Άρθρα με ετικέτα holidays

April Fool’s Day In Artistic Lies

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This quote by Pablo Picaso is a perfect match to the Day!

Celebrate the annual tradition of April Fools’ Day in a completely different way. Instead of playing practical jokes on each other, explore how “lies” and deception can create art, op art! Op art is short for ‘optical art’. The word optical is used to describe things that relate to how we see. Op art works like an optical Illusion. Artists use shapes, colours and patterns in special ways to create images that look as if they are moving, curving or blurring. When looking at Op art, our brain is deceived into believing a complete lie! The Op art movement was inspired by advances in computing, aerospace, and television in the 60’s.

Find a selection of Op art worksheets below to get creative and talk about shapes, lines and the feelings you receive. A list of descriptive words to critique art may come handy!

Op Art Worksheets at bonlacfoods.com

Op Art Worksheets and Optical Illusions at mindgearlabs.com

Op Art in Steps at tanaallen.weebly.com

Op Art inspired by Vasarely at woojr.com

The Singing Tree: An Interactive Installation

Technology, art and inspiration have combined into a glorious interactive Christmas tree in the halls of the  world’s largest museum of decorative arts and design, the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) in London. Every year, the museum commissions a designer to create a Christmas tree for the Museum’s Grand Entrance. This year, it’s the set designer Es Devlin who has installed a mesmerizing, constantly changing audiovisual Christmas tree, to which you are asked to contribute. You don’t have to be in the city to do so. You can actually do it online! Watch the video below to see how this year’s tree was made, where Es Devlin’s inspiration came from and how people actually transform the tree. For more information visit the relevant page and if you feel like it, contribute your own wish-word to the tree!

https://www.vam.ac.uk/articles/christmas-tree-installations

 

 

International Workers’ Day: Women In The Development Of The Labour Movement

International Workers’ Day, also known as Labour Day in some places, is a celebration of labourers and the working classes that is promoted by the international labour movement, socialists, communists and anarchists and occurs every year on May Day, 1 May, an European spring holiday since the late 19th and early 20th century. The date was chosen for International Workers’ Day by the Second International, a pan-national organization of socialist and communist political parties, to commemorate the Haymarket affair, which occurred in Chicago on 4 May 1886. The events were triggered off during a labor rally in support of workers striking for an eight-hour day and in reaction to the killing of several workers the previous day by the police. The police responded with wild gunfire, killing several people in the crowd and injuring dozens more. Find out more about May Day along with language activities here.

The struggle for better labour conditions has been long and alive. What is often neglected in textbooks and the media is the impact women have made in labor history despite the numerous roles women have played to organize, unionize, rally, document, and inspire workers to fight for justice. Relevant sources and material follow below.

“Bread and Roses” is a political slogan as well as the name of an associated poem and song by James Oppenheim. It is commonly associated with the successful textile strike in Lawrence, Massachusetts.

Women in the labor movement at buzzfeed.com

Women in labor unions at shmoop.com

Women who sparked labour movement at theguardian.com

Women in labor history at  zinnedproject.org

Bread and Roses Strike of 1912 digital photo collection at zinnedproject.org

Bread and Roses slogan at en.wikipedia.org

Teaching Resources at bctf.ca

Poems for workers-An anthology at marxists.org

Christmas History Facts: How Much Don’t You Know?

Watch and answer the following questions about Christmas.

  1. When did Christians not celebrate Christmas?
  2. When did 25th December become the official celebration date of Christmas?
  3. How would anyone celebrating Christmas be punished in Massachusetts, USA around 1644? Why?
  4. How did modern Christmas customs begin?
  5. How is gift giving related to religion?
  6. How did Santa Claus get his red costume?

Happy Easter Wishes and Jokes

Bunny-Girl-Vintage-Image-Graphics-Fairy008

May this Easter bring fresh, hopeful blessings to our hearts!

What do you usually wish at Easter time? Traditional or funny here’s a list of Easter wishes and greetings.

Jokes and riddles are always fun to read. How many can you answer? Challenge your friends or students with these printable Easter jokes.

Q. What do you call a rabbit with fleas?

A. Bugs Bunny!

Q. What kind of music do bunnies like?

A. Hip Hop.

Q. Why didn’t the bunny hop?

A. No bunny knows.

Q. Why shouldn’t you tell an Easter egg a joke?

A. It might crack up!

Q. What did the Easter Bunny say to the carrot?

A. “It’s been nice gnawing you!”

Q. How does the Easter Bunny stay fit?

A. Eggs-ercise and hare-robics! 

Q.How do you know carrots are good for your eyes?

A.Have you ever seen a rabbit wearing glasses?

 

photo from http://thegraphicsfairy.com/

 

Celebrate Valentine’s Day With Figurative Language Quotes,E-cards,Posters And Free Printables!

Would you like to use your poetic skills and compose some love quotes? Follow the presentation below to revise some basic figures of speech and then get inspired to use them right away! Combine this activity with some hands-on valentine crafts to make your inspiration and romantic mood real!

There is an earlier article on figurative language for further practice if you feel you need to clear up details.

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FOLLOW-UP ACTIVITIES (some suggestions without implying any endorsement)

  1.  e-card at iwishyouto.com

    Draw a live card online or use a ready template, save drawing process as time-lapse animation and get a permanent link to it to share card or embed to blog or email it to a friend.

  2. poster at pinwords.com                                                                                                                                                                     Upload an image or use the templates provided to add text and create a poster you can use on social media.               
  3. quote at quozio.com                                                                                                                                                                           Make your own quote to share on social media or send by e-mail or keep (if you register first).                                        
  4. free printables                                                                                                                                                                                 Choose the one you prefer and create your personilised Valentine gift.                                                                      diy-valentines-day-heart-crayons
  • heart crayons with cute tags at catchmyparty.com                                                                                                                    valentine fruit tag
  • fruit idioms gift tags at craftaholicsanonymous.net                                                                                                                    Without You I'm Toast Valentine Card
  • foodie-friendly valentine cards at craftycupboard.net                                                                                                        heartbreaker valentines
  • Heart Breaker Valentines pouch for candies at danamadeit.com                                                                                  Swept Me Off My Feet Greeting Card
  • card “you swept me off my feet” at freeprintablegreetingcards.org                                                                                valentine's day printable
  • décor to give as as a gift and hang around the house at howtonestforless.com                                                                         Easy pop-up heart card
  • pop-up love letters at minieco.co.uk
  • cute printables at swtblessings.com

Happy Valentine’s Day! Love our English!

 

 

 

Model Holiday Postcard and Worksheet for Elementary EFL Students-Υπόδειγμα Κάρτας Διακοπών και Φύλλο Εργασίας για την Ε Δημοτικού

postcard phrases worksheet

Working in Primary Education last year gave me the chance to create various worksheets which I’d like to share in the hope they will help more students and teachers out there. 

The worksheet I developed is based on the Coursebook that Greek students follow in Grade E. There is a model postcard text providing a few phrase choices and a lined space where students can write their own postcard. 

I hope you’ll find the Model Holiday Postcard and Worksheet to be as useful a resource as I did!  If this is the case, please share the link back to my site rather than give the document away. Happy postcard writing!