English and the World · Spain · 33 · Jerez · A1–C2 · A1–A2 free
A frontier town that gave English a word, cool cellars full of barrels, white horses that dance, and the deep song of its gypsy quarters. Choose your level.
Jerez de la Frontera
Jerez de la Frontera is a town about 35 kilometres from Cádiz. Its name means “Jerez on the frontier”: after 1264 it was on the border with the Muslim kingdom of Granada. In Arabic its name was Sherish, and English speakers made a new word from it: sherry, the famous wine of Jerez.
Sherry is a wine for adults. It is made from white grapes and kept for years in big, dark barrels in cool buildings called bodegas. Many bodegas are open to visitors. A guide shows you the barrels and tells you their story, and children can taste grape juice.
At the Royal School
Jerez is also famous for its horses. At the Royal Andalusian School of Equestrian Art, beautiful horses dance to Spanish music. Here are two visitors at the ticket office:
“Good morning. We’d like two tickets for the show, please.” “Of course. Would you like seats near the front?” “Yes, please. And I’d like to see the stables, too.” “No problem. Would you like a map of the school?” “No, thank you.”
In the evening, many people go to a tabanco, an old wine bar, or to a peña, a flamenco club. Jerez is one of the homes of flamenco, and people sing and dance there late into the night.
🦉 Want more? Sophia explains would, could and the other modal verbs in How Sure, How Allowed, How Obliged (Philo & Sophia, Lesson 6).
Language: would like
| Use | Form | Example |
|---|---|---|
| asking politely for something | I’d like + noun | We’d like two tickets, please. |
| saying what you want to do | I’d like to + verb | I’d like to see the stables. |
| offering | Would you like + noun? | Would you like a map? |
| inviting | Would you like to + verb? | Would you like to come to a flamenco show? |
| answers | Yes, please. / No, thank you. | I’d love to! |
⚠️ I like horses = always, in general. I’d like a ticket = now, politely. And not ✗ I want a ticket at the ticket office: it sounds rude in English.
Read the texts first. Press “Check my answers” at the end.
Choose the best answer.
1. Why is Jerez called “de la Frontera”?
2. Where does the English word sherry come from?
3. What is a bodega?
4. What happens at the Royal Andalusian School of Equestrian Art?
Write the missing word.
5. Good morning. We’d two tickets, please.
6. you like seats near the front?
7. I’d like see the stables, too.
8. Would like to come to a flamenco show tonight?
Write the missing word or words.
9. I horses. I ride every weekend. (in general)
10. I a map of the school, please. (now, politely)
11. “Would you like some grape juice?” “Yes, .”
12. “Would you like a map?” “No, .”
Go there!
Visit: the Alcázar, the old Muslim fortress, with its gardens and Arab baths. Then see the horses at the Royal Andalusian School of Equestrian Art (book a ticket for the show), and visit a bodega with a guide. In May, Jerez has its Horse Fair.
Your task: write a short dialogue at a ticket office or a café, with I’d like, Would you like…?, Yes, please and No, thank you.
It tells how a frontier town gave English a word, how a living layer of yeast and a pyramid of barrels make sherry, why so many of its great names are British, how monks saved a breed of horse, and why Jerez is called a cradle of flamenco, with grammar, practice, etymology and a visit plan.
The A1–A2 version above is free for everyone.
It tells how a frontier town gave English a word, how a living layer of yeast and a pyramid of barrels make sherry, why so many of its great names are British, how monks saved a breed of horse, and why Jerez is called a cradle of flamenco, with grammar, practice, etymology and a visit plan.
The A1–A2 version above is free for everyone.