PLANNING A TRAVEL TO BRAZIL

Charlie Rivel

Today, The Poppins have had a day of hard work. 

At the beginning, they’ve started creating a plan for their next travel to Brazil. They’re taking the plane tonight. 

Next, they’ve distributed their daily pocket money: they’ve been thinking about things to need and buy. 

Later, they’ve created a budget. They have got new houses and they must refurbish and fill in them with some furniture and other objects.

More information: Tidy Forms

Finally, they’ve thought about which kind of present would be the best to bring to their mothers next Sunday.

The Grandma is preparing the travel, too. She has called some Brazilian friends to notify her arrival into this amazing country. She’s very interested in visiting Amazon Native Tribes. She loves Native Cultures and because of this she has explained to The Poppins, some stories about Navajo Indian Tribes, the nation which lives in the south of The USA.

More information: Navajo Nation Government 

Download The Blessing Way Cerimony

Finally, The Grandma has started to remember some old friends like Charlie Rivel, the magnificent clown who was born in Cubelles (Garraf) and is recognized and admired all over the world.

Next Monday, The Grandma is explaining more stories about Navajo Culture, their traditions, beliefs and knowledge.

Thoughts are like arrows: once released, they strike their mark. 
Guard them well or one day you may be your own victim.

 

Navajo Proverb

BRAVEHEART: YOUR HEART IS FREE

Today, The Poppins have been talking about the differences between Present Simple and Present Continuous; between as and like and practising some Comparatives of Equality.

More info: Comparatives of Equality 

More info: Present Simple & Continuous

They have read two more chapters of Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Grey and they’ve compared some famous sci-fi characters and they have created some micro plots about The Legend of Saint George.

Finally, they’ve watched a video about perceptions and how to look at something and see nothing.

Tomorrow, they’re preparing some budgets and they’re planning the next travel to Brazil. Moreover, they’re deciding which house they’re going to buy.

Facts matter not at all.
Perception is everything.
It's certainty.

Stephen Colbert

LITTLE HERCULES: THE LEGEND BECOMES REALITY

Egyptian & Christian Women

Today, The Poppins have been studying some aspects of the Adjectives, Imperatives and Present Continuous. They’ve created a plot based on a magic dice and they’ve talked about how to resist nowadays and be strong against the difficulties.

More information: Adjectives -ED/-ING

The family is preparing the cooperative and they’ve taken some examples about how was possible that a big plan wasn’t a success paying attention to some elements like When? (Roy), Where? (Cindy) and What? (Céline).

The Grandma wants to buy a new house to establish The Poppins’ Headquarter. They are talking about which kind of house can be better for them and why. They also want to take care of Exit, Eli’s owl, which is a new member of the family.

Before talking about the house, The Grandma has talked about the origin of the Black Virgins in the Mediterranean and their influence in culture and religion nowadays.

Pretty woman
I don't believe you, you're not the truth
No one could look as good as you.

Roy Orbison

ORCHIDS, KOSHER WINE & JAPANESE SAKE

Today, The Poppins have studied Present Continuous in both forms: Present and Future.  

They have been talking about the evolution and changes in the languages.

More information: 

Present Continuous

They’ve read two more chapters about Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray and they’ve started to think in their cooperative. 

They’ve taken some successful examples like Kosher Wines in Capçanes (El Priorat) or Sake in Delta de l’Ebre and The Grandma has remembered an old friend, Raymond, aka Perry, who bought a little island in the Pacific and grew orchids.

Tomorrow, they’re creating some plans for the new cooperative and for their next travel to Brazil. They’re also talking about the Black Virgins in Europe and their possible origin and about the Bubo Bubo, an incredible animal who was a symbol of culture and knowledge during the Middle Age.

My greatest satisfaction in acting on television is to have the opportunity to communicate with the world. 

Raymond Burr

KEEP CALM AND BE A POPPINS

Today, The Poppins have continued their classes.

For one hand, they’ve studied Adverbs of Frequency and Manner and their position in the sentence.

More information: AoF & AoM

For other hand, they’ve done some exercises about Social English and have talked about the historical figure of Winston Churchill and the role of civil population during the wars.

