TEACHING CHILDREN THE ALPHABET

SELF-EVALUATE YOUR LANGUAGE SKILLS

      The 'Self-Evaluate your language skills' tool helps you to assess your level of proficiency in the languages you know according to six reference levels defined within the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR).

      Click here to start

     

eTWINNING, PEOPLE SAY...

The community for schools in Europe

EUROPEAN DAY OF LANGUAGES (September 26th)

      Throughout Europe, 800 million Europeans represented in the Council of Europe's 47 member states are encouraged to learn more languages, at any age, in and out of school. Being convinced that linguistic diversity is a tool for achieving greater intercultural understanding and a key element in the rich cultural heritage of our continent, the Council of Europe promotes plurilingualism in the whole of Europe.

      More information, here

EXPERIMENTS FOR KIDS

First get permission to use kitchen equipment and eggs.

YOU WILL NEED

• One raw egg
• Vinegar
• Large bowl

                                                   Read the instructions, here

THE MOON, OUR MOON

      Although we see the Moon all the time, many of us do not take time to consider our planet’s only satellite. The Moon is the fifth largest satellite in our Solar System. Considering Jupiter alone has 63 moons, this is pretty impressive. The Moon is the closest celestial object to Earth and apart from the Sun is the brightest object in the sky.

      The Moon has been known to exist since prehistoric times and holds an important place in most cultures. A number of cultures saw it as a deity while others believed that its movements could help predict omens. 

      To read more, here

THE INDEPENDENT

      Schools in the UK are amongst the most socially segregated in the world, an international study revealed today.

      The vast majority of children from immigrant backgrounds are crammed into disadvantaged schools with high proportions of fellow migrants.

      Figures in the annual review of international education standards published by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development show 80 per cent of migrants’ children are clustered in disadvantaged schools with fellow migrant pupils. Only three of the 34 countries in the OECD have a worse record - Mexico, Estonia and Finland.

      The UK’s ranking is even worse when it comes to the education of migrant children whose mothers are highly educated - 42.5 per cent of all children in this category are taught in disadvantaged, the highest figure for any OECD country. With the children of poorly educated mothers, the figure rises to 80 per cent - again the worst record..

      Read more, here

TEACHING ENGLISH

Teaching Tips

One of the wonderful aspects about teaching is that you are also always learning. These tips offer opportunities for you to learn a bit more in order to better teach your students. Click here

WEEKDAYS

The Latin days of the week in imperial Rome were named after the planets, which in turn were named after gods. These names were adopted in translated form by the English and other Germanic peoples. In most cases the Germanic names have substituted the Roman god’s name with that of a comparable one from the Germanic pantheon.

Tell me why … I don’t like Mondays

Monday was traditionally regarded as the second day of the week, but is now frequently considered the first, following the weekend. The word for this day comes from old English Mōnandæg or ‘day of the moon’, and is a translation of late Latin lunae dies. You can see the Latin origin more clearly in the Romance languages: lunedi (Italian), lundi (French), and lunes (Spanish).
According to the OED, ‘Monday’ is also slang for a large, heavy sledgehammer – perhaps so called because the hard work involved in the use of the hammer provides a shock similar to coming back to work on a Monday. In a similar vein, a ‘Monday head’ is rare slang for a hangover following the excesses of the weekend.

Tuesday: a perfect day to pick fights with everyone
The word Tuesday can be traced back to the Old English form Tīwesdæg. This day is named after the Germanic god Tīw, the god of war in ancient Germany. The Romans identified him with their Mars, so the original Latin for this day of the week is dies Marti, or ‘day of Mars’, which can again be seen in Italian (martedi), French (mardi), and Spanish (martes).

