Did you read my post about Easter ? Now that Easter is coming to an end, I thought it would be a good idea to prepare a compilation of some videos about Easter. You will be able to see the different traditions and customs mentioned in my post. In these funny videos that you can also test your listening comprehension :
Did you like the video ? It was really easy ! Not let's talk about British all over the world : Here you have another interesting video ! And the last one :
Did you like my compilation of videos ? Did you do the exercises ? I hope so ! Easter is over, which means Easter holidays are about to finish and we have to come back to ... school or to work !
Holidays at last ! It's been a long term for me but I am finally on holidays : on Easter holidays ! There is a wide misconception that Easter is not "celebrated" in the English-speaking world. I agree that Spanish celebrations of Easter outnumber those in the English culture, but Easter traditions in the English-speaking countries are also important. Let's summarize some of the most important ones :
1. Easter eggs : At Easter, it is customary to buy, give or exchange Easter eggs. Why ? The eggs represent Jesus Christ and when they are broken that represents his resurrection (the breaking of Jesus's tomb). IN a wider sense, eggs are a symbol of rebirth and fertility. There are eggs of various types nowadays, but chocolate eggs seem to have flooded the market. There are also traditional boiled eggs dyed with a lot of decoration. Hard-boiled eggs are very popular at Easter and some people even paint them and dye them :
From : http://headingforenglish.blogspot.com.es/2015/03/easter-eggs.html
Eggs were really popular because during Lent, neither meat nor eggs should be eaten. It was during Easter after Lent that people could 'feast' on eggs.
2. Easter games
Easter eggs are the protagonist of some really entertaining traditions :
- Egg tapping or egg knocking : In this fun game, you have to try to break another contestant's egg by tapping or knocking it with your eggs, but without breaking your egg. Yes, you hard-boil your eggs, you decorate them only to use them to break other people's eggs. Ironical !
From : http://blog.haven.com/2015/03/28/five-different-easter-traditions-to-try-out-with-your-kids/
- Easter egg hunt : This outdoor game is ideal for small children. Adults hide some eggs outside for children to look for them. These eggs are usually filled with chocolate or with other candies. So, in other words, it is like a treasure scavenger hunt but with eggs !
From : http://www.brooklinoptimist.org/optimist/programs/easter-egg-hunt.html
- Easter egg roll : It is a race where children must push the eggs with a spoon. It is usually held on Easter Monday in the White House Lawns.
From : http://people.howstuffworks.com/culture-traditions/holidays-other/easter6.htm
- Easter bunny : It is a bunny that brings Easter eggs to children. Much like an Easter Santa Claus.
From : http://cmrrevents.com/wordpress/easter-trains/
3. Easter foods : There are a lot of different typical Easter foods, namely :
Hot cross bun Chocolate Easter bunny
Simnel cake Jelly beans
4. Important dates :
- Lent : Six weeks before Easter Sunday. During this time, people must refrain from eating one food of their liking and be disciplined (which includes being a good Christian, read the Holy Scriptures...). The first day of Lent is Ash Wednesday.
- Palm Sunday : On the Sunday before Easter. This day is celebrated with a traditional mass, and a parade where people carry palm branches to welcome Jesus Christ
- Maundy Thursday
It is the day preceding Good Friday. This day welcomes the Holy Week. In the past, the monarchs used to wash the feet of the poor in Westminster Abbey. This also served to commemorate the Last Supper. Nowadays, the Queen gives money to a group of old people very famous or important for the community.
- Good Friday : To commemorate Jesus Christ's crucifixion.
- Easter Sunday : To celebrate Jesus' resurrection. Easter egg hunts are usually held on this date.
5. Morris dance : It is a typically English dance to scare the spirits of winter away.
6. Mass : Of course, churches organize quite a lot of Easter services at Easter, much like in Spain.
I haven't written a post for a while and to resume my writing there is no better date than the prelude to Saint Patrick's Day. This time I will show you some statements about St. Patrick's Day (or Ireland) and you will have to decide if they are true or false. As usual, the answers are at the bottom of this entry. Let's get this started : My always wonderful girlfriend has helped a great deal with this information.
