NÚRIA POPPINS VISITS THE HIGHLANDS IN SCOTLAND

William Wallace, Braveheart, in the Highlands

Núria Poppins is in the Highlands enjoying the Scottish hospitality. Núria is visiting this mysterious and enchanted nation to improve her job. Núria, as a good bagpiper, has gone to the Celtic country to learn new chords and songs and to be a better musician.

Núria has met one of her heroes: William Wallace, aka Braveheart, the Scottish knight who became one of the main leaders during the Wars of Scottish Independence.

More information: Scottish Government-Riaghaltas na h-Alba

Scotland, in Scottish Gaelic: Alba is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and covers the northern third of the island of Great Britain. It shares a border with England to the south, and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, with the North Sea to the east and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the south-west. In addition to the mainland, the country is made up of more than 790 islands, including the Northern Isles and the Hebrides.  

Flag of Scotland

Edinburgh, the country's capital and second-largest city, was the hub of the Scottish Enlightenment of the 18th century, which transformed Scotland into one of the commercial, intellectual, and industrial powerhouses of Europe. Glasgow, Scotland's largest city was once one of the world's leading industrial cities and now lies at the centre of the Greater Glasgow conurbation. Scottish waters consist of a large sector of the North Atlantic and the North Sea, containing the largest oil reserves in the European Union. This has given Aberdeen, the third-largest city in Scotland, the title of Europe's oil capital.

More information: The Official Gateway to Scotland

William Wallace

The Kingdom of Scotland emerged as an independent sovereign state in the Early Middle Ages and continued to exist until 1707. By inheritance in 1603, James VI, King of Scots, became King of England and King of Ireland, thus forming a personal union of the three kingdoms. Scotland subsequently entered into a political union with the Kingdom of England on 1 May 1707 to create the new Kingdom of Great Britain. (The Treaty of Union was agreed in 1706 and enacted by the twin Acts of Union 1707, passed by the Parliaments of both kingdoms, despite popular opposition and anti-union riots in Edinburgh, Glasgow, and elsewhere). 

The union also created a new Parliament of Great Britain, which succeeded both the Parliament of Scotland and the Parliament of England. In 1801, Great Britain itself entered into a political union with the Kingdom of Ireland to create the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland; the Parliament of Ireland merging with that of Great Britain to form the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Since the creation of the Irish Free State in 1922, the United Kingdom has comprised Great Britain and Northern Ireland. 

More information: Visit Scotland

Scotland comes from Scoti, the Latin name for the Gaels. The Late Latin word Scotia land of the Gaels was initially used to refer to Ireland. By the 11th century at the latest, Scotia was being used to refer to (Gaelic-speaking) Scotland north of the river Forth, alongside Albania or Albany, both derived from the Gaelic Alba. The use of the words Scots and Scotland to encompass all of what is now Scotland became common in the Late Middle Ages.

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I'm William Wallace, and the rest of you will be spared.

Go back to England and tell them... Scotland is free!

William Wallace

CREATING A STORY: NÚRIA POPPINS

WHO? Núria Poppins

WHERE? Nubia, Egypt

WHEN? In the past

WHAT? Discovering Nubian culture

I was travelling around Egypt discovering ancient cultures. We arrived to Nubia in the south of the country. Nubian people are different from Egyptians and Sudanese. They’re another culture with another language and other traditions. They’re another ethnic. I travelled by camel along the Nile and I arrived to a Nubian village where I met Sara, a beautiful local girl with enormous green eyes. I was fascinated. She demanded me help for her poor family. I gave it. I promised that I would return next year. I did it. She was there, waiting for me. 

  

Contemporary Nubian is a spoken language only. When its speakers want to write it they have to resort either to the Arabic or to the Latin alphabet.

CUBA OR SCOTLAND? THE DREAM CONTINUES...

Cuba

Yesterday, it was another fantastic day for The Poppins. Núria Poppins returned from Scotland and she’s with the family again. She explained her experiences there and they were very interesting.

Next, the family continued the English classes with Have to and some exercises about connectors. 

The Grandma knows that some exercises are more difficult than the recommended level but she prefers “to suffer in class not in the exam”.

More information: Have to vs. Must

Later, The Grandma tried to create a linchpin between England and Australia for one hand and Spain and Cuba for another, connecting them under the same storyline: stupid wars, innocent victims and colonialism.

Finally, The Poppins talked about some personal stories which had a relation with Scottish postcards. They were different stories about Costa Rica, children and new technologies, Andalusia, rock music, Torredembarra, the importance of light in pictures or beautiful castles from the Middle Age in Scotland to the new human ones in Catalan lands and an important reflexion: what’s the meaning of a lighthouse in the middle of the sea?

The Cuban people have an amazingly strong and unbroken spirit.

Wim Wenders

GET MARRY? CONVINCE ME THAT I'M WRONG

The Grandma and her new boyfriend in Australia

Today The Poppins have returned to their English classes. They’ve returned talking about Past Simple and doing some exercises.

They’ve been some intensive days of trips around Australia and now they’re in Sydney resting and waiting Núria Poppins’ arrival.

Tomorrow, Núria will join the family again and explain to them all her adventures in Scotland.

More information: Past Simple

For other hand, The Grandma is sad. While Esther, Laura, Irina and Saharay have new boyfriends, all the family is against the relationship between The Grandma and Dave, her new friend. She can’t understand why they don’t accept the idea of a future marriage between them.

After listening to all the members of the family, she is very affected and sad and she feels alone only with a little help and comprehension of Eli & Esther Poppins her anchors in this difficult moment.

Finally, she has decided to take an important decision that will affect the future of her family forever. Tomorrow, we will know the final of this story which seems a little tragic.

 

No one wants advice -only corroboration.

John Steinbeck

CONNECT IDEAS: CREATE A PLOT

Richard Castle & Kate Beckett

Today, The Poppins have continued their Australian travel. They’re visiting the most exciting places of the whole world. Australia is a paradise and the family enjoys it every day.

The Grandma has had an introspective day. It’s something normal when she’s far away from her home. She has been explaining some stories to her family, all of them with the same connection: no surrender against difficult moments.

The family has practised how to create a good plot with a good structure and connectors which offer the most important things in a text: cohesion, coherence and adequacy. It’s not something easy but it’s something necessary to write a good composition. The Grandma is a fan of writing and she continues the advice of an old friend, Richard Castle, who always says that “there’s always a story”.

By the way, Núria Poppins is still in Scotland and she’s going to join the family next week.

 Because if you don't even believe in the possibility of magic 

you will never ever find it.

Richard Edgar Castle

AUSTRALIA: A NEW HOPE

Today, The Poppins have arrived to Australia. All the family is going to spend some days in this country except Núria Poppins, who is still in Scotland for personal reasons.

First, the family has been talking about how they feel about policy system, which is disappointed, but they have hope in some organizations like Red Cross or CRAM, which work hard every day to improve our lives.

Finally, the family has decided to continue its travel into Australian lands and they’re visiting the most spectacular places and discovering the most incredible facts.

 

You must never so much think as whether you like it or not,
whether it is bearable or not;
you must never think of anything except the need,
and how to meet it. 

Clara Barton, American Red Cross Founder 

PIOU PIOU: WHEN WE DON'T SAY ALL THE TRUTH

Laura's boyfriend

Today, The Poppins has taken a look into the Superlative Adjectives and the Relative Pronouns. 

Because of they were tired and they deserved a special day after a week plenty of emotions, especially when Cristina Poppins said goodbye to the family, they have decided to talk about Group Dynamic and they’ve played to Piou Piou and Memos.  

Tonyi and Eli Poppins have been the winners and they’ve got lots of eggs.

The family has received news from home: Exit had gone to meet new friends and he has returned with a large family.

Finally, The Poppins are ready to leave Brazil where Laura Poppins has found love and travel to Scotland where the Highlands and Nessie are waiting for them and where Núria Poppins must accomplish her dream.

More information: Superlative Adjectives & Relative Pronouns