Train accident

Europa Press via Getty Images

Emergency teams worked through the night to find victims and clear debris

Nine months after the Adamuz accident in Córdoba that claimed 46 lives, the Spanish rail system has suffered another fatal accident. Two trains traveling from Madrid to Seville — one operated by state rail company Renfe and the other by the private company Iryo — collided Wednesday morning between the towns of Mora, Orgaz, and Urda, in Toledo province. The collision has left at least 30 people dead among the 544 passengers traveling on the two trains. Renfe has reported that services between Madrid, Ciudad Real, and Andalusia are currently suspended.

Sources within the ministry indicate that the Renfe train involved in the accident had stopped and slowed down minutes earlier due to a traffic problem on the line. The explanation points to human error, because when the safety system failed, about eight trains in the area came to a stop; they were then ordered to proceed, but the Iryo train was unable to do so and remained stationary. An operator at the Atocha control center in Madrid mistakenly gave the Renfe train the order to proceed even though the Iryo was blocking the track, and this ultimately led to a rear-end collision — at a speed yet to be determined — between the Renfe train and the Iryo. Investigations are ongoing, but these are the initial findings from the technicians, according to government sources.

 https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cmqxnl312v34o

Reading. Horror short stories

The Best Horror Stories of History

These stories have many types of villain, from a little murderous hand and misfortunate black cat to enormous demonic beasts and cosmic gods, but often the villain is only there to tease out the real horror. Perhaps it is our hero’s guilt over his past, or a weakness that he is desperately trying to hide, something which the villain serves as an unavoidable reminder of.

The Monkey’s Paw by W. W. Jacobs

The first man had his three wishes. Yes, - I don’t know what the first two were, but the third was for death.

Read

The Monkey’s Paw by W. W. Jacobs is the origin of the notorious talisman itself. This granter of tainted wishes has taken on a mythos of its own, and everyone knows its rule: ‘Be careful what you wish for.’ A man gifts a family with a strange artefact, but tells them of the tragic ending of its last owner. Ignoring the warning, the family asks for wealth immediately and pay the price the very next day.

The Hound by H. P. Lovecraft

It was this frightful emotional need which led us eventually to that detestable course which even in my present fear I mention with shame and timidity—that hideous extremity of human outrage, the abhorred practice of grave-robbing.

Read

The Hound is a prime example of karma manifested in a horror villain. The story follows a straightforward plot, but is fantastically executed by the dastardly Lovecraft. Two graverobbers are chased by a panting and growling monstrosity after messing with the wrong corpse.

The Black Cat by Edgar Allan Poe

In speaking of his intelligence, my wife, who at heart was not a little tinctured with superstition, made frequent allusion to the ancient popular notion, which regarded all black cats as witches in disguise.

Read

In The Black Cat, Edgar Allan Poe masters the sense of paranoia and omens of bad luck. A man suspects his wife’s adopted black cat to be the source of all his almost paranormal bad luck. In desperation, he resolves to take the beast out by whatever means necessary.

https://www.libraryofshortstories.com/collection/horror

Kahoot game:

https://play.kahoot.it/v2/lobby?quizId=eb33f163-e919-4818-9e31-b95840dc42b4

Some creepy, scary videos to get into the Halloween mood. Visit at your own risk:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hIFkut11Xpc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2s59Kug2u4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-vyBhEK36o

This exercise is based on the information provided in the video "Halloween History" by National Geographic [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-VRAemIvbI].

Halloween History Comprehension Exercise

I. True or False Questions (10 points)

Determine whether the following statements are true (T) or false (F) based on the video.

1. Halloween's roots date back to a people called the Celts. _____

2. The Celts celebrated the end of the harvest season on November 1st. _____

3. The Celtic festival of Samhain was considered a time when the veil between death and life was supposed to be at its thinnest. _____

4. Villagers lit huge bonfires on Samhain to attract spirits and ghosts. _____

5. The Catholic Church began to merge the pagan rituals of Samhain with a church-sanctioned holiday in the 19th century. _____

6. All Saints Day was designated on November 1st to honor martyrs and the deceased faithful. _____

7. The English translation of the word "hallow" is roughly "scary." _____

8. The holiday customs were brought to America by Irish immigrants during the Potato Famine of the 1840s. _____

9. Trick-or-treating originated in America as a non-violent, organized charity event. _____

10. In the 1930s, the tradition of harmless tricks eventually grew into outright vandalism. _____

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II. Comprehension Questions (5 points)

Answer the following questions based on the video:

1. What was the name of the Celtic festival that marked the end of the harvest season and the Celtic New Year?

2. When did the Catholic Church first designate November 1st as All Saints Day?

3. According to the video, what was the calculated move on the part of the Church in merging the pagan and Christian holidays?

