English and the World · Spain · 36 · Huelva · A1–C2 · A1–A2 free
A river the colour of wine, mountains of copper mined for five thousand years, a lost kingdom of silver, and the British workers who brought football to Spain. Choose your level.
Río Tinto
In the north of the province of Huelva there is a river with red and orange water: the Río Tinto, “the coloured river”. The colour comes from the iron in the rocks. Near the river there were mines for thousands of years. Long ago there was a rich kingdom here, Tartessos, with a lot of silver and copper. Then there were Phoenicians and Romans, and they took the metals too.
In 1873 a British company bought the mines. There were thousands of workers, and there was a new railway to the port of Huelva. The British managers lived in their own neighbourhood, with English houses and gardens.
Recreativo de Huelva
The British workers played a new game in their free time: football. In 1889 they started a club in Huelva. Today it is called Recreativo de Huelva, and it is the oldest football club in Spain. People call it “El Decano”, the oldest member.
Was there football in Spain before 1889? There were probably a few games, but there wasn’t a real club. Now there are clubs in every town, but Huelva was first.
🦉 Want more? Sophia explains the past simple, with was and were, in An Incident with a Shelf (Philo & Sophia, Lesson 2).
Language: there was / there were
| singular / uncountable | plural | |
|---|---|---|
| positive | there was a kingdom, there was a lot of silver | there were mines, there were thousands of workers |
| negative | there wasn’t a club | there weren’t any clubs |
| question | Was there a railway? | Were there many workers? |
| short answers | Yes, there was. / No, there wasn’t. | Yes, there were. / No, there weren’t. |
⚠️ Look at the noun after it: there was a lot of silver (uncountable), but there were a lot of mines (plural). Not ✗ there was many workers.
Read the texts first. Press “Check my answers” at the end.
Choose the best answer.
1. Why is the Río Tinto red?
2. What was Tartessos?
3. Who bought the mines in 1873?
4. Why is Recreativo de Huelva called “El Decano”?
Write was or were.
5. There mines near the river for thousands of years.
6. There a rich kingdom here.
7. There a lot of silver.
8. There thousands of workers.
Write wasn’t, weren’t, was or were.
9. Before 1889 there a real football club in Spain.
10. there many British workers? Yes, there were.
11. there a railway to Huelva? Yes, there was.
12. The miners went fishing in other rivers: there any fish in the red river.
Go there!
Visit: the Mining Park of Riotinto: the mining museum, an old train along the red river, and a huge open-pit mine. See the English houses in the Bella Vista neighbourhood. In Huelva, watch a Recreativo match at the Nuevo Colombino stadium.
Your task: write six sentences about your town 100 years ago, with there was, there were, there wasn’t and there weren’t.
It tells how a river turned red, how a British company bought a mountain of copper and brought football with it, why the shootings of 1888 are still remembered, and what we really know about Tartessos, the kingdom the Greeks wrote about, with grammar, practice, etymology and a visit plan.
The A1–A2 version above is free for everyone.
It tells how a river turned red, how a British company bought a mountain of copper and brought football with it, why the shootings of 1888 are still remembered, and what we really know about Tartessos, the kingdom the Greeks wrote about, with grammar, practice, etymology and a visit plan.
The A1–A2 version above is free for everyone.