mardi 11 mai 2010

Elections in UK

As you can see , the elections have been quite eventful. After a hung parliament ( cf  http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/newsid_8660000/newsid_8668300/8668322.stm) we've learnt today that Gordon Brown has  finally resigned as the Prime Minister ... 



http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/newsid_8670000/newsid_8676200/8676297.stm )
This means that David Cameron will probably beome the new British Prime Minister ( he is the leader of the Conservative Party)





Here is a short article axplaining how votes are cast  : http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/newsid_4380000/newsid_4387700/4387743.stm
And after that , you can try the quiz :   http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/newsid_4380000/newsid_4388300/4388359.stm

mercredi 5 mai 2010

Easter and food

Last month , Amandine and Salomé made an oral presentation on Easter  . I forgot to take photos unfortunately :-(

A few historical reminders
Easter was originally a pagan festival.
The ancient Saxons celebrated the return of spring with a festival commemorating their goddess of offspring and of springtime, Eastre.
The Christian missionnaries who wanted to convert them decided to do so by allowing them to continue to celebrate pagan feasts, but to do so in a Christian manner. And as the pagan festival of Eastre happened  at the same time of year as the Christian observance of the Resurrection of Christ.....

A few symbols
  • The Easter bunny  : it was the symbol of the goddess Eastre  
  • The Easter egg  : The exchange of eggs in the springtime is a very old custom .  The egg was a symbol of birth in most cultures 


 
Now, we've just started working on food...And so far we have studied a  recipe typical of Easter : that of the Hot Cross Buns   . Yummy and scrummy !
 These buns are traditionally eaten hot or toasted on Good Friday ( Vendredi Saint) , with the cross standing as a symbol of The Crucifixion.

If you want to improve your food vocabulary , have a look at these sites :
And a few phrases you could use,  related to food and eating : http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/youmeus/lingo/lingo_food.shtml