MOTHER'S DAY

Mother's Day originated from mainly two women, Julia Ward Howe and Anna Jarvis. Julia Ward sponsored Mother's Day each year in Boston around 1870 to promote pacifism and disarmament with women. It lasted about 10 years. Anna Jarvis organized the first Mother's Day in Grafton, West Virginia at St. Andrew's Methodist Church in 1908.

WORLD BOOK DAY

WORLD BOOK DAY

World Book Day is a celebration! It’s a celebration of authors, illustrators, books and (most importantly) it’s a celebration of reading. In fact, it’s the biggest celebration of books.
The main aim of World Book Day in the UK and Ireland is to encourage children to explore the pleasure of books and reading by providing them with the opportunity to have a book of their own. That’s why editorials send schools, packs of books and many activities, display material and more information around books are carried out all over UK. 

 

COMPLEMENTARY LOCAL CURRENCY

The Totnes pound is a complementary local currency intended to support the local economy of Totnes, a town in Devon, England.
The initiative is part of the Transition Towns concept, of which Totnes is a pioneer. It is "a community in a process of imagining and creating a future that addresses the twin challenges of diminishing oil and gas supplies and climate change, and creates the kind of community that we would all want to be part of".
The Totnes Pound was launched as an initiative of Transition Town Totnes Economics and Livelihoods group in March 2007.The group argues that "Economic localisation is considered to be a key aspect of the transition process, and local currency systems provide the opportunity to strengthen the local economy whilst preventing money from leaking out"
The benefits of the Totnes Pound are:

• To build resilience in the local economy by keeping money circulating in the community and building new relationships
• To get people thinking and talking about how they spend their money
• To encourage more local trade and thus reduce food and trade miles
• To encourage tourists to use local businesses
  

A Totnes Pound is equal to one pound sterling and is backed by sterling held in a bank account.
The paper Totnes Pounds are printed on plasticised paper and have a number of security features.

ANCIENT MUMMY

ANCIENT MUMMY

An ancient mummy that was found in Mongolia has gone viral online because it seems to be wearing Adidas boots. Many people have been tweeting that the mummy is proof that time travel exists. The mummy was discovered in the Altai Mountains in a remote part of western Mongolia. Researchers say it is around 1,500 years old. The mummy’s boots look very similar to a pair of snowboarding boots made by the sportswear company Adidas. The mummy's boots have the same three stripes that Adidas is famous for putting on all its footwear. A picture of the boots has gone viral and people are saying the mummy is actually a modern human who travelled back in time.

THE GERMAN TRAIN

THE GERMAN TRAIN 

  A train operator in Germany is launching a women and children only service on its trains. The initiative for the segregated carriages is an attempt to help women feel safer. There will be two specialised compartments on all of the company's trains that run between the cities of Leipzig and Chemnitz. The carriages will be located next to the one in which the train conductor is situated. The new carriages are causing quite a stir in Germany. Some people on social media are suggesting the move is a reaction to an increase in reported incidents of sexual harassment and assault in Germany. Rail executives stress this is not the case, but is instead a new policy aimed at increasing security for women and children.

BRUNCH

BRUNCH

BRUNCH is a meal that is eaten in the late morning or early afternoon, generally between the hours of 10 AM and 2 PM. A typical brunch combines elements of breakfast and lunch, reflecting the fact that it is supposed to serve for both meals. Many people associate it with the weekends, particularly Sundays, perhaps because many people are able to sleep in on the weekends, making a late breakfast and early lunch combination more appealing. Technically, like breakfast, this meal can be served on any day of the week. 

The term is a contraction of “breakfast” and “lunch,” and its first appearance was in 1896, in Punch magazine. Evidence seems to suggest that brunch originated in the British upper classes. Many upper-class homes gave servants partial or full days off on Sunday, so the staff would lay out a buffet in the morning that allowed people to graze for breakfast and lunch items.

APRIL FOOL'S DAY

APRIL FOOL'S DAY

 

TYPES OF HUMOR

TYPES OF HUMOR

Black humor: Humor dealing with the unpleasant or dark side of life (humor negro)

Practical humor: A joke played on someone to embrarrass them and amuse others (la broma fácil para que se rian otros, por ejemplo quitar la silla)

Dry humor: Amusing without appearing to be so. (humor irónico, ácido)

Satire humor: Showing the foolishness or evil of a person in an amusing way (humor satítico)

Sick humor: Cruel humor (humor entre adolescentes)

Cheeky humor: Humor pícaro

Slapstick humor: Humor bufonesco (el humor de los tres chiflados)

PAST PERFECT TENSE

PAST PERFECT TENSE

It is used to express an action in the past which happened before another action in the past.

Example:

When I got home, John had cooked a meal.

