Happy New Year !

Google Doodle - New Year's Eve

Thank YOU for making 2010 so great!

With your support, I hope I'll be able to do even better in 2011.

Happy New Year to you and yours.
All the best for 2011 :)

Year in Review

As the year draws to a close, there are more and more year-in-review videos, slideshows and stories available.
Start by watching this video and see how the World Searched with Google's 2010 Zeitgeist:

This year-in-review infographic from http://jess3.com/year-in-review-infographic-2010/  is great to visualise "2010’s biggest stories, broken down into 4 categories: Inspiring Acts, Natural Disasters, Good Sports, Financial Uprisings, and Survivor Stories".
On December 26, BBC also published an interesting audio slideshow: WE REMEMBER...IN 2010 recalling the people who passed away this year including "the deaths of sporting legends, Hollywood stars and political heavyweights". It takes around 8 minutes but it's worth watching and listening here.
The Guardian's year in review is really good: it allows us to see how the year unfolded month-by-month and even day-by-day but even better is the fact that teachers can build their own year in review or, obviously, ask students to do it. As they put it "add a story per month to create a personalised interactive to share with others." Try clicking on "Add story to your 2010" above the pictures and you'll have a calendar with the 12 months. Then, on your right, there are arrows you can click on to search for your story for each month. Easy, right? This way, we / sts can choose the month story we / they consider most relevant, present it to class and explain why.
As usual, such materials don't contain much information - usually topics - but are great for end of year quizzes, for news reviews, to refresh our memories thus providing food for thought... for discussion and research.

Bearing this in mind, let me tell you what I did in class last week as a way of "year in review".

I have an amazing class of false beginners and was reviewing Past Simple (to be, regular and irregular verbs)

when Time Magazine published their 2010 "Person of the Year" - Mark Elliot Zuckerberg,  the founder of the famous social network FACEBOOK awarded "for connecting more than half a billion people and mapping the social relations among them, for creating a new system of exchanging information and for changing how we live our lives".             

 
After collecting some info and images I came up with a worksheet which included the cover of Time Magazine some biodata in topic form, and real pictures of the young billionaire as a child. As I didn't have much time I even provided them with his BIOGRAPHY based on those topics but we could /should certainly have done it in class together also using the infos collected orally when eliciting information about the picture. As a follow-up activity, sts can build groups with the other Runners-Up , do some research on them and present what they have in class in order to boost a debate each defending their runner-up for the award (or just ask them to write a biography!); sts can also choose a person from a previous year (1927-2009) or simply choose someone they admire and, based on the topics suggested (to prevent simple copy and paste), write his / her biography.

Myself - PERSON OF THE YEAR!
(don't know which, though :))

Well, Time Magazine and Facebook also give us a unique
opportunity to picture ourselves "Person of the Year", by creating and sharing our own cover on Facebook!!! Click here! I guess sts would love doing something like this :))))

If this topic interests you, don't miss the movie "The Social Network" recently released. I really enjoyed it but got a strange feeling of Mark Zuckerberg and kept thinking about a book I read called "The Curious Incident of the dog in the night-time" by Mark Haddon whose main character had Asperger's Syndrome and lived in his own world...
wikipedia.org also has loads of infos both on Mark Zuckerberg, on previous editions of "Person of the Year" and the history behind it.
http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2036683_2037109_2037122,00.html - a video with the History of Social Networking; looking at everything from cavemen to the ancient nerds of yore to Facebook, Odd Todd takes you on a journey through the history of social networking.
http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2036683_2037109_2037113,00.html - a one minute Video on Facebook.

After CHRISTMAS

Christmas Homecoming,
by NORMAN ROCKWELL

Hope you are having / had a peaceful Christmas time!
Still in the aftermath of Christmas, consider watching one or two videos on Christmas at History Channel, for example, the history of Christmas, its evolution or the evolution of Santa Claus. There are also nice collections of pictures from Christmas and Santas around the world - check these:
http://blogs.sacbee.com/photos/2010/12/santa-claus-sightings-2010.html with 33 pictures or
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-12078559 a slideshow of 11 images.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

                           Christmas

Statue of J. Betjeman
at St. Pancras Station

The bells of waiting Advent ring,
The Tortoise stove is lit again
And lamp-oil light across the night
Has caught the streaks of winter rain
In many a stained-glass window sheen
From Crimson Lake to Hookers Green.

