Saint Patrick's Day

I'm sure you are all familiar with some of the celebrations of some English speaking countries, such as: Halloween, Thanksgiving, Xmas, Easter and maybe even Guy Fawkes Night also known as Bonfire Night, but do you know when, who and what is celebrated on Saint Patrick's Day?

If the answer is no or you just want to learn more about it, have a look to this link:

Saint Patrick's Day - Wikipedia

And watch the following video about a lesson in honor of St. Patrick Day where you can learn some vocabulary related with the topic:



If you want you can carry on with the following funny video:




Now that you know a lot of things about this celebration, you could feel like enjoying a pint in one of the Irish pubs we have in Madrid next Wednesday, March 17th. Come on, you could meet some friends and have a real St. Patrick's Day just run the corner! Have a look to these links to see where is the nearest Irish pub for you:

Celebrating St. Patrick's Day: 15 Irish Pubs in Madrid - Planeteye Traveler

Eire force in Madrid and how they celebrate this day - InMadrid.com

Xmas Time

Well, I have some good and bad news for you, let's start by the good one... Christmas is coming so you are going to have more time to spend with your family, eat and drink a lot, give and receive lots of presents... or maybe that was the bad news... well ... don't know. But you are definitely going to have some holidays, aren't you?

Although it might be the case that by now some of you are sick of hearing about Christmas as every time this holiday seems to start earlier. Well, some more good news is that if you are tired of Spanish Christmas you can always learn more about other traditions all around the world, especially those of some English speaking countries, for instance, the UK, the US...

Let's start with a common tradition in most cultures, Christmas Carols, do you like singing? and singing Xmas carols? In case you don't know the answer to that question yet, you can try and see with this very famous Xmas Carol:

Song lyrics | All I Want For Christmas Is You lyrics

This song became very famous a few years ago with a film called Love Actually. It is located in London and, although is at Xmas time ... yeah I know ... there are like 1,000 Xmas films on TV every day during this period of the year, but trust me this one isn't the typical one, so if you haven't seen it yet, it could be a good oportunity, here you have the trailer.





Other common tradition all around is food, so here you can find some very famous Christmas recipes in English culture:

Christmas Recipes

Here you have some more mix ability practise related to this topic:

Christmas Gift Listening - Multiple Choice
General Xmas Trivia - Quiz

Finally, you can read a bit about how popular online shopping is even more at Christmas and you can even have a look at some webs, maybe you get some ideas for your own Xmas gifts, good luck!

Christmas shopping stalls Walmart.com
The Great Christmas shopping price fix
somucheasier.co.uk - online shopping webpage
Great Christmas gift ideas - online shopping webpage

Thanksgiving Day

Hey, this year November 26th is Thanksgiving Day. This holiday has not a fixed day, it's not like Christmas Day... but it is always celebrated on the last Thursday of November.

Anyway you are problably familiar with it due to a lot of American TV Series we normally watch. Unfortunatelly not always in original version, am I right? Well, don't worry about the past... think about the present and watch the following videos, hope you have fun!



What about Friends, Thanksgiving and Brad Pitt...



And a bit of American football...

Let's learn a bit more about this special day in American culture, some special recipes for this day...

Thanksgiving Recipes

Thanksgiving Day (traditions around the world, recipes...)

Well, by now you know the US is not the only country where Thanksgiving is celebrated. Do the following listening activity and learn how different it is celebrated in other countries such as Canada. Then try the cloze test, thus you will be also pratising for the exam in June.

Canadian Thanksgiving (Listening practice)
Thanksgiving Cloze (Reading practice)

Guy Fawkes' Night - November 5th

Remember, remember
the fifth of November
gunpowder, treason and plot.
I see no reason
why gunpowder treason
should ever be forgot.

November 5th is celebrated in England as Guy Fawkes' Night. It is named after a member of a group of Catholic conspirators who, in 1605, plotted to blow up the English Houses of Parliament with gunpowder. Let's find out more about this special date:

Guy Fawkes Night & the Gunpowder Plot
Guy Fawkes & the Bonfire Night
British History: What if it had succeeded?

What about watching how people celebrate that night?

Well, let's check if you've learnt something after all this information, I'm sure you did!

Listening & Reading
Bonfire Night Puzzle - BBC
Guy Fawkes Night Quiz (easy)
Guy Fawkes Night (tricky)
Chants & Rhymes
Planning for this Night

HALLOWEEN TIME

Hi everyone! As you all know next Friday we' re going to join the rest of the students at EOI Villaverde to listen to some spooky legends. Don't forget you can also take part in the Halloween Quiz where you and your partners will show how much you know about it. Come on... don't be shy and join us! Here you have some quizzes and more activities so that you can practise a bit and have fun!

Quiz on Halloween 1
Quiz on Halloween 2
Halloween Origins Quiz
Halloween Costumes Quiz

Interactive crossword
Scary Webquest
Idioms & Proverbs for Halloween



If you feel like learning a bit more... don't stop and carry on...

Listening: "A Halloween Journey of the Night I Chickened out"
The 5 Most Haunted Places in the UK
Hookery Cookery