Humanising Language Teaching
Year 5; Issue 6; November 03

Personal Anecdotes from Catalunya

( Maybe these are stories you could use with your students? )

STORY 1

The anecdote I am going to talk about happened to a good friend of mine and although it is quite simple and even silly, we still laugh a lot every time we remember it.

We had been invited to a party and my friend was really expectant and excited as she had a date with a boy she liked a lot, so we went shopping for the “big event”. After looking in many shops, she finally bought a very nice dress and a three quarter length coat.

She hung up the new dress and the coat very carefully and waited till the day of the party to put them on. I went to her house to dress and get ready for the “promising” event. She was looking really smart and nice!.

Time to leave arrived, so we put our coats on and walked to the party. On the way there, my friend was complaining about how uncomfortable the new coat was, she thought that she had put some weight on or that she had made a mistake when she bought it, taking a smaller size. She was insisting so much that I could not stand her any longer, so I offered myself to check the size tag at the back of her coat. Then I went behind her and … started laughing!. The reason why she was so uncomfortable, was that she had forgotten to remove not only the label from the shop (including the price, of course) but also …. THE HANGER !!!. She was so excited that she did not realize it and she put on the new coat with the hanger included!!

STORY 2

One friend and I decided to go to Venice by train (inter-rail). We were 21 years old. We left Barcelona at 20.00h. and later arrived in Cerbère ( border with France) at 23.00, and we had to wait until 00.00 for our train to Rome, and once in that train stop in Genova and from there another train to Milan and Venice.

Ok, all was clear and easy¡¡¡¡ The problem was that once in Cerbère, there was a train to Genève that left at 23.15, so we thought let's take this train so if we fall asleep we will be sure that we finally stop in Genova and not continue to Rome, as we were afraid of continuing to Rome.

The problem was that none of us asked anything and we boarded the train to Genève thinking that Genève in French was Genova. As you can imagine, we travelled to Genève in Switzerland, so when we opened our eyes, we were in Switzerland¡¡¡¡¡¡¡

Thanks god there was a train to Milan from Genève, and all was ok¡¡¡

By the way, we visited the city. After all we had to find the positive side of our mistake, and WHAT A MISTAKE¡¡¡¡¡¡¡

STORY 3

The days after my grandfather died I remember that everybody in my family was so sad, especially my grandmother, as you can imagine.

The afternoon of that day, when everybody was a little calmed down, I went to my grandmother's house to see her, and I saw somebody ringing the bell, and a woman was beside him. Suddenly, he turned and I was scared. He was my grandfather!!! so I started to run and I went back home. A few minutes later my mother came back from shopping, I told her what I saw and I went to my bedroom.

Half and hour later someone rang the bell. He was my Grandfather. I started to cry, and my mother tried to calm me down, and told me what was happening... The question is that nobody told me before that my grandfather had a TWIN brother !!!!

As you can imagine it was something scary. I was a child when my granfather died.

STORY 4

It is a true story. An experience of my friends in a trip. When they were teenagers they traveled to Italy. One night They went out and went to a Pub. They asked for three Coca-Colas. Two girls sat next to them. One girl asked to my friend if they could drink Cava. Indifferently my friend replied afirmatively. The girls asked for a Cava bottle. The waiter opened the bottle and gave the bill to my friends. The bill was of 50.000 pta (€300). My friends were very surprised. They hadn't the money. Three very strong waiters offered themselves to escort my friends to the hotel by car. While one waiter retained one of my friends in the car, the other waiters enter into the hotel. Finally they paid and the waiters freed the other friend.

The waiters had a "very attentive" attitude : they invited my friends to take the last drink in the Pub. But my friends decided not to accept this proposal.

STORY 5

The truth is that I have lived some different anecdotes... well, I am a little bit naive...

First of all, when I was sixteen, I wanted to work in order to have my own money. I was studying and I didn't want to ask for some money to my mother.

So, one day, when I arrived at home, my mother told me that there was an advertisement job in a car dealers near home. It was Christmas and in this shop, there was a Nativity scene.

Well, my mother told me that I had to work (and dress up) like the Virgin. But I thought that nobody would recognise me because I would be disguised.

Then, my mother went out but she didn't think that I would decide to apply for the job.

But finally, as I needed the money, I decided to come into the dealers. Then, I spoke with a man and I explained that I came to apply for the job. But the man answered me: "What job? I think we don't have any job"... And he called another man, but after that, they told me that maybe somebody had ragged me. So my face became red and red and I wanted to die.... And to cap it all, when I returned at home and I explained it to my mother, she laughed at me and I became more furious!!!