MY DIARY

PART 1:

Therefore, I think likely it w ill be something rewarding for

me when I familiarize with this new way to mingle with
others. And I am not sure If I would be able to use them
properly, but what I am sure is that they cheer me up.

One more day getting up so early in the morning! This is one

of the first things I realize it has changed in my live since I
am in UK. At home, timetables are very different than here,
everything happen quiet later.

PART 2:

2015-10-13

Since I wake up, my senses notice I am in a new

environment that I am not used to. It does not smell of
coffee but tea. The light that comes through the windows is
slightly different. And when I put my feet on the floor I can
feel the padded, warm and pleasant carpet.
But, I definitely have the strongest feeling when an adorable
old lady, who met me couple of days ago, greets me by
saying so nice words such as;
Good morning dear! Did you sleep ok last night, honey?
Would you like a cup of tea, darling?
Here is the first big difference I find in communication
between English and Spanish language. The way that British
people use kind words and expressions is completely
different that the manner and the context in which Spanish
would use this friendly and close way of speaking. In fact,
this is quiet surprising due to I realize that same words have
clearly different connotations in one language and another.
Words and expressions that are only used for me in very
personal and intimate relationships become now part of my
daily life.

After a hard day at university, I have arrived home with my

mind plenty of new concepts, lot of thought and the feeling
that I need to put into practice something that I have learnt
during the day. So that, during the dinner time, I have
decided to ask my host family about their opinion of the
referendum they did last year, concerning to the
Independence of Scotland. On one hand, because I am
interested on the fact (due to we are dealing with a similar
problem in my country) and on the other hand, due to I
wanted to use some of the phrasal verbs that I had learnt in
class. So that, I have tried to use sentences like:
What is your opinion about the tussle between English and
Scottish over the independence referendum?
We are coming through the same problem in Spain with
Catalua, and I grapple with the reasons why some people
want the independence
Moreover, even if the Spanish politicians are wrestling with
the problem, I strongly believe that they are not doing it as
well as they could. And I think we should take the Uk
experience among the referendum of the independence as
an example.

It has been such an interesting conversation and I think I

have learnt some important history facts of Uk. But, I have
found quiet difficult to add these new phrasal verbs in a
natural and fluent way. I had to stop, think for a while and
then carry on with the speaking. However I feel very happy
because finally I could include them in my speech.

he/she feels today or how he/she slept. I can imagine this is

not that extremist and it was kind of a joke, but what it is
sure is that the relationship with others (specially with
strangers)is much more affectionate in UK that what it is in
my country. And I had my first purpose of the day; this
evening, I will try to put all this new social standards into

ESTHER PLANELLS

practice in the pub.

After that the day has been plenty of new concepts and new
knowledge that I have tried to attached as much as
possible,

MY DIARY
2015-10-14
PART 1:
Today has been a long and very British day!

Fortunately, during the lunch time, I could relax my mind

enjoying a delicious typical British meal called cottage pie,
what gave me the energy to carry on with the lessons after
the break.

Once I have had my British breakfast (English tea with a

toast and cereals), I have gone to the university trying to
survive to this crazy English stile of driving.
When I entered to the class Francisco was giving a very
quick and funny lesson about how we should greet people in

PART 2:

any circumstances while we are in Great Britain. Even if he

In the evening we went to the pub and I strongly tried to be

or she is the bus driver, the shop assistant of the

as polite and as solicitous as British people are. So I asked

supermarket, your teacher or your mate you should be

my mates and my teachers about their day with courteous

polite to him/her and show interest about him/herself; how

questions like: How are you? Did you have a nice meal? Or

did you enjoy your dinner? How do you feel after such a

PART 1:

long day? .

We spend a lot of hours at the university absorbing such a

I felt a little bit uncomfortable with the intonation, the speed

huge amount of information that sometimes I feel Im going

(they do it so fast) and the way of asking itself. But at the

to collapse. Nevertheless, I am so exciting with the idea of

time it was quite fun and I think I slowly feeling more

being studying again. I am sure I have a lot to learn not only

confident.

from the teachers but also from my mates. I have noticed

they are really challenging teachers plenty of new and

After that practice, everything was easier. I relaxed myself

and I enjoyed the conversation with different people. Some
of us tried to imitate a group of teenagers in order to put
into practice the several slang words we had learnt during

interesting ideas about education and the different ways of

carry on with the teaching-learning process. It is also very
interesting we are teachers of different subjects due to I am
sure this is going to enrich our experience.

the afternoon. It was a really nice joke and we had very fun,
but I also believe it was a great way to consolidate the

At the same time, I feel so lucky to have a team of really

knowledge we had acquired.

well qualified teachers with a wide experience in training

bilingual teachers. In Fact, this becomes quite important if
we take into account that it is not the same to be an English
teacher that to be a CLIL teacher, what means you have to
teach contents through a language that is not your mother
ESTHER PLANELLS

tongue language (what it is, in my opinion, much more

complex). And I have faith in my teachers they can give us
useful tools and new knowledge to get better our work in
that sense at the time that they help us to improve our
language skills.

