A2 - Writing: A Biography

My brother Francisco’s biography

Francisco is the oldest of all my brothers and sisters. He was born in Loja in 1975. He lived in Ventorros de Balerma with all my family until he was a young man. He studied accounting at university. When he was a teenager he studied in winter, and in summer he worked in a restaurant. He hasn’t worked as an accountant yet because he loves his work as a waiter.

In 1995, when he was twenty years old, he went to work in Barcelona. He began to work as a waiter in a restaurant. He’s a hard-working person and he’s worked in a hotel as a maître d’ since he was twenty-five years old.

He’s been married to a fantastic woman for nineteen years and they have a child. They come back to Loja every Christmas and we visit them some years. He works hard and now he’s studying Russian because he likes languages. Although he lives far from his family, I think he has a good life.

Rogelia González Delgado – 2º C

A2 - Writing: A Biography

My hero’s biography

He was born in 1946 on top of the mountain in the south of Spain. He lived in a small house with his parents, four brothers and five sisters. They weren’t rich — actually, they were really poor because the Civil War had finished a few years before. They didn’t have a TV, a car or electricity. Sometimes they couldn’t eat because they didn’t have enough food. However they were happy because they lived together.

He married the most beautiful bride when he was 21. They didn’t have a honeymoon trip because the day after they went to work abroad. They lived in Germany for five years, then they returned to Spain although not to the south. They went to Barcelona. He was a truck driver and she was a dress-maker. They’ve been a hard-working couple. They had a baby in 1984.

Nowadays they live in Huetor Tajar, and they’re retired but they still work on their fields. They plant tomatoes, asparagus, potatoes, etc.

Thanks dad for teaching me. I hope that one day I’ll be as polite, hard-working and kind as you.

Pedro Castro Pedregosa – 2º C

A1 - Writing: My Daily Routine

MY DAILY ROUTINE

I get up at six o´clock. I read the Coran and pray. Then I have my breakfast at seven o´clock and get dressed. I wake up my children at eight o´clock and give them breakfast. Next, I get them dressed and we go to school at ten to nine.

At half past nine I go walking with my friend for one hour and then I go home to clean and make the lunch. At two o´clock I go to school to pick up my children.

In the afternoon, I take my children to their activities and I go shopping. After that, I help my children with their homework and later, I prepare the dinner. I like cooking. After dinner I have a shower and go to bed early, at half past ten. However, at the weekend I like watching tv.

Sarah Beneddine Benkrouf (1ºB)

A1 - Writing: My Favourite Day

MY FAVOURITE DAY

I don´t have a particular favourite day, in fact, I love any day in spring, summer or autumn, when the weather is fine and the temperature is nice and warm. However, at the weekend I feel free because I don´t have to work and I can do what I want. I have to do the shopping for the week on Saturday and I don´t like that. On Sunday, the shops are closed and that´s why I prefer it.

I usually stay in bed until 10:00 because I get up very early during the week. Then I have breakfast with my husband ad we read the daily newspaper. After that I do the housework. I usually do the things that I can´t do during the rest of the week.

I often have lunch with my parents-in-law in Granada. Sometimes we go out with our friends and we go to a restaurant. After lunch we watch a film in the cinema. Other times we walk across the countryside.

We usually have dinner and we watch some tv programmes in the evening. Finally, we go to bed. I use to read a little before I fall asleep.

Sunday is a day when I can recharge my batteries and prepare myself for the following week.

Luisa Mª Calle Maldonado (1º B)

A2 - Writing: Description of a place

The town where I live

I live in El Chaparral, a small village near Albolote, a town in the province of Granada very near Granada city. El Chaparral is about 12 km to the north of Granada, next to the motorway to Madrid, just on the highway exit to a well-known reservoir called, in Spanish, Pantano de Cubillas. El Chaparral is very small, as it only has, approximately, 1,500 inhabitants, while Albolote has about 20,000, including the population of El Chaparral.

El Chaparral has nothing special, but maybe its history does, and it's a really recent history. In 1956 there was a very hard earthquake 5.1 — Richter degrees—, and Albolote was practically destroyed. After that, the government ordered to build a new small village near it, for the people who had lost everything.

Three hundred houses were built for three hundred families. They were big houses with an orchard and a kind of shed for animals.  Each family had a big plot of land for dry cultivation, and a smaller one for wet cultivation. In addition, each four neighbours shared a curious kind of building for drying the tobacco plant called, in Spanish, "secadero de tabaco". This kind of construction was very typical then, but all of them have fallen into disuse.

