Travels' Notes

May, 5, 2015

This is London through the eyes of my former students.

You see, it's really helpful and perspective to learn English! Watch the spring in London, enjoy the city in pink on the day of  Princess birth, meet Andrey Bednyakov (Head or Tail traveller), and don't miss the funny spot of a polecat flying on a woodpecker's  back....

one day you'll send me some curious shots, too...Who knows...

12 December

Dear friends, to assist our country-study of English speaking countries I suggest watching the following videos on Scotland and Ireland. have a nice watch!

8 December ,  2014

dear 10th formers,   in support of our academic studies, here is a video on Venice and its 10 top things to do.

  

23d November 2014

It's holiday travelling time- the last Thursday of November is Thanksgiving day, which will give place to the following festivities of Christmas! watch these holidays travelling round the world,  pay attention to English speaking countries! 

http://www.timeanddate.com/holidays/canada/thanksgiving-day

 Thanksgiving Day in Canada has been a holiday on the second Monday of October since 1957. It is a chance for people to give thanks for a good harvest and other fortunes in the past year.

What do people do?

Many people have a day off work on the second Monday of October. They often use the three-day Thanksgiving weekend to visit family or friends who live far away, or to receive them in their own homes. Many people also prepare a special meal to eat at some point during the long weekend. Traditionally, this included roast turkey and seasonal produce, such as pumpkin, corn ears and pecan nuts. Now, the meal may consist of other foods, particularly if the family is of non-European descent.

The Thanksgiving weekend is also a popular time to take a short autumn vacation. This may be the last chance in a while for some people to use cottages or holiday homes before winter sets in. Other popular activities include: outdoor breaks to admire the spectacular colors of the Canadian autumn; hiking; and fishing. Fans of the teams in the Canadian Football League may spend part of the weekend watching the Thanksgiving Day Classic matches.

Public life

Thanksgiving Day is national public holiday in Canada. Many people have the day off work and all schools and post offices are closed. Many stores and other businesses and organizations are also closed. Public transport services may run to a reduced timetable or may not run at all.

Background

The native peoples of the Americas held ceremonies and festivals to celebrate the completion and bounty of the harvest long before European explorers and settlers arrived in what is now Canada. Early European thanksgivings were held to give thanks for some special fortune. An early example is the ceremony the explorer Martin Frobisher held in 1578 after he had survived the long journey in his quest to find a northern passage from Europe to Asia.

Many thanksgivings were held following noteworthy events during the 18th century. Refugees fleeing the civil war in the United States brought the custom of an annual thanksgiving festival to Canada. From 1879, Thanksgiving Day was held every year but the date varied and there was a special theme each year. The theme was the "Blessings of an abundant harvest" for many years. However, Queen Victoria's golden and diamond jubilees and King Edward VII's coronation formed the theme in later years.

From the end of the First World War until 1930, both Armistice Day and Thanksgiving Day were celebrated on the Monday closest to November 11, the anniversary of the official end of hostilities in World War I. In 1931, Armistice Day was renamed Remembrance Day and Thanksgiving Day was moved to a Monday in October. Since 1957, Thanksgiving Day has always been held on the second Monday in October.

Symbols

Thanksgiving Day in Canada is linked to the European tradition of harvest festivals. A common image seen at this time of year is a cornucopia, or horn, filled with seasonal fruit and vegetables. The cornucopia, which means "Horn of Plenty" in Latin, was a symbol of bounty and plenty in ancient Greece. Turkeys, pumpkins, ears of corn and large displays of food are also used to symbolize Thanksgiving Day.

Thanksgiving Day is a national holiday celebrated primarily in the United States and Canada as a day of giving thanks for the blessing of the harvest and of the preceding year. Several other places around the world observe similar celebrations. It is celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November in the United States and on the second Monday of October in Canada. Thanksgiving has its historical roots in religious and cultural traditions, and has long been celebrated in a secular manner as well.

Is Thanksgiving celebrated in New Zealand?

