Are you interested in the Spanish cinema and language?

It’s that time of year again; the annual London Spanish Film Festival is back for its sixth edition. The festival is a unique opportunity to see the most talked about Spanish cinema here in London, with the chance to meet award-winning directors.

The festival takes place from 24 September to 7 October at ciné lumière in South Kensington. The packed programme features 30 films and documentaries from all over Spain – including Catalunia and the Basque country. For more information, please visit the festival’s website www.londonspanishfilmfestival.com/

If you have a passion for the Spanish language, the festival is a good opportunity to practise your language skills! You might also want to consider one of IH London’s evening Spanish courses starting from 4 October www.ihlondon.com/learn-spanish-17/

As one of the festival’s sponsors, IH London is delighted to be screening three of the festival’s film for FREE at our school.

Here is the programme of our free viewings:

Mónica del Raval, by Frances Betriu
Monday 27 September, 7pm

Shorts Selection
Wednesday 29 September, 7pm

La mujer sin piano, by Javier Rebollo
Monday 4 October, 7pm

Book your FREE ticket in advance to avoid disappointment via our website www.ihlondon.com/learn-a-language/london-spanish-film-festival,216,ART.html#Book

Doors open at 6pm and films start at 7pm. You are welcome to look around the school or have a drink in our café beforehand.

We look forward to seeing you all here!

IH London students sample a Brick Lane curry

From the Wimbledon Tennis Championship to a mouth-watering night of curry. Social Programme Co-ordinator James takes IH London students to one of east London's most famous streets....

"Last night, we set off for Brick Lane in search of a traditional ‘British’ curry. There were 15 of us and we worked out that there were eight different nationalities. We had made a reservation at Tayyabs, a famous Pakistani curry house.

On the way we stopped off at Tesco to buy some beer to wash our curry down. Unfortunately, when we arrived at the restaurant our hearts sank as it was very busy and there was a very long queue down the street. Even though we had a reservation for 7:30pm, we still had to wait a further 20 minutes for our table to be ready. While we were waiting, the students had to look through the window at the other diners enjoying their curry. Poor Ahmed was so hungry that he was ready to eat someone.

We finally got a table downstairs for 15 people. We all had poppadoms and samosas for a starter. Everyone decided to each choose one dish and then dig in to everyone else’s. We all tried naan, which is a traditional bread, and pilau rice. JJ decided to have a garlic naan, but luckily he wasn’t planning on kissing anyone that night.

Ahmed suggested we should all eat with our right hand as is the custom, but everyone opted to use a knife and fork. Susanna had to drink a lot of Coke and water because she found the curry very hot. The service was very good and the waiters were all really helpful. The food itself was excellent and everyone was extremely full or as Ahmed put “completely stuffed” at the end.

After eating a lot, everyone took a stroll along Brick Lane to let our food digest and to soak up the atmosphere of the area. All in all, it was a most enjoyable evening."

Students enjoy an 'ace' day out at Wimbledon

IH London runs a busy Social Programme for our English language students. There are events nearly every evening and weekend - from theatre trips to football games, and cream teas to club nights.

This week we slapped on our sun cream and went to Wimbledon to see the world’s most famous lawn tennis tournament....

Pamela decided that she really didn’t understand the British fascination with “queuing”. Once inside the grounds, everyone took a rest on Murray Mound (formerly Henman Hill) to watch Venus Williams go crashing out on Court Number 1 on the giant screen, which was a big shock.

Most students then decided to do some more queuing at the ticket re-sale to get tickets for the main show courts. Laura and Federik went to Centre Court, where they saw the Byran brothers play.

Meanwhile most of the others opted for Court Numer 2 to see Ana Kournikova (Esteban didn’t mind missing Spain against Portugal in the World Cup as he got to see Ana in the flesh) and Martina Hingis in doubles action against two British players. Unfortunately, the British players didn’t have much of a chance. Afterwards, Neval had her cap signed by the players.

Next, everyone did a spot of shopping in the Wimbledon shop and bought some souvenirs to take back home. Margot bought a giant sized tennis ball as a present for her brother.

