Never cast a clout until May is out

Do you know the meaning of this? "Hasta el 40 de mayo no te quites el sayo".
Idioms, idioms, idioms.....how difficult they are when learning a language!
In Spanish and talking about the weather, everybody has ever heard about it, and everybody knows that in spring obviously you can’t bet on non-stop good weather until at least June 10th,to put in evidence how the good and stable weather can only be found in summer.
And the more idioms you know, the easier you´ll find to communicate in a foreign language. So apart from this, you´ll enjoy differences and similarities when expressing common sayings, because idioms are part of the culture and add colour to language.
Here you are some sites to learn them:
http://www.saberingles.com.ar/idioms/proverbs.html
http://www.idiomsite.com/
Finally, play a game with idioms:
http://www.funbrain.com/idioms/
and if you want to practise more idioms quizzes:
http://a4esl.org/q/h/idioms.html

Today´s June 5th, WED.

WED,World Environment Day
2011 has been declared by the United Nations as the International Year of Forests,with the theme,Forests:Nature at Your Service.
WED this year will help to raise awareness on the serious impacts of deforestation and forest degradation and the need for both conservation and sustainable use of forests.
Forests are home to 80 per cent of terrestial biodersity. they are a critical part of the Earth´s life support system and have essential links to livehoods, addressing climate change and other environmental challenges.

The Republic of India will be the host for World Environment Day,5 June 2011,for the first time since the celebrations began in 1972. This year´s commemorations are expected to be the lagest and most widely celebrated globally.

WED is celebrated around the world in many ways,including street rallies,bicycle parades,green concerts,essay and poster competitions in schools,tree planting,recycling efforts,clean-up campaigns and much more.

Wed logo

At the heart of the forest is the tree that bears many"fruit"
which are the many life-sustaining services provided to humans and animals.
The butterfly symbolises the cultural and spiritual values while the house represents green living and solar energy.
We use hands as the bark of the tree to show both how humans depend on forests and have the power to conserve them.
The fluid lines imbue a sense of dynamic energy, signifying growth and continual upward development.

Source:http://www.unep.org/wed/about/

Solidarity travels worldwide

           The charity flea market held at our High School last week made money to help "Save the Chidren". A group of volunteers, students and teachers, sold second-hand goods in good condition and working order that we donated to the cause, they also sold merchandise such as t-shirts, caps, books notebooks, and keyrings that were donated by the local DGA office.

Apart from that and thanks to the generosity of some students and teachers who made crafts and knitted stuff, as well as jewellery, home-made cakes and omelettes, we could collect a great deal of items.

Money collected, more than one thousand three hundred euros, will help to build a school in Costa de Marfil. 

Save the Children, as everybody knows, is the world´s leading independent children´s rights organization, with members in 29 countries and operational programmes in more than 100. They fight for children´s right and deliver lasting improvements to children´s lives worldwide.



Travelling back to History

Some links can be found between Aragón, Kimbolton Castle and our High School.

Kimbolton Castle in Kimbolton, Cambridgeshire, is best known as the final home of King Henry VIII's first queen, Catherine of Aragon. Originally a medieval castle but converted into a stately palace, it was the family seat of the Dukes of Manchester from 1615 until 1950. It now houses Kimbolton School.

If we have a look back in History, Catherine of Aragon (also Katherine) was a Spanish princess, the first wife of Henry VIII and mother of Mary I. Henry's desire to divorce Catherine was one of the complex factors which contributed to the English Reformation.

 Catherine was born near Madrid in december 1485. She was the daughter  of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, whose marriage had united Spain. She was given a good education and remained a devout catholic throughout her life. In 1501, Catherine was married to Prince Arthur, the eldest son of Henry VII of England. Arthur died shortly afterwards. Catherine stayed on in England and in june 1509 she married Arthur´s brother Henry, who had recently become Henry VIII. She bore him six children, including three sons, but all died except one daughter, Mary, born in 1516.

