According to The Economist magazine, Things are looking up for Spain for 2025.

A  dozen years ago,  Spain was a byword for economic failure. The country’s government and banks appeared to be in a very bad state and depended on bailouts. Young people were leaving the country or protesting at their lack of opportunities. Homes were left half-built and airports abandoned, relics of a burst construction bubble.

However, thing have turned around. According to some experts, Spain is predicted to be the best-performing first world country of 2025,  including GDP growth, inflation, unemployment and the performance of the stock market. Both overall economic growth and the pace of job creation are running faster than even in America.

Greece and Ireland, which were also hit by  a crisis a decade ago, have done well in 2024, too. So has Denmark, where the economy has been boosted by the success of Novo Nordisk’s anti-obesity drugs.  

One lesson for Spain to remember  is to focus on services and not fetishise manufacturing or construction. Although industrial production has not fallen as fast in Spain as in Germany, because of lower energy costs, it has still stagnated. But tourism has bounced back from its pandemic low, and the country is increasingly exporting consulting services and technological expertise, as well as sun and sangría. Non-tourism services have risen from around 5.5% of GDP before the pandemic to between 7-8% now, says BBVA.

Another lesson is to stay open. Whereas young people once left Spain in search of opportunities, now they arrive instead. Since 2019 the country’s foreign-born workforce has risen by around 1,2 million, mostly from Latin America. Many of these migrants are in low-paid, low-skilled employment, meaning that  the economy is 7% bigger than in 2019. Yet that is still better than in countries such as Britain and Canada, which have seen similar immigration booms, but a decline in GDP per person.

Spain has also welcomed investment from Chinese firms. On December 10th Stellantis, a carmaker, and CATL, a Chinese battery-maker, said they would build a new battery factory in Zaragoza.  Chery International, a Chinese carmaker, has chosen Barcelona as the site for its first European manufacturing plant. Barcelona is the first city in Europe to  welcome a Chinese car factory in it.

Most of Spain's recent success has to do with decisions after the financial crisis to reform its banks and labour market. The financial sector has been stable and labour-market reforms have made it easier to renegotiate contracts and encouraged bosses to take on more permanent staff.  

Still, Spain must not rest easy. Tourism and immigration are bidding up house prices; investment and productivity growth remain elusive. A fragile coalition government is going in the wrong direction. It is unable to pass the further reforms needed to boost long-term growth, including in education and services. Overcomplicated regulations and red tape is  increasing costs for businesses. It will need to find money to increase defence spending which, at just 1.3% of GDP, is much too low.

Having said all this, Spain shows that European economies can overcome  insurmountable challenges. Things are looking up for Spain for 2025. 

1.This article was written by The Economist. Do you agree with it ?

2.You met a foreigner who has never been to Spain and is not aware of the complex relationship between Catalonia and Spain. How would you describe the situation to someone from the outside and in what ways do the two places differ from each other and what ways are they similar?

3. Tourism: You have a friend from abroad coming to visit Barcelona but they are on  a very short time schedule. They must choose only  one thing to see in your city. What would you advise them to do?

·         Sagrada Familia 

·         Park Guell

·         Casa Battlo

·         Casa Mila 

·         Parc de Monjuic and Magic Fountain

·         Palau de la Musica

·         Parc de la Cuitadella

       Tibidabo Mountain

     RECOMMEND SOMETHING NOT ON THE LIST !

 4.VOCABULARY: 

Paragraph 1

1.	bailout	a.	to be without or not having enough of something.
2.	dozen	b.	an explosion
3.	lack	c.	an act of giving financial assistance to a failing business or economy to save it from collapse.
4.	bubble	d.	the embodiment or the perfect example of something
5.	relic	e.	twelve
6.	burst	f.	a person or thing that has survived from an earlier time but is now outdated.
7.	byword	g.	used to refer to a good situation that is isolated from reality or unlikely to last.

