Rubén Granados...sobre Conchi.

estábamos en la tercera evaluación de 4º de la E.S.O. Yo ya había dicho mis objetivos y sólo me quedaba el examen de frases de análisis sintáctico. Dicho examen me salió rematadamente mal;  yo lo sabía y a última hora del Viernes, Conchi se pasó para corregirlos con nosotros. Llegó mi hora y de 10 frases necesitaba tener 3 bien para aprobar, cuando de repente me llamó para ir a la mesa. Quedaban 2 frases por corregir y solo llevaba una bien. Conchi me miraba mordiéndose el labio con cara de agobio; yo me temía lo peor...Cuando la vi que sin mirar mis dos últimas frases me las puso como bien y así aprobé la evaluación, me abracé a ella dándole dos besos a lo que ella me respondió...”¡al sitio monstruo,que eres un monstruo!”

Brenda Sánchez...sobre Conchi.

Conchi, además de ser una magnífica profesora era una maravillosa persona. Nunca olvidaré sus famosos “objetivos”, con los que nos obligaba a estudiar día a día, así como los belenes que montábamos con ella en Navidad. Tampoco olvidaré el tablón situado justo detrás de la mesa del profesor que llenaba con todas nuestras fotos de cuando éramos peques, y que ella tanto miraba con una sonrisa en la cara, diciéndonos: “¡Pero chicos, cómo habéis cambiado! Eso sí, igual de guapos que siempre”. El interés y la ilusión que ponía en sus clases era capaz de transmitirlo hasta a la persona más perezosa para estudiar. Gracias a Conchi entendí la sintaxis que tanto costó a mis compañeros (aun en bachiller seguí usando sus esquemas de 4º) y prácticamente todo lo que sé de Lengua es gracias a ella. Estudios aparte, también me enseñó muchísimo como persona. Incapaz de enfadarse, nunca con una mala cara y siempre feliz, así era ella. Cada vez que pasabas por su lado en el pasillo nos regalaba una de sus mejores sonrisas, y en clase siempre te soltaba algún piropo como “¡qué bonita eres!” o “tus padres deben de estar orgullosos de ti”. Todo ese tipo de detalles hacían de Conchi una persona especial, y hacen que cada vez que la recordemos se nos escape una gran sonrisa. Siempre estuvo a nuestro lado apoyándonos tanto en los buenos como en los malos momentos y dándonos lo mejor de ella cada día. Conchi Lago es la persona más buena y especial que he conocido nunca, y ha dejado en todos nosotros una gran huella imposible de borrar. Todo lo que soy te lo debo a ti, tú siempre creíste en mí. Siempre estarás en mi corazón y nunca, nunca te olvidaremos.

Antonio Sánchez...sobre Conchi.

Recuerdo aquellos días en los que subía a nuestro aula antes de la última hora de clase. Ahí estabas tú, leyendo como siempre el periódico y al verme por la puerta tu saludo era una enorme sonrisa. Siempre recordaré tus cariñosas regañinas diciéndonos: “¡Calla ya, pesado!, ¡Uy que pesado!, ¡Miralo!” Pero también me quedo con tu enorme profesionalidad. Más de uno hemos aprendido contigo a apreciar nuestra lengua y su historia, todo ello gracias a ti.

También te debo agradecer los momentos difíciles en lo que me has apoyado, a darme cuenta del esfuerzo que tenía que hacer y ayudarme a seguir estudiando donde siempre lo quise hacer. Te lo debo a ti.

Cuando pienso que te has ido, me cuesta creerlo todavía ya que una persona llena de vitalidad, alegría y fuerza como tú no se lo merece. La vida es muy injusta, pero Dios lo ha querido así, quizá haya que encontrarle el sentido de que en la vida tienes que dar todo lo mejor de ti porque nunca sabes qué día te puedes ir.

Por todas las cosas que he aprendido y sigo aprendiendo de ti, ¡¡¡gracias!!! Siempre estarás con nosotros, en el corazón.

José Ignacio del Río y Verónica...sobre Conchi.

José Ignacio del Río: hubo una vez que estábamos en clase y le dijimos a Conchi: “Conchi, tú molas!”. Y ella nos respondió: “Pues si yo molo y vosotros moláis, lo nuestro es ¡UN MOLAMIENTO AL CUADRADO!” Es algo que nos hizo reír a todos los de clase y un momento fantástico. Y otra que siempre me hacía reír: al empezar el curso siempre nos tirábamos 1 clase ayudándola a aprenderse nuestros nombres

Verónica: Conchi, son tantos los recuerdos que tengo de ella que no sé cómo empezar, aunque lo que nunca se me olvidará es el entusiasmo que le ponía cuando recitaba alguna poesía; o cuando nos decía que nunca nos rindiésemos con nada, que el esfuerzo siempre tiene su recompensa. Era una magnífica persona y una gran profesora, y por eso siempre permanecerá en nuestros corazones. Descanse en paz.

