A walk to the Top of the Sohail Castle

By Roberto del Rey López del Castillo

Levels: 3 -4

Objectives:

-to practise the simple past tense.

-to practise the pronunciation of regular and irregular verbs in the simple past.

-to learn vocabulary about countries, nationalities, languages, some physical exercises and the weather.

Story: Last Sunday morning I decided that I should do some exercise for one hour, so I thought of going for a long walk, and the first place that came to my mind was the promenade of Fuengirola, one of the longest and nicest in Spain. So I chose my favorite Pink Floyd album “The Wall” on my mobile, put on my earphones, and started strolling along the promenade with fast, long steps. The beach was on my left- hand side, and I guess that every 100 yards there was a beach bar, the Spanish chiringuito,

one of my favourite places on earth, where you can savour the tasty barbecued sardines called espetos or the delicious pescaito frito (fried fish).

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On the opposite side was a long stretch of bars, restaurants and shops, waiting for you to go in and have a pint of beer, a cup of coffee or simply buy a Costa del Sol souvenir. I realised that many people looked at you trying to guess where you are from, or listen to your accent. Fuengirola has a large foreign population (35 % out of 75; 000 inhabitants). Residents come from different Scandinavian countries such as Sweden, Norway, Denmark, or others like Finland, Germany, Holland, Ireland, England, Scotland, Morocco, France and Italy. There are also lots of people from South America and The Caribbean, where I was born, under the sun, the coconut tree, the crystalline waters and white sandy beaches, the music, the dancing , the rum and the big cigars. Too good to be true, but as we mortals should know: All that glitters is not gold.

So it was the perfect day: sunny, cool, peaceful, the sky was a special blue, with a few clouds that looked like a Dalí painting. Along the beach were exercise and fitness equipment so I thought: “This is going to be a great day. I´m going to stretch my legs, work out a bit, walk to the bridge (which is almost at the end of the promenade), climb up to the top of the castle and come back home. Great exercise for as long as The Wall first album lasts!”

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While strolling I saw people jogging, skating, biking, swimming, playing volleyball, doing sit-ups, press-ups or chin-ups on the beach. There were also all kinds of breeds of beautiful dogs: Labradors, Bulldogs, Yorkshire Terriers, Chihuahuas, you name it. There were families with children, teenagers and pensioners, all kinds of people from different walks of life and races, but everybody had one thing in common: they were all enjoying the day and feeling very laid back. So was I.

I finally made it to the bridge in front of the Sohail Castle, a Phoenician-Iberian settlement from the 7th century BC, which stands like a big rock on top of a mountain. As I said before, the idea was to climb up to the top of the castle, then return home, but the view was breathtaking, so I stayed standing on the bridge with my mouth hanging open staring at the castle until “Good bye cruel world”, the last song of the first album, ironically started playing, and that meant that it was high time to get back home, therefore I missed working out and climbing up to the top of the castle, and all I did was to take the picture you can see below.

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I know this is a very simple story, but I thought it was worth turning it into a class to help you practise the simple past tense in English and encourage you to speak about your own memories , so why don´t you start right now ? Pictures welcome!

Vocabulary:

-Promenade (to stroll along): Paved public walk, especially one along a seafront

-To do sit –ups: A stomach exercise in which a person sits up from a supine position without using the arms for leverage

-To do press-ups: An exercise in which the body is alternately raised from and lowered to the floor by the arms only, the trunk being kept straight with the toes and hands resting on the floor Also called (US and Canadian) push-up

-To do chin- ups: Raise oneself while hanging from one's hands until one's chin is level with the support bar

-Different walks of life: An occupation, profession, or social class

-Work out: Do physical exercise

Breathtaking: Inspiring or exciting

-You name it: A way of describing a collection or set of everything or all things.

-Laid back: Having a relaxed or casual atmosphere or character; easygoing

-Encourage: motivate

-Settlement: A newly colonized region.

-to be worth: Used for saying that there is a good enough reason for doing something, because it is important, enjoyable, useful.

Exercises:

1-Please find out:

a) Languages that correspond to the nationalities mentioned in the story.b) Country and capital in each case.

2-Watch video about the pronunciation of regular verbs in the past: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_M7xIwAqy9I

3-Some pronunciation rules:

1)-Pronounce D after voiced consonants (vibration of the vocal cords)

After consonant sounds: B, G, L, LL, M, N, R, V, W, (Y), Z and after vowels: e.g. queued

Cleaned, turned, loved, smelled, cried, lived, listened, studied, played, called

2)-Pronounce T after voiceless consonants (No vibration of the vocal cords)

K, P, SH, CH, F, H, GH, S, W, X

DanCE / danS/ past /danST/. The rule is about the realization of the sound, not the spelling.

Worked, cooked, helped, looked, washed, watched, touched, danced, liked, and laughed.

3)-Pronounce ID after T or D:

Wanted, needed, rested, painted, visited, tasted

Please read the following sentences:

a- She cleaned (d), cooked (t) and then rested (id) last Monday.

b- He repaired (d) his car, washed and painted (id) it.

c-They called (d) on the phone, watched (t) TV and visited (id) their friends.

Please read this paragraph: (pay close attention to the linking process: consonant + vowel): Yesterday I played football with my friends. Then I helped my wife with the housework and cooked a nice meal for everybody: Spanish tapas. When I finished cooking, my friends tasted all the tapas and everybody liked them. Later on we watched TV and listened to music. Afterwards we went to a party and danced all night.

4-How do you pronounce the underlined verbs in the text?

5-What about your city (town)? What is it like?

6-What´s the weather like in your city (town)?

7-Read about the Sohail Castle: http://www.idealspain.com/Pages/Places/Buildings/SohailCastle.htm

8- Now speak about your last weekend, holiday, etc.

Learn regular and irregular verbs

http://www.scribd.com/doc/2360948/verbos-regulares-ter http://www.scribd.com/doc/13064538/Irregular-Verbs