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Saturday 23 April 2011

Happy St. George's Day

St. George is the patron saint of England. His emblem, a red cross on a white background, is the flag of England, and part of the British flag. St George's emblem was adopted by Richard The Lion Heart and brought to England in the 12th century. The king's soldiers wore it on their tunics to avoid confusion in battle.

St George was a brave Roman soldier who protested against the Romans' torture of Christians and died for his beliefs. The popularity of St George in England stems from the time of the early Crusades when it is said that the Normans saw him in a vision and were victorious.

One of the best-known stories about Saint George is his fight with a dragon. But it is highly unlikely that he ever fought a dragon, and even more unlikely that he ever actually visited England. Despite this, St George is known throughout the world as the dragon-slaying patron saint of England.

By tradition, 23 April is the day for a red rose in the button hole, the national flower. However, unlike other countries, England does not celebrate it like Americans celebrate 4 July with fireworks. In fact, you are more likely to see big St Patrick parades in England celebrating Ireland's National Day, more than you would see any sign of St Georges Day being celebrated.

For most people in England St George's Day is just another ordinary working day.

Source: http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/customs/stgeorge.html

St George's Day with a Catalan twist


On Sant Jordi's day, Catalans exchange books and roses in the name of love: family love, couple love, erotic love.

Read this article by Matthew Tree published by The Guardian.

Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/

Easter History

Easter, which celebrates Jesus Christ's resurrection from the dead, is Christianity's most important holiday. It has been called a moveable feast because it doesn't fall on a set date every year, as most holidays do. Instead, Christian churches in the West celebrate Easter on the first Sunday following the full moon after the vernal equinox on March 21. Therefore, Easter is observed anywhere between March 22 and April 25 every year. Orthodox Christians use the Julian calendar to calculate when Easter will occur and typically celebrate the holiday a week or two after the Western churches, which follow the Gregorian calendar.

Watch and enjoy these videos:







Source: http://www.history.com/topics/history-of-easter

Happy Easter Day

Monday 4 April 2011

Irregular verbs


Practise your irregular verbs pronunciation. Click here.

Source: http://www.aprender-gratis.tk/verbos-irregulares-ingles.htm

Past Simple: regular and irregular verbs


Basic Level 1


PAST SIMPLE

REGULAR VERBS PRONUNCIATION

La pronunciación de la terminación de pasado de los verbos regulares varía en tres formas:

/t/ ~ /d/ ~ /id/

A) Se pronuncia /d/ cuando los verbos terminan en sonido vocálico o en los siguientes sonidos consonánticos:

/b/ como en combed

/g/ como en begged

/dZ/ como en managed

/l/ como en filled

/m/ como en formed

/n/ como en listened

/r/ como en stirred

/v/ como en loved

/z/ como en closed

B) Se pronuncia /t/ cuando los verbos terminan en los siguientes sonidos:

/k/ como en parked

/s/ como en passed

/tS/como en watched

/S/ como en washed

/f/ como en laughed

/p/ como en helped

C) Se pronuncia /Id/ cuando los verbos terminan en los sonidos:

/t/ como en posted

/d/ como en added

REGULAR VERBS IN UNITS 1-10

arrive

ask

check

cook

finish

hate

help

arriveD

askED

checkED

cookED

finishED

hateD

helpED

like

listen

live

look

love

move

play

likeD

listenED

liveD

lookED

loveD

moveD

playED

practise

receive

rent

repeat

show

start

stay

practiseD

receiveD

rentED

repeatED

showED

startED

stayED

turn

use

visit

walk

want

watch

work

turnED

useD

visitED

walkED

wantED

watchED

workED


IRREGULAR VERBS PRONUNCIATION

buy

choose

come

do

drink

drive

eat

feel

find

fly

get

give

go

have

hear

know

leave

make

meet

put

read

ride

say

see

sell

send

sing

sleep

speak

spend

swim

take

teach

tell

think

understand

wear

write

bought

chose

came

did

drank

drove

ate

felt

found

flew

got

gave

went

had

heard

knew

left

made

met

put

read

rode

said

saw

sold

sent

sang

slept

spoke

spent

swam

took

taught

told

thought

undestood

wore

wrote

REGULAR VERBS SPELLING

a) A los verbos que terminan en –e se les agrega una –d para formar el pasado:

phonE - phoneD

smilE – smileD

agreE – agreeD

diE - dieD

b) A los verbos que no terminan en –e se les añade –ed para formar el pasado:

ask – askED

clean – cleanED

watch – watchEd

walk – walkED

c) Los verbos de una sola sílaba terminados en: consonante+vocal+consonante, duplican la última consonante:

beg –begGED

rub – rubBED

d) Los verbos de dos sílabas con la última sílaba acentuada y compuesta por: consonante+vocal+consonante, duplican la última consonante:

prefer - preferRED

refer - referRED

Excepción: travel – travelLED

e) Cuando el verbo termina en –y precedida de una consonante, la –y cambia a -i quedando la terminación –ied.

carry – carrIED

fry - frIED