The holly in the windy hedge
And round the Manor House the yew
Will soon be stripped to deck the ledge,
The altar, font and arch and pew,
So that the villagers can say
'The church looks nice' on Christmas Day.

Provincial Public Houses blaze,
Corporation tramcars clang,
On lighted tenements I gaze,
Where paper decorations hang,
And bunting in the red Town Hall
Says 'Merry Christmas to you all'.

And London shops on Christmas Eve
Are strung with silver bells and flowers
As hurrying clerks the City leave
To pigeon-haunted classic towers,
And marbled clouds go scudding by
The many-steepled London sky.

And girls in slacks remember Dad,
And oafish louts remember Mum,
And sleepless children's hearts are glad.
And Christmas-morning bells say 'Come!'
Even to shining ones who dwell
Safe in the Dorchester Hotel.

And is it true,
This most tremendous tale of all,
Seen in a stained-glass window's hue,
A Baby in an ox's stall ?
The Maker of the stars and sea
Become a Child on earth for me ?
                                                                                     
And is it true ? For if it is,
No loving fingers tying strings
Around those tissued fripperies,
The sweet and silly Christmas things,
Bath salts and inexpensive scent
And hideous tie so kindly meant,

No love that in a family dwells,
No carolling in frosty air,
Nor all the steeple-shaking bells
Can with this single Truth compare -
That God was man in Palestine
And lives today in Bread and Wine.

John Betjeman in I like this Poem (ed. Kaye Webb) Puffin Books



Google Doodle paying tribute to the festive season

Reading? Yes, please!

Really not to panic (?!) but Christmas is less than a week away!!!
Though with loads of work waiting to be done (including school meetings, classes yet to prepare) this wintry weather with temperatures well below normal is an invitation to stay indoors by the fireplace, don't you think?
Sooooo, why not make the best of the situation by staying in and reading (more)? Have you bought or ordered any books for yourself or to offer this Christmas? Books are really great gifts but if you don't know what to read next or to offer, try this: 

www.bookseer.com/
Hurry up - we are running out of time till Christmas and always remember...

"TV.  If kids are entertained by two letters, imagine the fun they'll have with twenty-six.  Open your child's imagination.  Open a book." Author Unknown

It certainly applies to all people of all ages and walks of life...

A date to remember...

Today marks a very important date in History: in 1901 the first Nobel Prizes were awarded in Sweden and today Liu Xiaobo, jailed in China, was honored in absentia by the Nobel Committee who had awarded him the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize.
Today is Human Rights Day, a day celebrated annually across the world on 10 December. For this landmark the date was not chosen at random but to honor the United Nations General Assembly's adoption and proclamation, on 10 December 1948, of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), the first global enunciation of human rights. 
As for Literature, Emily Dickinson, an American poet, was also born on this day in 1830 but, in spite of such relevant events in different fields and around the world, this is also a date to remember for my myself and, above all, for my 6 phenomenal women who successfully completed their EFA course. Indeed, it marks the end of these longgggggggggggggg and very hardworkingggggggggggggg two years for my AE 3 ladies: ALICE, ANA, ISABEL, FÁTIMA, M. CONCEIÇÃO and OLINDA are to be congratulated for having finished their training as TÉCNICAS DE ACÇÃO EDUCATIVA. It was a pleasure to have worked with such a committed and dedicated group; it was the smallest class but, truth must be said, the most hardworking and generous group. It was a privilege to be in charge of such a class and I'm really proud of all of them!

 

Congratulations and all the best, ladies :)
Some final thoughts...I wouldn't like to finish this post though without a thank you word to all my colleagues and member of the school board who took the time to join us and celebrate this date - some even had to travel long distances, so: many thanks to all!!!

