How Languages Change & Evolve - TED-ED Lesson

The Gunpowder Plot, Guy Fawkes and Bonfire Night

After Queen Elizabeth I died in 1603, English Catholics who had been persecuted under her rule had hoped that her successor, James I, would be more tolerant of their religion. James I had, after all, had a Catholic mother. Unfortunately, James did not turn out to be more tolerant than Elizabeth and a number of young men, 13 to be exact, decided that violent action was the answer.

A small group took shape, under the leadership of Robert Catesby. Catesby felt that violent action was warranted. Indeed, the thing to do was to blow up the Houses of Parliament. In doing so, they would kill the King, maybe even the Prince of Wales, and the Members of Parliament who were making life difficult for the Catholics. Today these conspirators would be known as extremists, or terrorists.

Credits: Roger Kirby from FreeImages

To carry out their plan, the conspirators got hold of 36 barrels of gunpowder - and stored them in a cellar, just under the House of Lords.

But as the group worked on the plot, it became clear that innocent people would be hurt or killed in the attack, including some people who even fought for more rights for Catholics. Some of the plotters started having second thoughts. One of the group members even sent an anonymous letter warning his friend, Lord Monteagle, to stay away from the Parliament on November 5th. Was the letter real?

The warning letter reached the King, and the King's forces made plans to stop the conspirators.

Guy Fawkes, who was in the cellar of the parliament with the 36 barrels of gunpowder when the authorities stormed it in the early hours of November 5th, was caught, tortured and executed.

It's unclear if the conspirators would ever have been able to pull off their plan to blow up the Parliament even if they had not been betrayed. Some have suggested that the gunpowder itself was so old as to be useless. Since Guy Fawkes and the other conspirators got caught before trying to ignite the powder, we'll never know for certain.

Even for the period which was notoriously unstable, the Gunpowder Plot struck a very profound chord for the people of England. In fact, even today, the reigning monarch only enters the Parliament once a year, on what is called "the State Opening of Parliament". Prior to the Opening, and according to custom, the Yeomen of the Guard search the cellars of the Palace of Westminster. Nowadays, the Queen and Parliament still observe this tradition.

On the very night that the Gunpowder Plot was foiled, on November 5th, 1605, bonfires were set alight to celebrate the safety of the King. Since then, November 5th has become known as Bonfire Night. The event is commemorated every year with fireworks and burning effigies of Guy Fawkes on a bonfire.

Some of the English have been known to wonder, in a tongue in cheek kind of way, whether they are celebrating Fawkes' execution or honoring his attempt to do away with the government.

Was Guy framed?

There was no doubt an attempt to blow up Parliament on November 5th 1605. But Guy Fawkes and his associates may have been caught in a Jacobean sting operation which would have served the authorities by casting Catholics, or Recusants, as an enemy to be pursued.

By the time Queen Elizabeth died, after ruling for about fifty years, most people only remembered living under her rule. When James I succeeded to the throne, many saw an opportunity for change. Those who felt particularly hard done by, both by Elizabeth I and James I, even felt that the situation was so bad as to require, in Fawkes' own words, "a desperate remedy": it was an opportunity to simply replace the current king.

These were unstable times indeed, with several smaller plots being discovered in the years preceding 1605. In fact, many of the Gunpowder plotters were known as traitors to the authorities. For this reason, it would have been difficult, if not unlikely, for them to gather 36 barrels of gunpowder and store them in a cellar under the house of Lords without the security forces getting suspicious.

Furthermore, the letter warning one of the members of government to stay away from Parliament is believed today to have been fabricated by the king's officials. Historians suggest that the King's officials already knew about the plot, that one of the plotters in fact revealed the key points of the plot to the authorities. The suspected turncoat? Francis Tresham.

The letter, then, would be a tool created by the King's officials to explain how, at the last minute, the king found out about the Plot and stopped it just before it wreaked its havoc on Parliament and himself. At the same time, the letter was vague enough to give the officials all the latitude they wanted in falsifying confessions and to pursue their own anti-Catholic ends.

