LONDON TOUR

London Eye (Author: Laura Rovira)

In previous posts, we have been learning about London markets, such as Camden Market. Of course, shopping is not the only interisting thing you can do in London. This is a great city with lots of attactions suitable for evarybody, from museums to parks, victorian bulidings to contemporary ones, ethnic neighboroughoods to cosmopolite streets... Every street has something special to show us...

Just in case you cannot visit this city in person, let's describe some of its main attracions:

• Museums: Most of them are free, so you cannot miss them! For example, the British Museum where you can visit fantastic exhibitions about human history. If you like modern or contemporary art, visit the Tate galleries. In both cases, they will not deceive you. Other interesting museums, specially for youg people, are the Science Museum and de Natural Sience Museu. They are one next to the other, so you can spend a whole day visiting both museums.
• Parks: I really love London Parks! They are enormous open places, with lots of vegetation, playgrounds, lakes... You can rest there, or you can practice sports, or even you can have a picnic for lunch! Dont't miss Hyde Park, St. James Park, The Regent's Park or Kensington Gardens.
• Unforgetables: If you travel London, a must is the visit to Buckingham Palace. If you arive on time, do not miss the Change of Guards. Other places which you should visit are Picadilly Circus, the Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament or Trafalgar Square. If that is not enough London for you, you can jump into the London Eye and enjoy the views of the whole city. You will not forget the experience!

 Here you have a perfect resume of what can you visit in London:

Now, it is time to work. What about doing a listening acttivity about london. First, print the worksheet. Ready? Now you cas listen to the audio and chose the correct answers:

Do you have problems to understand it? Do not worry! You can print the tapescript too and try to do it again. Enjoy this London Tour!

London markets

Shopping in London is a great experience. From luxury shops, like Harrods, to bargain fashions at London's markets, where they sell everything from food to flowers, modern art to antiques, clothes to curios. Some of these markets are very large such as Spitalfields, Camden Market or Portobello Road. There you can spend a day looking for bargains along the way. Others, such as Greenwich Market, is great for gifts and local designers, and Borough Market is a perfect place for a quick bite, for lunch or just for grocery shopping.

Around the world...

English is an international language. There are lots of English-speaking countries, as we saw some weeks ago. Here we have a video about touristic destinations all around the world. The video is in Spanish but it shows images of very interesting cities. Do you know in which of these places they speak English as the official language? I am sure you can. You can find more information in the Anglosphere post.

Ireland in words: Lake Isle of Innisfree, by William Butler

Have you ever travelled to Ireland? You can learn more about this fantastic country with a poem by William Butler Yeats: Lake Isle of Innisfree.  Now, close your eyes and listen to this...
Do you like it? So let's read the poem and enjoy a fantastic version: a song by Tony Bardon in Jamendo.

  © Copyright Kenneth Allen and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.

Lake Isle of Innisfree I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree,
And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made:
Nine bean-rows will I have there, a hive for the honey-bee,

And live alone in the bee-loud glade.                                      

And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow,
Dropping from the veils of the morning to where the cricket sings;
There midnight's all a glimmer, and noon a purple glow,
And evening full of the linnet's wings.

I will arise and go now, for always night and day
I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore;
While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavements grey,
I hear it in the deep heart's core.

Poem by William Butler Yeats

Royalty-free music for professional licensing

Camden Market

Camden Market is, in fact, a group of markets located in Camden Town (London): Camden Lock Market, Camden Stables Market, Camden Canal Market, Inverness Street Market, and Camden (Buck Street) Market. Nowadays, it is the fourth most-visited tourist attraction in London and it is the largest street market in the UK. There are hundreds of designer workshops, studios, stalls, shops, cafes, restaurants and bars selling high quality goods from designer, alternative & vintage clothing and accessories to one-off pieces of art, furnishings, antiques, jewellery, records & CDs, collectables, arts & crafts and international food. One of the most interesting things to do in Camden is looking at the fronts and windows of the shops. They are incredible!

Remember, remember the fifth of November

The houses of Parliament (London, UK)

Remember, remember the fifth of November
The gunpowder treason and plot.
I know of no reason why the gunpowder treason
Should ever be forgot.


This is the beginning of a very old traditional rhyme about the Gunpowder Plot of 1605, a failed conspiracy to assassinate the King James I of England. (You can listen to it here).

Not everybody in England liked the king, so some people decided to blow up the Houses of Parliament with the King inside. Guy Fawkes was one of them. They planned to use gunpowder to blow up underneath the King’s chair, so 36 barrels of gunpowder were put in the basement of the Houses of Parliament on November 5th. The barrels were found so they never exploded. Guy Fawkes and his friends were arrested for trying to kill the King. They confessed everything about the plot and, as a result, they were hung.
Now, every year on November 5th some British people remember how his plan failed. They have fireworks outside, and they burn bonfires with a Guy Fawkes on top: children make it with old clothes and newspapers. They call this festival the Guy Fawkes Night or the Bonfire Night. They eat sausages, jacked potatoes, toffee apples, etc.

HALLOWEEN

Yesterday, on October 31st, millions of people around the world celebrated the Halloween night. This is not a Spanish tradition; instead we celebrate today, on November 1st, the Christian festivity of All Saints. Nowadays, some Spanish people also celebrate Hallooween. As in other western countries, this celebration has spread around the world mainly through American films and television. However, this is not originally an American tradition. In fact, it comes from ancient Celtic traditions.
Halloween symbols are known all over the world, but do you really know where they come from? Come and see...

The Anglosphere

You have heard lots of times that English is very important. It is not only because you have to pass some exams al school or because your parents want you to get crazy with a strange foreign language... Have you ever thought about how many English speakers are there in the world? Do you know in which countries can you communicate in English? These questions (and lots more) are part of the ANGLOSPHERE. This a neologism (a new word) that refers to the group of countries where English is the main native language or even to the countries of the world in which the English language and cultural values predominate. Thus, we know that there are some countries in which English is the official language and also the language of the majority (dark blue countries in the map below). It means 436,574,289 people. However, the most interesting fact is that this language is also official (not the majority one) in other 53 countries all over the world (light blue in the map), and it means lots and lots of millions of English speakers... Is this not the perfect excuse to learn this language?

To learn more (PDF)

The official name of the UK

London is the capital of England. This is a common affirmation which, in fact, is not completely correct. It is true that London is the capital city of England...but England is not the correct name of the whole state. This name, England, stands only for a part of a unitary state: the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (known simply as United Kingdom or UK).

England is only one of its four administrative divisions or countries, together with Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Each of them has its own capital city. They even have their own flags, different from the "Union Jack", which is the official one for the state. They all speak English, which is the official language, but they have also have their own languages. In fact, there are four Celtic languages which are still in use in the UK: Welsh, Irish, Scottish Gaelic and Cornish. The four countries have many things in common, but they have lots of specific regional traits which make each one different from the others. Thus, there is an important nationalist feeling amongst the population form each country, specially in Northern Ireland and Scotland. For many British people, except for those from England, it is considered a mistake to call them English. For the inhabitants of the other three countries, we should better call them Scottish, Irish or Welsh. In case of doubts, we can call them British, so this is the adjective including all four countries. Now, we are ready to go back to the initial affirmation: London is the capital city of England, which is one of the four countries in the UK. So, London is the capital city of the United Kingdom. Find out more http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom