Friday 13th - Origin and Superstition

Credits: Raquel Pina Design & Illustration

According to folklorists, there is no written evidence for a "Friday the 13th" superstition before the 19th century.The earliest known documented reference in English occurs in Henry Edwards' 1869 biography of Gioachino Rossini.

Consequently, several theories have been proposed about the origin of the Friday the 13th superstition.

One theory states that it is a modern amalgamation of two older superstitions: that thirteen is an unlucky number and that Friday is an unlucky day.

In numerology, the number twelve is considered the number of completeness, as reflected in the twelve months of the year, twelve hours of the clock, twelve Gods of Olympus, twelve tribes of Israel, twelve Apostles of Jesus, the 12 successors of Muhammad in Shia Islam, whereas the number thirteen was considered irregular, transgressing this completeness. There is also a superstition, thought by some to derive from the Last Supper, that having thirteen people seated at a table will result in the death of one of the diners.
Friday has been considered an unlucky day at least since the 14th century's The Canterbury Tales^, and many other professions have regarded Friday as an unlucky day to undertake journeys, begin new projects or deploy releases in production. Black Friday has been associated with stock market crashes and other disasters since the 1800s.

If you are spooked by Friday the 13th, you're in for a whammy of a year. This  unlucky day is the second of three for 2012. Many superstitions stem from the same human trait that causes us to believe in monsters and ghosts: When our brains can't explain something, we make stuff up. In fact, a 2010 study found that superstitions can sometimes work, because believing in something can improve performance on a task.
If you're not scared of Friday the 13th, you should be scared of the word used to describe those who are: friggatriskaidekaphobics. (An alternative, though just as tongue-twisty, word for the fear is "paraskevidekatriaphobia.")
For a superstition, Friday has long been considered an unlucky day - according to Christian tradition, Jesus died on a Friday.
According to the Stress Management Center and Phobia Institute in the USA, about 17 million people fear Friday the 13th. Many may fall prey to the human mind's desire to associate thoughts and symbols with events.
"If anything bad happens to you on Friday the 13th, the two will be forever associated in your mind," psychologists say. "All those uneventful days in which the 13th fell on a Friday will be ignored."
Found pic @ Google Images
^{Source: Wikipedia & Live Science}

Beware your Body Language

Body language affects how others see us, but it may also change how we see ourselves. Social psychologist Amy Cuddy shows how "power posing" - standing in a posture of confidence, even when we don't feel confident - can affect testosterone and cortisol levels in the brain, and might even have an impact on our chances for success.

New Partnership with Education.com

We are back for one more year and a whole set of new experiences!

Therefore Teaching & Learning has now a new partnership with Education.com, which will allow us to suggest you different ELT materials and content for class/individual work developed by Education.com.

Here goes the first worksheet with a word search about school. You can download both the worksheet and the answer key by using the links below. We hope you enjoy it!

School is in session so what better time to practise your skills and find words with this fun word search. Be sure to check out Education.com where you will find more learning games and resources like this. 

You can also visit Education.com on Pinterest and on Twitter.

Worksheet: http://bit.ly/2ZloiMp 

Answer key: http://bit.ly/2Pj9HMN

The Digital Competence Wheel

The Digital Competence Wheel is a polar diagram that visually illustrates the strength of 16 different digital competences.

Each column represents a competence with a possible score between 0 and 100%. The higher the score, the stronger the competence. The centre of the wheel shows the score of your total digital competence.

The purpose of the Digital Competence Wheel is to support the development of digital competences. The Digital Competence Wheel also helps by creating a structure and an overview of what digital competences exist and which ones need to be improved. Its purpose is to provide an overview of which digital competences exist and should be improved, as well as concrete inspiration for how to improve the most relevant digital competences.

The Digital Competence Wheel has been developed by the Center for Digital Dannelse, who has been engaged in digitalisation and digital education since 2009, theoretically based on a major EU research project, DIGCOMP, deriving from the European Parliament’s inclusion of digital competence, as one of the eight core competences for lifelong learning.

Below you can see ours. Give it a try here!

Welcoming September!

Teaching & Learning wishes you a peaceful, productive and very happy school year!

T&L Summer Break 2019

It has been a tough year, full of new challenges.
Now it is high time to have a break and relax so that we can face September with energy and a lot of new ideas. If you are on holiday, too, enjoy it to the fullest. If you are not, we hope your August is at least calm. Either way, see you very soon!
And now...

eTwinning National Quality Label for our Project @ Zarco

The project "Eat Well, Be Healthy!" developed by the 10th  and 11th grade Professional Courses @Zarco Secondary School in Matosinhos has been awarded the eTwinning National Quality Label.

An immense THANK YOU to all the participants.

You can access all the work here.