Catherine was under enormous pressure to produce a male heir and her marriage to Henry unsurprisingly soured. Desperate for a son and now hostile to Spain, in 1527 Henry asked the pope for an annulment of his marriage. He claimed that his marriage was cursed as it was against biblical teaching to marry a sister-in-law, although a papal dispensation had been given at the time of the wedding. Catherine refused to give it to Henry, claiming her marriage to Arthur had been consummated. She attracted much popular sympathy.

 The pope refused, unwilling to admit the papal dispensation had been wrong, but he was also at the time a virtual prisoner of Catherine´s nephew, the Emperor Charles V, who opposed the annulment.

 But Henry was determined to marry his favourite, Anne Bolwyn, and did so secretly in 1533. he then passed the Act of Supremacy, declaring that he was the head of the English church.

Catherine continued to reject the divorce and her new tittle of prince dowager. She was forced to live in much reduced conditions and denied access to her daughter.

Catherine died on 7 January 1536 at Kimbolton House in Cambridgeshire. She was buried in Peterrborough Abbey.

Sources:  http://www.bbc.co.ukhistory/historic_figures/catherine_of_aragon.shtml
                  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kimbolton_Castle

                          
And back to the History of our High School, the English Department used to have a students´exchange with Kimbolton School for several years. Our students used to spend 15 days there  sharing life and lessons with Kimbolton students and their families. And then Kimboltonians came here to do the same and enjoyed the Spanish experience among us.

Those days are now history, but if you want to see the type of adventure our students, your school mates, could live in Kimbolton historiacal walls, have a tour of Kimbolton School and appreciate the magnificient building and the green areas around the castle.

http://tours.e4education.co.uk/kimbolton

The custom of drinking tea in Britain came from Portugal

Catherine Henrietta of Braganza (Catarina Henriqueta; 25 November 1638 – 31 December 1705) was a Portuguese Infanta and the queen consort of Charles II of England, Scotland and Ireland.

She married the king in 1662. In the beginning of her tenure as queen consort, she was not popular with the English people, due to her Catholic religion and inability to speak the English language. The port cities of Tangier and Bombay were part of her dowry.

As none of her pregnancies produced surviving offspring, the throne passed to Charles' brother James, Duke of York. Her husband kept many mistresses and fathered numerous illegitimate offspring which he acknowledged.

Catherine introduced the custom of drinking tea in Britain, a custom that was already very popular among the Portuguese nobility at the time. The tea had been imported to Portugal from the Portuguese possessions in Asia as well as through the trade Portuguese merchants maintained with China and Japan.

According to the Museum Director of the house of Braganza, it was not only drinking tea but "High Tea" at 17:00-05:00 pm (some people believe it to be at 16:00-04:00 pm) which is still a Portuguese tradition. Catherine also introduced the fork to the dining tables of England.

source: kiwipedia

 

                                               How to make a cup of tea

                                                     

Task:

How to make a cup of tea . Matching exercise

Choose the correct sentences to put them in the right order.

First: Fill the kettle with water. 

Second:  Choose the matching sentence. Warm the teapot. Stir the tea. Enjoy your cup of tea. Boil the water. Pour the tea into the cup. Add milk and sugar. Put the tea in the teapot. Fill the pot with boiling water. Leave the tea for five minutes.  

Third:  Choose the matching sentence. Warm the teapot. Stir the tea. Enjoy your cup of tea. Boil the water. Pour the tea into the cup. Add milk and sugar. Put the tea in the teapot. Fill the pot with boiling water. Leave the tea for five minutes.  

Fourth:  Choose the matching sentence. Warm the teapot. Stir the tea. Enjoy your cup of tea. Boil the water. Pour the tea into the cup. Add milk and sugar.

Put the tea in the teapot. Fill the pot with boiling water. Leave the tea for five minutes.  

Fifth:  Choose the matching sentence. Warm the teapot. Stir the tea. Enjoy your cup of tea. Boil the water. Pour the tea into the cup. Add milk and sugar. Put the tea in the teapot. Fill the pot with boiling water. Leave the tea for five minutes.  