MY DIARY
2015-10-15

ESTHER PLANELLS
PART 2:
I am aware of how positive the opportunity of being here
can be in order to use the language in a different context
than the one that I am used to. That means that, hopefully,

MY DIARY

my lexical is going to rise by a considerable amount.

2015-10-16

For example, today we have learnt some slang words and

PART 1:

expressions related to technology that children and

Today, I had the opportunity to work with mates that I did

teenagers frequently use. And we have put them in the

not work before. This is such a nice thing. On the one hand,

appropriate context to understand them better.

because you can meet them more deeply, and on the other

After words, I have tried to put them into practice with my

hand because, as I said the other day, I think I can learn a

host family and it has been so funny because since they are

lot from my colleagues. In fact, during the afternoon periods,

elderly people they had never heard about certain

we had to work in peers and my partner was an expert in

expressions such as; This is epic, It is legit . Or terms like;

the activity we had to do due to he had than it before in

silver surfers or a computer geek.

other course. So I could KISS (keep it short and simple)

We have been discussing for a while about how slang

We prepared a questioner about education. We wrote open

changes with every new generation and they have told me

and close questions about the British educational system;

some expressions that they used to say when they were

Types of schools, weaks and strongs of the system, own

young. It has been a very nice and productive evening.

preferences...

It was a really interesting experience because we could

those word would be the same that we would stress in a

interact with British people from outside of our context. We

sentences.

talked to a young boy and a couple of young girls (all of

them around the twenties). Even if They were very polite
and nice people I got shocked by the fact that they did not
know a lot about their own educational system, although
two of them were studying pedagogy at the university.

The other part of the lesson was focus on the way British
people discus about agrees and disagrees due to it is well
known that British and Spanish manage disagreements.
After having an interesting debate about the differences
between to be polite and to be harmless when we use

By the way, I hope we can do this activity more often

language, we prectived with several british expressions to

because I believe that it is a very useful way of practicing

express disagree;

the language in a real context among native speakers.

Actualy, Im afraid I dont really agree with you

I do get what you are saying, but...

ESTHER PLANELLS
PART 2:
During the Kathys lesson I became aware how important it

MY DIARY

is the intonation and the proper use of the stress when

talking. We should put the stress on the important words of
the sentences which can be a little bit confusing sometime.
But Kathy has told us something that I thing is going to be
very useful for us; the example of the telegram. That is, in
the telegram you only right the most important works and

WEEKEND 2015-10-17/18
PART 1:
On Saturday, we travelled around the Sussex villages, which
was a great opportunity to live and experiment some of the

cultural facts and aspects of British style life that we had

been working on during the week.
We have interacted with many people in different contexts
(the bus driver, the waiter in the pub, shop assistant in the

PART 2:

craft shop, the guide in the church,,,). And It was a nice

It was really nice to have the chance of knowing Dave and

experience to realize that most of the knowledge we

Simon a little bit better. They are very kind and friendly

acquired in class is meaningful and can be also very useful

people, they make you feel comfortable and relax so that I

for our integration during our staying in UK.

think that my English becomes more fluent. I feel confident

By the time we learnt a little bit about some event and

important historical facts, such as the fight between Saxons
and Normans, which may help us to understand better the
English culture.

with them so I am not afraid of committing mistakes which

let me put into practice new linguistic aspect without feeling
a lot of pressure. Then, I realize how important is to feel
calm and sure when you need to talk in a language that it is
not your mother tongue.

On Sunday, we went to the Seven Sisters Country Park,

which is located near Brighton. I could enjoy some of the
most spectacular views of cliffs I had never seen before. I
had lunch on the beach and we walked around the park.
Moreover, the weather was so nice and the company really
friendly so that I can say it was almost a perfect day.

ESTHER PLANELLS

MY DIARY
2015-10-19
PART 1:
I really love the way our teachers use positive support.
Whenever we have an intervention or a question in class
they try to encourage us saying that it is an interesting point
of view or a good question. That makes me be stimulated
because I feel we are learning through a really useful
teaching learning process by sharing at the time we are
acquiring new knowledge and improvement in the language

PART 2:
Apart from the clarification of the several types of school in
Great Britain and the different exams that students have to
do in UK, today I learnt some new expressions which I hope I
can put into practice as soon as possible. I consider they are
very common expressions that can be used in many
contexts. These are:

thanks to her lessons.

