Here you will find lots of exercises and activities to further your knowledge and improve your skills. You can navigate this space by following the links below OVERVIEW or simply from the SideBar on the right. Enjoy!
Hi Lucía!
How strange! Have you tried both links? Sometimes it depends on what Word version you have. Click on both of them.
Anyway, I'll copy it on an email and send it to you, just in case. Hugs.
hahaha, I'm working on my daughter's pc and I didn't realize that I hadn't signed in with my account. The above comment is mine (Magalí is my daughter)
Hi Pablo! believe it or not, here I am! I've just seen your game. Thanks for being so interested in this working space. That makes us feel that teaching is a truly rewarding job!
Hugs.
Susaaaan! I believe it, don't worry!
LOL.
What I can't believe is that you wrote your message at 2:12 am!!!
Do you know what that means? You're not only a full-time teacher but OUR teacher. And we're proud of that, needless to say.. ;-)
See you this afternoon at the OI.
Hi Yazmín! I have just tried the "Video in the wiki" and the "Listening" pages and everything seems to be working fine. You don't have to download anything. Do you use Firefox? Because it seems to work better than Internet Explorer. Or it could be sth connected with Flash. Can you usually watch videos without any problem? Please let me know if you continue having problems.
Don't worry, Pablo. I received confirmation today that you have up to 18th September to enrol. Anyway, it is always convenient not to wait till the last day because it can get very crowded then.
Yeah! You're right!!! I went yesterday evening to enrol myself and I was told that we have up to September 18...
Anyway, when you're filling out the enrollment form, don't forget to mention that you study at the Oxford Institute from ROSARIO!! Actually, I wrote it like that, it in capital leters just in case...
BTW, I recommend you pay with pesos so you can keep your dollars at home and wait untill dollar increase its value.. ;-)
Yesterday I had to pay $563 ¬¬ (not funny at all, I must say, esp if your parents tell YOU to pay for it... But don't worry.. If this is your case, I'm sure that soon or later they'll pay for what they made you do.) LOL.
Good luck!
Dear Teacher,
You must know how much we (all your students- me included, of course) love you and respect not only your decisions but also your commintments to further improvement as reagards studying at your acclaimed Educational Instutute.. But there have been several things which I consider are not going well..
In fact, there is only one and it's that it'd be much better for all of us to keep attending video classes.. Come on! don't be that thoughtless of us.. We can even make a deal.. what do you think??
Any suggestions would be gratefully welcome.
That's a very good introduction for a letter of complaint. I see you've been doing your homework :-) You've almost brought me round. Let's see if we can make an exception with the FCE.
Halloween is an annual celebration, but just what is it actually a celebration of? And how did this peculiar custom originate? Is it, as some claim, a kind of demon worship? Or is it just a harmless vestige of some ancient pagan ritual?
The word itself, "Halloween," actually has its origins in the Catholic Church. It comes from a contracted corruption of All Hallows Eve. November 1, "All Hollows Day" (or "All Saints Day"), is a Catholic day of observance in honor of saints. But, in the 5th century BC, in Celtic Ireland, summer officially ended on October 31. The holiday was called Samhain (sow-en), the Celtic New year.
One story says that, on that day, the disembodied spirits of all those who had died throughout the preceding year would come back in search of living bodies to possess for the next year. It was believed to be their only hope for the afterlife. The Celts believed all laws of space and time were suspended during this time, allowing the spirit world to intermingle with the living.
Naturally, the still-living did not want to be possessed. So on the night of October 31, villagers would extinguish the fires in their homes, to make them cold and undesirable. They would then dress up in all manner of ghoulish costumes and noisily paraded around the neighborhood, being as destructive as possible in order to frighten away spirits looking for bodies to possess.
Probably a better explanation of why the Celts extinguished their fires was not to discourage spirit possession, but so that all the Celtic tribes could relight their fires from a common source, the Druidic fire that was kept burning in the Middle of Ireland, at Usinach.
Some accounts tell of how the Celts would burn someone at the stake who was thought to have already been possessed, as sort of a lesson to the spirits. Other accounts of Celtic history debunk these stories as myth.
