Celebrations, Traditions and Stereotypes around the world

Easter traditions around the World

Easter is a very important Christian festivity. People celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ on the third day after his death. 

Easter is celebrated on the first Sunday after the full moon in March. This is between 22 March and 25 April.

The origin of the English word Easter is uncertain. It probably comes from the pagan goddess of spring, Eostre. The pagans celebrated the arrival of spring with special festivals. 

Technology, inventions & Internet

Passives are used here

Socializing in English

Have you ever met anybody from a foreign country? I'm sure you have. Do you like socializing in English? Let's go to a party tonight. Yes! why not? So, I guess you need some useful expressions all around the wide topic of Social English.  

So, then, are you coming to the party tonight?

Introducing yourself successfully

Health and Body Parts

These days many people are talking about bad healthy symptoms and it seems like everyone is feeling under the weather. Do you know why? 

Well, let's cheer everybody up with some doctor, doctor jokes. Are you familiar with them?

Here's a good one:

Doctor, Doctor my son has swallowed my pen, what should I do?
Use a pencil ‘till I get there.

And would you be able to talk to a doctor in English? If not, here are some basic words and expressions, which are mainly based on Health and body parts:




Do you know any other doctor, doctor jokes?

If so, please leave us a comment below. LOL

International Foods and Drinks

Trip to Ireland

Once again we're planning a Trip to somewhere.


This time we're going to go Dublin, Ireland.


However, there's still much to be done. Maybe we can get some ideas from this blog, or maybe we only need to talk about it in the classroom. Whatever the case, please feel free to leave a comment or ask any question about our forthcoming trip to Ireland.


Enjoy our power point presentation about Ireland:



And here's more info about Ireland:

 

Ireland & Dublin from EFL_Teacher

Daily Routines and Actions

Would you be able to describe your whole day from waking up to going to bed?


If so, why don't you leave a message telling us about you and you'll practise Daily routines and actions that way.


However, writing about our daily routine can be very dull and boring.

So, we could think about other ways of expressing everyday actions. How about telling a day from a cat's eyes? or the daily routine of a little baby or even a common day of a bird...
                                                                                                         

Well, it's just a question of using your imagination, don't you think? Let's be creative all day long!

TESTS & Exams

Basic considerations before starting any English course or test.

First of all, let's find out your exact level of English.



Test your English by the

_________________________________________________________________________________

Grammar, vocab and pronunciation TEST Beginner File. Answer sheet. Answer key.
_____________________________________________

4 Skills TEST File Beginner. Audio. Answer Key. 
__________________________________ 

However, this is very best Test or exam ever!:

Where shall we go? Let's go on a trip! USA, UK, Ireland, India. Where?

What to read today

What to read in English?

Well, just a question of liking.

What would you like to read about?

News Horrors / thrillers

Novels Myths and legends
Short stories Magazines
Comedies Signs
Fairy tales Articles
Adventures Fiction
Fictional Detective


For more ideas and reading, please click on our What to read section.

Lord Arthur Savile's Crime and Other Stories by Oscar Wilde
These days we're dealing with this reader at school. There'll be a test on reading comprehension and understanding of the plot. However,  rather than reading through these stories by Oscar Wilde, we could analyse some basic literary questions, so that we can understand the main events throughout the different stories more easily and what's even more important: trying to play the main characters' roles and distinguishing their personalities.

A man is playing the violin at the metro station

 A man sat at a metro station in Washington DC and started to play the violin; it was a cold January morning. He played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time, since it was rush hour, it was calculated that thousands of people went through the station, most of them on their way to work.

Three minutes went by and a middle aged man noticed there was musician playing. He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds and then hurried up to meet his schedule.

A minute later, the violinist received his first dollar tip: a woman threw the money in the till and without stopping continued to walk.

A few minutes later, someone leaned against the wall to listen to him, but the man looked at his watch and started to walk again. Clearly he was late for work.

The one who paid the most attention was a 3 year old boy. His mother tagged him along, hurried but the kid stopped to look at the violinist.

Finally the mother pushed hard and the child continued to walk turning his head all the time. This action was repeated by several other children. All the parents, without exception, forced them to move on.

In the 45 minutes the musician played, only 6 people stopped and stayed for a while. About 20 gave him money but continued to walk their normal pace. He collected $32. When he finished playing and silence took over, no one noticed it. No one applauded, nor was there any recognition.

No one knew this but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the top musicians in the world. He played one of the most intricate pieces ever written, with a violin worth 3.5 million dollars.

Two days before his playing in the subway, Joshua Bell sold out at a theater in Boston and the seats average $100.

This is a real story. Joshua Bell playing incognito in the metro station

was organized by the Washington Post as part of a social experiment about perception, taste and priorities of people. The outlines were: in a commonplace environment at an inappropriate hour: Do we perceive beauty?

Do we stop to appreciate it? Do we recognize the talent in an unexpected context?

One of the possible conclusions from this experience could be: If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world playing the best music ever written, how many other things are we missing?

Ok, please do not panic: this is not so complicated. I know that the words above are more difficult than the English that you normally read about. So, here’s the Spanish version of the same piece of news, but written by a different journalist.

And now it’s your turn. What do you think about this experiment? Is our society changing? Please, do not hesitate to post your comments to answer these two questions above about our famous violinist, Joshua Bell.