ESCOLA SECUNDÁRIA DE CARVALHOS

Language Portfolio My Dossier

Project Work / Cultural Tasks - 1

The World of English

English is not only the official language in many nations, but also the most widely spoken language in the world of communication. Do some research on a country where English is an official language, so that you can write down some

interesting facts. (You may use the table suggested in the students’ book on page 36.)

(The country you will be working on is the one that you picked in the draw in class.)

NB: Don’t forget to write the name of the country in the title.

________________Tonga_______________

Tonga is a country whose official languages are Tongan and English. The capital is Nuku’alofa and the country has 747Km2 of area. There is 105916 people in that country.

ESCOLA SECUNDÁRIA DE CARVALHOS

Language Portfolio My Dossier

Project Work / Cultural Tasks - 2

Halloween

Halloween has become quite popular all over the world since it is frequently referred to in films.

Do the tasks that follow.

A. Introduction 1. Write what you know about Halloween. Halloween is the day when the spirits of death person wake up and haunt the roads and houses.

B. Listening – Let’s confirm. 1. Read /listen to the song and find the main symbols used at Halloween.

Do you know about a day That’s not so very far away?

Everywhere there’s orange and black, And chills are running up your back.

Jack-o-lanterns, ghosts and bats.

Witches and goblins and big black cats. Spooky spooks come out to play, On the thirty-first, Halloween Day.

So let’s pick a costume we can wear, And all the neighbours, we will scare.

When at their door we trick-or-treat. And they will give us something sweet.

Jack-o-lanterns, ghosts and bats.

Witches and goblins and big black cats. Spooky spooks come out to play, On the thirty-first, Halloween Day.

HALLOWEEN SYMBOLS

Orange, Black, Chills, Jack-o-lanterns, Ghosts, Bats, Witches, goblins, Big

Black Cats, spooky spook, costume, scare, trick-or-treat, sweet.

http://www.songsforteaching.com/rachelrambach/halloweenday.htm

2. Compare the pictures and find five differences.

Picture 1 Picture 2

In Picture 1 there is a candle but in picture 2 there is a cake.

In picture 1 the bat is sleeping but in picture 2 the bat is flying.

In picture 1 there is a spider and a cobweb but in picture 2 there isn’t.

In picture 1 there is a pumpkin but in picture 2 there isn’t.

In picture 2 there is a cat but in picture 1 there isn’t.

In picture 2 there is a ballon but in picture 1 there isn’t.

C. Reading Now let’s find out what Halloween is all about and when people started celebrating it. Read the story below and fill in the blank spaces to find out. The words below will help you. Have fun!

Halloween is celebrated on October 31th every year. The holiday began as a Celtic festival from Ireland called Samhain.

Halloween became more popular all over the world with the start of the Christian holiday called all saints day . Halloween is

traditionally a holiday that is meant to turn away Evil spirits . People carved out scary faces and figures in giant turnips, placed a

candle inside, and set them in their windows to scare away evil ghosts and enemies on Halloween.

Nowadays the turnips have been replaced by orange Pumpkins, but the carving tradition is still continued, as well as lighting the

candles on the night of Halloween. The traditional colors that are used for most decorations for Halloween are black and Orange.

There are many characters that are associated with Halloween: ghosts, witches, black cats, vampires, bats and black skeletons.

D. Have fun – with Garfield

What do you think is Garfield going to tell the ghost? Well, I found you a quite frightening!

October 31st black Ireland evil spirits All Saints Day

ghosts faces skeletons pumpkins orange black cats

ESCOLA SECUNDÁRIA DE CARVALHOS

Language Portfolio My Dossier

Project Work / Cultural Tasks - 3

Christmas Time

All over the world people celebrate Christmas and the New Year. However this festive season has different traditions in different parts of our planet. Let’s find out some more about these holiday season traditions in English speaking countries. Do some research work on 2 English speaking countries so that you can illustrate this page with Christmas Time

traditions (food, decorations, typical activities...).

Example:

Portugal

In Portugal we usually eat codfish with boiled potatoes on

Christmas Eve. There are also many sweet cakes and puddings for

dessert. The weather is cold so we spend Christmas Eve at home near

the fireplace. Traditionally children received their presents in their

shoes. ...

Now you!

In England, they usually eat roast turkey or goose, Brussels sprouts, roast potatoes, cranberry sauce, rich nutty stuffing, tiny sausages wrapped in bacon and lashing of hot gravy on Christmas Eve. There is also a rich, fruity pudding in flaming brandy for dessert.

ESCOLA SECUNDÁRIA DE CARVALHOS

Language Portfolio My Dossier

Project Work / Cultural Tasks - 4

Happy New Year

New Year’s Day comes on the first day of January every year. “It is a national holiday in most countries around the world. It is a time when families get together and celebrate with a meal. Many people make new plans for the rest of the year. These plans are called New Year Resolutions.” http://www.eslholidaylessons.com/01/new_years_day.html

Different countries have different customs.

A. Match the following greetings of “Happy New Year” to a country.

Greeting Country Key

1. Bonne année a) the Netherlands 1 - __C__

2. Felice Anno Nuovo b) Germany 2 - __D__

3. Boldog uj evet c) France 3 - __F__

4. Ein glückliches neues Jahr d) Italy 4 - __B__

5. Gelukkig nieuwjaar e) Wales 5 - __A__

6. Blwyddyn Newydd Dda f) Hungary 6 - __E__

B. The beginning of the New Year is celebrated in a different way in different countries. Read the

information below and indicate the country – Portugal; Denmark; England; the USA; the

Netherlands.

