Ugly Sweater Day!

 

Patriot Day

Patriot Day in the USA is the comemoration of the terrorists attacks on the World Trade Center on 11th September 2001. Two planes crashed into the Twin Towers, and 2,977 people died in the attacks.

President Obama and his wife on September 11th, 2009

On this day, people in the United States observe a moment of silence, starting at 8:46 AM Eastern Daylight Time (2:46 AM in France), the time when the first plane hit the North Tower of the World Trade Center. The American flag is flown at half-staff to indicate the presence of death.

The American flag at half-staff

However, Patriot Day is not a federal holiday, so the schools, shops and businesses do not close.

People usually refer to this day as "9/11" (nine eleven) or simply "September 11th".

Chapter 1: Welcome!

 

1) What's your name? ↘
2) How old are you? ↘
3) What's your address? ↘
    Where do you live? ↘
4) What's your favourite sport? ↘
5) Do you have any pets? ↗

Transparent words

 

English-speaking countries and flags

English-speaking countries

 

English-speaking countries

 

First Lesson

 

First Lesson

 

Classroom English

School instructions

School supplies

 

Classroom objects

 

Burns' Night

Burns' Night is a Scottish celebration. It commemorates the birth and life of the Scottish poet Robert Burns who was born on 25th January 1759.

Robert Burns

On the occasion, people have a special dinner, where haggis, a traditional Scottish dish, must be served while listening to pipes. People also read some of the texts written by R. Burns.

Piping in the haggis

 Learn more about the celebration on the BBC site.

A Scot playing pipes

Haggis, neeps (turnips) and tatties (potatoes)

In this video, you can see the haggis arriving with the pipes, then someone recites Burns' famous poem "Address to a haggis":

Memory Challenge: British weather

 

What's the weather like? Vocabulary

 

Memory Challenge: Instructions

Revise instructions in English

Kamala Harris and Ruby Bridges

 

Kamala Harris is the fist afro-american woman to become vice president of the United Staes of America.

Ruby Bridges was the first little girl to go to a desegregated school.

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

Today Irish people around the world are celebrating St Patrick's Day.

St Patrick is the patron saint of Ireland. He was born around 385 AD, and he died on March 17th, 461 AD.
According to the legend, he delivered Ireland from the snakes. This means that he converted the Irish people to christianity. The snakes represent the evil pagans.






On this day, people wear green clothes and parade in the streets. They also wear some of the symbols of Ireland, such as the shamrock or a leprechaun's top hat, and they wave Irish flags.

Parade in Dublin

People at the parade in Dublin

Parade in New York

They drink Irish beer like Guiness and they eat the traditional meal of bacon and cabbage.

2 pints of Guiness

Bacon and cabbage

    



In Dublin (the capital of Ireland), the festival lasts for 5 days!
In Chicago, they colour the river in green for the occasion!

The Chicago River dyed green

Watch how they colour the river with food colouring in this video:


But the biggest St Patrick's Day parade is in New York.
You can watch this video of last year's parade. Be warned, it's quite long!