Bram Stoker's 155th anniversary

Abraham "Bram" Stoker (8 November 1847 – 20 April 1912) was an Irish novelist and short story writer, best known today for his 1897 Gothic novel Dracula.

Dracula is an 1897 Gothic horror novel by Irish author Bram Stoker.

Famous for introducing the character of the vampire Count Dracula, the novel tells the story of Dracula's attempt to relocate from Transylvania to England, and the battle between Dracula and a small group of men and women led by ProfessorAbraham Van Helsing.

Dracula has been assigned to many literary genres including vampire literature, horror fiction, the gothic novel and invasion literature. The novel touches on themes such as the role of women in Victorian culture, sexual conventions, immigration,colonialism, and post-colonialism. Although Stoker did not invent the vampire, he defined its modern form, and the novel has spawned numerous theatrical, film and television interpretations.

source: www.wikipedia.org

Here you have a website in which you can find his  novels free: link 

Katherine Parr

If you want to listen a little bit of her figure, listen to this video  carefully:

KATHERINE PARR


See you in class!!

How to Plan an Easter Egg Hunt Party

Long ago people gave gifts of eggs carved from wood or precious stones. The first sweet eggs that were eaten were made in the last 100 years from sugar or marzipan. Since then chocolate eggs have become popular and these are given on Easter Sunday.
In some countries parents tell their children the Easter Hare or Bunny has hidden chocolate eggs and they race to find them round the house or garden. Children in other countries decorate hard-boiled eggs at Easter time by painting or dyeing them.
In some countries such as the United States egg rolling is a popular Easter game. This is usually done with coloured eggs. One of the most well known events is held in America on the White House lawn. Children and parents push the eggs along through the grass with wooden spoons.





EASTER EGG HUNT PARTY
 Decorate the house and yard where you're holding the party with lots of pastel-colored helium balloons, streamers, and paper cutouts of eggs, rabbits, and carrots.

Fill several dozen multicolored plastic eggs with candy, small toys, and money (think quarters and fifty-cent pieces). Write "Congratulations" on a bright sheet of paper; fold it up and put it in one of the eggs.

Hide all the eggs. Make some easier to find for the little kids, and some much more difficult for the older children.

Set up a table inside with colored - but blank - paper bags, colored markers and stickers. When the children arrive, have them decorate and personalize a bag for the Easter egg hunt. The hunt begins after everyone has decorated his or her bag.

When all the eggs are found, ask who found the special egg with "Congratulations" in it. Award the recipient a prize like a huge chocolate egg or bunny.

Encourage the children to take part in an egg toss and egg relay race. (See the Related eHows for game instructions.)

Serve refreshments after the egg toss. Good choices are pink fizzy punch, sandwiches with the crusts cut off, decorated Easter cookies and baby carrots.

PANCAKE DAY!!!!!

According to WIKIPEDIA:

“Shrove Tuesday (also known as Pancake Day) is the day preceding Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent. Shrove Tuesday is observed in English speaking countries, especially in Ireland, United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Philippines and Germany. Shrove Tuesday is linked to Easter therefore its date changes on an annual basis.

In most traditions the day is known for the eating of pancakes before the start of Lent. Pancakes are eaten as they are made out of the main foods available, sugar, fat, flour and eggs, whose consumption was traditionally restricted during the ritual fasting associated with Lent.”

That is to say: It is a day to enjoy eating those things you won’t eat while Lent if you are Christian or an excuse to eat special recipes you don’t eat every day. One of these things is the PANCAKE, which is a thin, flat cake, made of butter and fried in a pan. Delicious!!!

Here you have ONE of the millions of recipes you can find in the net to do a pancake.You can also find some videos on YOUTUBE.

Pancake Recipe

Ingredients For the pancake mixture: 220g/8oz plain flour, sifted pinch of salt 2 eggs 1 pint of milk 50g/2oz butter Makes about 8 pancakes Method for making the batter Sift the flour and salt into a large mixing bowl with a sieve held high above the bowl so the flour gets a airing. Make a well in the centre of the flour and break the eggs into it. Whisk the eggs making sure any bits of flour from around the edge of the bowl are mixed in with the egg. Gradually add small quantities of the milk, still whisking Continue whisking until the batter is smooth, with the consistency of thin cream. Melt the 50g/2oz of butter in a non-stick frying pan. Spoon 2 tbsp of the melted butter into the batter and whisk it in. Let the pancake mix stand for at least 30 minutes before cooking. Pour any left over butter into a dish. This will be used later to grease the frying pan after each pancake has been made. Make sure the non-stick frying pan is really hot before adding about 2 tbsp of the batter mixture. As soon as the batter hits the hot pan, tip the pan around from side to side to get the base evenly coated with batter. Carefully lift the edge of the cooked pancake with a palette knife to see if it's tinged gold as it should be. Flip the pancake over with a pan slice or palette knife to cook the other side Slide it out of the pan onto a plate. Stack the pancakes as you make them between sheets of greaseproof paper on a plate.

To serve

Traditionally pancakes are sprinkled with caster sugar and freshly squeezed lemon juice .......

....and rolled

Other favourite toppings include

Melted chocolate or chocolate spread

Chocolate spread with slices of banana

Jam especially strawberry jam

Golden Syrup

Ice Cream

Toffee sauce and whipped cream

BUT It is not only celebrated in England!!!!

Other names for Shrove Tuesday

United Kingdom, Ireland, and Australia - Shrove Tuesday, Pancake Day or Pancake Tuesday

Brazil - Terça-feira gorda - Fat Tuesday - the final day of Brazilian Carnival.

Greece - Apocreas, which means "from the meat" since they don't eat meat during Lent, either.

Sweden - Fettisdagen (Fat Tuesday).

USA In Catholic and French-speaking parts of the United States this day is called Mardi Gras.

Germany - "Fastnacht" (Also spelt "Fasnacht", "Fasenacht", "Fasteloven" (in the Rhine area) or "Fasching" in Bavaria.)

In France they call it Mardi Gras, which means Grease or Fat Tuesday.

In Iceland the day is known as "Sprengidagur" (Bursting day).

So, you know it… this Tuesday 21^stFebruary … don’t forget to celebrate it among all the others celebrations Spain has for Carnival time!!!

Charles Dickens (7 February 1812 - 9 June 1870)

 Charles Dickens is one of my favourite English writers because he reflected the Victorian society in his books in a perfect way. He depicted the miseries and troubles an innocent could have in that period of time. That is why "Oliver Twist" is, in my opinion, his most important novel. Here  you have a little summary and a page of a comic, just in case you want to have a look. If you want to know more, just ask me for information or have a look to the sources I give you.

 "Oliver Twist; or, The Parish Boy's Progress is the second novel by English author Charles Dickens, published by Richard Bentley in 1838. The story is about an orphan Oliver Twist, who endures a miserable existence in a workhouse(=hospicio) and then is placed with an undertaker (=enterrador). He escapes and travels to London where he meets the Artful Dodger, leader of a gang of juvenile pickpockets(=ladronzuelos). Oliver is led to the lair of their elderly criminal trainer Fagin, naively unaware of their unlawful activities."

wiki-source 

  As I told you in class, a good way of learning English is reading and listening a lot. The comics are the easiest and the funniest way of improving your English.

Try to read "Oliver Twist" a little. It's a sad story, but it is also very beautiful. 

Enjoy it.

See you in class.

(Educational purposes - not copyright ofence intended )

HERO - MARIAH CAREY

The song we listened in class is uploaded for your oral skills practice.

(Educational purposes - no copyright offence intended)