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

Planning a summer getaway? going on a trip?….. and you will need to use English

TRAVEL ENGLISH

If you're planning a trip, and would like to learn/practice common English phrases used by travellers, this is the right place to find exercises that will help you do this.

This is much more than a simple English phrasebook - It's a collection of interactive exercises designed to assist you in a wide variety of possible travel-related situations: from Airports and Airplanes, Hotels and Accommodations, Restaurants, Bars and Eating out, Transportation, Sightseeing, Meeting and Talking to people, to Health and Safety.

Start practicing English before you take your trip!


http://www.learnenglishfeelgood.com/travelenglish/index.html

http://www.learnenglishfeelgood.com/vocabulary/esl-travel-tourism1.html

And now, watch this video to revise and reinforce vocabulary at the Airport

and learn about a day in the life of a Fight Attendant

http://www.learnenglishfeelgood.com/vocabulary/esl-travel-tourism1.html

Friday the 13th and friggatriskaidekaphobia

Next Friday it will be 13th. Are you superstitious? If not, it may be your lucky day.

Friday the 13th occurs when the thirteenth day of a month falls on a Friday, which superstition holds to be a day of bad luck. In the Gregorian calendar, this day occurs at least once, but at most three times a year. Any month's 13th day will fall on a Friday if the month starts on a Sunday.

The fear of Friday the 13th is called friggatriskaidekaphobia, frigga, meaning "Friday" and triskaidekaphobia, or paraskevidekatriaphobia, a word derived from the concatenation of the Greek words Paraskeví (meaning "Friday"), and dekatreís (meaning "thirteen"), attached to phobía (meaning "fear"). The word was derived in 1911 and first appeared in a mainstream source in 1953.

One theory states that it is a modern amalgamation of two older superstitions: that thirteen is an unlucky number and the Friday is an unlucky day.

In numerology, the number twelve is considered the number of completeness, as reflected in the twelve months of the year, twelve signs of the zodiac, twelve hours of the clock, twelve tribes of Israel, twelve Apostles of Jesus, twelve gods of Olympus, etc., whereas the number thirteen was considered irregular, transgressing this completeness.

To know more about 13th Friday:
http://theunexplainedmysteries.com/friday-the-13th.html

Friday the 13th Myths:

• If you cut your hair on Friday the 13th, someone in your family will die.

• A child born on Friday the 13th will be unlucky for life.

• If a funeral procession passes you on Friday the 13th, you will be the next to die.  

Tasks:

Answer the following questions :

1. Which British superstition are similar to those in your country?

2. Which are different?

Hello and Goodbye

How many ways of saying hello and goodbye do you know?.

I´d never imagined there were so many till I first met Mr. Ducan, my favourite English teacher.

I´m inviting you to meet him and I´m sure you´ll soon like to follow another of his interesting, funny and different lessons. You´ll like him as much as I do. 

Sports in Canada

Sports in Canada consists of a variety of games. Although there are many contests that Canada value, the most common are ice hockey, Lacrosse, Canadian football, basketball, soccer, curling and baseball.

Ice hockey, referred to as simply "hockey", is Canada's most prevalent winter sport,^[1] its most popular spectator sport, and its most successful sport in international competition. It is Canada's official national winter sport.^[1] Lacrosse, a sport with Native American origins, is Canada's oldest and official summer sport.^[1] Canadian football is Canada's second most popular spectator sport,^[2] and the Canadian Football League's annual championship, the Grey Cup, is the country's largest annual sports event.^[3] While other sports have a larger spectator base, association football, known in Canada as soccer in both English and French, has the most registered players of any team sport in Canada.^[4] Professional teams exist in many cities in Canada. Other popular team sports include curling, street hockey, cricket, rugby and softball. Popular individual sports include auto racing, boxing, cycling, golf, hiking, horse racing, ice skating, rodeo, skateboarding, skiing, snowboarding, swimming, tennis, triathlon, track and field, water sports, and wrestling.

As a country with a generally cool climate, Canada has enjoyed greater success at the Winter Olympics than at the Summer Olympics, although significant regional variations in climate allow for a wide variety of both team and individual sports. Major multi-sport events in Canada include the 2010 Winter Olympics. Great achievements in Canadian sports are recognized by Canada's Sports Hall of Fame, while the Lou Marsh Trophy is awarded annually to Canada's top athlete by a panel of journalists. There are numerous other Sports Halls of Fame in Canada.

Source: Wikipedia

After learning a bit more about Sport in Canada, it´s time for some sports puzzles:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/24725659/Biod_me_of_Montreal_Puzzle.htm

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/24725659/Canadian_sports_album.htm

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/24725659/Hockey_Players_Statue_Puzzle.htm

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/24725659/Lacrosse_Equipment_Panel.htm

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/24725659/Montreal_District_Picture_Puzzle.htm