English experiences by Alicia López Granados https://padlet.com/alicialopezgranados/29uuzj41ugjf Art dossier en-us 2017-03-05 11:17:04 UTC 2023-05-22 23:49:59 UTC hello@padlet.com Listening alicialopezgranados https://padlet.com/alicialopezgranados/29uuzj41ugjf/wish/157834059 I highly recommend "Stranger things" a TV series by Netflix. This series tells us a story about a group of friends in  their teens, in the search of  their friend Will, who has disappeared.  It's located in a small town in the eighties. Apparently, they live in a peaceful community, where everyone knows everyone, but suddenly a strange incident starts a chain of events that leads to the disappearance of Will. Many people are searching him ( friends, his mother, a police agent, members of the government) including an enigmatic girl with shaved head. She comes into the story, and things get even weirder.
When you start to see this series you can't stop, I watch three or four episodes in only one day. What I liked most was its nostalgic atmosphere, which reminded me of the cinema of the eighties, such as "Goonies" and "E.T". Another good point is the return of the actress Wynona Rider, I missed her in the screen. In my opinion, there are no weak points.

]]> 2017-03-05 11:41:47 UTC https://padlet.com/alicialopezgranados/29uuzj41ugjf/wish/157834059 Speaking alicialopezgranados https://padlet.com/alicialopezgranados/29uuzj41ugjf/wish/157834067 On Wednesday I have my private english class, my teacher is called Rosa, I see her one hour per week. We speak about different topics in each class. She corrects my pronunciation, helps me with some material related to the  theme we are working on. Currently, we are preparing my oral presentation. She gives me many tools and pieces of advise. We get in touch by mail, mobile phone. She is from Colchester, Essex, East of London and at the beginning her accent was a little bit difficult for me, because my former private teacher was from London, and his accent was more similar to BBC speaking. English people say that this type of speaking is "received pronunciation or Queen's English", so it was easier for me. Currently, we are working also on debates, using the expressions of agreement and disagreement, expressing our opinions about controversial topics such as "Different types of family", "the political situation in our countries", "the limit of scientific progress on programmed pregnancy","motherhood nowadays".

