Jesse Eisenberg

Jesse Eisenberg has been all over the news in Spain these last few days because of what he said when he was interviewed by Conan O'Brien. If you look for the videos on youtube you'll find a lot of angry people writing comments, either because they hate the Spanish show or because they hate the actor. I actually think that both groups are partially right: the host of the show (Pablo Motos) has an ego the size of Jack Nicholson's, and he normally uses his guests to make himself look good. However, Jesse Eisenberg was completely wrong when he thought that Spain carries a grudge towards the USA because of WWII. First: Spain was not involved in World War II (that's not entirely true, Spain was having enough problems after its own civil war, so it was officially neutral, even if it somehow tried to help the Germans) Secondly: because it was a dictatorship, it did not receive any American help, so, my dear friend, no American "ships and planes full of help" arrived in Spain. Get your facts straight before speaking.
And finally, because this blog is for a language class (an English class): don't be so proud about being linguistically incompetent! Learning is always a positive thing, even if it is learning foreign languages!

Remembrance Day

Remembrance Day (also known as Poppy Day, Armistice Day or Veterans Day) is a memorial day observed in Commonwealth countries to remember the sacrifices of members of the armed forces and civilians in times of war, specifically since the First World War. This day, or alternative dates, is also recognised as a special day for war remembrances in many non-Commonwealth countries

Remembrance Day is observed on 11 November (11-11) to recall the official end of World War I on that date in 1918, as the major hostilities of World War I were formally ended "at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month" of 1918 with the German signing of the Armistice. (Note that "at the 11th hour", refers to the passing of the 11th hour, or 11:00 am.)

The red poppy has become a familiar emblem of Remembrance Day due to the poem “In Flanders Fields”. These poppies bloomed across some of the worst battlefields of Flanders in World War I, their brilliant red colour an appropriate symbol for the blood spilt in the war.

For some more information, I suggest the following pages:

http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/customs/Remembrance.html

http://www.calendar-updates.com/info/holidays/canada/remembrance.aspx

http://www.cultureandrecreation.gov.au/articles/remembrance/

Thank you letter.

As I told you last Wednesday, you'll have to write a letter for Christmas. Imagine you have just had a wonderful dinner at a friend's house. Write a thank you letter for them telling how much you enjoyed the food and the company.
Have a good holiday!

Thanksgiving

Having thanksgiving about a week away, I'll just leave some historical info here:
Thanksgiving or Thanksgiving Day, presently celebrated on the fourth Thursday in November, has been an annual tradition in the United States since 1863. It did not become a federal holiday until 1941. Thanksgiving was historically a religious observation to give thanks to God, and is still celebrated as such by many families, but is now also considered a secular holiday.
Most Americans celebrate by gathering at home with family or friends for a holiday feast. Though the holiday's origins can be traced to harvest festivals which have been celebrated in many cultures since ancient times, the American holiday is tied to the deliverance of the English settlers by Native Americans after the harsh winter at Plymouth, Massachusetts and that event has become the pre-eminent foundation story for English North America.
The First Thanksgiving was celebrated to give thanks to God and the Native Americans for helping the pilgrims survive the brutal winter. Although half of the pilgrims who arrived on the Mayflower had already died, many more would have had it not been for the native Americans teaching the pilgrims to harvest foods. The first Thanksgiving feast lasted three whole days providing enough food for 53 pilgrims and 90 Indians. The traditional Thanksgiving menu often features turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes and pumpkin pie. Americans may eat these foods on modern day Thanksgiving, but the first feast did not consist of these items. On the first feast turkey was any type of fowl that the pilgrims hunted. Pumpkin pie wasn't on the menu because there were no ovens for baking, but they did have boiled pumpkin. Cranberries weren't introduced at this time. Due to the diminishing supply of flour there was no bread of any kind
Adapted from wikipedia

A Nice Recipe

Well, we are dealing with food at the moment, so I'll leave a traditional British recipe for all of you to enjoy!

Mozart

Since we were reading a text about Mozart last week, I would like you to have a look at his biography:

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works. He is among the most enduringly popular of classical composers.

Mozart showed prodigious ability from his earliest childhood in Salzburg. Already competent on keyboard and violin, he composed from the age of five and performed before European royalty; at 17 he was engaged as a court musician in Salzburg, but grew restless and traveled in search of a better position, always composing abundantly. Visiting Vienna in 1781 he was dismissed from his Salzburg position and chose to stay in the capital, where over the rest of his life he achieved fame but little financial security. His final years in Vienna yielded many of his best-known symphonies, concertos, and operas, and the Requiem. The circumstances of his early death have been much mythologized. He was survived by his wife Constanze and two sons.

Mozart always learned voraciously from others, and developed a brilliance and maturity of style that encompassed the light and graceful along with the dark and passionate—the whole informed by a vision of humanity "redeemed through art, forgiven, and reconciled with nature and the absolute". His influence on all subsequent Western art music is profound. Beethoven wrote his own early compositions in the shadow of Mozart, of whom Joseph Haydn wrote that "posterity will not see such a talent again in 100 years"

Adapted from wikipedia

Trick or Treat!

The American tradition of "trick-or-treating" probably dates back to the early All Souls' Day parades in England. During the festivities, poor citizens would beg for food and families would give them pastries called "soul cakes" in return for their promise to pray for the family's dead relatives.

The distribution of soul cakes was encouraged by the church as a way to replace the ancient practice of leaving food and wine for roaming spirits. The practice, which was referred to as "going a-souling" was eventually taken up by children who would visit the houses in their neighborhood and be given ale, food, and money.

The tradition of dressing in costume for Halloween has both European and Celtic roots. Hundreds of years ago, winter was an uncertain and frightening time. Food supplies often ran low and, for the many people afraid of the dark, the short days of winter were full of constant worry. On Halloween, when it was believed that ghosts came back to the earthly world, people thought that they would encounter ghosts if they left their homes. To avoid being recognized by these ghosts, people would wear masks when they left their homes after dark so that the ghosts would mistake them for fellow spirits. On Halloween, to keep ghosts away from their houses, people would place bowls of food outside their homes to appease the ghosts and prevent them from attempting to enter.

Adapted from http://www.history.com/

Nirvana

Nirvana was an American rock band that was formed by singer and guitarist Kurt Cobain and bassist Krist Novoselic in 1987. Nirvana went through a succession of drummers, the most famous being Dave Grohl, who joined the band in 1990.

With the lead single "Smells Like Teen Spirit" from the band's second album Nevermind (1991), Nirvana entered into the mainstream, bringing a subgenre of alternative rock called grunge. Other Seattle grunge bands such as Alice in Chains, Pearl Jam, and Soundgarden and also the San Diego based band Stone Temple Pilots also gained popularity, and as a result, alternative rock in general became a dominant genre on radio and music television in the United States during the early-to-mid-1990s.

Nirvana's brief run ended with Cobain's death in April 1994, but the band's popularity continued in the years that followed

Welcome aboard!

Hello, everybody!
We start the new school year, and this year I'll try to use this blog both for my advanced and intermediate classes. Any other students are also welcome to use the blog in any way they please, and, of course, visitors are also welcome!