4. What two specific customs did Irish immigrants bring with them to America?

5. How was "trick-or-treating" originally described before it became an established holiday greeting?

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III. Fill in the Gaps (5 points)

Complete the following sentences with the missing information from the video.

1. Halloween is a _____________ holiday stitched together with cultural, religious, and occult traditions that span centuries.

2. On Samhain, the ghost of the _____________ walked the Earth.

3. The night before All Saints Day was All Hallow's Eve, which gradually morphed into _____________.

4. All Saints Day had to do with the afterlife and about _____________ after death.

5. By the late 1930s, storekeepers and neighbors began giving treats or _____________ to stop the tricks and troublemaking.

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IV. Multiple Choice Questions (5 points)

Choose the best answer for each question.

1. What does the word "hallow" in All Hallows Day mean? a) Scary b) Holy or saintly c) New Year d) Ghostly

2. The Celts' festival of Samhain was celebrated on which date? a) October 18th b) October 31st c) November 1st d) December 31st

3. According to the video, the tradition of harmless tricks grew into outright vandalism by which decade? a) The 1840s b) The 1930s c) The 1950s d) The 2000s

4. Which group of people brought the original Halloween customs to America? a) English Settlers b) Scottish Traders c) German Artisans d) Irish Immigrants

5. What was one of the early customs brought to America by the immigrants? a) Carving pumpkins b) Trick-or-treating c) Bobbing for apples d) Watching scary movies

Current affairs. Protests around Europe

Listening: Schools closed in France as students clash with police

Why are people protesting across Europe?

Amid a wave of diverse local grievances, protests have erupted across Southern and Western Europe this week, sweeping through France, Albania, Italy, Portugal, Spain, and Greece.

Demonstrations against living costs and school conditions have rocked France since late September, with many turning violent. Meanwhile, Albania has entered its fifth day of anti-government riots and protests over general economic conditions have taken place in Milan and in several cities in Portugal.

Spanish protests targeted housing affordability and the right to housing, while motor oil refinery workers in Greece gathered over demands for better workplace safety.

• https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/oct/18/europe-protests-france-spain-portugal-2026-explainer

• https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cw240zl08dm5o

• https://www.euronews.com/2026/10/19/wages-vs-prices-the-economic-pressures-behind-europes-protests

Vocabulary. Word building

 The Logical Song by Supertramp

Complete the song using the correct form of the words given. 

When I was young, it seemed that life was so ______ WONDER, 

a miracle, oh, it was ______ BEAUTY, ______ MAGIC. 

And all the birds in the trees,                                                 

they'd be singing so ______ HAPPY, 

oh, ______ JOY, oh, ______ PLAY, watching me. 

But then they sent me away to teach me how to be _____ SENSE, ______ LOGIC, oh, ______ RESPONSE, ______ PRACTICE. 

And then they showed me a world  where I could be so ______ DEPEND, 

oh, ______ CLINIC, oh, ______ INTELLECT, ______ CYNIC. 

There are times when all the world's ______ SLEEP, the questions run too deep for such a simple man. 

Won't you please, please tell me what we've learned I know it sounds absurd, please tell me who I am. 

I said watch what you say, they'll be calling you a radical, a liberal, oh, ______ FANATIC, ______ CRIME. 

Oh, won't you sign up your name, we'd like to feel you're ______ ACCEPT, ______ RESPECT, oh, _______ PRESENT, a vegetable! 

Oh, take, take, take it, yeah! But at night, when all the world's ______SLEEP, the questions run so deep for such a simple man. 

Won't you please, please tell me what we've learned I know it sounds absurd please tell me who I am, who I am… who I am… who I am. 

Focousing on the past

Past Simple, Past Progressive Games

• Irregular Past Simple - Jeopardy Grammar Game
• Present Vs. Past Tenses - Football Game
• Present Vs. Past Tenses - Walk the Plank Game
• Past Simple Snakes and Ladders - Regular/Irregular Verbs - Snakes and Ladders
• Past Progressive vs. past simple tenses - Snakes and Ladders Game
• Past Simple - Spelling Game
• Present perfect progressive - matching game
• Irregular Past Tense - Spelling Game
• Present Tenses Vs. Past Tenses - Classification Game
• Past Simple Betting - Betting Jeopardy TV Style Game
• Past Progressive vs. Past Simple Tense - Betting Jeopardy TV Game
• Past Simple Tense - Sequencing Reading Game/Exercise

https://en.islcollective.com/english-esl-video-lessons/grammar-practice/general-grammar-practice/coca-cola-commercial-used-to/668073

Past simple

We use the past simple to talk about past events in chronological order, i.e. for a story’s main events.

