Someone like you: Learn English with songs!

Do you like listening to music in English?if you listen to a song and read the lyrics,you can learn a great deal of vocabulary and pronunciation.
Here I leave a very popular song with its lyrics!

Enjoy it!

EASTER

Hi everyone!
It´s been a while since my last post because I´ve been pretty busy assessing my students.
Today I´m going to write about Easter or "The Holy Week" in Spain and in English speaking countries.
Let´s start with the Spanish traditions.As you may know, I am currently living in Cuenca.

Apart from its Hanging Houses (Casas Colgadas) (see pic)  and breath-taking nature, Cuenca is well-known by its  'Holy Week' tradition.During the Holy Week, the nazarenos, the members of the many different confraternities, process, day and night, through the streets wearing robes and pointed hats in their respective colours, and carrying their impressive floats (pasos) with polychrome sculptures of the various stages of the Passion of Christ and the figure of the Virgin.
For more info click here:http://www.cibercuenca.com.es/english.html
So, whereas in Spain The Holy Week is mostly religious, in English speaking countries has a secular side as well.

The Easter Bunny

Hares and rabbits have long been symbols of fertility. The inclusion of the hare into Easter customs appears to have originated in Germany, where tales were told of an "Easter hare" who laid eggs for children to find. German immigrants to America -- particularly Pennsylvania -- brought the tradition with them and spread it to a wider public. They also baked cakes for Easter in the shape of hares, and may have pioneered the practice of making chocolate bunnies and eggs.

The Easter Egg

As with the Easter Bunny and the holiday itself, the Easter Egg predates the Christian holiday of Easter. The exchange of eggs in the springtime is a custom that was centuries old when Easter was first celebrated by Christians.

From the earliest times, the egg was a symbol of birth in most cultures. Eggs were often wrapped in gold leaf or, if you were a peasant, colored brightly by boiling them with the leaves or petals of certain flowers.

Today, children hunt colored eggs and place them in Easter baskets along with the modern version of real Easter eggs -- those made of plastic or chocolate candy.

Easter Cards

Easter cards arrived in Victorian England, when a stationer added a greeting to a drawing of a rabbit. According to American Greetings, Easter is now the fourth most popular holiday for sending cards. Click here to send a card:http://www.care2.com/send/Easter-Cards.html

SAINT PATRICK´S DAY

Hi everyone!
Today´s one of the most popular festivals in the English speaking countries and especially in Ireland.It is a cultural and religious holiday celebrated on 17 March. It commemorates Saint Patrick, the most commonly recognised of the patron saints of Ireland.
On St. Patrick's Day, which falls during the Christian season of Lent, Irish families would traditionally attend church in the morning and celebrate in the afternoon. Lenten prohibitions against the consumption of meat were waived and people would dance, drink and feast--on the traditional meal of Irish bacon and cabbage.

St. Patrick's Day is a holiday known for parades, shamrocks and all things Irish. From leprechauns to the colour green, find out how symbols we now associate with St. Patrick's Day came to be, and learn about a few that are purely American invention.

The Shamrock

The shamrock, which was also called the "seamroy" by the Celts, was a sacred plant in ancient Ireland because it symbolized the rebirth of spring. By the seventeenth century, the shamrock had become a symbol of emerging Irish nationalism. As the English began to seize Irish land and make laws against the use of the Irish language and the practice of Catholicism, many Irish began to wear the shamrock as a symbol of their pride in their heritage and their displeasure with English rule.

The Leprechaun

The original Irish name for these figures of folklore is "lobaircin," meaning "small-bodied fellow."
Belief in leprechauns probably stems from Celtic belief in fairies, tiny men and women who could use their magical powers to serve good or evil. In Celtic folktales, leprechauns were cranky souls, responsible for mending the shoes of the other fairies. Though only minor figures in Celtic folklore, leprechauns were known for their trickery, which they often used to protect their much-fabled treasure.
Leprechauns had nothing to do with St. Patrick or the celebration of St. Patrick's Day, a Catholic holy day. In 1959, Walt Disney released a film called Darby O'Gill & the Little People, which introduced America to a very different sort of leprechaun than the cantankerous little man of Irish folklore. This cheerful, friendly leprechaun is a purely American invention, but has quickly evolved into an easily recognizable symbol of both St. Patrick's Day and Ireland in general.
Happy Saint Patrick´s day!!
Click here to do a crossword http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/quizzes/crossword/120316_crossword_ireland.shtml

More grants to study languages (becas para estudiar idiomas)

Hi guys!
More good news!are you studying "Bachillerato", professional training (FP) or English, French or German at the Official School of languages?if so, now you can apply for a grant to study languages abroad. For more info about requirements,deadline and so on, go on reading!!
Click here: http://aprendemas.com/Noticias/html/N9950_F13032012.html#

BECAS MEC (GRANTS)

Hi guys,
Good news!! Do you fancy spending 3 weeks in an English speaking country improving your English?now it´s your chance!today it has been published "becas Mec" so if you comply with the requeriments and apply for it before the 4th April 2012, you will be able to spend 3 weeks speaking English. It´s a great oppotunity!pack your suitcases and don´t miss this chance!!
For more info, click here http://www.becas-mec.info/requisitos_becas_mec_idiomas.php

6 minute English or how to improve your listening skills

Dear students,
How are you?did you enjoy your weekend?I had a pretty good one, and you?
Today I bring you a good way of improving your listening skills via bbc learning English.
Apart from what we do in class, you should listen to English and do listening exercises online.
I leave the last 6 minute English programme, it´s about environment. Hope you enjoy it!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/general/sixminute/2012/03/120308_6min_antarctic_aliens.shtml

INTERNATIONAL WOMEN´S DAY

Hello everyone,
As you may know, we celebrate the international women´s day today, the 8th of March.
Here I leave a video for you to see.

GO,PLAY AND DO

                  GO,PLAY AND DO

Do you go swimming?do swimming or play swimming?We use the verbs play, do and go with sports and activities
How to know when to used them?very easy!
Play: is used with ball sports or competitive games where we play against another person: play football, play tennis, etc.
Do: Do is used for a recreational activity or a non-team sport that does not use a ball
Do yoga.
Go is used with activities that end -ing. We go somewhere to do something
Go swimming, go skiing,etc
Click here for more info: http://www.learn-english-today.com/lessons/lesson_contents/play-go-do.htm