Mark Twain

Image Source: thefamouspeople.com

"A full belly is little worth where the mind is starved"                                                                                                  
Samuel Langhorne Clemens, known by his pen name Mark Twain was born on November 30, 1835 and died about one hundred years ago, on April 21, 1910. Acclaimed as "the father of American literature", Twain became best known not only as a humorist but, above all, as the author of  The Adventures of Tom Sawyer  (1876) and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884 in England, 1885, in the USA)

Image Sources: Book Covers of the first editons (wikipedia.org)

If you wish to read at least these two books (no excuses now with ebooks!!!), please click on:

http://www.marktwainbooks.org/

For further infos on the author, have a look at one of my fave sites

http://www.history.com/topics/mark-twain and http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/mark-twain-is-born

You can also have a look at the author's official web site at http://www.cmgww.com/historic/twain/index.php

as well as his house and museum at http://www.marktwainhouse.org/ to learn about his legacy

Interesting would also be to know that one hundred years after his death, Mark Twain is back on the best sellers list!!! All this stir now because he insisted that his own autobiography should only be published a century after he died - as The Telegraph puts it "Mark Twain passes the ultimate writer's test - staying in print".

Some final words on this particular day... also born on the 30th November but in 1874 was Sir Winston Churchill, a British politician and statesman and widely regarded as one of the great wartime leaders; on the same day but in 1935 (seventy-five years ago) a Portuguese poet, writer, literary critic and translator, and one of the most significant literary figures of the 20th century - Fernando Pessoa - died.

Happy Thanksgiving :)

Image Credit: wikipedia

The Gift Outright

by Robert Frost

The land was ours before we were the land’s.

She was our land more than a hundred years

Before we were her people. She was ours

In Massachusetts, in Virginia,

But we were England’s, still colonials,

Possessing what we still were unpossessed by,

Possessed by what we now no more possessed.

Something we were withholding made us weak

Until we found out that it was ourselves

We were withholding from our land of living,

And forthwith found salvation in surrender.

Such as we were we gave ourselves outright

(The deed of gift was many deeds of war)

To the land vaguely realizing westward,

But still unstoried, artless, unenhanced,

Such as she was, such as she would become.

Source: The Poetry of Robert Frost (Henry Holt & Co., 1969)

THANKSGIVING 2010, 25th November

Credit Image: Norman Rockwell
painting, 1943

What is Thanksgiving?
On the fourth Thursday in November, in houses around the United States, families get together for a feast, or a large meal.
The first Thanksgiving
On December 11, 1620, a group of 102 people called the Pilgrims arrived in the USA in the Mayflower. They didn't know much about the territory and their first winter was devastating.
By the beginning of the following fall, they had lost 46 people because of cold, hunger and disease. However, the harvest of 1621 was a generous one and, to commemorate it, the remaining colonists decided to celebrate with a feast with the Wampanoag Indians, who had helped them to survive their first year by teaching the Pilgrims to plant corn, to hunt, and to fish. The feast lasted three days and some of the foods they ate on their first "Thanksgiving"  were deer, fish, berries, venison, corn and other vegetables.
How Thanksgiving became a national holiday
Only many years later did Thanksgiving become a national holiday due to a woman named Sarah Hale. For forty years Sarah Josepha Hale wrote to each president and asked for a holiday of Thanksgiving. At last she was successful when in 1863 President Abraham Lincoln declared Thanksgiving a holiday. On November 26, 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs legislation making Thanksgiving Day the fourth Thursday of each November.
Modern Thanksgiving
Nowadays Thanksgiving celebration only lasts one day and people usually spend this time with their families and friends. Unlike in the past, modern Thanksgiving meals include turkey (which has become a symbol of this date), sweet potatoes, cranberries and pumpkin pie. The idea of Thanksgiving, though, is very much the same: it is a time to give thanks for the many blessings we have.
But for a clearer idea, let's have a look at this great Thanksgiving video from http://www.history.com/topics/thanksgiving/videos#history-of-the-thanksgiving-holiday 
Thanksgiving is indeed one of the most important celebrations in the USA and usually one of the best dinner parties of the year - that's also why so much stuff can be found on the Internet. If you are looking for some more infos / data / materials, make sure to check out the following links:
http://www.ocls.info/Virtual/galleries/Holidays/thanksgiving.asp?search=s&printable=yes
http://712educators.about.com/cs/thanksgiving/a/thanksgiving.htm (Thanksgiving across the curriculum)
http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/0,28757,1862503,00.html (top ten things you didn't know about Thanksgiving)
http://www.scholastic.com/scholastic_thanksgiving/ (great webquest and provides not only links but also audio support)
http://www.apples4theteacher.com/holidays/thanksgiving/ (here you can lead your sts to create their own acrostic poem or place words in alphabetical order; there are also the traditional word jumbles, word searches or simply coloring pages ;)
http://holidays.kaboose.com/thanks-printables.html  and / or http://bogglesworldesl.com/thanksgiving_worksheets.htm (as usual, here you'll find mazes, word puzzles,...)
Inevitable are the menus and special recipes for this day - have a look at these by world renowned chef Jamie Oliver at http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/favourites/thanksgiving-recipes. Talking about food... if you are a vegetarian or concerned about the fact that more than 45 million turkeys are cooked and eaten  in the US at Thanksgiving, check out this link http://www.animalacres.org/events/pre_thank_2010.html
and... do watch this clip carefully

