THEY DID IT, 'CAUSE DIDN'T KNOW IT WAS IMPOSSIBLE

Keep Calm

The Collins Family has finished its 220 hours English course. It has been a great effort and 29 December seems too far away. They’ve worked a lot and every one of its members has reached a personal objective. We want to homage all the whole family for their effort, their constancy and their sense of responsibility.Last days, they worked occupational hazards with MJ and prepared and updated their CV’s. Thanks to MJ, The Collins Family could learn the last innovation in the job’s searching.

Although the course has been a collectivist success, we must pay attention to the special cases of Adriana, Eva and M. Carmen who have reached new employments.

The Collins Family will continue its adventures in the 2.0 world because they have another objective to pass: The Cambridge Exams. The Grandma will continue supporting them in this difficult work and won’t forget her family.

Come on Collins! We have already entered in the History like the great athletes. Now, we must keep us there.

The Grandma’s friends continue trying to recodify an Elementary’s CD. They don’t forget this mission, difficult but not impossible.

 Give me one moment in time
When I'm racing with destiny
Then in that one moment of time
I will feel
I will feel eternity.

Whitney Houston

THE COLLINS FAMILY: 'CAUSE NOTHING ELSE MATTERS

The Collins

The surname Collins has a variety of likely origins in Britain and Ireland:

Anglo-Saxon: A patronymic surname based on the name Colin, an English diminutive form of Nicholas. In England, Collins usually signified son of Colin.

Welsh: Collen = hazel, hazel grove.

Irish: cuilein = darling, a term of endearment applied to a whelp or young animal. The medieval surname was Ua Cuiléin, which has usually become Ó Coileáin today.

The Collins Family are 17 members: Adriana, Belén, Dámaris, David, Eva Cyprus, Eva Maltese, Gemma, Karen, Laura, M.Carmen, M.Ángeles, Miriam, Montse Paris, Montse Pottery, Montse The Second, Vanesa and The Grandma.

Every member of the family comes from a different country and English is the common language. The Collins Family works together for reaching its objectives and, even seeing the world from a seventeen different points of view, they always arrive to find a point in common: The greater good.

So close, no matter how far
Couldn't be much more from the heart
Forever trusting who we are

I never opened myself this way
Life is ours, we do it our way
All these words I just don't say

Trust I seek but I find in you
Every day for us, something new
Open mind for a different view

Metallica

CREATING AN ALIBI

Keep Calm

Today, we’ve reviewed Past Continuous and Past Simple and we’ve started a new reading book about the adventures of two friends, Jake and Ros. We’ve talked about communication skills in group interviews and we’ve studied the order of words in the sentences, especially with the additions: Manner-Place-Time.

The family is sailing in the Love Boat where has happened a strange case: a robbery. An old passenger said that her jewels had disappeared and some members of our family are between the main suspects: Mari Carmen, Montse Pottery, Eva Cyprus, Adriana, Gemma and Dámaris. The Grandma is flying by helicopter to the Love Boat for avoiding any kind of arrest.

Meanwhile, some members of the family are working very hard: Eva Cyprus is designing new spaces in Downton Abbey for the family pets and Belén is preparing a great tour inside The Louvre Museum.

Tomorrow, The Collins Family will give enough explanations about of all them to seem innocent and continue the trip. The Family has a lot of work: preparing eight different songs for participating in Eurovision Song Contest, a Karen’s dream.

Roll of the dice!

Love Boat soon will be making another run
The Love Boat promises something for everyone
Set a course for adventure
Your mind on a new romance

LULLABIES & HOBO's

A Hobo

The Grandma has had some introspective days. While she was spending some days in the hotel, her family was in Rhodes traveling around the island. She has been thinking about the possibility of getting married because she felts alone, although she has adopted a large family. After talking to every member of the family, finally, she decided to continue without a new husband.

Next week, The Grandma is going to meet her family in Santorini, where she will be waiting the Love Boat’s arrival with all her family on board.

Now, The Grandma is happy. She’s preparing her suitcases for traveling around Europe during some months. From Santorini, the family is going to travel to Paris for celebrating Belén’s birthday, and from Paris, they’re going to fly to London near where The Grandma has bought a new house for all of them: Downton Abbey.

Next week, the timetable of The Collins Family is plenty of activities: they’re going to create lullabies and songs; buy some furniture for the new English house; write a tale and plan how to rebuild Downton Abbey for giving enough space and facilities to their pets.

