Thanksgiving Day in the United States is an annual festival in which people thank the Lord for the blessings of the past year. It is observed every fourth Thursday in November. It is a historical, national, and religious holiday that began with the Pilgrims Fathers. They were a group of English Protestants who wanted to break away from the Church of England. These ‘separatists’ initially moved to Holland and after 12 years of financial problems, they received funding from English merchants to sail across the Atlantic. A ship called "The Mayflower"carrying 101 men, women, and children spent 66 days travelling through the ocean and finally settled at Plymouth, that is now called Cape Cod. There the Pilgrims founded a colony. Long before settlers came to the East Coast of the United States, the area was inhabited by many Native American tribes.After founding  the Plymouth Colony, the Puritans were preparing for their first winter. The leader of a Native American tribe, Squanto, visited the colony.  Squanto was a Wampanoag who had experience with other settlers and knew English. He helped the settlers grow corn and use fish to fertilize their fields. After several meetings, a formal agreement was made between the settlers and the native people and they joined together to protect each other from other tribes.After the survival of their first colony through the bitter winter, and the gathering of the harvest, Governor William Bradford of Plymouth Colony issued a thanksgiving proclamation in the autumn of 1621. This first thanksgiving lasted three days, during which the Pilgrims feasted with wild turkey with their Indian guests. Some Natives brought deer for the feast and the English and Natives ate together. The meal consisted of deer, corn, shellfish, and roasted meat. Moreover, they played ball games, sang, and danced.  Prayers and thanks were offered at the 1621 harvest celebration, but the first recorded religious Thanksgiving Day in Plymouth happened two years later in 1623. On this occasion, the colonists gave thanks to God for rain after a two-month drought.Some curiosities about Although, Thanksgiving is widely considered an American holiday, it is also celebrated in Canada on the second Monday of October . Friday after Thanksgiving is known as Black Friday because retailers hope that with plenty of sales, their sales numbers will no longer be in the red, but in the black. In fact, Black Friday is the beginning of the traditional Christmas shopping season.Originally known as Macy's Christmas Parade, to celebrate the launch of the Christmas shopping season, the first Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade took place in New York City in 1924. It was launched by Macy's employees and featured animals from the Central Park Zoo. Today, about 3 million people attend the annual parade and another 44 million watch it on television.For more information about the 2013 parade click here: http://gonyc.about.com/od/thanksgiving/tp/2011-Macys-Thanksgiving-Day-Parade.htm    For many U.S. citizens, there is no Thanksgiving without football. NBC Radio broadcast the first national Thanksgiving Day game in 1934, when the Detroit Lions hosted the Chicago Bears. Except for a respite during World War II, the Lions have played every Thanksgiving Day since. For more information about Thaknsgiving football games:  http://www.chiff.com/home_life/holiday/thanksgiving/thanksgiving-football.htm In the US, about 280 million turkeys are sold for the Thanksgiving celebrations.  Since 1947, The National Turkey Federation has presented the President of the United States with a live turkey. The live turkey is pardoned by the president and sent to Disneyland to live happily ever after.  November 21, 2012 And you? What would you give thanks for?

Your travelling teachers went to Amsterdam this time! We went there to attend a meeting about study tours.What are study tours? International study tours are a great opportunity for learners to combine an overseas travel and cultural experience with studies focusing on the language. Study tours emphasise experiential learning and allow students to explore new territories, cultures and people. They combine theory with real-life experience and cultural perspective. Exploring the world can be life-changing! Studying abroad you will: Meet new friends from around the world.Gain new perspectives on things you normally wouldn't have.Improve a foreign language and learn a few things you didn't already know.Learn to be more independent.Immerse yourself in a completely different culture. Studying English in the country where it's spoken is a unique experience! Many of the courses you can attend in the United Kingdom are recognized by the British Council.The British Council is the UK’s international organisation for educational opportunities and cultural relations. http://www.britishcouncil.org/ Would you like to have an experience like this? ... Pack up your things and leave!!

November 20th is the Universal Cildren's Day!At the following site you can find the Declaration of the Rights of the Child (1959) and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989).http://www.un.org/en/events/childrenday/"There is no trust more sacred than the one the world holds with children. There is no duty more important than ensuring that their rights are respected, that their welfare is protected, that their lives are free from fear and want and that they can grow up in peace." Kofi Annan"The ultimate test of a moral society is the kind of world that it leaves to its children." Dietrich Bonhoeffer   " If we are ever to have real peace in this world we shall have to begin with the children." Mohandas K. Gandhi  "Safety and security don't just happen, they are the result of collective consensus and public investment. We owe our children, the most vulnerable citizens in our society, a life free of violence and fear." Nelson MandelaWhat do you think about children's (or teens') rights? Are they respected? What about your family, your teachers, your friends? Do you feel safe, respected and loved?

