Monthly Archives: February 2010

This is real life: a cheeky customer

Thanks to Tatiana Baena , a student at Pre-intermediate level, for her  hilarious speech. We really had a nice laugh listening to you.

One day, in December, I don’t know if it was one or two years ago ,a lady came into the shop. This lady wanted a black coat; she needed the coat because she had a very important party. It was a business dinner.
She wanted a cheap coat because she had a very good, expensive and pretty coat; of course she was talking about her mink coat
Well, while we were talking about the business dinner she went to the changing room and tried the black coat on. She liked it and before paying she warned me if there were any problems she would take it back and I said:” .Of course .No problem” , so she bought the coat and paid cash.
After three or four days, the lady came back with the black coat. She changed it for a black t-shirt and black trousers, we said:” see you, bye, bye”, and I put the coat on the coat stand.
When I was alone, without customers, I put the coat on the clothes rail, and I don´t know why I looked into the pocket of the coat but I found a bus ticket and a 50€ note.
I don’t know how I felt, but the best is coming.

The lady came back again after one hour. I couldn´t believe it! She wanted to try the same coat again because when she arrived home, she thought the coat fitted her very well. I saw her put her hands into the pocket and then  she looked at me with a white or red face and I said with a beautiful smile :”What´s wrong?”. She didn´t tell me anything and she thanked me because I was so kind and she left.
After two months the lady came back and she asked me to forgive her for her behaviour and I returned her the 50€ note, since then she has been back to the shop every month.

Good table manners help dieting

If only I had known first I’d have paid more attention to my mother when she persistently tried to teach me and my siblings good table manners, but when you are a child you can’t see the point of not getting a bit of fun out of flinging crusts of bread, making a mashed potato snowman or getting my brother and sisters’ hair red with tomato sauce (my mother would have never allowed ketchup to enter her kitchen).  

My mother was educated in a nun’s school. It was a time when subjects such as Maths or Languages were not as important as knowing how to knit or embroider. In a way it wasn’t as different as the education received by the female characters depicted in “Jane Eyre” by Charlote Brontë or in “Pride and Prejudice”  by my very much admired Jane Austen.


One of the things my mother was taught was good table manners and since me and my siblings were very young we were insistently reminded of  things such as keeping elbows off the table, eating small bites, sitting straight, placing the napkin on our laps and …. a long etc I’m not going to bore you to death with.
What I didn’t know and have just found out is that good table manners can help you lose weight so as I’m a bit on the plumpish side my mother might not have taught me so well.
That’s why I have paid careful attention to this video where Jill, Duchess of Hamilton, an Australian and an etiquette expert, explains how good table manners can help you lose weight.
Watch the video here and do the activity

If you are interested in this theme, Click here to see a whole lesson plan I have prepared for my pre-intermediate students on Restaurants and Food.

Related Posts:

What’s a “veggie”?

…a pescatarian

Explore

The video you are about to watch is part of  an activity I will be doing with my students one of these days. The videos of Mali and Dubai and all the exercises from the videos have been provided  by my colleague MªJosé (visit her blog here). My only contribution has been to arrange what she so generously provided into a Lesson Plan which you will find here: Lesson Plan

[flashvideo filename=https://www.cristinacabal.com/videos/Mali.flv /]

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Taking Risks: Lesson Plan

Bridget Jones’s New Year’s Resolutions: Lesson Plan

Helping Haiti

Music has played quite an important role in my life  and I ‘m glad it also plays an important role in the rebuilding of Haiti and in giving some relief to its people. It gives me hope for the future to see so many people doing their best to help alleviate the pain and  suffering of those who desperately need help .

♥ A remake of REM’s  “Everybody Hurts” with Leona Lewis, Mariah Carey,  Bon Jovi, Robbie Williams, Kylie, Rod Stewart, , Miley Cyrus, Take That,Mika, Michael Bublé, James Blunt, James Morrison, Susan Boyle and Westlife among others. Lyrics

♥  A remake of the 1985  “We Are The World”. The new version is titled “We Are the World – 25 for Haiti”;Quincy Jones and Lionel Richie have recruited 81 singers among which we can see the Enrique Iglesias, Celine Dion, Carlos Santana, Barbra Streisand, Jeff Bridges; Akon, Usher, Pink , The Jonas Brothers…etc.. The video will be broadcast  during the opening ceremony of the 2010 Winter Olympics.

Lyrics