Track 69

Track 69.

Right, Luis, now I’m going to give you a topic and I’d like you to talk about it for one to two minutes.

Before you talk, you’ll have one minute to think about what you’re going to say and you can make some notes if you wish.

Do you understand?

Yes.

Here’s a pencil and some paper for making notes and here’s your topic.

I’d like you to describe a country that interests you.

OK, remember you have one to two minutes for this, so don’t worry if I stop you.

I’ll tell you when the time is up. Can you start speaking now, please?

OK, so the country that interests me is Morocco.

It’s one of our neighbouring countries, and yet in many ways, it’s worlds apart from Spain.

I learnt about it in many different ways.

At school, first of all, but also I’ve been over to Tangier a few times as it’s only a short boat ride away In my city, Cordoba, we have a cathedral called La Mezquita because it used to be a mosque.

So, dating back to my childhood I’ve been exposed to aspects of the culture of the Arab world.

I guess I learnt most by visiting.

I remember very vividly my first trip to Tangier.

I walked around a Moroccan market.

The sights and sounds were so different, and the smell of those ingredients made my mouth water.

I only spent the day there the first time, but when I went back a few years later, I spent several days there.

One thing that fascinates me is Moroccan food.

It’s spicier than the food we eat at home, and they use different ingredients, couscous rather than rice, for example, and their bread is flatter than ours.

Their cuisine is healthy and delicious, with lots of vegetables and pulses.

They cook stews in a tagine, a kind of clay cooking pot, which makes the food come out smelling and tasting amazing.

As for my travel plans, well, next time I go to Morocco, I want to travel a little further afield, maybe Casablanca, which I think must be a really romantic and fascinating city.

I’ll probably go with some of my friends and stay at least a week.

I don’t have any definite plans yet, but I was thinking of going next spring, as the summer may be too hot.

Thank you.

And are you interested in other countries in the same region?

Yes, I would be interested in visiting Algeria and Tunisia as well, as they are culturally quite similar to Morocco.

Oh, and Egypt, I’ve always wanted to see Giza and the Valley of the Kings.