Earth Day

Communities, businesses, and neighbourhoods are all honouring Earth Day with events that highlight eco awareness and our planet. Earth Day started as a way to recognize that the Earth needed help and many use the annual celebration to kick off new environmental goals and commitments.

Fortunately, many businesses and individuals now look to Earth Day to celebrate success milestones and, more importantly, build on that success for the future. In fact, were you aware that Earth Day is now observed in 175 countries and is the largest secular modern day holiday in the world?

A little history lesson to start: Earth Day was first conceived by Sen. Gaylord Nelson in the early 1960s. Nelson worried that environmental issues were not being addressed in the political arena. In his conservation efforts, Nelson organized a nationwide grassroots demonstration in the spring of 1970, to further promote conservation involvement and awareness. Support for and interest in the activity was immense and the 1970 demonstration became the first official Earth Day.

How do you plan to celebrate Earth day? Leave a green tip in the comments section.

Remember we must help protect the environment Earth Day and every day. Check this website to pick your choice among these 100ways to reduce your impact. Just place your mouse gently on each of the tips and an explanation will come up.

Easter Homework

Easter owes its name to a pagan deity Eostre also known as Holy week, most  Easter traditions and vocabulary come from the Christian customs as you can see in this Powerpoint.

Even if chocolate has won the popularity battle, there are some traditional foods related to this time of year.

Good Friday

Hot Cross Buns are traditionally served on Good Friday. A Hot Cross Bun is rich, spiced tea cake.

Easter Day

Boiled eggs are traditionally served at breakfast.

Roast lamb, which is the main dish at Jewish Passover, is the traditional meat for the main meal on Easter Day.

Simmel cake is baked for tea.

The Simnel cake is a fruit cake with a flat layer of marzipan (sugar almond paste) on top and decorated with 11 marzipan balls representing the 12 apostles minus Judas, who betrayed Christ.
Click here for a recipe

Easter Biscuits

Easter Biscuits are sometimes called “Cakes”, and are eaten on Easter Sunday. They contain spices, currants and sometimes grated lemon rind.

After that brief introduction to the typical Easter food here is your Easter homework:

Write a letter (200 words approx) to a foreign friend inviting her/him to spend Easter with you  in Spain. You have to convince your friend this is the best time to visit you not only for the Easter celebrations but also for the nice special food that can be tasted at this time. Describe some of this special food using the vocabulary learnt in this unit.

Food Glorious Food

EASTER NESTS

The school gastronomic festival starts this week so I hope you are getting your top recipes ready to join in.

As Easter is approaching I will give you our family favourite recipe for this time of year. It is simple, it is tasty and there is something really therapeutic about getting your hands all dirty with chocolate while you are crunching the Weetabix. A sure winner with the whole family and it looks great too!  Click here for a step by step recipe of these great Easter nests.

St Patrick´s Day Across the World

Even though St. Patrick is the patron saint of Ireland, this day is celebrated across the world. Many Irish people emigrated to the USA in the early c XX  and while they were outcasts at the beginning they become part of the establishment soon after the first president of Irish background was elected, John F Kennedy.  Not surprisingly the biggest St Patrick parade takes place in the streets of New York and it is bigger than the one in Dublin.

Many other American cities mark the day, watch this video and see how they do it  Chicago style.  After you watch it please answer the following questions:

• When and why did this tradition started?
• What type of dye do they use?
• How many of the interviewees know why they turn the river green?
• How many years has this tradition been going on?
• What colour is the dye powder?

The Irish are renown for the love of music and a drink down the pub, perhaps the one song everyone could sing along to  is Molly Malone, performed here by The Dubliners

The Irish have a reputation for their sense of humour. The TV series Father Ted reflects this, here is a clip from one the most popular episode when several Catholic priests find their way into a big store´s lingerie department while Christmas shopping  Enjoy their lovely accent too.

Answers to the Chicago river questions: In the early  1960s, while they were trying to track and trace illegal discharges of sewage, vegetable dye, 2 don´t know vs 3 who know, 46 years, orange

Irish blessing

May the best day of your past
Be the worst day of your future.

