30.4.14

Hilarious Homophones with Examples and Explanations

hiliarious homophones
Homophones vocabulary:
mussels – a small shellfish with a soft body inside a hard black or green shell, often cooked and eaten as food;
night – the period between sunset and sunrise, especially the hours of darkness;
knight – in the past, a European soldier who wore a suit of armour and rode a horse.
current – happening or existing now;
currant – a small round fruit that may be red, black, or white;
bald – with little or no hair on your head
bawled – to cry loudly

hare – an animal similar to a rabbit

29.4.14

Sesame Street characters & Forest Whitaker explain the meaning of the word "Imagination"


Imagination is a beautiful thing. What kinds of things do you imagine? Do you imagine yourself on a rocket ship? riding a unicorn through the clouds? finsihing your homework and going out to play in the street? Watch this podcast and learn what special things your imaginaiton can do. 


28.4.14

22.4.14

Teen Sexting: The Epidemic; The Legal Trouble with Naked Photos; Adults & Kids Explain Their POV



Racy texts, suggestive posing, and naked photos are all a part of the sexting hierarchy. But, when underage kids start snapping and sending salacious images of themselves, the seemingly harmless activity can set off a chain reaction that's beyond a teenager's control. In part one of this three-part docu-series we explore the sexting epidemic that's hitting schools and the serious repercussions it can have.




Some adolescents consider it a form of digital flirting. The legal system considers it a form of child pornography. In part two of the "Teen-Sexting Police" docu-series, we explore the legal implications of underage sexting and uncover why current laws make it complicated to distinguish between naïve teens sending scandalous selfies and serious physical and privacy violations.




From Scarlett Johansson to Anthony Weiner, adults in the public eye aren't strangers to sexting scandals. But for underage teens who use it as an innocuous form of communicating with the opposite sex, is it really that big of an issue? In the final part of this three-part docu-series, kids and adults share their opinions on whether sexting in schools really matters.



21.4.14

Queen Elizabeth’s Fancy New 88th Birthday Portrait

This portrait of Queen Elizabeth II taken and made available on April 20, 2014, by British photographer David Bailey has been released to mark her 88th birthday on Monday April 21, 2014. The photograph was taken at Buckingham Palace in March and was commissioned on behalf of the British Government's Great Britain campaign.

Click on the picture and see Vogue's Picture Gallery of Her Magesty.

Click on the picture and see The Telegraph's picture gallery.

20.4.14

Royals on Easter parade: Queen is joined by royal family members for service at St George's Chapel in Windsor


The Queen and a host of other royals attended an Easter service at Windsor Castle today.
Her Majesty wore an elegant light blue coat and matching hat for the ceremony, which took place at St George's Chapel in the grounds of the Berkshire-based royal residence.
Also at the service were the Duke of Edinburgh, Sophie, Countess of Wessex, Princess Anne and Princess Eugenie.
A portrait of the Queen by the renowned British photographer David Bailey was released today to mark her 88th birthday tomorrow.


Happy Easter

Easter Myspace Comments

Easter Myspace Comments





18.4.14

Tracing the steps of Jesus on Good Friday - video and video transcript



TRANSCRIPT
They're tracing the steps they believe Jesus walked - carrying the cross to where he was crucified more than 2,000 years ago. Thousands of devout Christians followed the cobblestone alleyways along the 
Via Dolorosa. It translates to "The Way of Sorrows." Every Easter, they flock to the Holy Land, commemorating the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, stopping to pray at the various stations of the Cross, and ending up here - to the open doors of The Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Many Christians believe it's the site of Christ's Crucifixion, burial and resurrection. The Easter holiday and Jewish Passovercoincide this year with Sunday being the day believers say Jesus rose from the dead.

VOCABULARY
Good Friday is the Friday before Easter Sunday, on which the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ is commemorated in the Christian Church. It is traditionally a day of fasting and penance.




16.4.14

Prince William, Kate and Prince George - Australia tour

Royals down under: William, Kate and baby George arrive in Australia



The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have taken a tour around the famous sites of Sydney in Australia as their trip down under continues. Kate and William took in the Sydney Opera House, met cricket legend and England's Ashes nemesis, Glenn McGrath, who gave the royal couple a famous baggy green cap. And after all that, they went on a boat ride round the harbour.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge visit the Blue Mountains near Sydney, Australia, and met with families in Winmalee who lost their homes to the fires in October last year.


