1)

Little is known about St George, but it is believed his father, a soldier in the Roman army, was from Cappadocia, now in modern-day Turkey, and his mother from Lydda, now Israeli Lod. Like his father, George entered the military and swiftly rose through the ranks. His career, and life, was put to an end by the emperor Diocletian in April 23, AD 303 when he protested against the persecution of the Christians. He thus became an early Christian martyr. He was entombed in Palestine, where he had lived with his mother after his father’s death.

2)

Around 1,000 years after St George’s death, England, whose crusaders had heard the story of St George in the Holy Land, ditched Edward the Confessor for a new patron saint and, in 1415 (the anti-French year of the battle of Agincourt), made April 23 a national feast day. St George is also the patron saint of several other countries.

3)

George is not only seen as a defender of the Christian faith but he is also associated with the myth of a dragon slayer who rescued an innocent maiden from death and then gave his reward money to the poor.

4)

In England, there are many people who want to see St George’s Day made a national holiday marked with greater festivity. In Ireland, St Patrick’s Day is already a national holiday and is celebrated across the land.

SECTION A

Can you match these paragraph headings with the numbered paragraphs above?

a) The legend of St George

b) The history of St George

c) St George and England

d) Celebrations

SECTION B

Can you find words in the text which match these definitions?

1) a person who serves in an army

2) the cruel or unfair treatment of people because of their race, or religious or political beliefs

3) a person who is killed or who suffers greatly for a religion or cause

4) a saint who is believed to protect a particular place

5) a person who kills someone or something

6) celebration and enjoyment

SECTION C

Do you think St George’s Day should be a national holiday in England?

What do you think people should do on St George’s Day?

ANSWERS TO SECTION A:

1) b

2) c

3) a

4) d

ANSWERS TO SECTION B:

1) soldier

2) persecution

3) martyr

4) patron saint

5) slayer

6) festivities

Text modified from Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_George#England) BBC (http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/george_st.shtml) and The Guardian (http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/2004/apr/23/netnotes.simonjeffery).

Hello everyone

We hope you had a beautiful sunny weekend.

Here are the answers to the “Dutch” questions.

To go Dutch = to share the cost of a meal between two people

If something is all double dutch = it doesn’ t make any sense

Dutch courage = to drink alcohol to make you braver!

Bye, see you again soon for our next “Improve your English” worksheet.

Looking for ways to improve your English this weekend?

Why not go to the Holland House festival in Trafalgar Square to celebrate the Dutch Queen Mum’s Birthday?  There you can chat to people and practise your conversation skills, watch or take part in some of the fun activities, listen to live music and sample some Dutch delicacies.  Better still, there’s no entrance fee, so what are you waiting for?

http://www.holland.com/uk/hollandhouse2009/hollandhouse2009.jsp

Vocabulary

Chat - to talk to someone informally.

Take part in - to participate / join in doing an activity.

Live music - bands / groups of musicians performing on stage (not recorded on a CD for example)

Sample… delicacies - to taste the lovely traditional food.

Entrance fee - price to enter / participate in an event.

Homework

Try and find out what these three Dutch idioms mean

1. To go Dutch
2. It’s all double Dutch
3. Dutch courage

Have fun!

This week marks the 250^th anniversary of the death of baroque composer George Frideric Handel. Born in 1685 in Germany, he trained in Italy, but spent most of his life in England. His famous works include: Messiah, Water Music, Zadok the Priest, and Music for the Royal Fireworks.

His house, 25 Brook Street, in Mayfair, London, is now a museum, and to celebrate his 250^th anniversary, they have put on a special exhibition called Handel Reveal’d. This new exhibition brings the composer’s personal story to life. It examines how he survived the eighteenth-century ‘credit crunch’, his appetite, his blindness and his love-life.

If you want to see this interesting exhibition, tickets cost £5, and more information can be found at the Handel House Museum website: http://www.handelhouse.org/

Vocabulary

• To mark (vb) – to show, to represent
• Composer (n) – a person who writes / ‘invents’ music
• To train (vb) – to study something professionally
• Works (n. pl) – a collection of music that someone has written
• Put on (phrasal vb) – to organise and produce
• To bring a story to life – to tell a story in an interesting way
• Credit crunch – money problems
• Appetite – hunger / wanting to eat
• Blindness – not being able to see

Text adapted by Cultured Learning from http://www.handelhouse.org/

We use lots of interesting music idioms in English. See if you can guess what these mean.

1. When Jane and Mark broke the window playing football in the sitting room, they knew they would have to face the music when their parents came home.

1. When my boss said that we were going to get a bonus, it was like music to my ears.

1. Even though my grandfather is 85 years old, he’s as fit as a fiddle, and goes jogging every day.

1. I thought you hated pop music, so why do you want to go to the Michael Jackson concert? You’ve changed your tune a bit, haven’t you?

1. There’s no need to make a song and dance about it, I only ate a bit of your cake. I can get you another slice if you’re so upset about it!

