KWANZAA

WHAT IS KWANZAA?

In 1966 Dr. Maulana Karenga created a uniquely African American holiday called Kwanzaa, which is celebrated from December through January first. Kwanzaa is related to many African celebrations of the first harvest. The name Kwanzaa comes from a Swuahili phrase "matunda ya kwanza", which is translated as 'first fruits'. 

If you want to know more things about this festival, here you have a presentation which contains more information.

In the next clip, you can see how a family celebrates Kwanzaa. In which way is it similar or different from Christmas?

SANTA LUCIA DAY

Celebrated on December 13th, Santa Lucia is an important prequel to Christmas in many parts of the world. The Feast of Santa Lucia is mainly observed in Sweden. However, Santa Lucia Day is also an international holiday celebrated not only in Scandinavia, but also in Italy and France in the rites of the church.

You can know more things about who Saint Lucia was and how this festivity is celebrated by watching the following presentation.

And here follows an interesting video about the celebration of Santa Lucia as well as Christmas in Norway. Rick Steves travels to Drovak, Norway's self-proclaimed capital of Christmas, for Santa Lucia Day, and enjoys a Norwegian Girls' Choir concert in Oslo.

DIWALI

Diwali is the largest Hindu festival, celebrated in India and all over the world with joy and enthusiasm. It symbolizes the victory of good over evil ~ and the glory of light. This is the origin of lighting small clay lamps. It is also  a way of honoring God for the recent harvest and attainment of health, wealth, knowledge, peace, valor and fame.

The following presentation will show you the most important facts about this colourful celebration.

Here is also a video from the National Geographic Channel on YouTube in which you can see what people do to celebrate this fiveday celebration, that includes good food, fireworks, coloured sand and special candles and lamps.

Would you like to make your own Diwali lamps? Diwali diva lamps are made from clay and decorated elaborately with beads and sequins. Click in the link below if you want to make a diva and some other crafts which can be used used at Diwali.

Make a Diwali Lamp

Mandalas are beautiful, aren't they? Did you know that Mandalas are great tools for meditation and increasing self-awareness? Many different cultures around the world use mandalas in their spiritual practices. Drawing and colouring a mandala can be a highly enriching personal experience in which you look inside yourself and find the shapes, colours and patterns to represent anything from your current state of mind to your most deeply-desired wish for yourself, for a loved one, or for humanity.

Here you have a nice website where you will find lots of patterns to paint and print your own mandalas.

Paint and Print your own Mandalas

HANUKKAH

Hanukkah is the Jewish festival of light, which is celebrated in November or December for eight days. Do you want to know more about this festival? Here is a presentation which contains the most important facts to remember about Hanukkah.

If you have any doubts about the story of this festival, here you have an animated report on the origins of Hanukkah.

Would you like to make a menorah to decorate the classroom? In the next presentation you have a few homemade menorah crafts. Which one is your favourite?

Or maybe you want to have some fun playing the dreidel game. Here you have a dreidel template and  the instructions to play with it.

Instructions to play the dreidel game:

1. Each player needs about 25 counters (or use however many it takes to make an even number for the number of kids that you have).
2. Each player puts two counters in the middle of the circle, or in the ‘pot’.
3. The first player spins the dreidel. When the dreidel stops, see which letter is on top and follow these directions:

• gimmel -player takes all counters in the pot
• nun - nothing happens- next player spins
• hay -player takes half of the counters in the pot
• shin -player must put one counter into the pot

Continue the game, going clockwise around the circle. If the pot is emptied, everyone puts another 2 counters in to create a new pot. Set a time limit for the game and the player with the most counters at the end wins!

THE PASSIVE VOICE

Here you have a presentation to learn how the passive voice is formed in English.

But would you like to practice the passive in a funnier way? In the links below you can find the videos we watched and the activities we did in class to work with the passive voice. Enjoy!

Planet 51

Ratatouille

PRESENT SIMPLE TENSE

To write explanation texts you must use the present simple tense, either in the active or in the passive voice. The next video contains a review of the form and uses of the present simple tense in English.

