Lamine Yamal, 16 and the youngest player to start for the Spanish men’s national team, is currently turning heads in Germany with 3 assists so far in the Euros. On the opposite flank, Nico Williams is also attracting a lot of interest with his dynamism and directness. Both are key to Spain progressing to the semi-finals and both share a lot in common.

👋Welcome to Boletín, an English-language newsletter covering historical, cultural and topical stories related to the A Level Spanish course. This week:

1. Edition 128 of Boletín (download the student worksheet here).

2. Lamine Yamal and Nico Williams.

3. The reviews are in for my new book.

4. Tier 2 & 3 vocabulary.

🙏 Subscribe to make sure future editions arrive straight to your inbox. If you enjoy this week’s edition, then please give it a like or a share!

📌Edition 128.

I’ve just got back from Normandy (left Thursday at 3am and got back Sunday morning at 1am). This whole issue, drawings and everything has been completed in record time - about three/four hours.

I’ve known for a month or so that I wanted to cover either Lamine Yamal or Nico Williams but the only thing holding it up was finding a nice image of either of them which I could draw. In Normandy I thought it would be nice to edit together the both of them in side profile, back to back. Today I got to work, with the help of my wife (senior graphic designer, in her own words).

⚽ Breaking down barriers with Yamal and Williams

If you’re a long-term reader, you’ll know that I love to cover football players. If you check the modelos a seguir tab across the top of the website you’ll see many covered in previous editions (Hakimi, Vini jr, Bellerín). Via football so many topics and issues can be covered.

So, the euros are in full swing. Spain have been amongst the standout favourites so far with their attractive brand of football catching the eye whilst many of the other so-called big teams are struggling to get out of first gear. Spain play France in a semi-final on Tuesday, it’s going to be massive.

Key to Spain’s performances so far are two figures who are both making big names for themselves on the world stage. One is Lamine Yamal, 16 years of age and the youngest player to start for Spain in history (also the youngest to score in La Liga). He’s a prodigal talent, winning the hearts of Spanish fans, who has already racked up 3 assists in Euro 2024. When he cuts in on his left foot you can bet something is about to happen. Yamal is yet another product of Barcelona’s famous La Masia football academy, notable others include: Messi, Xavi, Iniesta, Busquets, Fàbregas and lots more.

The second player ripping it up at the euros is Athletic Bilbao’s Nico Williams, 21 years of age and younger brother of Iñaki Williams, who plays for the same team. Nico has captured the interest of many top teams around Europe with his dynamism off the left-wing. There’s something endearing about these two players. They’re confident, creative and captivating.

I released a book last week!

At a time where football players are racially abused almost week in week out in the league (see edition 114) these two players, who represent a new generation of players born to immigrant parents, are breaking down barriers and giving Spanish people hope for the future.

📢 A word from our sponsor

Just kidding, nobody sponsors Boletín (but if you’re interested, drop me a message!).

If you like what I’ve been doing with Boletín for the last four years or like me, you like buying language books then consider checking out the book I released last week. It’s called Spanish grammar workbook: An ambitious, jam-packed introduction to Spanish grammar for complete beginners, intermediate learners and GCSE students. The reviews are currently coming in and I’m delighted with them!

Read the reviews!

✒️The three texts.

Dos amigos.1

Recién graduado de la ESO y pocas horas antes de disputar los cuartos de final de la Eurocopa siendo el principal referente ofensivo de la selección española. El sueño de muchos es la realidad de Lamine Yamal. Quien acompaña al jugador de es Nico Williams. Un catalán y un vasco. Lo que podría ser el inicio de un chiste es la nacionalidad de los jugadores más desequilibrantes del torneo. Uno del Barça y el otro del Athletic Club de Bilbao. La relación entre los dos, entre bailes, tiktoks, regates y bromas, sólo hace que ir al alza. Inseparables dentro y fuera del terreno de juego, son carne y uña.