]]> 2017-03-05 11:41:57 UTC https://padlet.com/alicialopezgranados/29uuzj41ugjf/wish/157834067 Experiences alicialopezgranados https://padlet.com/alicialopezgranados/29uuzj41ugjf/wish/157834165
During Easter holidays I organized a literary route about the places in the novel "Últimas tardes con Teresa" written by Juan Marsé. This novel is set in Barcelona in the sixties. There are several recognizable neighborhoods such as Sarrià, Horta, Eixample. Rosa asked me for a novel recommendation, and I suggested "Últimas tardes con Teresa", I said to her that when she finished reading I would organize a literary route to show her and her friends the places setting in the novel. And how different these places are nowadays.  
I arranged a map in which I marked the places I felt were representative of what the novel is about. On the one hand, I marked the leafy suburbs in which Teresa lives, as a representative of upper-class society. On the other hand, I marked the working-class neighborhood
located in Carmelo, in which Manolo lives. These places represent two opposite worlds, the upper-class and the working class that join through the main characters: Teresa and Manolo. 
During the route, I explained to them each place, detail, restaurant, shop that appeared in the novel. 
In spite of years gone by, you can recognize the places that inspired the writer Juan Marsé, also born in Barcelona. As a result, it was a rewarding experience, because I adore this novel, and walking along the real places and explaining some details from the novel was a pleasure for me, and I hope the same for them.
]]> 2017-03-05 11:43:53 UTC https://padlet.com/alicialopezgranados/29uuzj41ugjf/wish/157834165 Creating alicialopezgranados https://padlet.com/alicialopezgranados/29uuzj41ugjf/wish/157834184  I created a vocabulary from the novels I've read this year: "The reader", "Revolutionary road", "Of mice and men". I've learnt all of these words: 
"Revolutionary road": dreary, earnest, ungainly, loath, sobering, outrageous, dwindled, espouse, merciless, loathsome, gloat, hunches, regained, offhand, stemmed, thunderous, cozy, cellar, cloaks, sun-dazed, blades of grass, to rack one's brain, amble, midst, rapturous, blurted, protuded, thunderstruck, nudge, crackerjack, hearing aid, fumbled, dandruff, querulous, enraptured, derangement, adroitly, frizzled, giggle, flawless, crumple, smash, dreary, whine, , unbecoming, auction, callous.
"The reader"
prosecutor, defendant, milky, courtroom, precocious, exude, cunning, numb, spiteful, coarse, fled, hapless, tally, defective, custody, hunchbacked, devoid, tenant, queasy, gutter, to retch, pace, enthralling, smooth out, brass, rod, long-drawn-out, squeal, shimmer, gust, shabby, crack, veil, riddle, shortcomings, watershed, rag, barn, withstand, march, zealous, bundle, outraged, accrued, remorse, forage, 
"Of mice and men":
snap, kinda, heron, slender, bony, sling, snort, moister, scummy, juncture, sycamore, coons, recumbent, limb, willow, stilted, brim, scowl, reed, brush, heap on, scoff, bait, latch, bunk, every bar me, knuckle, whisker, stocky, squint, spur, buckle, shuffle, whip, relish, gallon, cluster, barley, stack of work, scattered, peered over, cripple, stubble, pat, flop, hoof, to hoe the garden, drippy, fawn, meager, scornful]]> 2017-03-05 11:44:19 UTC https://padlet.com/alicialopezgranados/29uuzj41ugjf/wish/157834184 alicialopezgranados https://padlet.com/alicialopezgranados/29uuzj41ugjf/wish/169136720 "The reader"
I would strongly recommend The reader, the novel written by Bernhard Schlink, a German law professor, who explains to us by a parable the feelings of shame, guilt, regret, suffered by post-war German generations, who had to deal with a tough inheritance: the Holocaust.
This complex conflict materializes in the relationship between Michael Berg, a 14 year-old boy and Hanna Schmitz, 35 years old. Their relationship began by chance, Michael was strolling along the street and suddenly he felt sick, he was vomiting when Hanna approached him to help. From that point, Michael fell in love with her. For both, their meetings became a ritual: first Michael would skip the last class of school to wait for Hanna, who came from work. Then they used to have a bath, afterwards they slept together and Hannah asked him to read her . They decided to spend the Easter holidays together, they embarked on a bike trip, they enjoyed few days with their usual routine, but they started to row. After that, they came back home, and Hanna started to pull away from him, until she disappeared for definite. The next time Michael saw Hannah was as part of his law studies in the courtroom. She was accused of voluntarily going to the SS and working there as a guard in the concentration camps. 
Hannah got a life sentence and Michael became a law clerk and got married to Gertrude. 
After 17 years, Michael received a letter from the prison director, who asked him to take care of her (housing and employment) when she was released in one year. Finally, when Michael went to prison to pick her up, Hannah was found dead. She had hung herself in the morning. She had written a will saying that her savings should be transferred to the mother and daughter from the concentration camp, the only survivors.
What I liked most was the symbolic sense of the whole story, for example the presence of the water in the ritual of bathing hides the blame and the guilt that Hanna tries to clean symbolically. 
This sense of guilt that she feels is in reality the same sense of many German people, not only those that lived this terrible period but also the descendants, who were born with this heavy inheritance.
Furthermore, Hanna feels not only shame about her action in the concentration camp but also about her illiteracy. In the trial, she renounces to defend herself saying that she is illiterate, instead, she claims that the document had been read and signed by her.
Another interesting point is one concept that appears constantly during the whole novel, it's "Numb" this word is used to define the lukewarm reaction of many German people during the Holocaust.

I would recommend this novel.
]]> 2017-05-01 10:51:08 UTC https://padlet.com/alicialopezgranados/29uuzj41ugjf/wish/169136720 Books alicialopezgranados https://padlet.com/alicialopezgranados/29uuzj41ugjf/wish/170039559 2017-05-04 19:26:51 UTC https://padlet.com/alicialopezgranados/29uuzj41ugjf/wish/170039559 alicialopezgranados https://padlet.com/alicialopezgranados/29uuzj41ugjf/wish/170040175 "Revolutionary road"
This appealing novel tells us the story of a deep disillusionment suffered by a young couple: Frank and April. They raise a family and move to a leafy suburbs in Connecticut in the fifties. Apparently, they are the ideal couple, all of their neighbors yearn for being like them, because still they had a dream, something extremely valuable in that plane, dull and monotonous neighborhood. Frank commutes to New York city, where he works in an office. He hates his routine job. And April stays at home as a housewife. Both of them are not satisfied with their own lives. April yearned for being an actress, and Frank wanted to  find out his passion: to be a writer maybe. He has not had the chance to figure it out. Tired of this routine, April suggests to move to Paris, to look for an opportunity to have meaningful lives instead. Frank agrees with April's plan, although he feels skeptical at the beginning. 
Finally, this whole plan to pursue the real happiness fails.
What I like most was the faddish hope, they yearning for a meaningful future and progressively this dream turns into a deeply sadness. In other words, the materialization of the impossibility of some dreams.]]> 2017-05-04 19:30:14 UTC https://padlet.com/alicialopezgranados/29uuzj41ugjf/wish/170040175 Visit to Cosmocaixa to see Medieval Europe exhibition. alicialopezgranados https://padlet.com/alicialopezgranados/29uuzj41ugjf/wish/170062363 I shared with Rosa, my english teacher and her friends one day at the museum to see an interesting exhibition. This was about the creation of Europe since 400 until fifteen century. ]]> 2017-05-04 21:52:42 UTC https://padlet.com/alicialopezgranados/29uuzj41ugjf/wish/170062363