Saint Patrick: The greenest day of all

Tomorrow it is Saint Patrick Day, the most important holiday for for Irish people who will cerlebrate wearing green clothes and a shamrock (from seamróg, meaning summer plant).

 

wherever there are Irish people, they celebrate this holiday:

Chicago river is 156 miles long, it runs through the downtown of Chicago with 45 bridges.
On every St. Patrick Day Chicago the river is dyed green. 

There are parades and parties all over the world, since Irish people have left their island and settled in different countries of the world.
Learn why Irish people left their island.

Click to see a timeline of Ireland.

Greet your friends in Gaelic.

Some facts about the Emerald island:

_About the song

Singing along

Bruno Mars was born in Honolulu (Hawaii) in a family of musicians, he is a now a famous singer and songwriter.  Now you can sing this song with him.

Links:
His official website.
Hawaii

Watch a video on Hawaii:


Watch the video the times you need and then choose the right answer:
1) What is the biggest city in Hawaii?
a) Waikiki, b) Honolulu, c) Pearl Harbor.
2) Can you name a sport invented there?
a) surfing, b)sailing, c) skating.
3) Do you remember the names of two sea animals in the video?
a) seals and whales, b) whales and sardines, c) sardines and octopus.
Easy, don't you think?

About schools in Finland

What would the dream of any student be? spending less time in school?,having longer summer holidays and less tests? There is one country in Europe where that dream becomes a reality, and it works!



Click if you want to know more about Finland.

Read "The Wall Street Journal" article about Finland smart kids.

If the United kingdom were my country...

image

Follow the link and compare Spain with the United kingdom and decide where you would prefer to live. Then if you like the game, change countries and see the differences.If you scroll down, you can read about the United Kingdom, you can even send your comment about a country if you like, but in this case, you will have to log in.

          Change countries, compare and decide which one is the best to live in.

          Grammar points: use comparative and superlative sentences.

Arab countries are boiling

What is happening in the Arab countries? From the really rich oil countries in the Gulf to Morocco in the West, all countries find their population standing against dictatorial regimes. This seems the path to a new future for our Arab neighbours.
Arab countries are full of young people, many of them without a job and they want a change in the way of doing politics, as we have seen in Egypt.
Click and see the interactive from the Guardian newspaper.
And follow the link if you want to know why they are so upset.
And click if you want to know more about Egypt.

The world in a click

Hong King from Photosfan

What is your favourite town? Would you like to live in a different continent?
Travel to New York this weekend, enjoy the views in different seasons, see the pictures at the bottom of the webpage or read about it.
Do you prefer London? click and choose your favourite view.
Or click here if you want to choose the place to visit.
And if you want to know the time in those places, just  follow this link.
Have a great weekend.

Languages on the Internet

Have a look at the infographic that compares the most used languages on the net and see how Chinese has become the second most used language after English (with a 42.0 per cent) and it is still growing.
Spanish is on the third place and Portuguese on the fifth.
So, if you want to learn Chinese, jsut follow the link.

Spending in education

from FedEx

Have a look at the map, weird isn't it? it changes the shape of countries in response to the dates you select. I have searched about education and spending in education in the world, and this is what I have got.
Click to see the maps, write SPEND IN EDUCATION where you read SEARCH wait for the map and then click on each country to learn how much it spends in education.
Can you tell me:
How much does Spain spend in education?
What is the european country with a highest education budget?
Is there any relation bewteeen the shape of the country and its education budget?

Midsummer night

Loreena McKennitt

Tonight is  Summer Solstice, Midsummer Night , Bonfire Night or St. John's Eve 

  

Have a great bonfire tonight!

And now learn about Loreena McKennit and her opinion about Santiago:

Loreena McKennitt : read some pages of her diary with her views about Santiago
Just performed in Santiago de Compostella in the Galician area of Spain...misty and lush as we arrived from more arid areas of the country; clearly Celtic territory in the language and music, and a place I must visit again soon...We arrived a day early; band et alii went for a wonderful Sunday lunch and then wandered over to the cathedral to observe the wonderful faces on the Portico.

In Santiago again - Santiago de Compostella (St. James in the Field of Stars)...had occasion to return to Galicia and Santiago sooner than I'd thought...I learned the story behind the city. Supposedly the remains of St. James arrived mysteriously in the village of Padron (which we visited...lovely line of trees along the waterway leading to the place where the relics were found) and interred here in Santiago...

Loreena McKennitt is from Canada and this is her composition "Santiago" based in traditional Galician music:





Enjoy your Bonfire night (that is the way it is called in Ireland) and remember that this day is not only celebrated in Galicia.

All about Haiti

 from topcultured.com

As you already know, a terrible earthquake has devastated Port-au-Prince, the capital and main city in Haiti. Click in the image to see an infographic about the Haiti earthquake if you want to learn what happened to this tiny island.

Columbus Day

Columbus, the explorer who left Europe and sailed looking for fame and fortune in Cathay, the man who discovered a new continent but never took notice of it, the same who died in poverty in Spain, in spite of being his day a public holiday in many American countries, many people don't feel comfortable with this celebration as this explorer has a dark side which is usually forgotten.

Try the following links:

Watch the film: Columbus landing in America.

Click here to link to the BBC for schools and listen about Columbus life.

A different point of view:
Follow the link to learn about Native American from South Dakota.

And a controversial article in the CNN.

Survey about Ireland

Now you can check how much you know about Ireland:
Click Here to take the survey

Do you enjoy Irish music?

boomp3.com
Listen while you work

Have a great St.Patrick's Day

As you know Saint Patrick is a special day for all Irish people, and Irish people celebrate the 17th of March wherever they are in the world. You know there are a lot of people of Irish origin in the USA and Australia since Irish people had to leave their home country in search of better jobs and life standards.
A teacher of English has prepared an activity about this celebration, I hope that you enjoy it.
Thanks to Santiago Carmona for sharing this treasure hunt with us.
Click here to link to the activity.

Cuban culture by Elizabeth

Cuban culture is a mixture of food, music and dance, beaches, places and people.
Cuba has good and bad things but Cuba's culture for me is the best. Its food is
delicious and rich in spices. In relation whit its music and dance it is a mixture of
diverse rhythms.

Without any doubt, the best things in Cuba are beaches and places, and the people.
Of its beaches I can say that they are the most beautiful in the world with transparent
water.

In addition, it is said that Cuban people are marvellous, kind and sociable. I would
recommend everyone to go. You will never regret the experience.

Lots of thanks to Elizabeth by this post.

Argentinian culture by Pamela

Pamela writes about Argentina:
Argentinian culture is a combination of food, music and places.
In Argentina it is typical eating “asado criollo”, that is when they do beet on the grill, we also eat “chinchulines” and “chorizo” and “morcilla” too. I love. A traditional food in Argentina is “puchero” or “locro”. I like “puchero”, it is similar to the “cocido”. I dislike “locro”, it is a very heavy meal.
The most visited places in Buenos Aires are: “Obelisco”, that is a monument to be found in the street “9 de Julio”, other place is “Cabildo”, that is an old building which used to be a gathering place. And the “Casa Rosada”, which is the presidential building.
Tango is the music the identifies Argentina. The typical music from Argentina is “Samba”, “Mambo” and “Chamamé”.
The music that is heard in Argentina now is “Cuarteto”, born in the city of Córdoba. This music resembles the “Cumbia” but it is faster.

I recommend you to visit Argentina, it is a very nice place.
(Lots of thanks, Pamela by this post).