1. Saint Patrick was an Ireland-born shepherd. 2. The Irish national symbol is the shamrock. 3. Irish Gaelic is the national official language in Ireland. 4. Saint Patrick's shamrock has four leaves because it brings luck to its owner. 5. The Irish flag is green because of the shamrock, white because of its purity and orange because of the blood spilt between Protestants and Catholics. 6. In Chicago, it is a tradition to dye the river green every year. 7. Each year, more than the double of Ireland's population visit the island. 8. Just forty-pounds a year are paid as the yearly rent of the Guinness Warehouse in Dublin. 9. Leprechauns are 'goblins' that hide their gold at the end of a rainbow and can grant three wishes. 10. Officially, on Saint Patrick's Day Christians shouldn't drink alcohol because Easter is very close. Did you guess all of them ? Let's see the answers : 1. FALSE. Saint Patrick was born in England and was later kidnapped and shipped to Ireland as a slave. There he had to work as a shepherd.
From : https://www.awesomestories.com/asset/view/MAEWYN-SUCCAT-KIDNAPPING-VICTIM-St.-Patrick-of-St.-Patrick-s-Day
2. FALSE. The Irish national symbol is the harp. What else can you see in Ireland's Euros ?
From : http://thomas-douix.eklablog.com/the-symbols-of-ireland-a117744816
3. TRUE. Irish Gaelic and English are the official languages in Ireland.
From : http://www.nancyjester.com/pressreleases/stpatty/
4. FALSE. His shamrock has three leaves. Why ? Because he used it to explain the Holy Trinity : Father, Son and the Holy Spirit. Four-leaf clovers are the ones that bring luck.
From : https://www.pinterest.com/lasan0215/trinity/
5. FALSE. The Irish flag represents the peace between north and south, between Catholics (green) and Protestants (orange), both linked with peace (white).
From : http://www.infoplease.com/spot/irishflag1.html
6. TRUE. Indeed !
7. TRUE. Ireland is quite a touristic destination, don't you think ? 8. TRUE. He signed a nine-thousand-year contract for that amount of money. Incredible ! Arthur Guinness was a real bargainer ! 9. TRUE. They are also bearded and smoke from a pipe. I really love them !
From : http://www.123rf.com/photo_19156144_leprechaun-with-a-pipe-and-beer-against-a-rainbow-and-pot-of-gold.html
10. FALSE. All the Christians 'obligations' of Lent are forgotten just for that day. Maybe because of that you can see nothing but drunken people on the streets ! Well did you learn something about St. Patrick's Day ? I hope so. To finish this post, here you have a video that illustrates some of the most representative St. Patrick's and Ireland's traditions. Don't miss it :
P.S. If you want to see an extract from a chapter of The Simpsons related to St. Patrick's Day, click on this link !
I haven't written a blog entry for a while because I have been very busy preparing and correcting exams (and still am) . Anyway, I am currently teaching the topic of TV and the cinema to my students of 1º ESO and I thought it would be a fantastic idea to prepare a presentation about some of the quirkiest differences between the titles of some films and TV shows in English and Spanish. The problems of translation can be summarized in three :
1. Direct translation that does not always correspond :
In general, I find it surprising. Sometimes, the translation is horrible (in my opinion) and has nothing to do with the film. An example of this is "Inside Out" the latest Pixar movie, directly translated into Spanish as "Del revés." This title has nothing to do with the movie and I would have chosen something like : "En tu mente" o "Emocionantemente."
From : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inside_Out_(2015_film)
2. The title is sometimes kept in the original language (when it is not necessary):
Examples like this are "The Walking Dead" or "American Dad".
3. Sometimes the tile in English and Spanish are completely dissimilar : Who would know that Sonrisas y Lágrimas is The Sound of Music ?
Anyway, here you have a compilation of films. Why don't you try to predict the title in English before moving on to the next slide ? Do it and post a comment with your opinion about the article or more examples !
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