Finally... have a great Thanksgiving Day - wherever you are :))))

MOBY-DICK published

Image Credit: americanpoems.com

On this day in 1851, Moby-Dick, a novel by Herman Melville about the voyage of the whaling ship Pequod, is published by Harper & Brothers in New York. Moby-Dick, also known as The Whale, is now considered a great classic of American literature and contains one of the most famous opening lines in fiction: "Call me Ishmael." Initially, though, the book about Captain Ahab and his quest for a giant white whale was a flop.
Herman Melville was born in New York City in 1819 and as a young man spent time in the merchant marines, the U.S. Navy and on a whaling ship in the South Seas. In 1846, he published his first novel, Typee, a romantic adventure based on his experiences in Polynesia. The book was a success and a sequel, Omoo, was published in 1847. Three more novels followed, with mixed critical and commercial results. Melville's sixth book, Moby-Dick, was first published in October 1951 in London, in three volumes titled The Whale, and then in the U.S. a month later. Melville had promised his publisher an adventure story similar to his popular earlier works, but instead, Moby-Dick was a tragic epic, influenced in part by Melville's friend and Pittsfield, Massachusetts, neighbor, Nathaniel Hawthorne, whose novels include The Scarlet Letter.

Image Credit: bookride.com

After Moby-Dick's disappointing reception, Melville continued to produce novels, short stories (Bartleby) and poetry, but writing wasn't paying the bills so in 1865 he returned to New York to work as a customs inspector, a job he held for 20 years.
Melville died in 1891, largely forgotten by the literary world. By the 1920s, scholars had rediscovered his work, particularly Moby-Dick, which would eventually become a staple of high school reading lists across the United States. Billy Budd, Melville's final novel, was published in 1924, 33 years after his death.
From http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history
For further information or readings, have a look at:
http://www.online-literature.com/melville/mobydick/ - you have the whole book here to read, chapter by chapter
http://www.melville.org/melville.htm#marnews - a compilation of data on H. Melville
http://berkshirehistory.org/herman-melville/herman-melville-and-arrowhead/

10th November - 2nd Birthday!

Celebrate our 2nd birthday!
Thanks for your support - I wouldn't be celebrating the date if it weren't for you :) I never thought that blogging would have such a great impact in my life. It has changed me as a person and as a professional and I just can't imagine myself without writing for long...feeling something running through my veins pushing me forward and for blogging more.
Again, my huge thank YOU!

