Urban legends are stories that people say happened in an indefinite past and in a

blurry location. Their value resides in the fact that they manifest peoples beliefs,
fantasies or even what scares them. Narrate your favourite urban legend and tell
us who told it to you, when and if you believe it could have happened.
Who has not heard that hamburgers at certain fast food restaurants are made of rat
meat? Or that a woman once killed her cat by trying to dry it in the microwave oven?
Or even that certain music tapes played backwards contain prayers to the devil? These
and many other stories are known as urban legends, a type of folklore, endlessly
circulated by word of mouth. People frequently recount such tales as having happened
to a friend of a friend to make them more believable since they cannot be verified.
!rban legends have the structure of a short story since their main aim is not to impart
information but to entertain and keep the listener interested. "nd they accomplish
their purpose through scandal, horror and other taboo topics that will create in the
audience a sense of an#iety and uncertainty. $an %runvand first promoted the concept
of the urban legend in a &'(& book. %runvand used his collection of legends to make two
points) first, that legends and folklore do not belong solely to so*called primitive
societies, and second, that one could learn much about modern culture by studying such
legends since they are a gauge for the values of the society that creates them.
+ heard my favourite urban legend at the age of eleven during a py,ama party. +t was
midnight and we were to spend the night awake so the setting was perfect for a horror
story. The lights were out and the narrator held a torch ne#t to her face. -he pointed
out that she knew somebody who knew the protagonist of the story. -he was a nine*
year*old only child whose parents usually attended all kinds of parties and charities.
This meant lots of nights home alone and a great sense of abandonment. .owever, the
situation changed when her parents bought her a puppy to keep her company. The girl
and the dog became inseparable*she took it to the park, they played a lot and they
even slept together. Whenever her parents were out, her pet provided a sense of
safety that kept her calm. The dog used to sleep under her bed so whenever she was
afraid, she simply reached out and it would lick her hand as a signal that everything was
fine. One night strange noises woke her up in the middle of the night. Terrified, she
reached out and, as usual, her dog licked her hand. /evertheless, when she woke up the
ne#t morning she found the dog dead in the bathroom and a message written on the
mirror with blood) /OT O/01 2O3- 0+45.
+ remember my reaction to the story) sheer panic. + never questioned what the logical
e#planation of it all was*and that is the power of a good urban legend.
Mara Fernanda !pe"
#$ %hy are you interested in ta&ing a '# in (nglish anguage) *s it the first one
that you ta&e)
+ started studying 6nglish at the age of ten and + hated it. "s years passed by the
sub,ect that + had found so difficult at first became my favourite one. + read, sang
and even dreamt in 6nglish7 Then + became serious about it* it was not ,ust a matter of
learning a few idioms and phrases and manage. + wanted to know more, to feel it as my
mother tongue. + attended a variety of courses, studied translation at !niversity and
kept reading and learning. +t is my desire now to go deeper and e#pand my knowledge
of the language, and a %" in 6nglish 0anguage would be an e#cellent opportunity for me
to do so.
'$ +ow often do you read the 'uenos #ires +erald) %hat section of the
newspaper do you prefer)
+ buy the %uenos "ires .erald once a week and + have subscribed to the 86ducation
/ews9 monthly newspaper. + find it very interesting and amusing not only for 6nglish
teachers but to 6nglish lovers as well. + used to teach 6nglish to adults in different
companies and working with news was essential for me. +t forces you to keep updated
and to enrich your vocabulary. The newspaper has become a very useful tool in the
classroom because it encourages students to e#press their views on different topics
and to develop