Christmas in Sweden -- Christmas Around the World -- whychristmas?com Around Christmas time in Sweden, one of the biggest celebrations is St. Lucia's Day (or St. Lucy's Day) on December 13th. The celebration comes from stories that were told by Monks who first brought Christianity to Sweden. St Lucia was a young Christian girl who was martyred, killed for her faith, in 304AD. December 13th was also the Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year, in the old 'Julian' Calendar and a pagan festival of lights in Sweden was turned into St. St. The crown is made of Lingonberry branches which are evergreen and symbolise new life in winter. A national Lucia is also chosen. Small children sometimes like dressing up as Lucia (with the help of their parents!). A popular food eaten at St. St Lucia's Day first became widely celebrated in Sweden in the late 1700s. Christmas Eve is also very important in Sweden. This is often a 'julbord' which is a buffet, eaten at lunchtime. Wow, I think I like the sound of a Jolbord! In Swedish Happy/Merry Christmas is 'God Jul'.
LearnEnglishTeens Love Actually: activities, ideas, vocabulary I use a lot of films in my teaching: not just occasional Youtube clips but full-length authentic feature films, and I’ve been wanting for a while to start a new section on this blog where I would upload my film-based materials. I thought December would be a suitable time to share materials for many people’s favourite Christmas film Love Actually.Warning: some scenes are suitable for adults only Activities actually The activities are divided into three parts. Some ideas actually Split-viewing Throughout the film there are a lot of opportunities for split-viewing. Press conference Before you watch the press-conference scene with the British PM and American president, pause the video and get your students to role play the press conference. Dictogloss Harry buys a necklace - see the lesson plan HERE Sound off There are a number of scenes you can play with the sound off and ask your students to guess what's happening or write a dialogue for the scene. Vocabulary actually
25 maps that explain the English language English is the language of Shakespeare and the language of Chaucer. It’s spoken in dozens of countries around the world, from the United States to a tiny island named Tristan da Cunha. It reflects the influences of centuries of international exchange, including conquest and colonization, from the Vikings through the 21st century. Here are 25 maps and charts that explain how English got started and evolved into the differently accented languages spoken today. The origins of English 1) Where English comes from English, like more than 400 other languages, is part of the Indo-European language family, sharing common roots not just with German and French but with Russian, Hindi, Punjabi, and Persian. 2) Where Indo-European languages are spoken in Europe today Saying that English is Indo-European, though, doesn’t really narrow it down much. 3) The Anglo-Saxon migration 4) The Danelaw The next source of English was Old Norse. 5)The Norman Conquest 6) The Great Vowel Shift The spread of English Credits
The EFL SMARTblog: Merry Christmas Mr Bean Teacher's note; The activities in the worksheet at the bottom of this post are based on the full episode available on DVD or on y cannot be embedded here). This post contains some exercises based on the embeddable youtube clips. The answers are in the worksheet. DVD availablehere Mr Bean celebrates the traditional British Christmas: the baubles, the crackers, the nativity scene, the carols, the presents, the turkey and the mistletoe... they are all here. You are going to discuss Christmaswatch the Christmas Mr Bean episode and do some activitiesfind Christmas words in a word search exercise write the story in the past tensefind out more about the typical British Christmas and some of the Christmas things in the video. Discuss Do you celebrate Christmas? Watch clip 1 Answer the questions in the interactive exercise after you watch Did Mr Bean have any Christmas decorations? Now do exercise 1 (the answers to questions 9 and 10 are in the next clip) Watch clip 2
Key West and Hemingway | Flying Ants At the very far end of the USA in the south you find Florida Keys islands and the town Key West where 25 000 people live. This is also the town where the famous author Ernest Hemingway lived in 1931-1940. Hemingway’s house in Key West Ernest Hemingway Ernest Hemingway had his own way of writing stories, named the iceberg method. This story is a typical iceberg method story. Look at some more stories Born a twin; Graduated only child. Assignment Now it is time for you to make your own Six Word Stories and publish them here in the blog. When you are finished post your six word story in the blog.
When is Thanksgiving? Shakespeare - Hamlet Hamlet, the Prince of Denmark, has come back from university to find that his father, the old king, is dead. His mother has married his father’s brother, Claudius, who is now king of Denmark. Hamlet is shocked that his mother has married so soon after his father’s death, and angry that she has married Claudius. Soon, a ghost is seen walking on the castle walls. Hamlet can’t believe that his mother would marry the man who murdered her husband. A group of travelling actors arrives in town. Hamlet’s plan works. This of course means that Hamlet has killed the father of his girlfriend Ophelia. At the end of the play, all of the royal household of Denmark are dead.
Christmas Traditions, Christmas History, Christmas Around the World, The Chri...