The Magic Flute by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Music and the Seasons...January...
Here's a good example of how to teach seasons and the English names of the months of the year through telling stories and listening to classical music.
Hello, January!
Remember! January is the first month of the year, between December and February.
The story I want to tell you goes back to a time long ago.
There was a journal in Saint Petersburg called Nuvellist, the name Nuvellist was derived
from the word " novella" that means " not very long story". It was a monthly journal,
and certainly, there was always a pleasant surprise for readers in the year's first issue.
This time, a short piece of music for the piano called "January" appeared in the January issue. The author of the music had been already known and loved by people. He was a great composer, Pyotr Tchaikovsky.
"January" is one of the pieces in a musical album called "The Seasons". It is a set of twelve short pieces of music, according to the number of months of the year.
But why was only one piece published in the journal Nuvellist? Because it was a surprise, a gift. Each of the twelve pieces appeared each month in the issue and had the name of the current month. Then they were joined into the album "The Seasons". Thus a musical calendar of nature, that I want to tell you about, was created. And we definitely start with January.
Thachikovsky gave "January" another name: "By the Hearth". "Hearth". It's so cozy word, isn't it? And it's so gentle. As if you could see a fire dying in the fireplace or in the stove in front of you, as if you could feel how the warmth from the hot coals is spreading around the room...
Sorry, dear friends, I nearly frogot that if you live in a big city, in a block of flats with central heating, you may not know how wood or coals are burned in an ordinary stove. But at the time when Pyotr Tchaikovsky lived, there was no central heating at all. There were stoves, fireplaces. Sitting by the hearth means sitting next to such a stove or fireplace. It's warm, cozy, quiet... The room is getting dim, evening is coming...
On long winter evenings, the whole family gathered at the hearth. In poor peasant huts women were weaving lace and spinning, while singing sad and lyrical songs. Rich families used to sit by the fireplace playing music, reading aloud or talking for hours.
At the beginning the music of "January" is calm and slow. It seems that a gentle, quiet voice tells us a story. Or maybe someone is just dreaming sitting by the decaying fireplace. We hear a soft, gentle tune. The sounds merge smoothly one into another. But suddenly the piano sounded alarmed and mysteriously. A short musical phrase repeats all the time, a silent complaint and even anxiety are heard in this music.
What disturbed the warm and cozy rest? Maybe, just a fairy tale, being told by Grandma to her grandchildren sitting in the twilight, tells us about somethhing alarming and mysterious? We don't know for sure. After all, those who listen to music imagine something of their own, mentally draw themselves some kind of a picture. But whatever this picture is, no matter what we imagine while listening to this music, everyone will definitely have a similar mood, a feeling of anxiety, mystery... Then the music calms down again and anxiety subsides. Again we hear a quiet and slow melody. the one we have heard at the beginning. It is only slightly modified. As if the experienced anxiety left some trace in our souls.
I beg you to listen carefully to this music, and then make up a little story about a winter evening. I wonder what ideas the piece of music "At the hearth" can make you generate.
You are standing on the threshold of a huge and amazing country called Music. Remember that in this country you will always be a welcome guest and you can even find a friend, unless you are frightened by the difficulties that are inevitable when discovering a new unknown world.
Books, records, radio, television and the internet can help you. These are really good helpers. They can do a lot. But the most important thing depends only on you.
Listen to the music, listen as much as possible. And certainly think over what you hear.
Enjoy!
THE OLD NEW YEAR
Russia was one of the few countries that refused to change to the Gregorian calendar in 1582 and continued to celebrate all its holidays as before. The Old New Year is celebrated on January 14. According to the old, Julian calendar, it’s December 31, which means that the Old New Year is the actual New Year - just old style.
Our people love holidays too much to give up a day of celebration! For most Russians, Ukrainians and Belarusians the Old New Year is just a great way to prolong the New Year’s celebrations and wish all the wishes they didn’t have time for on December 31!
“So Starym Novym Godom!”—Happy Old New Year, is the way to congratulate our friends and colleagues on this a bit strange, but still fun holiday!
We Wish You a Merry Christmas
История одной английской народной песни
• When groups of people gather together to set out a-caroling around Christmas time, the most joyful carol they could possibly take along is "We Wish You a Merry Christmas." It's all right there in the title. A more direct approach to the spreading of merriment cannot be found across the canon of Christmas folk songs. But where did this very simple song come from? Why is it so infectious?
• And is figgy pudding really worth demanding so heartily? ("We won't go until we get some" is a line perhaps more befitting a protest song than a joyous Christmas carol.)
THE HISTORY OF “WE WISH YOU A MERRY CHRISTMAS”
• "We Wish You A Merry Christmas" is an English folk song from the 1500s and is the remnant of a time when poor carolers would hit up wealthy listeners for handouts. It's a cheeky tune which recognizes the dynamic between rich and poor, calling for figgy pudding and refusing to leave the wealthy person's doorstep until some is delivered "right here." This is an awfully ardent demand for a Christmas song, so it's meant to be sung with a certain degree of joshing.
AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR
• As old English Christmas carols go, there are very few which mention the new year coming a week after Christmas. This is interesting mostly because January 1 wasn’t considered the new year in the Western world until the 1700s. So, it could be that the “and a happy new year” line was not added until later.
AT OUR SCHOOL
• At our English lessons we study British traditions, and our children sometimes learn and sing the carol “We Wish You a Merry Christmas”. First, we teach them the history of the song. Next, we teach them new words and phrases. We make them memorize each line. Then our learners suggest fun activities and movements for each line. And finally, the learners sing and perform the actions to the song!
We wish you a Merry Christmas;
We wish you a Merry Christmas;
We wish you a Merry Christmas
And a Happy New Year.
Good tidings we bring to you and your kin;
We wish you a Merry Christmas
And a Happy New Year.
Oh bring us a figgy pudding;
Oh bring us a figgy pudding;
Oh bring us a figgy pudding
And bring it right here.
Good tidings we bring to you and your kin;
We wish you a Merry Christmas
And a happy New Year.
We won’t go
until we get some;
We won’t go
until we get some;
We won’t go
until we get some;
So bring it right here.
Good tidings we bring to you and your kin;
We wish you a Merry Christmas
And a happy New Year.
We wish you a Merry Christmas;
We wish you a Merry Christmas;
We wish you a Merry Christmas
And a happy New Year.
NEW YEAR'S EVE
What is New Year's Eve?
The answer is short - it is 31st of December, the last day of the year.
Here's a list of simple questions about New Year's Eve.
Do you celebrate New Year's Eve where you live?
Yes, we do.
What do you do on New Year's Eve?
We get dressed, we get ready for a great meal, we watch TV, tidy up our houses, we sometimes sleep, we sometimes buy presents and food, send emails to our relatives and friends.
Do you have a special dinner or party?
Yes, we do. We have a special dinner, and we sometimes have special parties.
Do you stay awake until midnight?
Yes, we do!
Autumn's Taking Hold
English teachers could suggest their students something more thoughtful and more beautiful. We shouldn't concider even very young learners to be silly and we should not think that our even very young learners will not be able to understand "complicated vocabulary" etc. Just compare the first Spring is Green and the second "Autumn Time" and make a difference.
Преподаватели английского могли бы предложить своим ученикам нечто более содержательное и красивое. И не надо даже самых маленьких детей, изучающих английский, считать глупыми и думать, что они "не поймут такой сложной лексики" и т.д. Просто сравните первое "Spring is green" и второе "Äutumn time", просто почувствуйте разницу и ... переломите ситуацию.
AUTUMN TIME
We hope you’ll enjoy this nice autumn poem
Autumn time
By Cheryl Sandberg
There are many colours that now appear,
once September’s here.
The trees transform before our eyes,
rain marks the skies.
Bold yellows, sharp orange, deep red,
beneath the sky of lead.
Birds migrate and insects vanish,
harsh winds banish.
Days grow short and night time long,
hear the blackbird song.
The winds are cooler, the night air cold,
autumn’s taking hold.
Примерный (не стихотворный) перевод:
There are many colours that now appear, once September’s here.
Масса оттенков появляется в эту пору, глядишь, уже сентябрь.
The trees transform before our eyes, rain marks the skies.
Деревья преображаются на глазах, дождь наполняет небеса.
Bold yellows, sharp orange, deep red, beneath the sky of lead.
Ярко-жёлтые краски, пронзительно оранжевые, багровые, под тёмно-серым небом.
Birds migrate and insects vanish, harsh winds banish.
Птицы улетают, букашки исчезают, их резкий ветер прогоняет.
Days grow short and night time long, hear the blackbird song.
Короче дни, длиннее ночи, услышь, как чёрный дрозд поёт.
The winds are cooler, the night air cold, autumn’s taking hold.
Всё холоднее ветер, ночами воздух холоднее, на трон восходит осень.
When Teacher's Day is Celebrated
In Russia, Teachers’ Day was celebrated on the first Sunday of October, between 1965 and 1994, but it was also celebrated on the Friday before the holiday with concerts and gatherings, while students usually gave their teachers gifts such as flowers and sweets. And since 1994, the day is observed on October 5th, coinciding with World Teacher’s Day.
World Teachers' Day is on October 5th. It celebrates the role teachers play in providing quality education at all levels. Various events are arranged in many countries around the world on or around October 5. These include celebrations to honor teachers in general or those who have made a special contribution to a particular community. The day may also be marked by conferences emphasizing the importance of teachers and learning, extra training sessions for teachers etc.
In the USA, traditionally, the Tuesday of the first full week of May is the National Teacher Day. Therefore the actual date varies from one year to another. Teacher Day is a remarkable occasion for all of them to show their teacher appreciation, whether they are students or they wish to compliment a former teacher, or their kids’ teachers. Additionally, the whole week is considered as the Teacher Appreciation Week, and lots of activities are carried out on this occasion. The State of Massachussetts has its own separate Teachers’ Day since 1976, on the 11th of September.
