Student Profiles

María José

Married, one only child

Civil servant for the European Commission since 1989

English courses attended

·         Upper intermediatye 4A at Bristish Council, 2011

·         Upper Intermediate 4B at Bristish Ccouncil, 2012

Goals to be reached in 2012-2013

Improve my knowledge of English . I need to speak English in my work life. Our two working language are French and English now, but  I need develop my skills in spoken English because French is being  replaced by English.

Interests

I like reading books, go to the movies and listen to music. My preferences are classic rock and pop rock.

I do yoga two days a week.

Laura Natali

Where you have studied English: at school, at academy, while traveling, at home with a teacher
What your Hobbies are: I like running and any extreme sport like climbing
What inspires you: Hope and the way of thinking of each person
Something that is unique about you: "You need to fight and strongly believe in what you do, if you want to reach your goals"

Begoña

My name is Begoña. English people usually call me Begonia, like the flower. But the name Begoña is nothing to see with the flower. It’s a name from the Basque Country and means something like “place in a dominant hill”. When I was younger I didn’t like my name a lot, but now I found it has some character.

From Monday to Friday I work as a civil servant for an International Institution. I like the work I do, even if I have been doing it for long. It is in financial field. Mainly in accounting and award procedures for public contracts.

8 years ago I could reached one of my life dreams : my first son was born, and two years later my second son. Today they are the best in my life, even if they give me a lot of work to do. I have so fun with them. I really love to see how they grow up and learn.

As I am very busy with work and family, I don’t have much time for hobbies. Anyway I like reading, listening to music and playing sports. Now, I am going to start some paddle-tennis classes. I also ride bike as frequent as I can. Besides I love culture world : cinema, theatre, photography and art in general.

But in my opinion the best in life is travelling around de world. I dream to visit Italia, Paris, NY, Argentina, China, and Tanzania with my kids and good friends.

Elena
What you do…
I´m studying History of Art at Universidad Complutense. I love especially ancient civilizations and contemporary art.


Where you have studied English?
I began to study English when I was at school with nine years old and after that I continued in highschool. There I have good and bad English´s teachers. Some of them didn´t know very well how to teach and made a usuful class (there usually were too boring!), so when I went to university I decided to go to CSIM, a kind of academy who is associate with Universidad Complutense. I made only two courses. The first one was really great, everything was perfect: teacher, classmates, books… and I learned a lot, but the second one was just horrible. I didn´t get his way of teaching class and everyday was a huge mess. So this summer I was looking for a better place to start and finally I get here hoping to learn as much as I can and trying to do my best!!


What your Hobbies are?
One of my favourites hobbies is going to modern art exhibitions like the ones that usually are in Mapfre Foundation or in Thyssen´s Museum. They are just amazing like the last one about Hopper´s American paintings. When I´m there, I enjoy listening people´s comments, especially old people who most of them don´t understand very well what they are watching and it could be really funny. But if I have to choose my great passion, without any doubt, it would be cinema. Yes, it´s my weakness. I love all kind of movies: drama, comedy and of course thriller, like the ones who makes David Fincher.


What inspires you?
Like it is said in American Beauty: “It’s hard to stay mad when there is so much beauty in the world”: beautiful landscapes, the sea, art, family, everything can inspire me, but sometimes what it is really hard is trying to focus on the good things that we have around us and forget the bad ones.


Something that is unique about you…
Well, maybe my skills for cooking. When I have time I like to create differents courses and I shouldn’t say that but I’m really good at desserts. My chocolate cake and my lemon sponge cake are famous at home. They are just delicious!

Iñigo R.
I have studied English in many academies during a long time when i was a child, but my favorite experience with the English was when i went to USA to live some months.
I stayed just for 6 months, but I learned too fast (more than I could imagine). when I arrived to Atlanta´s airport I had no idea of English and less about the pronunciation of this place. In the next two weeks, I could speak more or less normal with the native people without too much problems. the worst thing was the vocabulary because I needed to explain the word than I didn´t know and too many times I lost the thread of conversation.

My hobbies are more or less like the regular people. It´s mean, i like listen music, read a good book, go parties and disco and play soccer with my friends in the amateur league of my neighborhood. I think the thing that makes me diferent of the regular people is than I play a lot of diferents sports like hockey or skate.
Another of my hobbies is the speed. I use to drive a kart or a motorcycle regularly, one time at month more or less, because I need to burn some adrenaline in a safety place and no in the road.

