Categories
AleSan Practice

Impossible Dream

The Impossible Dream

Introduction

How often do you remember your dreams?
What was the last dream you can remember?
Do you have any recurring dreams?
Do you think we can discover anything useful by analyzing our dreams?

Which of the expressions below with ‘dream’ do you have in your language? Do you have any others, not include here?

live out your dreamsa pipe dreamdream up something
daydreamDream on! / In your dreams!dream big
a dream come truea dream teamdare to dream

What do you think the expression “an impossible dream” means?

Pre-watching

You’re going to listen to a song called “The Impossible dream”. From the song title, which of the following words would you expect to describe the mood of the song?

hopeful / hopeless / regretful / noble / fragile / courageous / woeful

Watch the video to find out, and enjoy the song!

Lyrics 1

Click to restart quiz

Vocab

Look at the negative form ‘un+verb+able’ in the lyrics, used to create extreme adjectives.
We often do this with the following verbs too:

believe* / doubt / question / answer / imagine* / fathom (discover meaning) **Remember to remove the final ‘e’ when adding ‘able’.

And slight variations in form include: intolerable / unintelligible (makes no sense) / implacable (unable to be satisfied, changed or stopped) / insatiable (impossible to satisfy; used with hunger, appetite or desire)

Lyrics 2

Click to restart quiz

Grammar

“No matter + who/what/which/where/when/how….”

We use this phrase to say that regardless of one situation, the result remains unchanged:

No matter how hard I try, I still can’t lift this box.

No matter who told you it’s true, these are the facts.

Notice how in the song the result comes first, “This is my quest, to follow that star” and the situation second, “No matter how hopeless, no matter how far.
Try reversing the order in the examples above… They still make sense!

Follow Up

Honda used “The Impossible Dream” in an advert. How do you think they went about using the idea of a “glorious quest” to promote the brand?

Watch the video to check your ideas.

Categories
AleSan

ale chat 2026 may

May

Tuesday 5, 4:00-5:30pm

Categories
AleSan

ale chat 2026 apr

April

Thursday 9, 4:30-6pm

Categories
AleSan

Ale-Exercises

Interactive Exercises

Categories
AleSan

Vocab Memory

Vocab: Memory

Click to restart quiz

Categories
AleSan

ale chat 2026 mar

March

Wednesday 4, 4:15-5:45pm

Tuesday, 10 4-5:30pm

Categories
AleSan

ale practice

Practice

Categories
AleSan

Ale Tense Review

Tense Review with the help of Manolo

Look at the sentence cues in the picture. Can you remember what was making Manolo sad last year?

Click to restart quiz

Categories
AleSan

ale-chat-2026-feb

February

Friday 13, 4-5:30pm

rise/raise – fall/lower definitions + exercise (Page opens in new tab.)

Thursday 19, 4-5:30pm

Describing Graphs: verbs, adjective + noun, time phrases (Link opens in new tab.)

Wednesday 25, 4:15-5:45

Categories
AleSan

vocab record

Vocab Record

Thurs 15/01/2026

snowed under = agobiado (en formal overwhelmed, de to overwhelm)

to faint = desmayarse

outrageous = furioso
outraged = enfurecido  (I got outraged)

brainwashing = lavado de cerebro

Forefront (the issue has moved to the frorefonrt of the political agenda)

handy = cómodo, a mano

failure = fallo

Gravy – salsa

I get you –

Your crowd: la gente que considero como yo

sci fi / hi fi / wi fi

Dodgy (mi cámara)

remember (accion interna) vs remind (acción externa) (remind someone of)

I hate being reminded about something
I am reminded by my mum to do something

nuts: frutos secos

We’re just bystanders (from ‘to stand by’): solo observadores, no participan

To start (para empezar… enumeración) / For a start (para empezar a hablar, lo primero que voy a dedcir)

Mansplaining: lo contrario de escuchar

Upset: want to cry / want to hit someone / disrupt, interrupt in a negative way

Shellfish doesn’t agree with me (no me sienta bien). It gives me a stomach upset.

