jueves, 31 de octubre de 2024

Halloween



What Halloween traditions do you know?

Preparation Exercise

Halloween Listening Exercise

Halloween Vocabulary Exercise 1

October 31 is Halloween and is now celebrated in many countries around the world, but do you know anything about the origins of this scary special day? Read the article and find out.

 

Do the preparation task first. Then read the article and do the exercises.



Collaborative Preparation Exercise


The origins of Halloween

 

If you think of Halloween, you probably think of scary carved pumpkins, all kinds of fancy dress and children asking for sweets. And if you think of a country that celebrates Halloween, you probably think of the United States first. Americans and Canadians have adopted Halloween in a big way, but Halloween traditions actually come from 16th-century Ireland, Scotland and England.

 

The tradition of Halloween on 31 October comes from the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain. Samhain was the Celtic New Year and they celebrated it on 1 November because that was the end of summer and harvest time (life) and the beginning of winter (death). It was also the time for ghosts to return to earth for a day. People lit a big fire, wore special clothes made of animal skin and hoped to be safe from the ghosts and the winter. In AD 609, the Catholic Church put the Christian celebration of All Saints Day on 1 November. In AD 1000, the church added All Souls Day on 2 November, and All Hallows Eve – or Halloween – moved to the night of the 31st.

 

Pumpkins

 

The Celts carved faces into vegetables like turnips and potatoes to scare the ghosts and other spirits and make them go away. It was sometimes called a jack-o'-lantern because of an Irish story about a man, Jack. He played a trick on the devil and then had to walk the earth for all time as a punishment. Irish people who came to live in the United States in the 1800s found pumpkins much easier to carve, and the tradition became the one we see today.   

 

Fancy dress

 

The Celts were afraid of the ghosts that came on Samhain. If they went outside after dark, they covered their faces with masks. They hoped any ghosts they met would think they were ghosts too and would leave them alone. In early America, the Native Americans and the first Europeans celebrated the end of the harvest, but not Halloween. When Irish people arrived, the harvest festival started to look more like Halloween and it became popular across the country. In the late 19th century, people tried to make Halloween less about ghosts and religion and more about celebrating the season with a party for neighbours and family. That’s why Americans today wear all kinds of Halloween costumes and not just scary things like witches and ghosts like in other countries.

 

Trick or treat

 

This is another tradition that began in Europe, this time in England. When the church introduced All Souls Day, rich people gave poor people 'soul cakes', a small cake made with spices and raisins. It replaced the Celtic tradition of leaving food outside houses for the ghosts. 'Going a-souling' was popular in England for hundreds of years until about the 1930s. The Americans kept the tradition, but today children knock on people’s doors and ask for sweets. Going trick or treating is so popular that a quarter of the sweets for the year in the United States are sold for this one day.

 

The rest of the world

 

Halloween has become the United States' second-biggest commercial festival after Christmas. Halloween is also celebrated in other countries, but it's not as big as in the United States, even in the countries where the traditions began. Mexico celebrates the Day of the Dead from 31 October to 2 November and some of its traditions, like giving gifts of sugar skulls, are starting to mix with Halloween. In this way, the celebration of Halloween continues to change as new traditions join the oldest of the Celtic ones.

 

British Council (S/F) Halloween on https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/general-english/magazine-zone/halloween 


Halloween Reading Exercise 
Do you celebrate Halloween? If so, how?

lunes, 30 de septiembre de 2024

5.8.- How to write a letter of application

 


Would you be interested in the following job vacancy? Why or why not? 


Collaborative Reading of the Letter of Application Sample on page 46

Collaborative Exercise 2 on page 46


Structure for a Letter of Application

1. Salutation

Dear Sir or Madam 

If you do not know the name of the person you are writing to, use this. The following is a list of letter salutation examples that are appropriate for letters of application.

  • Dear Hiring Manager
  • Dear Search Committee
  • To whom it may concern
  • Dear Human Resources Manager
  • Dear Sir or Madam

2. The Introductory Paragraph

Begin by stating the job for which you are applying. Briefly mention how your skills and experience match the company and/or position; this will give the employer a preview of the rest of your letter.

3. The next paragraphs (the body)

In the following paragraphs, explain why you are interested in the job and why you make an excellent candidate for the position. Mention specific qualifications listed in the job posting and explain how you meet those qualifications.

Please see the example structure below:

(2nd paragraph) You might go and list your experience and relevant qualifications:

(3rd paragraph) You might then go on to mention the particular abilities and skills that you have:

(4th paragraph) Say why you are particularly interested in this job:

4. Closing paragraph

Conclude your letter of application by thanking the employer for considering you for the position and stating that you would like to interview.

You might close the letter with the following formula.

Source: https://engxam.com/handbook/how-to-write-a-letter-of-application-fce-cae-cpe/


Individual writing of a letter of application according to the exam task criteria on page 46 and the standards from the University of Cambridge


5.7.- Reading and Use of English Part 3

 

Which graduates do you think are more likely to find a job?


Collaborative Exercise 1 on Page 45


Individual Exam Task on Page 45

viernes, 6 de septiembre de 2024

5.6.- Countable and uncountable nouns

 




Noun classifying exercise on Wordwall


Book exercises 1 and 2 on page 44

Exercise 3 on page 44

Exercise 4 on page 44

Exercise 5 on page 44

Video about fce speaking test part 1

Speaking exam task practice on page 44


5.5.- Phrasal verbs with 'take'

 



What the text 'Training for the future' was about?


Collaborative exercise about identifying the meaning of the phrasal verbs with take on page 43 on Wordwall

https://wordwall.net/es/resource/67925217

 

Book exercises 6 and 7 on page 43


Speaking Practice of the Phrasal Verbs with 'Take'

https://wordwall.net/es/resource/67991626

5.4.- Training for the future

 


Vocabulary Presentation of the text 'Training for the future'

Reading Exam task on pages 42 and 43

What training programmes are there in your school?

5.3.- Noun Suffixes

 



What job do you think you will have when you finish school?


Book Exercises 4 on page 41 about Noun Suffixes for jobs

https://wordwall.net/es/resource/67985032


Book Exercise 5 about forming pairs on page 41

https://wordwall.net/es/resource/67985284


Book Exercise 6 on page 41


Halloween

What Halloween traditions do you know? Preparation Exercise https://learnenglishteens.britishcouncil.org/study-break/video-zone/brief-histor...