Gramática

Temas concretos de Gramática: verbos frasales, modales, voz pasiva, etc...

Léxico

Campos léxicos, sinónimos, antónimos, homónimos, falsos amigos, lenguaje tabú y un largo etcétera

Historias y humor

Pequeño cajón desastre para mis historias, anécdotas en mis clases, recuerdos...

Mis libros

Aquí podéis ver un pequeño resumen de mis libros más importantes

Charlas y conferencias

Las más significativas a lo largo de mi vida académica. Y las próximas

29/7/14

Stories for my grandchildren: The Pied Piper of Hamelin



[This video has been downloaded from YouTube (English Talking Book - Appu Series) for educational purposes exclusively]

Aquí os dejo el bonito cuento El Flautista de Hamelín, con una pequeña ayuda de vocabulario, para que lo entendáis mejor:







WORDS AND PHRASES TO REMEMBER

The Pied Piper of Hamelin - El Flautista de Hamelín
to get rid of - librar de
pests - animales dañinos
in vain - en vano
shape - forma
the chief of the town called a meeting - el regidor de la ciudad convocó una reunión
ten sacks of gold - diez sacos de oro
a stranger from a faraway land - un forastero de tierras lejanas
dressed in colourful clothes - vestido con ropa de colores
he had a feather in his hat - tenía una pluma en el sombrero
he carried a pipe - llevaba una flauta
an odd but wonderful tune una extraña pero maravillosa melodía
more and more rats followed him - ratas y más ratas le siguieron
all the rats fell into the water and drowned - todas las ratas cayeron al agua y se ahogaron
The Pied Piper went back to collect his reward - el flautista de Hamelín volvió para cobrar su recompensa
greedy - avariciosos
how dare you break your promise? - ¿cómo os atrevéis a romper vuestra promesa?
"I'll teach this town a lesson", he shouted - "le daré a esta ciudad una lección", gritó
"What lovely music!", they cried - "¡ qué música tan encantadora!", gritaron
"We must follow him" - debemos seguirle
The Pied Piper took them all to a cave outside the city - el flautista de Hamelín los llevó a todos a una cueva en las afueras de la ciudad
and closed the cave door with a huge rock - y cerró la entrada de la cueva con una enorme roca
only two children were left behind - sólo dos niños se quedaron rezagados
one little boy had hurt his leg and couldn't walk as fast as the others - un pequeño niño se había lastimado la pierna y no podía andar tan rápido como los otros
the other was a little girl who couldn't hear anything - la otra era una pequeña niña que no podía oír nada/era sorda
the townspeople were very scared - la gente de la ciudad estaban muy asustados
and very ashamed for breaking their promise - y muy avergonzados por no haber cumplido su promesa
begged for forgiveness - pidieron perdón
finally, the Pied Piper let the children go - finalmente, el flautista de Hamelín dejó ir a los niños
the town of Hamelin had learnt never to be ungrateful and greedy - la ciudad de Hamelín había aprendido a nunca más ser desagradecidos y avariciosos
the Pied Piper disappeared never to be seen again - el flautista de Hamelín desapareció y no volvió a ser visto jamás
sometimes, if you listen very carefully - algunas veces, si se escucha con mucha atención
you can still hear the beautiful sound of his pipe - todavía se puede oír el hermoso sonido de su flauta

Sugerencia

No os olvidéis de entresacar de la historia unas cuantas palabras y frases y un par de reglas gramaticales, para decirles a vuestros alumnos lo que han podido aprender.








27/7/14

Cómo sacar el mejor partido a un cuento infantil.

