Weekly English Practice

Photo by flydime
Spanish festival
aggravates Nigeria's
'tomato emergency’
While the tomato harvest fails in the
African state, tonnes will be wasted during
La Tomatina festival in Buñol, Valencia
gooey: sticky, soft, and often sweet
crop: a cultivated plant that is grown on a large scale
jabs: critical comments
culprit: the cause of something bad happening
punnet:a small container like a basket, in which fruit such
as strawberries are sold
gather: if people gather, they come together in one place
to see or do something
mucking about: behaving in a silly way that wastes time
tongue-in-cheek: intended to be humorous and not
meant to be serious
see red: to become very angry
Weekly English Practice
2nd June 2016
English
Coaching
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The streets of the eastern Spanish town of Buñol turn red
and gooey every year on the last Wednesday of August,
as tens of thousands of people gather to celebrate La
Tomatina. It's not an event that has caused much of a stir
on social media outside the country, but in the past few
days Nigerians have been distracting themselves from
their own tomato crop crisis by making good-humoured
jabs aimed at the European festival.
The topic of tomatoes - a staple of the Nigerian diet - is
currently not a laughing matter outside the digital realm
in Nigeria. A state of emergency has been declared in the
tomato sector in Kaduna state, in the north of the country
and farmers are said to have lost up to 80% of their
tomato crop.
The culprit is a moth called Tuta Absoluta. The agriculture
commissioner in Kaduna state said the price of a punnet
has risen from $1.20USD to more than $40. Some reports
said that in three local government areas, about 200
farmers lost $5.1 million worth of their tomatoes.
Nigeria's Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development
told local media that his office had commissioned experts
to look at the issue as "ordinary pesticides cannot tackle
the disease because the tomato moth multiplies so fast.
The situation is so bad that it was dubbed 'Tomato Ebola'.
But what's all this got to do with Spain and La Tomatina?
Well, if you've not heard of the festival, tens of thousands of
people from all over the world gather in Spain to take part
in an enormous tomato fight. Some estimates say that
more than 100 tonnes of tomatoes are thrown during the
event. And this has not been lost on Nigerian social media.
One Nigerian news site even posted an article entitled
"Five tomato photos that will make Nigerians cry" which
featured shots of revellers mucking about in the red gold
at La Tomatina.
But what does Buñol think of this reaction? The town's
mayor told BBC Trending that the festival "should not be
blamed" for Nigeria's tomato crop crisis and that he is
"open to (see) how we can help, but the problem is very
big and we are very small."
Rafa Pérez Gil said that he was aware that Nigerians had
taken to Twitter and Instagram recently to lament (albeit
in a very tongue-in-cheek manner) the waste of
tomatoes in La Tomatina, but he wanted to assure them
that most of the tomatoes used in the August food fight
were past their sell-by-date and on the verge of rotting.
"Their problem would exist whether our festival
happened or not," the mayor said. He added that he
would be open to talking about the issue with Nigerians
but was unsure what they as a town could do about it. He
conceded that food wastage was an issue that merited a
wider discussion. "If you look at the garbage bins in
Spain, there is more waste thrown away every day than
tomatoes used at La Tomatina."
No-one knows whether this information will comfort
Nigerians or make more of them see red.
Adapted from:
http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-36381553
“iLook, iThink, iSpeak”
Express yourself better!
“Let’s chat about that!”
END-OF-COURSE PARTY &
3RD ANNUAL PINTXO
COMPETITION!!
Write your answers in an email and send them to your
ECP coach! Give reasons for your answers
1.
Are the Nigerians right to criticise the
Spanish fiesta? Give reasons for your
answer.
2. Would you like a giant food fight in your
home town? why/not?
Who will be the 2016 ECP Pintxo
Champion? Make a tasty pintxo
and bring 12 small ones to share.
The best ones will win prizes!
3. Should the fiesta in Buñol be banned?
Friday
4. Do you think Mr Gil’s response is likely
to add fuel to the fire?
5. What do you like and dislike about the
fiestas in your home town?
Three Crazy Spanish Festivals
Check out 7
more here
17th
June
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C/ San Ignacio
Friend
de Loyola, 15
The first of our crazy festivals
takes place every September in
the Basque fishing town of
Lekeito. The competition, known
as Antzar Eguna (Geese Day), has participants
trying to rip off the head of a dead goose
suspended on a rope over the town harbour.
Young men in small fishing boats first try to
grab hold of the greased up bird and once they
succeed they find themselves suspended midair and then dunked in the bay as spectators
controlling the rope try to shake them loose.
1
Rapa das bestas, or
Shearing of the
Beasts, takes place in
Sabucedo (Galicia)
every July 9th. This 400-year-old
festival sees hundreds of wild
horses rounded up from the
mountains. The animals are then
herded into a small arena and
bedlam ensues as they not only
have their manes trimmed but also
get branded.
2
The filthy festival of
Cascamorras takes
place every
September 6th when
locals from the Andalusian village of
Baza re-enact a medieval dispute
with their neighbours from Guadix
by covering their bodies in oil and
grease and pelting “intruders” with
paint and eggs.
3
Why not use tomatoes in
your pintxo? Or some
special local ingredient?