Tuesday 31 July 2012

T&L Summer break 2012

It has been a tough but very productive year so far. Now it is high time to have a break and relax so that we can face the new school year with perseverance, energy and creativity.
I promise to be back :-) If you are on holiday, too, enjoy it to the fullest. If you are not, I hope your August is calm and pleasant. Either way, see you soon!
Credits: anacf3@gmail.com (via Keep Calm Creator)

Saturday 28 July 2012

Opening Ceremony

The London 2012 Olympic Games Opening Ceremony took place yesterday and was one of the most exciting moments I have ever experienced. Titled 'Isles of Wonder', the Ceremony welcomed the finest athletes from more than 200 nations for the start of the London 2012 Olympic Games, marking an historic third time the capital has hosted the world’s biggest and most important sporting event.
The Opening Ceremony reflected the key themes and priorities of the London 2012 Games, based on sport, inspiration, youth and urban transformation. It was a Ceremony for everyone and celebrated contributions the UK has made to the world through innovation and revolution, as well as the creativity and exuberance of British people, from rural Britain to the Industrial Revolution, over to contemporary music and cinema. The comedic, quintessentially British moment complemented a show that film director Danny Boyle, an Oscar winner for "Slumdog Millionaire", turned into an unabashed celebration of the host Nation's history, culture and eccentricity.
The highest moment in the first part of the Ceremony was when Daniel Craig, wearing his trademark tuxedo, enters Buckingham Palace to meet Her Majesty, The Queen, with her two corgis at her feet and in a dramatic cinematic debut She turns from a writing desk and says simply: "Good evening, Mr. Bond." The moment drew a huge cheer from the audience, not used to seeing Her Majesty play such an informal part in proceedings and coincides with a resurgence in the Royal Family's popularity.

The spectacular finale of the event saw the Olympic Cauldron, formed of 205 copper petals representing the competing nations coming together in London for the Games, ignited by seven young Torchbearers nominated by Britain’s past and present Olympic and sporting greats. For exclusive behind-the-scenes access go to Ceremonies Explorer.


Friday 27 July 2012

Portuguese Athletes in the Olympic Games

Credits: "Designed by www.slon.pics / Freepik"
Olympics began on Scandinavian soil, for both the Summer and Winter editions of the Olympic Games. With the creation of the Olympic Committee of Portugal (the Portuguese National Olympic Committee) in 1909, and recognition by the International Olympic Committee in the same year, Portugal was the 13th nation to join the Olympic Movement.

Three years later, it made its first appearance at the 1912 Summer Olympics, held in Stockholm, Sweden. Since then, Portugal has participated in every edition of the Games of the Olympiad, summing up a total of 22 presences, which make it the eighteenth most assiduous nation. As of 2008, Portugal has collected a total of 22 Olympic medals (four gold, seven silver, and eleven bronze medals).

The Olympic Committee of Portugal will be represented by a delegation of 75 competitors (43 men and 32 women) in 13 sports. Compared with the previous Games, the Portuguese Olympic team is reduced by two athletes and will not participate in three sports: archery, fencing and taekwondo. Notable absences due to injuries include the defending men's triple jump champion Nelson Évora, Olympic medalists Vanessa Fernandes, Francis Obikwelu, and Rui Silva; and long jumper Naide Gomes.

Four years ago, 78 Portuguese athletes competed in 17 different sports at the 2008 China Olympic games. Nelson Évora, the Olympic Gold medalist in the triple jump at the Beijing/2008, and the Portuguese great hope for this year London Olympics, will not compete due to a recent tibia fracture.

The qualifying Portuguese athletes will compete in athletics, canoeing, cycling, gymnastics, rowing, sailing, shooting, and swimming.

Portugal first participated in Olympics in 1912 and till now we have won 21 medals in different events.

The London 2012 Olympic Games will be the tenth Olympic Games. London will become the first city to officially host the modern Olympic Games three times, having previously done so in 1908 and in 1948. The London 2012 Olympic Games will be followed by the 2012 Paralympic Games to take place from 29 August to 9 September. A total of 205 nations will take part in 300 events at the Olympic Games in 2012, while 147 nations will take part in the Paralympic Games.

Sources: 2012 London Olympics, The Portuguese American Journal & Comité Olímpico Portugal

Thursday 26 July 2012

Let the Games begin...

