Fairytale of New York

 "Fairytale of New York" is an Irish folk style ballad by the Celtic punk group The Pogues, released in 1987. It has frequently been cited as the best Christmas song of all. The song follows an Irish immigrant's Christmas Eve reverie about holidays past while sleeping off a binge in a New York City drunk tank. When an inebriated old man also in the cell sings a passage from the Irish ballad "The Rare Old Mountain Dew", the narrator (MacGowan) begins to dream about the song's female character. The remainder of the song (which may be an internal monologue) takes the form of a dialogue between the couple, their youthful hopes crushed by alcoholism and drug addiction, as they reminisce and bicker on Christmas Eve.

American elections

Here are some links that will help you with your project:

• http://flocabulary.com/presidential-election-process/ the election process explained in hip-hop. 
• http://www.brainpop.com/socialstudies/usgovernmentandlaw/presidentialelection/ An animation explaining the process, as well. Related topics to the right of the page.
• http://www.pocanticohills.org/election/election.htm. A very nice step-by-stp explanation in the All about electing a president section.  A good collection of links, too.
• http://www.timeforkids.com/news/electionary/25346  Lots of articles related to the elections. A very good dictionary of election words.
• http://magazines.scholastic.com/Election-2012 Another huge collection of resources.
• http://mbonillo.xavierre.com/exercises/Games/uselections.htm A test on the American elections.
• http://youtu.be/_95I_1rZiIs Primary elections explained
• http://youtu.be/OUS9mM8Xbbw How the electoral college works
• http://youtu.be/1lt-f3QQ7-A  Political parties, voting and Presidents, explained in rap
• http://youtu.be/ok_VQ8I7g6I Electing a US president in Plain English
• http://www.loc.gov/teachers/classroommaterials/presentationsandactivities/presentations/elections/home.html

  

Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf

Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf, read by Roald Dahl himself.

Happy holidays!

Dumped!

In class we read about an interesting programme on British television to raise awareness on ecological issues. Learn more about it in Channel 4's website or with the following video:


Calculate your carbon footprint.

11/11/11

Today is 11/11/11. This is the last of the unusual dates we've had this year. The other ones were 1/1/11, 11/1/11, 1/11/11.

But there's still more to it: take the last two numbers in your year of birth and add your age this year. What's the result???


And even more: in October there were 5 Mondays, 5 Saturdays and 5 Sundays, which only happens every 823 years.

And some more curiosities about the number eleven here. 


If all this doesn't give you the creeps, watch this:




Do you recognize the place???

Roald Dahl Day

September 13th is Roald Dahl Day.

Watch, read and listen to his version of Little Red Riding Hood, included in Revolting Rhymes.