SAINT LUCIA'S DAY, THE FESTIVAL OF LIGHT AND HOPE

 

St Lucia's Day is celebrated on the 13th of December, very close to the Winter Solstice. It is one of the most special days in the calendar and as integral to Scandinavia as glögg and herring. One of the biggest celebrations in December, aside from Christmas, it is an annual celebration born from stories that were told about how Christianity came to Sweden.

St Lucia was a young Christian girl who was martyred, killed for her faith, in 304. The most common story told about St Lucia is that she would secretly bring food to the persecuted Christians in Rome, who lived in hiding in the catacombs under the city. She would wear candles on her head so she had both her hands free to carry things. Lucy means “light” so this is a very appropriate name.

The 13th of December was also the Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year, in the old Julian Calendar and a pagan festival of lights in Sweden was turned into St. Lucia's Day.

On St Lucia’s Day, you can expect to see churches, town halls, schools, offices and restaurants become a twinkling sea of candlelight. The day is celebrated with a Lucia train procession in which a young girl elected to portray St Lucia leads the way wearing a white gown, with a red sash and crown of candles  which is made of Lingonberry branches, evergreen symbolising  new life in winter. She is trailed by Lucia handmaidens, star boys and gingerbread men  who all carry candles and sing carols.  The tradition dates back to the original story of Lucia, who delivered food to the persecuted Christians, leading her way with candlelight. A popular food eaten at St. Lucia's day are “Lussekatts”, S-shaped buns flavoured with saffron and dotted with raisins which are eaten for breakfast.

St Lucia's Day first became widely celebrated in Sweden in the late 1700s. St Lucia's Day is also celebrated in Denmark, Norway, Finland, Bosnia, and Croatia. In Denmark it is more a of a children's day and in some parts of Italy, children are told that St Lucy brings them presents. They leave out a sandwich for her and the donkey that helps carry the gifts.

https://www.goodcatholic.com/festival-of-light-celebrate-st-lucy-and-st-lucys-day/

JANE AUSTEN'S PRIDE AND PREJUDICE - 5^C LINGUISTICO

MARY SHELLEY'S FRANKENSTEIN

 

The monster has always been the true subject of the Frankenstein story, and Kenneth Branagh’s retelling understands that. “Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein” has all of the usual props of the Frankenstein films, brought to a fever pitch: the dark and stormy nights, the lightning bolts, the charnel houses of spare body parts, the laboratory where Victor Frankenstein stirs his steaming cauldron of life.  Read here. 

https://fsharetv.co/movie/mary-shelley's-frankenstein-episode-1-tt0109836

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND LANGUAGE TEACHING

 

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is rapidly evolving and has the potential to bring significant advancements to various industries. As to education, AI holds great promise in transforming the learning experience for students. It is worth  exploring the potential benefits that AI can bring to students in the future, revolutionizing the way they learn, engage, and excel academically.  Read here.

Despite all the fanfare around AI, it is an undeniable fact that there is no subject in the world which is more human-centric than language teaching. We didn’t learn our native language from grammar books, exercises or even software programs – we learned it from people.  Read here.

AI offers benefits like personalized guidance, interactive engagement and progress tracking. Anyway, it raises concerns about diminished human interaction, potential impacts on learners' autonomy, and the evolving role of language teachers.  

Finally yet importantly, the ideal language learning experience often combines the strengths of both human teachers and AI technologies.  Read here.