To herald the first day of the London 2012 Olympic Games, today at 8.12am Big Ben and thousands of bells across the United Kingdom will ring out as loudly as possible for three minutes to welcome the Games.
The 2012 Summer Olympic Games, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad, also known informally as London 2012, is scheduled  from 27 July (when the opening ceremony is held) until 12 August 2012. Over 10,000 athletes from 204 National Olympic Committees (NOCs) are expected to participate.
Following a bid headed by former Olympic champion Sebastian Coe and the then Mayor of London Ken Livingstone, London was selected as the host city on 6 July 2005 during the 117th IOC Session in Singapore, defeating bids from Moscow, New York, Madrid and Paris. London will become the first city to officially host the modern Olympic Games three times, having previously done so in 1908 and in 1948.
Credits: Wikipedia via The Logo Factory
Construction in preparation for the Games has involved considerable redevelopment, particularly themed towards sustainability. The main focus of this is a new 200 hectare Olympic Park, constructed on a former industrial site at Stratford in the east of London. The Games also make use of many venues which were already in place before the bid.

Leaner, greener and cleaner could be London 2012's motto as sustainability and ecology are pushed to the forefront.
The official mascots for the 2012 Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games were unveiled on 19 May 2010; this marks the second time (after Vancouver) that both Olympic and Paralympic mascots were unveiled at the same time. Wenlock and Mandeville are animations depicting two drops of steel from a steelworks in Bolton. They are named Wenlock, after the Shropshire town of Much Wenlock, which held a forerunner of the current Olympic Games, and Mandeville, after Stoke Mandeville, a village in Buckinghamshire where a forerunner to the Paralympic Games were first held. The writer Michael Morpurgo wrote the story concept to the mascots, and an animation was produced; it is intended that this will form part of an ongoing series concerning the mascots in the run-up to the Games in 2012. Two stories have been created about the mascots: Out Of A Rainbow, the story of how Wenlock and Mandeville came to be, and Adventures On A Rainbow, which features the children from Out Of A Rainbow meeting the mascots and trying out many different Olympic and Paralympic sports.
Approximately 4,700 Olympic and Paralympic medals have been produced by the Royal Mint. They were designed by David Watkins (Olympics) and Lin Cheung (Paralympics). Virtually all the gold, silver and copper was mined in Salt Lake County. Each medal weighs 375–400g, has a diameter of 85mm and is 7mm thick, with the sport and discipline engraved on the rim. The obverse, as is traditional, features Nike, the Greek goddess of victory, stepping from the Panathinaiko Stadium that hosted the first modern Olympic Games in 1896, with Parthenon in the background; the reverse features the Games logo, the River Thames and a series of lines representing "the energy of athletes and a sense of pulling together". The medals were transferred to the Tower of London vaults on 2nd July 2012 for storage.
Lit in Greece, the Olympic Flame arrived in the UK on 18th May 2012 before setting out the next day on a 70-day Olympic Torch Relay, bringing the excitement of the Games to everyone. The Olympic Flame stands for peace, unity and friendship. It has travelled to within an hour of 95% of people in the UK, the Isle of Man, Guernsey and Jersey during the 70-day Torch Relay. It enabled local communities to shine a light on the best their area has to offer. 8,000 inspirational people carried the Olympic Flame as it journeys across the UK. Nominated by someone they know, it was their moment to shine, inspiring millions of people watching in their community, in the UK and worldwide. Last Monday it was the time of a Portuguese fighter to carry it. Her name is Melanie Oliveira and she's been struggling against multiple sclerosis for years. I felt deeply honoured of being Portuguese!

London is ready and so are we! It is high time to inspire a whole generation: let the Games begin!

