Celebrating Christmas

One more year we have celebrated the traditional Christmas Party. In my case, every year in a different school but with the same spirit. The predictions were fulfilled; you, my dear pupils, participated enthusiastically and we all had fun.

Your short stories invaded our classroom walls. We read and voted them. Being “The Wings” and “Life Itself” the two awarded ones. You will have the opportunity to re-read every story after the holidays since they will be displayed on the school walls again.

The slideshow Daniel had prepared with more than forty photos was viewed by all of you. It was exciting to see you all moving from one room to another deciding on the photos or the stories to vote. After counting the votes and due to the rules of the contest, only three of your stunning photos could be given a prize -a photo frame with the winning photo!!!

Some of your tasty dishes

Surprisingly enough, we had to wait for a few minutes -although it seemed hours to some of us, to taste the delicious dishes you had warmly prepared for the cookery contest. Everything was really tasty … Christmas biscuits, chocolate cookies, scrumptious cakes (white chocolate, yoghurt, lemon, …) and brownies, apple crumble, trifle, … Not only did we eat sweets but also tuna pie, macaroni, Spanish omelette, “quesada” or two typical dishes from Colombia. The jury had a really difficult task in choosing the winning dishes.

The Trifle, the Brownie and The Coconut Biscuits were the winning dishes

In the end, and after the award ceremony full of clapping, cheering, hugs and kisses, we sang and danced memorable Christmas songs as in any celebration worth its salt.

 

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

Well, it’s time to finish this entry but before that, I would like to congratulate every participant, even you got a prize or a small gift or not, you did the most important part of this Christmas party, you made it possible. Thanks a lot.

Many thanks to the rest of pupils who joined us and had a great time together. I’m sure it was worth spending the evening at school. And thanks to Daniel, Eva and Carmen for being patient with me and all my fussy questions and last-minute suggestions.

To all of you …

Christmas is Coming!

Christmas is coming again!!! It's incredible how fast time goes by and maybe you have started thinking about what presents you would like to ask for to Santa. If you have been good pupils, I'm sure you'll get loads of extraordinary gifts. But we will reflect on that later.

Here you can listen to two children telling his dad what they want for Christmas. Check that you understand them by clicking on this link.

As this term is nearly over, let's review what you did.

Were you good pupils this term? Did you do your homework every day? Did you participate in your English class a lot or do you think you could have done more than you did? ;-) 

Leave your comments!!!

My Kind of Job

 Hi there,

At last, a new entry ... but this one is not like the rest of entries this academic year. This entry has been created by one of your classmates in 1NI, Erma. She has a unique job. Definitely, it's worth having a look at what she has to tell us about it.

"I have a rewarding job. I’m an international judge of Artistic Gymnastics for women. It’s a very nice and difficult job. I need to be concentrated on the gymnasts' performances for a lot of hours, I have to judge a lot of aspects and parameters in a very short amount of time, such as execution, style, difficulty of the exercise, balance, ... Although it's hard, I love it.

Balance Beam

There are several different judges in a competition. Difficulty panel judges that is formed by two judges; Execution panel formed by five judges and two Reference judges apart from Line and Time judges. The difficulty judges give the exercise value. The Execution judges give the penalization.

I have taken part in many international events as World Cups, European Championships and World Championships. I was in the World Championship, which took place in Antwerpen (Belgium) last October.

Here's a photo of our extraordinary Spanish gymnast, Roxana Popa. She got a really good position in her last championship.

Uneven Bars

In Antwerpen, we were around eighty judges, from all over the world, to judge three competitions; classification, all around and apparatus final. After a draw, I had to judge the vault exercise in all around competition as well as uneven bars in apparatus final.

Floor Exercise

 All judges must pass difficult exams after each Olympic Games so that they can maintain the category they have or get a better or worse category. They range from four to one categories. Only category one and two are allowed to judge in the Olympic Games. I am category two although I’ve never judged in the Olympic Games. I hope to be part of the next board of judges in the next Games which will be taking place in Rio de Janeiro in 2016."

Thanks a lot for this enlightening entry on the topic, Erma. We all want to wish you the best of luck and we really hope to hear from you in the next Olympic Games 2016. :-))

OK, dear pupils, it's your turn to join and participate in this entry with your comments. What do you think of Erma's job? Do you find it interesting? Have you ever stopped and thought of the role judges have in competitions? 

 

What's the Key on Thanksgiving?

What's the key for Thanksgiving dinner?

The tur-KEY!!!