Adrián Almagro...sobre Conchi

Qué injusto es ver que se van los más justos. Me pregunto por qué las personas más buenas son la que antes se van. Indiscutible que a todos nos tiene que llegar la hora, mas no llego a comprender el por qué del sufrimiento que tuviste que soportar. Eras  una persona amable, que emanabas cariño a sabiendas que a veces no lo recibirías, pero te daba igual, no podías evitarlo, era tu forma de ser. 

Me enorgullece enormemente haber podido ser tu pupilo durante dos años, pero lo que me complace más aún es poder haber sido tu amigo, porque gente como tú hay muy poca. Siempre dispuesta a ayudar a quien lo necesitara, sin borrar tu acogedora sonrisa de la cara. Sabías como tratar con todo el mundo, y nos ganamos tu confianza a través del cariño que nos dabas, lo que te convierte en admirable para todos nosotros. Es más, mi admiración hacia ti creció cuando te entregué uno de mis poemas y vi en tus pupilas mientras la leías, admiración hacia mí. Eso te hace grande, inmortal. Y ha quedado visto lo que se te quiere, sé que tú me entiendes, porque sembraste cariño y recogiste el doble.

Para ti Conchi, siempre con nosotros.

Juanjo, Moisés Agüero y Ángel García...sobre Conchi.

Juanjo: Te recordaremos como eras: una profesora honesta y buena. Conchi, siempre estarás en nuestros corazones.

Moisés Agüero: Me acuerdo de un momento que pase con ella en 3º E.S.O. Estaba preguntando quien quería leer su poesía para lo del concurso y me ofrecí. Nada más acabar de leerla se rio y me dio un abrazo, porque le había encantado... Es el recuerdo más bonito que tengo de esta esplendida mujer :')

Ángel García: Conchi siempre fue como una segunda madre para todos. Me acuerdo de que entraba en clase sonriente rapidísimo para no perder tiempo de clase, pero si veía que alguien estaba con la cara larga, no le importaba perder el tiempo que fuera necesario para atenderle e intentar ayudarle y darle un abrazo muy fuerte.
Yo eso lo valoraba mucho y era muy reconfortante. Siempre dije que Conchi era de las mejores personas que he tenido el honor de conocer; además ella fue quien me animó a escribir y siempre se lo agradeceré.

Homenaje a Conchi...

Hola a todos,
                    escribo estas líneas con gran pesar ante la pérdida de una de las mejores personas que hayamos podido conocer y que, con toda seguridad, conoceremos a lo largo de nuestras vidas. Como ya sabéis estoy hablando de Conchi Lago, Conchi para todos. No sólo se ha ido una de las mejores profesoras del colegio que amaba con pasión no sólo la lengua, la literatura, el arte...sino impartir clases a sus alumnos y ayudarles con cualquier problema que pudieran tener. Pero Conchi era mucho más. Era una gran persona que se desvivía por sus amigos, por sus compañeros, por sus alumnos. Siempre nos hacía sentir especiales; siiempre tenía una sonrisa en su cara; siempre estaba dispuesta a ayudar a cualquier persona que necesitara consejo; siempre tenía una palabra de aliento y una señal de complicidad para hacerte sentirte valorado y a gusto. Se nos ha ido Conchi, una persona a la que nunca podremos olvidar. Su impronta, su vitalidad, su pasión nos quedarán por siempre grabadas en nuestros corazones. A continuación, veréis recogidos los sentimientos de sus chicos hacia ella. No sólo encontraréis alumnos de este año, sino antíguos alumnos a los que Conchi nunca olvidó y que nunca podrán olvidarla. Sirvan estos pensamientos a forma de homenaje para mantenerla siempre viva y para que su espíritu nos permee con su bondad y vitalidad. Un beso, Conchi. Nunca te olvidaremos.
                                                                            David Leal.

Happy Easter Week!

Hello everybody! I hope you have enjoyed a great Easter Week this year whether you´ve had the opportunity to go out or not. All my best!!

PS: don´t get depressed tomorrow!

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Dear all, I just wanted to wish you a wonderful X'mas celebration and a wonderful new year!!

WELCOME TO LOS ÁNGELES TIMES

Hello everybody,
I have created a newspaper for my students at Colegio Los Ángeles so that they can practise their English in a non-academic environment. However, if you are an ex-student feel free to participate and collaborate with us! Los Ángeles Times is a means of communication, a place to express your ideas, a virtual location to publish your creations! Don´t worry about the length of your articles... The only rule is to write in English. If you feel like participating, do not hesitate to contact me. Cheers!
David Leal.

http://losangelestimesnewspaper.blogspot.com/

WELCOME BACK!

