Along with the Edinburgh International Festival, the Fringe is one of Scotland´s most famous festivals.  It is held every August, and is a festival of the Arts, with buskers, street perfomers, theatre plays, and comedy shows. Unlike the Edinburgh International Festival, at which only professionals perform, it is not necessary to be approved by a jury to perform at the Fringe. Indeed, any type of performance is permitted, resulting in a colourful and exciting variety of entertainment.

The Fringe festival dates to the late 1940s. With the idea of taking advantage of the large crowds that had gathered in Edinburgh to see the Edinburgh International Festival, a number of smaller theatre companies, went to the capital and performed there, uninvited. These performances were successful and a few years later, in the early 1950s, the Fringe began to be organised more centrally and provide an alternative to the Edinburgh International Festival. It now is as well established as its forerunner, and every year is host to literally thousands of performances.

We strongly recommend it – and if you can´t go this year, check out the website… it might encourage you to go next year!

Every year, the British public and media puts great pressure on its home players to win the championship. After Fred Perry´s win in 1977, many British men have attempted, but failed to emulate Perry´s victory.

Tim Henman in the late 1990s and early 2000s came close by making it to the semi-finals, and Murray himself came even closer when he reached the final in 2012, but he lost on that occasion to the Swiss Roger Federer. This year, however, the 26-year old Scot was better prepared and deserved his victory.

Listen to his reaction after the match here.  Check out the BBC website too for tennis vocabulary in English:

Did you watch the match? Write to us to let us know what you thought of the game!

Below are some of our favorites… when your teacher asks you to describe the wet weather outside, don´t settle for “it´s raining”, use one of these expressions to brighten up your teacher´s day:

Light Rain

It´s drizzling

It´s spitting

Heavy Rain

It´s pouring (down)

It´s pelting (down)

It´s raining buckets

It´s raining cats and dogs

The heavens have opened

It´s chucking it down (colloquial)

It´s pissing it down (colloquial)

If you find “it´s raining cats and dogs” a rather amusing expression, check out this article on even more weird and wonderful expressions from other languages around the world http://mentalfloss.com/article/12931/16-international-idioms-describe-heavy-rain

Para celebrar esta ocasión hemos decidido regalar 10 Kindles, incluso un magnífico Kindle Fire HD!

Todo lo que has de hacer para ganar uno de estos regalos es contarnos qué idioma te gusta más y por qué. ¿Fácil? Bueno, hay una pequeña pega… Has de responder con 10 palabras. ¿Crees que puedes hacerlo?… Pues envía tu respuesta ahora!

¡Participa en el concurso aquí!

Las respuestas deben ser enviadas antes del 30 de Abril y los ganadores se anunciarán el 1 de Mayo!

Buena suerte y estamos esperando vuestras originales respuestas

Love by Design (MacMillan Graded Readers) – Elementary Level (A1)

Tom has failed his exams, so he cannot study photography at art college. He is bored with his job in a library and he doesn’t know what he wants to do. Rita knows what she wants to do- she wants to be a fashion model. When she steps into Tom’s library one rainy day, the young couple’s futures become linked.

Romeo and Juliet (Oxford Bookworms) – Levels A2 – B1 

This classic play by Shakespeare about the power of love, adapted for  learners of English,  is an ideal Sant Jordi gift. Romeo and Juliet are two young people who fall in love, but whose families hate each other. For a time, they manage to keep their love secret, but when Romeo is sent away and plans are made for Juliet to marry another man, their love is put to the test.

Rapture by Carol Ann Duffy – Levels B2 -C2

This collection of love poems is written by the current UK Poet Laureate, Carol Ann Duffy. All of the poems have as their central theme love, but they avoid typical clichés that one might expect from a book of love poems. The poems in this collection look at love in all its complexities – infatuation, longing, passion, commitments, separation, and grief. Anyone who is in love or who has been in love, will certainly enjoy this collection.

Ask your local Head of Studies if you have these books in your local Babylon Idiomas library.  If you read any of these books and would like to write a review for our May blog, send an email to liz@babylon-idiomas.com

When we think of Easter, we think of painted eggs, the Easter bunny, and chocolate. But what are the origins of Easter?

The festival of Easter is a Christian adaptation of a pagan ritual. Pagans believed that eggs represented fertility and rebirth and the Christian Church also made the eggs a symbol of religion. At Easter they painted eggs, and gave these as presents – a ritual that still exists today.

The Easter Bunny, like Santa Claus at Christmas,  is a mythical creature who gives presents to children at Easter. The hare, like the egg, has been a symbol of fertility for a long time. The long-existing idea that the hare can reproduce without losing its virginity, made people associate the hare with the Virgin Mary.