St Patrick´s Day

		St. Patrick’s Day is celebrated on March 17 to honor Patrick, Ireland’s patron saint. Almost 1500 years ago the patron saint and national hero of Ireland was born to a Gaelic family who had migrated to Britain. For 16 years, Patrick lived a normal life as the son of a prosperous landowner and magistrate until he was captured and forced into slavery. Patrick spent 6 years herding sheep. He escaped and returned to Ireland to do missionary work.
History reports that he used shamrock leaves to explain the meaning of the Trinity. It is also stated that he drove snakes from Ireland, banishing the venomous serpents by beating his drum. St. Patrick died on March 17, 493 after bringing the Christian faith to Ireland.
	As the Irish emigrated around the world, they took the St. Pat’s celebration with them. The Irish heritage has had a profound influence on our nation. The St. Patrick’s Day custom came to America in 1737. That was the first year St. Patrick’s Day was publicly celebrated in this country, in Boston.

	SHAMROCK, a member of the clover family, was used by Patrick to explain the mystery of the Trinity, the three leaves of the shamrock representing the Trinity (the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit). According to Irish legend, Ireland’s patron saint chose the shamrock as a symbol of the Trinity of the Christian church. To this day the shamrock remains the national emblem of Ireland and is worn proudly by Irish people the world over on St. Patrick’s Day (March 17).No one can agree on which plant is the shamrock picked by St. Patrick.

What’s good luck on Saint Patrick’s Day?Finding a four-leaf clover (that’s double the good luck it usually is). Wearing green. (School children have started a little tradition of their own — they pinch classmates who don’t wear green on this holiday). Kissing the blarney stone.

Blarney Stone The Blarney Stone is a stone set in the wall of the Blarney Castle tower in the Irish village of Blarney. Kissing the stone is supposed to bring the kisser the gift of persuasive eloquence (blarney). The castle was built in 1446 by Cormac Laidhiv McCarthy (Lord of Muskerry) — its walls are 18 feet thick (necessary to thwart attacks by Cromwellians and William III’s troops). Thousands of tourists a year still visit the castle. The origins of the Blarney Stone’s magical properties aren’t clear, but one legend says that an old woman cast a spell on the stone to reward a king who had saved her from drowning. Kissing the stone while under the spell gave the king the ability to speak sweetly and convincingly. It’s tough to reach the stone — it’s between the main castle wall and the parapet. Kissers have to lie on their back and bend backward (and downward), holding iron bars for support. Can you imagine kissing something that has had people’s lips all over it for 500 years? Yuck!

Leprechaun Irish fairy. Looks like a small, old man (about 2 feet tall), often dressed like a shoemaker, with a cocked hat and a leather apron. According to legend, leprechauns are aloof and unfriendly, live alone, and pass the time making shoes…they also possess a hidden pot of gold. Treasure hunters can often track down a leprechaun by the sound of his shoemaker’s hammer. If caught, he can be forced (with the threat of bodily violence) to reveal the whereabouts of his treasure, but the captor must keep their eyes on him every second. If the captor’s eyes leave the leprechaun (and he often tricks them into looking away), he vanishes and all hopes of finding the treasure are lost.

The color green is associated with St. Patrick’s Day because it is the color of spring, Ireland, and the shamrock.

Australia Day

Today, 26th January we celebrate Australia Day (previously known as Anniversary Day, Foundation Day and ANA Day), and also referred to as Invasion Day by several groups within Australian society, is the official national day of Australia. Celebrated annually on 26 January, the day commemorates the arrival of the First Fleet at Sydney Cove in 1788, the hoisting of the British flag there, and the proclamation of British sovereignty over the eastern seaboard of Australia.

Australia Day is an official public holiday in every state and territory of Australia, although it is seen as controversial by some Australians, who see it as a celebration of the destruction of Indigenous Culture by British colonialism. There have been significant protests from and on behalf of the Indigenous Australian community, including, since 1988, “Invasion Day” protests. In light of these concerns, proposals to change the date of Australia Day have been made. As the date also marks the anniversary of the Rum Rebellion in 1808, Australia Day may be viewed as a commemoration of the only military coup in Australian history. This last view parallels a sort of Independence Day.

