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Sunday 25 December 2011

Travelling in Christmas - Facebook Profile (INTERMEDIATE LEVEL)

ACTIVITY 1- READING - TRAVELLING AROUND THE WORLD

This is an extract of the Facebook Profile of "Lonely Planet", a famous magazine and company related to Travelling around the world. Read the question and the answers of the Facebook users (I just took out their photos)  


Christmas is upon us! What is the longest distance you have travelled to be with friends and family over the holidays?
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Renata Barboza-Murray More than 6k miles from San Francisco, CA to Brazil! Awesome!
Hastaalaska Entoyota From one Pole to other.... and fron summer to winter... 23 h flight door to door Buenos Aires - Winnipeg, to be with my brother & sons...
Tejal Merchant ‎7809 miles (12567 kms) from Mumbai, India to New York, USA
Sophia Ariana Mayen Vancouver to El Salvador
Javier Monzon Guatemala to Taiwan
Brett Schilke ‎9,665 km...nearly 90 hours of plane, bus, and train. Middle of the US to the middle of Siberia.
Dessie Bien Crisologo Manila to Hawaii to mainland USA!
Dino Moll-Sánchez Adelaide (Australia) to Antofagasta (Chile) abt 18 hrs with many connections!!
Maria Beardslee Origel I guess I've had it easy, I've just gone over the river & through the woods...
Azlan Ibrahim Detroit to Rome on 9/13/2001, then to Paris, then to Singapore, and on to KL, Malaysia. 12,163 miles, 10 days.
Mayuko Okamoto Tokyo - Dubai - Cyprus - Malta :) that was long...
Terri Lundberg Last year I traveled from DMM (Dammam, Saudi Arabia) to SAN (San Diego, CA)
Danilo Bernal López ‎7000km from colombia to madrid, four years wothout mom, and five without my sis :P
Johanna Zwarg Sydney-Hamburg
Elisabeth Mevissen from Luxembourg/Europe to Yuma/Arizona/US
Alden Campbell Delhi India to Toronto Canada!
Nep Naam Last year we travelled all the way from Belgium to New Zealand *NOT* to have to spend the holidays with friends and family! ;-)
Beverly Jantzi Moore Raleigh - Chicago - JFK- Amsterdam- Lahore Pakistan
Christoph Jost ‎...26.12.hermagor (carinthia,austria) to melbourne...
Jason S. Jeanjaquet ‎85 kilometers! ;-P
Nancy Rafael Severino Newcastle (Australia)-->KL-->Amsterdam and back :)
Alberto Martínez Madrid-Frankfurt-New York-Chicago-Oklahoma! Round 27 hours' trip ;)
Christy Vaught Kansas City to Rome, Italy
Elisa Kähkönen London (UK) - Ivalo (FIN), about 3500km.
Rajesh Koppolu ‎1000 miles from new delhi to hyderabad, India every year :)
Simone Borgia ‎7500km from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to Catania, Italy
Maureen Pudyaningtyas Baliem Valley, Papua. An exotic journey! :)
‎5000km from beijing-malaysia
Shivani Patel If I could I would happily travel 30hours to get there. London > Auckland.
Roberto Valenzuela ‎3000 miles
Rachael Aiyana Smith Auckland to the Isle of Wight (UK)
Amy McMullin Melbourne-Seoul-London-Liverpool-Southport. Lost count how long it took. Just got home, feels good!
Simona Maria Marasca Sydney-Taipei-Bangkok-Rome. Wishing you all a happy and safe holiday season!
Martine Hagen Fjellanger I travelled Chicago - Norway!
Damien Concordel Nice-Frankfurt-Singapore-Sydney-Auckland-Wellington: 19,925km in 36 hours, out and back...
Anand Deshmukh Chicago - London - Bahrain - Mumbai
Hopscotch the Globe Toronto - London - Delhi - Bangkok
Luca Benericetti ‎23 km from home to my parents
Sonam Chhetri ‎3 hrs drive on a bus & then 5 hrs of streneous walk in the dark :)
Tamarina Lotze Sydney to Apia, 4338km
Beatrice de Lannoy In a few days I'll travel from Belgium to Hawaii to see my brother, on the other side of the globe.
Indi Newton From Mutitjulu in Central Australia to Honiara in the Solomons, all night in a crowded boat,
Indi Newton a couple of hours on the back of a truck and lots of chainsawing after cyclone damage had cut off the road, about an hour walking, slipping and sliding on a muddy track to a wee little village in the highlands of Malaita in the Solomons. The best, most generous, most naturally exquisite Christmas ever. :)
Marco Manca As far as the international date line.
Laura-Sophie Mettel ‎18 hrs Singapur Frankfurt
