Olga Galofré Ribas is leaving as Administrative Secretary of the Department of English and German Studies. She will be taking on higher administrative responsibilities within the university. 

The department staff and teachers were at the Osteria del Lab in the Part Alta of Tarragona for an end-of-semester lunch, prior to taking a well-deserved Christmas break.

The occasion was marked by the presentation of gifts and heartfelt thanks to Olga Galofré, the department secretary, who will be leaving us at the end of the year. 

In the last few weeks we've participated in two meetings:

One was at the Primeras Jornadas metodológicas sobre adquisición y fonética de la L2 at the University of the Basque Country in Vitoria-Gasteiz, June 24, where our Martí i Franqués student Cristina Crison demonstrated the use of the equipment.

The second was at the XI Ultrasound Imaging for Speech and Language Conference, held at Aizu University, in Aizuwakamatsu, Japan, June 24-25, where both Cristina Crison and our doctoral student Daniel Romero also participated.

At the graduate ceremony for Master's programs, students from our Master d'Ensenyament i Adquisició de l'Anglès com a Llengua Estrangera / Segona Llengua received their well-deserved certificates. Congratulations to all!

(One of the photos includes six of the teaching staff as well, who look no less happy than the graduates!)

Our colleague Marni Manegre reports:

Here is the story of the kittens. On June 17, my husband and I were cycling just outside Tarragona and we found five kittens and their parents in a cardboard box. We went back with our vehicle over the course of two days to verify that the cats were domestic and not feral and then brought them home. They have all had their vet appointments. The kittens are named: Geraint, Isabel, Liz, Joaquin, and Carmen.

We have found homes for Isabel, Geraint, and Carmen, but we are still looking for homes for Joaquin (orange male) and Liz (white female). Baby Carmen has been adopted by one of our fourth-year students and she is keeping the name. I believe the new mom for Baby Isabel is keeping the name also.

My husband (Robert) and I are adopting the parents, now called Todd and Matilda.