Mi post de hoy va especialmente dedicado a todos mis ex-alumnos que ahora se dedican a dar clases de inglés a niños de todas las edades. 
Como habéis podido comprobar, este verano estoy dedicando muchos de mis posts a los peques. Subo una fábula, un cuento o una historia en el programa que titulo 'Stories for my Grandchildren' y la idea es que oyendo el cuento en inglés, a la vez que ven el video, vayan haciendo el oído a la pronunciación inglesa y aprendiendo también alguna palabra suelta de vocabulario, con ayuda de sus padres o sus abuelos. Esto me parece muy útil para niños desde aprox. la edad de 4 años aunque, lógicamente, a medida que van creciendo irán aprendiendo más palabras y frases, hasta que dos o tres años más tarde los padres y abuelos comprueben con satisfacción que sus hijos y nietos se han soltado en inglés incluso más de lo que esperaban. 
Creo, sin embargo, que se puede sacar mucho más partido a esta actividad, aprovechando el interés de los pequeños por las historias y los cuentos en cuestión. Por supuesto que 'cada maestrillo tiene su librillo', pero me permito sugerir a mis seguidores y amigos profesores, y a todos aquellos  que se sientan atraídos por esta idea, que complementen la actividad, de la siguiente manera:
Tras oír el cuento un par de veces y contestar a alguna pregunta de los peques sobre la historia, el profesor les hace ver lo siguiente:
1.- palabras inglesas que habéis podido aprender
2.- frases en inglés que habéis podido aprender
3.- gramática práctica de inglés que habéis podido aprender
Es importante que llaméis su atención solamente en 4-5 palabras, 3-4 frases y sólo 1-2 reglas gramaticales.
Como ejemplo de lo que propongo, vamos a aplicarlo a la divertidísima historia de Ben and Holly que he subido recientemente The Party:http://sanchezbenedito.blogspot.com.es/2014/07/historias-y-humor-ben-and-holly-party_12.html
http://sanchezbenedito.blogspot.com.es/2014/07/historias-y-humor-ben-and-holly-party_12.html

palabras que habéis podido aprender

castle - castillo
wand - varita mágica
elf - duende
fairy - hada
trick - truco

frases que habéis podido aprender

welcome to the party - bienvenidos a la fiesta
that stings - eso pica
it's stung me again - me ha picado otra vez
don't show me - no me la enseñes

gramática práctica que habéis podido aprender

let's fly - volemos (usamos let's delante del verbo para imperativos en plural. Otros ejemplos: let's play - juguemos, let's read - leamos, let's talk - hablemos, etc)
it's the worst trick I've ever seen - es el peor truco que he visto en mi vida (the worst es el superlativo de bad -malo, así tenemos: bad - malo, worse - peor y the worst - el peor. Lo contrario de the worst es the best - el mejor. Así tenemos: good - bueno, better - mejor y the best - el mejor)

Esto puede repetirse, con nuevas palabras, frases y reglas gramaticales, dos o tres días más y puede hacerse con cualquier cuento o historia.


25/7/14

Historias y humor: Counterpoint, unit 2

Os dejo hoy para que escuchéis la unidad 2 de Counterpoint, que me parece interesante por dos razones: la primera, por el tema: el mundo de la música pop en la década de los '70 y los '80 y, la segunda, porque creo conveniente poder entender el acento americano, aunque el vuestro propio sea inglés británico o tal vez internacional:



Words and Phrases to Remember:
a smashing success - un éxito clamoroso
to cheer - aplaudir, vitorear
to collect - coleccionar
to stand in line - hacer cola (IAm)/ to queue (IBr)
onion-shaped turrets - torres en forma de cebolla
people flock to see - la gente acude en tropel para ver
can make you dizzy - pueden aturdirte, marearte
approach - enfoque
roughly - aproximadamente
arrangers - arreglistas
score - partitura
cultural powerhouse - centro/fuente cultural
almost beyond belief - casi increible
to shape - modelar, dar forma
beads - cuentas de collar
to frighten - asustar
beat - compás/ritmo
cooking oil - aceite de cocina
shaving cream - crema de afeitar
to devise - idear/inventar
at an unrivalled tempo - a un ritmo sin par
tape - cinta
purchase - compra
thus - así
political rallies - mítines
demostrations - manifestaciones
turn, turn - rebélate, rebélate
we shall overcome - venceremos
sought - past of
to seek (buscar) have figured largely - han tenido un papel importante
oddly enough - curiosamente
to poke fun at - burlarse de, ridiculizar
to whistle - silbar
show business - mundo del espectáculo
slender - ligera
to last - durar

22/7/14

Stories for my grandchildren: The hare and the tortoise

Today, another fable with its moral; The Hare and the Tortoise (la liebre y la tortuga) (hare is generically referred to in English as masculine, so he is used in the story when it is mentioned).
You'll notice the following spelling mistakes in the subtitles, which should be corrected:
proud, not proudy
quiet, not quite
beaten, not beatened 