Have a look at this Australian woman explaining something about her place…

If you want to know more about Australia, click on the Autralia Day official website

New Year’s Resolutions the musical version and surprise wedding

Some people sing about their new year resolutions. Jamie Cullum does so in this song who urges us not to delay and tell our loved ones how we feel. He has just done so as he got married last weekend to his partner Sophie Dahl

Listen and fill in the gaps but above all follow Jamie’s advice!

Next year by Jamie Cullum

Next Year,
Things are gonna change,
Gonna _____________beer
And start ____________ again
Gonna _____________ books
Gonna ­­­­­­­­______________news
Gonna learn ­­­­_______________
And spend ­­_________on shoes
­­­_______________on time
File ­­­__________away, everyday
Only drink ­__________wine
And __________every Sunday
Resolutions
Well Baby they come and go
Will I do any of these things?
The answer is probably ­______
But if there’s one thing, I must do,
Despite my _____________
I’m gonna say to you
How I’ve felt all of these years
Next Year, Next Year, Next Year(bis)

According to the British press Sophie Dahl and Jamie Cullum married over the weekend 10/01/10

The 30-year-old singer and his glamorous partner – who is two years his senior and stands eight inches taller – wed on Saturday in a civil ceremony with a winter wonderland theme at Lime Wood, a Regency country house in the New Forest, Hampshire.

Dahl – the great granddaughter of children’s author Roald Dahl, who had her in mind when he wrote his famous book the BFG – first caused a storm when she posed naked for Opium in her modelling heyday, shortly after losing weight following working as a plus size model for many years.

Dahl and Cullum were engaged last March and last night the jazz singer serenaded his bride with a song written especially for her.

They decided against a lucrative magazine deal to celebrate the nuptials in private with a group of their closest friends.

However they had some strict rules:

‘Guests were banned from bringing their own cameras as they had their own photographer for the day.

‘Children were banned from the event so that guests could enjoy the food, wine and entertainment without any hassles.’

Roal Dalh would turn in his grave!

If you would like to read more gossip about this story click here

New Year’s Resolutions

A New Year’s Resolution is a promise to yourself to improve your life in some way. You can improve your life by starting something new, by trying harder at something, by cutting down on something, or even quitting something. OR we can just keep doing what we are doing now.

Watch this piece of news about the top New Year’s resolutions in the UK…

Now, let’s move to the other side of the Pacific ocean and watch some of the most popular Americans’ resolutions, why they think people make them and what the resolutions for this 2010 should be for…Obama!

Funny New Years Resolutions for 2010

This year, I resolve to

Happy New Year to You All but…How Do You Say 2010?

Never mind about naming the new decade, we first have to decide what to call the new year. Opinions are divided. Should it be ‘two-thousand and ten’, ‘two-thousand ten’, ‘twenty ten’, or even ‘two-o-one-o’? Listen to this report from KCBS in San Francisco to find out what some Americans think.

SEE ALSO
• 2010: ‘Twenty ten’ vs. ‘two thousand ten’ (SFGate)

• BBC stars discuss how to pronounce 2010 (BBC News)

• How Do You Say 2010? (National Public radio. US)

COMMENT
I’ve got a feeling that ‘twenty ten’ will win out, if only because it has fewer syllables than the alternatives—and there seems to be a trend towards this type of expression (24/7, 9/11).

(From The English Blog, by Jeffrey Hill)

What do you think? How would you pronounce it?

Christmas stories. And the winner is…

Congratulations to all the students who participated in the Christmas story competition. You made it very hard for the judges to reach a veredict. However, in the end they made a choice based upon originality as well as quality of language and narrative style. And the winner was…Jordi Bermejo with an accomplished story with echoes of The Sopranos.

You can read this and some of the other shortlisted stories by clicking here

Happy reading!