I bet you know quite a lot of things and facts about Thanksgiving Day and its traditional dinner where the turkey and gravy sauce are the main guests. Family and friends gather and enjoy a big feast. Thanksgiving is usually the beginning of all the preparations for Christmas Day.

As we have pointed out above, the most important thing is to have a good turkey. Following a nineteenth-century tradition (although it seems not to be very clear), American people give the President some turkeys which are raised for the whole year until the day before Thanksgiving when the President must issue a pardon for one of the turkeys.

This year he had to decide on Caramel or Popcorn, the two turkeys.

This is what has been published about these two birds:

"Caramel is a steady and deliberate bird that enjoys soybean meal and rocking out to Lady Gaga," a statement on the White House blog said. "When Popcorn is feeling peckish, he can't stop snacking on his namesake, corn, and has been known to strut around to Beyonce's 'Halo.'"

Do you want to know which turkey has been pardoned? Click here and read to find out.

What do you think of this tradition? Do you think it's a good idea? What are you thankful for?

I'll be thankful for your comments. ;-)

Chitown

Today we had the pleasure of having an extraordinary visitor to our school. His name: Brian Engquist, whose origins are a mix and match of nationalities –Italian, Swedish, and American, although he has been greatly influenced by our Spanish culture as well.  His talk, a simple title: Chicago –My Kind of Town.

The first thing Brian taught us was how to pronounce the name of this mid-west city in the USA “Chicago” and that was not the only word he demonstrated how to utter. He started talking about the different nicknames this city has, such as Chitown, The Windy City, The City of the Big Shoulders, The Onion, … a city which flourished around small towns and prairies, mainly thanks to the nearness to Lake Michigan as well as The Chicago River and its two (North and South) branches, among other things.

Brian’s interesting talk went through its history and geography, its architecture, art, literature, music, famous people, food and even sports. Most of its contents were to some extent intertwined by a simple object: the flag of Chicago with its white and blue stripes and its red stars.

We have found out how this city, once completely destroyed by The Great Fire, rose from the ashes, becoming the Second City in the United States with an incredible skyline and breathtaking skyscrapers and buildings. He also showed us the connection between Chicago and Spain by means of architects such as Frank Gehry or Jaume Plensa, who has been awarded today with “Premio Velázquez 2013” or an artist as Picasso and his Untitled sculpture that serves as meeting point there, Downtown.

For an hour or so, Brian Engquist, to our delight, had injected us the pleasure of visiting an endless-film-depicted city. And it would be a good destination for our next holiday, wouldn’t it?

Well, as I don’t want to make this entry too long, just tell you that I’ve enjoyed it a lot and so have you. Thanks for your participation and congrats to those who got your prize for answering the quiz questions correctly. I’m sure you don’t regret having attended school this evening.

A group of pupils during the talk

And more than anything else, no ketchup on your hot dogs. ;-)

Blood is thicker than water

The title of this entry is a saying in English "Blood is thicker than water". It means that family relationships are more important than any other types of relationships in life. Do you agree? I partly do.

Family will not deceive you and it's obvious you can count on them, at least most of the times. ;) I do not have a very big extended family but we get on well together. I know my mother's side of the family much better than my father's. However, I would have liked to have much more information about my ancestors or been able to draw my family tree to my great-great grandparents.

What about you? Where did your ancestors come from? Did you ever meet your great-grandparents?


Click here if you want to practise your listening skills. You'll hear about Randall's family history, particularly about his grandmother, Ana María Cavazos.

How was it? Easy or difficult for you?

And finally, if you want to sing and dance with this anthem from the seventies, here's the song we have sung in first intermediate classes.

It's Friday

At last it's Friday or maybe we could say TGIF (Thanks God It's Friday)  as one of your classmates in 1NI taught us a couple of weeks ago. ;)

When I got up this morning, I found out that one of my friends was a bit down so to cheer her up, I whatsapped her a link with a song (which I had previously been sent in the same situation last month) and it really worked. So, just to get you all in the mood of Friday and although we have class this afternoon/evening, listen to this song,  Friday I'm In Love by the British band The Cure.

By the way, you can practise the pronunciation of the Days of the Week. ;)) Hope you like it!!!

Guy Fawkes

Every fifth of November is celebrated Guy Fawkes' Night. English people commemorate the anniversary of the Gunpowder Plot. In 1605, Guy Fawkes and some of his fellows tried to blow up the Houses of Parliament but ... what for? 

If you want to find out more about this plot and the festival, watch this video.

