Happy Halloween (31st October)

If you want to know about Halloween, here you are the link to wikipedia: click here. Another posibility is to hear (or read) this introduction (especially for NI1) to the topic: click here. Here you have some funny activities just in case you are interested in the topic:

INTERMEDIATE LEVEL:

• a short video with vocabulary of the topic; click here or this one
• a video about the history of Halloween: click here and also here

ADVANCE LEVEL:

• some idioms about "dead": click here
• if you want to know something about this festivity related to history, go to this link or to this alternative one
• this link is rather difficult but it's quite interesting, with ghost stories and videos with the text below, so you can use them for both reading and for listening; click here

This is an exercise of listening. Although they say it is for advanced students, there is a simpler version. Have a try and click here.

If you have children, there are lots of sites on the internet to get ideas. These are a couple of them:

• http://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/en/category/topics/halloween : a page for learning English for children.
• http://www.activityvillage.co.uk/halloween: a page for activities and crafts with children
• these are very simple songs for children: click here or here. This song is with a skeleton but it helps children to revise parts of the body; click here
• some jokes about Halloween: click here

But Halloween is famous for its parties, which are not only for kids but also for adults. If you are thinking of organising a party you might visit these sites:

• For adults: you have this or this
• For kids: this is one and this is another one

I hope to be helpful for all of you. Have fun and enjoy Halloween!

Mardi Gras and Shrove Tuesday

Today we start with Lent but yesterday it was Mardi Gras, which is a famous festivity in America, especially in New Orleans. Here you have a video of National Geography: Mardi Gras. This is another video, with longer speeches and a bit of history if you want to practise.

Another typical feast is Shrove Tuesday, which is the Tuesday before Lent as well: click here to know what this is and some useful vocabulary; and this link is just an example to explain it, the same as this one.

Carnivals

What Carnival means:

It is an annual celebration of life found in many countries of the world. Its origin is hundreds and hundreds of years ago, when Italian started the tradition of holding a wild costume festival right before the first day of Lent (Cuaresma). Catholics are not supposed to eat meat during Lent, so they called the festival carnevale (a blend between carne and festivale). As time passed, carnivals in Italy became quite famous and this practice spread to France, Spain, Portugal and many other countries in Europe. When these countries went to America and other parts of the world, they brought with them their tradition of celebrating carnival.

Although its origin is Catholic, little by little it was accepted or adapted to other societies, cultures and places.When African people and American Indian took contact with the Europeans they melted their own traditions with the Catholic ones, especially about music, dancing and colourful costumes, using beads, feathers, glitters and so on. 

Now it's a festival where people feel free to express happines and madness so it has became one of the most popular feasts in many places. It is sometimes associated to the idea of freedom and criticism so sometimes this celebration was forbidden.

Vocabulary you should know:

Lent - Mardi Gras, Fat Tuesday or Shrove Tuesday - Ash Wednesday - Parade with carriages - Costumes, Fancy Dress - 

Some curious videos which are relared to Carnivals:

•  Mardi Gras in New Orleans: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mo5ClQDKnqk
• The Pancake Race: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlo3yuhOSlI and this is another example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRunuhmmwsg
• The Carnivals in Venice: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z766I4d6oK8
• Winter Carnival in Quebec: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSNLydguFl8

Hope you enjoy it!

Saint Valentine's Day

I can't help giving you some pages to know something about this special day. Let me remind you that in English speaking countries this is not just a day for lovers but for anyone who loves anybody in one way or another. Here you have some links to read about this day:

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valentine's_Day: general info from wikipeida
• http://www.history.com/topics/valentines-day: a page with a lot of topics connected to this day
• http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/christianity/saints/valentine.shtml: this is an article with many details; the language is a bit difficult but it's quite interesting

Happy Saint Valentin's day!