Sunday 31 October 2010

Reading: Anoka, MN: The Halloween Capital of the World (American English - Beginner)

Before you read:

1. Is Halloween celebrated in your country?

2. Is there any National celebration in your country? What is it?


Anoka, Minnesota: The Halloween Capital of the World
A Local Legacy

Did you know that Halloween has a capital? Anoka, Minnesota, calls itself the "Halloween Capital of the World," as it is one of the first cities in the United States to put on a Halloween celebration that discourages people from playing tricks or causing trouble.
In 1920, a weeklong celebration was started in Anoka in an effort to take the trick out of trick-or-treat. The Grand Day Parade includes a Mass Band, made up of bands from four high schools. Another featured event is the Gray Ghost 5K Run, inspired by sightings of Bill Andberg, a marathon runner in his 70s whose gray-clad ghostly figure can often be seen running through a local cemetery.
There are many competitions during the week, including a pumpkin bake-off and one for best Halloween house decorations. Most participants wear their Halloween costumes. Do you suppose people wear the same costumes all week long?

Text extracted from America's Story from America's Library website: http://www.americaslibrary.gov/es/mn/es_mn_hallown_1.html and has no copyright mention in the source. This text is used under fair use.


Now that you read it:


1. What happens during the Grand Day Parade?


2. What are the competitions that happen during the week in which Anoka celebrates Halloween?


The answers to the questions may be sent to:
e-mail: eng.4.today@gmail.com
Orkut: http://www.orkut.com.br/Main#Profile?uid=13978883568364259345
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All the answers will commented by the teacher and sent back by email.
Please comment and give suggestion about the lessons and the blog.
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Creative Commons Licence
English for Today by Nimlot Logan is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Saturday 30 October 2010

Reading: The Scottish Independence (British English - Intermediate)

 Before reading the text answer these questions. Use your own words.

a) What do you know about Scotland?

b) Do you know any other countries that conquered or are still fighting for its independence?

Now let's read the text.

Scotland (dark blue) inside Great Britain
The Scottish Independence


The Scottish independence is a political ambition of political parties, groups pressure and individuals in order to make Scotland separated from the United Kingdom.

The Kingdom of Scotland was an independent state from his unification in 843 to 1707 when the Treaty of Union was passed by the Parliament of Scotland and led to the formation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain. The Acts of Union made the Treaty valid by fusing the two nations through the dissolution of the English and the Scottish Parliaments, and their replacement by the new Great Britain Parliament. As a result of provisions in the Treaty, as well as a much of Scotland's relative isolation, many Scottish institutions remained separate, and the Scottish national identity has remained strong and distinct.

At the period of the parliament union, the measurement was deeply impopular both in Scotland and England. The Scottish treaty signatories were forced to sign the documents in secrecy because the popular revolt and the unrest in the Scottish capital, Endinburgh.

The ones who opposed to the Scottish independence and approved the continuity of a sort of union made a distinction between patriotism and nationalism, believing that being a part of the United Kingdom would be Scotland's national interest, and articulating that cultural, social, political, diplomatic and economic influence and benefits, without compromising its distinctive national identity, outweighed the total loss of Scottish independent sovereignty. Scottish independence supporters argues that the loss of Scottish independent representation is internationally prejudicial for Scottish interests, and, as the British Government acts chiefly at the interests of the whole United Kingdom, they argue that it can be, in specific cases, prejudicial to the specific interests of Scotland.


Article adapted from the original in Portuguese at: htpp://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Independência_da_Escócia and is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported

Map of Scotland inside the United Kingdom extracted from: http://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ficheiro:Map_of_Scotland_within_the_United_Kingdom.png and is licensed under the Creative Commons
Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported




After reading the text: Please answer the questions:

1. How long had Scotland been an independent country before forming the Great Britain in 1707?

2. Was the union of the Scottish and the English Parliaments well accepted? Why?

3. At the period of the Union. Scotland was divided in two groups, one was in favour of the union and the other against it. What each group argued about the union. Answer using your own words.


The answers to the questions may be sent to:
e-mail: eng.4.today@gmail.com
Orkut: http://www.orkut.com.br/Main#Profile?uid=13978883568364259345
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/pages/English-for-Today/177566135615065?
All the answers will commented by the teacher and sent back by email.
Please comment and give suggestion about the lessons and the blog.
This blog is a non commercial, non profit educational website.


Creative Commons Licence
English for Today by Nimlot Logan is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Friday 29 October 2010

About English for Today

***THIS BLOG IS A NON COMMERCIAL, NON PROFIT EDUCATIONAL WEBSITE ***

Hello! I'm Nimlot Logan and I'm based in Brazil.
The aim of this blog is to show how English can be easy to learn if you demystify it.

In the next post we'll see structures, text comprehension,  and grammar practice.

Let's discover English together?
Welcome to English for Today!
English with no complication!

Teacher Nimlot.


Creative Commons Licence
English for Today by Nimlot Logan is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.