There are two fundamental problems with the letter. Firstly, the letter was unsigned. Any and all of the conspirators, once apprehended, might have saved themselves from torture and perhaps even death if they could claim to have written it. None did. Not one of the conspirators who was caught appears to have known about the letter. Secondly, the letter was very vague in its content. It said nothing about the details of the planned attack. Still, the king and his men knew exactly the where and when to catch the conspirators and stop the explosion just hours before it was to take place.

How did they know?

The Plot Today

Guy left his name for everyday use

Today, we use the word "guy" to mean "person" or "man", as in "that guy across the street". Although the Oxford English Dictionary won't vouch for this theory, many linguists and historians think that our use of the term in that way is from our friend Guy Fawkes.

It's difficult to trace the exact path of the word over the centuries, but it probably started by referring to the effigy of Fawkes that was thrown on top of the bonfire every November 5th as "a guy". Still today, as they walk down the street trying to collect money for fireworks, kids will ask for "a penny for the guy." From there, it's not a huge leap to talk about "a guy" as a living person. The use of the word would have grown from there.

                         

The Opening of Parliament

Another tradition still observed by Britons is the annual visit of the Queen to Parliament every year. Ever since the Gunpowder Plot, the reigning monarch enters the Parliament only once a year, on what is called "the State Opening of Parliament". Prior to the Opening, and according to custom, the Yeomen of the Guard search the cellars of the Palace of Westminster. Today, the Queen and Parliament still observe this tradition.

No one really expects to find 36 barrels of gunpowder when our Yeomen undertake this task every year. But, just like most of us who like a good Bonfire Night, it's clear the Lords and MPs like a bit of a celebration, too.

Bonfire Night

Credits: Gavin Mills from FreeImages

For 400 years, bonfires have burned on November 5^th to mark the failed Gunpowder Plot.

The tradition of Guy Fawkes-related bonfires actually began the very same year as the failed coup. The Plot was foiled in the night between the 4th and 5th of November 1605. Already on the 5th, agitated Londoners who knew little more than that their King had been saved, joyfully lit bonfires in thanksgiving. As years progressed, however, the ritual became more elaborate. Soon, people began placing effigies onto bonfires, and fireworks were added to the celebrations. Effigies of Guy Fawkes, and sometimes those of the Pope, graced the pyres. Still today, some communities throw dummies of both Guy Fawkes and the Pope on the bonfire (and even those of a contemporary politician or two), although the gesture is seen by most as a quirky tradition, rather than an expression of hostility towards the Pope.

Preparations for Bonfire Night celebrations include making a dummy of Guy Fawkes, which is called "the Guy". Some children even keep up an old tradition of walking in the streets, carrying "the Guy" they have just made, and beg passersby for "a penny for the Guy." The kids use the money to buy fireworks for the evening festivities.

On the night itself, Guy is placed on top of the bonfire, which is then set alight; and fireworks displays fill the sky.

The extent of the celebrations and the size of the bonfire varies from one community to the next. Lewes, in the South East of England, is famous for its Bonfire Night festivities and consistently attracts thousands of people each year to participate.

Bonfire Night is not only celebrated in Britain. The tradition crossed the oceans and established itself in the British colonies during the centuries. It was actively celebrated in New England as "Pope Day" as late as the 18th century. Today, November 5^th bonfires still light up in far out places like New Zealand and Newfoundland in Canada.

For more information and for rhymes, chants and Bonfire Night recipes, visit Guy Fawkes and Bonfire Night.

The British Council has also a great multimedia lesson plan available here. You can either do it by yourself if you are a student or explore it in class if you are a teacher.

If two witches would watch two watches, which witch would watch which watch?

Did you know that tongue twisters like the one in the title are a very tough task

 for our transcranial direct current stimulation? 

Yes, they are, which means that practising them is a very good way

 of stimulating the language function in our brain!

Therefore... which witch is which?

Enjoy a very spooky and witchy Halloween tonight!

If you observe the Celtic Wheel of the Year, have a blessed Samhain!