Cheer up - Always look on the bright side of life

That's perhaps the wisest way - when feeling blue, one should always look on the bright side of life and try to cheer up - it was exactly what LN managed to do: I was feeling down and she sent me this link. Hope it works as much as it did with me :)))))

UPDATE - Halloween Google logo

Doodle - Happy Halloween from Google featuring Scooby Doo!!!

More on... HALLOWEEN

Kids and teens love bizarre, weird stuff, don't they?
I've signed up for regular updates from The Guinness World of Records (their "monthly superlative news fix") for some time and guess what?! Recently they've announced a list of Top Halloween Records - and I thought: Wow - why not show our classes a slideshow of Halloween records next week to introduce or review the adjective degrees, namely the superlative forms???? The Telegraph also has an amazing picture gallery of carved pumpkins and here is another under the heading "Thrill the world 2010" with zombies.

As Halloween approaches, both BBC and CNN have posted images and articles on this subject, even comparing US and UK spendings as it happens here or in this video. So, besides those old but still useful Classroom Timesavers (Holidays and Special Days in the USA / Festivals and Special Days in Britain), what I've already posted before and am posting now, there is a wide range of sources to choose from - one needs but time to search and choose and that's what we haven't got...

Further interesting / curious infos can be found...

http://us.cnn.com/video/ - free app (only till Oct 31) for cell phones called "Trick or Track" so that parents can track their children's location

http://www.bbc.com/travel/feature/20101021-get-spooked-sensational-halloween-destinations
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/10/101027-halloween-costumes-facts-history-nation-science/

BOO!!!!!!!!!!!!! It's HALLOWEEN!

In a few days, Halloween is there again.

Every year on October 31st, Halloween is celebrated in many different countries around the world.

As usual, wikipedia has loads of information but have a look at History.com for a change! Here you'll find pictures, videos, games, infos on This Day in History (obviously updated daily!) and topics - exactly where you can read about the ancient origins of this celebration, evolution, today's traditions and trivia. Have a look at some of the short videos available (for example, Pumpkin facts), read about History of the Jack O'Lantern, and explore the interactive pumpkin carving patterns.

The NYTimes also has resources for teachers - many and good ones! Under the heading Education, we find lessons, crosswords, multimedia / slideshows, quizzes, recipes and more such as movie overviews.

Some more practical and easy stuff for us to use are the traditional word searches, crosswords or coloring pages you can find here and here and choose according to your age / level group.
With young learners, even 12 / 13 year-olds (7th graders) there is this link I find fantastic with Background Information and Activities + Halloween Teacher Activities + Halloween Family Activities. Then, if you click on the pumpkin (top right hand corner), you can play a short movie (with or without captions), play games, quizzes, write, read,... all with sound. In the end, learners / teachers / parents can also print whatever they want.

My Halloween greetings :)))

IF EVERYONE CARED...

Following my last post on WORLD FOOD DAY (and on the 17th was / is International Day for the Eradication of Poverty), a powerful song that expresses many of our wishes - the world would be a much better place if we all cared. Some examples are depicted throughout the clip; people who, one way or the other, managed to change the world. We, too, can make a difference, if we DO care and DO something - and I know YOU do care because so many people played the game at http://www.freerice.com/ even though unnoticed... Thank you all!
Now watch this YouTube video till the very end, please!


Lyrics here - a great song not only for the message but also for the use of the 2nd Conditional, right?

WORLD FOOD DAY - 16th October

World Food Day, which happens every year on 16th October, is intended to focus attention on global hunger.
Please watch this PSA for 2010

Developed countries have problems with obesity and overweight children while developing nations suffer more and more from HUNGER. There is therefore little to celebrate at UN World Food Day 2010 but a lot we can do to help if we are willing to. At http://www.wfp.org/stories/10-ways-fight-hunger-right-now we can find suggestions to fight hunger and, as a teacher, I would point out the following:
http://www.wfp.org/videos/nutrition-2-minutes-0 - a very short, clear and easy to follow video on nutrition we can show to our students for information, comparison, for food vocabulary;
http://www.wfp.org/students-and-teachers - World Food Programme is well aware that teachers play an important role in changing mentalities, in persuading learners to take action and in this section, besides all the information available, there are also some lesson plans. However, for teachers and students, parents and children, all adults and kids in general, I believe http://www.freerice.com/ to be the best: a game in which for each answer we get right, they donate 10 grains of rice through the World Food Programme to help end hunger. You can choose subjects, learn and contribute for a worthy cause!!! Do try :)))
As I posted here and here before, BBC Learning English has new material also on Hunger as you can see in this printscreen, ready for us to use in classes:

Unfortunately, there are loads of articles and infos on this issue. Here are just a few suggestions for further reading or research:

http://www.fao.org/getinvolved/worldfoodday/en/

Image Credit:
ecoactionteams

http://www.euronews.net/2010/10/15/little-to-celebrate-at-un-food-day/

http://www.altiusdirectory.com/Society/world-food-day.php

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Food_Day

EAT WELL :)

Rescuing "Los 33"

 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. (Genesis 1:3)

Rescuing the 33 trapped Chilean miners has become a concern around the world - our eyes and ears (for many, even their prayers) have been and are still on Chile. We have suffered with the miners and their families during their long ordeal of over two months underground; just like distant members of a large family, we've followed all steps to ensure they would be rescued. Now, as one by one is coming out and the meticulous operation of raising them to the surface unfolds, all express their deepest gratitude for the happy outcome, Chileans in general are proud (and delighted with such international media frenzy), and everywhere in the world overjoyed  people are celebrating not only the miners' safe and sound "return to life"- their rebirth -, the effort of the rescuers but also the miracle of technology.

All this got me thinking about introducing updated news and realia into classes.

At CNN you have an interactive map that is being permanently updated as the miners are being rescued. Besides a very clear map from where a lot of information can be taken (we can also use it for adjective degrees), there is a picture of each of the trapped miners in which you can click on in order to have some more information on them. Here you have even more infos on who the trapped Chilean miners are. Their ages and other personal information as well as their roles underground can be used to practise adjective degrees or verb tenses. Here CNN's interactive gives a 360-degree sweep of the site of the Chile mine rescue.
For more information click...
http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/10/13/chile.miner.television.moment/index.html?iref=NS1
http://edition.cnn.com/2010/TECH/web/10/13/chile.miners.online.traffic/index.html?iref=NS1
http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/10/13/chile.miners.rescue/index.html?iref=NS1
As usual, CNN STUDENT NEWS has great material we can use as described here in a previous blogpost.
So now watch this:


BBC also has an extensive coverage of the rescue operations
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-11527129
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-11489439
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/special_reports/chile_mine/  - all the information one needs -

even the miners' daily routine at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-11170852 - why not use this with our students? We can ask them to write down a diary page or once their ordeal is coming to an end, ask them to describe a typical day using the simple past.
With weaker students or lower levels, we can use http://voxy.com/stories/news/chilean-miners-clash-over-who-will-come-out-last,2149/ .
Voxy - LEARN A LANGUAGE FROM LIFE - with news from around the world, VOXY can be used as a resource for EFL students to help them learn English. They can listen to the full (but always very short) text; they can read the article and by clicking on the highlighted words they not only hear their correct pronunciation but also add them to a "study list" which can be used for games and quizzes. In this case, we can also introduce / review some grammar topics such as verb tenses, adjective degrees (again) or ordinal numbers.
There is always the option of a NO COMMENT news video, for example
http://www.euronews.net/nocomment/2010/10/13/chile-first-miners-reach-the-surface/ to brainstorm ideas, vocabulary and knowledge on current events, for descriptions, for feelings, a great feature for secondary students! As they put it "At euronews we believe in the intelligence of our viewers and we think that the mission of a news channel is to deliver facts without any opinion or bias, so that the viewers can make their own opinion on world events."

As always, comments and suggestions are welcome. Why don't you share your ideas as well?