• When she opened the door, she pretended we weren’t there and went to her room. 
• He called me and told me to go, but he wasn’t there when I arrived. 

We also use the past simple to talk about past habits or past states.

• We often went to the bar for a drink before dinner.
• He really liked sport and was very fit.

Past continuous

We use the past continuous to set the scene in a story.

• Last night, I was walking home listening to my iPod when…
• The sun was shining, and lots of tourists were lying on the beach. Suddenly…

We use the past continuous for actions in progress in the past or longer actions interrupted by shorter actions in the past simple.

• After dinner, I went into the living room and saw that she was crying. 
• When she opened the door, we were talking about her. 

Past perfect simple

We use the past perfect simple to talk about an earlier past: events which happened before the main event.

Earlier single events

We use the past perfect simple to talk about earlier events and experiences or single actions completed earlier in the past.

• When she opened the door, he had already left.  
• I realised that I had been there before. 
• When I met her, I had never been in a serious relationship. 
• He noticed I had cleaned the car. It was smooth and shiny. 

We use the past perfect simple (and not continuous) to say how much or how many we had done of something earlier in the past.

• We had driven 500 miles, and we needed some rest. 
• How many hours had he slept when you woke him up?

Duration from earlier in the past (stative verbs)

We use the past perfect simple with stative verbs to talk about states or situations that had started earlier in the past. We often use how long, for or since, always, etc.

• The day Anne died, they had been married for 48 years. 
• The day I left, I had been in England for exactly four years. 
• She told me she had always hated her sister. 

Past perfect continuous

Duration from earlier in the past (dynamic verbs)

We use the past perfect continuous with dynamic verbs to talk about longer continuous actions that started earlier in the past than the main events of the story.

• I was furious. I had been waiting for him in the cold, and he didn’t call to say he’d be late. 
• We had been driving for less than an hour when the car broke down. 

Repeated actions from earlier in the past (dynamic verbs)

We use the past perfect continuous with dynamic verbs to talk about repeated actions from earlier in the past.

• I couldn’t believe it. She had been writing a letter every day for over a year. 

Housing crisis.

Coversation questions. Warm-up:

• It is said an average person lives in 11 homes in their lifetime. What is your number?
• If money was not a problem, where would you live and what kind of house would you have?
• Making housing more accessible would help reduce…
• What share of a household budget do you think is spent on average on housing?
• Why has the price of housing risen so dramatically in the last decade?
• What share of a household budget is spent on housing in low-income households?
• In many countries, a large share of young people is still living with their parents. Is Spain one of these countries? Justify your answer 
• Is giving homeless people homes more effective and sensible than making them stay in shelters or on the street?
• How much is Airbnb affecting the housing market in cities where rent is on the rise?
• What can be done about rising homelessness in big cities?
• Does it make sense to encourage homeownership through tax policies?
• Should housing policy be more balanced, supporting rental housing and homeownership on a more equal footing?

Time to listen:

Vocabulary:

• affordable home
• low-income housing
• budget
• low -income households
• mortgage
• tenants
• landlords
• overburdened with housing costs
• homeowners
• social housing
• to make a down payment
• disposable income
• average price
• to evict /eviction
• homelessness
• rising home prices
• overcrowding and under occupations
• real state bubble
• subsidized
• housing issues
• cohousing
• utility bills
• to downsize
• squatting/squatters
• to rehabilitate /rehab, rehabilitation

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cm2kej47095no

Tens of thousands of people have protested across Spain calling for greater protections for tenants after the government failed to pass emergency housing legislation.

About 50 marches took place on Saturday in cities including Madrid, Valencia and Barcelona. "There is a lot of anger in the streets," a spokesperson for the Valencia Tenants' Union said. Clashes have taken place between some protesters and police in the city. It is calling for a general strike over the housing crisis.

Getty Images

An encampment has been set up for days by protesters at Puerta del Sol in Madrid

https://www.linguahouse.com/esl-lesson-plans/general-english/global-rents-increase-dramatically/audioplayer/global-rents-increase-bemp3

Spanish Prime Minister has called an early election for 29 November after recent defeats on legislation aimed at addressing the country's housing crisis. Speculation about a snap election had been building over the weekend after parliament rejected two decree laws put forward by the minority government to protect tenants in the rental market.