THE STATUE OF LIBERTY'S 125th BIRTHDAY

HAPPY BIRTHDAY,

STATUE OF LIBERTY!!!

The Statue of Liberty (Liberty Enlightening the World; French: La Liberté éclairant le monde) is a huge neoclassical sculpture on Liberty Island in New York Harbour, designed by Frédéric Bartholdi and dedicated on October 28, 1886. So it's 125 years old today. The statue, a gift to the United States from the people of France, is of a female figure representing Libertas, the Roman goddess of freedom, who bears a torch and a tabula ansata (a tablet evoking the law). The date of the American Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776 is inscribed on it. A broken chain lies at her feet. The statue has become an icon of freedom and of the United States.

IT'S HALLOWEEN AGAIN! (2)

Two years ago, on the 28th of October of 2009, we posted the first entry about Halloween on this blog. Take a look (by date 28/10/2009 or by label: tradition, halloween) because you can read a complete report on what Halloween is all about. This year we include two videos, so you can listen about it. First a basic vocabulary for the season and second, two videos with short histories of Halloween. In between an easier version of the history of Halloween posted in 2009.

Video Halloween Vocabulary:

Halloween (also spelt Hallowe'en) is an annual holiday celebrated on October 31. It's a festival of Celtic origin, Samhain and the Christian holy day of All Saints. It is a secular celebration which has religious influence.
The day is often associated with orange and black, and with symbols like the jack-o'-lantern, a pumpkin with a frightening face and a candle lit inside. 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.

Halloween has origins in the ancient festival known as Samhain, which comes from Old Irish and it means "summer's end". This was a Gaelic festival celebrated mainly in Ireland and Scotland. The festival of Samhain celebrates the end of the "lighter half" of the year and beginning of the "darker half", and is sometimes regarded as the "Celtic New Year". The celebration has some elements of a festival of the dead. The ancient Celts believed that the border between this world and the Otherworld became thin on Samhain, spirits (both good and bad) pass through. The family's ancestors were honoured and invited home while bad spirits were guided away. It is believed that the need to guide the bad spirits away made people wear costumes and masks. By disguising oneself as an evil spirit, people aren't attacked. Samhain was also a time to take stock food supplies and kill animales for the winter. Bonfires played a large part in the festivities.
The name Halloween and many present-day traditions, derive from the Old English era. The term Halloween, originally spelt Hallowe’en, is shortened from All Hallows' Even – e'en is a shortening of even, which is a shortening of evening. This is ultimately derived from the Old English Eallra Hālgena ǣfen. It is now known as "Eve of" All Saints' Day, which is November 1st. Although All Saints' Day is now considered to occur one day after Halloween, the two holidays were once celebrated on the same day.

Trick-or-treating is a customary celebration for children on Halloween. Children go in costume from house to house, asking for treats such as sweets, candy or sometimes money, with the question, "Trick or treat?" The word "trick" refers to a joke-threat to do to the homeowners or their property if they don't give anyt treat to these children. In some parts of Ireland and Scotland children still go disguised. In this custom the child performs some sort of show, i.e. sings a song or tells a ghost story, in order to earn their treats.

Halloween costumes are traditionally those of monsters such as ghosts, skeletons, witches, and devils. They are said to be used to scare off devils. Costumes are also based on themes other than traditional horror, such as those of characters from television shows, movies, and other pop culture icons.

Video "THE HISTORY OF HALLOWEEN":

Video "THE HISTORY OF HALLOWEEN/2":

HOW OFTEN DO YOU...? (FREQUENCY ADVERBS)

Position of frequency adverbs in the sentence:

We use adverbs of frequency to say how often you do something. Adverbs of frequency are often used with the present simple because they indicate repeated or routine activities.

For example: They often go out for dinner.

Adverbs of frequency include (form most often to least often. See the picture above):

always usually often sometimes rarely never

1. If the sentence has one verb (e.g. no auxiliary verb) put the adverb in the middle of the sentence after the subject and before the verb.

Examples: Tom usually goes to work by car. Janet never flies. She always goes by bus.

2. Adverbs of frequency come after the verb 'be'.

Examples: I am never late for work. Peter is often at school.

3. If the sentence has more than one verb (e.g. auxiliary verb), put the adverb of frequency before the main verb.

Examples: I can never remember anything! They have often visited Rome.

