Cooking Paella in an English Teacher's Home. English Immersion Homestay

Many of my students  love to cook their favourite dishes from their country in my English kitchen.

                                             
                      This is Beatriz, cooking her mother's Paella.

The Spanish Recipe

Receta de paella de la mamá de Beatriz                                 

Ingredientes:

    Arroz tipo bomba ( una taza de café por persona)

    1 docena de gambas

    1 docena de almejas

    6  mejillones

    Calamar (1/4 de anillas de calamar)

    Medio pimiento verde

    1 zanahoria

    1 cebolla

    1 diente de ajo

    10 hebras de azafrán (o colorante alimentario)

    Aceite de oliva

    perejil

    Sal

Preparación de la paella:

1. Sofreímos en una sartén con cinco cucharadas de aceite de oliva la cebolla cortada finamante, el pimiento verde y la zanahoria.
2. Cuando esté dorada la cebolla añadimos el calamar, las gambas y los mejillones.
3. Sazonamos y removemos para que se mezcle con las verduras.
4. Añadimos el arroz y las hebras de azafrán. Sofreímos un par de minutos y añadimos un agua (el doble que de arroz) con el perejil y el diente majados. También, añadimos a la mezcla, media pastilla de caldo de pescado.
5. Dejamos cocer a fuego medio unos 15 min.
6. Si ves que tiene mucho caldo, sube el fuego al máximo y déjalo cocer a fuego fuerte un par de minutos para que se evapore un poco el caldo.
7. Retiramos del fuego, y tapamos el arroz con un paño de cocina limpio y un poco humedecido y lo dejamos reposar unos minutos.

The English Recipe

 Beatriz ‘s Mum Paella Recipe

Ingredients

     Arborio rice (one cup  per person)

     12 raw prawns in shells

     12 clams in shells

     6 mussels

     Squid (1/4 of calamari rings)

     1medium green pepper

     1 carrot

     1 onion

     2 cloves garlic

     10 strands of saffron (or saffron dye)

     Olive oil

     parsley, salt

Preparation method

1.     Chop the vegetables (onion, carrot and green pepper) and fry them in a paella or big frying pan with five tablespoons of olive oil.

2.     When onion is lightly browned about 10 minutes, add the squid, prawns and mussels.

3.     Add salt and and stir the seafood with the vegetables.

4.     Add the rice and saffron. Fry a couple of minutes and add water (twice that of rice) mix with parsley and garlic. Also add half a fish stock cube.

5.     Then let it simmer over a medium heat, for 15 minutes.

6.     If it have much broth, turn up the heat to high and let it cook over high heat for a couple of minutes to evaporate some broth.

7.     Remove from heat, cover the rice with a clean slightly damp cloth and let it stand for a few minutes.

           I enjoyed watching Beatriz cooking.

She worked very hard.

Measuring

Chopping

Frying

Stirring

                                                                 

When the paella was ready she took it off the heat and let it rest for a while, under a damp cloth.

All the delicious flavouts from the seafood was absorbed by the rice.

After the paella had rested, Beatriz took it inti the dining room and served it up.

We ate it with a lovely glass of chilled Cava.




CHEERS !!!!









Thank you Beatriz and Beatriz's mum for such a delicious Paella.

On your intensive English immersion course you learn English with an English teacher in her home.

English Lessons in an English Garden ( 1:1 English Course)

Today Beatriz had a English lesson on prepositions.

Many students struggle with all the prepositions we have in the English language. 

English lessons are fun when they are held outside, in the garden, on a sunny day. And its a perfect place to practice using prepositions.

Time Prepositions

At 2 o'clock

At 3.30

At midnight

I start work at 2 o'clock

The swimming pool opens at 3.30

On Sunday (s) / Tuesday (s) etc

On 18 August / 22 December

On Christmas Day / New Years Day etc

I'll see you on Sunday.

On Christmas day we eat turkey.

In  April / June

In 2003 / 1968 etc

In summer / In spring etc

I'm going on holiday in August

Emma was born in 1987

My garden is beautiful in Summer

We say

at the weekend

at night

at Christmas / Easter

at the end of ......

at the moment

I am going to London at the weekend

Beatriz is reading at the moment

We say

In the morning /in the afternoon / in the evening

Do you often feel happy in the morning?

But

On Monday morning / on Tuesday evening /  on Saturday afternoon / on Sunday night

I go swimming on Saturday afternoon.


