THE TRADITION OF TROOPING THE COLOUR

The British Queen has two "birthdays". Her  birthday is officially celebrated by the ceremony of Trooping the Colour  in early June, precisely on the second Saturday of the month. Although The Queen was born on 21 April, it has long been the tradition to celebrate the Sovereign's birthday publicly on a day in the summer, when good weather is more likely.

The Trooping the Colour parade involves  about 1000 soldiers, 300 musicians and 200 horses; it is  carried out by fully trained and operational troops from the Household Division (Foot Guards and Household Cavalry) on Horse Guards Parade in Whitehall,  watched by members of the Royal Family, invited guests and members of the public. The event is broadcast live on BBC1, and highlights are shown later on the same day on BBC2.

TODAY WAS THE LAST DAY OF SCHOOL!

No more books, no more homework or tests for the students! No more lessons to prepare, no more papers to grade for the teachers! The sunny season is upon us at last! To my mind, summer means lazy days at home with lots of books to read, movies to watch and blog posts to write ... Have a great summer!

HAPPY WORLD ENVIRONMENT DAY!

World Environment Day is held each year on 5 June. It is one of the principal vehicles through which the United Nations (UN) stimulates worldwide awareness of the environment and enhances political attention and action. 

Click here  to continue reading about World Environment Day.

JUNE

I wonder what it would be like to live in a world where it was always June.
L.M. Montgomery

DEAR JOHN

You know exactly what you're getting into when you go buy a ticket to see a film based on a novel by Nicholas Sparks. It's going to be a romantic tale with the two pretty people who fall in love, something beyond their control will keep them apart, and then they'll eventually come to some dramatic, weepy decision about their relationship that will change their lives forever. 

Click here  to read the whole movie review.

Now let's see some videos of this  romantic drama-war movie. Enjoy!

"The saddest people I've ever met in life are the ones who don't care deeply about anything at all."

HAPPY MAY DAY!

Click here to learn about May Day celebrations and customs in Great Britain.

CHARLOTTE BRONTË

Charlotte Brontë was born on 21 April 1816, the third daughter of Reverend Patrick Brontë. At the age of four she moved with her family to Haworth in Yorkshire where her father had been appointed curate and where she lived for the rest of her life. Her mother died in 1821. She lived with her brother and sisters in wild and beautiful surroundings but with little contact with other people. They had to rely on each other for company  and as a result became a very close-knit group. They were taught partly by their father and partly at school, but they were mainly self-educated. They were deeply influenced by Romantic writers, especially Wordsworth, Byron and Shelley. Charlotte also read French novelists.

HAPPY EASTER!

For I remember it is Easter morn, 

And life and love and peace are all new born.

Alice Freeman Palmer

HAVE A BLESSED GOOD FRIDAY!

Here you can read an informative article about Easter celebrations in Britain.  

LEARNING IDIOMS

An idiom is a phrase where the words together have a meaning that is different from the dictionary definitions of the individual words, which can make idioms hard for ESL students and learners to understand. 

Here  you can find a site which provides English idiomatic expressions, with definitions,  arranged alphabetically.

Now you can watch some helpful videos to discover lots of idioms! Have fun!

MACBETH

Here you can find useful materials to understand and analyse one of Shakespeare's great tragedies, Macbeth.

https://www.rsc.org.uk/shakespeare-learning-zone/macbeth/story/plot

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/z347v4j/revision/2

https://www.nosweatshakespeare.com/macbeth-play/

A VERY SPECIAL AFTERNOON ...

This afternoon I had the chance to meet Erri De Luca at a seminar at the local library. He is a famous Italian novelist, translator and poet. He is self-taught in several languages including Ancient Hebrew and Yiddish.  In 2013, he received the European Prize for Literature. I was just impressed by his limpid and intense speech, his capability to use words to illuminate his own personal experiences, emotions and values while inspiring everyone to ponder over their own life.

Here you can read a beautiful interview by Kourosh Ziabari to discover this fascinating writer.

Invincible is not the one who always wins, but who, defeated and defeated, never stops standing up to fight again.

Erri De Luca

LOOKING FORWARD TO SHAKESPEARE'S 450TH BIRTHDAY!

William Shakespeare is Britain's national poet, the world's most performed and translated playwright. He  was born about 450 years ago  -  on 23  April 1564 to be exact - the same year as Galileo. He died about 400 years ago -  on 23 April 1616  - the same day as Miguel de Cervantes whose  Don Quixote  is considered to be the first modern European novel. He added hundreds of words to the English language; coined expressions that anyone who speaks English probably  uses every day – made a virtue of necessity, dead as a doornail, fair play, neither here nor there - and wrote plays that still inspire audiences of every generation and in every language spoken on the planet.

Click here to find suggestions for teaching and learning William Shakespeare in honour of  his 450th birthday!

QUEEN ELIZABETH MEETS POPE FRANCIS FOR THE FIRST TIME AT THE VATICAN

You can read some articles about the Queen's visit to Rome today  in The Guardian and  The Telegraph. 

APRIL

AN APRIL DAY

When the warm sun, that brings

Seed-time and harvest, has returned again,

'T is sweet to visit the still wood, where springs

The first flower of the plain.

I love the season well,

When forest glades are teeming with bright forms,

Nor dark and many-folded clouds foretell

The coming-on of storms.

From the earth's loosened mould

The sapling draws its sustenance, and thrives;

Though stricken to the heart with winter's cold,

The drooping tree revives.

The softly-warbled song

Comes from the pleasant woods, and colored wings

Glance quick in the bright sun, that moves along

The forest openings.

When the bright sunset fills

The silver woods with light, the green slope throws

Its shadows in the hollows of the hills,

And wide the upland glows.

And when the eve is born,

In the blue lake the sky, o'er-reaching far,

Is hollowed out and the moon dips her horn,

And twinkles many a star.

Inverted in the tide

Stand the gray rocks, and trembling shadows throw,

And the fair trees look over, side by side,

And see themselves below.

Sweet April! many a thought

Is wedded unto thee, as hearts are wed;

Nor shall they fail, till, to its autumn brought,

Life's golden fruit is shed.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882)