Valentine's Day Competition!

Valentine's Day!

Lovers celebrate Valentine's Day on 14th February. But do you know where does it come from and the traditional things that are done during this day? Keep on reading to discover them!

The Christian Church replaced the pagan festival of Lupercalia by this celebration. However, there is not a unique version about who Valentine was. One of them tells that it was a Christian priest that in times of Claudius II performed marriages secretly. This occurred because this Roman Emperor needed soldiers for his army and the unique way to get them was avoiding men to get married. Another account tells that Valentine was a Christian man from the 3rd century who was imprisoned by the Romans because of his Chrisitan belief. Finally, Valentine fell in love with the prison keeper's daughter and before his execution, he wrote a letter to her signing "from your Valentine".

During this day people make beautiful cards with hearts, cupids, flowers... on the outside and they write original poems on the inside. The first commercial cards were created by Esther Howland, and buying Valentine's cards has become quite popular among lovers. Schools also celebrate this day by making poem competitions, decorating the classroom and giving cards to their classmates.
Source:History Valentine's Day

Let's celebrate Valentine's Day with a competition. Keep on reading the blog to know what it is about.

Film review!

Let's Write a film review!

In this task you will have to write a film review about A Christmas Carol (2009).
Use this video by Rabie Ahmed to guide your writing:

Christmas!

I'm sure you know a lot about this celebration, but let me tell you some interesting information about Christmas in some English speaking countries.

Origins

Today's traditional British Christmas comes from the Victorian period. It was a time for the family to be together, sing carols and play games. However, during this celebration social class distinctions were specially highlighted. This Victorian Christmas is very well portrayed by Charles Dickens in A Christmas Carol (1843).

Did you know...? 

The traditional Christmas dinner consists of roast turkey or ham, vegetables and special desserts such as pudding, mince pies and Yule log in Great Britain and fruit cake and pumpkin pie in America.

In Great Britain people start cooking the meal very early because the traditional Christmas meal, turkey, takes a long time to cook. During this meal, in pairs, people pull crackers and from which they get a small present, a paper hat and a joke.

The Christmas tree tradition comes from Germany and it became popular in Britain in 1840 because of the marriage of Queen Victoria with a German Prince.

The first Christmas card was designed by John Callcott Horsley in 1843. This is how it looked like:

Callcott, J. (1843). The first Christmas card [image]. Retreived from: 

http://www.publicationspress.com/uploads/2/5/4/4/25440880/5821189.jpg?503 

For more information have a look at BBC Christmas History
Now it's your turn: have a look at the next post and complete the task.

Thanksgiving!

Origins

The 4th Thursday of November Americans celebrate Thanksgiving. This tradition dates back to the "Pilgrim Fathers", puritans who suffered religious persecution in England. On the 6th of September 1620, they boarded the Mayflower looking for a peaceful place to live. They arrived in North America, particularly at an area they called Plymouth. By the time they reached this area, it was winter and they had no food. Consequently, many of them died. However, in the spring a native American taught the rest of the Pilgrims how to grow corn and to hunt and fish. As the harvest in summer was excellent, by November 1621 they decided to celebrate this good news with the rest of the native Americans. This celebration was finally set up as Thanksgiving Day. 

Traditional Thanksgiving celebration 

People usually eat roast turkey with cranberry sauce, corn, potatoes and pumpkin pie. In addition, in New York City a parade is organised by Macy's department store. It is a special day for families, and they try to be together during this day.

For more information clik on this link :Thanksgiving

Have a look at the Thanksgiving parade (4:16 - 8:05) and post a comment expressing your opinion about how this celebration is organized.

Halloween in Britain!

Have a look at this video about a real Halloween day in Britain! Add your comment answering these questions:
How do they prepare their parties?
Do they wear any special costume?
What games do they play?

October, the scariest month!

October 31st is Halloween! But do you know the origins of this festival?

It has Celtic origins. Originally, it celebrated the start of winter, which is the end of the year in Celtic calendar. During this festivity Druids, who were celtic priests, performed religious rituals and talked about future events. The night of October 31 was the night when ghosts , witches and other spirits were thought to come to Earth. For this reason, Druids wore frightening costumes and made fires to send them away.

What colours are the most representative of Halloween?

Well, whenever we are told to think about Halloween orange and black comes to our mind. The reason why those colours are so characteristic in Halloween are diverse. For instance, orange was the colour of the harvest, according to Druids. Furthermore, black was thought to be the colour of winter and black cat were animals who were thought to feel spirits when they were near.

Is Halloween celebrated nowadays?

As you already know, Halloween is celebrated in the USA, but it has become popular all over Europe too. People usually go to Halloween parties dressed up in scary costumes. In addition, houses and schools are decorated with pumpkins, ghosts, witches and bats. Of course, different games are played, as well. For instance: bobbing for apples and trick or treating. The last one is a popular Irish tradition, which began in the 19th century. Children go to their neighbours' houses to collect sweets or money.

Making a Jack-o-lantern

This is a traditional Halloween lantern which is made cleaning the inside of a a pumpkin and putting a candle inside it. People usually put this jack-o-lantern in front of their window to scare their neighbour.

Halloween food

Delicious American pumpkin pies are made during Halloween. Have a look at our glogster to know the recipe.

For further information click on this link: Halloween

Welcome to "Let's celebrate", our ESL blog

As learning and teaching techniques are constantly changing, teachers find it crucial to adapt them to the wants and needs of students. In the currernt ICT and globalization era, cultural knowledge has become esential in the understanding of a foreign language. 

Trying to get rid of the monotonous grammar-based lessons, the aim of this blog is to get students involved in some of the most important British and American festivities, learn about their origins and how people celebrate them, as a way to improve their linguistic knowledge.

Have a look at this video about the importance of culture in language learning-teaching.