 The progression from real hand-painted eggs to chocolate eggs came from the Germans. In the late 1800s, they filled baskets with hare-shaped pastries and chocolates. This developed into the production of solid chocolate eggs which people began to give as presents with the more traditional egg. In World War II cocoa was rationed, and American confectioners decided to make hollow Easter eggs to maximise production. These holl0w eggs are still produced today, and are more common that the solid eggs.

On Easter morning children look for these eggs, which the Easter Bunny (with the help of adults) leaves for them, often in hidden places. Often non-Christians celebrate Easter too because these fun activities and the invention of the chocolate egg and Easter Bunny have commercialised the festival to a certain extent.

DIFFICULT (Levels B2 + )

Easter – we all know that it represents the resurrection of Christ according to Christianity, but how many of us actually know that many of our Easter traditions (looking for painted eggs that the Easter bunny has left for us, or consuming massive quantities of chocolate treats) have more to do with early Pagan beliefs than Christianity?

Well, the festival of Easter is in fact a classic example of the early Christian church adapting an existing pagan ritual to suit their own purposes. Pagans believed that eggs represented fertility and re-birth and consequently, the early Christian Church decided to stain eggs in red dye representing the blood of Christ. This then led to the egg becoming an official symbol of Christianity. As a result of the Church’s appropriation of the egg as a symbol of religion, it became common practice to give hand painted eggs as presents at Easter time.

So, the origins of the painted Easter egg are easy to understand, but when did the tradition of giving chocolate eggs start? And where does the Easter bunny come into all this?

Nowadays the Easter rabbit or bunny is analogous with Santa Claus or Father Christmas, in that it is a mythical creature that gives gifts to children on the eve of their respective holidays. However, the inclusion of the rabbit or hare as a symbol of Easter is somewhat circumstantial. The hare, along with the egg, has long been seen as a symbol of fertility, and there has long existed the idea that the hare can reproduce without losing its virginity, thus easily lending itself to a comparison with the Virgin Mary.

The progression from real hand painted eggs to eggs made out of chocolate is due to the Germans. In the late 1800s they began to fill baskets with hare shaped pastries and chocolates. This then developed into the production of solid chocolate eggs which began to be exchanged along with the more traditional egg. However, it would not be until World War II that the hollow egg came into existence. Due to the rationing of cocoa, American confectioners decided to make hollow Easter eggs to maximise production.

These eggs are often hidden for children to find on Easter morning, which may be  left by the Easter Bunny. They may also be put in a basket filled with real or artificial straw to resemble a bird´s nest.

It can be seen that the invention of the chocolate egg and bunny has gone someway into making Easter the commercial celebration it is today. Nowadays, like many other typically Christian celebrations, such as Christmas, Easter is celebrated to a certain extent even by non-Christians, who participate in the commercial aspects of the festivity, even though they eschew the religious principles behind it.

Now we know what happens at Easter time and we understand the beginnings of the egg as the ultimate symbol of this celebration, there only remains on important question to answer: when exactly is Easter?

One strange aspect of Easter, which is unique to Christian festivals, is the fact that it does not have a fixed date according to the civil calendar. This means that although it always falls on a Sunday, as this is when Jesus resurrected, the date is different every year. It is in fact the first Sunday after the first full moon following the March equinox that decides the date of Easter.

Happy Easter!

Learning a new language can be difficult but it is important to be patient and have fun.

To learn a language you must study but it is also necessary to understand why you really want to learn. Is learning English your hobby? Do you need English for work? Do you need English for your Master´s program at University? There are many reasons for everyone but if you understand your reasons, you can make a good plan to achieve your goals.

The best way to plan is to take one big goal and divide it into many smaller goals. The first step with language learning is always practice. Practice makes perfect  – la práctica hace el maestro. It is very important to speak, read, and write in English as often as possible. It is not enough just to study and do your homework. You must also practise in different situations. At Babylon Idiomas we have a library with books, magazines and DVDs and we also offer free conversation classes every Friday. Students who study, do their homework and practise a lot, learn faster.

There are also many bars and restaurants that have language exchange nights. At Babylon Idiomas we have a weekly event called “Happy Miércoles“ and a monthly night called “Happy Friday” which are great if you want to meet people from different countries and practise your English.

And don´t forget the internet! There are many good websites like  BBC Learning English, Apps like English Idiomas Illustrated or even videos on YouTube. There is a famous expression ‘nothing worth having was ever achieved without effort.’ For me, that means that nothing good is easy. Learning a new language is an amazing experience, but you need to work hard and make English a part of your life forever. Take it slowly and you will see results.

DIFFICULT (Levels B1/B2 + )

Learning a new language can be challenging. If we become intimidated by the size of the task, we will harm our progress. Instead, we must try to enjoy the journey, and focus on the small steps.