Sources: Wikipedia, London 2012 , BBC News and The Guardian



A Brief History of London

Credits: PublicDomainPictures for Pixabay
London first appears in history as a small military storage depot employed by the Romans during their invasion of Britain, which began in A.D. 43. It was ideally located as a trading centre with the continent and soon developed into an important port. It had already become the headquarters of the Procurator, the official in charge of the finances of Roman Britain, when Boudica, the Queen of the Iceni, a native British tribe inhabiting East Anglia, burnt it to the ground in A.D. 61 in the course of her bloody revolt against Roman rule. It was rebuilt by the year 100, and first appears as "Londinium" in Tacitus's Annals. It rapidly became both the provincial capital and the administrative, commercial, and financial centre of Roman Britain. Its population by the middle of the third century numbered perhaps 30,000 people, a number which grew in fifty years to nearly twice that number. They lived in a city with paved streets, temples, public baths, offices, shops, brick-fields, potteries, glass-works, modest homes and elaborate villas, surrounded by three miles of stone walls (portions of which still remain) which were eight feet thick at their base and up to twenty feet in height.
During the course of the fourth century, however, as the Roman Empire began to collapse, Roman Londinium fell into obscurity as its protective Legions withdrew; history records no trace of it between 457 and 600. During that time, however, it gradually became a Saxon trading town, eventually one of considerable size. In the same century Christianity was introduced to the city (St. Augustine appointed a bishop, and a cathedral was built), but the inhabitants resisted and eventually drove the bishop from the city. It was sacked and burned by the Danes in the ninth century, but was resettled by Alfred in 883, when the Danes were driven out, the city walls were rebuilt, a citizen army was established, and Ethelred, Alfred's son-in-law, was appointed governor. It continued to grow steadily thereafter, though because most of its buildings were constructed of wood, large fires took place with unsettling regularity.
Lunduntown (as it was now called) retained its preeminence after the Norman Conquest, which began in 1066. Though William the Conqueror had himself crowned at Westminster Abbey, he distrusted the Saxon populace of the city, and constructed a number of fortresses within the city walls, including still extant portions of Westminster Hall and the Tower of London. In 1176 work began on a new stone bridge to replace the wooden one which the Romans had built a thousand years before. The new bridge (which, in its turn, acquired the name of Old London Bridge) was completed in 1209, and would be in existence until 1832, remaining the only bridge across the Thames until 1750. The city became a true capital under Edward III, who placed the royal administrative center at Westminster during his reign in the fourteenth century. London was the only British city in mediaeval times which was comparable in size to the great cities of Europe. Between 1500 and 1800 it grew steadily in size and prominence, though during the middle ages its population never reached the levels it had attained in Roman times. Its population increased, however, from perhaps 50,000 in 1500, to 900,000 in 1800, in spite of living conditions which, over the centuries, were so unhealthy that the rapid increase in population could be sustained, in the face of an enormously high death rate, only by a steady influx of immigrants from other parts of Britain.
The streets, since medieval times, had always been filthy, filled with mud, excrement, and offal; the water was polluted, rats were omnipresent. The Black Death of 1348-49 killed two-thirds of the inhabitants of the city proper and its surrounding areas (at least 60,000 people), and there were three subsequent serious outbreaks of the bubonic plague between 1603 and 1636, but the city continued to increase in size. The last major outbreak of the plague occurred in 1665; during the summer of that year perhaps 70,000 persons died.