No - there is no universal celebration of Thanksgiving in New Zealand; though, of course,

some NZ residents/citizens who are originally from America do celebrate this uniquely American holiday. Equally, Harvest Festival, which is the rest of the world's equivalent of Thanksgiving, is not universally celebrated here, although, again, there are, from time to time, celebrations in various towns or localities. 

would take place sometime in April or May; these months being the equivalent to the Northern

Remember that New Zealand is in the Southern Hemisphere and so our seasons are reversed. Consequently, any Harvest Festival  Hemisphere's October and November.

Source:

http://www.whatsonhamilton.co.nz/event.a...

 Do European countries celebrate Thanksgiving the way Americans do?

As a rule No seeing as the US version of thanksgiving celebrates something which never happened to "us", but there are some exceptions. In Plymouth, SW England they have a celebration on Thanksgiving day at the Mayflower steps (Yes the real place where the Mayflower sailed from) as a tourist type thing but also as a friendly gesture to all Americans living in the UK.

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31st October, it's HALLOWEEN! BOO!!

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31st August, 2014

dear friends, welcome back to our Travel's Club in pics, memories and stories.

hope, U've got a lot to share after the summer holidays. looking forward to your lots on the bloc. to start, here are some of my summer album collections:

can U guess the places? mind the national signs and prompts, watch the colours attentively, 

so, which of you is the first to bring the answers in class?

for those, who doubt, there is a pic of a national cuisine  and the note: there is not one land, but ....

April 2014 

WELCOME TO AUSTRALIA!

Australia ⁱ/əˈstreɪljə,  officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising the mainland of theAustralian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area.

 Neighbouring countries include Indonesia, East Timor and Papua New Guinea to the north; the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and New Caledonia to the north-east; and New Zealand to the south-east.

Australia is a developed country and one of the wealthiest in the world, with the world's 12th-largest economy

Australia ranks highly in many international comparisons of national performance, such as quality of life, health, education, economic freedom, and the protection of civil liberties and political rights.

Australia is a member of the United 

Nations, G20, Commonwealth of Nations, ANZUS, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), World Trade Organization, Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, and the Pacific Islands Forum.

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February, 21st 2014
Hello friends,
since we are undergoing the country study and our interest lies with the USA , here is a brief video to introduce this unique country. there is a complementary song- a very patriotic one, by the way,  and  a song "America the beautiful", also popular and world-famous.

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Hello friends,

here i am to share my modest opinion which you can't but agree.

they say, east or west, home is best.

absolutely right! you know, i've been away for some time recently. do you think i went travelling around the world? not in the least! i've enjoyed a fantastic week in siberia. it was a lingua contest time. but what struck me most is not the gifted students, neither a series of creative classes. no! i was pleasantly astonished by the beauty of our region, the snowy wood and a stiff rock, and some footprints of a wild hare, and skiing on a frosty day...

now i know for sure, the siberian scenery is really picturesque, the woods are really alive, the rocks are awsome. i prove my words with pics.

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 25 April 2013
dear friends, since we are participating in the common project GLOBAL ENGLISH and our interest lies with the countries less mentioned but in which English possesses the status of the first foreign or official language of Administration, Government, Business, Education and Commerce,....

so, for these and other reasons (curiosity is one of them) let me start a new page and devote it to the country I've recently visited -the United Arab Emirates.

 * To tell the truth, it was rather hard to understand and comprehence Arabian English-the accent is strong and the choice of words is queer (to say mildly)

=to begin with, they all call you MUM( first I thought they mistook me for their mother!?)

=then, which is really strange, they say something common but don't understand when you respond,

=thirdly, which strikes me most,  they teach their kids to speak two languages equally- English goes hand-in-hand with their native language,

=and to finish the picture, i'd say, they don't seem to understand each other if they communicate in English,

but, as they say, SO MANY COUNTRIES, SO MANY PEOPLE!

(TO BE CONTINUED)

(to be continued)

17/03/2013

Wales /ˈweɪlz/ (Welsh: Cymru; Welsh pronunciation: [ˈkəm.rɨ] ( listen)) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It had a population in 2011 of 3,064,000, and has a total area of 20,779 km² (8,023 sq mi). Wales has over 1,200 km (750 mi) of coastline, and is largely mountainous, with its highest peaks in the north and central areas, including Snowdon (Yr Wyddfa), its highest summit.