Prince William and Catherine visit Echo Point Lookout in the Blue Mountains from where Australia's iconic Three Sisters rock formation can be viewed, before getting close to the action, meeting abseilers as they descend the rocks.

Prince William and Kate have attended an Easter service in Australia before taking the royal baby, Prince George, to Taronga Zoo, where he met a Bilby.



The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge looked at some sheep shearing and took a trip down to Manly Beach in Australia on Friday as part of the royal tour down under.



Prince William has thanked the Australian people for their warmth and generosity during his tour down under with the Duchess of Cambridge and Prince George. He also thanked everyone for the royal baby's cuddly wombat gift. Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott praised the dedication and grace of the royal couple during their visit.

Mighty to save




14.4.14

Easter Bonnets




Scientific body warns of 'devastating rise of 4-5C if we carry on as we are'

The Independent on Sunday has seen a draft of the latest IPCC report, which says the world is not doing enough to combat problem. But, with sufficient political will, all is not lost.

Global greenhouse gas emissions over the past decade were the "highest in human history", according to the world's leading scientific body for the assessment of climate change. Without further action, temperatures will increase by about 4 to 5C, compared with pre-industrial levels, it warns, a level that could reap devastating effects on the planet.
The stark findings are to be revealed in the latest report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) today, the last in a trilogy written by hundreds of scientists on what is considered the definitive take on climate change.
The experts were working on the report until the early hours of yesterday morning. Although the thrust of the report is dramatic, it does say that it is not too late to limit global warming to less than 2C, which experts regard as the minimum needed to avoid radical global shifts. But its suggested scenarios would mean slashing global emissions by 40 to 70 per cent by 2050 from 2010 levels.
This would include "fundamental changes in energy systems and potentially the land", the draft found, such as a move towards renewable energy, nuclear power and fossil energy whose carbon emissions are captured or stored.
"These reports make it crystal clear what is at stake, and no government can justifiably say the case hasn't been made for strong and urgent action," said Bob Ward, the policy director for the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at the London School of Economics and Political Science. "It's affordable and, frankly, the benefits are not even just in terms of climate risks. Shutting down coal-fired power stations in China, for example, will improve local air quality. The only thing standing in our way now is political will. The evidence is conclusive: the current pledges made by governments will be insufficient to get us to our targets."

It was in 2010 that hundreds of governments agreed to reduce emissions so as not to breach the 2C warming mark – the point at which it is thought the risk to food and water supplies would be high, as well as a risk of irreversible changes, such as a meltdown of Greenland's ice sheet.
At this level, we could lose 20 to 30 per cent of our wildlife, as well as face more extreme weather, according to Mike Childs, head of science, policy and research at Friends of the Earth. At 4C of warming, there could be a "devastating" impact on agriculture, wildlife and human civilisation, he added.
But despite global attempts to mitigate climate change picking up in recent years, greenhouse gas emissions grew more rapidly between 2000 and 2010 than in each of the previous three decades, according to the final draft of the IPCC report seen by The Independent on Sunday. The main contributors were a "growing energy demand and an increase of the share of coal in the global fuel mix", the draft found.
It estimated that if mitigation efforts are delayed until 2030, it would "substantially increase the difficulty of the transition to low longer-term emission levels".
Almost 80 per cent of the emissions growth between 1970 and 2010 was caused by fossil fuel combustion and industrial processes, according to the report. To reach the 2C target, the experts warned that the global energy supply must dramatically change, with at least a tripling of the use of "zero and low-carbon" energy, such as renewables, nuclear and fossil energy. It added that a growing number of renewable technologies had achieved a level of "technical and economic maturity to enable deployment at significant scale".
The report found that emissions could be "reduced significantly" by replacing coal-fired power plants with more efficient alternatives. It added that the decarbonisation of the electricity system would be a "key component" of cost-effective strategies – but the Government voted down a plan to do this by 2030.
Caroline Flint, the Shadow Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, said that the report "provides overwhelming and compelling scientific evidence that climate change will have a devastating impact if urgent action is not taken to reduce our carbon emissions and invest in mitigation". She added: "It highlights the need for a global, legally binding treaty to cut carbon emissions at the Paris conference in 2015. But to have influence abroad we must show leadership at home. That's why the next Labour government will set a decarbonisation target for the power sector for 2030, unshackle the Green Investment Bank and reverse the decline in investment in clean energy we have seen under David Cameron."
Kaisa Kosonen, senior political adviser at Greenpeace International, said the report should encourage a move from "a decade of coal to the century of renewables". She added: "The solutions are clear. Our energy system needs to undergo a fundamental transformation from fossil fuels to renewable and smart energy. In recent years, the transition has already started, but it must scale up and speed up. Dirty energy industries are sure to put up a fight, but it's only a question of time before public pressure and economics dictate that they either change or go out of business."
The report also concludes that the next decade could be a "window of opportunity" for mitigating global warming in cities, through locating residential areas in spaces of high employment, achieving diversity of land uses, increasing accessibility and investing in public transport.