In 1854, Nathaniel Hawthorne, at the time the American consul at Liverpool, recorded this melancholy entry in one of his English notebooks: "The following is a legend inscribed on the inner margin of a curious old box: 'From Birkenhead into Hillbree/ A squirrel might leap from tree to tree.' I do not know where Hillbree is; but all round Birkenhead a squirrel would scarcely find a single tree to climb upon. All is pavement and brick buildings now." It was this sort of nostalgia for a rapidly disappearing rural past which led William Morris to found the Society for the Preservation of Ancient Buildings, and led him, as well, to begin his The Earthly Paradise with the following lines:
Forget six counties overhung with smoke,
Forget the snorting steam and piston stroke,
Forget the spreading of the hideous town;
Think rather of the pack-horse on the down,
And dream of London, small, and white, and clean,
The clear Thames bordered by its gardens green. . .
While nigh the thronged wharf Geoffrey Chaucer's pen
Moves over bills of lading. . .
From the middle ages on, and well into the nineteenth century, much of London was violent and squalid. During the eighteenth century, the poor and the unemployed frequently occupied themselves, as Hogarth demonstrated, by drinking themselves into insensibility; one doctor reported that one of every eight Londoners drank themselves to death. In 1742 London had one gin-shop for every seventy-five inhabitants.
London epitomized the process of social stratification which took place in Great Britain. As the city grew in size, the poor became increasingly crowded into the filthy slums in the eastern part of the city while the merchant and the professional classes and the gentry established themselves in the fashionable suburbs in the west. The Gordon Riots of 1780, for example, (which Charles Dickens made the focus of Barnaby Rudge) were ostensibly motivated by anti-Catholic sentiment, but were a manifestation of the deep hostility which the poor felt for the wealthy.
By 1750 one tenth of the population of England resided in London, and it was the undisputed cultural, economic, religious, educational, and political centre of the nation. Population growth continued unabated through the nineteenth and into the twentieth century. By the time Dickens died in 1871 the population of London was well over 3,000,000, and the spread of the prosperous middle classes into suburban areas surrounding the city proper was well underway. Less than a century later, the population of metropolitan London would be over 8,000,000.
London was, of course, also Britain's artistic and literary capital. For centuries, with its publishers, newspapers, journals and weeklies, Coffee-Houses, taverns, and literary salons, the city played an important (and frequently crucial) role in the life, development, and work of virtually every English literary figure of any significance. Hogarth and Rowlandson portrayed it in their work as the great eighteenth-century authors did in theirs.
London lies at the centre of the lives of Chaucer, Spenser, Shakespeare, and Milton. Many British authors were either born there, as Blake or Lamb were; made their reputations there, as Swift, Pope, Johnson, Boswell, Carlyle, Dickens, and Kipling did; or died there, as Thomson would. But London was a city, too, as Swift, Blake, Dickens, Morris, and Thomson all tell us, of warehouses, docks, factories, prisons, palaces and slums, of beggars, labourers, shopkeepers, and bankers. Of the World-city which was Dickens's London, Hippolyte Taine wrote that: "Nothing here is natural: everything is transformed, violently changed, from the earth and man himself, to the very light and air. But the hugeness of this accumulation of man-made things takes off the attention from this deformity and this artifice; in default of a wholesome and noble beauty, there is life, teeming and grandiose."
John Ruskin, in the 1860s, referred to it as "That great foul city of London, — rattling, growling, smoking, stinking — ghastly heap of fermenting brickwork, pouring out poison at every pore. . . ." Earlier, Shelley had written "Hell is a city much like London — A populous and smoky city" (the famous nineteenth-century London fogs were the result of the air pollution brought about by the burning of coal on an enormous scale). On the other hand, Dr. Johnson once wrote: "When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford."
The arrival of the railway created another wave of development in the late 1800's. St Pancras then and now looks more like a Gothic castle than a railway station. Other large railway stations were built all-round the edge of the main town. And in 1939 to 1945 war, another great change to the landscape took place as German bombing removed much of the old housing. Remarkably St Paul's Cathedral survived the incendiary bombing - standing above the flames of all around in this 1940 photograph.
Fire, bombing and post-War redevelopment has meant that the City, despite its history, has relatively few intact notable historic structures remaining. Those that are present today include the Monument to the Great Fire of London ("the Monument"), St Paul's Cathedral, the Guildhall, the Royal Exchange, Dr. Johnson's House, Mansion House... 2 King's Bench Walk and Prince Henry's Room are notable historic survivors of heavy bombing of the Temple area, which has largely been rebuilt to its historic form. Another example of a bomb-damaged place having been restored is Staple Inn on Holborn. A few small sections of the Roman London Wall exist, for example near the Tower of London and also in the Barbican area. Among the twentieth century listed buildings are Bracken House, the first post WWII buildings in the country to be given statutory protection, and the whole of the Barbican and Golden Lane Estate.
The Tower of London is not within the City, but is a notable visitor attraction which brings tourists to the southeast of the City. Other landmark buildings include a number of the modern high-rise buildings as well as the Bank of England, the Old Bailey, Smithfield Market and the Lloyd's building.
In my opinion, London is one of the most incredible cities to visit. If you are planning to go there, you cannot miss unique spots like:
- The British Museum
- Tate Modern (museum of modern and contemporary art)
- Trafalgar Square and London's National Gallery
- The Natural History Museum
- The London Eye
- Hyde Park
- The Houses of Parliament and Big Ben
- Westminster Abbey
- Buckingham Palace
- The Science Museum
- Victoria & Albert Museum
- Madame Tussauds Wax Museum
- Royal Museums Greenwich
- The Tower of London
- London Bridge
- St. James's Park
- Covent Garden (and the amazing Apple store)
- Royal Albert Hall
- The British Library
- Shakespeare's Globe Theatre
- St. Paul's Cathedral
- Kensington Gardens
- Tower Bridge
- Sherlock Holmes Museum
- St. Pancras Station
- Camden Town
- Soho
- Mayfair
- Harrods
- Wimbledon Stadium
- Wembley Stadium
- Notting Hill
- Neal's Yard
- The Serpentine
- Piccadilly Circus
- Oxford Street
- The Hard Rock Café...