Happy 70th Birthday, JOHN LENNON

Image Credit: archive.org

For those about my age, you surely still remember John Lennon who, if alive, would be celebrating his 70th birthday. Due to his influence through music / lyrics and political / peaceful messages, this date is being marked worldwide with different events (special concerts, museum exhibits, CD reissues, a monument in Liverpool - the legendary musician's hometown - even in Iceland with a ceremony hosted by Yoko Ono) as well as by Google with this special interactive doodle playing his famous song Imagine.
As a teacher I've already introduced some of his songs in classes - namely the one already mentioned with the topic war / peace,  Happy Christmas, Woman,...
As for kids / teens, many have already heard his songs on TV, in ads or heard parents referring or listening to John Lennon in his solo career or most certainly to the Beatles, the band he himself described in 1966 as having become "more famous than Jesus".

Image Credit: rockbandbeatlesblog.com

If you're a fan, consider clicking http://www.beatlestube.net/  where you'll find all videos about the Beatles on YouTube;
If you're more interested in John Lennon than in the Beatles, have a look at
http://www.johnlennonday.com/  - Imagine John Lennon Day, an International Holiday celebrating Peace and Love
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Lennon
http://www.johnlennon.com/index.html
http://www.archive.org/post/280379/john-lennon-12-8-80
http://www.cbc.ca/arts/music/story/2010/10/07/john-lennon-70th-birthday-solo-career.html
or even today's news paying him tribute
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-11507993
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ALeqM5iAhEB4FcLYGhnErbdzKgbSDSfQJQ?docId=N0181101286628335882A
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/celebritynews/8051939/John-Lennon-profile.html

EAT PRAY LOVE



On August 15th I posted here about my summer readings and mentioned I was reading EAT PRAY LOVE by Elizabeth Gilbert; by then I also posted the trailer of its film adaptation and later left a very short comment here. Well, yesterday off to the cinema I went but not alone :))))) We were a large group of forty (teachers and adult learners of English) and really had a nice time - as always -watching Julia Roberts learning Italian (and Italian gestures), slurping spaghetti, desperately trying to wear trousers that weren't definitely her size any more, chanting (or trying to) in Sanskrit, meeting a toothless medicine man,...and always surrounded by nice and/or good looking men, real hotties, I would say ;)) Lucky woman! 

ELIZABETH GILBERT
Image Credit: wikipedia.org

As I said before in my wallwisher, I loved this autobiographical book: a divorcee's epic search around the world for inner peace. Of course we can always question her reasons to do it but in what the book is concerned, it is personal and rich in spiritual insight. Liz Gilbert is sometimes hilarious and has a great sense of humour. As far as I am concerned, I found her writing captivating and her travelogue exciting. As for the film, we have the privilege of having a glimpse of all the beautiful and fascinating places she went to (Italy, India and Indonesia) as well as their cultures - worlds apart, obviously!

Hope you liked it :)

INTERNATIONAL DAY FOR OLDER PERSONS - 1st October

To my parents, with all my love and affection.

BEAUTIFUL OLD AGE
 

It ought to be lovely to be old

to be full of the peace that comes of experience
and wrinkled ripe fulfilment.

The wrinkled smile of completeness that follows a life
lived undaunted and unsoured with accepted lies

they would ripen like apples, and be scented like pippins

in their old age.

D.H Lawrence
Image Credit:
 poetryconnection.net

Soothing, old people should be, like apples

when one is tired of love.

Fragrant like yellowing leaves, and dim with the soft

stillness and satisfaction of autumn.

And a girl should say:

It must be wonderful to live and grow old.

Look at my mother, how rich and still she is! -

And a young man should think: By Jove

my father has faced all weathers, but it's been a life!