    Paragraph 2

8.	pace	h.	make changes in something in order to improve it.
9.	reforms	i.	to consider something or someone important, interesting, or attractive to an unreasonable degree
10.	bounce back	j.	to return quickly to a normal condition after a difficult situation or event.
11.	stagnated	k.	speed
12.	fetishize	l.	stuck, frozen, not able to advance
13.	boost	m.	help or encourage something to increase or improve
14.	plant	n.	factory

Paragraph 3

1.	site	a.	too great to be overcome.
2.	bidding up	b.	area
3.	insurmountable	c.	to try to increase the value or price of something
4.	elusive	d.	military  resources for protecting a country.
5.	GDP	e.	difficult to find, catch, or achieve.
6.	defense 7.red tape	f.	the total monetary or market value of all the finished goods and services produced within a country's borders in a specific time period.
			g. overcomplicated, rigid and excessive bureaucracy

5.Choose one from this list  and discuss what you know about it of the 11 famous places in Spain: 

1. Royal Palace, Madrid

2. Reina Sofia Museum, Madrid

3. Prado Museum, Madrid

4. Plaza Mayor, Madrid

5. Casa Batlló, Barcelona

6. Sagrada Familia, Barcelona

7. Parc Guell, Barcelona

8. Ibiza

9. El Alcázar de Segovia, Segovia

10. Alhambra Palace, Granda

11. Costa del Sol Beaches, Andalusi

6. What could you tell us about this list of 7 Popular Things in Spain (Food, Culture and Activities)

12. La Tomatina

13. La Siesta

14. La Fiesta

15. Paella

16. Football

17. Sangria

18. Spanish Wine

7.ROLE PLAY A: Choose a fact about Spain from this list and discuss why you think it is the most fascinating fact about Spain 

Fact 1. Don Quixote, the world's first modern novel, is Spanish.

Fact 2. Spain has the world’s biggest food fight festival.

Fact 3. Spain has 4 co-official languages.

Fact 4. Spain is the biggest LGBTQ+ ally.

Fact 5. According to The Guinness Book of World Records, the world's oldest restaurant is in Spain.

Fact 6. Spain is the 4th country with the largest number of UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

Fact 7. Spain is the only EU country to have a land border with an African country.

Fact 8. Spain is the 3rd country with the largest Spanish-speaking population.

Fact 9. Spain was the first empire in which the sun never sets.

Fact 10. Spain is a democratic constitutional monarchy, a.k.a parliamentary monarchy.

Fact 11. People live 83 years on average in Spain.

Fact 12. The tooth fairy in Spain is a mouse called Ratoncito Pérez.

Fact 13. Spain doesn’t have a law that prohibits public nudity.

Fact 14. Spain was the 1st country where wind energy was the 1st source of electricity for an entire year 

8.Role play B: As the fourth-largest economy in the eurozone, Spain's strength is based on a variety of sectors including manufacturing, financial services, chemicals and pharmaceuticals, as well as clothing and apparel, and tourism. Choose one of these industries and discuss why they are successful in Spain.

Role  A – Manufacturing

Role  B – Financial Services

Role  C – Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals

Role  D – Clothing and Apparel Role E- Tourism

 9.Fill in the blanks:

1.If you are working all day and night, you are working around the                       .

2.If your shift at work is from midnight until 8 am , you are working the                   shift 

3. If you must work from the office on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, then you must work from the office                                                                . 

4.If you work less than 20 hours a week then you have a                                      job.

5.If you would like an increase in salary then you must ask your boss for a                  .

6. If you want to tell your boss that you have been working for more than 5 years at the office, but you would like to make it sound that it´s more than 5 years, you could say¨I have been working here for more than                                      

7.If you were ready for a promotion but someone else was chosen instead, then you were                     .

8. The people you work with are your                      .

9.If you work in an office where the atmosphere is very aggressive, where every person is backstabbing and trying to overtake the others, then the atmosphere where you work is very                           .

10.If you want to say that your new job is sometimes good and sometimes bad, you can say it´s

                                   .

11. If, after some time has passed, you are beginning to enjoy your job after disliking it initially, you can say your new job is                                         .

12. If a co-worker tells you that someone in the office that you despise has decided to leave the company, you can say that this news  is                                                  .

10.Discussion - Spain

1. What can you tell us about Spain's complex identity?
2. Compare and contrast people's idea of Spain with the reality of living in Spain 
3. What are some overrated and underrated things about Spain?