And so many, many others…


Source: The Victorian Web & Visit London

Wednesday 25 July 2012

Commonwealth of Nations

Credits: Nicolas Raymond for Stockvault
After 60 years of its existence, the Commonwealth of Nations, formerly the British Commonwealth, is a remarkable organisation which remains a major force for change in the world today.
The Commonwealth is a voluntary association of 54 independent countries, almost all of which were formerly under British rule.
The origins of the Commonwealth come from Britain's former Empire. Many of the members of the Commonwealth were territories which had historically come under British rule at various times by settlement, conquest or cession. The administration of such colonies evolved in different ways, to reflect the different circumstances of each territory.
After achieving independence, India was the first of a number of countries which decided that, although they wished to become republics, they still wanted to remain within the Commonwealth.
To reconcile these aims, the 1949 London Declaration recognised King George VI as Head of the Commonwealth. Following his death, the Commonwealth leaders recognised Queen Elizabeth II in that capacity.

The origins of the Commonwealth lie in Britain's former colonial empire. Until 1949, the member states of today's Commonwealth were united through common allegiance to the British Crown.

After the Second World War, many countries sought their independence. Soon after attaining independence in 1947, India declared that it wished to adopt a republican constitution, but also wanted to remain within the Commonwealth.

Over the next two decades, British rule ended in many parts of Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, the Mediterranean and the Pacific.

With a few exceptions (such as Myanmar, formerly known as Burma), the newly independent countries joined the Commonwealth and recognised King George VI and, following his death, Queen Elizabeth II, as Head of the Commonwealth.

The London Declaration made it possible for the Asian and African states of the former Empire, most of which wished to become republics, to remain within the Commonwealth upon attaining independence. This has led to the development of the contemporary Commonwealth.

Member countries of the Commonwealth can therefore have different constitutions: a republic with a president as Head of State (such as India and South Africa), an indigenous monarchy (for example, Lesotho, Malaysia, Swaziland and Tonga), a sultanate (Brunei), an elected Paramount Chieftaincy (Western Samoa), or a realm recognising The Queen as Sovereign (for example the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and Barbados).

Whichever form their constitution takes, member countries all recognise The Queen as Head of the Commonwealth. Today the Commonwealth continues to play an important social and political role in the world, as a major association of countries.

As The Queen declared in a Silver Jubilee speech in 1977, it symbolises "the transformation of the Crown from an emblem of dominion into a symbol of free and voluntary association. In all history this has no precedent." The term 'Commonwealth' was first used by British Liberal politician Lord Rosebery in Adelaide, Australia, in 1884. During a famous speech, he referred to the British Empire as 'a Commonwealth of Nations'.

There are 54 member countries of the Commonwealth. These are listed below, with the years in which they joined the Commonwealth.

Also listed is their constitutional status. 'Realm' indicates a Commonwealth country which has The Queen as Sovereign, while 'monarchy' indicates a Commonwealth country which has its own monarch as Head of State.

Nauru is a Special Member which does not attend meetings of Commonwealth Heads of Government.

Since membership of the Commonwealth is entirely voluntary, any member can withdraw at any time.
The Republic of Ireland did so in 1949, as did Zimbabwe in 2003.

CountryDateStatus
Antigua and Barbuda1981Realm
Australia1931Realm
The Bahamas1973Realm
Bangladesh1972Republic
Barbados1966Realm
Belize1981Realm
Botswana1966Republic
Brunei1984Monarchy
Cameroon1995Republic
Canada1931Realm
Cyprus1961Republic
Dominica1978Republic
Fiji1970 (rejoined in 1997 after 10 year lapse)Republic
The Gambia1965Republic
Ghana1957Republic
Grenada1974Realm
Guyana1966Republic
India1947Republic
Jamaica1962Realm
Kenya1963Republic
Kiribati1979Republic
Lesotho1966Monarchy
Malawi1964Republic
Malaysia1957Monarchy
The Maldives1982Republic
Malta1964Republic
Mauritius1968Republic
Mozambique1995Republic
Namibia1990Republic
Nauru1968Republic
New Zealand1931Realm
Nigeria1960Republic
Pakistan1947Republic
Papua New Guinea1975Realm
Rwanda2009Republic
St. Christopher and Nevis1983Realm
St. Lucia1979Realm
St. Vincent and the Grenadines1979Realm
Samoa1970Republic
Seychelles1976Republic
Sierra Leone1961Republic
Singapore1965Republic
Solomon Islands1978Realm
South Africa1931
(withdrew in 1961,
rejoined in 1994)
Republic
Sri Lanka1948Republic
Swaziland1968Monarchy
Tanzania1961Republic
Tonga1970Monarchy
Trinidad and Tobago1962Republic
Tuvalu1978Realm
United KingdomRealm
Uganda1962Republic
Vanuatu1980Republic
Zambia1964Republic

