BOXING DAY

The 26th December, that is the day after Christmas Day, is Boxing Day.

This day is celebrated in the UK and in many English speaking countries all over the world. In fact, in the United Kingdom Boxing Day is a bank holiday nowadays.

The origins of the celebration are not very clear and they trace back to the Middle Ages. At that period, upper class people with servants or employees gave them presents the day after Christmas Day. Many times they received money, food,... in a small box. Other times, they were given the day off to visit their families and to take them boxes with presents.

The Christmas Carol, Good King Wencelas, is set on Boxing Day and it is about a king who brings food to a poor family. We mustn't forget that St. Stephen is celebrated on this day and according to the Catholic tradition this saint helped the poor. So it has a strong connection to Boxing Day.

Today Boxing Day is a shopping day, more or less in the same way as Black Friday. In some countries this day lasts a week!! So this is called to the period during Christmas when people can have great discounts before New Year's Eve. It is the start of post-Christmas sales.

It is also an important day for sports events. Foxhunting was a popular sport among the upper class in the old times so it is very common to see the traditional picture of hunters and dogs on this day. But, as foxhunting is now forbidden, the sports events have focused on soccer, horse racing or rugby.  

11 NOVEMBER; REMEMBRANCE DAY. "LEST WE FORGET"

             

"At the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month" of 1918, representatives of Germany and the Entente signed the Armistice that put an end to World War I, the deadliest conflict in world history up to that moment.

Death and destruction everywhere

The four years of The Great War-as it was called then- saw unprecedented levels of destruction and violence, thanks to trench warfare and to the introduction of modern weaponry such as machine guns, tanks and chemical weapons. By the time this war ended, 9 million soldiers had been killed and 21 million were wounded. The world was never going to be the same!!!!!

Chemical weapons started to be used in World War I

To commemorate that date and remember the members of the armed forces who died in that war, the Commonwealth countries started to observe Remembrance Day, as early as November 1919, only one year after the Armistice had been signed.

World War I devastated large areas of Europe

Remembrance Day is also called Poppy Day since the red remembrance poppy has become a familiar emblem of this day due to the poem "In Flanders Fields". Poppies bloomed across some of the worst battlefields of Flanders in World War I, their brilliant red colour being a symbol of the blood spilled in the war.

Poppies blossom across Flanders fields

"In Flanders Fields" was written by the Canadian physician and Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae in May 1915 after assisting to the funeral of friend and fellow soldier Alexis Helmer. It is one of the most popular and most quoted poems from the war.


                                     

This poem is the origin of Poppy Day

WAR POETS

This was not the only case in which poetry was intensely and dramatically connected to World War I. For the first time, an important number of English poets were soldiers, writing about their experiences of war. A number of them died on the battlefield, most famously Rupert Brooke, Edward Thomas, Isaac Rosenberg or Wilfred Owen. Others survived but were deeply influenced by their experiences, which were reflected in their poetry.

Europe is full of World War I cemeteries

                                       

To end with, we want to leave here a poem by Wilfred Owen, "Anthem For The Doomed Youth". We think it is the best possible way to show the horror, the cruelty and the brutality of war.

And as Commonwealth citizens like to say every November 11, on Remembrance Day: "We Shall Not Forget You".

Don´t miss the marvellous song "Remembrance Day" by Mark Knopfler: "We will remember them, we will remember them"

"Remembrance day" by Mark Knopfler

HALLOWEEN THIS YEAR

Back again!!!
A bit late but... better late than never!!!

As this week we celebrate Halloween again, our new conversation assistant teacher, Mr Connor Eason, has done an activity about this celebration for our students.

Here are some of the main ideas of his presentation at school:

- Although Halloween has its origins in an old Irish legend, in the United States this holiday has become one associated with popular culture. It is a night where you can see 'witches' and 'ghosts' roaming the streets. This holiday is celebrated every year on the 31st of October.

- TRICK or TREAT: 'Trick or treat' has become on of the most famous phrases associated with this holiday. The act of trick or treating is where children go from one house to the other asking for candy. If they don't give you candy, then you may have to play a trick!