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Celebrating Steve Jobs

Credits: Lenalensen by Pixabay 

Steve Jobs died twelve years ago, but it is impossible to forget his incredible genius. Without you, Steve, it's more difficult to stay hungry, stay Foolish. On October 5, 2011, Apple announced that co-founder Steve Jobs had died. He was 56 years old at the time. We all know who Steve Jobs is. The genius who revolutionized modern technology and the mastermind who emphasized style as much as function in our everyday digital devices.

However, there are a few facts about Steve Jobs that perhaps you don't know that would shock you. Let's learn a bit more about the real Steve Jobs with these 20 facts (slightly abridged), published by INC.

1. Steve Jobs was adopted shortly after being born.

2. Jobs was, biologically, half Arab. His biological father was Syrian and his mother was American.

3. Jobs and Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak met in high school – Wozniak was 18 and Jobs was just 13.

4. Jobs was a pescetarian, meaning he ate no meat except for fish.

5. He was an official college dropout, but continued his education by informally auditing classes.

6. One class Jobs audited was a calligraphy course, which he says was instrumental in the future Apple products' attention to typography and font.

7. There was actually a third founder of Apple – Ronald Wayne, who even designed Apple's first logo. Wayne sold his 10 percent stake just two weeks after partnering with Jobs and Wozniak for only $800.

8. Jobs was pushed out of his own company in 1985. Despite the fallout, he later recognized the coup as a blessing in disguise, as it gave him a chance to experiment creatively and purchase an animation studio, which would later be known as Pixar. Eventually he rejoined Apple as CEO in 1997 (and revitalized the failing company).

9. While at Apple, Jobs always kept his annual salary at $1. Don't worry, with 5.5 million shares of Apple stock and as the majority shareholder of Disney stock (from selling Pixar), he wasn't quite what you'd call a starving artist.

10. Jobs had an entire team devoted to packaging who studied the experience of opening a box to learn how to achieve the excitement and emotional response that is now common with Apple products.

11. Jobs is listed as either primary inventor or co-inventor for 346 United States patents related to a range of technologies, with most of the patents being for design.

12. Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak notes that Jobs never learned how to code.

13. Jobs harbored an intense dislike for PCs, and is quoted as saying to one friend, "I'd rather sell dog shit than PCs."

14. He never put license plates on his silver Mercedes (despite driving it constantly). How did he do it? California has a rule that a car owner has six months to put plates on a new car. Jobs just changed cars (to the identical model) every six months, allowing him to drive without plates.

15. Jobs actually served as a mentor for Google founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page, even sharing some of his advisers with the Google duo.

16. Jobs was furious when Google created its Android devices, entering as an Apple competitor in the phone market.

17. Jobs was found to have pancreatic cancer in 2003, but rather than taking the doctor-recommended path of immediate operation, Jobs subscribed to an alternative-medicine regimen, including a vegan diet, acupuncture, and herbal remedies, even consulting a psychic. After nine months, Jobs gave in and underwent surgery. Many consider the delay a major factor in his eventual decline.

18. Apple, Microsoft, and Disney properties (including Disneyland and Disney World) flew their flags at half-staff when Jobs died.

19. Tim Cook revealed in a 2014 interview that Jobs's main office and nameplate are still as they were in 2011, when Jobs passed away.20. Sunday, October 16, 2011, was declared Steve Jobs Day by the governor of California, Jerry Brown.

 

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Teaching & Learning celebrates the 13th anniversary!

Teaching & Learning was born 13 years ago on a rainy afternoon. It doesn't seem so long ago, and yet the world has changed dramatically!
We intended to give suggestions of English Language Teaching resources and Web 2.0 tools applied to English language teaching, gather some practical examples of students' work and discuss their relevance/success in class context, create an interaction tool with Students/ other Teachers and keep close to Steve Jobs' motto: “Stay hungry. Stay foolish.” as we believe work can be done with pleasure and it can be much better if we don’t forget about enjoying it and adding a pinch of foolishness!

However, it has never crossed our minds that we would face a Covid-19 pandemic situation and that we would be confined for months, being e-learning the only way to keep our students learning and engaged. Now, more than ever before, educational apps and LMS are basic tools for all teachers.