Where there's a will...
The world can reach its global warming targets if it reduces its emissions by 40 to 70 per cent. It is about transforming our energy supply and the way we use our land. After The Independent on Sunday viewed a final draft of the findings, we asked some climate change experts what we can do now to mitigate against global warming, before it is too late.
Mark Lynas, author and environmentalist, said: "It is important to remember that every measure of climate-change reduction is still worth it. This report is a like a climate-change version of a suspended sentence. The 5C rise would be catastrophic, but we still have time to avoid the permanent rise in sea levels, for example, and we could avoid losing large agricultural zones. The important thing for people to understand is that it doesn't mean going back to living in caves; we can make many of these changes without making enormous changes to our lifestyles."
Darren Johnson, the chair of the London Assembly, who has been working in the field for a quarter of a century, is less hopeful. "I'm desperately worried about the timescale we have to turn things around," he said. "I'm appalled by the lack of will of previous governments and the coalition." But he still believes there is a chance to reduce emissions and prevent the "worst-case scenario". He added: "We need politicians to grasp this. We need a massive switch to renewables, a big investment in wind and solar power, and to reduce energy and reduce vehicles. This has to be made an absolute priority."
As for Sian Berry, Green Party member and part of the Campaign for Better Transport, she thought it was more about behavioural change. "People can stand up against the construction of large supermarkets, and out-of-town developments that would require people to drive more. They can vote for people who are going to improve public transport. They should be planning their lives around driving less."
Joe Kavanagh and Sarah Kavacs

13.4.14

Scrabble Day - April 13, 2014


Scrabble Day is observed on April 13, 2014. It celebrates the popular board game on the birthday of it's inventor, Alfred Mosher Butts. Scrabble is a word game in which two to four players score points by forming words from individual lettered tiles on a gameboard marked with a 15×15 grid. The words are formed across and down in crossword fashion and must appear in a standard dictionary.


The game is sold in 121 countries and there are 29 different language versions. Approximately 150 million sets have been sold worldwide, and sets are found in roughly one-third of American homes. In 1938, American architect Alfred Mosher Butts created the game as a variation on an earlier word game he invented called Lexiko. Alfred Mosher Butts was born in Poughkeepsie, New York on April 13, 1899.

The Tale of Peter Rabbit and Benjamin Bunny - video





Palm Sunday

Palm Sunday 2014 is on April 13, 2014. It is a Christian moveable feast which always falls on the Sunday before Easter Sunday. The feast commemorates the triumphant entry of Jesus into Jerusalem in the days before his Passion. It is also called Passion Sunday or Palm Sunday of the Lord's Passion.



In many Christian churches, Palm Sunday is marked by the distribution of palm leaves to the assembled worshipers. The difficulty of procuring palms for that day's ceremonies in unfavorable climates for palms led to the substitution of boughs of box, yew, willow or other native trees. The Sunday was often designated by the names of these trees, as Yew Sunday or by the general term Branch Sunday.

12.4.14

Easter Egg history - video and video script


Easter eggs, are special eggs that are often given to celebrate Easter or springtime.
The oldest tradition is to use dyed and painted chicken eggs, 

but a modern custom is to substitute chocolate eggs, or plastic eggs filled with confectionery

The custom of the 'Easter egg', , originated in the early Christians of Mesopotamia, 

who stained eggs red in memory of the blood of Christ, shed at his crucifixion.

The Christian Church officially adopted the custom, regarding the eggs as a symbol of the resurrection; in 1610 ( A.D. )
In Christianity, - Easter eggs symbolize the empty tomb of Jesus:[

- though an egg appears to be like the 'stone' of a tomb, - a bird hatches from it with life; 

so the Easter egg, for Christians, - is a reminder that Jesus rose from the grave, 

- and that those who believe will also experience 'eternal' life.

