Halloween

ESO Students

1. Click on the link below to get started. You will be redirected to the LearnEnglish page from the British Council.
2. Read and do the preparation task to start delving into the topic.
3. Play the recording about Halloween but do not read the text yet.
4. Play the recording one more time (or the number of times you think necessary) this time with the text in front of you. Remember to check confusing or new words in the dictionary. You can visit http://www.wordreference.com/es/ or http://dictionary.reference.com/
5. Do the task.

Hallowe'en

Look what I've found searching the internet.

I find it really funny and it tells us a lot about the author's point of view of the "discovery" of America. What do you think his opinion is? What's yours?

Columbus Day

On the second Monday of October, Americans celebrate Columbus Day; they remember Christopher Columbus's voyage to America in 1492.

Christopher Columbus was born in 1451 in Genoa, a city on the north-west coast of Italy. At this time Genoa was a very important commercial port. The young Christopher often went to the port and watched the ships leave: they seem to go under the horizon. May people at this time thought the world was flat, but others - Columbus included- believed that the world was round. Columbus wanted to test this idea. 

He went to live to Portugal. When he was only twenty-three he had the idea of going to India, China and Japan by sailing west. If the world was round, this was possible, he thought. But he needed money, ships and men. He asked a lot of people for help, including the kings of Portugal, England and France but he got no support. Then he explained his idea to King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain. They were interested and, after some years, decided to help him. 

They gave him three ships: the Santa María, the Niña and the Pinta. It was difficult to find sailors for the voyage because it was long and dangerous. Finally, Columbus found about ninety men. He was ready to test his theory. 

On 3^rd August 1492, Columbus and the sailors left Palos, on the coast of Spain. Queen Isabella and other important people went to see him leave. 

Columbus navigated with a magnetic compass. His ships travelled about 150 miles a day. The voyage was long and difficult, but the three ships arrived at the island of San Salvador in the Bahamas on 12^th October 1492. Columbus claimed these new lands for Spain. 

His voyage changed the future of navigation and the world. People in Europe called the new lands the “New World”. When Columbus returned to Spain he told the King and Queen about the new lands and showed them gold, valuable objects and even some natives. They were very happy with Columbus’s discovery. 

Columbus’s Day is still celebrated all over the world. In the USA this day is celebrated with long and colourful parades, marching bands and big floats dedicated to Columbus. However, there are also protests by groups of native Americans on this day, because they remember that the arrival of Columbus meant the beginning of the domination of their people. 



D.B.CLEMEN, Gina. "British and American Festivities", Black Cat Publishing 2004

Welcome back!!

Back to work after two long and exciting months.

Now it's time to get up early, meet classmates we haven't seen for a long time and start working on the new academic year. It can be hard at the beginning but it's also nice to be back at school. 

I'd like to welcome all the new students; we'll do everything in our hands to make you feel comfortable and at home and I hope you will eventually feel part of this big family which is Santo Ángel School. 

Some of you are later than others when it comes to start working but I tell you one thing: the sooner you start, the better! 

We'll have time to study, learn and enjoy a lot but only one thing is true, we must try to do your best this year.

Are you ready?

Closed for holidays!

The danger of a single story (speech by Chimamanda Adichie)

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is a Nigerian writer whose first two novels won literary awards.

In this moving and enlightening speech she talks about her own experiences and how dangerous to have just a single point of view about important matters can be. 

Close your eyes, listen and learn...

http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/spa/chimamanda_adichie_the_danger_of_a_single_story.html

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!

Today, 17th March, the most important Irish festival takes place. It's widely celebrated, not only in Ireland but also in the USA, the UK or Australia. In Ireland, this day is an important religious holiday. Businesses are closed and people go to church. Besides there is a four-day festival in the capital city, Dublin. In the USA, the New York parade is very famous because it's the largest in the world: more than 150,000 people take part in the marching. And in the city of Chicago, The Chicago River is coloured green on St. Patrick's Day!!

But let's start from the beginning. Who was St. Patrick?

St. Patrick is the patron saint of Ireland. He was born in Wales but when he was a teenager we was taken to Ireland by some pirates and there, he became a slave. After some time, he could escape to France where he became a priest. Later on, he returned to Ireland and he converted a lot of Irish people to Christianity.

There are many legends about St. Patrick. One of them says that he took all the snakes in Ireland to the top of a mountain and pushed them into the sea. Another legend says he used the shamrock to teach the Irish about Christianity: he used the three leaves of this plant to explain that, for Christians, God is three beings at the same time. 

On St. Patrick's Day there are a lot of tricolour flags in the streets. Irish created this flag in 1848 with a special meaning. The green represents Irish Catholics and the orange represents Irish Protestants. The white rectangle in the middle stands for the hope for peace between Catholics and Protestants.

CLEMEN, Gina D.B., "British and American Festivities", Black Cat Publishing, 2004.