APRIL FOOL'S DAY

April Fools' Day is celebrated in the Western world on April 1st of every year. Sometimes referred to as All Fools' Day, April 1st is not a legal holiday, but it's widely recognized and celebrated as a day which tolerates practical jokes and general foolishness. The day is marked by people playing good humoured or funny jokes, of varying sophistication on friends, family members, teachers, neighbours, work associates, etc. and newspapers may also include stories that aren't true. It is the equivalent of the Feast of the Holy Saints (El Día de los Santos Inocentes) in Spain, which is celebrated on December 28th. Traditionally, in some countries such as New Zealand, the UK, Australia, and South Africa, the jokes only last until noon. It is for this reason that newspapers in the U.K. that run a front page April fool only do so on the first (morning) edition. Elsewhere, such as in France, Ireland, Italy, South Korea, Japan, Russia, The Netherlands, Germany, Brazil, Canada, and the U.S., the jokes last all day. The earliest recorded association between April 1 and foolishness can be found in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales (1392).

Video "APRIL FOOL'S DAY":

17th MARCH: SAINT PATRICK'S DAY

Saint Patrick's Day (Irish: Lá Fhéile Pádraig) is a religious holiday celebrated internationally on 17 March. It is named after Saint Patrick (c. AD 387–461), the most commonly recognised of the patron saint of Ireland.

The day is generally characterised by the attendance of church services,wearing of green attire (especially shamrocks), and the lifting of Lenten restrictions on eating and drinking, which is often proscribed during the rest of the season.
Saint Patrick's Day is a public holiday in the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland,Newfoundlan and Labrador in Canada. It is also widely celebrated by the Irish diaspora, especially in places such as the Great Britain, the United States, Argentina, Australia, and New Zealand, among others.

Over the years the colour green and its association with Saint Patrick's day grew.Green ribbons and shamrocks were worn in celebration of St Patrick's Day as early as the 17th century. He is said to have used the shamrock, a three-leaved plant, to explain the Holy Trinity to the pagan Irish, and the wearing and display of shamrocks and shamrock-inspired designs have become a ubiquitous feature of the day. In the 1798 rebellion, in hopes of making a political statement, Irish soldiers wore full green uniforms on 17 March in hopes of catching public attention. The phrase "the wearing of the green", meaning to wear a shamrock on one's clothing, derives from a song of the same name.

St. Patrick's Day is celebrated by the Irish and Irish at Heart in big cities and small towns alike with parades, "wearing of the green," music and songs, Irish food and drink, and activities for kids such as crafts, coloring and games. Its a time for fun. Some communities even go so far as to dye rivers or streams green!

Video lesson on St. Patrick's Day:

Video "How to celebrate St. Patrick's Day":

Video St. Patrick's Day parades in Dublin:

Video St. Patrick's Day song:

Lyrics to the song:

Happy St. Patrick's Day! The story of St Patrick's Day began so long ago

The lyrics in this song will tell you all you need to know

the seventeenth of March is when this joyous holiday

is celebrated happily with colorful parades.

Patrick was only sixteen when the pirates captured him

they sold him to slavery and took him to Ireland

He kept the faith and made his escape when he was twenty-two

and made it back to Britain 'twas the only home he knew

Patrick had a vision to return to Ireland and vowed to teach Christianity

until the bitter end legend says that Patrick used the shamrock to explain

that the Father, Son and Holy Ghost are all and one the same

On this day the Irish dress in many shades of green and some are feeling lucky

with the leprechauns they've seen it's music and fun for everyone

We'll party and we'll play. Come one, come all.

Come join along on this St. Paddy's Day!

2011, INTERNATIONAL YEAR OF FORESTS

The year 2011 was declared the International Year of Forests by the United Nations to raise awareness and strengthen the sustainable forest management, conservation and sustainable development of all types of forests for the benefit of current and future generations.
Forests are an integral part of global sustainable development. According to World Bank estimates, more than 1.6 billion people depend on forests for their livelihoods. The forest product industry is a source of economic growth and employment, with global forest products traded internationally in the order of $270 billion.
The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates that every year 130,000 km² of the world's forests are lost due to deforestation. Conversion to agricultural land, unsustainable harvesting of timber, unsound land management practices, and creation of human settlements are the most common reasons for this loss of forested areas.
According to the World Bank, deforestation accounts for up to 20 percent of the global greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global warming. FAO data estimates that the world's forests and forest soil store more than one trillion tons of carbon – twice the amount found in the atmosphere.
The World Bank estimates that forests provide habitats to about two-thirds of all species on earth, and that deforestation of closed tropical rainforests could account for biodiversity loss of as many as 100 species a day.
Governments, regional and international organizations and civil society organizations are expected to create national committees and designate focal points in their respective countries to facilitate organization of activities in support of the International Year of Forests.