But the practice of decorating eggshell is ancient, pre-dating the Christian tradition of Easter.
Eggs, in general, have been a traditional symbol of fertility, and rebirth.
Ostrich eggs with engraved decoration that are over 60,000 years old have been found in Africa.
Decorated ostrich eggs, and representations of ostrich eggs in gold and silver, 

were commonly placed in graves of the ancient Egyptians over 5,000 years ago.

Easter eggs have inspired the form of many similar objects - both precious and mundane, 

including chocolate eggs, monuments, and the famous Fabergé eggs.



Happy Easter.



11.4.14

Hilarious Homophones with Examples and Explanations

homophones

Homophones vocabulary:

bore - a dull, repetitious, or uninteresting person, activity, or state;
boar - (also wild boar) a wild pig from which domestic pigs are descended;
swot – a person who studies very hard/ swot up - study intensively, as before an exam;
SWAT - (“Special Weapons And Tactics”) is a name for law enforcement units which use military-style light weapons and specialized tactics in high-risk operations
tiers -  series of rows or levels placed one above the other;
tune – a song or a melody;
toon – cartoon

10.4.14

What to do in New York... - video & videoscript


Ever wondered what to do in New York City? Kaplan International English asked our students what they love best about the Big Apple.
First stop is the world's most-visited tourist attraction; Times Square. Join the crowds at New York's neon heart. Witness the flashing lights, Broadway shows and megastores.
Looking to shop till you drop? No other neighbourhood mixes cheap and expensive or vintage and modern quite like SoHo.
Give that credit card a break and take a stroll through Central Park. Don't forget to visit Strawberry Fields and the Carousel while you're there. 
Time for some culture. The Metropolitan Museum of Art is America's largest art museum, housing more than two million works of art.
You must be hungry by now! Head to Little Italy where you can find the city's tastiest pizza and pasta dishes.
Not sure what Broadway show to see? Hakuna matata! The Lion King musical continues to wow audiences-young and old. 
All the top music artists play New York. Take a trip to Madison Square Garden to see who's on stage tonight.
Let's end this evening in style. Put on your dancing shoes and head to the Meatpacking District for the city's best bars and clubs.


9.4.14

Idioms About Animals with Examples and Explanations

8 Simple Animal Idioms That Will Make You a Better Communicator

1. Monkey business - silly, mischievous or deceitful behaviour; stupid or time-wasting activity
- Our accountant has been fired as there was some monkey business with the books.
- Are you still fiddling about with those old tools? Stop the monkey business and get some new ones.
2. Rat race - an exhausting and repetitive routine, a hectic struggle for success
- I’m so tired of the rat race. I’d love to retire and move to the country.
- She started to work from home as she couldn’t stand the rat race at the office.
3. Cat burglar - a stealthy burglar who climbs into buildings, usually through upper windows, skylights, etc.
- Grandfather’s old telescope has disappeared from the loft. It must have been a cat burglarthat took it.
- The inspector was surprised by the exploits of a cat burglar who only stole from upper floors and attics.
4. Top dog - the most important person in a group, somebody with the dominant position or highest authority
- I don’t want to be the top dog at our company, I just do my job as well as I can.
- Peter is the top dog at English in our class.
5. Cash cow - a dependable source of income; a product or service that makes money
- Our company’s cash cow is the sales department, which makes enough income to finance the developers.
- The publisher saw the new bestseller as a cash cow.
6. Eager beaver - an enthusiastic hard worker; someone very excited to start a task
- The new secretary is an eager beaver. Although she comes to work at seven every day, she’s the last to leave in the evening.
- Don’t be an eager beaver, we have plenty of time to do this job.
7. Road hog - a dangerous or inconsiderate driver, someone who drives carelessly and selfishly
- Sorry that we’re so slow, but there is no way to overtake that road hog in front of us.
- A road hog nearly ran me over at the crossing as he failed to stop at the sign.
8. Black sheep - an undesirable member of a group, a disliked person, somebody who causes shame or embarrassment due to deviation
- Don’t be surprised that he doesn’t want to take over father’s business, he’s always been theblack sheep of the family.
- They called me the black sheep as I didn’t want to go to the pub and play billiards with them.