Friday 31 December 2021

Thursday 30 December 2021

DOWNTON ABBEY


This is far from a perfect film—it feels a bit rushed and thin  ...  still, it works. It really works. It's goodhearted and clever, and it knows when to end.  Read here.

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2019/sep/10/downton-abbey-review-imelda-staunton-maggie-smith

https://engvideo.pro/en/films/downton-abbey/

Wednesday 29 December 2021

JANE AUSTEN MOVIE ADAPTATIONS

The iconic Jane Austen's stories of independent women in the Regency era have been enthralling audiences for centuries. It only makes sense that with the creation of the movies these stories quickly moved to the big screen. Movies allow Jane Austen's stories to be told in an entirely new way, bringing life to many beloved characters.  Read here.







Tuesday 28 December 2021

REVISING ELIZABETHAN THEATRE AND DRAMA

During Elizabeth I’s reign English playwrights began to write comedies and tragedies. By the end of her reign playwrights such as Marlowe, Johnson and Shakespeare were writing the plays for which they are now famous. Read here.

https://nosweatshakespeare.com/resources/era/elizabethan-theatre-drama/

Monday 27 December 2021

WHAT IS IAMBIC PENTAMETER?

If you’ve studied any of Shakespeare’s sonnets, you may have heard of "iambic pentameter" … but what exactly is iambic pentameter?

In a line of poetry, an "iamb" is a foot or beat consisting of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable.  Read here.

Friday 24 December 2021

THE 12 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS

“I will honor Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year.” Charles Dickens

Wednesday 22 December 2021

Sunday 12 December 2021

READING MARY SHELLEY'S FRANKENSTEIN


Mary Shelley's famous Gothic novel is considered a landmark work and every decade brings a new interpretation. Here is a selection - some include plot details,
Read here,


Wednesday 1 December 2021

DECEMBER


"The color of springtime is in the flowers; the color of winter is in the imagination."
Terri Guillemets

Thursday 25 November 2021

Wednesday 17 November 2021

WILLIAM WORDSWORTH - 5^D LINGUISTICO


Here you can explore the Wordsworth Museum which is next door to Dove Cottage  - it was in this little cottage, at times "crammed edge full" with people, in the heart of the remote Lake District, that William Wordsworth wrote some of the greatest poetry in the English language.

Thursday 11 November 2021

REMEMBRANCE DAY


“In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below
We are the dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.”
Colonel John McRae, "In Flanders Fields"
November 11th - Armistice Day, 1918.

On the 11th hour, of the 11th day of the 11th month we remember all those who have fallen.
Remembrance Day is marked annually on 11 November to commemorate the end of the First World War in 1918, followed by Remembrance Sunday.
The day is also observed to remember all those who sacrificed their lives in the war, with a 2 minute silence at 11am.

Saturday 6 November 2021

MOLLY MALONE - 2^C LINGUISTICO


Molly Malone is the enigmatic heroine of the famous song of the same name, widely recognised as Dublin’s unofficial anthem. Immortalised in bronze during the 1988 Dublin Millennium celebrations, the Molly Malone statue stands in the heart of the city’s historic Georgian Quarter.

According to the lyrics of the undeniably catchy tune – also known as Cockles and Mussels – Molly was a young and beautiful fishmonger who sold her yield from a cart on the streets of Dublin. The song’s final verse states that after she died of a fever, she began haunting the city.

Despite her international fame, Molly Malone remains something of a mystery. While a popular figure in Irish folklore, she became an urban legend towards the end of the 20th century when claims that she was a real person who lived in the 17th century became popularised. After a Mary Malone (the name Molly derives from Mary or Margaret) was discovered to have died in Dublin on 13 June 1699, the Dublin Millennium Commission joyously proclaimed 13 June Molly Malone Day, and in 1988, it unveiled her statue.

https://www.irelandbeforeyoudie.com/who-was-molly-malone-what-we-know-from-irish-folklore-and-songs/

Monday 1 November 2021

NOVEMBER

 

"The month of November makes me feel that life is passing more quickly. 
In an effort to slow it down, I try to fill the hours more meaningfully."
Henry Rollins 

Sunday 31 October 2021

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

 


Halloween is a holiday celebrated each year on 31 October. The tradition originated with the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain, when people would light bonfires and wear costumes to ward off ghosts. In the 8th century, Pope Gregory III designated 1 November  as a time to honor all saints. Soon, All Saints Day incorporated some of the traditions of Samhain. The evening before was known as All Hallows Eve, and later Halloween. Over time, Halloween evolved into a day of activities like trick-or-treating, carving jack-o-lanterns, festive gatherings, donning costumes and eating treats.  Read here.


Saturday 30 October 2021

WHAT IS COP26 AND WHY IS IT HAPPENING?