Learning a new language requires dedication. You need to know why you want to study and improve your English, and vague, flowery aims are not good enough. Try to be more concrete and specific, for example: ‘I want to improve my employment prospects, and I would like to travel and be able to communicate with other tourists and locals.’

The best way to achieve anything is to do it little-by-little . Even the largest, most daunting of tasks can be broken down into small sections, and each small section is far easier to complete.

Without practice, our skills weaken. It is vital to speak English, to listen to English, to read English and to write in English as often as possible. We should try to study, practise and listen to lots of English outside of the classroom. At Babylon Idiomas, we offer free Conversation Classes to our students, and it is clear that the students who attend these classes see an improvement in their spoken English.

Students practising their English at a Happy Friday

There are many bars and restaurants that hold Language Exchange events too. At Babylon Idiomas we hold a weekly event  called “Happy Miércoles“ and a monthly “Happy Friday” which are great if you want to meet people from different countries andpractice your English. This is a fantastic way to improve language skills, whilst also offering us the chance to meet many interesting people from all over the world.

Also, we live in a world full of information. There are countless good websites and resources to use, many of them free – videos on YouTube or websites like the BBC, to name but two.

There is a famous quote by an anonymous writer. It says that ‘nothing worth having was ever achieved without effort.’ To me, that means that nothing good is easy. Learning a new language is an amazing experience, but one that takes dedication and hard-work. Take it step-by-step, slowly and smoothly, and you will see results.

Now is arguably the best time of the whole year for film watching as it’s the award season. We have already had the Golden Globes and on the 24^th of February the 85^th Oscars ceremony will take place. One of the most prestigious awards of the night is the ‘Best Film’ category. It’s the only category that allows up to 10 nominations. This year there are 9 films nominated for the Oscar, also known as the Academy Award. I’ve been slowly making my way through the list and have currently watched 6 of the 9 films nominated. So here’s what I thought of those films. ..

*Don’t worry if you struggle with some of the vocabulary, there is a guide at the bottom explaining all of the words that are highlighted in red.

Argo

I personally like political thrillers and films that have an unusual plot. A CIA operative thinks up an ingenious way to help 6 Americans, who had escaped a hostage situation in Iran, return undetected to the USA. I don’t think the acting is as great in Argo as it is in some of the other movies. I do think it is very well filmed and I really like what Ben Affleck has done as a director. Although it’s a long film, the plot is fast enough that you never get bored.

My marks out of 10: 8

Lincoln

This film is long and it feels even longer when you are watching it. The acting is amazing, It was always going to be with Oscar legends Daniel Day Lewis and Sally Fields in major roles. The story tells of Abraham Lincolns determination to push through the 13^th amendment which banned slavery in the USA. The first hour of the film isn’t needed in my opinion and I actually understand very little of what is said. I know very little about the American democratic and judicial systems. The last hour and a half is much better and I even shed a few tears at the end. It’s a very American film and it was released apt’ly on a year when Americas first black president was re-elected into office. I think for these reasons it is destined to do well on the big night.

My marks out of 10: 7

Django Unchained

One of my favourites. I have always enjoyed Tarantino movies and was excited to watch this Western offering. Great acting, apart from Tarantino, from a great cast that includes Jamie Foxx, Samuel L Jackson and Leonardo DiCaprio. The film is about Django, a slave that is freed by a bounty hunter. The bounty hunter trains him and gives him a horse and a gun. After making a little money together, they set out to try and free Django’s wife from her life of slavery at Candyland, a place owned by Leonardo DiCaprios character. Apart from the blood and gore which is a bit excessive, this is an awesome film.

My marks out of 10: 8

Beasts of the Southern Wild

I had no idea what was happening for most of this movie. I got the general storyline but all of the deeper meanings were lost on me. There is a little girl who lives in the “The Bathtub” which seems to be swampland somewhere in the USA. She lives with her dad who is an ill alcoholic. Occasionally we see shots of fantastical beasts running…. It’s weird. I’m sure for people who like these kinds of movies it’s great and the film has won lots of awards. It’s also beautifully shot, however, I’m a sucker for a good storyline and this film didn’t offer me that.

My marks out of 10: 6

Life of Pi

This film was made to be shown in 3D. I saw it at the cinema and was blown away by the stunning effects the film offers. On the surface, Life of Pi is about a young boys struggle to keep himself alive aboard a lifeboat he is sharing with a Bengal tiger. On a deeper level the film is about religion and faith. Ang Lee is an amazing director but the film didn’t really effect me as much as I wanted it too. I almost wanted it to be more over the top and fantastical than it was. Its definitely not a bad movie and I would watch it again but for me it wasn’t the best movie of the year.