Nico Williams.2

Nico Williams nació en Pamplona el 12 de julio de 2002. Por tanto, en la actualidad tiene 21 años, aunque pronto alcanzará los 22. Su lugar de nacimiento se da debido al trabajo de sus padres y su localización en ese momento, si bien desde que es un niño e ingresó en las categorías inferiores del Athletic Club, la familia del internacional español se mudó a Bilbao. El origen de la familia de Nico es de Ghana, país donde nacieron sus padres. Ellos cruzaron desde el país africano hasta Melilla, en condiciones extremas, y ahí cruzaron la valla para empezar una nueva vida en España, donde nacieron Iñaki (su hermano) y Nico.

Lamine Yamal.3

Lamine es un chaval de barrio obrero, un niño criado en Rocafonda que ha mamado el fútbol de la calle. Tanto es así que con cada gol que mete, hace con las manos el número 304, el codigo postal del lugar en el que se ha criado, un barrio marcado por la gran inmigración que recibió hace varias décadas y en que todavía vive su familia. Su padre, Mounir Nasraoui, es marroquí y en su honor lleva la bandera del país vecino en las botas. Su madre, Sheila Ebana, es de Guinea Ecuatorial. De esa mezcla ha salido un jugador con una técnica impoluta solo al alcance de los genios y una visión de juego privilegiada.

🗝️Tier 2/3 vocabulary.

• El sueño (nms) - dream

• La selección española (nfs) - the Spanish national team

• Acompañar (vb) - to accompany

• Desequilibrante (adj) - impactful (in a football sense)

• La amistad (nfs) - friendship

• Un regate (nms) - a dribble, side-step, feint or swerve

• Ir al alza (vb) - to be on the way up

• Ser uña y carne (idiom) - to be inseparable, to be joined at the hip

• La alegría (nfs) - joy, cheerfulness

• La valla (nfs) - fence

• Impoluto (adj) - spotless, flawless

• Un chaval (nms) - a kid

• En la actualidad - at present, currently

• Al alcance - at the reach of

• Alcanzar (vb) - to reach

• Nacer (vb) - to be born

• Mudarse (vb) - to move

• Criarse (vb) - to grow (up)

• Mamar (vb) - to take up, absorb, breastfeed, bring up on + various others

• Cruzar (vb) - to cross

  ---

🔎Grammar search

Once you’ve downloaded the student worksheet, can you find examples of the following grammar elements within the texts?

1. De + el contracting to del

2. Short-form possessive adjectives (my, your, his, her, their)

3. Any verb in the present tense

4. Masculine nouns

5. Conjunctions

6. The future simple tense

7. The preterite tense

8. The present perfect tense

🗞️Student friendly newsletter print out.

Boletín 128 By Olliemfl

544KB ∙ PDF file

Download

Download

Thanks for reading,

Ollie

❤️

In this week’s Boletín you’ll read about young people’s mental health and social media, Rafa Nadal and the Spanish trend of living at home until you’re 30. There’s also an update on an upcoming print run and a section on subjunctive obligation structures.

👋Welcome to Boletín, an English-language newsletter covering historical, cultural and topical stories related to the A Level Spanish course. These newsletters accompany a student worksheet which can be downloaded here. This week:

1. Edition 113 of Boletín.

2. Tier 2 & 3 vocabulary, grammar search for students and A Level structures.

3. Boletín print run (for paid subscribers).

🙏🏻If you haven’t already then subscribe to make sure future editions arrive straight to your inbox. If you enjoy this week’s edition then please give it a like or a share!

📌Edition 113.

The exam series is now in full swing. My year 12s have finished the AS course and my year 13s have another 4-weeks left. My son is now 10 months old. Where has this academic year gone? Looking ahead there are a few Boletín related jobs on my to-do list:

1. Update the index of topics and exam style questions.

2. Categorise editions by overarching A Level themes for easier revision.

3. Upload the back catalogue to the site under new section tabs (pic below related).

Boletín #113 is not themed like the last three (Galicia, Giles Tremlett and Guernica) but it does bring together three topical articles like you’re used to.

