Sofía takes Charlie and Quique to the mountains just outside Madrid and they meet Sofía's friend, Guillermo, a mountaineer. Teresa tells a story about two rival mountains - 'El Teide' on Tenerife and 'Popocatépetl' in Mexico - and Uncle Manu sings about the seasons. Key vocabulary includes the weather and seasons and key grammar points include making negative sentences.
Clip 13: Cercedilla
Quique, Charlie and Sofía take a train to Cercedilla, a town in the mountains just outside Madrid. There they meet Guillermo, a mountaineer. Charlie finds out that it isn't always sunny in Spain.
Clip duration: 03:52
Clip 14: Cuento - Cartas de las montañas (Story - Letters from the mountains)
Verónica loves looking at maps. Then one day she receives letters from two mountains: 'El Teide' on Tenerife in the Canary Islands, and 'Popocatépetl' in Mexico. The mountains tell her their stories.
Clip duration: 04:21
Clip 15: En la cafetería (In the café)
Quique, Sofía and Charlie are sheltering from the rain in a café: the perfect opportunity for Charlie to get to grips with some Spanish phrases to describe the weather. Charlie hears the phrase 'se puede' for the first time.
Clip duration: 03:26
Clip 16: Canción - ¡Qué bonita es la Tierra! (Song - How pretty Earth is!)
A Martian observes the Earth from afar and says how lucky Earthlings are to have the changing seasons - while he sits shivering, with freezing feet, on Mars.
Clip duration: 03:18
Teacher's Notes and transcript/translation
Download the Teacher's Notes (pdf) document
Further information and guidance on using the content.
Supporting images
The weather. image
Describing the weather in Spanish
Compass. image
The points of the compass in Spanish
Themes, vocabulary and grammar
Key vocabulary 1
Las estaciones (The seasons)
primavera (f) (Spring)
verano (m) (Summer)
otoño (m) (Autumn)
invierno (m) (Winter)
siempre (always)
normalmente (normally)
Key vocabulary 2
alpinista (m/f) (mountain climber)
bosque (m) (wood, forest)
esquí (m) / esquiar (skiing / to ski)
está (it is (located))
fuerte (strong)
hacer alpinismo (to go mountain climbing)
montaña (f) / montañero (m) (mountain / mountaineer)
Themes, vocabulary and grammar
Themes and vocabulary
- Seasons
- Weather - eg 'hace frío' ('it's cold') and 'hace calor' ('it's hot')
- Points of the compass - 'norte' (north), 'este' (east), 'sur' (south), 'oeste' (west)
Grammar and pronunciation
- Frequency phrases
- Negatives
- Pronunciation of ll (llueve / llamas)
- Spanish climate
More from this series
3: Al zoo (At the zoo)
Key vocabulary includes animals and colours and grammar includes the gender of nouns and adjectival agreement.
5: Soy un genio (I am a genius)
Key vocabulary includes giving directions and key grammar includes adjectival agreement and word order.
6: ¡Masterchef! (Masterchef!)
Key vocabulary focuses on food and shopping and using the construction 'me gustaría' ('I like').