Video about DEFORESTATION:

ENGLISH VOCABULARY CHARACTERISTICS: FLEXIBILITY, COMPOUNDS & DERIVATION

1) FLEXIBILITY OF FORM
The same form of a word can act as different parts of speech (noun, verb...) with little or no change.
Example: "PARTS OF THE BODY"
Can you remember any vocabulary of this group?

Once you have, can you complete the following sentences using a verb (in the correct tense) which denotes a part of the body.
- Could you _________ me that book on the table next to you?
- In the final minutes of the football match, Ronaldo _________ the ball into the back of the net.
- She ____________ the car carefully out of tha garage and drove off.
- After her father’s death, Tom had to _____________ the responsibilty of her family’s debts.
- The bank robber was ___________ with a knife and a gun.
- I ran out of petrol, so I had to _________ a lift to the nearest petrol station.

2) COMPOUNDS: TWO WORDS TOGETHER MAKE UP A NEW WORD.
Example: "PARTS OF BODY" Compounds with HEAD-
- headlights: front lights of a car
- headlines: of a newspaper the lines that show the important news
- headstone: stone in a cementery with the information of the person buried
- headband: band that sportspersons wear around their head to keep their hair off their eyes
- headquarters: main offices of a company or organization
Can you find compound words with EYE, HAIR and FINGER?

3) DERIVATION.
New words made up from suffixes or prefixes added to the same root.
- Some common suffixes. When are they used? Look at the examples:
- to make nouns:
-ESS (actress)
-ER/-OR, (teacher/actor)
-EE, (employee, referee)
-(T)ION, (action)
-IST/-ISM, (journalist, journalism)
-NESS, (happiness)
-MENT, (government)
-NGTH, (strength, length)
-Y/-TY, (nationality)
-HOOD, (neighbourhood)
-SHIP (friendship)
- to make adjectives:
-ABLE/-IBLE, (comfortable, sensible)
-IVE, (sensitive)
-AL, (industrial)
-OUS, (famous)
-FUL, (useful)
-LESS, (useless)
-ISH/-ESE/-CH (Spanish, Japanese, French)
-ER/-EST (bigger, biggest)
- to make verbs:
-ISE/-IZE, (modernize)
-IFY (identify)
- to make adverbs:
-LY (happily)

- Some common prefixes (some have a Latin origin): Look at their meanings and some examples for each:
UN-/IN-/IM-/IR-/DIS-/DE- = negative/opposite (unidentified, incorrect, impossible, irregular, dishonest, defrost)
ANTI- = not in favour, against (antisocial)
AUTO- = of oneself/one’s own (autobiography)
BI- = two (bilingual)
CO- together with (co-pilot, cooperate)
EX- = former/not anymore (ex-husband, ex-wife)
INTER- = between/among (international)
MICRO- = very small (microphone, microwave)
MIS- = wrong/incorrect (mistake)
MONO- = one (monolingual)
MULTI- = many (multilateral)
OVER- = too much (overweight)
POST- = after (postgraduate)
PRE- = before (predict)
PRO- =in favour of (pro-American)
RE- = again (redecorate)
SEMI- = half (semifinal)
SELF- = alone, on one’s own (selfconfidence)
SUB- = underneath (subtitle)
TRANS- = from one place to another (transatlantic)
UNDER- = not enough / underneath (undercook, underground)
　
　
　
　
[Solutions to exercises:
1- (parts of body used as verbs) hand / headed / backed / shoulder /armed/ thumb
2- (compounds) eyeball, eyebrow, eyecatching, eyedrops, eyelashes, eyelid, eyeliner, eye-opener, eyesight, eyewitness / hairband, hairbrush, hairclip, haircut, hairdo, hairdresser, hairdrier, hairnet, hairpiece, hairpin, hairspray, hairstyle / fingerboard, fingermark, fingernails, fingerprint, fingertip]