Sixth:  Choose the matching sentence. Warm the teapot. Stir the tea. Enjoy your cup of tea. Boil the water. Pour the tea into the cup. Add milk and sugar. Put the tea in the teapot. Fill the pot with boiling water. Leave the tea for five minutes.  

Seventh:  Choose the matching sentence. Warm the teapot. Stir the tea. Enjoy your cup of tea. Boil the water. Pour the tea into the cup. Add milk and sugar. Put the tea in the teapot. Fill the pot with boiling water. Leave the tea for five minutes.  

Eighth:  Choose the matching sentence. Warm the teapot. Stir the tea. Enjoy your cup of tea. Boil the water. Pour the tea into the cup. Add milk and sugar. Put the tea in the teapot. Fill the pot with boiling water. Leave the tea for five minutes.  

Ninth:  Choose the matching sentence. Warm the teapot. Stir the tea. Enjoy your cup of tea. Boil the water. Pour the tea into the cup. Add milk and sugar. Put the tea in the teapot. Fill the pot with boiling water. Leave the tea for five minutes.  

Tenth:  Choose the matching sentence. Warm the teapot. Stir the tea. Enjoy your cup of tea. Boil the water. Pour the tea into the cup. Add milk and sugar. Put the tea in the teapot. Fill the pot with boiling water. Leave the tea for five minutes.  

Be a child again and travel with Mr. Bump.

On 76 aniversary of Roger Hargreaves´birth, this is my little tribute to this brilliant British author and illustrator of children´s books and to his simple and funny stories, let´s watch a video of one of his best-known characters: Mr. Bump, who likes travelling  like me.

Mr. Bump goes on a trip

Learn more about Roger Hargreaves and his funny characters: Mr. Men and Little Miss:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Hargreaves
http://www.mrmen.com/

Task:
Watch Mr. Men and Little Miss Characters video, How many characters are you able to identify?.

                                                                        
                                                     Mr. Men and Little Miss Characters

125 years ago today....Coke was born.

The product that has given the world its best-known taste was born in Atlanta, Georgia, on May 8, 1886. Dr. John Pemberton, a local pharmacist, produced the syrup for Coca-Cola®, and carried a jug of the new product down the street to Jacobs' Pharmacy, where it was sampled, pronounced "excellent" and placed on sale for five cents a glass as a soda fountain drink. Originally intended as a patent medicine when it was invented in the late 19th century, Coca-Cola was bought out by businessman Asa Griggs Candler, whose marketing tactics led Coke to its dominance of the world soft-drink market throughout the 20th century.

Coca-Cola is a carbonated soft drink sold in the stores, restaurants, and vending machines of more than 200 countries.^[1] It is produced by The Coca-Cola Company of Atlanta, Georgia, and is often referred to simply as Coke (a registered trademark of The Coca-Cola Company in the United States since March 27, 1944.

Source: www.ideafinder.com and wikipedia

This famous soft drink has enjoyed our lives since its invention and it has been used as the topic of grammar exercises as well. Let´s see an example to practise Passive Voice describing history of coca-cola.

Task:
Fill in the blanks with active or passive forms.

Everybody likes it

Coca-cola _______(enjoy) all over the world. 1.6 billion gallons __________(sell) every year, in over 160 countries. The drink _________(invent) by Dr.John Pemberton in Atlanta, on May 1886, but his partner, Frank Robinson __________ (give) it the name Coca-Cola. In the first year, only nine drinks a day ________(sell). In 1888, a man called Asa Candle_______(buy) the company. The first factory __________(open) in Dallas, Texas, in 1895. Coca-Cola ___________(still / make) there today. Billions of bottles and cans __________ (produce) since 1895. Diet Coke __________(produce) since 1982, and over the years the company ___________(use) many clever advertisements to sell the product. It is certain that Coca-Cola __________(drink) far into the following centuries.

Describing a process means writing about how something is made or how something happens. You can practise Passive and make additional exercises of other processes: the rainwater cycle, how coffee is grown, how glass is made, getting a driving license, starting a business.

http://www.admc.hct.ac.ae/hd1/english/process/index.htm#process