Jokes from the Christmas crackers

Christmas crackers or bon-bons are an integral part of Christmas celebrations in the UK, Ireland, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa and other Commonwealth countries as well as countries of the former Soviet Union (where it is called “хлопушка”). A cracker consists of a cardboard tube wrapped in a brightly decorated twist of paper, making it resemble an oversized sweet-wrapper. The cracker is pulled by two people, and, much in the manner of a wishbone, the cracker splits unevenly. The split is accompanied by a small bang produced by the effect of friction on a chemically impregnated card strip (similar to that used in a cap gun).

In one version of the tradition the person with the larger portion of cracker empties the contents from the tube and keeps them. In another each person will have their own cracker and will keep its contents regardless of whose end they were in. Typically these contents are a coloured paper hat or crown; a small toy or other trinket and a motto, a joke or piece of trivia on a small strip of paper. Crackers are often pulled before or after Christmas dinners or at parties.

Enjoy the following jokes, remember most of them are made of puns.

Question: What’s red and white and black all over?
Answer: Santa Claus after he slid down the chimney.

Q. Why was Santa’s little helper depressed?
A. Because he had low ‘elf‘ esteem.

Q. Why did the man get the sack from the orange juice factory?
A. Because he couldn’t concentrate.

Q. How do Snowman travel around?
A. By riding an icicle.

Q. Where do Snow-women like to dance?
A. At Snowballs.

Q. What happened when Guy ate the Christmas decorations?
A. He went down with tinsel-itis.

Q.Do you know the joke about the butter?

A.I’m not going to tell because you’ll spread it around.

Q.What did the sea say to the sand?

A.Nothing, he just waved.

Q.What do you get if you cross a stereo with a refrigerator?

A.Cool music

Q.What do you call someone who makes clothes for rabbits?

A.A hare dresser.

Q.On which sid do chickens have most feathers?

A.On the outside.

Q.How did the human cannonball lose his job?

A.He got fired.

Q.Where do fish get their petrol?

A.Shell.

Q.What is the biggest ant?

A.The elephant.

Q.What should a prizefighter drink?

A.A punch.

Q.What was a bed but does not sleep, and a mouth but does not speak?

A. A river

Q.Why don’t ducks tell jokes when they are flying?

A.Because they would quack up.

Christmas poems

We bring you here two Christmas poems , from very different but well known and much loved poets: Wendy Cope and TS Eliot

Wendy Cope

Cope was born in Kent and educated in London. Following her graduation from St Hilda’s College, Cope spent fifteen years as a primary-school teacher. In 1981, she became Arts and Reviews editor for the magazine, Contact. Five years later she became a freelance writer and was a television critic for The Spectator magazine until 1990.

Three books of her poetry have been published, Making Cocoa for Kingsley Amis in 1986, Serious Concerns in 1992 and If I Don’t Know in 2001. She has also edited several anthologies of comic verse Despite her slight output, her books have sold well and she has attracted a popular following with her lighthearted, often comical poetry, as well as achieving literary credibility winning two awards and making an award shortlist over a fourteen year period.

She has a keen eye for the everyday, mundane aspects of English life, especially the desires, frustrations, hopes, confusions and emotions in intimate relationships

In her book If I Don’t Know she wrote the following Christmas poem. Click here to listen to her recite the poem This Christmas life

Thomas Stearns Eliot (1888-1965) was born in St. Louis, Missouri, of an old New England family. He was educated at Harvard and did graduate work in philosophy at the Sorbonne, Harvard, and Merton College, Oxford. He settled in England, where he was for a time a schoolmaster and a bank clerk, and eventually literary editor for the publishing house Faber & Faber, of which he later became a director. He founded and, during the seventeen years of its publication (1922-1939), edited the exclusive and influential literary journal Criterion. In 1927, Eliot became a British citizen and about the same time entered the Anglican Church.

Eliot has been one of the most daring innovators of twentieth-century poetry. Never compromising either with the public or indeed with language itself, he has followed his belief that poetry should aim at a representation of the complexities of modern civilization in language and that such representation necessarily leads to difficult poetry. Despite this difficulty his influence on modern poetic diction has been immense. Eliot’s poetry from Prufrock (1917) to the Four Quartets (1943) reflects the development of a Christian writer: the early work, especially The Waste Land (1922), is essentially negative, the expression of that horror from which the search for a higher world arises.