Did you understand? Had you heard about this festival before? I really hope you had enjoyed yourselves and learnt a little bit!!!

Let's do the shopping!!!

Hi there,

I'm about to do the shopping. I've already prepared my shopping list, just to avoid buying unnecessary things or those products I would only eat for pleasure instead of fuel. ;-) I've taken my cloth bag, - I'm trying not to use those plastic bags any more and obviously a bit of cash. 

I enjoy doing the shopping, walking the aisles in the local supermarket and visiting the small shops such as the butcher's, the fishmonger's or the greengrocer's where the human contact is still alive and you can chat to the owner while looking at a great display of goods.

But before continuing, let's practise our listening skills.Click here and you'll listen to a conversation about grocery shopping at the supermarket.

Now it's time to leave your comments. How often do you do the shopping? Do you fancy doing it today? What kind of food do you usually buy at the local shops? Do you like supermarkets or hypermarkets?

When you are writing your shopping list, do you consider buying food for pleasure or just for fuel?

You decide :):

Back once again!!! This time just to spend much more time together at least this new academic year which I hope it will be as awesome as the previous ones. ;-)

Well, as you may know, last week it was another "must" on this blog the International or World Smile Day. I bet you smile every day but have you ever stopped your daily life and activities and thought about what things and what kind of people make you smile? That's what I suggest we all could do now.

First of all, I have to say that I like smiling and that I try hard to find situations which can help me do it every single hour of the day. I have lots of reasons for it and I guess you all, too. It can be at work, at home, in the street, when you are alone, a whatsapp or message from a friend, a colleague or an acquaintance or even you can smile while dreaming. 

According to experts, smiling and laughing can prevent a lot of diseases apart from improving our self-image towards other people and make our social life much more rewarding. The thing is that sometimes we don't realise how important a smile can be to change other people's hard day into a warmer one. The power is ours, it's simple; the only thing we have to do is to bring a smile to our lips and wait for a happy face in exchange. Nobody regrets smiling so that's why we all should do it. Time starting now ...

I must admit that you, my pupils, make me smile and laugh my head off most of the times, not only when you are afraid of mispronouncing a word or using new words or expressions but also when you arrive at or leave school and you say "hello" or "bye-bye" to your classmates and me.

Looking at my little nieces playing or listening to them talking or baby-talking is another smiling situation for me. And I could name many other ones such as going to the shops, meeting people in the street, watching a funny sitcom on TV, looking at a billboard near a road, ... look around you and name them.

So, what things make you smile? Who do you usually smile at? Do you enjoy smiling? How often do you do it? Leave your comments -they'll be welcome.

Don't forget to smile. You decide :):

I HAVE A DREAM

I especially like writing the introductions to your own entries rather than to mine. This time we are going to have a look at a recent event, the fiftieth anniversary of Martin Luther King's speech in Washington D.C., thanks to your classmate, Mercedes. She is offering you the opportunity to think and write about a huge variety of topics, such as the importance of historical events like this, equality of rights, honesty, your fulfilled or unfulfilled dreams, or the characteristics of King's speech. Whatever you would like to write about, the sky is the limit.

 I have a dream

Everybody has a dream, everybody dreams about getting something, everybody wants to be higher, richer or happier, … When we were children, in class the teacher always questioned us what we would like in the future. But we all know what one of the most famous meanings of this sentence is.

Forty  years ago, an activist from USA said those words in a massive march while they were protesting for their rights.  Martin Luther King’s speech started with “I have a dream”, a very simple expression which has become a legend.

Martin Luther King was a black pastor who spent all his life fighting against the social injustices suffered by the black people in the USA. He was the leader of an important movement appeared in that country which wanted to get the vote in a democratic system, the same salary for everybody, the difference between children in public schools, … One of the most famous actions was the buses boycott in Montgomery, when another activist, Rosa Parks, didn’t want to lend her place on the bus in favour of a white man. The black society started to organize in a huge movement led by Martin Luther King.

On 28^th August of 1963 he headed the Protest of Washington for Job and Freedom in the Capitolium Square in front of almost 250,000 people. In that space, he pronounced one of the most important speeches of the history. Martin is considered the best speaker of the century even he got to change the world, at least he started.

Thanks to this character, one of my favourite men, today I can say this sentence with another different sense. In my case, to have a dream is not related with something material, for me to have a dream goes further than that. So I have a dream: to be free.

Thanks again, Mercedes for your work and ideas. This space would like to continue having your reflections on different topics, so keep blogging!!! Now the turn is yours. What do you think?