Festivity Description 1. Many people go to Times Square to see a ball drop or watch the event on TV; it is

broadcast all over the country. At the stroke of midnight on New Year's Eve people will kiss or honk car horns. Paper blowers and whistles are blown. Black-eyed peas and rice called Hoppin' John is eaten by some because it is believed that black-eyed beans are lucky. Cake and champagne are other popular food items.

___USA____

2. Crowds of people gather in Trafalgar Square and Piccadilly Circus and stand around to

hear the chimes of Big Ben announcing the arrival of the New Year. Everyone stands around with arms linked to sing Auld Lang Syne. The custom of first-footing is important; it is supposed to ensure good luck for the inhabitants of the house. The first-footer must be male, young, healthy and good looking. He must be dark-haired and he should be carrying a small piece of coal, money, bread, and salt. These are the symbols of wealth.

___England___

3. People eat twelve raisins and make a wish for each one as the clock strikes twelve on

New Year's Eve. This is done to ensure twelve happy months in the coming year. ___Portugal__

4. People burn Christmas trees on street bonfires and let off fireworks to ring in the New Year and as a way of driving out the spirits of the old year. _Netherlands_

5. It is a good sign to find your door heaped with a pile of broken dishes on New Year’s

Day; old dishes are saved year around to be thrown at the homes where friends live on New Year’s Eve. Many broken dishes were a symbol that you have many friends. Champagne and marzipan ring cake is eaten at midnight. The New Year is greeted with fireworks after midnight.

___Donnark___

http://www.fathertimes.net/traditions.htm and http://www.teachervision.fen.com/new-years/resource/63114.html#ixzz1iE5Fsu31

People commonly make a list of New Year Resolutions for the coming year. So, we resolve to make ourselves better in the New Year; in other words, we decide to correct or change faults and bad habits.

C. Read the poem below. Underline the words (adjectives) that indicate a change of behaviour.

Resolutions by A. E. and M. Keary

LET us try to be good and content,

Kind to each other,

Healthy and gentle and brave,

Obedient to Mother.

For of such were the heroes of old —

Patient in learning,

Seldom rude, seldom cross, never cruel,

From the truth never turning.

D. Now write down your own resolutions. Indicate 2 resolutions for each of the following areas –

personal life, family life; school life.

example: I plan to spend at least 30 minutes a day without my iPhone. I will be without Internet,

Twitter, Facebook and my iPad. Spending a half-hour a day without electronics might sound easy

for most, but for me, 30 unconnected minutes produces the same anxious feelings of a child left

accidentally at the mall.

In school, I intend to be the same. I’m a good student and I study hard. Perhaps I have to be calmer and do the same things without stress.

ESCOLA SECUNDÁRIA DE CARVALHOS

Language Portfolio My Dossier

Project Work / Cultural Tasks - 5

The Media and Global Communication – Netlingo

Nowadays we want to do everything rapidly, even communication is abbreviated. Therefore we frequently use symbols and short forms when writing SMS (text messages) or email to friends.

Write a message or a sequence of messages for SMS or @ communication using netlingo. Answer my message.

You can find help on page 171 in the student’s book or on the Internet (www.netlingo.com; www.fun-with-

words.com/net_lingua.html ...).

Hi dEr student. HRU? writiN cn b intRStN. I hOp U hav :) doin DIS activity. hEr frm U s%n. bi

Hello Dear Student. How are you? Written can be interesting. I hope you have enjoy doing this activity. Her from you son. Bye. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Hi. HIG? AWHFY? I hOp U r not l-O. UOK? Or %)? Don’t writ 511! bi

Hi. How it’s going? Are we having fun yet? I hope you aren’t bored. Are you ok? Or ---? Don’t write too much information! Bye. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Danger in Cyberspace

Communicating through cyberspace is filled with danger, risks and threats. There are hackers who break into people’s computers, people who lie about their identity... The following cartoon illustrates this reality. Go to the Google search engine (or any other) and find out about Internet Dangers. Take notes on the

information you find.

There are several ways in which the computer can be dangerous to users. The following is a

partial list:

It is possible to bring viruses into an individual computer or an entire network. These

viruses can seriously disrupt or even destroy important work.

Users can be spammed with vast quantitities of useless email. This overabundance of useless information can cause people to miss important information or to waste time

wading through the useless information.

People can be cheated by con artists who advertise seductive products on the Internet.

Information that is presented as accurate or important may be inaccurate and

misleading.

Children may encounter information that their parents and teachers don't want them to

encounter. Examples include sexually explicit content, hate literature, bomb-building

information, confusing religious prosylitization, and misinformation about cults and satanic materials.

People can be tempted to do illegal or improper things on the the Internet. Examples include gambling and the perpetration of pranks or criminal activity.

Users can become addicted to the Internet.

These problems can occur when anyone uses the Internet. The present chapter will focus on

the problems most likely to arise in school.

Hints: www.protectkids.com/dangers/

http://www.wiredkids.org/parents/dangers/index.html http://www.onlineteendangers.com/

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6083442/ns/dateline_nbc/t/dangers-children-face-online/ http://www.icu-software.co.uk/online-dangers-to-children.aspx

www.gov.il/FirstGov/TopNavEng/.../ParentsEng/ www.webmd.com/parenting