Horses for courses which means there is always
Once again, I realize that, the polite manners of saying

something for any like.

thinks in this country, help us to feel comfortable and

confident which is necessary when learning a language.

To dumb (something) down that is to make it easier

And slip through the net That I had to look in the

The conversation started because I realized my host father

dictionary because I was not sure, and I found the definition

thinks nobody likes English people! He told me that because

which was; to escape a punishment or be missed by a

of these past conflicts Australian, Ireland and even Scottish

system that should deal with or protect you.

are not very friendly with them. In his opinion, there are two

Moreover, I could be aware about some mistakes I do in my

writing thanks to kathys corrections of the diary. Therefore,
I will try to correct them and do not make them again in my

main reasons for this fact, on the one hand population from
these countries do not forgive them because of their old
conflicts and on the other hand they envy English because
they are one of the most global power countries.

next texts
ESTHER PLANELLS

This is not the first time I see the patriotic fervour in my host
father and it surprises me due I have not the same sense of

MY DIARY

nations and patriotism he has. However, I really enjoy

2015-10-20

PART 1:

talking about history with them. I am definitely learning a lot

of British events of past.

This morning, during breakfast time, I had an intense and

deep conversation with my host family about some of the
wars and conflicts that England has had through history. He
told me some facts about the wars against Scotland,
Australia and Ireland in the last centuries.

PAST 2:

I must say that today was a complicate day for me at the

MY DIARY
2015-10-21

university. I reckon I am a little bit overfaced by all the work

we have to do between the university and my school.

PART 1:

Therefore, I beg It was so difficult to be concentrated in

Today I met my host familys daughter and son. It is quite

class. I had too many thing in my mind and I could not pay

funny because she is my host mothers daughter and he is

as much attention as I wish.

the son of my host father. Actually, they both met because

their children married each other. We had a very nice

However, I finally could focus myself on the lesson due to it

was related to educational aspects of British education
system which I must to understand due to I am going to be
involved in it in a couple of weeks. Fortunately, I found out
the purpose and the characteristics of some school exams
that students have to do a long their educational lives. More
over I got a better idea of what verbs I should use when
talking about exams; Do an exam, take an exam or sit an
exam ( more formal).

evening telling stories about how they met and fun

anecdotes about their first date. Once again, I could realize
how different our cultures can be. And I must say that I
really like the way that British over sixties face their lives
which is very different than the way Old Spanish people do
it. Normally, in Spain, If you lose your husband or your wife
after the sixties you do not even think on finding a new
relationship, that is, we are very traditionalist in that sense.
But I feel that in England old people are much more vitalist,
they are still full of life and open minded which I think is a

ESTHER PLANELLS

very positive aspect of the British culture.

we could write it in our diaries later on. But it was not a joke
but a real fact. I strongly believe that to be here is a great
opportunity to get involved in the British live in order to
absorb as much information as possible. And, in my opinion,
we are not taking enough profit of it because we spend too
PART 2:

much time in our computers.

We have finally had a leisure evening!

Even if we felt a little bite guilty because we had to do the
diary, read some articles, do an essay, think about items for
our presentation... we decided to take some time off and
enjoy a free evening going to Chichester. We went for a walk
trying to do some shopping but we were so surprise when
we realized in England most of the shops are closed at 5pm.
For that reason, we decided to go to have dinner to a
traditional British pub. We were joking about this could make
us feel better due to we were trying to learn more aspects
about British culture and it allow us interact with native
people at the time we could enjoy a typical English meal so

After the pub we went to the theatre to see The Seagull by

Chejov. The staging of the show was spectacular. It was so
thrilling to me the fact of having the chance to enjoy a
fabulous play as The Seagull is, in a beautiful theatre such
as Chichester Theatre and in a different language. Even
though it was really difficult to understand the actors in
some dialogues I could have a lot of fun.

However, I noticed something that made me feel blue, and it

was the fact that most spectators from the audience were
elderly people. This is something very usual in Spain to, but
I had the hope of believing that British people had found the
magic potion to stimulate young people to go to the theatre.