Christmas in the United Kingdom       Most families have a Christmas Tree in their house for Christmas. Christmas Trees were first popularised in the UK by Prince Albert, the husband of Queen Victoria. Prince Albert was German and thought that it would be good to use one of his ways of celebrating Christmas in England. Holly, Ivy and Mistletoe are also used to decorate homes. Nativity Plays and Carol Services are also very popular at Christmas time.  Children believe that Father Christmas or Santa Claus leaves presents in stockings or pillow-cases. They are usually hung up by the fire or by the children's beds on Christmas Eve. Children sometimes leave out mince pies and brandy or milk for Father Christmas when he visits them.  Children write letters to Father Christmas with their requests, but sometimes instead of putting them in the post, the letters are tossed into the fireplace. The draught carries the letters up the chimney and Father Christmas reads the smoke. Boxing Day is a very old custom that started in the UK and is now taken as a holiday in many countries around the world. Boxing Day in the United Kingdom is the day after Christmas Day,  December 26th. Traditionally, it was a day when employers distributed money, food, clothes or other goods to their employees. In modern times, it is an important day for sporting events and the start of the post-Christmas sales. In the UK, the main Christmas Meal is usually eaten at lunchtime or early afternoon on Christmas Day. It was traditionally roast beef or goose, although it's common to have turkey, roast vegetables and 'all the trimmings' which means stuffing and sometimes bacon and sausages. Typical desserts are Christmas Pudding and mince pies. The dinner table is decorated with a Christmas Cracker for each person   and sometimes flowers and candles.  Christmas Celebrations in the UK: http://www.learnenglish.de/culture/christmas.html10 Ways to British Up Your Christmas Holiday:http://www.bbcamerica.com/anglophenia/2012/12/british-up-your-christmas-holiday/ More British Christmas traditions: http://usa.britishcouncil.org/british-christmas-traditions  Let's go to London for Christmas!Each Christmas Day the sovereign of the Commonwealth realms to the Commonwealth of Nations makes a speech. The tradition began in 1932 with a radio broadcast by King George V on the British Broadcasting Corporation Empire Service. The foolowing is Queen Elisabeth II Christmas speech of December 25th, 2012.Christmas 2011How do you spend your Christmas holiday?Talk about your Christmas traditions!

from a PowerPoint presentation by Roberta Martino    We watched "A Christmas Carol" in our classroomSome interesting facts about "A Christmas Carol":http://www.charlesdickensinfo.com/christmas-carol/trivia/  QUIZ!!http://www.charlesdickensinfo.com/games/christmas-carol-quiz/ The following are some quotations from "A Christmas Carol".Can you tell me who and when pronounces these words?"I wear the chain I forged in life....I made it link by link, and yard by yard; I girded it on of my own free will, and of my own free will I wore it."  "You may be an undigested bit of beef, a blot of mustard, a crumb of cheese, a fragment of underdone potato. There's more of gravy than of grave about you, whatever you are!"  "They are Man's and they cling to me, appealing from their fathers. This boy is Ignorance and this girl is Want. Beware them both, and all of their degree, but most of all beware this boy for on his brow I see that written which is Doom, unless the writing be erased."  "I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year. I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future. The Spirits of all Three shall strive within me. I will not shut out the lessons that they teach!" "Business!" he cried, wringing its hands again. "Mankind was my business; charity, mercy, forbearance, and benevolence, were, all, my business. The deals of my trade were but a drop of water in the comprehensive ocean of my business!"  "Bah," he said, "Humbug."  "And therefore, Uncle, though it has never put a scrap of gold or silver in my pocket, I believe that [Christmas] has done me good, and will do me good; and I say, God bless it!"  "If they would rather die, . . . they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population."  "God bless us, every one!"  "Come in, -- come in! and know me better, man! Look upon me! You have never seen the like of me before!"  "Christmas is a poor excuse every 25th of December to pick a man's pockets."  "Are there no prisons?" "I am as light as a feather, I am as happy as an angel, I am as merry as a schoolboy. I am as giddy as a drunken man. A merry Christmas to everybody! A happy New Year to all the world! Hallo here! Whoop! Hallo!"  If you need more information here is a list of some Charles Dickens websites:http://www.shmoop.com/charles-dickens/websites.htmlThese are parts of a story board of "A Christmas Carol" by some 11-years-old students 