Mia tried some strawberries and decided to wash them down with some Pimms. Finally, after a good day out, everyone went back home contented.

Taking Chances - part 2: The answers

Last week students in Felicity's pre-advanced English class described two more danger scenarios for you. There were three possible options for survival. Did you choose the right one?

Flavia, Mohamed and Palm asked what you would do if an island you were on was struck by a Tsunami. Here's their answer:

Trying to survive by staying where you are and hiding is not a clever idea. There is normally more than one wave during a Tsunami, so the second wave would probably kill you, so if you chose this option, you wouldn’t have a cat in hell’s chance.

Looking for a wooden board is not a good idea because you don’t know when the wave will come again. If you choose this answer, you have much less chance of surviving.

Trying to climb the hill is the best thing that you could do because you will stand a much better chance of staying alive. The only thing you can do to escape from the Tsunami is to go to high ground.

Chris and Masha asked what you would do if you were in your house during an earthquake and there was a gas leak. Here's their answer:

Don’t even think about trying to escape from the house, because if you leave the house there is a 50-50 chance of getting injured or killed by rubble falling from other buildings.

Do not in any circumstances try going into the kitchen, because there are a lot of dangerous things that might cause your death rather than the earthquake.

But if you stand next to the doorframe, there is a fair chance of surviving the earthquake, as the doorframe is a strong structure, which is almost never destroyed.

This was a great exercise for practising the language associated with risks and taking chances. It included lots of common English phrases that we use in everyday life to 'weigh up' our options when making a decision.

Taking Chances - part two

It's time to take your chances on another two danger scenarios.

This time we're hearing from Flavia, Mohamed and Palm, and then Chris and Masha. All five are students in Felicity's pre-advanced English class.

Each group has described a dangerous situation, and given you three possible survival options. Read the scenarios and consider your options - what would you choose?

This exercise is a great way to practise vocabulary to do with 'taking chances' and 'weighing up risks'.

Flavia, Mohamed and Palm:

You are on an island and a Tsunami has just struck and you are stranded on the island. You are in the hotel and you run out of food and water. There are one thousand people in the hotel and amongst them there are a lot of children:

Do you -

1. Stay where you are and hide under the bed
2. Look for a wooden board to float on.
3. Try to climb up the hill

Chris and Masha:

There is a huge earthquake. Your house is shaking and objects are flying around your house. The gas pipes start leaking, so you need to make a quick decision.

Do you -

1. Try to escape from the house?
2. Stand next to the doorframe?
3. Go into the kitchen and hide under the table?

In both cases, what would you do...?

Answers next week.

Taking Chances - the answers

Yesterday we gave you two dangerous situations with three possible options for survival. What did you pick? Did you make the right choice?

Khalood and Wook asked what you would do if you broke down in the desert with very few supplies. Here's their answer:

Don’t even think about standing in the sun and drinking all of your water at once. You’d do much better to stay in the shade.

Your best bet is to wait until sunset or sunrise when you can find your way according to the position of the sun.

It’s a good idea to stay calm through out the afternoon so your body does not heat up.

Forget about the food. By far the most sensible thing to do is to make sure that you have water and sip some of it if you feel thirsty.

Jungwoo and Malak asked what you would do if you were on a ship that was about to crash and didn't have enough lifeboats. Here's their answer:

You haven’t got a cat in hell’s chance if you stay calm, because no one will rescue you immediately.

If you dive into the cold sea, it will be hard for you to survive for more than a couple of minutes. In this case, there’s a fifty-fifty chance of surviving, but only if you succeed in getting on the boat. If you manage to get ahead of 200 people, then you will be rescued.

Holding the Louis Vuitton bag is not a bad idea as it will help you to float on the water, but if you’re in the cold sea the chances of surviving are remote. The cold temperature of the sea will kill you rapidly, as water transfer heat away from the body twenty-five times faster than air. If you chose this option then unfortunately, only your bag would have survived.

So now you know! Next week, more dangerous scenarios from Felicity's pre-advanced English class. We'll look at Flavia, Mohammed and Palm's tale of a tsunami, and Chris and Mahsa's earthquake scenario.