The Romans adopted the Celtic practices as their own. But in the first century AD, Samhain was assimilated into celebrations of some of the other Roman traditions that took place in October, such as their day to honor Pomona, the Roman goddess of fruit and trees. The symbol of Pomona is the apple, which might explain the origin of our modern tradition of bobbing for apples on Halloween.
The thrust of the practices also changed over time to become more ritualized. As belief in spirit possession waned, the practice of dressing up like hobgoblins, ghosts, and witches took on a more ceremonial role.
The custom of Halloween was brought to America in the 1840's by Irish immigrants fleeing their country's potato famine. At that time, the favorite pranks in New England included tipping over outhouses and unhinging fence gates.
The custom of trick-or-treating is thought to have originated not with the Irish Celts, but with a ninth-century European custom called souling. On November 2, All Souls Day, early Christians would walk from village to village begging for "soul cakes," made out of square pieces of bread with currants. The more soul cakes the beggars would receive, the more prayers they would promise to say on behalf of the dead relatives of the donors. At the time, it was believed that the dead remained in limbo for a time after death, and that prayer, even by strangers, could expedite a soul's passage to heaven.
The Jack-o-lantern custom probably comes from Irish folklore. As the tale is told, a man named Jack, who was notorious as a drunkard and trickster, tricked Satan into climbing a tree. Jack then carved an image of a cross in the tree's trunk, trapping the devil up the tree. Jack made a deal with the devil that, if he would never tempt him again, he would promise to let him down the tree.
According to the folk tale, after Jack died, he was denied entrance to Heaven because of his evil ways, but he was also denied access to Hell because he had tricked the devil. Instead, the devil gave him a single ember to light his way through the frigid darkness. The ember was placed inside a hollowed-out turnip to keep it glowing longer.
The Irish used turnips as their "Jack's lanterns" originally. But when the immigrants came to America, they found that pumpkins were far more plentiful than turnips. So the Jack-O-Lantern in America was a hollowed-out pumpkin, lit with an ember.
So, although some cults may have adopted Halloween as their favorite "holiday," the day itself did not grow out of evil practices. It grew out of the rituals of Celts celebrating a new year, and out of Medieval prayer rituals of Europeans. And today, even many churches have Halloween parties or pumpkin carving events for the kids. After all, the day itself is only as evil as one cares to make it.
Not at all, dear Hala! On the contrary, I'm thrilled to see you here and share finds. Thanks for the link to your course. I'm sure Pablo will find it very interesting.
Hugs
Dear Hala,
I'm happy and grateful for your invitation. Take it for granted that I'll visit your course. I believe it's an opportunity not to be missed.
Thank you again,
بابلو
(PABLO)
You don't have permission to comment on this page.
Comments (27)
Luli said
at 11:43 pm on Jul 31, 2009
Teacher I cannot enter to " revision for the exam-conditional".
Mary Di Mónaco said
at 12:53 am on Aug 1, 2009
Hi Lucía!
How strange! Have you tried both links? Sometimes it depends on what Word version you have. Click on both of them.
Anyway, I'll copy it on an email and send it to you, just in case. Hugs.
Pablo said
at 10:39 am on Aug 6, 2009
Try out the new game!!
I liked it... but be careful!!! you may find a dirty word
:-p
Pablo said
at 12:22 pm on Aug 6, 2009
The "dirty word" is NOT in the game I've just created.
Magalí Gómez said
at 1:53 pm on Aug 6, 2009
Hey, Pablo! Thanks! It's great to see you contributing material to the wiki. I have to try that game now.
BTW, nice avatar!
Mary Di Mónaco said
at 1:57 pm on Aug 6, 2009
hahaha, I'm working on my daughter's pc and I didn't realize that I hadn't signed in with my account. The above comment is mine (Magalí is my daughter)
susanadimonaco@hotmail.com said
at 2:12 am on Aug 8, 2009
Hi Pablo! believe it or not, here I am! I've just seen your game. Thanks for being so interested in this working space. That makes us feel that teaching is a truly rewarding job!
Hugs.
Pablo said
at 1:42 pm on Aug 12, 2009
Susaaaan! I believe it, don't worry!
LOL.
What I can't believe is that you wrote your message at 2:12 am!!!
