"Battle of the bulb"

Bulbs are present in our homes and they are changing, becoming more and more efficient. The EU is doing new regulations in order to replace the old bulbs for the new ones (Compact Fluorescent Lamps), but people don’t like the colour of thir light, they think CFL bulbs are unattractive and they don’t fit into their classic lamps. They aren’t against the new bulbs, but they don’t want them for their house. CFLs have some problems which will be solved by new generation of bulbs, based on LED technology.

New words learnt:

Bulb - bombeta
Frosted – esmerilat
Phase out – retirar, deixar de produir
Retailer – minorista

News from CNN Video News.

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"UK 'set for scorching summer' "

Last summers in the UK have been very wet, with high speed winds and floods, but forecasts for this year say that this summer will be very hot. That’s good for tourism and for those who want to stay home these holidays. The weather will depend on the wind above the clouds, very fast currents that cross the country at more than a hundred miles per hour. We can only wait to check if forecasts become true.
New words learnt

Jet stream – raig d’aire
Forecast (to) - pronosticar
Scorching – abrasador, socarrant

News from BBC News, reported by Roger Harrabin.

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Sarah's presentation

Sarah is from Scotland. She came to Spain four years ago in order to improve her language and her culture. She stayed some time in Catalunya, in Empuriabrava, and she had been our teacher for some time. Now, she has come here some days and she has visited us, making a “presentation” of one hour in class, explaining some of her experiences in Scotland and in Spain, giving us some advices. In fact, it has been a listening of an English native during one hour.

First of all, Sarah has introduced herself. She was born in a small family and she is the only child. Some of her hobbies are to travel or to ski (she is still a beginner), and she is an ex-football player (she stopped playing because she injured herself).

After that, she has asked if we knew some things about the UK, like the countries (Scotland, England, Wales and Northern Ireland) and the main capitals (Edinburgh, London, Cardiff and Belfast). We told her that we had visited London and she said that it is an international city and we should try to visit other places like Scotland, which would be a very different experience. More than five million persons live in Scotland and most of the places are country sides, there aren’t many large cities. Some of the most famous Scottish important figures are Sean Connery, Alex Fergusson or Andy Murray. Gaelic is one of the languages which are spoken in Scotland, although it isn’t taught in schools. There, the weather is very cold, rainy. It rains in July an In August (she has said that here we have an amazing summer).

About her personal experience, Sarah came here because it was part of her university course, it’s compulsory go to study abroad. During her stay in Spain, Sarah worked in a hotel in Empuriabrava and, after that, she returned to Glasgow to finish her degree.

Then, she came here again and she got a job in Murcia as a language assistant. Now she is working in a private academy called Shamrock and her boss is from Ireland. She is very happy because this job gives her free time in weekends. According to her opinion, to be a teacher is not easy, but it has some advantages.

As an advice to finish her visit, she has recommended us to visit a country, to participate in an Erasmus, to stay with native persons and to have a very good time.

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