TALKING ISN'T BAD

Hi there,

I know it's a long time but everything seems to be back after the summer break. We can catch up thanks to an interesting entry written by Vicky. Please read it and then comment on it.

I want to share with you some thoughts that started “wandering” around my mind after reading an article about not talkative people.

The article said that talking isn’t bad, but talking less is better, because you finish earlier.

In general, talking could be a brief operation most of the times. Definitely, there aren’t so many issues to talk about. Everything might be rather short, almost always, to go to the next point or leave home.

Some sentences, after the first verb, turn into a high wall, sometimes impassable.

To express yourself with shortness could be difficult, not everybody has the ability to be “people of  few words”.  Needless to say, you don’t need to keep quiet. A laconic and cautious guy isn’t a silent person who never has anything to say. Absolutely not, he is more than that. He probably has a lot to say, but he gives it up, or says it briefly, encodes it, or simply says it to himself.

Few words aren’t much silence around them, they are other things. To start with, they are what they are, they are just enough, the necessary ones, neither one more.

Few words, although some ones, are some kind of philosophy of sobriety, and the idea that life passes quickly, especially when you tell it with so many sentences. This is the attitude you must have, you couldn’t improvise or pretend, probably you’d need to practise for years.

People who remain silent before a few words could be eloquent, in their own way, they never bore the audience.

A writer said that talking about something which explains itself is a waste of time. A book hasn’t been written to be talked about after finishing reading it, overall it has been created not for talking about it.

I’m not a talkative person, but I always saw it like a defect. After I read this article, I am starting to think that maybe it wasn’t. Probably I have a skill to say only the necessary words, and I prefer spending my time on other stuff instead of diving in a long conversation or speech, from time to time it could be harder to get to the point than filling them with useless words.

Of course, to be in tune with this article, this writing couldn’t be very long.  Common! Now it is your turn. What do your think about it? 

Back to the Start

Why not finishing this academic year's entries with a song? If I don't remember badly, we also started with a song. While I was trying to find one that you might like, I spotted this one by Coldplay, one of the groups I like most and whose lyrics are usually easy to understand, and I thought why not? The title of the song The Scientist. Maybe it's worth a try!

A short break for the holidays and then we will start again. Looking forward to hearing from you. ;-)

Farewell

Hi guys,

This entry isn’t meant to be the last one of this blog this academic year, but in a way, it is a farewell entry and if you go on reading, you’ll find out why.

When I was told I was going to teach at the Official School of Languages in CR nearly a year ago, I felt a bit uneasy even though, previous teachers there had talked wonders of you. At that time, I didn’t know how amazing this experience was about to turn out to be.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Room 4

 This has been our classroom for nearly nine months and this is the way it is now: without you, my pupils. It seems to be eerily silent but I’m completely sure it still keeps your conversations in English, sometimes in Spanish, your constant questions and doubts, your laughter, your nerves and fears before the finals, … all those good and not-so-good moments along the whole academic year.

To tell you the truth, this course has been extraordinarily unusual for me and although some of you would like to do now what Loly (2NA) is trying to do in the photo below, I do think you feel the same as well.

A dissatisfied pupil trying to chain me unseeingly

Regardless of the academic results, which would make this entry sadder, the first thing I want to do is to thank you for having been able to endure me for such a long/short course. MANY THANKS TO YOU ALL. I know it hasn’t been easy!!!

I would also like to thank you for all your presents, some of which I didn’t photograph, although I enjoyed them a lot.

Some of the fun-tastic gifts

Well, let’s bring back some good moments we have lived together!

You gave me a warm welcome by making me feel as if I were at home. Homes which some of you have offered me on different occasions, for example, on that awful snowy day in January, when we anxiously interrupted the class and in a hurry we set off, fearing, as it in the end happened, it would be impossible for me to arrive home that night.

Whether I have succeeded or not, you have given me the opportunity to try to improve my skills as a teacher. Mainly by encouraging you to speak English in class and to use it as many times as you can and as confidently as possible. It is in this point in which you have highly succeeded. You created a very good atmosphere where it was extremely easy to teach, not only because you were eager to learn but also because you were involved in the teaching-learning process. (Pilu from 2NI even bought some markers for the whiteboard …)

You’ve been patient with me, especially in those embarrassing moments when I said “Listen to it!” or “Let’s watch this video” and nothing worked. Ufff! How bad I felt then! At least, everything went right on exam days!!!