Dear all,
I would like to officially welcome you back to the course and to wish you good luck at all levels in your life. As you know, you have to look for that luck and a good way to find it is by means of hard work. This year at school is going to be full of changes as you already know (for example, oral and listening exams. Ha,ha,ha,ha!). I have been thinking about creating a newspaper in English, but I need volunteers. If you are interested, please get in touch with me so that we can start creating something. Oh, if you are no longer at school and want to participate, you will always be welcome as well because you will always be a part of my class. Finally, if you´ve never been my student, but feel the need to add to this newspaper, feel free to try. Foreign participation is always welcome as well. Thanks in advance!!!

Two new sections at http://sites.google.com/site/englishleal/

There are two new sections available (More Online Grammar Activities and More Online Vocabulary Activities) at my site for you to check, practice and improve your English. Have fun!

The Death Bend (by Jose Maria)

In a dark night, a family guy drove to return home. It was raining a lot and he was driving along a secondary road, where nobody had been since a long time. Suddenly, he listened to a voice from the road sying: "Help me! Help me!." It was a female voice, but he couldn't see anyone or anything.
He continued his trip and when he was in a bend, he saw a girl with a nightgown doing hitch-hiking. He stopped the car and collected the girl, who sat in the rear seats.He asked her where she wanted to stop, but she didn't answer his question. Some minutes later, the girl said: "In the next bend, you are going to die." The man looked back and he didn't see the girl. She had disappeared!! In few seconds, he had lost the control of his car, which overturned.
The next day, the police found the dead man. However, they couldn't explain exactly what had happened.Then, the road was closed for some time. It has been reopened, but nobody wants to drive along it. Would you like to try?

The Sting (by Chiara, Delia, Costanza, Laura and Sara)

It was a dark and cloudy day when a young girl arrived in Forks, a city in the United States. She had left her home in Arizona, to go to live with her dad. She didn't know anyone and, so, she was sad and lonely.
The day after her arrival, she went to schools. She was very pretty and, so, everybody wanted to make friends with her. However, this was difficult because she was shy and not very easy-going.
When she was in Biology lesson, she sat near a handsome and strange guy who was rude to her. During the next week, he didn't come to school and she thought that it was her fault. When he came back to school, he was kind and friendly. She was very confused. They spent a lot of time together. Time passed and they fell in love.
While going out, she discovered he had some strange characteristics: he was handsome, but he had a freezing skin;he smelled good and was really fast and strong, but he didn't eat at all. She asked him questions about these traits and he confessed he was a vampire: he ususally ate animal blood. He told her that he liked her blood smell very much but also that he loved her and wouldn't attack her.
One day, when they were together, they went for a walk into the woods and there they met another vampire who wanted to kill her to drink her blood. The vampires started fighting and the evil one bit the girl. Thus, the poison started to flow in her blood. The in-love vampire killed the bad one afterwards and then he tried to save his girlfriend.
However, when he was sucking the poison off the blood, he liked it too much... He sucked hisgirlfriend's blood until he killed her. He was very depresed and he wanted to die, but, as you know,it is not very simple for vampires to die, so he had to live in death eternally in pain.

Classes with David (by Jaime)

It all began one day in July in Ireland. I had studied at Alpha College for a month. I started in pre-intermediate level , but, during the second week, I was promoted to the next level: intermediate. I was OK; I liked that until, in my first class, I met my teacher: David.
Apparently, he was a very polite and and extraordinary teacher, but when we really got started, he showed us his dark side. He was crazy!! He taught us the names of crimes and, then, he grabbed a knife from his bag and he demonstrated how to kill a person. Later, he read a story about a murderer rabbit which killed and skinned off different animals. The teacher got agitated at that!!
I was very scared, but he continued with his "class." He told us about a murder he saw in Spain some years ago....

NOTE: this story was found in a teenager's diary. He wasn't able to finish it because he disappeared from his new class.

The Elves want to dance (by Caroline, Tom and Fabian)

Once a upon a time, a handsome and fabulous man, whose name was Bastian, had to marry a beautiful woman who lived next to the forest. Bastian had to go through the forest to join his future wife. The night before their wedding, he travelled in the forest.
While he was walking, he came across a group of elves who were dancing. When the elves saw him, they were amazed by this young man.They ran to him and he was surprised. They asked hi to dance wit them. "I can't dance becauseI must marry tomorrow," he thought. So he refused their offer.
But the elves really wanted to dance with him, so they said "if you dance with us, you will have all the gold you want". Thus, they showed him some gold. "I can't dance, but I need gold", he thought. So, he stole the gold the elves were showing him and, then, he ran as fast as he could. One of the elves hit hi at his heart, but he ran again.
He thought the elf had missed his blow. He continued running and escaped the forest. He saw his future wife waiting for him in front of her house. They kissed and Bastian, the man, told her the story and showed her the gold. Later, the went to bed to sleep. Next morning, Bastian was dead!!!