EXPLANATION TEXTS

Explanation texts often use features to help make the meaning clear:

• the present tense
• clear, precise sentences
• formal tone (impersonal)
• short paragraphs
• diagrams and artwork, with captions, arrows and labels

Here you have an example of an explanation about how bees make honey:

When you write an explanation make sure it contains the typical features for this kind of texts. You can practice writing some explanations about the following questions. Don't just tell the answer to the question, but try to give some more information about the subject as well. Then, use the checklist below to see if your explanation is right.

QUESTIONS:

- Why do you wear a hat, gloves and a scarf in the winter?

- Why do people borrow books from a library?

- Why do people recycle?

- Why are there pictures in children's books?

- Why do houses have windows?

- Why are dictionaries in alphabetical order?

CHECKLIST:

Features of Explanation Writing	Your Writing
Does it have a title to tell you what the writing is about?
Is there a general opening statement?
Is it written in a series of logical steps?
Do the steps continue until the explanation is complete?
Is it written in simple present tense?
Does it use time connectives? e.g. then, next, after a while, etc.
Does it use causal connectives? e.g. because, so, this causes, this results in, therefore… etc.
Are there diagrams or illustrations to help with the explanation? (Optional)

SHADOWS

When light hits an opaque object, the place behind the object stays dark. This area is called the "shadow". Let's see some interesting facts about light and shadows.

WHAT'S IN A SHADOW?

SHADOWS AND DIRECTIONS

You can also make funny things with shadows. Enjoy this video about making objects alone with one's hands. I hope you like it.

And now it's clear how light and shadows are formed, you can make the following chatterbox to check how much you have learned. Download the picture, follow the instructions and play!

DAY AND NIGHT ON EARTH

Humans use day and night as signals for our daily activities. When the sun comes up in the morning, we get out of bed and go to school, work or play. When night arrives, we end our activities and go to sleep.We use the cycle of the day as a way to identify when we should be active and when we should rest. But what causes the change from day to night? Here is the explanation.

WHERE DOES LIGHT COME FROM?

What is a light source?

A source of light is anything that gives out light of its own. Nowadays there are many ways to make light, but the main light source for Earth has always been the sun. Here we have a video that can help you identify all the sources of light around us.

Now, what sources of light can you see in this video?

HORROR POEMS

Here is a video about one of the poems we read in class about night and fear.

"Life Doesn't Frighten Me", by Maya Angelou.

VIDEO WATCHING: Who's afraid of the dark?

Stanley and his pets all want to get to sleep, but Stanley keeps hearing mysterious noises. His mom assures him that there is nothing to be afraid of, but Stanley remains convinced that he's hearing a scary monster. He knows that owls can see in the dark and wonders how they do it. He seeks the answer in The Great Big Book of Everything in the hope that it will help him to spot the monster so everyone can finally get some sleep.

ACTIVITIES:

1.   VOCABULARY AND EXPRESSIONS TO REMEMBER. Try to explain the meaning of these words and expressions or give a synonym:

      

      Sleep tight:

      To be scared of:

      To be startled:

      Here goes nothing:

      Night light:

      To get some sleep:

2.    The cat says: “’I’m as brave as a tigress. I’m scared of nothing”. Can you finish these sentences with a suitable animal?

To be as fast as …      To be as lazy as …      To be as dangerous as …      To be as slow as  …       To be as tall as  …      To be as big as  …

-           -          -

3.   Can you remember three facts about owls?

4.    Answer these questions:

      Where does the sound of the tiger come from?

      What is Stanley’s favourite tape?

        Why is Stanley’s mum scared when she opens the closet?

      What are the three sounds that scared Stanley?

5.    Stanley’s mum says: “When you hear scary noises at night there’s usually a simple explanation”. Can you think of some examples?

The sound looks like…	but it really is…
- A ghost dragging its sheet	- someone sweeping the floor.

WELCOME EVERYBODY!

Hello, my English students! 

Welcome to our blog, Happy English Land. Here we can upload the materials we work with in class. You will be able to watch again the videos and the power point presentations we see at school. You will find extra explanations in case you have any doubts. You can also upload your tasks so everybody can see them. I hope you find it useful!