You’ve done your homework, participated actively, in class and other extra-curricular activities we have had, such as the ones on Halloween, at Christmas, at Steve’s concert, … you have even used this blog, to some extent. I’m really happy because of that. And do you remember our English-guided tour around Ciudad Rodrigo thanks to Fanny and Rebecca (2NA)? Here’s a photo. (Maybe you’ll miss Manolo and me in it, sorry but I cropped it –you know why.)

Happy tourists

Obviously, it would be impossible to mention all the hilarious moments together. The only thing I can mention is that you made them possible. We’ve laughed our heads off.

As regards our degree of closeness in the class, we can highlight the fact that we have shared our personal reflections as well as our true love stories in that sort of writing competition we had. And don’t forget what a terrifying experience you may live when home alone, a TV set starts turning on and off by itself as it happens to Eva (2NI). It makes my hair stand on end.

Well, I don’t want to bore you with this entry so it’s high time to conclude it …

Thanks for making me not just a better teacher but a better person.

Thanks for teaching me a great amount of new interesting things.

Thanks for all those yummy Friday afternoons we’ve had.

Thanks for those Thursday nights at the karaoke bar improving our singing in English and in Spanish. (I don’t attach photos for these last two extra-curricular activities, ha-ha.)

Thanks for doing my job worth.

Thanks for being the way you are.

It only remains to add “Looking forward to having my summer holiday and then seeing you again … some of you outside school and some of you in our classroom in September. ;-)”

ILY

INSTAGRAM

 Hello again,

After this short break on the blog, it's time to enjoy this entry. It has been created by Vicky, once again, your classmate in the Advanced level. In my opinion, this entry is quite original so you can't miss it. Go on reading and then if you feel like writing a little, leave your comments.

At popular request I am going to share with you my passion for INSTAGRAM. Probably you will say “one more social networking site” but I would like to explain to you why I love it and how amazing it could be, if you are fascinated by photography.

INSTAGRAM was born in 2010, at first, it was designed only for I-phone devices, but later, due to its success, with more than 100 million users, this app was opened to Android in April of 2012.

I set up my profile in 2011, when INSTAGRAM was starting to take off toward stardom. A very good friend of mine, who is an unbelievable photograph-lover, introduced me in the application and gave me some advice about how I could use it. 

The best stuff of INSTAGRAM is that you take the photo with your mobile, you apply some filter and then you load the photo in your profile and share it with everybody, without the necessity of downloading it to your computer and editing it in some programs like photo-shop or similar ones. 

Furthermore, if, in your mobile, you have more photo edition apps compatible with INSTAGRAM you are likely to make wonderful editions very easily. 

Retortillo's Church

My favourite app, the one I usually use, is “Snapseed”. Another gorgeous tool, if you like black and white, is “Noir”. And if you are a fan of fantasy edition, the best app is “Filter Mania”.

When you have decided which photograph you want to share, you can also add a hang tag (#) like in Twitter, in order to get more followers or only to focus your photo toward some particular issue.  I normally create some hangtags such as #igerssalamanca #igerscastillayleon , owing to the fact that I belong to a small group in this huge number of “igers” all around the world.

Nevertheless, I follow people from different countries, like USA, Australia, Turkey, Sweden, France or Italy. And for me, it is great, because when I am watching their photos I feel, for a few moments, as if I were there and I could see what they were looking at. And if something is happening in the world, in a short time, it would appear in INSTAGRAM even before that will get in the news broadcast.

The purists of INSTAGRAM were very annoying and unpleasant when it was sold to Facebook, because they changed the stipulation contract about the photo property.

From my point of view, it isn’t so important, in the moment you share your photo in a social networking site, you lose the control over it.  I like sharing my photos and some special moments that I caught, without expecting a reward only the likes of my followers. But there are people that make business on the internet and I understand them, in case they’d want to sell their photos or get an income, they may be afraid of their rights.

 

CyL Theatre Fair in Ciudad Rodrigo last summer

INSTAGRAM is a social networking site and it has, of course, all the cons of them, but if you enjoy photography you might surf it, I promise you’d have fun with the experience.

My user's name is vickycr74. You can see my gallery whenever you want … And your comment will be welcome.           

Thanks Vicky for this entry, you already know that I follow you and I like your photos, especially the one taken from a roof and your perspective when seeing things and I am becoming a fan of INSTAGRAM.

OK, guys, you have the extraordinary opportunity to have a look at Vicky's photos. I assure you won't be deceived -they're simply great.

 

The key to a good monologue

How can we improve our speeches or oral presentations? 