Jealousy Murder (by Arthur)

One day, a boy whose name was Jose Maria met Costanza. They instantly fell in love.However, there was a thrid person, Jaime, who opposed their love because he loved her as well. Jaime decided to murder Jose MAria and thought about his plan. After a long time, he came up with a good idea: he would poison Jose Maria;s food.
Jaime organised a big dinner with a lot of of people in his castle in Dublin. For him, the plan was perfect; all elements were assembled. But, during dinner, there were some problems. Jaime had put the poison in a plate but he didn't know where the plate went exactly. At the end of supper, all people were in a good state, except one person who died: Constanza.
The war between the two guys had started. At the end of it, the two guys died after a long and difficult battle. Only one went to heaven with Constanza: Jose Maria, since he had died for his love. On the contrary, Jaime went to hell because he died for jealousy.

Once in Avila (by Ashwini and Blanca)

Long time ago, there was a strange event in Avila. Every night there was a security man looking after an archive. He was always in front of the main door, which was always closed. One dark night, he was in front of the closed door and, suddenly, the door was opened from the outside. He saw that nobody was there. He went and closed the door, which was reopened again.
"What is happening?"-the man thought. When he turned on the other side he saw an old man running in the woods. The security man said: "Don't move!!" He grabbed his gun and the old man disappeared. The security man was afraid and called his boss.
When the boss knew that there was a man around the archive, they went outdoors. They saw the old man again and the boss shot him, and, in a second, the mysterious runner disappeared again. They went to the place where they had shot him and there they found the old man's jacket with the bullet hole. Then, the old man was never seen again!!

Ghost stories, urban legends.... Fear!!!

Hi all,
in the next entries you'll find some stories my students have created in a very scary night!!! I hope you enjoy them

And... Dublin!!!

Hi all,
Dublin again!!I tell you... It's not the most beautiful city in the world. Not even a big city... But you MUST come! City life is wonderful with lots of activities and a great range of cultural events coming up everyday! Here you have some pictures and I will post new comments about specific places! Enjoy your summer!!!

Ireland, Ireland, Ireland...

Hello everyone,
I'm sorry for the delay to publish lately, but it's been technically impossible for me (no internet access until recently). Anyway, here I am again! Yes, I am back in Ireland with students from school. Our flight was good, but unfortunately one student got her suitcase lost in Madrid airport. She received it back after five days. So far, the weather hasn't been bad, although it has rained a little bit. I've been coming to Ireland for four or five years and I still love coming. It's got something. Maybe it's the atmosphere, the Irish character, the incredible landscapes... I don't know! I recommend you to come here and enjoy!!!

End of Course

Dear students,
I hope you have passed all (or most of) your subjects! Enjoy summer and don't forget English! I will try to keep posting entries, although everything will be slower, as you know I am leaving for Ireland in a few days. Of course, I want you to tell me your commentaries, experiences, jokes, ideas.... HUGS!!!

"Selectividad": Good Luck!

Hi all,


Iwould like you to have happy thoughts for my students in their second year of Bahillerato, as they start to face our "frightening" "selectividad." Good luck to all of you! Relax and don't worry. I hope your results match your hopes and wishes! Remember, be quiet and don't get nervous. You are prepared, so do not worry more than usual. Buena suerte a todos y a todas!!!

Trinity College Examinations: Congratulations!

I would like to congratulate all the students who took the Trinity Exam at our school last week. You all have passed your exams. You should feel proud of yourselves. Go on like this!!! Cheers!!!

Exams!!!

Yeah, exams. Most of you are students... time to panic!! Exams are come!! They're gonna blow your brains off! You are going to lose your social life, friends and family. Horror! Terror! Suffering! Pain! Nights without sleep! Coffee! Don't take me seriously, just kidding. Exams are a step towards your future. You have to take them as everybody had, has and will have to. Just some tips... Do get organized as soon as possible in order to take advantage of your time. It's good to feel nervous before an exam (but do not nerves control you) because that means you have studied enough to pass the exam. Don't get blocked! If you read a line 10 times and you don't remember even a bit, please, take a break. You need to sleep at least 8 hours. You know yourselves, so you know beforehand which subjects are the most difficult and the easiest for you. Try to isolate yourselves in your study room. A piece of advice: do not listen to music. You normally play music you like and your mind flies towards it. It seems you are studying, but you aren't. No distractions at all, please (TV, computers, WHAT ARE YOU DOING? YOU SHOULDN'T BE READING THIS!!!). This will only last a couple weeks and you will survive, I promise! Finally, dont worry, be happy! Good luck!!!!

Congratulations to our Trinity College Students!

The examiner, Patrick, wants to express his congratulations to you and also wants to highlight your good behaviour! Cheers!