The first text this week is about Rafa Nadal, a Spanish tennis player and icon who is widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time (alongside Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic). His remarkable career spanning twenty plus years is approaching its twilight during which he has won 22 majors! His retirement is scheduled for next year.

Rafa is known off the court for his philanthropic efforts which makes him an ideal role model to spotlight this week. He established the Rafa Nadal Foundation in 2008, which aims to provide opportunities for socially disadvantaged children and young people.

The second text is about la salud mental and the third is about la emancipación tarde.

✒️The three texts.

La salud mental de los jóvenes1

Las redes sociales han dejado de ser una novedad para convertirse en parte de nuestra rutina. Nos permiten conocer a otras personas, descubrir nuevos lugares y mantenernos conectados con el mundo, pero además de los aspectos positivos, hay otros negativos que afectan a la salud mental del usario. En muchas ocasiones, el uso de las redes sociales hace que comparemos nuestra vida y nuestros logros con los de otras personas lo que provoca sentimientos de baja autoestima y autoimagen. Destaca también la posible aparición de problemas para conciliar el sueño.

Rafa Nadal2

Rafa Nadal es tímido, disciplinado, humilde y respetuoso. Fue en 1989 cuando cogió una raqueta por primera vez y con 8 años fue campeón de Baleares, y de España a los 11 y 12. Desde entonces, no ha parado de acumular victorias. Además de todos los valores que representa, Rafael Nadal es un ejemplo como persona, deportista y líder social que pocas veces veremos. Los españoles lo consideran «un modelo a seguir». Existen pocos personajes que reúnan las características de Nadal. Es una persona que cae bien y es admirado casi por el total de la población ha explicado Santiago, director general de Personality Media.

La emancipación tarde de los jóvenes españoles3

Los jóvenes españoles se emancipan a los 29,8 años de media, casi tres años y medio después que los europeos, y el 46 % de los que tienen entre 25 y 34 años todavía viven con sus padres,. Esta variable, que descendió progresivamente a principios de siglo, comenzó una tendencia creciente tras el inicio de la crisis económica en 2008. “Esto muestra la situación tan precaria que enfrentan las nuevas generaciones y las dificultades para parte de la población, habitualmente la más vulnerable, no pueda desarrollar sus proyectos y futuros de vida como deseen” dice el director de Ayuda en Acción, Fernando Mudarra.

🗝️Tier 2/3 vocabulary.

• Una novedad (nfs) - a novelty.

• Un logro (nms) - an achievement.

• Conciliar el sueño - to get to sleep.

• Para de hacer algo - to stop doing something.

• Caer bien - to get on well with people.

• Emanciparse - to leave home/become independent.

• Una tendencia (nfs) - a trend.

🔍Grammar to look out for.

1. Connectives.

2. The present subjunctive.

3. Adjectives.

4. The preterite tense.

5. The present perfect.

6. Direct object pronouns.

7. Reflexive verbs.

8. Superlatives.

🧠A Level structures.

A structure to explore this week is the present continuous with the obligation trigger hacer que. You will know what an obligation trigger is because when they’re used someone is made to do something or act/think in a certain way.

An easy way to use an obligation trigger might be:

Es + expression of obligation in adjective form + que + present subjunctive.

Es importante que repasen sus apuntes (it’s important that they revise).

Es preciso que leas el libro (it’s necessary that you read the book).

Es aconsejable que digas la verdad (it’s advisable that you tell the truth).

A more advanced form of an obligation trigger requires the use of an obligation verb, some of these include:

Mandar que - to order that (somebody does something).

Sugerir que - to suggest that (somebody does something).

Pedir que - to ask that (somebody does something).

Prohibir que - to prohibit that (somebody does something).

Recomendar que - to recommend that (somebody does something).

Rogar que - to beg that (somebody does something).

Aconsejar que - to advise that (somebody does something).

All that is required is that you conjugate the verb in bold so that it agrees with the verb subject. Importantly the next conjugated verb must be in the present subjunctive.

Bernarda manda que sus hijas lleven ropa negra (Bernarda demands that her daughters wear black).