The largest member of the Commonwealth is Canada, at nearly 10 million square kilometres. The most populous Commonwealth country is India, with nearly 1.1 billion people. The smallest member is Nauru, with only 13,000 inhabitants. The Commonwealth also includes the world's driest and most sparsely populated country: Namibia.

Commonwealth Day is the annual celebration of the Commonwealth of Nations held on the second Monday in March, and marked by a multi-faith service in Westminster Abbey, normally attended by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, Head of the Commonwealth, with the Commonwealth Secretary-General and Commonwealth High Commissioners in London. The Queen delivers an address to the Commonwealth, broadcast throughout the world.


Source: The British Monarchy official website & BBC News World

Tuesday 24 July 2012

The Queen's early years and education

Credits: Wikilmages for Pixabay
The Queen is Head of State of the UK and 15 other Commonwealth realms. The elder daughter of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, she was born in 1926 and became Queen at the age of 25, and has reigned through more than five decades of enormous social change and development. Much has happened over the course of The Queen's life. Television has been invented, man has walked on the moon for the first time and the Berlin Wall has been built and then razed to the ground. Her Majesty's life has seen many changes too, from fulfilling her role as Queen at the age of 25, to raising a family, to world travel on a scale unparalleled by previous monarchs.

The Queen is married to Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, has four children and eight grandchildren and is now 85 years old.

She was the first child of The Duke and Duchess of York, who later became King George VI and Queen Elizabeth. At the time she stood third in line of succession to the throne after Edward, Prince of Wales (later King Edward VIII), and her father, The Duke of York. But it was not expected that her father would become King, or that she would become Queen.

Princess Elizabeth was educated at home with Princess Margaret, her younger sister.

After her father succeeded to the throne in 1936 and she became heir presumptive, she started to study constitutional history and law as preparation for her future role. She received tuition from her father, as well as sessions with Henry Marten, the Vice-Provost of Eton. She was also instructed in religion by the Archbishop of Canterbury.

Princess Elizabeth also learned French from a number of French and Belgian governesses. It is a skill which has stood The Queen in good stead, as she often has cause to use it when speaking to ambassadors and heads of state from French-speaking countries, and when visiting French-speaking areas of Canada.

Princess Elizabeth also studied art and music, learned to ride, and became a strong swimmer. She won the Children's Challenge Shield at London's Bath Club when she was thirteen.

Princess Elizabeth enrolled as a Girl Guide when she was eleven, and later became a Sea Ranger.

In 1940, at the height of the Blitz, the young Princesses were moved for their safety to Windsor Castle, where they spent most of the war years.

It was a time of austerity and anxiety for the whole country, including the Royal Family. But at Christmas time there was a period of light relief when the young Princesses put on pantomimes with the children of members of staff for the enjoyment of her family and employees of the Royal Household.


On her twenty-first birthday, 21 April 1947, Princess Elizabeth was with her parents and younger sister on a tour of South Africa. In a speech broadcast on the radio from Cape Town, the Princess dedicated her life to the service of the Commonwealth:

 

Monday 23 July 2012

Funny classifieds

Credits: Gerhard Gellinger por Pixabay
We have to pay attention if we are really 'saying' what we mean... Otherwise, we run the risk of joining the 'funny' section, like the following ones:

# Used Cars: Why go elsewhere to be cheated? Come here first! 
# Wanted: Hair-cutter. Excellent growth potential. 
# Wanted. Man to take care of cow that does not smoke or drink. 
# Our bikinis are exciting. They are simply the tops. 
# Auto Repair Service. Free pick-up and delivery. Try us once, you'll never go anywhere again. 
# Wanted: Preparer of food. Must be dependable, like the food business, and be willing to get hands dirty. 
# Illiterate? Write today for free help. 
# For sale: an antique desk suitable for lady with thick legs and large drawers. 
# Dog for sale: eats anything and is fond of children. 
# Lose all your weight, only $49. 
# For sale by owner. Complete set of Encyclopedia Britannica. 45 volumes. Excellent condition. $1,000 or best offer. No longer needed. Got married last weekend. Wife knows everything.
# Stock up and save. Limit: one.

