MIDDLE AGE: CREATING A LEGEND

Today, The Holmes have reviewed Past Simple, Used to and First Conditional. They have been practising with some exercises and paying especial attention to the irregular forms.

Don Quixote & Sancho Panza

The Grandma has continued talking about William Shakespeare and Antoni Gaudí, two old friends who she admires a lot and all of the family has talked about the importance of literature in the Middle Age and its capacity of creating heroes like Orlando Il Furioso, el Cid, Roland, Tirant, Don Quijote or King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table.

More information: First Conditional

More information: Used to

After that, they have described Antoni Gaudí’s works with a memo game.

Download Barcelona's Natural Wonder

Tonight, The Holmes have met the Pope in the Vatican City and they have spent good moments with him, especially Rosa who is a religious woman and Geni who is a… a… a… an excellent partner!

Download Antoni Gaudí's Works

Tomorrow, they’re going to homage Freddie Mercury preparing some songs for the Eurovision Song Contest where they are going to participate very soon.

No legacy is so rich as honesty

– William Shakespeare

LIGHTS AND SHADOWS

Antoni Gaudí

Today, The Holmes have reviewed Past Simple and have finished the first chapter of Charles Dickens' A Carol Christmas.

More information: Past Simple Exercises

After, they’ve been talking about Antoni Gaudí and his influence in Sant Boi de Llobregat, Santa Coloma de Cervelló and Palma. The universal architect based lots of his works in number phi, the golden ratio.

Download Antoni Gaudí in Sant Boi 

Download Effects of solar light in Majorca's Cathedral (Catalan)

Next, the family has played to Scattergories and has talked about art works describing them.

Originality consists of returning to the origin.
Thus, originality means returning, through one's resources,
to the simplicity of the early solutions.

 Antoni Gaudí

THE LAST SUPPER, WHEN TIME STOPS

The Holmes contemplate Da Vinci's The Last Supper

Today, The Holmes have reviewed some grammar and have finished their Italian travel plan after reading a new part of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol.

They have been talking about how to short a web adress with bitly.com and about Volcanology, Geology and earthquakes visiting an interesting web page The Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia. 

It has been a hard week for the family. They’re visiting lots of places and meeting thousands of interesting people.  Tonight, they’re in Milano, the capital of Lombardy and they’ve visited The Last Supper, the incredible painting of Leonardo da Vinci in Santa Maria delle Grazie.

Tomorrow, they’re flying to Palma, the capital of Balearic Islands. They have a meeting with the Balearic authorities and they’re going to watch an incredible phenomenon in the Majorcan cathedral.

For other hand, the family is being a victim of virus, colds and constipates and one part of its members are a little weak but strong enough to continue this fantastic travel.

I have been impressed with the urgency of doing.
Knowing is not enough; we must apply.
Being willing is not enough; we must do.

Leonardo Da Vinci

LEONARDO: A UNIVERSAL TUSCAN GENIUS

Leonardo da Vinci

Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci, more commonly Leonardo da Vinci (15 April 1452 – 2 May 1519), was a Tuscan polymath whose areas of interest included invention, painting, sculpting, architecture, science, music, mathematics, engineering, literature, anatomy, geology, astronomy, botany, writing, history, and cartography. 

He has been variously called the father of palaeontology, ichnology, and architecture, and is widely considered one of the greatest painters of all time. Sometimes credited with the inventions of the parachute, helicopter and tank, his genius epitomized the Renaissance humanist ideal.

Leonardo is the creator of universal works like Mona Lisa, The Last Supper, The Vitruvian Man and Lady with an Ermine.

More information: Love From Tuscany

Learn how to see.
Realize that everything connects to everything else.

Leonardo da Vinci

FLORENCE, LEONARDO & THE HOLMES

Firenze / Florence

Florence / Firenze is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the Metropolitan City of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany.

Florence is famous for its history: a centre of medieval European trade and finance and one of the wealthiest cities of the time. It is considered the birthplace of the Renaissance, and has been called "the Athens of the Middle Ages". A turbulent political history includes periods of rule by the powerful Medici family, and numerous religious and republican revolutions. From 1865 to 1871 the city was the capital of the recently established Kingdom of Italy.

The Historic Centre of Florence [...] was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1982. The city is noted for its culture, Renaissance art and architecture and monuments.

Life offers you a thousand chances,
all you have to do is take one.

Frances Mayes

ROMAN HOLIDAY

Audrey Hepburn & Gregory Peck in Rome

Today, The Holmes have reviewed Future Forms and have taken some information to create a Project about a character.  It’s not a difficult task, especially to this family of hard-workers but it’s laborious and they need to think a lot about the pros and cons.

For other hand, the family is a little tired because of the exhausting travel from Naples to Rome and, today, they’ve decided to relax talking about anecdotes and little stories. This fact is more important because they must start to talk in English and prepare their future speaking.

More information: Comparative Adjectives Exercises

Tonight, they have been walking around the eternal city and they have returned to the hotel to rest and take force because tomorrow morning they’re going to Florence.

I found Rome a city of bricks and left it a city of marble.

Augustus

FUTURE SIMPLE: LIBERTAS PERFUNDET OMNIA LUCE

Coliseum, Imperial Rome

Today, The Holmes have reviewed Future Simple and Comparatives. They have also practised with Social English and have continued creating a marketing campaign.

They've read a little more about Mr. Scrooge in Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol and have been talking about the origins of the security in Europe in the XVIII Century.

Tonight, The Holmes are travelling to Rome, where they’re going to spend two days in the eternal city.

More information: Future Simple & Future Continuous

Homines, dum docent discunt 

Men learn while they teach

Latin Proverb