My marks out of 10: 7.5

Silver Linings Playbook

I was surprised when I heard that the first movie to having someone nominated in all four acting categories in over 30 years was a romantic comedy movie. You rarely see ‘rom-coms’ in the Oscars at all. Silver Linings Playbook also got nominated for Best Film and now that I’ve seen the movie I understand why. It’s brilliant! Great acting, great script, great concept and even though it had a predictable happy ending, it didn’t feel too cheesy. The film is about the quest of a guy with Bi-Polar disorder, who has recently left an institution for people who have mental disabilities, to win back his wife. He tries to do this with the help of a girl he meets who suffers from a similar disorder. It’s sweet and funny and yet honest. It was refreshing to see a romantic comedy where the main characters have issues aside from their terrible love lives. I highly recommend this movie to anyone and hope that it does well and wins something on the night.

My marks out of 10: 9

Well that’s my opinion on some of the most popular films of the year. I hope to see Les Misérbales and Zero Dark Thirty before the day of the awards so I can make some predictions for the night. What do you think about the nominated films and which film do you think will win the ‘Best Film’ award?

Glossary of terms

apt’ly: short for ‘appropriately’, to be relevent, to be suitable.

bounty hunter: someone who is pursues criminals for a reward, usually money.

colloquially: informally, in a chatty and conversation manner.

democratic: often related to politics, a democratic system is one that relates to the interests of the people. e.g. democratic vote, democratic government.

excessive: it exceeds/goes beyound normal limits or expectations. It is more than what is needed.

familiarise: to become acquainted with something/someone, to make (something) generally known or accepted. e.g. I familiarised myself with the surroundings.

fantastical: strange in form, concept or appearance, existing only in fantasy; unreal.

gore: blood, something you expect to see in horror movies when people are stabbed or tortured.

hostage: someone innocent who is being held by a criminal during a crime.

ingenious: if something is ingenious it was done showing brilliance and creativity e.g. the invention was ingenious, an ingenious idea.

judicial: relating to courts of law or to the justice system.

plot: (film context) the series of events that make up the story.

predictions: a prediction is a guess as to what is going to happen. e.g. I predict the football score will be 1-0.

prestigious: to have status and glamous, to be seem as important with a good reputation.

quest: the act  of looking for or seeking, to go searching for something. e.g. a quest for buried treasure.

refreshing: (in this context) Something pleasantly fresh and different, often unexpected and not often done.

stunning: to be striking in appearance, attractive.

swampland: a land consisting of swamps, low land that is often flooded.

Phrases/Idiomas

‘Im a sucker for…’ – If you’re a sucker for something you can’t help but enjoy it or want it. e.g. I’m a sucker for a film with a happy ending.

‘Cheesy’ – something done in poor taste, often outdated and of predictable. Similar to ‘tacky’ or ‘corny’.

Blogger: Nellie.

Why? I have hundreds of reasons but the main reason is that I am unemployed. I think that knowing another language is necessary because my opportunity to find a new job increases if I learn languages. I have no doubt that English is the official language of the working world of business, so to learn it is essential. I can’t waste any more time!

I’m studying my first intensive language course in Babylon Idiomas. I think I chose the best option. We have daily classes for 2 hours with small groups of students. The classes are very enjoyable and everyone participates enthusiastically.

My English is basic but I am learning quickly. I really like these classes! I think my English will improve in very little time.

The teachers are fantastic – young people but very professional.  My teacher is Kevin, the great Kevin, a very funny young man who cares a lot about our learning.  He is a very good teacher, I hope to continue with him in the next level.

I’m learning English and I’m very happy with my decision.

See you in Babylon!

If you want to learn English, why not check out the range of courses available at Babylon Idiomas.

I spent my first day in this unknown city walking around, trying to get my bearings. I ended up on the Ramblas and wondered what the fuss was about. Isn’t it just a long street? I took a relaxed stroll past the port and towards the beach where I sat on the sand and watched the surfers. The beach wasn’t crowded on this winter month, just enough people to create a warm atmosphere.

After getting to grips with my new job and  my new lifestyle, I decided it was time I tackled one of the languages. I enrolled myself on a Spanish language course and bought some grammar books to study. I really enjoyed the course but I found it difficult to juggle both studying and working full time. As the course came to an end, I became more confident and organised a few language exhanges or “intercambios”  to practise speaking. This is a great way to help language learning and meet knew people.

During the summer I spent a few days on a luxury boat and sailed around the Costa Brava. We ended up at a picturesque coastal town called Cadeques with typical white spanish villas. I met two friendly Catalan girls who, unlike most people, didn’t speak a word of English. It was a great chance to practise my Spanish, we chatted for a long time and it made me realise that my studying had paid off. It really improved my confidence.

Learning a language is a fun challenge - persevere and you will get there.