We do not use at / on / in before

this ( this morning / this week)

last ( last August / last week)

next ( next Tuesday / next week)

every ( every day / every week)

We say 

In five minutes

In a few days

In six weeks

In two years





                                       I hope you have enjoyed my English Country Garden

If you would like to learn English with me in my home, have a 1:1 immersion  English course and improve by a whole level in just 2 weeks with just 20 hours of lessons a week please contact me.

Carol Smith at              http://study-english-one-to-one-in-england.com/

English Lessons at Durdle Door

This is me with my student Beatriz from Madrid. She is here for a two week intensive English immersion course.

Beatriz particularly wanted to visit the South West coast, so what better on a sunny day than to have an  English lesson on the beach at Durdle Door !!

Durdle Door is a natural limestone arch on the Jurrassic Coast near Lulworth in Dorset, England. It is privately owned by the Welds and is part of the Lulworth Estate. It is open to the public. The name Durdle is derived from the Old English 'thirl' meaning bore or drill.

It is quite a steep climb down to the beach and there are no steps!!

The Dorset and East Devon coast is England's first natural world heritage site. It is known as the Jurassic coast and covers 95 miles of truly stunning coastline, from East Devon to Dorset with rocks recording 185 million years of the earth's history.

The arch has formed on a concordant coastline where bands of rock run parallel to the shoreline. The rock strata are almost vertical, and the bands of rock are quite narrow.

What did Beatriz study?

Beatriz is an Intermediate student ( B 1). She has two hours of English lessons every evening during the week, after work in Madrid. She works on learning grammar rules, listening, reading and writing, but no speaking.

Her objectives for her two week intensive course with me is to improve her fluency, widen and use her vocabulary, use stress and intonation correctly and greatly improve her speaking skills.

Our Lesson;

A conversation based lesson to help students use this more advanced phrasing.

Adjectives using numbers

It takes ten minutes on foot to my house.

My house is .....................walk         a   +  number + noun

My house is a twenty minute walk

I have a brother who is 25 years old

I have.....................brother                 a + number + noun

I have a 25 year old brother

Rewrite the sentences using the pattern above:

1. It takes fifteen minutes to walk to the office

2. New York is six hours by plane from Los Angeles

3. Angela is on a business trip for five days

4. I have a cat. It's eighteen years old!

5. I bought a watch. It cost four thousand pounds.

Beatriz ' an amazing day learning English in such a beautiful place.....and the weather.........perfect...............( and only a 40 minute drive from Carol's house !!!!!)'.

Brick Lane London E1 'An Olympic Feast'

A microcosm of London's shifting ethnic patterns, the area around Brick Lane in East London was once associated with poverty, slums, crime and the notorious Jack the Ripper. Whilst the notorious pub Ten Bells still stands, the area itself is now extremely popular with London's edgy and artistic crowd, stacked full of galleries, restaurants, markets and festivals throughout the year.


The best day to visit Brick Lane market is on Sundays, though the shops and restaurants are open every day.

The Market

On Sundays the streets are lined with people hawking their second-hand wares, with some good bargains to be had if you look hard enough.

              A wide array of footwear to cater for every taste !

Or if it's a bicycle you're after - to buy or just to borrow

Brick Lane market is a chaotic, bustling, artistic hub, which attracts a lot of young Londoners in search of second hand furniture, unusual clothes and bric a brac.

Some Army and Navy surplus clothes 

Or a kilt or a Guard's Jacket

Or a crazy pair of sunglasses

Before looking at the colourful clothes

 
  If it's a Russian gas mask you are after,  I know just the man!

 Maybe sit down and play a game of chess

                                                 Whilst you listen to the vibe on the street.

Not really sure what he's smoking,

but it's keeping him pretty chilled!!






Brick Lane is world famous for it's graffiti, which features artists such as Banksy, D*Face and Ben Eine.

Then having looked, haggled and bartered, young Londoners will finish up with an inexpensive Sunday lunch in one of the many ethnic restaurants and cafes, lining the street.

                                                     There is something for everyone!

If any of you know a Buddist monk looking for somewhere to eat, well, there is a stall with his name on it!

I must admit, I did give out quite a few business cards as it was quite clear that English was not the first language of the majority of traders.

A short walk from Brick Lane is Columbia road flower market. If you havent been tempted by the colours and aromas of the food being cooked in front of you, there is always a great lunch to be had at Brawn

So, when planning your London trip, spend a Sunday away from the expensive tourist traps and enjoy a day wandering around Brick Lane and get the feel of being a real Londoner !!