Sunday 15 July 2012

Friday 13 July 2012

13, A Secret Number?

Credits: Hebi B. por Pixabay

We are told that 13 is an unlucky number. One of the many theories is that Friday the 13th is taboo because the Templar Knights were arrested and condemned by the seneschals of Philippe IV, King of France, in a "pre-dawn raid" on Friday, October 13th, 1307. The number 13 has been shunned for centuries. Some architects omit the 13th floor from office buildings to this very day. Is it possible that the folklore associated with the number 13 is absolutely apocryphal? Or that it has become a demonized numeral precisely because it was sacred in pre-Christian times? It is an oddly recurring sum. 12 apostles and a messiah. 12 Knights of the Round Table and King Arthur. The number 13 recurs too consistently in such significant contexts to be purely arbitrary. And I believe, it’s not.
13 was a central number to certain traditions of sacred geometry, because it reflected a pattern which could be seen to exist in man, nature, and the heavens. For instance, there are 13 major joints in your body. There are 13 lunar cycles in a solar year, and the moon travels 13 degrees across the sky every day. Six circles placed around a seventh central circle is a model of geometric efficiency and perfection in the second dimension that has been known to mathematicians for ages. But this same configuration in three dimensions consists of 12 spheres arranged around one central sphere, making 13 in all - the most compact three-dimensional arrangement recurrent in nature. A commentator writing about the Aztec calendar once said that, "Thirteen is a basic structural unit in nature. It means the attracting center around which elements focus and collect." Is this, then, the reason for Christ’s 12 disciples, King Arthur’s 12 knights, or the 12 major constellations in relation to our sun? The likelihood seems great indeed.

Wednesday 11 July 2012

A different kind of feeling blue


Social Networking in ELT


- Educational tool:  most students nowadays are fluent in Web and social networking technologies. Teachers must leverage this knowledge to enrich the learning experience. With social media, educators can foster collaboration and discussion, create meaningful dialogue, exchange ideas, and boost student interaction, especially when they are moving inside a new linguistic code.

- Enhance student engagement: students who rarely participate in class may feel more comfortable expressing themselves on Facebook, Twitter, or YouTube. Social networking platforms enable teachers to establish “back channels” that foster discussion and surface ideas that students are too shy or intimidated to express themselves.

- Improve communication between students and teachers: Facebook and Twitter can enhance communication between students and teachers. Educators can answer students’ questions, post homework assignments or lesson plans, send messages and updates, schedule or announce upcoming events, and share interesting Web sites or multimedia content. Students can use Twitter to get help from instructors or other students. A great way for instructors to give participation points in addition to in class participation is by having students tweet about something that was discussed in class.

- Preparing students for active life: students entering the workforce can use social networking sites to network and find employment. With LinkedIn, students can establish a professional Web presence, post a resume, research a target company or school, and connect with other job seekers and employers. Students should follow professional organizations on Facebook and Twitter to be updated on new opportunities.

DISADVANTAGES

- Social Media can be a distraction: tools like Facebook and Twitter may actually divert students' attention away from what's happening in class and may be disruptive to the learning process.

- Cyberbullying: While social networking sites provide a way for students and teachers to connect, they can be a weapon of malicious behavior. Teachers who use social networking tools as part of their activities must be aware of potential dangers and plan to intervene on minor incidents before they become more serious.

- Discouraging presencial communication: while real-time digital stream may create a safe harbour for students who are uncomfortable expressing themselves, students are missing valuable lessons in real-life social skills.

Now more than ever before the role of social media in education is under discussion. Advocates point out the benefits that social media provides for today's digital learners while critics call for regulation. Finding a middle ground has become a challenge. As an educational tool, social media enriches the learning experience by allowing students and teachers to connect and interact in new, exciting ways. Websites such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn provide a platform where users can dialog, exchange ideas, and find answers to questions. These sites are designed to foster collaboration and discussion. Despite these benefits, critics argue that there are serious risks to using social media in the classroom. The main issue is: do these risks outweigh the potential for opportunity?
While the discussion goes on about the pros and cons of social networking in ELT, no one can argue the influence ICT has on our students. This new-millenium generation conducts much of their life through social media. They are already using YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter as tools for learning. They expect their schools and their teachers do it, too! Let's not forget that a new reality should be faced with a whole new attitude.