Some Thoughts on Teaching
“A person, who meets with his students only during lessons, the teacher on one side of the desk and the pupils on the other, doesn't know the soul of the child. And a person who doesn't know children, anyone to whom their thoughts, feelings, and aspirations are inaccessible, cannot be a teacher”.
Vasily Sukhomlinsky, To Children I Give My Heart
'Vacation' and 'holiday'...Hmm, what's the difference?
Holidays are for everyone
In American English, one big difference between "vacation" and "holiday" is that we use the word 'holiday' to talk about days that are celebrated by a lot of people. They include religious holidays:
- Christmas
- Easter
- Ramadan
They also include national holidays. An example of a national holiday for the United States is Independence Day.
If everyone that you work with is out of work on the same day, it's not a "vacation".
Vacations often involve travel
In American English, if you tell someone about your "vacation" the conversation might go like this:
You: I took a vacation last week.
Them: Where did you go?
That's because vacations often involve traveling somewhere.
A new word that's become a bit popular in the last 10 years is "staycation". A "staycation" is a holiday that you spend at home.
British and other English varieties
The rules above are for American English. British English uses "holiday" in both cases:
Monday is a holiday.
I'm going on holiday next week.
What about other days? Let's figure out what's what.
There are some days when you don't work that are neither "holidays" nor "vacations". For example, if you stay home one day just to relax, what do you call it? It's not a general "holiday" but you're not going anywhere so it's not a "vacation" either. You can call such a situation a "day off":
I'm going to take a day off this week.
What are you doing on your day off?
A lot of people don't work on weekends (Saturday and Sunday). To talk about those days, just call them "the weekend":
I can't wait for the weekrnd.
Are you doing anything nice this weekend?
If you're in school, you also have weeks or months when there are no classes. Those are called "breaks":
What did you do over summer break?
Grammar
"Holidays" is usually used after 'the', 'my, 'your' etc. when it refers to a single period when you are travelling or are not working or studing:
Soon it will be the holidays.
Where do you want to go for your holidays?
What are you doing in the school holidays?
Summer Songs for Summer Camps
It ncludes 24 mp3 songs about summer and activities pdf. It is just 3$. The songs are for elementary learners aged between 6 and 12 years old. The songs are also suitable for mixed abilities groups, for small and large groups, for monolingual and multilingual classes and others. All the songs are authentical, sung by native speakers. Take a closer look at the content and at some pages here: https://vk.com/club77535538?w=wall-77535538_420
The Great Patriotic War 1941-1945
A book of 35 diaries written by Soviet children in 1941-1945, the years of the Great Patriotic War, has been translated into English. The children have been sincerely writing about what they saw and felt, and that's the main value of these documents. They haven't been edited by anyone, they've been written honestly.
One boy who had to live in a foster home was writing in his small notebook about how many of his friends were dying of hunger and at the same time drew "amazing" images of food such as "ham and chicken" in the pages of his diary.
Next photography shows some orphans in Mozyr, Belorussia, 1944.
"All have died." The diary of Leningrad schoolgirl Tanya Savicheva whose entire family died during the siege of the city. The Museum of the History of Leningrad, section of defense of Leningrad during the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945.
Volgograd children posing next to a flour mill destroyed during the Great Patriotic War.
Young soldier Boria Kuleshin. 1942 photograph.
Children behind barbed wire in a German concetration camp set up in the occupied part of the Karelian ASSR, 1941 or 1942.
January 02, 1942
Nowadays, why aren't our children taught these immortal lines from "Requiem" by Robert Rozhdestvensky:
Ponder them...
Onward to trembling spring, people of earth.
Quell awful war to hell with all war, people of earth!
Your dream carry forward year after year,
fill life full of wonder then!..
But those who no longer will come - never more -
I CONJURE - PONDER THEM!
???
After all this masterpiece was translated into English by a brilliant translator Walter May in the years of so-called "Cold War". The question still remains undetermined.
What And Who Prevents Us From Teaching
— A great deal of paperwork.
— Постоянная погоня за индексами и показателями
— Геймификация, примитивизация обучения. Превращение серьезного предмета в игру.
Я уверена, когда-нибудь эта катастрофическая ситуация изменится. В каждой из моих студенческих групп есть по меньшей мере двое–трое ребят, работа с которыми убеждает меня в том, что, возможно, я слишком пессимистично смотрю на вещи. И, скорее всего, есть учебные заведения, в которых стараются бороться с деградацией. Вот только все это возможно не благодаря государству, а как правило — вопреки."
Hello, everyone!
My name is Natasha and I have more than ten years of teaching experience, mostly in a specialized English schools and English courses. I have a degree in Pedagogy and in English Philology from one of the oldest pedagogical higher educational establishments of Eastern Europe - H.S. Skovoroda Kharkiv National Pedagogical University. I have completed a number of teaching courses and I have also participated in a number of seminars and webinars for English teachers. including ...