He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature and the Order of Merit  in 1948.

Click here to listen to TS Eliot recite the poem Journey of the Magi

W hope you like them!

An essay to read and one to write for Christmas

Here is an example of balanced essay. Please read it and fill in the gaps with the words you think most appropriate. Pay attention to the structure and the linking words

Christmas Cinema Homework

HO,HO,HO

Dear students,

As you have been remarkably good this year we feel quite generous and will set a light homework for the Christmas period.

If there was a film that you associate to Spanish TV in this season it has to be….

La Gran Familia (1962). For those of you who are too young to remember, this classic black and white film tells the story of a modest big family in Madrid with loads of endearing situations and small family conflicts that get magically solved with the good will of the season. With easily recognisable characters and realistic situations, it still made me cry every time  Chencho got lost in the Christmas crowds of Madrid.

Well, it seems that it is a universally recognised feeling because, in the other side of the Atlantic, the Americans made a film that became the classic of every Christmas and it is the one  all the TV channels broadcast around this time of the year It’s a wonderful life (1942)

Have you already seen it? If you haven’t watched it yet, this is your chance. Make yourselves cozy, with a steaming mug of hot cocoa and a packet of Kleenex and enjoy

http://www.megavideo.com/?v=94OU22KU

I don’t want to spoil any of this great classic for you so I won’t reveal any of the plot. Just watch and let the Christmas spirit invade your home.  Merry Christmas!

Thanksgiving and a quiz

Thanksgiving

 

You have probably heard a lot about “The First Thanksgiving.” You may be surprised to learn that the day we call “The First Thanksgiving” today was not really a “thanksgiving” at all to the people who were there!

The history of Thanksgiving goes much further back than Plymouth and 1621. In fact, people across the world from every culture have been celebrating and giving thanks for thousands of years. In this country, long before English colonists arrived, Native People celebrated many different days of thanksgiving. “Strawberry Thanksgiving” and “Green Corn Thanksgiving” are just two of kinds of celebrations for the Wampanoag and other Native People.

In 1621, the English colonists at Plymouth (some people call them “Pilgrims” today) had a three-day feast to celebrate their first harvest. More than 90 native Wampanoag People joined the 50 English colonists in the festivities. Historians don­t know for sure why the Wampanoag joined the gathering or what activities went on for those three days. Form the one short paragraph that was written about the celebration at the time, we know that they ate, drank, and played games. Back in England, English people celebrated the harvest by feasting and playing games in much the same way.

The English did not call the 1621 event a “thanksgiving.” A day of “thanksgiving” was very different for the colonists. It was a day of prayer to thank God when something really good happened. The English actually had their first thanksgiving in the summer of 1623. On this day they gave thanks for the rain that ended a long drought.

By now you surely know a lot about this festivity and how it is celebrated. Would you like to test your knowledge? Try this easy quiz and check your score

www.manythings.org/voa/011119tia.htm

Good luck!

Guy Fawkes

Guy Fawkes Night or Bonfire Night is an annual celebration on the evening of 5 November. It marks the downfall of the Gunpowder Plot of 5 November 1605, in which a number of Catholic conspirators, including Guy Fawkes, attempted to blow up the Houses of Parliament, in London, United Kingdom.

In celebration of his survival, King James ordered that the people of England should have a great bonfire on the night on 5^th November.

On 5 November every year, children in Britain get excited because it is Bonfire Night (Guy Fawkes’ Night). We lit bonfires and enjoy fireworks displays. On top of the fire there is a guy (a homemade model of a man, like a scarecrow).

This is the famous poem that children sing

Getting ready for Halloween

Pumpkins all over the world are gathering in order to celebrate their big day.

Halloween

It’s Halloween time!

Halloween is an annual holiday celebrated on October 31. The day is often associated with orange and black, and is strongly associated with symbols like the jack-o’-lantern. Halloween activities include trick-or-treating , wearing costumes and attending costume parties, ghost tours, bonfires, visiting haunted attractions, pranks, telling scary stories, and watching horror films.

Watch This is Halloween from The Nightmare Before Christmas and complete the reading comprehension below it.