Dear students,we know, you don't want to study during your Christmas holiday! But you can practise English having fun! Here you have some links that will allow you to do so... Try them!And of course...Here you can find a lot of fun websites about Christmas acitivities, games, quizzes, videos and songs!http://eflinks.wikispaces.com/Christmas+sitesHere you can watch videos, TV shows or movies about Christmas, listen to music, learn Christmas recipes or read Christmas stories!http://xmasfun.com/Learn about the Christmas story, traditions all around the world and have a Christmas karaoke!http://www.whychristmas.com/Remember, you can better learn having fun!!!... from you travelling teachers!!Some drawings by the students of IB

We would like to wish a Merry Christmas to all our students! You're "digital natives"... so this is for you!Watch this video about Nativity in our time...How would you represent a modern Nativity?

January, 6th is a national holiday in Italy called Epifania.  The name "Epifania" means appearance or manifestation. It is a derivative of the Greek word Epiphaneia. The name refers to the Epiphany, the yearly Christian festival which commemorates the visit of the three wise men. Italy's traditional celebration includes the tale of a witch known as La Befana who arrives on her broomstick during the night of January 5th and fills the stockings with toys and sweets for the good children and lumps of coal for the bad ones. According to the legend, the night before the Wise Men arrived at the manger they stopped at the house of an old woman to ask directions. They invited her to come along but she said that she was too busy cleaning her house. Later that night, she saw a great light in the sky and decided to join the Wise Men and to bear some gifts that had belonged to her child who had died. She got lost and never found the manger. Now La Befanaflies around on her broomstick each year on the night of January 5th, bringing gifts to children in hopes that she might find the Baby Jesus.  In Italy, La Befana is loved as much as Santa Claus. She is usually portrayed as an old woman who wears a black shawl and rides a broomstick. Figures of this character are sold in shops in Italy around January 6th. The arrival of la Befana marks the end of the long holiday season in Italy. Watch this video about La Befana festival in Piazza Navona, Rome.  Did you get sweets ...or coal?This is a reportage from a student:I went to Rome on January, 6th. In Piazza Navona there were a lot of people, expecially American and British. They were curious about la Befana! It is a typical Italian holiday. These are some photos i took there. Valerio Vinci, III D

From now on I'll post some information for teachers who want to become more "digital".There are plenty of apps and tools that can help our didactics, but it takes a lot of time to try all of them to see how they work. So I will try some of them for you showing you the final result. I'll create quick and very simple examples. That way it should be easier  to choose what tool is appropriate for you and which is not.If you want to prepare some attractive presentations (besides PowerPoint), you can use the followin tools:The first tool I tried is Powtoonhttp://www.powtoon.comIt's a very funny way to create presentations!This is what I've done for youhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMOHzvLk3rY&rel=0Then I tried Glogsterhttp://www.glogster.com/You can create digital posters with images, videos and audio files . Very interesting! Students could also create some glogs for homework! This is my example.http://robertamartino.edu.glogster.com/foreign-languages-activities-at-losapio-schoolThis one is a very very simple tool, Aiku Deck. You can create slide shows to combine ideas with images.http://www.haikudeck.com/This is my short example.http://www.haikudeck.com/p/PJjQjXTrL1/haiku-deck#POWER UP YOUR TEACHING!That's all for now, see you soon with some other tools!

This post is about educational tools for writing or story telling.The first tool I tried is Storybird.http://storybird.com/It's about artful storytelling. You can choose different images and drawings from various artists and you (or your students) can create a story. That's my simple example for you:http://storybird.com/books/the-teacher-and-the-little-girl/?token=gtq94fygeu  Then I tried Magnetic Poetry.http://play.magneticpoetry.com/You have some words to choose to create your own poem! This is my crazy masterpiece!http://play.magneticpoetry.com/poem/Original/kit/15415/?h=8444d213e9cd688d306fa98d2aa7ca79I have also tried Wordle.http://www.wordle.net/It generates "word clouds" from text that you provide. The clouds give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in the text.This is an example: Ok, now you and your students can enjoy using words.... Create your own masterpiece!!