- SWEETS: Sweets have a very important role in the celebration of Halloween. The most important one is the candy that they give when trick or treating. However other types of sweets are also common, such as Halloween style cupcakes!

- HALLOWEEN PARTIES: While younger children trick or treat, many older people go to Halloween parties. Some people wear their normal clothes to these parties but others dress up as ghosts or witches or other things. Many also have costume contests where the one with the best costume can win prizes!

- PUMPKIN CARVING: A common activity that many people do to celebrate Halloween is to carve pumpkins. Pumpkin carving is when can make a face or a picture on a pumpkin by cutting it. Before you can begin carving though you have to take out the seeds from the inside. Many people cook these seeds and eat them after they have finished carving.

- HOUSE DECORATION: Some people decorate their houses to celebrate the holiday. For example, this is a picture of a house decorated as a graveyard or a cemetery.

- BONFIRES and  CORN MAZES are also very popular. In many parts of the United States people have bonfires or go to corn mazes as part of Halloween celebration. A bonfire is a big fire where you can spend time with your family and friends while eating or drinking. And corn mazes are mazes made from corn where groups of friends can have contests to see which ones can finish the maze the fastest!

Happy Halloween, everyone!!!

LITERATURE QUIZ - GUESS THE BOOK II

First, let me thank Miss Ana Fernández Gómez (teacher at IES Pérez Galdós) for her kindness; she's let us this activity to be published in our blog. Thanks very much Ana!!

Match these excerpts from well-known books with the corresponding titles.

LEVEL 2
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1. The year is 50 BC. Gaul is entirely occupied by the Romans. Well, not entirely… one small village of indomitable Gauls still holds out against the invaders.
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2. The temperature was over 40ºC. The hot sun shone on the hills and rocks. Alan Grant was kneeling on the ground brushing dust away from a tiny bone. It was a bone from a dinosaur which had lived 75 million years ago.
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3. He continued robbing the rich to give to the poor.
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4. As she was leaving, Cruella looked at the dogs and said. “Aren’t their coats beautiful!”
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5. “All I ask for is a woman to love. It is true, we will be monsters and we will live separate from other human beings. Our lives may not be happy, …you are my creator; let me for once feel gratitude. Let me know that.
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6. There is a mirror in the laboratory. I went to the mirror and looked at my face. My face had changed. I touched it. It was my own face. But I was a new man. He is the bad part of me.
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7. My name is Jim Hawkings. I am going to tell you story about pirates and treasure. This story started a long time ago, in the year 1756, when I was twelve years old.
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8. It was in the winter of 1801 that I visited Wuthering Heights and met my landlord, Mr Heathcliff, for the first time.
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TREASURE ISLAND
JURASSIC PARK
ASTERIX AND HIS SON
ROBIN HOOD
WUTHERING HEIGHTS
101 DALMATIANS
FRANKESTEIN
Dr JEKYLL AND MR HYDE

LITERATURE QUIZ - GUESS THE BOOK I

First, let me thank Miss Ana Fernández Gómez (teacher at IES Pérez Galdós) for her kindness; she's let us this activity to be published in our blog. Thanks very much Ana!!

Match these excerpts from well-known books with the corresponding titles.

LEVEL 1
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1. To be or not to be: that is the question.
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2. One day the Knights were sitting at the Round Table. They were celebrating a religious holiday.
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3. -“Will you be true?
-“Yes, my darling”. I promise by the moon”
-“But the moon changes. Will your life change?
-“Never. I will always love you. Do you love me?
-“I told the night that I loved you and you heard me. But I wish I had been silent”
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4. “You should not tell lies”, the fairy advised him, “unless you want your nose to reach all the way up to the top of the pine trees!”
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5. “Neverland? The Lost Boys? Who are they?”, asks Wendy.
“The Lost Boys haven’t got a mother or a father. They are alone in the world and they live in Neverland. I am their Captain. In Neverland we fight the pirates. We also swim in the lagoon with the beautiful mermaids. Fairies live in the trees in the forest”.
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PETER PAN
ROMEO AND JULIET
HAMLET
KING ARTHUR AND HIS KNIGHTS
PINOCCHIO