(This video has been downloaded from YouTube for educational purposes exclusively)






Vocabulary help

hare - liebre
tortoise - tortuga
get together - reunión
proud - orgulloso,-a
to boast of - presumir/alardear de
speed - velocidad
beaten - past participle of to beat - vencer, derrotar
race - carrera
to his misfortune - para su desgracia
challenge/to challenge - desafío/desafiar
quiet/quietly - tranquilo/tranquilamente
crow - cuervo
to witness - ser testigo de
courage -valor
filled with joyful pride - lleno,-a de gozoso orgullo
to crack a joke - contar un chiste
to be beaten - ser vencido/derrotado
shall we race? - ¿echamos una carrera?
fox - zorro
to be chosen - ser escogido
judge - juez, árbitro
to fix a date - fijar una fecha
one-sided - desigual
to pray - rezar
success - éxito
to reach the spot - llegar al sitio
well in time - con mucha/bastante anticipación
to make fun of - burlarse de
to go out of sight - perderse de vista
at once - enseguida, inmediatamente
laughing matter (= laughing stock) - hazmereír)
contempt - desprecio, desdén
lay down - past of to lie down - tumbarse
to have a nap - echar una siesta
to plod on - avanzar con paso lento (pero sin parar)
awoke - past of to awake - despertar
winning post - meta
to be shocked - sobresaltarse, llevarse un susto
moral: slow and steady wins the race - moraleja: piano, piano, se va lontano.


19/7/14

Historias y humor: El hombre que no podía dormir

Aquí podéis oír mi historia "El hombre que no podía dormir", grabada por mi amigo Tony Dawson, profesor jubilado de la Universidad de Sevilla. Espero que os guste. Podéis ver el desarrollo completo de la historia, con preguntas de comprensión, estudio completo semántico, fonético y gramatical y ejercicios con su clave, en mi libro Learning English Vocabulary and Grammar Through Short Stories, unidad 7, Ed. Comares

THE MAN WHO COULD GET NO SLEEP                                                                                        

Nothing really important ever happened in my native village, an average small rural community on the plateau of Castile with hardly 2,000 inhabitants. True that a woman had had quintuplets one year, and that it had once rained frogs. But uncommon as these happenings may seem to some, they have been scientifically explained – one as a rare but still possible simultaneous fecundation of several ovules, and the other as having something to do with the sudden evaporation of a small nearby lake. Mine was indeed an ordinary village, where people went about their tasks during the day and quietly slept at night. Well, all except my uncle Nicolás, because my uncle Nicolás never got any sleep. And when I say that he didn’t get any sleep, I don’t mean that he suffered from chronic insomnia or anything like that. What I mean is that he never slept at all. Not an hour, not a minute of his life, ever since he had been born and had cried away in his cot for days and nights on end to his parents’ despair.
This singular inability to sleep on my uncle’s part can truly be said to be something unique, something extraordinary which, as far as I know, has never happened anywhere else in the world before. I once read about a Cuban who got no sleep for forty years. But in his case, there had been inflammation of the inner brain when he was thirteen, and the sleep mechanism had been damaged beyond repair. The Cuban was given drugs that made him drowsy, and he even dreamt sometimes, though his electroencephalograms registered the brain activity of a fully awake person. Moreover, he would feel awfully tired in the mornings, and had to wear dark glasses to protect his sensitive, overworked eyes. Nothing like that in my uncle’s case. He never felt tired, he was always as fresh as a daisy, and when he lay down to rest with closed eyes, he didn’t dream, or if he did, he dreamt awake.
Nicolás led a completely normal life, working in the fields during the day and having a few hours’ wakeful rest on his bed at night. He was the happy father of eight, had no enemies, and was known to be a hard-working, honest man, and one who would good-humouredly take the inevitable jokes about his strange condition. As a child, they would ask him at school if he had seen the Three Wise Men come on January 6th, and on his wedding day the youths kept winking at him, with blunt remarks about the sleepless night ahead. But he didn’t mind a bit, and laughed with the best of them, as he later did every time his wife gave birth to a new child, when they asked him if he had seen the stork arrive.
Uncle Nicolás was not really worried about his lack of sleep, but once, reluctantly, to please the family, he had consented to go to the capital, where a legion of eminent and not so eminent doctors had tried hypnosis, electroshock treatment, acupuncture and experimental drugs on him in order to give him the ability to sleep, but it had all been useless, and good old Nicolás had returned to the village as awake as always.