Bernarda prohibe que sus hijas salgan de la casa (Bernarda prohibits that her daughters leave the house)

La Poncia aconseja que preste atención a lo que pasa (La Poncia advises that she pays attention to what is happening).

🗞️Boletín print run.

Long-term followers of Boletín may remember that I did a print run of the first edition a few years ago. It was a real achievement to see a physical copy of Boletín in so many schools and it was great to be able to give my A Level class a high-quality booklet of further reading and homework.

Video from first print run!

The good news is that I will be back to the printers this year armed with two editions of Boletín and another new cover (which I’m currently working on)!

1. Volume 1 (editions 1-60).

2. Volume 2 (editions 61-112).

However, due to the time it took to manage the first print run (advertising, packing, processing payments, ordering, collecting, posting) I will only be taking orders for printed editions from paid subscribers. If you’re currently a paid subscriber then I will be sending out an email in the next few weeks to gauge interest before I go to the printers.

As a paid subscriber, in addition to accessing the print run, you’ll also benefit from:

1. High-quality digital downloads of the covers from print run 1, 2 and 3 so you can create your own extra booklets at school.

2. An index of topics and exam style questions from editions 1-100.

3. The latest Boletín student worksheet sent to your inbox to save the bulk TES downloads clogging up your downloads folder.

4. PDF versions of volume 1 and 2 for printing on demand.

Download edition 113 here.

Ollie

❤️

Before shaking hands with her esteemed opponent in la Moncloa, Prime Minister of Spain Pedro Sánchez, Iranian Woman Grandmaster Sara Khadem had made the headlines worldwide for not wearing a headscarf during a competition. She is now exiled in Spain.

Hello once again,

In this week’s newsletter:

1. Edition 107 of Boletín (grammar search and tier 2/3 vocabulary).

2. Boletín extras.

Edition 107

The 8th March is International Womens’ Day and this has inspired the text selection this week in edition 107 of Boletín. Text one is about Woman Grandmaster and International Master Sara Khadem, text two is about the role of women during the dictatorship (adapted from a larger text on how the role of Women in Spain has changed in the last 50 years) and text three is a little primer on el Día Internacional de la Mujer.

Tier 2/3 vocabuary

Ajedrecista - chess player

El velo - veil, covering or headscarf

Acusar - to accuse

Asesinar - to kill

Dar la vuelta al mundo - to go or travel around the World

Dar la bienvenida - to welcome

Llevar a cabo - to do, perform or carry out

Tutela - guardianship

Renacer - to revive, come back

Un logro - an achievement

Remontarse - to go back to (time)

Exigir - to demand

En la actualidad - at present, currently

Grammar search

• Qualifiers

• Preterite tense

• Imperfect tense

• Present tense

• The gerund (an -ing verb)

• Relative pronoun que

• The passive voice

• The passive voice avoided with an se structure

• Direct Object Pronouns

Grammar search

Boletín extras are available. The most useful of which is an updated index of topics from 1-100 including an index of exam style questions for targeted interventions based on mocks.

Feel free to download below a printable copy of the above tier 2/3 vocabulary and grammar search as an addiotional Boletín classroom or homework task.

Boletín 107 Printable Tiered Vocabulary And Grammar Search

185KB ∙ PDF file

Download

Download

Download edition 107 here.

Ollie

❤️

The penalty which Hakimi is about to score will knock Spain out of the World Cup, lead Morocco to a 4th place finish and win the hearts of most neutrals along the way.

👋Welcome to Boletín, an English-language newsletter covering historical, cultural and topical stories related to the A Level Spanish course. These newsletters accompany a student worksheet which can be downloaded here.

📌Edition 101

Apologies if you're not into your football but after the unexpected Morocco victory against Spain this edition wrote itself with so many topics at play. La influencia de los ídolos, la convivencia y la inmigración.

I did say last week I had 101 already made and that it was about famous Spanish landmarks but that will now be released next week.

Text one about la familia Hakimi is a mix of two sources here and here.