(John cooked a meal before I got home)

____X____________ PAST______________________PRESENT_______

PAST PERFECT

El pasado perfecto se utiliza para expresar una acción que ocurrió antes que otra acción en el pasado

Yo le llamo el “pasado del pasado”.

You can ask exercises to practice.

Puedes pedirme ejercicios para para practicar

HOOVERVILLE

HOOVERVILLE

Me pregunta Cristina a que se refiere un manifestante en Wall Street acerca de "now they are building "hoovervilles" around New York.

El término "hooverville", se refiere a barrios marginales, en condicones precarias. 

El término viene de el presidente Herbert Hoover, quien mandó construir esas áreas.

Podemos traducir como "barrios de chabolas". 

EASTER SUNDAY

EASTER SUNDAY

Easter Sunday is the first Sunday after the first full moon on or after the March Equinox.
People who regularly attend church often attend special services on Easter Sunday. These may be longer or more elaborate than on other Sundays. In churches, it is generally a festive occasion with an emphasis on the dawn of a new life. In Battersea Park in London, there is a large Easter parade.
Easter is an important time for the confectionery industry. In the United Kingdom, Easter eggs are often large hollow chocolate eggs filled with bonbons or other candy.
Many people celebrate Easter Sunday by decorating, exchanging or searching for eggs. The eggs may be fresh or boiled eggs laid by chickens or other birds, chocolate eggs or eggs made of other materials. Many children believe that the Easter bunny or rabbit comes to their house or garden to hide eggs. They may search for these eggs or find that the Easter bunny has left them in an obvious place.

HOLY SATURDAY

HOLY SATURDAY

Holy Saturday is also known as Easter Even, it is the Saturday before Easter.

It is the last day of Lent and is the day when Christ's body lay in His Tomb. In the early church Holy Saturday was a day of fasting and preparation for the Easter Vigil.

The Easter Vigil is a service held in many Christian churches as the official celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. The service includes the first use of the word alleluia since the beginning of Lent as well as the first Eucharist of Easter.

The Easter Vigil is celebrated by the use of a wax candle which is inscribed with a cross. The letters alpha and omega are inscribed at the top and bottom and the four numbers representing the current year are inscribed above and below the cross arms. Five grains representing the wounds of Christ are sometimes pushed into the soft wax.

FAST

"FAST"

El significado de "FAST" también es "ayunar".

Many people "fast" on Good Friday.

Mucha gente ayuna el viernes santo 

GOOD FRIDAY

GOOD FRIDAY

Good Friday, Christians remember the day when Jesus was crucified on a cross.
The name may be derived from “God's Friday”.
Since the early nineteenth century, before the introduction of bank holidays, Good Friday and Christmas Day were the only two days of leisure which were almost universally granted to working people. Good Friday today is still a public holiday in much of the UK. This means that many businesses are closed.
Some Christians fast (go without food) on Good Friday. This helps them remember the sacrifice Jesus made for them on the day of crucifixion.

MAUNDY THURSDAY

 MAUNDY THURSDAY

Maundy Thursday or Holy Thursday, is the beginning of the three day celebration of Easter.
Maundy Thursday commemorates the Last Supper of Jesus Christ with the Apostles.
During the Last Supper, Jesus washed his disciples' feet. This act has sometimes been followed literally in history as a good way of reminding rulers that they are here to serve their subjects.
The night of Maundy Thursday is the night on which Jesus was betrayed by Judas in the Garden of Gethsemane
In Britain today, the Queen follows a very traditional role of giving Maundy Money to a group of pensioners. The tradition of the Sovereign giving money to the poor dates from the 13th century, from the reign of Edward I.
Every year on this day, the Queen attends a Royal Maundy service in one of the many cathedrals throughout the country. 'Maundy money' is distributed to male and female pensioners from local communities near the Cathedral where the Service takes place.

INTERNATIONAL POETRY DAY

INTERNATIONAL POETRY DAY

The world Poetry Day was declared by UNESCO in 1999 and it is celebrated on 21th March. This celebration just try to promote the reading, teaching, writing and publishing of poetry.

WORK, WORLD, WAR, WARD, WORD

Me han preguntado sobre la fonética y pronunciación de cinco palabras que pueden dar lugar a confusión. Son las siguientes:

world /wɜ:ld/

ward /wɔ:d/

war /wɔ:/

word /wɜ:d/

work /wɜ:k/

Espero haber aclarado esto, por supuesto si necesitáis más explicación, sólo tenéis que escribirme

RESPIRATORY SYSTEM

RESPIRATORY SYSTEM

GO AGAINST THE GRAIN

"go against the grain"

To do something that is the opposite of what is usually done  
"It's not easy to go against the grain and buy apples when others are selling them"

BREATHE AND BREATH

BREATH        /breθ/           Significa "respirar"

BREATHE      /briːð/         Significa "respiración"