Summer idioms

In celebration of  the summer solstice,we can find some idioms and natural English expressions using  the words sun, shine and summer.

• Indian summer: a period  of warm weather which sometimes happens in early autumn  =   veranillo de S. Martin o S. Miguel in Spanish                  
• One swallow doesn´t make a summer: something that you say which means because one good thing has happened, you cannot therefore be certain that more good things will happen and the whole situation will improve.
• Silly season: the time of the year (late summer) when there is no important news and news reporters focus on unimportant things.
• Dog days: the late-summer period.
• To make hay while the sun shines: to do something right away while the situation or conditions are right, with no delay.
• A place in the sun: a job or situation which makes you happy and gives you everything you need or want.

For more idioms related to summer: http://www.ecenglish.com/learnenglish/lessons/summer-sun-shine-and-summer-idioms

21st June, " the longest day" of the year. Summer solstice begins

The summer solstice, also known as "the longest day", has the most hours of daylight and shortest night. In the Northern Hemisphere it always occurs in mid-june, while in the Southern hemisphere it occurs in December.

Also known as "Midsummer", the Summer Solstice gets its name from the Latin  for sol (sun) and sistere (to stand still). The Sun reaches its most Northerly point and momentarily stands still before starting its journey South in the sky again until it reaches its most Southerly point "Winter Solstice", before repeating the circle. This is basically how we get our seasons.

Summer Solstice at Stonehenge
In England , people typically gather at Stonehenge, the ancient stone circle in Wiltshire, to see the sun rise.The Heel Stone and Slaughter Stone, set outside the main circle, align with the rising sun.

Did you know....

• Stonehenge was constructed in three phases.
• it has been estimated that the tree phases of the construction required more than thirty million hours of labour.
• Speculation on the reason it was built range from human sacrifice to astronomy.

                                                            

To know more about its history, visit: http://www.stonehenge.co.uk/history.php
To find the date for Summer Solstice 2011 in the multifaith calendar, visit:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/tools/calendar/faith.shtml?pagan
Stonehenge an excuse to revise the use of Who and Which: http://www.ego4u.com/en/read-on/countries/uk/tour/stonehenge

Total lunar eclipse tonight

A total lunar eclipse will take place on June 15, 2011. It is the first of two such eclipses in 2011, the second occurring on December 10, 2011.This will be a relatively rare central lunar eclipse where the center point of Earth's shadow passes across the Moon.

A lunar eclipse occurs when the moon passes behind the earth so that the earth blocks the sun's rays from striking the moon. This can occur only when the Sun, Earth, and Moon are aligned exactly, or very closely so, with the Earth in the middle. Hence, there is always a full moon the night of a lunar eclipse. The type and length of an eclipse depend upon the Moon's location relative to its orbital nodes.

Unlike a solar eclipse, which can only be viewed from a certain relatively small area of the world, a lunar eclipse may be viewed from anywhere on the night side of the Earth. A lunar eclipse lasts for a few hours, whereas a total solar eclipse lasts for only a few minutes at any given place.

Source:  wikipedia

 If you are  new to the Astronomy World, visit the web for students and beginners and bring up-to-date: http://www.mreclipse.com/Special/LEprimer.html

The King´s Speech

The King´s Speech, topic for PAU June Exam, (Option B)

What do you know about the film? Have you ever watched it?

The King´s Speech is a 2010 British historical drama film directed by Tom Hooper and written by David Seidler. Colin Firth plays King George VI who, to overcome his stammer, sees Lionel Logue, an Australian speech therapist played by Geoffrey Rush. The two men become friends as they work together, and after his brother Edward VIII abdicates, the new king relies on Logue to help him make a radio broacast on the day that Britain goes to war with Germany at the beginning of World War II.

Seidler, who began researching George VI´s life overcoming his own stammer during his youth, wrote about the men´s relationship.

Nine weeks before filming, Logue´s notebooks were discovered and quotations from them were incorporated into the script.

Principal photography took place in London and other locations in Britain, in December 2009 and early January 2010. The film was released in the United Kingdom on 7 January 2011.

The King´s Speech was a major box office and critical success. On a budget of 8 million pound , it grossed over $400 million internationally.

It was  widely praised by critics for its visual style, and acting. Other commentators discussed the film´s misrepresentation of the historical events it portrays, in particular the reversal of Winston Churchill´s opposition to abdication.

The film received many awards and nominations, mostly for Colin Firth. The film was nominated for seven Golden Globes, winning Best Actor-Drama for Firth. The Film received 14 BAFTA nominations, the most of any film, winning seven, including Best Picture, Best Actor for Firth, and Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress for Geoffrey Rush and Helena Bonham Carter. The film was also nominated for 12 Academy Awards, the most of any film that year, and ended up winning four, all in major categories: Best Picture, Best Director for Tom Hooper, Best Actor  for Firth and best original Screenplay for David Seidler. 

Source: wikipedia

To watch a trailler of the film, visit the official site:

http://www.kingsspeech.com/ or http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1504320/

Task:
Read the Pau Text and answer the questions



Children involved in hazardous work

12 June is World Day Against Child Labour 2011
 Let´s ask some questions about this issue:

What is meant by hardous work of children?This is work that is likely to harm the health, safety or morals of children. Certain industries or types of work carry particular risks, but any form of child labour may contain hazards that can harm a child, depending on the working conditions. Children may be directly exposed to obvoius work hazards such as sharp tools or poisonous chemicals. Other hazards for child labourers may be less apparent, such as the risk of abuse or problem resulting from excessive hours of work. The more hazardous the work is, the more extreme are the consequences.

How many children are involved and in what sectors?

The ILO (International Labour Organization) estimates that of the 215 million child labourers, 115 million are involved in hazardous work. 53 million are aged 5-14, and 62 million are aged 15-17, hazardous work has been increasing among the last age group.

The highest concentration of hazardous child labour is in agriculture (59%), followed by 30% in services (domestic work, street based work) and 11% in industry (small worshops, mining, construction).

What are some of the specific hazards for children?

Among the many and varied hazards, we can specified the following:

In agriculture: exposure to toxic pesticides or fertilizers, dangerous blades and tools, carry heavy loads and attacks or bites from animals or insects ( mosquitoes transmiting malaria and other deseases)

In mining: use of poisonous chemicals, risks of mine collapse.

In construction: heavy loads, work at tall heights, risk injury from dangerous machinery.

In manufacturing:use of toxic solvents, performance of repetitive tasks  in painful positions and risk injuty from sharp tools.

In domestic work, chilren may suffer different forms of abuse, long work hours and live in isolation away from their family or peers.

What is the impact on children?

Hazardous work can have inmediate and long-term impacts on children. These may include injury, disability and even death, and it´s clear that due to the fact that they are still developing physically and mentally, children and adolescents are specially vulnerable to the effect of hazardous work.

What we need to do

Governments need to ensure children below the minimum age of work are in education, and  take actions to tackle the poverty that breeds child labour by promoting social protection, ensuring decent work for adults and enforcing laws against child labour, getting working age work in safe conditions.

Source:  www.ilo.org

You can get a bookmark of World Day Against Child labour 2011 here:

http://www.ilo.org/ipecinfo/product/viewProduct.do?productId=16628

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