Text two about Morocco was written by myself.

Text three about racist/islamophobic comments online is also by myself.

Walid Regragui, the manager of Morocco, had been getting some stick. Off the back of a record-breaking CAF Champions League campaign with Wydad AC (most goals scored in a single season, most wins for a Moroccan team and first Moroccan team to go undefeated for 9 straight games) he accepted the Morocccan national team job.

The inclusion of so many non-Morroccan born players in the national team had recieved a lot of criticism. Walid hoped his decision would be vindicated.

24 year-old Achraf Hakimi is one of those foreign-born players and his is an incredible success story.

Achraf Hakimi is a Madrid-born right-back who currently plays for PSG alongside Messi, Mbappé, Neymar and Sergio Ramos (controversially left out of the Spanish World Cup selection). Hakimi recieved his football education in the Real Madrid youth system before being promoted to the first team and debuting for los blancos in 2016.

Despite having been born in Madrid, Hakimi opted to represent Morocco's national team. He could do this because both his parents are Moroccan.

He is a practising Muslim who speaks Arabic at home and enjoyed his mothers’s Moroccan inspired cooking growing up. As a youngster he nearly selected Spain as his national team but admitted to not feeling at home when looking around their facilities.

Morrocan Spanish relations are politically, historically and socially fraught.

During my year living in Spain I would often hear racist remarks directed towards Moroccans.

Spain vs Morroco then in the Round of 16 promised to be more than a football game. The two teams had met three times before drawing 2-2 in 2018 with Spain winning twice in 1961.

On 6th December Morocco were vying to become only the fourth African team in history to reach the Quarter Finals of the World Cup. Spain knew that they had to win. Defeat was out of the question.

The fourth game ended 0-0 after extra time. Penalties it was.

First up is Sarabia hits the post (the only reason he was substituted on was to take a penalty) and the next two Spanish penalties are saved by the Canada-born Bono. Spain have missed their first three penalties and are on the verge of elimination.

Achraf Hakimi now walks to the spot.

If he scores then Morocco progress and he sends home the team whose country's capital he was born in and whose former captain, Sergio Ramos, he plays club football with week in week out.

With ice in his veins, not succumbing to the pressure, Hakimi places the ball on the spot and glances breifly at Unai Simón between the sticks.

Hakimi takes a run up and delivers the most audacious of penalties you can imagine. A panenka. Spain are out. Morocco go through and then beat Portugal in the quarter finals to become the first African team to reach a World Cup semi-final. Hakimi and his team have now sent home Spain and have ended Ronaldo’s quest for a World Cup trophy.

What was first thought of as a celebration to rub salt in Spanish wounds after scoring, the penquin dance, turned out to be a homage to Sergio Ramos who Hakimi deeply respects.

Subscribe now

🔍Grammar to look out for

• Preterite tense regular verbs

• Preterite tense irregular verbs

• The imperfect tense

• The present perfect (he/has/ha/hemos/han/habeis + past participle)

• The past perfect (había + past participle)

• Avoiding the passive with an se structure

• Apocopated adjectives

• The personal a (when a direct object is a person or a pet)

• The gerund (ing verbs)

🧠A level structures

In this edition one of the most common A Level verbs crops up. That verb is convertirse which means to become.

To conjugate this verb you start with the correct pronoun from me, te, se, nos, os, se and then you conjugae the verb convertir (careful as it is irregular).

Look out for it in the third text and notice how it is conjugated in the past tense in the they form to agree with the subject of las palabras.

Download edition 101 here.

Substack is the new home of Boletín!

Bookmark the new home page which is here, leave a comment or like on any articles you enjoy.

Thanks as every for the support!

Ollie

What does this have to do with Spanish?

Enter María Lorena Ramírez. A young Mexican running superstar and native of the Rarámuri tribe that was immortalised in the book Born to Run.

Ramírez is an enigma. She shies away from the limelight, seems to prefer the company of her family in her rural home to the potential millions of online followers, wears traditional dress during races and hasn’t succumbed to the ego which might come with the level of fame she has achieved.