Tomorrow, they’re practising Present Continuous and they’re starting to create their cooperative.

They’re all in Barcelona now and they must start to prepare their travel to Brazil.

Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; 

courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen.

Winston Churchill

MICROSTORY: SAINT GEORGE'S DAY

Yesterday, it was an intensive day.

For one hand, Carmen joined to the family again.

For another hand, all The Poppins stayed in Barcelona supporting Jennifer, who was signing lots of books in the downtown and enjoying Saint George’s Day altogether.

They found old friends in this wonderful city. In fact, they've been always there because they are the beginning of our present.

Literature adds to reality, it does not simply describe it. It enriches the necessary competencies that daily life requires and provides; and in this respect, it irrigates the deserts that our lives have already become. 

C. S. Lewis

CARMEN: JUMPING THE SHARK

A rose

Today, The Poppins have had a hard day.  

For one hand, they’ve received five intensive hours.

First, they’ve done some exercises about Present Simple and have worked with the order of the adjectives.

More information: Order of Adjectives Exercises

Second, they’ve talked about Catharism, routes of exile and Game of the Goose.

More information: Gambling games

Next, they’ve shared some roses and dragons celebrating an advanced Saint George’s Day.

After that, they have read the third chapter of Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray.

Then, they’ve talked a lot about lots of things which have a relationship with language, literature, comprehension, interpretation, learning and teaching.

Finally, they’ve chosen a word to sum up the day.

For other hand, the family wants to send its best regards of recovering to Jennifer, who is still under the effects of vodka.

Tonight, the shark has jumped in Siberia when the family has received a Morse message which they’re trying to decrypt…   

More information: Morse Mode Conversion Tool

We've been playing games since humanity had civilization. There is something primal about our desire and our ability to play games. It's so deep-seated that it can bypass latter-day cultural norms and biases.

Jane McGonigal

PRINCE: ANYTHING ESSENTIAL IS INVISIBLE TO THE EYES

Prince

The Poppins are still in Moscow. They’re preparing a successful plan to rescue M.Carmen.

First, they want to recover Jennifer, who is ill after drinking too much vodka.

Second, they want to reincorporate Irina, who is out looking for people interested in the Poppins’ plan.

Next, they want to welcome Saharay, a new member of the family with a hidden identity.

After that, they want to travel to Siberia to start with the rescue plan.

Then, they have the idea of rescuing M.Carmen and escape from the country in less than 24 hours.

Finally, they want to stay in Barcelona next Saturday April, 23 to celebrate Saint George’s Festivity, a very beautiful day in the city because it’s full of books and roses and Jennifer must sign some books and attend her fans and followers.

Today, they’ve talked about Social English and Imperative and have read the second chapter of Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray.

They’ve paid attention to Commercial English and how to create administrative templates.

More information: writeexpress.com

Previously, they had been talking about the origin of some surnames in Europe and the importance of some places like Sant Boi and Viladecans during the History of the country.

Tonight, we've received some sad news. Our most lovely Prince has decided to say goodbye forever. Good travel, Master!

Goodbye. Here’s my secret. It’s quite simple:
One sees clearly only with the heart.
Anything essential is invisible to the eyes.

The Fox, The Little Prince

CREATING A PLAN IN SIBERIA

Today, The Poppins have studied the Present Simple in present, past and future. 

Before revising it, they had read the first chapter of Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray and written some passwords.

Next Friday is going to be a special day for this family because The Grandma is a great fan of Saint George. This is the reason because of she has explained them a part of a long story about the origins of Saint George and they’ve created some links between it and some cultures like Cathars and Gypsies.

More information: Saint George's Church (Cairo, Egypt)

More information: El Camí dels Bons Homes (Catalan Version)

Finally, The Poppins, who are now in Moscow, have thought about preparing a plan to rescue M.Carmen, who is still kidnapped in Siberia. The most part of the members of this family are worried about this situation but there’s a person who has the real clue: Eli Poppins. Why is really M.Carmen in Siberia? Is there a hidden agenda? Which is her role in this story? There are too many questions and no answers. We must wait for news...

Aqueres montanhes
que tant nautes son,
m’empèishen de véder
mèns amors a o son.

