You can do interactive activities
in this order: My
Spring Trip - Easy Cloze, My
Spring Trip - Difficult Cloze, Spring
Trip Quiz. (You can also simply watch and/or read the correct
text below.) Puedes hacer las actividades en el
orden indicado más arriba. (También puedes simplemente
ver el video y/o leer el texto correcto más abajo.)
These are the answers to the questions
in activity 1:
1) On what day did Steven return from Arenas de San
Pedro? Steven returned on Sunday.
2) At what time did Steven get to Madrid? Steven arrived to
Madrid at 17.30.
Estas son las respuestas a las preguntas
de la actividad 1.
Text
My Spring Trip to “Arenas de San Pedro” in Spain
By Steven Starry of MadridTeacher.com
Last week, my family and I went to “Arenas de San Pedro” in
the “Gredos” Mountains southwest of Madrid. It takes about 2
hours to get here. “Arenas de San Pedro” has a population of
6,500 permanent residents. This number triples in the summer.
“Arenas” is a mix of old and new elements. This is the old
section of
town. The
“Castle of the
Sad
Countess” is about 600 years old. There are
hourly
tours of the castle. We visited the castle on
Friday and toured it at 5 o’clock in the
afternoon. The
views
were
really
impressive. It’s very nice to
drive around
those mountains.
There are some very
pretty
towns, “El Hornillo,” “Guisando,” “El Arenal”. . .
There are some towers in the castle. You can see the church
in the town from the castle. The interior of the castle has
an area for presentations and this very beautiful room is the
museum, and it has computers. This is the lake in “Arenas de
San Pedro.” It’s very beautiful. There is a little road next
to and around the lake and people do exercise there. Some very
lucky people have their homes on the lake.
We
stayed in a rural house next to "Arenas de San Pedro."
There is a 150-meter dirt road which leads to the house. This
is the little house we stayed in. This little house is for 2
people. This little house is 4 four people, and this little
house is also for 4 people. The house has got a sofa, a fireplace,
a refrigerator and microwave, a bed and a television downstairs,
and also a bathroom. There’s a toilet and a shower. And you
can see out the window here, and there’s also a little sink.
Now, let’s see upstairs. There’s the stairs. There’s a trunk,
one bed on one side and another bed on the other side. Now,
let’s look outside where you can see a little stream, and you
can hear the stream at night. There’s also a barbecue. This
is the main building of “Casa Crisol.” This is the entrance,
and reception, and the lounge area. You can see the bar there.
There are some armchairs, a table, a fireplace and there’s a
sofa and a coffee table there. This is the dining area. We had
yoghurt and strawberries for breakfast.
Saturday
morning, we
went to see “El Aguila”
caves. They didn’t
permit me to
take
any
photographs, but I
recommend them
anyway. This is the
view
from the caves. Then, we
returned to “Arenas de San Pedro” and visited the
medieval
bridge.
Again, the views were
spectacular. We
had lunch here. And
after that, we
walked around “Arenas de San Pedro” and
saw the
church and visited the
main streets and
so on.
This
land
belongs to the
Sad
Countess. And this is her
mansion.
Can you see her
horse?
After that, we visited the
Sanctuary of Saint Peter or “San Pedro” in Spanish.
Then, we
rested
by a mountain
stream.
After that, we visited an
incredible
bee
museum in “Poyales del Hoyo.” There are
around 200,000 bees in that little
room. The
window is
open. The man
gives a very
interesting
2-hour presentation
on bees.
Of course, the presentation is in Spanish. This is a
view from the museum. And, these are some of the old hives.
The next morning, we
left the rural house. We drove to a castle in Monbeltrán.
This castle is in a very beautiful
valley. We didn’t go into the castle because we didn’t have
time.
At the top of the valley, there is a mountain
pass called “Puerto Pico.” And that is the old Roman
road. This is the view
south of “Puerto Pico.” Our
return trip to Madrid started at 11 o’clock and finished at
about 17:30 in the evening. We
took a different route
through the mountains and we drove
much more
slowly. The
landscape was different.
There were
fewer
trees and it was much, much
colder.
Later in the
afternoon
nearer to Madrid, we
saw the “Burguillo” lake. A
lot of the
scenery in the area was
like this, but this
particular scene is
near “El Tiemblo.”
Thank you for watching. My name’s Steven Starry from MadridTeacher.com.
