have fun gambling or watch other people enjoying themselves while we are having an exotic cocktail.

Eva is going to the Seychelles

The islands are fantastic. You can enjoy bathing at paradisiac beaches, or practise a heap of aquatic sports such as fishing or skin-diving.

 Bird Island Lodge

We are going to Bird Island, with a very good offer - 5 nights Bird Island Seychelles from: £1124 p.p.

 
The people are very nice and the food is fantastic. At night you will not get bored because you can have dinner in lots of restaurants and have a drink in a pub.

Scuba-diving in the Seychelles

Gloria is going to Stockholm

I have chosen this city because Stockholm is the capital and the largest in Sweden. The city sits on 14 islands linked up by 57 bridges. The first one catches your eye when you visit Stockholm, especially in winter, and more specifically in February.

We will visit The Vasa Museum, a friend told me that this museum is beautiful and very important in Stockholm,.We will also see the City Hall, with its spire featuring the golden three crowns, one of the most famous silhouettes in Stockholm. The Nationalmuseum is very important, so we will visit that too. We will also go on a sightseeing boat to tour. We will enjoy the streets and bridges of the city.

Boat tour in Stockholm

We will go to the famous Ice Bar, which will surely surprise us. We hope to eat in typical restaurants like OK (Operakällaren) and we hope to be able to go out in the evening.

Operakällaren Restaurant

I think the most curious thing about Stockholm is that it becomes night early and that will be very cold.

Finally I think the most important of all will be to take a lot of winter clothes.