D.H. Lawrence http://www.poetseers.org/the_great_poets/british_poets/d_h_lawrence/lawrence_poems/3/view/

Bio and Biblio on the author:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D._H._Lawrence

The Flintstones' 50th anniversary

For fun...and curiosity

Another stunning Doodle on the Google Homepage to celebrate the Flintstones' 50 th anniversary!
If you're (even more) curious, read
http://www.metro.co.uk/tech/842573-the-flintstones-50th-anniversary-celebrated-with-google-doodle
http://www.metro.co.uk/tv/842598-the-flintstones-50th-anniversary-ten-things-you-never-knew

EDL 2010 (26 September)

Next Sunday September 26 is the European Day of Languages. Last year I posted here about it and there is not much else to add really. So, please have a look at my previous blogpost on this issue once there you'll find infos and resources as well. Nevertheless, as there are different ways to achieve the same goals  - and, in this case, to celebrate EDL, - I believe that in a multicultural class or with friends scattered around Europe, we could build a wall at http://www.wallwisher.com/build and ask them (either students or friends, or both!) to leave a greeting message in their own language; if this is not the case, something we could prepare beforehand is a matching exercise. Have a look at this word cloud:

Here we have the greeting "Good Morning" in different European languages and students could be asked to match countries / greetings. Interesting would also be to include Esperanto (which I didn't) and ask them to do some research on it as a possible communication language. They probably won't know some, but that could also provide an opportunity for research work not only on the correct greeting but also on the country (ies)...

Happy Sunday! Happy EDL 2010!!!

World Carfree Day - 22nd September

Image Credit: worldcarfree.net

Every September 22 is World Carfree Day.
In a car-dominated society, another eco-friendly initiative to make us all think about what we are doing to our planet...As for politicians / governments, well, it should really be a time to plan our cities differently and give priority to cycling, walking and better public transport!!!

I know, I know it's hard to avoid driving our cars to go to work or to take our children to school but at least, let's stop for a while and think about this - seriously! What do I do to avoid driving? What do I do to prevent more pollution? What do I do today or could do to improve my/our kids' future on Earth???

If interested, check:
http://www.worldcarfree.net/wcfd/
http://worldcarfree.net/wcfd/resources.php
http://editthis.info/wcd/
http://www.ecoplan.org/carfreeday/index.htm

15th September 2010 - Agatha Christie's 120th birthday

Today is Agatha Christie's 120th birthday and what you see above is this year's Google Doodle depicting Hercule Poirot, her world famous fictional detective.
Agatha Christie, the Queen of Crime, is the best-selling author of all time.  She has sold over two billion books worldwide and has been translated into over 45 languages.  In a writing career that spanned more than half a century, Agatha Christie wrote eighty novels and short story collections. (For comprehensive data  click wikipedia.)

Image Credit: answers.com

In the official website besides the latest news, there is a Delicious Death cake recipe (how appropriate!!!) to celebrate this date, yet what really matters for us teachers is further below on our right hand side under HELP & INFO, I'm a teacher. This page gives you links to what they think are the most useful areas of the Christie's official website and links to readers and teachers’ classroom resources created by Christie’s publishers. Their publishers and other academics have prepared reading guides on some of the most famous books (which some of you might have already used in the classroom with secondary learners): And Then There Were None,
Murder on the Orient Express, or Death on the Nile .
With such a vast bibliography, Agatha Christie has become synonymous throughout the world with England.  Her quintessential “English” characters offer a charming view of a bygone era when people sat down to tea in the afternoon and tended roses in their gardens. The richness of the settings in Christie’s novels add to the great enjoyment when reading her novels and she drew on real places when writing her stories.
Teachers can always find something more and if you are a librarian make sure you check out this : there are tips for reading groups, for a session on the history and development of crime fiction, quizzes on the author... DO read it for inspiration!
Here are a couple of related resources that might be of interest to you:
http://www.answers.com/topic/agatha-christie-large-image
http://www.agathachristie.com/about-christie/the-queen-of-crime/An-Autobiography-2010/
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/sep/15/agatha-christie-google-doodle
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/google/8003559/Agatha-Christie-120th-birthday-anniversary-celebrated-by-Google-Doodle.html
http://www.bbc.co.uk/devon/content/articles/2006/09/20/agatha_christie_profile_feature.shtml
http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/devon/hi/people_and_places/history/newsid_8988000/8988240.stm
http://www.englishriviera.co.uk/agathachristie/festival