The Netflix documentary Light Footed Woman or in Spanish Lorena, la de pies ligeros is a captivating watch by the way. She’s an incredible modelo a seguir.

To have Lorena, as she is more widely known, on board as a brand ambassador would be a massive swoop for any sports company.

That said, I’m sure the New Balance marketing team had their fingers crossed when sending a box of new trainers out to her. It wasn’t to be though as Lorena opens the package and looks at the trainers saying:

“I don’t think I’ll use them. The people who do are always running behind me”.

So, what does she wear instead?

Answer: Not the carbon plated, Zoom X foamed super shoe worn by Eliud Kipchoge but a modest leather sandal.

Edition 99 includes texts about Lorena Ramirez, education and the Catholic Church as well as los ninis.

Source text one on Lorena Ramirez can be found here.

Source text two on la iglesia católica y la educación can be found here.

Source text three on un gobierno nini can be found here.

Grammar to look for

• Preterite tense

• Adjectives

• The imperfect subjunctive

• Volver a + infinitive (a nice verb phrase meaning to do something again)

• Convertirse (a high frequency A Level verb meaning to become)

• The passive voice (ser conjugation + past participle)

• Direct object pronouns

• The present perfect

• Para (where para can mean in order to)

• Qualifiers (the small words like very, a little, too which add detail to adjectives

• Seguir + gerund (to carry on doing something)

GCSE resource update:

Last week I shared a resource on KS4 subjunctive opinions and a standalone lesson on the controversy sorrounding the Qatar World Cup which led to some very mature writing from my year 10 and 11s.

Thanks as ever for continuing to read Boletín, it is crazy to think I’ve made 99 of these now with 650,000 downloads in total! With the release of edition 100 I will upload an index of topics to my buymeacoffee profile here. The front cover of the printed edition 2 is already there.

The download link is in the normal place here.

Ollie

❤️

One of my KS5 students, a very happy Arsenal fan (as of 15/10/22) who has been giving me stick since year 7, should appreciate this edition. For as much as it pains me to say, being a Spurs fan, I think Héctor Bellerín (ex Arsenal now Barcelona) is a class act.

Bellerín has been on my future boletín ideas list a while and today I get to tick him off.

In Wales the topic of la influencia de los ídolos doesn’t really get a look in but if it did then Bellerín would near the top of my list. He’s somebody a lot of young people can look up to for various reasons. Bellerín is a 27, a Spanish attack minded defender, well-known in the UK and Spain, has 4 million followers on Instagram, he models, designs, is committed to veganism and environmentalism, has his finger on the pulse with politics/social issues and currently plays his football at Barcelona. He said this about social media in a recent interview:

El verano pasado estuve 6 meses sin redes sociales, borré todas las aplicaciones del teléfono, pero mis perfiles seguían activos, yo no los utilizaba. Pasé el mejor verano de mi vida.

With the media training elite athletes recieve nowadays it’s rare that a high-profile footballer will speak openly about pretty much anything which makes Bellerín stand out as he speaks openly about pretty much everything. He also has a mullet and a moustache so you know, a pretty trendy guy all round.

With the Hector Bellerin appreciation done and dusted the remaining articles are about youngsters living in Barcelona and Catalan language use and distrust in politics.

Last week year 12 finished watching Volver and spent an enjoyable lesson reordering 47 printscreens of scenes and then matching up scene descriptions with the images, did some topic work on social media and brushed up on reflexive verbs. Each text this week then has a reflexive/pronominal verb for them to find.

Grammar to look out for

• Past participles working as adjectives

• Adjectival agreement

• The imperfect tense

• The present tense

• The present perfect

• Reflexive verbs

• Comparative phrases

• The preterite tense (regulars/irregulars)

• Superlatives

• Direct object pronouns

• Definite articles

• Indefinite articles

Thanks to Thais for helping proofread the translations!

Download edition 95 here and if you’re feeling generous buy me a beer here.

Ollie :)