Dull and Boring, often said about my classes!

Kids often ask me what dull means, so when I saw this article I thought it might be a way to remember the meaning.

Useful phrases:
to pair: to become a couple in this case a couple of towns.  We also use the word to twin, a twin town.
quirky roadsigns: odd, unusual
profess to be: claim to be
keen to: really want to do something,  eager to do something
cash in on: a phrasal verb meaning to make money or receive some kind of benefit from a situation
stop someone in their tracks: to make someone stop immediately drawing their attention towards something.
brainchild (this word comes up in Laser do you remember?): invento, idea genial, idea original

But what does dull mean?  Here is a simple listening link.
Do you know the English word "dull"?  Dull is the opposite of "bright".  Often means "uninteresting".  We can talk about dull weather, which means cloudy weather. We can talk about......

"This was how it used to be in the old days before money was involved."

As it might be imminent that Greece comes out of the Euro, watch this short video about how these poor people are struggling to cope.

Useful language

from X to Y, from handicrafts to food

handicrafts:  artesanía

a bartering system: A system of swapping items without money

a grassroots initiative: an idea that came from the ordinary people.  This would be good to use in Advanced.

to spawn: It has spawned other bartering systems around the country. To cause the system to spread, to multiply. In this context (impulsar)

soaring unemployment: rising

reenergize: to give more energy to something

a glimmer of hope: a tiny shining light of hope

A face with two ages

As summer approaches here is a cautionary article about the effects of the sun.

Useful vocabulary:

sagging: loose, not tight (caída, que no está tersa)

taut: tight not loose (tenso)

unblemished: not marked or distorted (puro, impecable)
sought: the past of seek, to look for
to raise awareness: to let people know what is going on.
sales rep: sales representative, someone whose job is to sell company products
regard something as being (ING): They don´t regard their job as being an outdoor job.
perceive something to be (INFINITIVE): They don´t perceive their job to be an outdoor job.
to trigger: to set something in motion, to start it moving
smoking-induced wrinkles: a nice compound adjective which shortens the phrase - wrinkles which have been produced by smoking.