In Great Britain the hustle and bustle of the season begins well before Christmas and there is barely anytime for a break until the Twelfth night. There is preparation going on of foods, the sending of Christmas cards, the decorating of houses and churches, and the readying of gifts keep everyone busy even the youngest family members.
On Christmas Eve youngsters hang up their stockings on the ends of the beds or by the chimney so that when Father Christmas comes he can leave them something.
On Christmas morning the family traditionally opens their presents and prepares for a big feast which typically is served just after midday. The table gleams with the best china and glassware, and at every place on the table there is a cracker. The meal begins with a toast, followed by the popping of the crackers. After the meal they sit down in front of the Television for the traditional Christmas speech of the British Monarch.
In the afternoon they exchange visits with neighbors other family members.
Some churches in Great Britain have a Christingle service on the fourth Sunday of Advent. This is a carol service of Scandinavian origin at which every child received an orange and candle wrapped in a red ribbon. The candle represents Jesus and the ribbon stands for the blood of Christ and the love of God embracing the world.
In Britain, children write their letters to Father Christmas and then throw them into the fireplace so they will float up the chimney and fly to the North Pole. If the lists catch fire first, they have to rewrite them.
At Christmas dinner, a plum pudding is served with little treasures hidden inside that bring their finders good luck. Britain was the first country to hang up mistletoe.
Christmas Fudge
Ingredients:
6 cups sugar 1 1/2 cups butter 1 large can evaporated milk 2 packages chocolate chips 1 jar marshmallow cream 1 cup nuts
Cook in heavy pan until boiling, boil 10 minutes, stirring all the time. Take off burner and add chips, marshmallow cream and nuts, make sure you mix well, pour into 9 x 13 buttered pan. It will make 6 pounds.
I´m sitting in front of the computer,nearly frozen,feeling blue and miserable with this awful weather and daydreaming about where I´d like to be right now. Just look below. Do you know who I am? I bet you don´t.
Focussing on more serious matters ,I´ve found some web pages for you to browse. They are both useful and entertaining. - www.tolearnenglish.com/cqui2/myexam/index.php There are three levels: beginner, intermediate and advanced. Have a look at these sections: - Lessons and exercises - Leisure time - Links - www.songsforteaching.com. about songs Go to: - Languages - English - www.agendaweb.org Work the following sections: - Grammar - Vocabulary - Verbs - Listening As you´ll probably get bored these Christmas holidays , you´ve got plenty of activities to do in English.
Christmas in Denmark is supposed to be when a mischievous elf called Nisse can have fun. He is said to live in the lofts of old farmhouses and enjoys playing jokes. He wears gray woolen clothes, a red bonnet, red stockings and white clogs. Families leave him a bowl of rice pudding or porridge on Christmas Eve to keep his jokes within limits. Usually though he is kind and helpful helping out on the farms and being especially good to the children.
Christmas Eve dinner begins with rice pudding that holds a magic almond inside. Whoever finds the almond receives a prize. They then have goose, red cabbage and browned potatoes. After that lots of pastries and cakes.
The Danish tradition is the Christmas plate. This was a tradition in the early days where rich Danes gave plates biscuits and fruit as presents to their servants. These plates were the nicest and best kind and were not used for everyday use, this is the reason why they became so collectable.
They take much pride making their own decorations with bright paper, bits of wood and straw. Parents secretly decorate the tree, and children are not permitted to see the tree until dinner on Christmas Eve. The tree is then lit up and families gather around to sing carols and hymns.
Each Sunday in Advent, guests are invited to join in the lighting of the candles on the Advent crown. Adults drink a warming mixture of red wine, spices and raisins, and children drink a sweet fruit juice, like strawberry. Everybody eats small cakes of butter which have been cooked over the fire in a special pan, and dusted with icing sugar.
In Denmark Christmas Eve is a special time. It is at this time parents secretly decorate the Christmas tree with home made wood and straw The children are only able to see the tree before dinner when it is lit up and the family gathers to sing carols and hymns.
In Denmark Christmas Eve is called Juleaften and is the biggest occasion of the year. Parties go on all night, with traditional prune-stuffed roast goose, red cabbage, fried pastries, and cinnamon-laced rice pudding called Grod.
The Christmas elves called Julenisse are appeased with rice pudding, and dishes of seeds are placed outdoors for wild birds.
PAZ GARCIA ORVIZ
NI2 We had the election of students´representatives. It was Sheila who got all the votes. - Homework: Grammar, unit 52 and wk p. 23. both about question tags. - Some of you gave compositions about "Advantages and Disadvantages" and some doubts were solved, especially about prepositions. We saw grammar, chapters 123 ,124 with the prepositions "in, at, on". - Vocabulary: St.B.p. 149 . Parts of a car. You found it very difficult , however it´s important since it was only about the basic parts. you did a memory activity testing your partner. - Reading: St.b.p.36 . Two scrambled stories to order. Here we dealt with narrative tenses, that is, simple past, past continuous, past perfect and past perfect continuous. - Grammar: The previous tenses were classified. - Homework:Grammar, unit 123,124.
This is one of my favourite photos . It was taken on the beach in Punta Cana when I was on holiday two years ago. I went with my friends. Is was a fantastic tour!
I took this photo when I was sunbathingon a deck chair.
In the background you can see the beautiful blue sea and two boats. On the beach there were a lot of palm trees .In the middle of the photo you can see alookout too.
