When you are learning a language at the Modern Language School, you find out more and more about the country’s culture and traditions. A delicious way of discovering these is to sample the savours of the country and even have a go at cooking some specialities yourself. At the Modern Language School, we have been running some pleasurable cookery events of which the Italian evenings seem the most popular – there is an Italian cookery event planned for Friday the 7^th of October – but just don’t wait for our special dates and try your hand at our selection of recipes from Japan, Italy, Spain, Germany, Portugal and France.

Easy Paella

There is a common misconception that making this traditional Spanish dish has to be difficult and time consuming. But with this easy recipe you can bring the taste of Spain to your family teas or dinner parties in a cool 30 minutes. Paella is a dish with a long history, with its name deriving from the Latin word for ‘pan’, and has been the trademark dish of Spain for many centuries. Spanish variations of the recipe can contain chicken and rabbit, however in this version we will be using seafood and chorizo.

Ingredients

1 tbsp olive oil

1 leek or onion, sliced

110g pack chorizo sausage, chopped

1 tsp turmeric

300g long grain rice

1l hot fish or chicken stock

200g frozen pea

400g frozen seafood mix, defrosted

Prep: 5 mins

Cook: 25 mins

Method

1. Heat the oil in a deep frying pan, then soften the leek for 5 mins without browning. Add the chorizo and fry until it releases its oils. Stir in the turmeric and rice until coated by the oils, then pour in the stock. Bring to the boil, then simmer for 15 mins, and stir occasionally.

2. Pour in the peas and cook for 5 mins, then stir in the seafood to heat through for a final 1-2 mins cooking or until rice is cooked.

3. Taste for seasoning and serve immediately with lemon wedges. It really is that easy!

http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/4021/easiest-ever-paella

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I have been thinking of ways to help my students in my Spanish lessons at The Modern Language School learn more vocabulary. By learning these cognates (words from two different languages that are the same or similar) you will be able to instantly learn thousands of words in Spanish very easily! Over the next few weeks, I will show you some different groups of cogates to help you learn more and more new Spanish words.

Spanish Cognate Group 1

Words that end in –ous in English change to –oso in Spanish.

Spanish words that end in -oso tend to be adjectives. In English we can often change a noun into its corresponding adjective by adding -ous e.g advantage/advantageous, harmony/harmonious, space/spacious. You can often also do this in Spanish with -oso e.g peligro (danger)/peligroso (dangerous), lujo (luxury)/lujoso (luxurious).

Examples

Group 2 will follow shortly!

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Buenas tardes. Creo que he comido algo en mal estado.
Good afternoon. I think I’ve eaten something that was off.

¿Cuáles son los síntomas?
What are the symptoms?

Tengo náuseas, dolor de estómago, y me ha salido un sarpullido.
I’ve got nausea, a stomach ache and I’ve come out in a rash.

Desde luego, parece una intoxicación alimentaria.
It definitely sounds like food poisoning.

¿Y tiene algún remedio?
Have you got something for it?

Tome estas pastillas, y si mañana no se encuentra mejor, vaya al médico.
Take these tablets, and if you don’t feel better tomorrow, go to the doctor.

Symptoms

me encuentro mal I don’t feel good
estoy enfermo I’m ill
me duele … my … hurts
me duele la cabeza I’ve a headache
el dolor pain
el sarpullido rash
el escozor stinging
el picor irritation
la irritación, la inflamación inflammation
el resfriado cold
estoy resfriado I have a cold
estoy constipado I’m bunged up (with a cold)
la tos cough
toser to cough
vomitar to vomit
desmayar to faint
la gripe flu
la fiebre fever
el esguince sprain
el calambre cramp
el corte cut
la fractura, la rotura fracture, break
me he cortado I’ve cut myself
me he roto … I’ve broken my …

Parts of the body

la cabeza head
el ojo eye
el cuello neck
la garganta throat
la espalda back
el brazo arm
la mano hand
la pierna leg
el dedo finger, toe
el estómago stomach
la barriga tummy, belly
el pulmón lung

Treatments

la pastilla pill
el comprimido tablet
la medicina medicine
la pomada ointment, cream
el jarabe syrup
el antibiótico antibiotic
el antihistamínico antihistamine
el antiinflamatorio anti-inflammatory
el inhalador inhaler
el colirio eyedrops
el paracetamol paracetamol

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