The streets of El Chaparral are all in the shape of a net, and its houses are no more than two storeys high. Nowadays there are only two or three new blocks of flats with one more floor.

Actually, in the village where I live, there are no old buildings or historic monuments to see, so the most interesting thing you can see or to go to is the Cubillas reservoir. There you can practice some water sports like boating, surfing, jet skiing and fishing , or you can spend a nice day in the countryside and enjoy its sports areas, have a barbecue, or simply walk around the reservoir and enjoy the nature.

The weather in the area is the typical continental Mediterranean weather: cold in the winter and really hot in the summer. The autumn and the spring are very short and sometimes too similar to the winter or the summer. The rain is concentrated especially in the winter, less in the autumn and the spring, and none in the summer.

El Chaparral isn't specially famous, except for the Cubillas reservoir, and recently for some of its restaurants, where it’s more and more necessary to reserve in advance if you want to go for lunch or dinner during the weekend.

The best thing about El Chaparral in my view is that it's a really quiet small village, very near Granada city.  There, life is very nice and, at the same time, you can enjoy almost all the advantages of a bigger city like Granada.

Julián García Díaz. 2º Básico C

A2 - Writing: Description of a place

The town where I live

Loja, which is one of the most important towns in the west of Granada, is the place where I live. It’s a medium sized town in the area known as the Poniente Granadino and it has a population of about 22,000 people.

Loja isn’t very rich industrially. Its economy is based on the service and agricultural sectors and it also has a small marble industry. It’s a clean and interesting town full of a rich monumental heritage, too. Loja has been declared a World Heritage site. There are three main Renaissant churches: Major Church of La Encarnación, St. Catherine’s church and St. Gabriel’s church. In the historic centre is the alcazaba district , the only walled neighbourhood from the old Medina Lawsa, but there are some districts around the town with modern residential areas full of blocks of flats, restaurants and places where you can buy things.

The weather is typical of the continental Mediterranean climate. Winters are cold and rainy and summers are dry and hot. The annual average temperature — about 16 degrees — is ideal for sightseeing.

Loja is famous for its Holy Week celebrations, declared an Event of National Tourist Interest, where you can see elements as the “corrías de ìncensarios”. It’s also famous for its food and has many local specialities, like the nationally well-known “rosco de Loja” (which comes from an Arab recipe), trout and sturgeon from Riofrío, extra virgin olive oil, asparagus, lamb with own designation of origin, honey, hams and other cured pork products. They’re delicious! One of its best tourism attractions is free gliding activities.

What I like best about Loja is that we are so close to nature. There are a lot of routes routes where you can be in touch with nature. One of them is the Water Route, which has numerous springs, rivers and streams, as well as over one hundred fountains. 

María Ascensión Moral Fernández. 2º Básico, Semipresencial

Traditions qui se sont perdues ou sont en train de se perdre: le Jour des Quintos

On appelle Quintos les garçons qui sont nés la même année. Ce nom leur est donné car au XVème siècle le roi Jean II de Castille a demandé une contribution à la population pour l’armée. Cette contribution pouvait être une somme d’argent ou de sang. La contribution de sang consistait à ce qu’un garçon sur cinq qui était majeur s’incorporait dans l’armée ; donc ils ont commencé à les appeler Quintos.

Jour des Quintos

Chaque année, au mois de mars, les garçons qui avaient fêté leur dix-huitième anniversaire étaient appelés à la mairie pour être mesurés et aussi pour leur demander s’ils avaient quelque chose à déclarer. A quoi, ils pouvaient répondre : « rien, fils de veuve, vue déficiente, pieds plats, j’ai un frère dans l’armée, etc. » De cette façon, certains d’entre eux pourraient éviter le service militaire. Ce jour-là, c’était pour eux un jour férié. Une fête commençait très tôt avec un lancement de feux d’artifice suivi d’une visite à la mairie. Après, ils faisaient un repas tous ensemble et quand la nuit arrivait pour continuer la fête, ils engageaient un groupe de musique grâce auquel tous nous dansions et nous amusions jusqu’à l’aube.

De nos jours, dans mon village, cette fête s’est perdue puisqu’il y a longtemps que le service militaire n’est plus obligatoire.

Purificación Navas Martín (Niveau B1)