Normally we went to the beach every day and we drank a lot of delicious cocktails but also we went to trips around the island.
The weather in Punta Cana was sunny so I swam very much.
Every night we went to the disco and we danced until dawn .
I like the Caribe and I want to go back again!!!!
ANGELA MENDEZ MURCIA 2NB
ALBERTO PINTOS NOVO has sent us this song. Great!!!
Preparation for Christmas in the Congo begins when some group is designated to prepare the annual Christmas pageant.
Christmas day begins with groups of carolers walking to and fro through the village, along the roadway, by the houses of the missionaries, singing the lovely carols known the world around. Often people may be awakened by a group of carolers beginning to converge on the house of worship. They return home to make final preparation as to the clothes one must wear and also as to his offering for the Christmas service.
The most important part of their Christmas worship service is the love offering, this is the gift in honor of Jesus. Then at about 8 or 9 o'clock everyone makes their way to the celebration of the birthday of Jesus.
Everyone who attends the service goes forward to lay down their gift upon the raised platform near the Communion table. Not one person will attend the service without giving a gift.
Now people have Christmas dinners after the service, preparing tables out in front of their home and inviting many of their intimate friends to share.
Christmas in South Africa is a summer holiday. In December, the southern summer brings glorious days of sunshine that carry an irresistible invitation to the beaches, the rivers, and the shaded mountain slopes. Then the South African holiday season reaches its height. Schools are closed, and camping is the order of the day. In South Africa there is no snow, but it has many flowers, many beautiful varieties of cultivated and wild flowers being in their full pride.
In the cities and towns carolers make their rounds on Christmas Eve. Church services are held on Christmas morning. Christmas Eve celebrations in larger centers include "Carols by Candlelight" and special screen and floor shows.
Homes are decorated with pine branches, and all have the decorated Christmas fir in a corner, with presents for the children around. At bedtime on Christmas Eve, children may also hang up their stockings for presents from Father Christmas.
Many South Africans have a Christmas dinner in the open-air lunch. For many more, it is the traditional dinner of either turkey, roast beef, mince pies, or suckling pig, yellow rice with raisins, vegetables, and plum pudding, crackers, paper hats, and all. In the afternoon, families go out into the country and usually there are games or bathing in the warm sunshine, and then home in the cool of the evening. Boxing Day is also a proclaimed public holiday usually spent in the open air. It falls on December 26 and is a day of real relaxation.
In Ghana, on Africa's west coast, most churches herald the coming of Christmas by decorating the church and homes beginning with the first week in Advent, four weeks before Christmas. This season happens to coincide with the cocoa harvest, so it is a time of wealth. Everyone returns home from wherever they might be such as farms or mines.
On the eve of Christmas, children march up and down the streets singing Christmas Carols and shouting "Christ is coming, Christ is coming! He is near!" in their language. In the evening, people flock to churches which have been decorated with Christmas evergreens or palm trees massed with candles. Hymns are sung and Nativity plays are presented.
On Christmas Day, children and older people, representing the angels in the fields outside Bethlehem, go from house to house singing. Another church service is held where they dress in their native attire or Western costumes. Later on there is a feast of rice and yam paste called fufu with stew or okra soup, porridge and meats. Families eat together or with close neighbors, and presents are given.
On the west coast of Africa, in Liberia, most homes have an oil palm for a Christmas tree, which is decorated with bells. On Christmas morning, people are woken up by carols. Presents such as cotton cloth, soap, sweets, pencils, and books are exchanged. Also in the morning a church service is held in which the Christmas scene is enacted and hymns and carols are sung. Dinner is eaten outdoors with everyone sitting in a circle to share the meal of rice, beef and biscuits. Games are played in the afternoon, and at night fireworks light up the sky.
1. Melt butter over low heat. 2. Stir in sugar, spices, chopped almonds and well beaten eggs. Add flour and baking powder. 3. Roll dough out thinly and cut into shapes. Place half an almond in the centre of each biscuit, and brush the top of each biscuit with the white of an egg. 4. Bake at 180 degrees celcius until brown.
From: /www.santas.net/
This photo was taken in Puerto de Vega, a small village on the Asturias coast. I like this place because I was working here for two years in a bank. I took this photo last year, in the summer, when my wife and me went to Puerto de Vega for lunch. That is a sea port place. Many people are sailors or they are related with the fishing, so in the foreground of the photo we can see the boats on the wharf. The restaurants of Puerto de Vega get ready different kinds of fish, but we like the delicious seafood paella. It is their specialty. For my work I had to meet many people in Puerto de Vega, so after lunch we went for a walk around the village and we talked with some sailors who came back from the sea. When the weather is good we like to come here. I think that we have been to Puerto de Vega six or seven times this year. I have taken a lot of photos of the village. They are kept in my computer.
Here you have two kind of speaking activities to practise: - interaction - speech . It´s important because these activities are similar to the ones you´re going to have in the exam. ALBERTO PINTOS NOVO has sent us this song. Thank you.
My name's Ana Mª de Torres . I currently work at Langreo EOI as an English teacher and this blog has been specially designed for my students who, for whatever reason, can't come to class regularly.
Here they'll find the activities carried out in the classroom and a variety of articles and interesting links to broadnen their knowledge of the language and culture of the many countries English is spoken in.
My name's 