My uncle lived on for a few years yet, a loving husband and father, fully resigned to his permanent state of conciousness, and when he died of heart failure at the age of 58, though some jokes in bad taste were heard about his now being able to get as much sleep as he liked, he was sincerely mourned by all in the village. In fact, he was so popular that his memory was still alive ten years later when the customary exhumation of his mortal remains took place at the small local cemetery before the eyes of his family and a large group of curious people who had not wanted to miss the ceremony, and the truth is that nobody was actually much surprised when the coffin was opened and he was found to be intact and...wide awake.

15/7/14

Stories for my grandchildren: The lion and the mouse


Siguiendo con el programa Stories for my grandchildren, hoy os dejo otra historia para los pequeños: la conocida fábula de Esopo: The Lion and the Mouse (el león y el ratón). Encontraréis igualmente una ayuda de vocabulario, a utilizar según vuestro mejor criterio:


(This video has been downloaded from YouTube for educational purposes exclusively)



Ayuda de vocabulario

Majesty - Majestad
to rule over the jungle - reinar sobre la jungla
to take a nap - echar una siestecita
a heavy meal - una abundante/pesada comida
tiny - pequeño, diminuto
softness - suavidad
to tiptoe - andar de puntillas
to wake up - despertarse
to disturb - molestar
frightened - asustado
to feel dizzy - sentirse mareado
to fear - tener miedo
to punish - castigar
forgive me, my Lord - perdonadme, mi Señor
allow me to go - dejadme marchar
that's a good joke - eso es un buen chiste
run away from here - vete corriendo de aquí
to munch - masticar, comer a bocados
guava - guayaba (fruta tropical)
to roar - rugir
what's the matter? - ¿qué ocurre?
let me go and check - voy a comprobar
caught in a net - atrapado en una red
I should help him - debo ayudarle
come on, relieve me - venga, libérame
before the hunter comes - antes de que venga el cazador
to gnaw - roer
to release - soltar
moral- moraleja
even the weak and small may be of help to those much mightier than themselves - incluso los débiles y pequeños pueden ser de ayuda a los que son mucho más poderosos que ellos.



12/7/14

Historias y Humor: Ben and Holly (the Party)



Para vosotros los más pequeños, pero que ya sois lo bastante mayores para saber algo de inglés, subo hoy el divertido episodio (the Party - la Fiesta) de la superfamosa serie Ben and Holly's Little Kingdom, primero en inglés y, si hay algo que no entendéis del todo, a continuación tenéis la versión española.
¡Hala! a disfrutar y a aprender algo de inglés - con la ayuda de los papás, claro.








Os recomiendo que visitéis esta serie con frecuencia durante el verano y, a ser posible, durante todo el año. Veréis como os vais soltando en inglés sin daros cuenta.

10/7/14

Historias y humor: English from The Stick or a curious case of Spanglish

Aquí os dejo hoy una pequeña historia en clave de humor, llena de modismos en Spanglish, que me publicó Sur in English en 1990. Si os apetece y tenéis un rato libre, podéis reemplazar estos modismos disparatados por modismos ingleses auténticos. Si se os resiste alguno de ellos, no os preocupéis, podéis mirar la clave al final de la historia. En cualquier caso, el objetivo no es otro que pasar un buen rato, a la vez que se repasan unos cuantos idioms:

ENGLISH FROM THE STICK OR A CURIOUS CASE OF SPANGLISH 
                  
My good friend Pepe, who is very fond of idioms, teaches English at a small school in the mountains not far from El Palo. His school as he himself says is nothing of the other Thursday, but I’d like to tell you about something that he has invented: what he calls Stick English, or English from The Stick. So that you can have a good idea what this sort of English is like, I’ll take the liberty to make free use of it in my article today.
For if the flies and to avoid any misunderstandings, I’d better tell you right away that Pepe is a good professional and the English he teaches in his school has nothing or almost nothing to do with this “stick” variety that he uses mainly in his spare time and with his friends. He’s also an honest, straightforward chap who likes to call bread, bread, and wine, wine or, in other words, somebody who likes things clear and chocolate thick. As I have already said, his school is a bit of a long way away and isolated, or to put it in his own jargon, in the fifth pinetree, where Christ lost his cap, and since he lives alone, not having yet found his half-orange (he insists on marrying a virgin, for he hates to be plate of second table), at weekends he occasionally comes to town to toss a white hair to the wind and have a little cup with his chums, and it is not all that strange for him to end up holding a good hake in the early hours of the morning.
Pepe gets on very well with his pupils, but if there’s something that gives him one hundred kicks in the stomach it is for them to do him the small ball: he really detests flattery in all its forms. He’s a bit short-sighted, or as he says, he sees less than Joe Milk, so when he suspects his students are up to something or when he smells there’s a cat locked in somewhere, he can’t help becoming a little fly and may even climb up the walls, because if there’s something he can’t swallow it is to be led to the orchard or taken for a lily.
At fifty-eight or so, he’s quite fit and healthy, but he’s a bit of a hypochondriac, and a few months ago, when he was ill and thought he was going to die, he had a permanent knot in the throat. Thank goodness, he got over it and now he feels himself very well again and keeps saying he’s not finished yet and has rope for long.
Economically speaking, like most teachers, he’s not very well off and is always at the fourth question, but as he’s not one to walk on branches, nor has he got hairs on the tongue, the other day he wrapped the blanket around his head and went straight to the headmaster’s office to ask him for a rise, but as he later told his colleagues, who had been eagerly waiting for him outside to see if he’d had any success, he had the painful impression he had been talking to the wall all the time, and the message he seemed to receive was that he would have to wait till the frogs grew hair to get his rise.
On the whole, you may come to the conclusion that my friend lacks a screw, or is as mad as a watering can, but all I can say is that we make good crumbs together and I always have a good laugh talking to him, which is something to be grateful for these days, what with the war in Syria and the price of petrol going up every fortnight.
And now, the bombshell: if you promise to keep it secret, I can tell you that I know from very good ink that the passage above is the one that will be set for the university entrance exam. Candidates will simply be asked to re-write it replacing the expressions in bold by authentic English idioms. A hard nut to crack, don’t you think? Well, no problem, in case they have trouble with some of the idioms, I’m willing to give them the key in one of the next issues of Sur in English. I don’t know if they’ll pass their exam, but as Pepe would have it, I’m sure they’ll spend it bomb.

Reading comprehension questions

a.-  Who do you think the narrator of the story is?
b.-  Is Pepe real or fictitious?
c.-  What does the narrator mean by English from The Stick?
d.-  Does Pepe enjoy a good health?
e.-  Does Pepe earn a lot of money?
f.-  Do you think Pepe works at a state school or at a private one? What makes you think so?
g.-  What image of Pepe does the narrator convey to the reader?
h.- What qualities do you think a good teacher should have?

 English idioms alluded to in the story

nothing to write home about – nada del otro jueves
just in case – por si las moscas
to call a spade a spade – llamar al pan, pan y al vino, vino
my name’s John Blunt – a mí me gustan las cosas claras y el chocolate espeso
miles from anywhere/at the back of beyond – en el quinto pino/donde Cristo dio las tres voces/perdió la gorra
someone’s better half – la media naranja de alguien
to play second fiddle – ser plato de segunda mesa
to paint the town red – echar una canita al aire
to have a drink – tomarse una copa
to get pissed – agarrar una buena merluza
to rub sb up the wrong way/to be like a kick in the teeth – dar cien patadas/sentar como una patada en el estómago
to soft-soap sb/to butter sb up/to toady to sb – hacer la pelota/pelotilla
to be as blind as a bat – no ver ni tres en un burro/ver menos que Pepe Leches
to smell a rat – haber gato encerrado, ponerse mosca
to go up the wall/to hit the roof/the ceiling –subirse por las paredes
can’t stand – no tragar
to lead sb up the garden path/to take sb for a ride – llevarse a alguien al huerto
to take sb for a sucker – tomar por lila
to have a lump in the throat – tener un nudo en la garganta
to feel well – sentirse bien
not to be over the hill - no estar acabado, tener cuerda para rato
to be broke – estar a la cuerta pregunta, estar tieso
to beat about the bush – andarse con rodeos
not to mince one’s words – no tener pelos en la lengua
to throw caution to the wind – liarse la manta a la cabeza
to flog a dead horse – hablar con la pared
till the cows come home – hasta que las ranas crien pelo
to have a screw loose – faltar un tornillo
to be as mad as a hatter/a March hare – estar como una cabra
to get on well with sb/to hit it off – hacer buenas migas con alguien
to get it straight from the horse’s mouth/to know sth on good authority – saber algo de buena tinta
to have a whale of a time – pasarlo bomba


