Wednesday 26th February 2020

Cherry blossom

After our break last week we will be back to discuss current affairs.

We also want to fix a date for the election of the new board.

Asociación Educativa Oscar Wilde

On February 12th we have our annual meeting.

For ten years Asociación Educativa Oscar Wilde has been a meeting place for people interested in different  aspects of the English language.

We named our association after Oscar Wilde in deference to his humour, his humanity and his genius.

At first we were a virtual  reality... meeting for walks, doing our paperback  book exchanges in the library and  sharing  our love of literature in our shared readings at the library,
We went  on outings to pantomimes and plays.We approached local businesses to sponsor our pub quizzes, local schools to do playground games. It was all about taking the ball and playing with it. The ball being the English language. We also held story writing competitions and were privileged to have the support of the Irish Embassy in Madrid. We published beautiful books with the entries.

Then we were allocated  a room in la Universidad Popular San Sebastián De Los Reyes where we had activities for children and conversations for adults as well as a space for our books and DVD collection.Videos too!

Now we go on walks occasionally and continue to have interesting conversations in our room. It is time to pass on the baton, confident that we address the needs of  people who love languages, in this case English and who just want to be able to it.

Current events and yesterday's discussion

With the interesting data from W.H.O. and with a doctor in the room to give us more guidance, (Thank you, Lola) we learned a lot about the coronavirus and how to protect ourselves from contagion .

What we know about the coronavirus

Our discussion led us to other viruses different countries have had to deal with in the past. 

Let’s hope that the world’s medical forces get all the support they need to tackle this deadly virus and stop it from spreading. We appreciate their invaluable work.

Foreign language learning

With English now the lingua franca why would an English speaker need to learn a foreign language?

People do it for fun and nowadays  it is made easy for you… apparently there are sites like Rosetta Stone and Glossika where you can learn a language in the comfort of your home.

Here, in Spain, there is a wonderful public institution that teaches up to 23 languages. La Escuela Oficial de Idiomas.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Escuela_Oficial_de_Idiomas
The E.U. ideal of lifelong learning is embraced here.

Language learning teaches respect for other cultures.

With the U.K. leaving the E.U. this is a good opportunity to promote Spanish, French, German, Portuguese and Italian to start off with. 
There could be open spaces which  encourage language learning in every village and town.

In our discussion yesterday we acknowledged that sometimes bureaucratic English sounds like gobbledygook to the native English speaker but it  gets the job done.

We also noted that in the past Latin and French were the dominant languages.

Things change.

Useful information

Juan has highlighted this screenshot to show us  how you can listen to the TED talks at a slower speed  and where to look for the subtitles in whichever language you choose.  Also  you can go directly to a transcript of the talk.
This is very helpful indeed.

Thank you for renewing your subscription!

The house beautiful

Something to watch.

On 29th January 2020 for our talks, we will experiment with new technology in our room.
We will see how it goes.

Nostalgia Part 2

From the vineyards of Caceres to running wild in Usera and Orcasitas with catapults and slings, our journey to the past led to discussions about nostalgia and attachment to the past.

La Vaguada was a great place for youngsters way before Madrid’s iconic shopping mall was built there.

Many remember the freedom of long summer days in Spain’s villages, in places like Cuenca, where life was very traditional in contrast with the modern city where parents tended to be very protective, especially of their girls.

Others were lucky enough to actually spend their youth in small towns near bigger cities like Mérida and Santander until these places seemed too small for them.

 Real poverty and hunger in post-civil war Spain perhaps made memories more vivid so that happy moments were happier. Juana recalls her grandfather in the dark, cold, early morning heading for the coal mines of Palencia and when the miners came home safe from a day’s work she remembers how their singing could be heard in the distance giving joy to all.

Our attachment to places has a lot to do with nature, the sound of the sea, the mountains, the countryside smells.

Not everyone was so attached to the past. Some have the travel bug and would have been happy to continue to indulge in that passion for absorbing other cultures, living in  faraway lands.

My own memories of a happy childhood spent in a small town in Ireland have in common the fun of playing outside with friends and nature…buttercups, daisies, the autumn leaves on the ground, the birds singing in the bushes, views of the mountains, the cows grazing in the fields and the non-existence of the word ‘boredom’.

Journeys through time and space

Variety is the spice of life. 

From an idyllic childhood surrounded by farm animals in the plains of Venezuela to the beautiful, chaotic south of Italy, passing through rural village life in Fuencarral, Hortaleza in the sixties and Barcelona in the fifties to happy childhood memories in San Sebastián De Los Reyes and Alcobendas, our journey to our hometowns has been fun indeed. Some of us can go back decades! We will continue our reminiscences next Wednesday January 22^nd.

 Inevitably we went off on a tangent as we struggled to find words to describe the nature of people in the north and the south. The warm, open, welcoming,  easy charm of the southerner contrasting with the cold, dour, down to earth  and brusque manners of the northerner. It seems that this concept is universal. This of course is open to debate and we will leave that for another conversation.

Join our association and you can come to our talks at the U.P. in Sanse and receive all the latest cultural news at your email address.

Mi pueblo

For some reason, in our talks, we end up trying to solve the problems of the world.
A monumental task despite all our good will.

For next Wednesday we will zoom in on something more local, which will make it  easier for everyone to participate.

Each and every one of us has a different history.
We would like to hear about the town or neighbourhood you grew up in and your memories of your childhood there.
Cast your mind back a few decades. What was it like? What stands out in your memory? Were you happy?

Looking forward to hearing your stories on Wednesday 15th January 2020 at 18:30.

Happy New Year!

 Health. Happiness. Love.