English Family Learning

This makes me so angry! Please sign if you haven’t already.

SIGN THE PETITION: https://act.gp/30RjMHG

PM Boris Johnson has said he is not in favour of more coal. Meanwhile, plans for a new climate-wrecking deep coal mine in Cumbria (the first one in 30 years) are still on the cards.

It is time Johnson finally backs his words with action -- he must step in to stop the mine. Can you add to the pressure and join the 175,000+ people demanding an end to coal in the UK?

This was a cold, wet afternoon this January, but when you have a World Heritage Site on your doorstep, (very nearby), it would be a crime not to see it! Actually, it was beautiful; we loved seeing the reflections of the Christmas lights on the wet paving stones. I met up with an dear friend who lives in Bath, pictured here with Greta from Germany.

It was a wonderful to share our Christmas with lovely Greta from Stuttgart, and to welcome Adriana and her parents back, to share our Boxing Day meal. Happy new year, everyone!

It's been snowing in Bristol today, but I am thinking back to the summer...
I had such fun with Cristina Perrotti, who has a personality like sunshine!
it really was only one glass of wine.....

This was a day trip to Bath with the lovely Ava.

Now it's getting chilly I'm remembering the summer courses and the lovely students who came for residential courses.
This is Lucas from Toulouse. We had a great evening down at The Old Duke, Bristol's famous jazz pub.

Avoiding Common Mistakes Spanish Speakers Make In English From overusing infinitives to confusing prepositions like 'of' and 'on', there are typical mistakes Spanish speakers tend to make when learning English.

The 'Apostrophiser' - BBC Radio 4 One mans' (sorry, man's) secret battle against sloppy punctuation on Bristol's shop signs.

A description of a wonderful day out in Somerset, by Jordi Viatges Foraster. Beautiful writing Jordi!

Clare is a really busy woman. Today she had yoga but she left to drive me to Stanton Drew stone circle, the second or third most important after Stonehenge.
Stonehenge is a most spectacular and important English stone circle but now it is full of tourists, with an interpretation centre and closed with a fence to prevent the stones from being touched.
Stanton Drew is a little village with farmers and typical English country houses, a little church with a cemetery beside it, and three fields where you can find ancient stone circles. One of them, the biggest is composed of two concentric circles, the small more complete than the big. In a side field there are more stones, and also between the church and the pub, where you can see three big stones.
I was surprised to find big stones in the middle of the grass field, specially transported and placed from far away. They have time marks, erosion, many holes and covered by microscopic lichens on their shady side. We turned around some of them, and hugged others waiting to receive something. We don’t believe and don’t allow ourselves to believe, but we know these stones have been here for millenia standing under day and night, watching the pass of thousands of generations, peace and war, culture and inculture, love and hate, like the trees which I sometimes also hug.
After, we visited the church and cemetery. The village and the church, remind me of the little Pyrenees villages full of little churches, with their square tower and with a little cemetery at the side.
All in all we aren’t so different, English and Catalans.

Just finished a short course with Jordi Viatges Foraster. Thank you Jordi for an interesting, enjoyable week! Jordi wanted to see one of our prehistoric stone circles, so I took him to Stanton Drew, a small village just south of Bristol. Here, unlike at Stonehenge, you can touch the stones, and walk around them. It is wonderfully low key, and not a tour bus in sight!

Wishing you all a happy, healthy and peaceful new year.
May your heartfelt wishes come true!
With love from English Family Learning