Dieter Wildiers ‎7000km, from Brussels to Cordoba, Argentina...
Edgar Adelmund Am in Aruba with my wife's family, that's far enough for me for now :)
Deanne P Connors-Peters From San Diego to Maine by car with a 6 week old baby! =)
Veronika Stalz munich - auckland
Sandra Woller About 6 km ;-)
Barbara Catena Rome -Auckland (NZ)
Christie Fullagar VanHorne Melbourne, Australia to Rochester, NY and then back to Oz.... A long way :)
Maria-Anna Foohs tomorrow I will fly from Frankfurt via Zurich to Yaoundé in Cameroon - over 7000 kms to be with my youngest daughter who is working in the SOS children's village there for one year.
Tarkan Tosun Ankara-Copenhagen
Courtney McGorm Sydney-hong kong- london- edinburgh
Ariana Deichler halfway around the world
Eva Giusini From Italy to Rio De Janeiro
Paula Finuras The longest distance I've travelled to be with family and friends on Christmas were about 200 km
Christine Yeo Over 14,000km. From SG to NL.
Jeanne TereCya Kurniawan FRom Surabaya-indonesia to south korea.
Boon Hun about 350km, on bus!!
Eileen Hjertum Brisbane to Sydney, arriving just in time for Scandinavian Christmas Eve dinner.
Jeanie Ball Melbourne - KL - UK (Leicester). A total of 36 hours.
Two and a half travellers We flew from DC to Sydney to London one year - living in DCV, had to validate our Aussie visas and were rapidly running out of time, and went to the UK to see our families for Christmas. It was a bit of a whirlwind, but we achieved a lot in a short space of time!
Sanny Jain ‎600 km on bike
Valentina Fabris What is the longest distance you have travelled to get away from friends and family (just for a little while...!) over the holidays?!?
Jocelyn Yot Paris - Sydney in 1997
Michael Word ‎3,500 miles. Anchorage to Florida Panhandle
Claudia Schultze ‎11400 km: Lima - Amsterdam - Frankfurt - Dresden
Julie Hill ‎7000 miles a surprise visit from singapore to u.k
Bec Gaskin Nassau bahamas to adelaide australia, thats 48hrs at its most direct. Also budapest to adel via switzerland and london. But the worst was going on a xmas holiday in 2006. Aspen usa to norway mountains. Denver, chicago and london airports shut down due to weather, I was rerouted via los angeles, it took 4 days travel and my luggage took a further 5.
Vendula Klementova Christchurch NZ - Prague CZ.
Elena Montini Milan- Mumbai...a very merry christmas to you and all!
Sandrine Vidal From Spain to Thailand!
Sarakit Chutikul we were vacationing with friends in Chiangrai in the north of Thailand, and drove all the way back to Bangkok and continue on to Pattaya to join our family for Xmas - a drive of about a 1300 kilometres...
Claus Andersen I travel away every year to avoid all this stupid christmas rubbish. Right now in Battambang/Cambodia and not a christmas tree in sight and i fucking love it.
Brian Kong hong kong - turkey
Hannah Gordon London to Sydney, arriving on their doorstep on Christmas day, and they didn't know I was coming! A perfect surprise! :D
Julian Birchall Auckland - Vancouver -Toronto 29hrs on Christmas day, all bar the last hour on Christmas day! But two years later she's still worth it.
Betty Gilmore from Jacksonville NC to Fort Worth Texas and back with a bay and a dog in a Rambler.
Betty Gilmore Now we drive from Atlanta to Ft. Worth with a dog (the kids are grown) in a Camry.
Joachim Bochum Germany-Cambodia
Shubhangna Suryavanshi Kainthla ‎15hrs+2..within state and jumping to another
Franzi Uffdebox My parents are here in New Zealand to visit me, from Germany... around 18000 km :)
Louise Vicente ‎18800 km from NZ to UK to visit my parents, first time in 2.5 years
Anatoly Evstegneev ‎1500 km by car to the Northern Siberia.
Kaitlin Frye ‎10 hours from ORD to London and then to Italy.
Jenny Wong SE Kuala lumpur to houston via pacific, stopover Honolulu, NY eve 1980
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ACTIVITY 2 - WRITING - TRAVELLING AROUND THE WORLD

Now answer the following questions:
2.1 - What about you? What is the longest Christmas travel you've ever had?
2.2 - How was the travel? Describe the transportation you used.
2.3- How was your stay at the destination?
2.4 - Would you repeat the experience? Why or why not?