THANK YOU for reading Teaching & Learning, for supporting us and above all for being here!
We would also like to thank to our partners and to all those who spend their time commenting and giving us important feedback!

This whole experience is a pleasure for us, so we intend to keep on going, posting more about Language Didactics, English Language Teaching, educational digital resources, British and North American culture, students’ tasks, ICT, motivational and a couple of foolish things, too, of course! 

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Thirteen incredible years and counting and we continue to STAY HUNGRY. STAY FOOLISH. 
It's high time to celebrate... HAPPY BIRTHDAY, TEACHING & LEARNING!

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 Teaching & Learning wishes you all a very productive, creative and joyful school year!

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The History of Christmas Carols

Credits: Vlad Vasnetsov por Pixabay

Christmas carols today carry cozy connotations of ancient traditions as old as King Wenceslas, but Christmas caroling as we know it dates back to the 19th Century and not much further. In fact, caroling itself didn't always involve Christmas, and the ancient tradition of traveling from house to house to wish neighbors good cheer didn't always involve singing. There's a distinction to be made between carols — songs stemming from medieval musical traditions — and today's Christmas caroling, says Daniel Abraham, musicology expert and choral director at American University in Washington, D.C. "The concept of carol in its origins has actually nothing to do with Christmas," Abraham says. Medieval carols were liturgical songs reserved for processionals in the 12th and 13th centuries. And though modern carols sometimes take their form from these original carols — starting with a refrain, followed by verses of uniform structure — they're separate entities.

The act of traveling to different homes comes from a different tradition altogether, albeit a similarly ancient one. In England, the word wassail — derived from the Old Norse ves heill meaning "be well, and in good health" — came to mean the wishing of good fortune on your neighbors. No one is quite sure when the custom began, but it did give us the song, "Here We Come-A-Wassailing" — sung as carolers wished good cheer to their neighbors in hopes of getting a gift in return. ("A Wassailing" also evolved into the popular "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" — its last verse, "Bring us some figgy pudding" stems from the wassailers' original intent.)

The two traditions of singing and visiting first merged in Victorian England, as church carols began to merge with Christian folk music. At that time, it was far from a Christmas tradition; festivals like May Day were deemed worthy of caroling, too, but the repertoire as well as early records of this are pretty unclear. In the 19th Century, as Christmas became more commercialized and popular, publishers began churning out anthologies of carols, many which were ancient hymns, also circulating them in broadsheets.

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Many of our today's most popular carols date to this period. Christmas Carols Ancient and Modern published in London by British lawyer William B. Sandys in 1833, was the first to print "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen," "The First Noel" and "Hark! the Herald Angels Sing." "Joy to the World" first appeared in the Anglican Church hymnalHymns Ancient and Modern in 1861. Composed by Isaac Watts, known as the "father of Englsh hymnody", the song actually wasn't written exclusively for singing at Christmastime. Charles Wesley's "Hark the Herald Angels Sing" was originally "Hark! How All The Welkin Rings!" (Welkin means sky or heaven, and came to mean making a loud sound.)

The Oxford Book of Carols, first published in 1928, was a landmark book that combined medieval carols, folk songs and Christmas songs from around the world, publishing 201 of them in a 700-page volume. An updated version, the New Oxford Book of Carols, was published in 1992. Ubiquitous holiday TV ads to the contrary, American caroling is far less common than it used to be, says Bob Thompson, professor of popular culture at Syracuse University. It's not unusual to see carolers standing still in a shopping mall or churchyard, but as for the random groups of friends traipsing to your doorstep for singing, don't count on it. "You talk to most baby boomers they might have a caroling story or two," says Thompson. "Talk to anybody born after 1960 or so and it's become much less common." Simply put, times and culture have changed. "The singing of Christmas carols at a stranger's door assumes a similarity of culture among carolers and audience," says Chris Brunelle, an assistant professor of classics at St. Olaf college. With America a far more diverse and less homogenous society than it was in caroling's heyday, that's a larger assumption than many are comfortable with. Still, most of us probably agree about the egg nog.

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