4. When using adverbs of frequency in the question or negative form, put the adverb of frequency before the main verb.

Examples: She doesn't often visit Europe. Do you usually get up early?

Links to exercises on adverbs of frequency:

http://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en/exercises/adjectives_adverbs/adverbs_of_frequency.htm

http://www.tolearnenglish.com/english_lessons/adverbs-of-frequency-exercises

http://www.autoenglish.org/gr.frequ.i.htm

PERSONAL PRONOUNS: SUBJECT/OBJECT, POSSESSIVES & REFLEXIVES

Position in the sentence: SUBJECT PRONOUNS go IN FRONT OF the verb or BETWEEN the auxiliary verb and the main verb in questions. OBJECT PRONOUNS go AFTER a verb or a preposition.

Position in the sentence: POSSESSIVE ADJECTIVES go BEFORE the noun. POSSESSIVE PRONOUNS go INSTEAD of the noun already mentioned before.

CLASSROOM ORGANIZATION RULES

Sometimes it's a bit difficult to teach in a classroom. Classrooms have a big number of students, and students can't do whatever they want in class. There must be some rules.

1- LISTEN CAREFULLY. And even more in an English class, because you need to understand what you have to do. Listen to what other people have to say and don't interrupt them.

2- FOLLOW INSTRUCTIONS. Do what the teacher tells you to.

3- DON'T INTERFERE WITH THE TEACHING AND LEARNING OF OTHERS. Don't disturb in the classroom: talking, making noises, moving things, walking around, standing up...

4- RESPECT PERSONAL SPACE, RIGHTS AND PROPERTY OF OTHERS. Don't take things that aren't yours, don't disturb other people. Use kind words. Think before you do something.

5- RAISE YOUR HAND AND WAIT TO BE CALLED ON. If you have any question or problem, put your hand up and wait until the teacher asks you or goes to you. When there's nothing to say, say nothing. You can't talk about anything you want at any time in the class. Think before you speak or say anything out loud in class.

6- COMPLETE WORK ON TIME. Do the exercises you are told in class when the teacher says. Do and bring the homework when the teacher says. Bring the books and notebook to class.

7- ALWAYS DO YOUR BEST. Come to class to work, pay attention and learn. Work is time to work. We can also have fun, but learning.

8- WORK AND PLAY SAFELY. Be careful. Don't get into trouble.

9- STAY ON TASK. Concentrate. Pay attention.

10- OBEY ALL SCHOOL RULES. The school and class rules have to be followed. If you break any of the rules, you'll get into trouble. You can be punished.

Bart Simpson has the same rules in his English class:

DOs:

DON'Ts:

APPLE CO-FOUNDER, STEVE JOBS DIED. HIS FAMOUS SPEECH AT STAMFORD UNIVERSITY WITH HIS OWN VIEW OF LIFE

Steven Paul "Steve" Jobs (February 24, 1955 – October 5, 2011) was an American inventor and entrepreneur. He was co-founder, chairman, and chief executive officer of Apple Inc. Jobs was co-founder and previously served as chief executive of Pixar Animation Studios; he became a member of the board of directors of the Walt Disney Company in 2006, following the acquisition of Pixar by Disney.
In the late 1970s, Jobs — along with Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, Mike Markkula and others—designed, developed, and marketed one of the first commercially successful lines of personal computers, the Apple II series.
After losing a power struggle with the board of directors in 1985, Jobs left Apple and founded NeXT, a computer platform development company specializing in the higher-education and business markets.
In 1986, he acquired the computer graphics division of Lucasfilm Ltd, which was spun off as Pixar Animation Studios. He was credited in Toy Story (1995) as an executive producer.
On October 5, 2011, Jobs died at his home in Palo Alto, California, aged 56.
His commencement course speech at Stanford University in 2005 is famous. We include it here in a two part video with English subtitles. On our etc page you can watch the whole video with Spanish subtitles.

Video of Steve Jobs' speech at Stanford University (2005):

THE UNITED KINGDOM (OF GREAT BRITAIN & NORTHERN IRELAND)

What is the difference between England and Britain (or Great Britain)? Three countries make up Great Britain: England, Scotland and Wales. So England is part of Great Britain, and a Scotsman (a person of Scottish origin) is British, too. A person born in Wales is Welsh, and they are British, too. Northern Ireland is part of the United Kingdom, or “the UK”. So the UK is made up of four countries: England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, the last of which is not part of Great Britain. Northern Ireland is a part of the island or Ireland. The rest of this island, which isn't Northern Ireland or the Ulster, is another different country: the Republic of Ireland.

