HAPPY THANKSGIVING

American Thanksgiving

 

The annual Thanksgiving tradition in the United States can be traced back to the 17^th  century. In 1621, after a hard and devastating first year in the New World, the English Pilgrims had a very successful and plentiful fall harvest. The Pilgrims, who had settled Plymouth Colony (in present day Massachusetts), soon made peace with the local Native American tribe, the Wampanoag. To celebrate the harvest, the Pilgrims and the Native Americans joined together to feast. Since then, an annual day of Thanksgiving has been celebrated on the fourth Thursday in November. Thanksgiving is also celebrated in Canada, on the second Monday in October.

A traditional Thanksgiving dinner includes: roasted turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, cranberry sauce, and rolls. No Thanksgiving dinner is complete without a pumpkin pie for dessert!

 Other Thanksgiving Day traditions include the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade through New York City. Macy’s, a famous department store, sponsors the parade. The parade includes floats, Santa Claus, and the Radio City Rockettes. Another Thanksgiving tradition includes watching the professional football games that are played in the afternoon. Two teams, the Detroit Lions and the Dallas Cowboys, host games every year.

Pumpkin Pie Recipe

 Ingredients

1 cup packed brown sugar

1 tablespoon cornstarch

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ginger

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 1/2 cups pumpkin purée

3 large eggs

1 1/2 cups evaporated milk

1 9-inch pie shell

 Directions

1. Preheat oven to 425° F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper; set aside. In a large bowl, combine brown sugar, cornstarch, salt, ginger, cinnamon, pumpkin purée and 3 eggs. Beat well. Add evaporated milk and combine. Set aside.

2. Fill pie shell with pumpkin mixture. Transfer to prepared baking sheet.

3. Bake for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 350° F and continue baking for 30 more minutes. Cool on a wire rack.

YUMMY

• Holiday Foods

Please take a few minutes to think about this:

• Do you have a holiday like Thanksgiving in your country? Is there a time of year when people are thankful for the things they have?
• What are the important holidays in your country? Do people eat a lot at these holidays?
• What is a typical holiday dish? What are the ingredients?
• Who does most of the work for a holiday meal (shopping, cooking, cleaning up) in your family?
• Do you have any family traditions at holiday meals? Do you play any games before or after a big holiday meal?
• Do you enjoy important holidays when people all come together for a big meal? Why or why not?

FOR ALL THE SINGERS OUT THERE

HELLO GUYS!

This is a fantastic website. Here you can find your favorite band or song and learn all the lyrics.

You can also do comprehension exercises at the same time. Just select the level of difficulty and start singing

ENJOY!

http://www.lyricstraining.com/

GRAMMAR GENIUS: PRESENT SIMPLE VS PRESENT CONTINUOUS

Hamilton House ELT has a more than interesting collection of videos on theirYouTube channel.

On this video you can revise the difference between present simple for habitual actions and present continous for actions we are doing now.

The video also shows some examples of stative verbs, [verbs that never take the present continuous form]: love, like, hate.

Finally, we can also see the use of present continuous to talk about fixed future plans (my cousing is coming; he’s only staying for dinner; I’m staying for a week).

Here is the script:

Present simple vs present continuous and stative verbs

Mark Spark and Betty Brain are scientists. Mark is an inventor and Betty is his assistant. Today Betty and Mark are in their lab. They are working on some experiments.

– Mark, what are you making?

– I’m making a present for my cousin George. He is coming today for a short visit.

– But that’s a carton of milk.

– It looks like a carton of milk, but it’s not. I connect it with my mobile phone and it becomes a speaker. George loves milk and loves music too.

– Why are you wearing a tie? You never wear ties.

– I hate ties, but I’m wearing this tie because it’s a present from my cousin George.

– Mark, what are you cooking?

– I’m cooking vegetables.

– Vegetables? But you hate vegetables! You always eat meat.

– Yes, but cousin George is a vegetarian. He doesn’t eat meat.

– What are you doing? – I’m putting away my things. It’s always a disaster when George comes. Thanks goodness he is only staying for dinner. – George, nice to see you. This is Betty, my lovely assistant. – Hello Betty, nice to meet you. – Nice to meet you too, George. – Where can I put my suitcases? I’m staying for a week. – Oh, no!

AMERICAN ACCENT TRAINING

 

 

 

 

 

 

So… you know how we are always talking about phonetics in class… Well, I found this series of videos(12 of them) about the vocalic sounds in American English. If you have time, watch them all and practice these sounds. They show you how to position your lips and your tongue and they are quite illustrative. They also give you the different spellings for each sound. I am sure you’ll find this rather useful.

 

 

TO REVIEW YOUR PREPOSITIONS

Hello guys!

Please watch this short video about prepositions. Hopefully, it will help you to remember some examples to use them accurately.

Enjoy!

 

MONTHS OF THE YEAR

Linguaspectrum YouTube channel is really interesting for the English student, especially for your level.
On this video they revise and teach the months of the year, while giving us background information about the history of each month.The video comes complete with subtitles, so understanding is not problem, and we can focus on pronunciation or vocabulary matters.
If you wish to test your listening ability, try listening to the video without seeing the screen, so that you can hear the sound but can’t read the subtitles.

ENJOY!

PUMPKIN CONTEST WINNER

Hello to you all!
Here are a few pictures of all the pumpkins that were entered in the contest, plus the winner. I want to thank you all for  participating and taking the time to carve such fantastic masterpieces!

THE WINNER, NOEMÍ VÁZQUEZ

FROM 1ST OF BASIC

AND THE WINNER IS…

THIS IS THE WINNER OF THE POSTER CONTEST, A STUDENT FROM LAS NAVAS DEL MARQUÉS. CONGRATULATIONS!

A LITTLE BIT MORE ABOUT TOULOUSE-LAUTREC

Because of childhood injuries that left his legs crippled, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec often felt left out of the aristocratic world into which he had been born and lived at times on the margins of society. He frequented the Moulin Rouge, a famous Parisian nightclub named for the red windmill on its roof; here, he depicted many of his friends and favorite entertainers.

In the background, La Goulue, the Moulin Rouge’s reigning dance star, adjusts her red hair while the dwarfish Toulouse-Lautrec and his tall cousin, Gabriel Tapié de Céléyran, walk toward the left. The glum assembly of characters seated around the table includes writer Edouard Dujardin, entertainer La Macarona, photographer Paul Sescau, winemaker Maurice Guibert, and another redhead, perhaps entertainer Jane Avril. The woman with the green face illuminated with artificial light is May Milton, another popular dancer of the day.

Toulouse-Lautrec’s Postimpressionist style is a highly personal combination of theImpressionists’ interest in contemporary subject matter and his own expressionistic color and line. The eerie green light of the interior evokes an unhealthy atmosphere. The artist then added to the visual drama by utilizing different lines, such as the curving silhouette of La Goulue fixing her hair, the collar of Avril’s coat, and the outline of Milton’s sleeve. These lines contrast with the strong diagonals of the banister and the floorboards, which rush forward toward the viewer, enhancing the lively mood of the decidedly worldly setting.