Wensday? Whensday? Wendsday? Oh, Wednesday!
The tricky-to-spell name for this day comes from the Old English Wōdnesdæg, named after the god Odin (also Woden or Wotan). Odin is the principal god in Norse mythology: he is considered to be the god of wisdom, culture, war and death. He lived with the Valkyries in Valhalla, where he received the souls of dead warriors.
According to the OED, a variant of the god’s name can also be seen in English place names such as Wensley, Wednesbury, and Wednesfield.

Mighty Maundy?
As with the other days of the week, the name for Thursday comes via late Latin: originally, it is Jovis dies, the day of Jupiter. He is the god associated with thunder in Roman mythology, so the Old English translation is Thu(n)resdæg, literally ‘day of thunder’ – compare this with Dutch donderdag and German Donnerstag, which share the same origin.
A day of thunder may not be welcomed by everybody, but there is one Thursday that has a positive connotation: in the UK, a public ceremony is held on the Thursday before Easter (known as Maundy Thursday), at which the monarch distributes specially minted coins or Maundy money.

Put your Friday face away
Friday comes from the Old English Frīgedæg, named after the Germanic goddess Frigga – the wife of Odin and goddess of married love and of the hearth, often identified with Freya, goddess of love and of night. This in turn is a translation of late Latin Veneris dies: ‘day of the planet Venus’.
Counter-intuitively, to be ‘Friday-faced’ is to wear a serious or gloomy expression. According to the OED this use dates back to the sixteenth century and is now chiefly archaic. It probably refers to Friday as a day of fasting, with the nagging food deprivation presumably causing the gloom and doom.

But for many, Fridays are a good thing – the start of the weekend, celebrated in the abbreviation TGIF– with perhaps only the threat of a sledgehammer-like ‘Monday head’ to keep the festivities from getting out of hand.

´SAUDADE´ Portuguese – One of the most beautiful of all words, translatable or not, this word “refers to the feeling of longing for something or someone that you love and which is lost.”

10 AWESOMELY UNTRANSLATABLE WORDS FROM AROUND THE WORLD

    1. Schadenfreude

German – Quite famous for its meaning that somehow other languages neglected to recognize, this refers to the feeling of pleasure derived by seeing another’s misfortune. I guess “America’s Funniest Moments of Schadenfreude” just didn’t have the same ring to it.

    2. Torschlusspanik

German – Translated literally, this word means “gate-closing panic,” but its contextual meaning refers to “the fear of diminishing opportunities as one ages.”

    3. Wabi-Sabi

Japanese – Much has been written on this concept, but in a sentence, one might be able to understand it as “a way of living that focuses on finding beauty within the imperfections of life and accepting peacefully the natural cycle of growth and decay.”

    4. Dépaysement

French – The feeling that comes from not being in one’s home country.

    5. Tingo

Pascuense (Easter Island) – Hopefully this isn’t a word you’d need often: “the act of taking objects one desires from the house of a friend by gradually borrowing all of them.”

    6. Hyggelig

Danish – Its “literal” translation into English gives connotations of a warm, friendly, cosy demeanour, but it’s unlikely that these words truly capture the essence of a hyggelig; it’s likely something that must be experienced to be known. I think of good friends, cold beer, and a warm fire.

    7. L’appel du vide

French – “The call of the void” is this French expression’s literal translation, but more significantly it’s used to describe the instinctive urge to jump from high places.

    8. Ya’aburnee

Arabic – Both morbid and beautiful at once, this incantatory word means “You bury me,” a declaration of one’s hope that they’ll die before another person because of how difficult it would be to live without them.

    9. Duende

Spanish – While originally used to describe a mythical, spritelike entity that possesses humans and creates the feeling of awe of one’s surroundings in nature, its meaning has transitioned into referring to “the mysterious power that a work of art has to deeply move a person.” There’s actually a nightclub in the town of La Linea de la Concepcion, where I teach, named after this word.

    10. Saudade

Portuguese – One of the most beautiful of all words, translatable or not, this word “refers to the feeling of longing for something or someone that you love and which is lost.” Fado music, a type of mournful singing, relates to saudade.