Friday 9 December 2011

What a Wonderful World (BBC Commercial of a documentary)

A few months ago we watched the video and the lyrics of the song "What a Wonderful World" by Louis Armstrong in the post:

What a Wonderful World (Louis Armstrong)

 Do you remember it? Well, today we are going to watch a commercial of the BBC series "Frozen Planet" which will be released this Christmas. It is a BBC documentary with seven episodes presented by the famous British broadcaster and naturalist David Attenborough.
We can listen to him saying the lyrics of the song "Wonderful World". Enjoy the video and the voice too! :)

 

 

Lyrics "WHAT A WONDERFUL WORLD"

(George Weiss / Bob Thiele) I see trees of green, red roses too I see them bloom for me and you And I think to myself, what a wonderful world I see skies of blue and clouds of white The bright blessed day, the dark sacred night And I think to myself, what a wonderful world The colours of the rainbow, so pretty in the sky Are also on the faces of people going by I see friends shakin' hands, sayin' "How do you do?" They're really saying "I love you" I hear babies cryin', I watch them grow They'll learn much more than I'll ever know And I think to myself, what a wonderful world Yes, I think to myself, what a wonderful world Oh yeah

Saturday 26 November 2011

FESTIVALS IN NOVEMBER 2: Thanksgiving Day

This weekend we are travelling to the USA to learn more about Thanksgiving Day.

  Thanksgiving Day is an annual holiday celebrating the harvest and other blessings of the past year. Historically, thanks have been directed towards God, accompanied with feasting and prayer. Over time, however, societies that celebrate Thanksgiving have developed a mix of religious and non-religious attitudes, approaches and practices in response to the holiday. In both the United States and in Canada, Thanksgiving is a legal holiday; it is celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November in the U.S. and on the second Monday of October in Canada. (Thanksgiving in Canada falls on the same day as Columbus Day in the United States.) Because of the longstanding traditions of the holiday, the celebration often extends to the weekend that falls closest to the day it is celebrated.

   Now you can watch this video with a funny song describing this festival in the USA.
The video is subtitled, so  you can read the lyrics at the same time.

Thanks a lot to Jason R. Levine from Fluency MC for creating this video!
You can follow their updates in this webpage:
ColloTunes classroom activity book for English learning

I hope you enjoy the video! :) 


Song on Thanksgiving Day.





QUESTIONS ON THE VIDEO

1) Which are the origins of Thanksgiving? Did you already know them? ........................................................

2) Is Thanksgivingcelebrated in your own country? On which date? And how? .............................................

 

Saturday 5 November 2011

FESTIVALS IN NOVEMBER: From Halloween to Bonfire's Night

Today we are travelling around the world to watch a video and read a text about some typical English-speaking festivals and traditions celebrated on the first week of November. I hope you enjoy the trip! :)

1) Let's start with Halloween, of course!

We are travelling to the USA, fasten your seat belts please...

Halloween Scares up Tricks, Treats in US 

Every year, on the last day of October, children in the U.S. dress up in their most creative costumes to celebrate Halloween. In this report by VOA's Laura Ellsworth, Jim Bertel tells how this big event for children has also become an event that means big profits for some businesses.

 

 QUESTIONS ON THE VIDEO

1.1) Which are the origins of Halloween? Did you already know them? .....................................................

1.2) How is Halloween celebrated in your own country? .........................................................................

 

2) And now let's travel to the UK to celebrate Bonfire's Night!

Read the following article about this traditional UK festival celebrated on the first Saturday of November.

Light it up on Bonfire's Night

 QUESTIONS ON THE READING

2.1) Did you already know the origins of Bonfire's night? ........................................................................

2.2) Have you ever watched a Bonfire's night celebration in the UK? What did you enjoy most? ...............