8/7/14

Stories for my grandchildren: The woodcutter's axe


Hola, amigos!
Durante los meses de verano, como ya os he adelantado, me propongo abrir una sección, donde subiré todos los martes, cada semana una fábula o un cuento infantil. Titulo esta sección Stories for my grandchildren, pero ni que decir tiene que mi deseo es que hagáis uso de ella con vuestros hijos, nietos, hermanos pequeños, etc. Aquí va la primera: la conocida fábula The woodcutter's axe (el hacha del leñador).
La utilidad de la historia depende lógicamente de la edad de los niños, pero a partir de 3 o 4 años podrán disfrutar de ella, con vuestra ayuda e irse acostumbrando a hacerse el oído al inglés.
Incluyo también una ayuda de vocabulario para niños y niñas que sepan ya algo de inglés. El vocabulario es demasiado extenso para pretender que los niños lo aprendan de una sola tacada. Lo mejor es llamarle la atención sobre 5 o 6 palabras cada vez y, de esta manera irán enriqueciendo su vocabulario poco a poco.



(This video has been downloaded from YouTube for educational purposes exclusively)



Ayuda de vocabulario

woodcutter - leñador
axe - hacha
forest - bosque
riverside - orilla del río
neighbour - vecino
honest - honrado
lazy and mean - perezoso y mezquino
boring - aburrido
woods - bosque
wood - madera
climbed up the tree - subió al árbol
to chop - cortar
to slip - resbalarse
to earn money - ganar dinero
to pray to God - rezar a Dios
prayer - oración
to cry - llorar
to drop - caerse algo y tamb. tirar algo
to glitter - relucir
gold - oro
golden - dorado, de oro
silver - plata
iron - hierro
without any hesitation - sin ninguna duda
stunned - estupefacto
to shine/shining - brillar/brillante
to show - mostrar, enseñar
joy - alegría
honesty - honradez
reward - recompensa
to follow somebody - seguir a alguien
to find out - averiguar
without the knowledge of Deena - sin saberlo Deena
what's the matter? - ¿qué ocurre?
how come ....? - ¿cómo es que....?
to reach home - llegar a casa
even though - aunque
as usual - como de costumbre
a fool - un tonto
see you - hasta luego
still - todavía, pero en la historia 'sin embargo'
to appear - aparecerse
guy - individuo, tipo
to take out - sacar
let me teach him a lesson - le voy a var una lección
how dare you...? - ¿cómo te atreves?
you should be punished for telling lies - debes ser castigado por decir mentiras
to forgive - perdonar
to shout - gritar
my only property - mi única propiedad, lo único que tengo
to give back - devolver
all his shouting went useless - todos sus gritos fueron en vano
 moral (moraleja): honesty is the best policy - la honradez es la mejor norma de conducta



5/7/14

Counterpoint Unit 1: The Adolescents

Unidad 1 de Counterpoint. Archivos de sonido Counterpoint-Unit 1-page 1-The Adolescents Counterpoint-Unit 1-page 2-Listen and repeat Counterpoint-Unit 1-page 6-Ask if Counterpoint-Unit 1-page 7-Phonetic drills

La historia que hoy os propongo oír como ejercicio de Listening Comprehension está sacada del libro Counterpoint del que somos autores el profesor Enrique Lavín y yo. El libro se publicó en 1978 y tuvo numerosas reimpresiones hasta la década de los '90. El libro está ya descatalogado, pero sus textos conservan toda su actualidad, como podéis comprobar vosotros mismos.