MY
DIARY

(IMPRESSIONS AND EXPERIENCES OF AN ALIEN

TEACHER IN BOGNOR REGIS)

WEEK 2
MY DIARY
2015-10-23
Written by ESTHER PLANELLS

PART 1:

Thanks to Kathys questioner I have finally had the

opportunity to talk to young people. Due to I live with an
elderly couple and I spend most of the time at home and at
University with my adult and responsible mates and
teachers, I hadnt had time to talk with young people who I
really like because of their fresh and spontaneous language.
But today, I could stop some of them with the excuse of
asking them few questions about idioms (our topic for the

PART 2:
Today we had a reflection on the course so far, and I could
be aware of the many things we have learnt in just two
weeks.

presentation). And, as I expected, It was a quite nice and

enjoyable experience. Most of them did not really know

I strongly believe that I have acquired lot of new vocabulary

what an idiom was, but after telling them some examples,

and expressions which I have been trying to put into

they realized they use this kind of colloquial expressions a

practice with my host family and my mates. Moreover, I am

lot and they thought us some funny ones, like Browny nose,

more conscious of the importance of stressing the sentences

that I am sure I could not learn in class or with my host

and the pronunciation of some tricky words. On the other

family. Therefore, I feel I got in touch with another part of

hand, during these two weeks I clarified some daubs I had

the British population with slightly different English

about the British educational system that I am quiet sere

costumes.

they will help me to understand better the management of

the the English school I go in few days.

So, having into account all this new knowledge acquired, I

there) which is other of our aims during our staying in

think it is more than understandable that I feel overtired. By

England. We visited the Victory ship in which Nelson died

the way, my next week purpose is taking my learning

during the Trafalgar Battle. It was so impressing due to it

process a little bite easy. Let see if i am able to do it.

was quiet easy to imaging and reconstruct the hard

conditions of the sailors lives.
After that, we went to the museum where the rests of Mery
Roses ship are. I really liked the architecture of the

MY DIARY

museum which simulate a ship on itself. But not only for the
WEEKEND

PART 1:

shape but also for the sound. Moreover, it was so interesting

to know about the process of rescue the rests of the sunken

It has been a great and very cultural weekend!

galleon at the time we could see them.

On Saturday, we went to Portsmouth which is one of the

And finally, we visited the first iron ship of the world The

most important ports in England. It has a beautiful city

HMS Warrior

centre and a nice shopping area but some of us decided to

spend much of the time visiting The Portsmouth Historic
Dockyard. And it was an excellent idea because, apart from
having a really funny time, I learnt lots of facts and events

On Sunday, we decided to continue being steeped in the

from the British History (told by British people who work

British History so we went to Arundel to visit the castle and

learn few more thing about the Middle Age in England. The

MY DIARY
2015-10-26

castle is so beautiful and you also could imagine the way

nobles lived in that period of the history. But what I liked the

PART 1:

best was the amazing views it had from its wall.

Today was a relaxing and quiet day at University due to the

rest of the students are on holiday. I did not know it since I

We also visited the Cathedral and the little and cute town
plenty of interesting and curious antique furniture shops.

went to the dining hall for the break time and I founded
completely empty so I asked the lady who works there and

To end with the nice and sunny day, we decided to come

she explained to me. This is another point of the British

into a typical tea room and we had a delicious and sweet

educational system that I think we should copy. I believe

British meal in which we ate some of the best apple pies I

that having a two weeks break every couple of months is

had never tasted before!

much more suitable and more coherent, in terms of teaching

In both trips, I had the opportunity of speaking with quite

interesting people who knew a lot of things about English

and learning, that having two months holiday during

summer time as we do.

history so I could say that, apart from learning about history,

Moreover, and apart from the pedagogical advantages of

I was practicing my English interacting with English people

this holiday, I must say it was so nice to feel that the

away from my regular environment which it has been really

University was for us! We didnt have to cue for asking the

rewarding.

lunch or the coffee and we could sit down all together. And It
was also a good chance to talk with the stuff that was not
very busy.

having heard that I saw myself forced to put into practice

the polite way of disagree that we learnt in Kathys class, I
do not share any of his points of view about politics and
immigration and I felt a little bite. I beg I felt ill at ease with
this awkward situation.
PART 2:
Over and above the evening was quite stormy. I asked my

ESTHER PLANELLS

host family about their opinion of the current political

landscape and I got so surprise when my host father was
completely cheesed of this country politicians. He told me
he was really angry because He voted David Cameron and
he is not covering his expectations even though he is let him
down because of his politics related to immigrations.
Actually he told me he had written a letter to the Prime
Minister telling him that he is so disappointed to pay all the
social benefits they have. Therefore, He is convinced he is
going to vote Nigel Farge who, as he said, is the only one
who can expel the immigrants from this country. Once

MY
DIARY

(IMPRESSIONS AND EXPERIENCES OF AN ALIEN

TEACHER IN BOGNOR REGIS)

WEEK 3

Written by ESTHER PLANELLS