 

The UK is hosting a summit that is seen as crucial if climate change is to be brought under control.  It will bring together heads of state, climate experts and campaigners to agree coordinated action to tackle climate change.

The meeting in Glasgow from 31 October to 12 November could lead to major changes to our everyday lives.   Read here

https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/51372486

https://www.euronews.com/green/2021/10/28/what-is-cop26-and-why-is-it-so-important

https://www.cambridge.org/elt/blog/2021/11/01/does-climate-change-language-matter/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=content&utm_content=fb_post

Friday 29 October 2021

STUDYING ROMEO AND JULIET - 4^C LINGUISTICO

Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare early in his career about two young Italian star-crossed lovers whose deaths ultimately reconcile their feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular plays during his lifetime and, along with Hamlet, is one of his most frequently performed plays. Today, the title characters are regarded as exemplary  young lovers.

http://2013.playingshakespeare.org/index.html

Monday 25 October 2021

HADRIAN'S WALL - 3^C LINGUISTICO




Hadrian’s Wall is the remains of stone fortifications built by the Roman Empire following its conquest of Britain in the second century A.D. The original structure stretched more than 70 miles across the northern English countryside from the River Tyne near the city of Newcastle and the North Sea, west to the Irish Sea. Hadrian’s Wall included a number of forts as well as a ditch designed to protect against invading troops. The remnants of a stone wall are still visible in many places. Read here

Monday 18 October 2021

THE ROMANTIC SPIRIT


The Romantic period was largely a reaction against the ideology of the Enlightenment period that dominated much of European philosophy, politics, and art from the mid-17th century until the close of the 18th century.  Whereas Enlightenment thinkers valued logic, reason, and rationality, Romantics valued emotion, passion, imagination and individuality. Chris Baldick provides the following description: “Rejecting the ordered rationality of the Enlightenment as mechanical, impersonal, and artificial, the Romantics turned to the emotional directness of personal experience and to the boundlessness of individual imagination and aspiration.” Read here.


Friday 1 October 2021

Saturday 11 September 2021

REMEMBERING 9/11 ON THE 20TH ANNIVERSARY



“On this day … 20 years (September 10th) ago, 246 people went to sleep in preparation for their morning flights. 2,606 people went to sleep in preparation for work in the morning. 343 firefighters went to sleep in preparation for their morning shift. 60 police officers went to sleep in preparation for morning patrol. 8 paramedics went to sleep in preparation for the morning shift. None of them saw past 10:00 am Sept 11, 2001. In one single moment life may never be the same. As you live and enjoy the breaths you take today and tonight before you go to sleep in preparation for your life tomorrow, kiss the ones you love, snuggle a little tighter, and never take one second of your life for granted.”
Unknown


Thursday 9 September 2021

THE LAST LETTER FROM YOUR LOVER


If you are in the mood for a "they don't make movies like that anymore" movie, meaning soapy melodrama with enough glamorous glow to keep you from thinking too hard, then "The Last Letter From Your Lover" might do the trick. Read here.

https://fsapi.xyz/movie/tt1893273


Monday 6 September 2021

WORRYING ABOUT AFGHANISTAN

When I go to Afghanistan, I realize I've been spared, due to a random genetic lottery, by being born to people who had the means to get out. Every time I go to Afghanistan I am haunted by that.

Khaled Hosseini

Wednesday 1 September 2021

SEPTEMBER

"Departing summer hath assumed
An aspect tenderly illumed,
The gentlest look of spring;
That calls from yonder leafy shade
Unfaded, yet prepared to fade,
A timely carolling."
William Wordsworth

Sunday 22 August 2021

PEAKY BLINDERS


The Peaky Blinders aren’t common criminals. They are a family - a clan. They have their own style and manners, and their own code of honor. They call themselves Peaky Blinders, a gang that is dangerous but respected. They play against the law, but that might just be the only way to survive in these cruel times.  Read here.

https://www.empireonline.com/movies/features/peaky-blinders-reasons-watching/

https://ling.online/en/videos/serials/peaky-blinders/


Sunday 1 August 2021

AUGUST

“The summer night is like a perfection of thought.”                                                                                                                           Wallace Stevens

Monday 26 July 2021

A SUITABLE BOY

BBC One's A Suitable Boy, based on Vikram Seth's bestseller, explores post-partition India's cultural norms as well as combining satire with romance.
When writing it, former Oxford English Literature student Seth was inspired by Jane Austen, particularly Elizabeth Bennet, and he portrayed similar qualities in Lata: charm, quick wit and independence (not to mention their overbearing mothers).
Here you can read the novel online.

"An immensely enjoyable novel which describes with unhurried pace the panorama of India ... Everything appears familiar to us, yet in fact it is newly minted by a master artist."
Hindustan Times

Thursday 1 July 2021

JULY

"Live in each season as it passes: breathe the air, drink the drink, taste the fruit."
Henry David Thoreau