From Wednesday to Friday, The Collins Family has continued its English classes, which are now more important than never because of its moving to Downton Abbey. They reviewed the Past Continuous and sentences with when and while. They played with the Story Cubes and described a neighbourhood. They also walked around Rhodes guided by Adriana and they talked about the origin of some lullabies in different cultures: the Hobo in the USA, the satiric ones in England and the pain songs for a child’s death in Catalonia and in the Gipsy culture.

Eva Maltese has continued searching some information about Corto but nobody knows anything about him. Nowadays, she’s following a new clue: a man called Salvador explained last news about him. In fact, Salvador was the last person who saw Corto in the Greek Island. We don’t know but, perhaps, in the next hours there will be an interesting cliff-hanger. In these moments, The Collins Family must be leaving Kos.

Watch Hobo's meditation by E. Harris, D. Parton & L. Ronstadt

Seven out of 10 Americans are 

one paycheck away from being homeless. 

Pras Michel

PIOU PIOU OR HOW LAURA MAKES AN OMELETTE

The Muppets

Yesterday, we reviewed the Past Simple with the regular and irregular verbs, Superlative & Comparative, the article “The” and we reported some news of the day before. We prepared a marketing planning for our candidate to be a TV Star and we learnt how to lie playing Piou Piou.

Tomorrow, we’re talking about some work expressions thanks to Laura who has offered us some information about this theme.

The family is still in Rhodes. Adriana suffered a terrible headache and we decided to stay one more day in this precious island. Tomorrow, we’ll sail in The Love Boat, if the weather is good and Adriana is fine.

More information: Exercises about the article The

HOLIDAY IN RHODES

Password

Yesterday, we reviewed the superlative, the imperative (affirmative and negative) and the state verbs. We wrote a postcard from Rhodes, where the family is spending some holiday and we talked about difficult questions in interviews. We also practised some social English. Vanesa was our player in the Password and she did it very well.

Today, we’re studying the past simple tense (regular and irregular) and we’re visiting Rhodes with Adriana guiding us.

And…last news! Belén has passed her English exam! Congratulations! All the family is very proud of you.

More information: Comparative and Superlative Adjectives

MANOLO BLAHNIK & PASSWORDS

Grandma's

Yesterday, we reviewed plural of nouns and how to write a formal letter and we created new passwords for playing during the course. We played Guess the word and we bought lots of presents to Belén. We also continued The Secret of Oldstone’s reading and we talked about what to do next week. We have a great plan: visiting the Greek Islands by cruise. 

The Grandma had to return to Barcelone to attend some business (she has invested in a new cooking enterprise in Seattle, US) but the rest of the family continues in Adriana’s home in Rhodes. 

On Monday, Adriana is going to guide her family by this fantastic island, mixed of cultures: Latin, Greek and Turkish.

More information: Manolo Blahnik

EVA'S RETURN

The Pink British Sofa

Today, we've reviewed the comparatives and written about our last day in Nicosia. We've played Simon, domino and password. Finally, we've described things. Eva has returned and all the family is plenty of joy, again. We've arrived to Rhodes for spending some days in Adriana's house but we've had some little problems because Adriana has returned to her University classes so quickly that she has forgotten to give us her key and we have been waiting patiently in the street accompanied by some Scottish herbs for fighting against cold.

Tomorrow, we're buying some food and drinks to celebrate Eva's return and Belén's birthday. It will be a great Greek banquet with music and dance. 

Come on and rescue me
Come on baby and rescue me
Come on baby and rescue me

THE D DAY

Rescue Helicopter

The Eva's rescue operation was a success. Eva is fine and she has joined to the family again. It was a difficult operation with some scared moments but we’ve survived. Finally, all the family participated in the rescue except Gemma and Montse Paris, who were afraid to fly and stayed in Sant Boi.

After the rescue, we took some hours for resting and sleeping and we continued with our English classes. We reviewed the ordinal numbers, the prepositions of place and the parts of the city; described people and drove around the city by David and Mari Carmen's car. We continued our reading about Pete and Nicky.

The next objective of the Grandma’s Family: be together in Rhodes Island (Greece), in Adriana's home and try to get some information about Corto's whereabouts.

Με τι καρδιά, με τι πνοή,
τι πόθους και τι πάθος
πήραμε τη ζωή μας. Λάθος!
κι αλλάξαμε ζωή.

With what heart, what spirit,
what desires and passion
we took on our life. Wrong!
and we changed it.