Although Wales shares a close political and social history with the rest of Great Britain, and almost everyone speaks English, the country has retained a distinct cultural identity and is officially bilingual. Over 560,000 Welsh language speakers live in Wales, where it is spoken by a majority of the population in parts of the north and west. From the late 19th century onwards, Wales acquired its popular image as the "land of song", attributable in part to the eisteddfod tradition. At international sporting events, such as the FIFA World Cup, Rugby World Cup and the Commonwealth Games, Wales is represented by national teams, though at the Olympic Games, Welsh athletes compete as part of a Great Britain team. Rugby union is seen as a symbol of Welsh identity and an expression of national consciousness.

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12/12/2012 
What city is it?

На площади перед зданием корпорации "Империалъ" установлены интересные паровые часы, каждый час отмечающие гудком с выбросом пара.

Паровые часы на площади Влюбленных имеют "близнецов" в канадском Ванкувере. Но отличаются от канадских тем, что имеют, кроме четырех циферблатов, песочные часы внутри. Не только гудят паром, но и ежечасно переворачивают прозрачную колбу с песком. Это делает их уникальными и единственными в мире – во всяком случае, о других подобных ничего не известно.

На прохожих весело смотрит мужичок в шляпе, он прислонился к столбу, а у ног его пристроилась дворняжка. 

Сюжет скульптору Константину Зиничу подсказал сам Олег Шабан - президент корпорации "Империалъ".

Информация взята на http://www.millionmagazine.ru/?mode=article&mid=37&aid=936

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11/11/2012


Hello again,

let's have a trip to a far-away beautiful land of lakes(locally called locks), the land of music and songs, the land of green meadows and 

charming 

black-headed sheep, the land of old castles and legends... the list may become endless, but one word is enough to make your heart beat faster- SCOTLAND.

  

Once a poet said, “На места столь прекрасные,  должно быть, любуется ангел в полёте”. Maybe, he meant Scotland, one of the most beautiful places on our planet. Watch two videos and judge for yourself. I’m sure, no one could ever forget the charming landscape of its green meadows, the pleasure of its villages and towns, the mystery of its old castles. No one could ever forget the unique culture of its people, their songs, dances, legends and bagpipes. So, here is the first episode;

The music is from the soundtrack from the movie Braveheart. It includes the famous Scottish bagpipe. The second part is a instrumental version of the famous Scottish song- Loch Lomond. Images are of all over Scotland.

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7 November 2012                                                              

Dear friends,

here is  a short message for those who enjoy travelling and discovering new lands, customs, traditions. Watch  a series of videos "Our planet" on Discovery Channel or History Viasat.

www.moya-planeta.ru/
and here is another Irish song, you asked to serf. the lyrics are easy, learn them and sing along!

Edelweiss, Edelweiss

Every morning you greet me
Small and white,
clean and bright
You look happy to meet me.
Blossom of snow
may you bloom and grow,
Bloom and grow forever.
Edelweiss, Edelweiss
Bless my homeland forever.

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21/10/2012
 Here is just an episode of introduction,  Britain and London at a glance.

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7/10/2012
This page is devoted to Ireland (Honestly, it's supplementary to the first Curiosity Shop of the blog) I'd like to share some notes, signs and pictures which are so popular with the Irish and reviel their national character, peculiar sense of humour, and their tolerance to the capricious weather on the Isle.

I’m a little leprechaun, dressed in green,

The tiniest man

That you have ever seen.

If you ever catch me, so it’s told,

I’ll give you my pot of gold.  

 

 

The shamrock is a little plant,

It’s leaf is three green hearts.

We wear it on St. Patrick’s Day

But that not where it starts.

It comes from dear old Ireland,

And we want you all to know,

That Ireland is the only place

Where the real, wild shamrocks grow!

St. Patrick came to Ireland,

A country trimmed with green.

It has the shamrocks and the pipes-

Those leprechauns you’ve seen.

Those leprechauns will trip you-

You’ll fall flat on your face,

They’ll tickle your nose and sour the milk,

Then find a hiding place!