The formal name of the country is the “United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland”, but in everyday speech Britain is often used to mean the UK, though, as you have seen, this is not perfectly correct. The word “great” was added to “Britain” several hundred years ago, in the Middle Ages, when the English kings had lands in what is now France, and a certain part of it was called Britanny. To avoid confusion, they added the word “great” to the name of the land which was larger.

The capital city of the UK is London, which is also the capital of England. The capital of Scotland is Edimburgh, the capital of Wales is Cardiff and the capital of Northern Ireland is Belfast.

Visual explanation:

Video difference between UK Great Britain and England, Wales & Scotland:

Video "The difference between UK, GB & England explained:

THE HISTORY OF THE ADDAMS FAMILY

On page 15 of our Student's Book there's a reading text about the Addams Family. But do you want to know more about them? Do you want to know their history? Here's some more information...

The Addams Family is a group of fictional characters created by American cartoonist Charles Addams. Addams Family characters include Gomez, Morticia, Uncle Fester, Lurch, Grandmama, Wednesday and Pugsley.
The Addamses are a satirical version of the ideal American family; an eccentric, rich clan who like the macabre and don't see that people find them strange or frightening. They originally appeared as a series of single panel cartoons, published in The New Yorker between 1938 and 1988. They have been adapted to other media, including TV series, films, video games, and a musical.

The original cartoon from 1938
The first TV series from 1964 to 1966

The latest film version 1991 & 1993
Video opening credits of original TV series:

Video trailer of the Addams Family film:

OCTOBER 5th: IT'S TEACHER'S DAY AGAIN

Since 1994 World Teachers’ Day is celebrated on 5 October. It is an opportunity for UNESCO and Education International to celebrate the profession and to promote international standards for the teaching profession. The theme for this year is: Teachers for gender equality.
Despite the teaching profession being made up largely of women, inequality remains an issue. Even if measures to ensure equality are enshrined into the policies and constitutions of many states, for millions of female teachers, the goals remain unfulfilled. The teaching profession, both men and women, must unite and urge governments to implement their commitments.

ALSO REMINDING THAT THE TEACHING PROFESSION IS NOW SUFFERING THE CUTS IN EDUCATION BUDGETS, WHICH MEAN MORE CLASS-HOURS WITH BIGGER CLASSES IN NUMBER OF PUPILS FOR EACH TEACHER. LESS PERSONAL ATTENTION FOR STUDENTS WITH SPECIAL NEEDS AND LESS TIME FOR PROJECTS, REINFORCEMENTS, ACTIVITIES, ETC...

[12th CW] HEAD, TOES, LEGS & NOSE... (BODY PARTS)

We've been checking in class the vocabulary of the PARTS OF THE HUMAN BODY. In the picture you can see what each of these words are.

ankle / arm / chest / ear / elbow / eye / fingers / foot (feet) / hair / head / knee / leg / mouth / neck / nose / shoulder / thigh / toes / waist / wrist

REMEMBER: WE ALWAYS USE A POSSESSIVE WITH A PART OF THE BODY. NEVER THE ARTICLE.

my head / your arm / his eyes / her hair / our hands...

In the following links you have exercises:
-Parts of the head

-Parts of the face

-Parts of the body

THE SIMPSON'S FAMILY (Family members vocabulary)

FAMILY VOCABULARY:
FEMALE (women/girls):
mother (mum/mammy) / sister / daughter / aunt / niece / wife / grandmother (grandma) / granddaughter
MALE (men/boys):
father (dad/daddy) / brother / son / uncle / nephew / husband / grandfather (grandad) / grandson
BOTH SEXES:
cousin / child(ren) - siblings
COLLECTIVES:
parents / grandparents / relatives
After getting married, a family gets new members who are the -in-laws:
mother/father-in-law, son/daughter-in-law, brother/sister-in-law
Exercise: Who's who in the Simpson family? Write correct sentences about 6 of them.
Video "FAMILY MEMBERS":