Montanhes Araneses, Imne d’Aran

NEW FAMILY, NEW ADVENTURES

Matryoshka dolls

Today, The Grandma has met The Poppins, her new family. It has been a beautiful an intensive day for this new family. 

After listening to all the explanations of MJ very carefully, the family has started to introduce itself and every member has adopted her new role: nationality and job.

It seemed that it was a normal day until the family has received her first, but not the last, incredible information: M.Carmen Poppins is kidnapped in a prison in Siberia.

Tomorrow, the family will work together to rescue her because they have another objective: travel to Brazil to help Isa Addams-Poppins in her Olympic Games training and to Scotland to visit Núria’s hometown.

Without a lot of time to do nothing, they’ve talked about the order of MPT in a sentence and about how to start to write a composition paying attention to the most important information: Who? When? Where? and What?

So you set out to travel to Rome and end up in Istanbul.

You set off for Japan and you end up on a train across Siberia. 
The journey, not the destination, becomes a source of wonder.

Lorena Mc Kennit

WELCOME TO THE POPPINS!

Magic arrives

The Grandma has returned home. She has spent some days in Panama but now she’s preparing all things to welcome a new family: The Poppins.

Tomorrow, fifteen new members of this new family will start another adventure during more than two months. The Grandma wants to remember with all her heart her other families: The Collins, The Addams and The Holmes and she hopes that this new family spends good moments and learns lots of English.

Good luck to everybody and welcome!

 But then one day I learned a word
The biggest word I ever heard
And this is how it goes, oh
Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious

Mary Poppins & Bert

ROSE IS A ROSE IS A ROSE IS A ROSE

The Grandma is still in Panama. The weather is fine and she continues with her business. 

BBC - Get that Job

Today, she’s gone to an interesting conference about Antoine de Saint-Exupéry and his best seller The Little Prince.Here, she attaches some information about it:

The Little Prince, first published in 1943, is a novella, the most famous work of the French aristocrat, writer, poet, and pioneering aviator Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (1900–1944).

The Little Prince is a poetic tale, with watercolour illustrations by the author, in which a pilot stranded in the desert meets a young prince fallen to Earth from a tiny asteroid. The story is philosophical and includes social criticism, remarking on the strangeness of the adult world. It was written during a period when Saint-Exupéry fled to North America subsequent to the Fall of France during the Second World War, witnessed first-hand by the author and captured in his memoir Flight to Arras.

The adult fable, according to one review, is actually "...an allegory of Saint-Exupéry's own life—his search for childhood certainties and interior peace, his mysticism, his belief in human courage and brotherhood, and his deep love for his wife Consuelo but also an allusion to the tortured nature of their relationship”.

Rose is a rose is a rose is a rose

Loveliness extreme.

Extra gaiters,

Loveliness extreme.

Sweetest ice-cream.

Pages ages page ages page ages.

Gertrude Stein

PANAMA: FORBIDDEN TO FORGET

The Grandma enjoyed a great dinner with some members of her family last Friday. She was happy of seeing them again. The Holmes are fine and this is the most important thing for her. There were some big absences. Luisa, who is in Las Vegas playing poker; Geni, who is in a secret mission in some secret place; Manoli and Lurdes who are filming the next movie of Star Wars; Mila who had an important performance in Paris and M. Carmen, who is totally missing.

Yesterday, The Grandma had to travel to El Porvenir in Panama to pay attention to her business and now she’s in this country, hometown of Rubén Blades, one of her favourite American singers, who sings incredible songs like 20 de diciembre. She doesn’t know when she’s going to return with her family because of the importance of this kind of business but she'll try to enjoy her trip and not forget. Forbidden to forget.

Although the future is not very clear for The Grandma, she continues in her effort of helping her lovely family. Today, she offers them some listening to practice and prepare the next exam.

BBC-Talking business

Y prohibieron la conciencia, al prohibirnos el pensar.
Pobre del país que ve la justicia hecha añicos
por la voluntad del rico o por orden militar. 
Cada nación depende del corazón de su gente. 
Y a un país que no se vende, ¡nadie lo podrá comprar!

Rubén Blades