World Book Day

"In a village of La Mancha, the name of which I have no desire to call to mind, there lived not long since one of those gentlemen that keep a lance in the lance-rack, an old buckler, a lean hack, and a greyhound for coursing."

"To be, or not to be: that is the question:

Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer

The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,

Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,

And by opposing end them?

To die: to sleep; No more;

and by a sleep to say we end

The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks

That flesh is heir to, 'tis a consummation

Devoutly to be wish'd. To die, to sleep; 

To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub."

 

As you all know by now, these two quotes belong to two of the most famous works in universal literature. The first one from Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes and the other one from Hamlet by William Shakespeare. Both authors have in common the fact that they died on the same date, the twenty-third of April 1616.

Don Quixote and Hamlet are two great characters, they are well-known all over the world, but do you have a special character from a special book for you? Who is it? Why do you like it?

Mine is Sir Sigfredo of Ivanhoe, the main character in Sir Walter Scott's most popular novel, Ivanhoe. It's a great romance that takes place during the Age of Chivalry. Ivanhoe is a noble and brave knight who returns home from the Crusades to marry Lady Rowena, an Anglo-Saxon princess. However, he gets involved in the hard struggle between Prince John and his brother, Richard the Lionheart. He has to fight Prince John and his followers to help Richard win back the throne of England. For this battle, Ivanhoe will count on with the generosity of a Jew man, Isaac and his beautiful daughter, Rebecca.

I've always enjoyed this kind of stories, with the knights fighting for a good cause, where you know that the "good guys" are going to defeat the "bad ones" but you're not totally sure about what is going to happen with the love affair behind the main story.

As every great piece of writing, Ivanhoe has its great film as well. Obviously, Ivanhoe is a 1952 film by the MGM, which was nominated for the Oscars in three categories. In the above photo, you can see Robert Taylor in his role as Ivanhoe.There were other fantastic actors and actresses such as Elizabeth Taylor, Joan Fontaine and George Sanders in that extraordinary production of the fifties in Hollywood.

Leave you comment on your favourite character from a book or in case you don't enjoy reading much, from a film.It will be interesting to read about it.

Are you superstitious?

Today is Friday the thirteenth. Fear of Friday the 13th and the number 13 generally is known as triskaidekaphobia. Surveys carried out in Britain revealed that 41% of British people feel uncomfortable about Friday 13th while 4% live in dread of it. What's your position? Are you afraid of this day or the number 13? 

Back to 1791, the reluctance of superstitious sailors to sail on this day was considered to have reached such a level that the government decided to prove that the superstition was a fallacy. They decided to build a ship whose name was HMS Friday. They started to build it on a Friday the 13th, it was launched on a Friday and began its first maiden voyage from London on a Friday. Neither the ship nor the crew was ever heard of again. 

What do you think? Do you agree with people who say that more accidents happen on Friday 13th than on any other normal Friday? Is thirteen as unlucky as people say? Leave your comment on it.

Being a teacher -is it a pleasure?

I always wanted to be a teacher. When I was a child, I used to play with my friends and even with my dolls -they were my pupils and obviously I was the teacher. I used to enjoy teaching them, correcting their exercises, writing on the board, preparing the materials for the classes, ... This is a typical game everybody plays but, in my case, it turned out to be my job years later. 

As almost all of you know, I really love my job, it makes me really happy and I feel good when I'm in a classroom with you all. It doesn't matter if I'm tired or not, or if I'm having a bad day, everything vanishes the very moment the class starts. That's the moment when my favourite saying comes true -"Teaching is learning"-. Every day I learn something from you. You teach me a lot of things, they cover a wide number of different topics and even how to become a better teacher, that's why I'm really thankful to all of you.

We all know that being a teacher involves a lot of things, not only knowing our subject well and using our imagination to try pupils understand it. It's much more than that.

A colleague from the school sent me this funny clip some time ago. Now I would like you to watch it. I hope you understand most of it and then you can comment on it.

 

How was it? Easy or difficult to understand? Do you agree with it? Why (not)?

As your final activity for the course "Aulas Europeas", leave your comment on this entry.

"Why are you a teacher? When did you decide to become one? Do you like your job? What are the good and the bad points of it?"

Now it's time to tell you THANK YOU FOR YOUR ACTIVE PARTICIPATION and I'm really looking forward to seeing you soon.

An Important International Holiday: Easter

Although the Holy Week is already finished, Easter is an important holiday, but it's not entirely a religious one. Traditional Easter symbols include crosses, coloured eggs, rabbits, flowers, particularly white lilies, and obviously special foods, particularly special bread. Throughout the world, we celebrate festivals by eating and drinking, gathering with our families, ...

If you want to find out more about this period of time, watch the video and then comment on it.

How do you celebrate this holiday? Do you travel to different places? Do you visit your family and spend these days together? Do you do anything special? Would you like to have the traditional customs from other countries such as colouring eggs and be visited by the Easter Bunny?

Street Markets

In London, there are hundreds of markets, but maybe the most famous ones are Portobello, Camden, Spitalfields or Petticoat Lane.

This is a photo I took in Portobello Market, which is celebrated on Saturdays. Hundreds of shops offer you their antiques and precious objects and you can buy almost everything, from a Scottish woollen scarf to an old silver teapot. I really enjoy the style they have when displaying all the articles, even if they are second-hand ones, and the decoration of the stalls and shops. Pay attention to the teapot hanging from a window on top of the shop.

Portobello Road

But if you want to find a real bargain, you should go to Camden Market which is open 364 days a year and where you can see Punks and other ethnic groups of people.

Footbridge in Camden

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Have you ever bought anything in a street market? Do you know any other famous markets? Tell an anecdote about buying something in a street market, how much it was, if you paid the full price or bargained, ...

You can also practise your listening skills by clicking below.

Listen to Melissa, an American woman, talking about flea markets.

April Fool's Day

On the first of April, we celebrate April Fool's Day. The origin of this celebration is uncertain but it seems to have started in France in 1582 when they reformed the calendar under the reign of Charles IX. The Gregorian calendar was introduced and New Year's Day was moved from 25 March-1April (new year's week) to January 1st.

Not everybody knew about this change since communication at that time was not as it is now, almost instant, and they continued celebrating New Year's Day. Those people were known as "fools" and every year they received "fool invitations to non-existent parties" or "fool errands" to ridicule them. People played jokes at them by sticking a paper fish on their backs or things like that.

This tradition spread to England and Scotland on the eighteenth century and then English and French people introduced it to the American colonies, that is why, it is celebrated in many countries nowadays. But if you want to practise your listening skills ...

Click here to find out a bit more about this celebration.

In England, jokes are only played in the morning. It is bad luck to do it after noon. So, be careful in case someone wants to play one at you!