We have already dealt with this topic in class and we should bear in mind different pieces of advice, such as:

• be ourselves
• try to be calm and relaxed since the audience always wants us to succeed
• get rid of our nervous ticks and habits
• stick to the point and make it relevant
• don't exceed the time limit

We all know that it is difficult and it is a question of practice, as always.

Some days ago, I found out about "Famelab", a cultural organization that tries to encourage scientists and engineers to make science more approachable to the general public by communicating this scientific knowledge in a more simple way so that society can understand it better. They organize a contest in many countries every year and they choose the best speaker.

Here's an example of a good monologue. This woman was the winner of the contest in 2011. (By the way, you should check who the winner of 2013 is). Since we have talked about a mother's love as being "pure", here you have the opportunity to reflect upon it and what the origins of this love might be.

What do you think? Is this an incredible speech? What are the good points? Has she used a wide range of vocabulary and grammar expressions? Has she used correct pronunciation and intonation although she's from Cyprus? Is her speech relevant and accurate? What about the most important part -the beginning? Did she catch your attention from the very beginning of it?

Common, guys. It's not that difficult!!! You can do it as well!!!

Torn by Natalie Imbruglia

After our listening comprehension in 2NI last Thursday, we left school with a big question in our heads ... who's Natalie Imbruglia? So, as this must be general knowledge and although we aren't big fans of her, everybody should know her. That's why I attach one of the most famous songs by Natalie Imbruglia, Torn, I'm completely sure you've heard it thousands of times.

I've copied the lyrics,as well. Enjoy it!!

I thought I saw a man brought to life
He was warm, he came around like he was dignified
He showed me what it was to cry
Well you couldnt be that man I adored
You don't seem to know, don't seem to care what your heart is for
But I don't know him anymore
There's nothing where he used to lie
My conversation has run dry
That's what's going on, nothings fine Im torn

Im all out of faith, this is how I feel
Im cold and I am shamed lying naked on the floor
Illusion never changed into something real
Im wide awake and I can see the perfect sky is torn
Youre a little late, Im already torn

So I guess the fortune tellers right
Should have seen just what was there and not some holy light
To crawl beneath my veins and now
I don't care, I have no luck, I don't miss it all that much
There's just so many things that I can't touch, Im torn

Im all out of faith, this is how I feel
Im cold and I am shamed lying naked on the floor
Illusion never changed into something real
Im wide awake and I can see the perfect sky is torn
Youre a little late, Im already torn. torn.

There's nothing where he used to lie
My inspiration has run dry
That's what's going on, nothings right, Im torn

Im all out of faith, this is how I feel
Im cold and I am shamed lying naked on the floor
Illusion never changed into something real
Im wide awake and I can see the perfect sky is torn
Im all out of faith, this is how I feel
Im cold and Im ashamed bound and broken on the floor
Youre a little late, Im already torn

THE BEHAVIOUR IN A MUSEUM

Hi guys, this time is Mercedes, your classmate in  the Advanced Level, who wants to share this entry with you all and make you participate with your comments. It's a very original entry and above all, it makes us reflect upon our attitude towards art. Read it and comment on it.

Taken from the film The Stendhal Syndrome

The behaviour in a museum

Do you like to visit museums? Everybody, who wants to see a really interesting person, says “yes, of course, I go very often”. But, is it totally true? How is our attitude when we go into an art gallery or we are in front of a monument? It might be highlighted that there are many researches about that; however, I have my own classification:

1.- The sensitive- they are people who know everything or almost everything about art, but they don´t show their knowledge. This kind of people walks around the places very slowly, putting attention in everything and learning new things about this subject. Although there are people who speak without knowing anything, and that gets on my nerves.

2.- The Romantic- They are people who stop in front of an sculpture or a picture and they start to cry. On the other extreme hand is the Stendhal Syndrome, which is suffered by people when they see many beautiful things and they left to enjoy.

3.- The Tourist-  They are people who want to see everything, because they have read it in guide books. They only stop when they watch a huge group of people in front of a masterpiece. They suddenly catch the camera and take thousands of photos. After that, they follow the rest of the people. This kind of people don´t read any information, because they waste time doing it and they have to take more and more photos. Moreover, tourists don´t like to pay tickets for the entrance.

Anyway, after this short explanation about three kinds of visitors of a museum, could you tell me if you have felt identified with some of them? Explain me how your behavior in a museum is, how you prepare the visit, if you don´t mind spending money in culture, …

Needless to say, Mercedes, we really appreciate your effort and enthusiam in writing this interesting entry. Thanks a lot and keep blogging!!