Match the idioms in bold above with their meaning below.

a) To make you feel very happy.

b) To be in perfect health, with no medical problems.

c) To change your mind / have a different opinion from the one you had before.

d) To accept negative / bad comments and reactions because you know you’ve done something wrong.

e) To make a big fuss about something.

Answer key

1. d
2. a
3. b
4. c
5. e

Worksheet by Cultured Learning

Hello everyone.  I hope you had a fantastic Easter!

If you’ve been wondering what that extra “did” was doing in last week’s correction, then wonder no longer.  We often use an auxillary when we want to emphasise something.

So, if I say “I saw Gary Linekar last week”, it’s normal, grammatically perfect, English.  But, if you don’t believe me, and I want to insist that I saw him, and I really, really want you to believe me, or listen to me, then I could say: “I did see Gary Linkear last week.”

Try listening out for this type of use of auxillaries and see why the person used it.

Bye for now!  And yes, I did see Gary Linekar last week

Many thanks to Tim Berners Lee for pointing this out to us, and apologies for getting it wrong in the first place.  Tim Berners Lee did not invent the Internet as previously stated, but he did invent the World Wide Web.  The Internet was in fact invented in the 1970s by Vint Cerf and his colleagues.

In case you want to find out more about the 20th anniversary celebrations of the WWW, check out Tim’s website:

http://www.w3.org/People/Berners-Lee/FAQ#Internet
And here’s an extra bit of grammar for you.
Why have I used did in following sentence?

“…but he did invent the World Wide Web…”

The sentence is in the past, shouldn’t it just be in the past simple?

Shouldn’t it say “… but he invented the World Wide Web…”?

Any ideas? Well, I’ll let you know tomorrow

Easter Vocabulary

Source: Adapted from the BBC Website. http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/news_and_events/events_eastertraditions.shtml

Lesson Worksheet: Cultured Learning

Level: Upper Intermediate / Advanced

Easter around the world

While we’re happily scoffing chocolate eggs and hot cross buns in the UK at Easter, around the world a wealth of other symbolic dishes are being enjoyed.

Simnel cake

Lent is the period of 40 days which comes before Easter, beginning on Ash Wednesday. For many Christians, this is a period of fasting and repentance in preparation for Easter, culminating in a feast of seasonal and symbolic foods. In the late 17th century, girls in service brought a rich fruit cake called simnel cake home to their mothers on the fourth Sunday of Lent. The cake was enriched with marzipan and decorated with 11 marzipan balls representing the 12 apostles minus Judas, who betrayed Christ.

Hot cross buns

The Greeks and Egyptians ate small cakes or buns in honour of the respective goddesses that they worshipped. Buns marked with a cross were eaten by the Saxons to honour their goddess Eostre - it is thought the bun represented the moon and the cross the moon’s quarters. To Christians, the cross symbolises the crucifixion.

Easter eggs

Throughout history, eggs have been associated with Easter celebrations. In ancient times, the egg was a symbol of fertility and new beginnings. Christians adopted this to represent their Saviour’s resurrection.

The tradition of colouring eggs in bright colours - representing the sunlight of spring - goes back to the Middle Ages and is still an important custom for many Christians. In Germany it’s traditional to paint eggs green and eat them on Maundy Thursday while in Greek and Slavic cultures eggs are dyed red as a symbol of the blood of Christ.

As time has gone on, the decoration has become more elaborate with colourful patterns, images of flora and fauna, and in some cases delicate gold and silver leaf details. The most famous and ornate of Easter eggs must be the jewelled and enamelled eggs that Fabergé was commissioned to make for the Russian tsars.

Interesting phrases and vocabulary

Test yourself.

Fill in the missing words. You may need to change the form.

1. The speech was so boring. It _______ ____ for ages, I nearly fell asleep!

2. The judge hoped that a long prison sentence would make the criminal feel a strong sense of ___________.

3. The doctor told him not to eat or drink because he had to _______ for 4 hours before the operation.

4. At a buffet there are lots of different ___________ you can choose from.

5. The idea was so good, that many companies soon _______________ it.

6. My mum went mad at me because I __________ my hair bright red!

7. Before the First World War, it was quite common for young men and women to work ___ __________ for a big family.

8. In Britain, lots of people wear red poppies (flowers) in November ___ ________ of all the people who died in wars.

9. Did you know that the world wide web was invented by Tim Berners Lee in the 1990s, but the idea may actually ______ _______ ____ 1930s Kent, when the famous science fiction writer, H.G. Wells wrote about a “world brain” in his book “The work, wealth and happiness of mankind.”

10. I was so hungry, I just _______ down all the food!

Answer Key

1. went on

2. repentance

3. fast

4. dishes

5. adopted

6. dyed

7. in service

8. in honour of

9. go back to

10. scoffed

So, how did you do? If you got more than 6 right, you definitely deserve and extra Easter egg! Have a lovely Easter!