Vocabulary (Los significados son para este contexto)
Verbs (verbos) go, went - ir, fue. stay, stayed- quedar (quedarse quieto, quedarse
en un hotel, NO quedar con alguién en
alguna parte.), quedó. which leads to - que lleva a. do exercise, did exercise - hacer ejercicio,
hizo ejercicio. has got, have got, have, has - tiene. Ambas
estructuras significan exactamente lo mismo. it takes about 30 minutes - cuesta unos 30
minutos. was, were - es/estar, eran, estaban. there are, there is, there were, there was
- hay (plural), hay (singular), había (plural), había (singular). get somewhere - llegar a alguna parte to triple, to double- triplicar (verbo), doblar. tour - hacer un tour (verbo)
walk (walked) around, drive (drove) around - dar una
vuelta en coche, dar una vuelta andando. return, returned - regresar, regresó. let’s look - miremos. permit, permitted - permitir, permitió. I recommend them, recommended them - les recomiendo,
les recomendé. belong, belonged (this belongs to me) - pertenecer,
perteneció (esto me pertenece) rest, rested - descansar, descansó.
open (opened), close (closed) - abrir, cerrar. see, saw - ver, vió. leave, left - irse, fue. take photographs - hacer fotos. to have breakfast, to have lunch, to have dinner, to
have a snack - desayunar, comer, cenar, merendar.
can you . . ? - ¿Puedes . . ? we had lunch - comimos. give - dar.
Time
(tiempo) spring, summer, autumn (fall), winter - primavera,
verano, otoño, invierno. Spring trip, return trip - viaje de primavera,
viaje de regreso. last week - la semana pasada (no "the
last week" - esto significaría "la última
semana en una serie de semanas como las de unas vacaciones.) morning, afternoon, evening, night - mañana,
tarde (desde el mediodía hasta las 18.00), por la tarde
(de 18.00 a 24,00), noche. hourly - cada hora. then - luego. after something - después de algo. (En
Español se dice por ejemplo "después desayuné",
lo cual se traduciría de la siguiente forma en inglés:
"After that, I had breakfast". Por ello puede resultar
confuso.) after that - después de eso. the next morning - la mañana siguiente. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday,
Sunday, weekdays, weekend - lunes, martes, miércoles,
jueves, viernes, sábado, domingo, días de entre
semana, fin de semana. later - más tarde.
Places
(lugares) here, there - aquí, allí.
interior, exterior - interior, exterior.
inside, outside - adentro, afuera. views - vistas. this particular scene - esta vista en particular. landscape, scenery - paisaje. southwest - suroeste. (south = sur, north =
norte, east = este, west = oeste, northeast = noreste, etc.) town, village, city - pueblo, aldea, ciudad. tower - torre. castle - castillo. church - iglesia. lake - lago. museum - museo. road - carretera. main street - la calle principal. bridge - puente. sanctuary - santuario. valley - valle. area - area. mountain pass - puerto de montaña. take a route - tomar una ruta. cave - cueva. land - tierra. upstairs, downstairs - arriba (subiendo las
escaleras), abajo (bajando las escaleras). side - lado. stream - riachuelo. room - habitación. entrance - entrada. reception - recepción. lounge - salón. dining area - comedor.
Prepositions (preposiciones) from the castle, from the caves, from the museum - desde el
castillo, desde las cuevas, desde el museo. next to - al lado de. through - a través. about - alrededor, más o menos. around - alrededor. at/on the top of - en la cima de. like this - como esto. near, nearer - cerca, más cerca. on bees - sobre abejas. by - al lado.
Attibutes and Adverbs
(atributos y adverbios) sad - triste. impressive - impresionante. spectacular - espectacular. really, very - realmente, muy. dirt road- carretera de arena. pretty, beautiful - bonito, precioso. lucky people - gente con suerte. the main building - el edificio principal. cold, colder - frío, más frío. medieval - medieval.
interesting, interested - interesante, interesado. incredible - increíble. slowly, fast - lento, rápido. few, fewer - pocos, menos. a 2-hour event - ("2-hour" es un
adjetivo) un acontecimiento de 2 horas. (Se pone un guión
entre medias.) Similar es "150-meter" en "a 150-meter
road".
Other (otros) other, the other side, other people - otro,
el otro lado, otra gente. another, another bed - otro (singular), otra
cama, pero NO "another people", y SI "another
person." anyway - de todas formas. and so on - etcétera. of course - claro está, por supuesto. any, some - cualquier, algún - normalmente
"any" se utiliza en preguntas y frases negativas,
y "some" en afirmativas. also, too - también. again - otra vez. much, many, a lot of - mucho (incontable,
negativos y preguntas), mucho (contable, negativos y preguntas),
a lot of (contable e incontable, afirmativas).
Imprime la actividad en formato pdf: Print
My Spring Trip Lesson. (Todos los profesores de inglés,
a nivel individual, tienen permiso para utilizar esta actividad
en sus propias clases de inglés, siempre y cuando se
mantenga el logo de MadridTeacher.com visible.)
By Steven Starry
This is a video-activity
for elementary English students practicing the "past simple"
in the context of a past holiday.
Esta es una actividad con video para
alumnos principiantes de inglés que practica el "pasado
simple" en el contexto de unas vacaciones. 
Activity 1 - Watch the Video 
Right-click and select "save as" to download the video: 
go, went - ir, fue.