Do you know what that means? You're not only a full-time teacher but OUR teacher. And we're proud of that, needless to say.. ;-)
See you this afternoon at the OI.
Mary Di Mónaco said
at 2:18 pm on Aug 24, 2009
Hey, Pablo! Don't think I've erased the games. On the contrary! I've added a new page for them. So you're welcome to continue creating :-)
Yazmin said
at 2:48 am on Aug 30, 2009
Teacher I can't see the video and when I want to do the listening nothing appears on the screen appart from the options. Do I have to download sthg?
Magalí Gómez said
at 1:37 pm on Aug 30, 2009
Hi Yazmín! I have just tried the "Video in the wiki" and the "Listening" pages and everything seems to be working fine. You don't have to download anything. Do you use Firefox? Because it seems to work better than Internet Explorer. Or it could be sth connected with Flash. Can you usually watch videos without any problem? Please let me know if you continue having problems.
Mary Di Mónaco said
at 1:41 pm on Aug 30, 2009
Oops! Sorry Yazmín! I'm working on my daughter's pc and I'd forgotten to log in with my account. That was me in the comment above :-)
Pablo said
at 1:00 pm on Sep 3, 2009
Hi, guys! I've just noticed in the ARCI webpage that the deadline to register for the December FCE exam is September 10!!!
Don't forget about it!!
Mary Di Mónaco said
at 10:10 pm on Sep 3, 2009
Don't worry, Pablo. I received confirmation today that you have up to 18th September to enrol. Anyway, it is always convenient not to wait till the last day because it can get very crowded then.
Pablo said
at 10:21 am on Sep 4, 2009
Yeah! You're right!!! I went yesterday evening to enrol myself and I was told that we have up to September 18...
Anyway, when you're filling out the enrollment form, don't forget to mention that you study at the Oxford Institute from ROSARIO!! Actually, I wrote it like that, it in capital leters just in case...
BTW, I recommend you pay with pesos so you can keep your dollars at home and wait untill dollar increase its value.. ;-)
Yesterday I had to pay $563 ¬¬ (not funny at all, I must say, esp if your parents tell YOU to pay for it... But don't worry.. If this is your case, I'm sure that soon or later they'll pay for what they made you do.) LOL.
Good luck!
nico_rcrata7 said
at 1:24 pm on Oct 29, 2009
estaba re tirada la wiki :P
Pablo said
at 10:17 am on Oct 30, 2009
Dear Teacher,
You must know how much we (all your students- me included, of course) love you and respect not only your decisions but also your commintments to further improvement as reagards studying at your acclaimed Educational Instutute.. But there have been several things which I consider are not going well..
In fact, there is only one and it's that it'd be much better for all of us to keep attending video classes.. Come on! don't be that thoughtless of us.. We can even make a deal.. what do you think??
Any suggestions would be gratefully welcome.
See you,
Pablo.
Mary Di Mónaco said
at 1:28 pm on Oct 30, 2009
Dear Pablo,
That's a very good introduction for a letter of complaint. I see you've been doing your homework :-) You've almost brought me round. Let's see if we can make an exception with the FCE.
Cheers,
Mary
Pablo said
at 1:48 pm on Oct 30, 2009
Yesssss!!!
Pablo said
at 12:25 pm on Oct 31, 2009
Happy Halloween!!!
Halloween is an annual celebration, but just what is it actually a celebration of? And how did this peculiar custom originate? Is it, as some claim, a kind of demon worship? Or is it just a harmless vestige of some ancient pagan ritual?
The word itself, "Halloween," actually has its origins in the Catholic Church. It comes from a contracted corruption of All Hallows Eve. November 1, "All Hollows Day" (or "All Saints Day"), is a Catholic day of observance in honor of saints. But, in the 5th century BC, in Celtic Ireland, summer officially ended on October 31. The holiday was called Samhain (sow-en), the Celtic New year.
One story says that, on that day, the disembodied spirits of all those who had died throughout the preceding year would come back in search of living bodies to possess for the next year. It was believed to be their only hope for the afterlife. The Celts believed all laws of space and time were suspended during this time, allowing the spirit world to intermingle with the living.