The thing that inspire me are the melodic music like chill out or other kinds of relaxing techno music. I use this music for studying and doing the homeworks because it makes me feel motivated. For relax me I love lose me in the montain for a couple of days with good company. I think than is the best way to get away of the city and from the routine and so to get a new prespective of the things.


David
Civil engineer looking for some new projects.
I started studying English at school when I was a child, since I was six years old to eighteen years old. Then at the university we had two courses of English, but, basically, it consisted only in technical vocabulary. Later, in my first job I used to attend European meetings and worked with Europeans standards, so I improved a lot my English. Unfortunately, in my last job, last six years, I only had to speak in Spanish so my English level failed. I am looking for recover my old level and, if I can, to get a better one.

Hobbies? I used to play football with my friends (I played on the school team and with my friends in the university competition) and I also used to go to the movies, but since I had my children hobbies took a second or third place in my life. Now the children has grown up and I´m recovering some of that habits. I have changed thrillers and adventures movies for animation and cartoon movies. And football matches for popular races. But this year my oldest son plays on a football team and also he likes to run, so I´m sharing with him football trainings and matches and some popular races. It´s fantastic!

What motivates me most is to have a goal to reach. It can be professional or personal goals. It´s a challenge to accomplish all the tasks and to do it better than the time before. I like to learn something new every day and I also like to improve every day.
I like to face life and try to get the positive aspects that it has. If I find negative aspects I try to turn it into a positive one. Everything has something good inside it, you have just to discover it. I don´t know if this makes me unique, but it makes me happy.

Jose D.
What you do: Now I am looking for a job.
Where you have studied English: I studied English in my school, in a academy.
What your Hobbies are: My hobbies are going cinema, reading books and comics, playing video games.
What inspires you: A good song inspires me, my family also inspire me
Something that is unique about you: Despite being a men I can do a lot of thing at the same time 

IÑIGO A.
Life:    I’ve studied  Telecomunication Engeneere in University of Alcalá de Henares(Madrid).
Actually I´m working in Atificial Intelligence and electronics payments proyects, once a month teach Leadership and managing skins in a master at Economics School in Alcalá University. Also served as consultant  to the NGO World in Harmony. (worldinharmony.org) directed by the Queen Sofia.
Everyday I¨m waking up with three wonderfull daughters(eight years older, two years and three months the baby) ;sometime i wonder why i didn´t start to have children before.
English:    The first contact with the english World was in high school,alter i¨ve been improving  in a Business meeting Only, and the last january i had decided to change all by the way,and i started to learn in International House Academy then i began intrnsive conversation course in september  here in Institute International (With Juan Irigoyen- teacher¨s class next door-).
Hobbies:         My free time always is getting a mix:Social lunch and playing guitar with my old university collages.
Twice a year i ¨ve  been travelling around the World  for Business or tourism .i already know the five continents and I¨ve visiting 53 countries, i would like to get knowing every  culture in the planet.
Perhaps at the end i will be working at  U.N. (O.N.U.). (if the train  stop in front of me I'll be ready to take over.)
What's inspire you?: My favourite quotations:
“In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing, the next best thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing”
“It is not the critic who counts, not the one who points out how the strong man stumbled or how the doer of deeds might have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred with sweat and dust and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause; who, if he wins, knows the triumph of high achievement; and who, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory or defeat.”         (Theodore Roosevelt.)

Álvaro Yáñez

I’m 23 years old and I’m studying Physical Education and Sports in the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid.

I began to study English when I had 8 in my school. Probably the method didn’t have the best but I got a base to learn this language. I kept studying English until I started high school. I decided then that I didn’t have high level of English and I started to go to an academy with a personal teacher.

I realized later two intensive courses in The British Council and when I started my degree in the University I started to learn English in the International Institute, this will be my fourth year.

In my free time I do a lot of sport. I practice handball, football, skiing, climbing, bodyboard… I had a lot of injuries in my body but I can’t stop practice this sports, I love it.

Also I like listening to music and go to a concert. Go to the cinema and have dinner out. Of course, I love traveling. I only travel a across Europe and I want to travel to America an Japan.

This is a little of me and my life, if you want we take a coffee and talk. See you.