Tuesday 10 July 2012

What Teachers Make by Taylor Mali


Taylor Mali is a "vocal advocate of teachers and the nobility of teaching, having himself spent nine years in the classroom teaching everything from English and history to math and S.A.T. test preparation. He has performed and lectured for teachers all over the world, and his New Teacher Project has a goal of creating 1,000 new teachers through poetry, persuasion, and perseverance.” Check his website for more information!

Wednesday 4 July 2012

The 4th of July

Credits: Free-Photos por Pixabay
The Fourth of July, or Independence Day, is a federal holiday that celebrates the adoption of the Declaration of the Independence on July 4th, 1776 in the United States of America. On this date, the Second Continental Congress unanimously adopted the Declaration of Independence, announcing the colonies' separation from Great Britain. The Constitution provides the legal and governmental framework for the United States, however, the Declaration, with its eloquent assertion "all Men are created equal," is equally beloved by the American people.
Drafted by Thomas Jefferson between June 11 and June 28, 1776, the Declaration of Independence is at once the USA's most cherished symbol of liberty and Jefferson's most enduring monument. There, in exalted and unforgettable phrases, Jefferson expressed the convictions in the minds and hearts of the American people. The political philosophy of the Declaration was not new; its ideals of individual liberty had already been expressed by John Locke and the Continental philosophers. What Jefferson did was to summarize this philosophy in "self-evident truths" and set forth a list of grievances against the King in order to justify before the world the breaking of ties between the colonies and the mother country. Here you can read a transcription of the complete text of the Declaration.

The US Flag

The Stars and Stripes originated as a result of a resolution adopted by the Marine Committee of the Second Continental Congress at Philadelphia on June 14, 1777. The resolution read:
"Resolved, that the flag of the United States be thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field representing a new constellation."
The resolution gave no instruction as to how many points the stars should have, nor how the stars should be arranged on the blue union. Consequently, some flags had stars scattered on the blue field without any specific design, some arranged the stars in rows, and some in a circle.
Strong evidence indicates that Francis Hopkinson of New Jersey, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, was responsible for the stars in the US flag. At the time that the flag resolution was adopted, Hopkinson was the Chairman of the Continental Navy Board's Middle Department. Hopkinson also helped design other devices for the Government including the Great Seal of the United States. Flag Day is celebrated every year on June 14th.

Celebrations
Over time, various other summertime activities also came to be associated with the Fourth of July, including historical pageants, picnics, baseball games, watermelon-eating contests, and trips to the beach. Common foods include hot dogs, hamburgers, corn on the cob, apple pie, cole slaw, clam bakes and some incredible fireworks.
While the Fourth is celebrated across the country, historic cities like Boston and Philadelphia draw huge crowds to their festivities.
In Boston, the USS John F. Kennedy often sails into the harbor, while the Boston Pops Orchestra holds a televised concert on the banks of the Charles River, featuring American music and ending with the 1812 Overture.
Philadelphia holds its celebrations at Independence Hall, where historic scenes are reenacted and the Declaration of Independence is read.
Other interesting parties include the American Indian rodeo and three-day pow-wow in Flagstaff, Arizona, and the Lititz, Pennsylvania, candle festival, where hundred of candles are floated in water and a "Queen of Candles" is chosen.

If you want to know more about American and British holidays and celebrations, visit the wiki: British & American Festivals and Holidays!

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Tuesday 3 July 2012

Visuwords



Visuwords is an amazing online graphical dictionary that shows how a word relates to an infinite number of others. The most interesting about it is that you can really see the words through a neural net. You enter a word and then you can point related words to see their meanings or study synonyms, for instance. Educators know how important online dictionaries are when working with students in e-learning or b-learning... This tool adds something new because it works interactively and based on semantic hypermedia.

Monday 2 July 2012

The Idiom Connection



This website focuses on how idioms work. According to the author "an idiom is a combination of words that has a meaning that is different from the meanings of the individual words themselves". It has an A-Z list of idioms and quizzes to test your knowledge. It's desirable to know by heart at least the "100 Most Frequently Used English Idioms" ;) Time to hit the books and kill to birds and show the world that English is your cup of tea!