Words and Phrases to Remember

the compensations are meagre - las compensaciones son escasas

if you've a chinful of pimples - si se tiene un mentón lleno de espinillas
or you're bursting out of your clothes with puppy fat - o te estalla la ropa por las mollas
a desperate plea for advice - una desesperada petición de ayuda
plastic surgery - cirugía estética
a random check - un sondeo al azar
well adjusted - equilibrados
hang-ups - complejos
appalling spots - granos repulsivos
wept - past of to weep (llorar)
bosoms - pechos
no matter how many exercises....they carried out - por más ejercicios...que hacían
accompanied by chants - acompañados de cánticos
I must improve the bust - debo mejorar el busto/pecho
ruled by a stutter - dominada por una tartamudez
podginess - obesidad
stodgy food - comida pesada
enforced - forzados
to giggle - reírse con risita tonta o nerviosa
to break one's voice - cambiarle a uno la voz
to loathe - odiar
to long for - desear
on equal terms - en igualdad de condiciones
self-consciousness - cortedad
shyness - timidez
to blush - sonrojarse
Tom, Dick or Harry - fulano, zutano o mengano
jealous - celosas
a major fear - un gran terror
to be given a bad name - darle a uno mala fama
to recall - recordar
bitterness - amargura
to stay out late - trasnochar
convent girls - chicas que han ido a colegios de monjas
to rail against sth - despotricar contra algo
pills - pastillas
pot - marijuana
to go on in - ocurrir en
survey - encuesta
the Pill - la píldora
close-knit - unida
to be on one's own - independizarse, emanciparse
way-out gear - rara indumentaria
bizarre - raro, extraño

1/7/14

The First Heart Transplant

En espera de los resultados finales de las oposiciones, que ojalá sean satisfactorios para vosotros, mis seguidores y amigos, vuelvo de nuevo al blog con mi programa veraniego.
El verano es tiempo de relax y descanso tras un curso movidito, por lo tanto, mis posts durante los dos siguientes meses incluirán fundamentalmente material más light, como historias, humor, etc, dejando los más académicos, como gramática, fonética y léxico para una nueva etapa que pretendo iniciar a mediados del mes de septiembre. Subiré también todos los martes, empezando el próximo día 8, hasta el 9 de septiembre, una serie de cuentos y fábulas infantiles, que los padres y abuelos puedan poner a sus peques para que vayan haciendo el oído al inglés y aprendiendo algunas palabras. 

Empiezo la temporada de verano compartiendo hoy con vosotros la primera historia que me publicó Sur in English, sobre finales de 1988, creo recordar. Cuando escribí este pequeño relato, el racismo imperaba aún en South Africa, pero en la actualidad, afortunadamente, gracias al inolvidable Mandela, este racismo forma ya parte del pasado....o casi:


THE FIRST HEART TRANSPLANT
           
It had been that very morning, the eve of his 27th anniversary, at the small cemetery (only for black people) of his native town that he had heard the words “heart transplant” for the first time. He had been looking with vacant eyes at the humble coffin being lowered to the grave, when he had overheard those two men, vague acquaintances of his, mention that the operation had been a great success the day before at the town hospital. He did not understand at first. He felt that odd sensation one has when one suddenly awakes from a bad dream or rather, a frightful nightmare...
            That is why it was such a terrible shock for him to realize that it was his own burial. The body in the hearse was his, and that poor black girl in front of him, concealing her tears behind a frayed veil was his own wife. He had felt a sudden impulse to rush to her, take her in her arms and..., it had all been so sudden, the car accident had left him no time to tell her how much he loved her and how grateful he was for the happy moments she had given him..., but no movement came from his limbs. He was dead.
            Now, in this drowsy summer afternoon, looking through the window of that big, modern hospital (only for white people), he felt a little uneasy. He knew, of course, that men of his race were not welcome in this place, but he had wished to cast a glance on that fat, white man there, lying in his bed, peacefully smiling at a solicitous doctor and a pretty nurse at his side. He was a perfect stranger to him, but it was his heart beating in that chest, of that he was sure...
            He had been taught to distrust white people, to hate them even, and as he stood there gazing at that pale, flabby man, he could not help thinking with bitterness of the ordeal his poor black heart would have to endure. Through that white body he would have to love a white woman, white children perhaps, and live separated from the ones he really cared for. But oddly enough, he felt his anger recede, giving way to a new, unknown emotion, until at last he was happy as a child. He thought his involuntary donation might lead sometime to a greater love and respect for the brothers of his race, and it seemed to him as if he had been born again...

            He knew they were waiting for him above and he had a large account to settle..., but it was full of a new hope that he started off for his last journey.