HALLOWEEN...EASY VOCABULARY

EASY VOCABULARY

HALLOWEEN IS COMING...!!

HISTORY OF HALLOWEEN

HISTORY OF HALLOWEEN II

HOW HOLLYWOOD SAYS "I LOVE YOU"

Watch this video about well-known romantic films. How many of them do you know?

THE HISTORY OF VALENTINE'S DAY

Do you know the origin of the history of Valentine's Day?

VALIDATION

Through this great short film, which has been played in 34 film festivals worldwide and has won 17 awards, we celebrate Peace Day. Sometimes we think of peace as something that doesn't depend on us direclty... but everyday we have lots of opportunities to make people around us feel happy...let's change rude nicknames and fights into compliments and hugs!!

If you want to see the subtitled version click here:

Validation- Spanish subtitles

HALLOWEEN PARTIES IN THE USA! LET'S DANCE!!

HALLOWEEN SOUNDS...

Have a look at this vocabulary about Halloween and write your own story!

HALLOWEEN

Listen to this short video about the history of Halloween and answer these questions: 
1. When did it all begin? 
2. What did they originally celebrate on 31, October? 
3. Why did they use fire? 
4. What was Hallowmas? 
5. Where does the word Halloween come from? 
6. When did this tradition arrive in America? 
7. What was originally tricking or treating? 

If you want to know more...

THE WORLD GURNING CHAMPIONSHIP

Have you ever heard about a contest called the World Gurning Championship?

The World Gurning Championships is a real thing in England, contested every year in Cumbria since 1216 (!!!). It’s pretty simple: People put a thing around their neck and then pull the weirdest face they can.

Tommy Mattinson was the defending champion …But he lost his crown this year to Gordon Blalklock in an upset. 

Adrian Zivelonghi finished third, but didn't he deserve far better?

From: www.usatoday.com

HALLOWEEN: TALKING ABOUT FEAR

Do you know how to express fear? Learn some new expressions!

VALENTINE'S DAY IN ARIZONA

Slideshow: Valentine's day in USA and Arizona's birthday

This is what Mr. Colin told us about St. Valentine's day last week. We learnt that the 14th February is also important in the US for another reason, do you remember it?

WILL YOU BE MY VALENTINE?

These hearts are like the sweets Mr. Colin brought to class yesterday. Do you remember any different messages? Which was yours?

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Happy New Year 2014 from the heart of London city!!What are your wishes for this new year? and your resolutions?
In Spain we normally have the well-known "twelve grapes" just before the new year begins, do you know the origin of this tradition? 

The Twelve Grapes to the chimes of the clock at midnight on New Years Eve has been a Spanish tradition since 1909. In December that year, some  vine growers from the Alicante area came up with "The 12 Grapes" as an idea to sell huge amounts of grapes from an excellent harvest.

Since that time Spanish people have kept up the tradition as a way to celebrate New Year's Eve. On the last day of the year, the 31st of December, they wait until twelve p.m. Everybody has to have twelve grapes ready to eat when the clock starts to chime. It is traditional to listen to the clock from Puerta del Sol in Madrid and in other town squares around the country. When it is midnight in Spain on New Years Eve, each time the clock chimes, all the people put a grape in their mouth. By the time the clock has finished chiming for the twelfth time, everybody has to have finished their grapes and the New Year starts.

Eating the grapes is very funny because everybody starts the New Year with a full mouthful of grapes. It's almost impossible to finish eating the grapes by the time the clock finishes chiming and quite often people still have all the grapes in their mouths, and they start looking at each other and have to laugh.
If you manage to eat the 12 grapes then you will have 12 months good luck.

From: entertainmentinspain.com 

CHRISTMAS CRACKERS

 These are the Christmas crackers that my year 8 students have made this morning. They are cute, aren't they? but... what is a Christmas cracker?

A Christmas cracker is a brightly coloured paper tube, twisted at both ends. It is traditional in England and other countries at Christmas time. A person pulls on each end of the cracker and when the cracker breaks, a small chemical strip goes “Pop” and the contents fall out.

Let's go a bit further, do you know who invented Christmas crackers? 

They were invented by Thomas Smith in 1846.

During a visit to Paris he came across the bob-bon, a sugar almond wrapped in tissue paper (with a twist either side of the centrally placed sweet). Thomas decided to try selling similarly wrapped sweets in the lead up to Christmas in England. His bon-bons sold well at Christmas but not at other times of the year.

In the early 1850s Thomas came up with the idea of including a motto with the sweet. As many of his bon-bons were bought by men to give to women, many of the mottos were simple love poems.

In about 1860, Thomas added the banger, two strips of chemically impregnated paper that made a loud noise on being pulled apart. At first these novelties were called 'cosaques', but they soon became known as 'crackers'.

Unfortunately for Thomas, his 'cracker' idea was copied by other manufactures and so he decided to replace the sweet with a surprise gift.

When Thomas died his two sons took over the business. The paper hat was added to the cracker the early 1900s and by the end of the 1930s the love poems had been replaced by jokes or limericks. 

from projectbritain.com

DECEMBER

DECEMBER...It's a month of light, snow, and feasts..time to make amends and tie loose ends..finish off what you started and make your wishes come true

What are your wishes for this Christmas? And your plans? Have you planned something special for these holidays?