Crooner (cantante antiguo)

I can take it or leave it

Fried (plancha) or Deep fried batter fish

cod (bacalao), hake (merluza) 

Mon 19/01/2026

stress = énfasis
entonation = entonación
pitch / tone = tono
volumen = volumen
length = longitud, largo

fishy = sospechoso, malo (Something fishy is going on)

To reckon = to think, to believe = cree… I reckon I’ve got him sussed (creo que le he entendido) (to discover the true carácter or nature of)

suss something out = averiguar
he is trying to suss me out / figure me out = viendo cómo manipularme, pillarme
figure out / find out = averiguar
Did you figure out how to get to the train staiton
Sussed! / I sussed it = lo tengo!

Derailment = descarrilamiento

Like that? = así?
Just like that = exactamente así
= así de fácil

You spoilt for choice = tienes para elegir

from vs to

silence
Silent
To be conscious (con-chus)

costume = vestuario

They are well known = son conocidos

Apart from that / But also / ant what is more = aparte de Miss Caffeina, …

Steep learning curve = curva de aprendizaje inclinada

Thu 22/01/2026 

to attempt = intentar (físico)
an attempt = un intento
to intend = intentar (mental)   I intend to be on time

try for both

intent = quiero algo …  
intention = intención

to blame someone for something = culpar a alguien de algo
I blame her for stealing my croissants
I blamed her for X, but she denied it and said I must have left it somewhere.

the culprit = el culpable
the accused = el acusado

It was her fault
It was all her fault that the team lost

You are (the one) to blame for all my problems
She, alone, was responsible for the team losing

Everybody wants to be right = Todo el mundo quiere tener la razón

to commit = comprometerse

to keep an eye on something = echar un ojo

to keep a record of something = guardar un registro

false flag operations = acusas a alguien de haber hecho algo para luego hacerlo tú

to stage something = poner en escena, montar, manipular
stage = escenario, montaje

vague memory

a bit hit and miss = un poco impredecible

Mon 26/01/2026

bank holiday = día festivo
pressure
shape = forma
to be in Good shpe = estar en buena forma
the shape of things to come = no es un incidente aislado, sino que se va a repertir en l futuro…
shaply = está bueno/a
to come after = perseguir
sweep (across) = barrer
sure enough = “como pensaba” (algo sobre lo que pensé previamente, sucedió) es un “discourse marker”
to head = dirigirse “where are u heading?”
deaf = sordo
to deafen = ensorder
deafening = ensordecedor
to strike / struck / struck = hit, golpear, golpe seco, sorprender
twist = girar
twister = tornado
somehow = de alguna manera
alarming = alarmante
below
unlikely = poco probable
unluckly = desafortunadamente
to fuel = alimentar, dar energía?
to overlook = pasar por alto o tener vistas a
gradually
path

Sonido de la T no se hace, es más bien una pausa:
 What strikes me about living in Malaga is the shit weather in January

Tue 10/02/2026

loss = Perdida

during vs for
I visited them a lot during the holidays (during -> inside a close period of time)
I usually stayed with them for 2 or 3 days (for -> the lenght of a period of time)

What thing involved in the how?

All too often = demasiado a menudo

tend to
Everything communicated tends to unite, creat closeness
Everything not communicatted tends to separate

He was a bit full of himself
I get carried away = me voy

Apparently = supuestamente

Fri 13/02/2026 

It Works well (not Good)
Im well fucked = estoy bien jodido
It is well hard = es bien difícil
for the whole session
a takeover = una compra (de una empresa)
to bid = pujar
hardware store = ferretería
to lower our prices =
make sure
The shop is owned by / run by
grocer’s = tienda de ultramarinos
greengrocer’s = frutería
ripe = maduro (fruta)
unripe = verde
mature = maduro (persona)
wet behind the ears = está verde en algo
chunk = pedazo
chunk of bread, cheese
sunflower = girasol
reservoir = reservas, presa, embalse
nothing to do with = no tiene nada que ver con…

Secret Link