Naturally, the still-living did not want to be possessed. So on the night of October 31, villagers would extinguish the fires in their homes, to make them cold and undesirable. They would then dress up in all manner of ghoulish costumes and noisily paraded around the neighborhood, being as destructive as possible in order to frighten away spirits looking for bodies to possess.
Probably a better explanation of why the Celts extinguished their fires was not to discourage spirit possession, but so that all the Celtic tribes could relight their fires from a common source, the Druidic fire that was kept burning in the Middle of Ireland, at Usinach.
Some accounts tell of how the Celts would burn someone at the stake who was thought to have already been possessed, as sort of a lesson to the spirits. Other accounts of Celtic history debunk these stories as myth.
Pablo said
at 12:26 pm on Oct 31, 2009
The Romans adopted the Celtic practices as their own. But in the first century AD, Samhain was assimilated into celebrations of some of the other Roman traditions that took place in October, such as their day to honor Pomona, the Roman goddess of fruit and trees. The symbol of Pomona is the apple, which might explain the origin of our modern tradition of bobbing for apples on Halloween.
The thrust of the practices also changed over time to become more ritualized. As belief in spirit possession waned, the practice of dressing up like hobgoblins, ghosts, and witches took on a more ceremonial role.
The custom of Halloween was brought to America in the 1840's by Irish immigrants fleeing their country's potato famine. At that time, the favorite pranks in New England included tipping over outhouses and unhinging fence gates.
The custom of trick-or-treating is thought to have originated not with the Irish Celts, but with a ninth-century European custom called souling. On November 2, All Souls Day, early Christians would walk from village to village begging for "soul cakes," made out of square pieces of bread with currants. The more soul cakes the beggars would receive, the more prayers they would promise to say on behalf of the dead relatives of the donors. At the time, it was believed that the dead remained in limbo for a time after death, and that prayer, even by strangers, could expedite a soul's passage to heaven.
Pablo said
at 12:26 pm on Oct 31, 2009
The Jack-o-lantern custom probably comes from Irish folklore. As the tale is told, a man named Jack, who was notorious as a drunkard and trickster, tricked Satan into climbing a tree. Jack then carved an image of a cross in the tree's trunk, trapping the devil up the tree. Jack made a deal with the devil that, if he would never tempt him again, he would promise to let him down the tree.
According to the folk tale, after Jack died, he was denied entrance to Heaven because of his evil ways, but he was also denied access to Hell because he had tricked the devil. Instead, the devil gave him a single ember to light his way through the frigid darkness. The ember was placed inside a hollowed-out turnip to keep it glowing longer.
The Irish used turnips as their "Jack's lanterns" originally. But when the immigrants came to America, they found that pumpkins were far more plentiful than turnips. So the Jack-O-Lantern in America was a hollowed-out pumpkin, lit with an ember.
So, although some cults may have adopted Halloween as their favorite "holiday," the day itself did not grow out of evil practices. It grew out of the rituals of Celts celebrating a new year, and out of Medieval prayer rituals of Europeans. And today, even many churches have Halloween parties or pumpkin carving events for the kids. After all, the day itself is only as evil as one cares to make it.
Source: http://www.wilstar.com/holidays/hallown.htm
Hugs,
Pablo
Mary Di Mónaco said
at 1:03 am on Nov 1, 2009
Wow, Pablo! That's some amazing research you carried out. Very informative. Thank you so much for sharing it with us.
Hugs,
Mary
Hala said
at 9:04 am on Nov 11, 2009
Hello Pablo,
Thanks for sharing! Excellent work!
You may have a look at my course here:
http://blendedenglish09.pbworks.com/
Hala
Hala said
at 9:41 am on Nov 11, 2009
I found three quizzes you posted will be interesting for my writing course. I hope you don't mind copying them in my quiz area:-)
TIA
Mary Di Mónaco said
at 1:57 pm on Nov 11, 2009
Not at all, dear Hala! On the contrary, I'm thrilled to see you here and share finds. Thanks for the link to your course. I'm sure Pablo will find it very interesting.
Hugs
Pablo said
at 9:47 am on Nov 12, 2009
Dear Hala,
I'm happy and grateful for your invitation. Take it for granted that I'll visit your course. I believe it's an opportunity not to be missed.
Thank you again,
بابلو
(PABLO)
You don't have permission to comment on this page.