All Professional Development articles – Page 40

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    Lesson Share: Friday 15th April: Professional development

    In her eleventh diary entry, Maria Alamanou describes a rare professional development experience in Greece

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    Festivals: Guelaguetza (16th July)

    Celebrated in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca, this fiesta originates from the Zapotec meaning 'offering' or 'great courtesy'. Individuals within the communities would offer help to one another during big events such as weddings, births and harvest time. Those who received help would then repay the favour - sometimes ...

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    Festivals: St Patrick's Day (17th March)

    The man who was to become St Patrick was actually born in Wales, around AD 385. He was originally a Pagan sold into slavery but managed to escape six years later and travelled to Gaul (now commonly known as France). Whilst there, he studied in a monastery under St Germain ...

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    IELTS: Task 2—Essay writing

    To help students to prepare for the essay writing in Task 2 of the academic component of IELTS.

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    Modal verbs 2 – article

    An article by Kerry Maxwell and Lindsay Clandfield on ways to approach teaching modal verbs.

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    Modal verbs 2 – tips and activities

    More teaching tips and ideas from Kerry Maxwell and Lindsay Clandfield on teaching modals.

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    Festivals: Summer solstice (20th June)

    This is the longest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere and has been celebrated for thousands of years. Solstice actually means a stopping or standing still of the sun. Many different cultures and religions have been fascinated by the sun or have worshipped it throughout history as it ...

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    Festivals: Winter Solstice (Yule) - (22nd December)

    The Winter Solstice - or Yule, a pagan tradition, is a celebration of the shortest day and longest night of the year in the Northern Hemisphere, when the North Pole is at its furthest point away from the sun. Yule logs are traditionally lit on the first day of the ...

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    Festivals: St George's Day (23rd April)

    Very little is known about the man who became St George as many accounts of his reputation were written by his followers and became enhanced. It is now very difficult to extract historical facts from the myths. George is believed to have been born in Anatolia (modern-day Turkey), in the ...

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    Festivals: Christmas (24th-26th December)

    The Christmas Story Christmas is celebrated in different ways throughout the world. Often, the way in which people celebrate Christmas depends upon their family customs or traditions. In the UK, children in primary schools often perform nativity plays, which are reproductions or interpretations of the religious story behind Christmas - ...

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    Lesson Share: Tuesday 25th January: To translate or not to translate

    In her seventh diary entry, Maria Alamanou describes the perils of translation in Greece

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    Festivals: Feast of Passover begins (26th March)

    This seven or eight day festival (depending on where you live) commemorates the time when the 'Children of Israel' were led out of slavery to freedom by Moses. They had been slaves in Egypt for over 200 years and when the Pharaoh refused to release the Israelites, God visited ten ...

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    Lesson Share: Friday 29th October: All the hours of the week

    In her third diary entry, Maria Alamanou feels embrassed about dreaming in English

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    Festivals: Doll Festival/Hina Matsuri (3rd March)

    This festival is celebrated in Japan where families with girls wish their daughters a successful and happy life. This tradition dates back hundreds of years from a Chinese custom which says that bad fortune is passed to the dolls and then removed by leaving the dolls on a river. Dolls ...

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    Lesson Share: Tuesday 30th November: Phrasal verb stupor

    In her second diary entry, Maria Alamanou discusses the problems of teaching phrasal verbs

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    Lesson Share: Thursday 31st March: Grammar

    In her tenth diary entry, Maria Alamanou feels frustrated by the grammar depicted in advanced level course books

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    Article

    Festivals: New Year's Eve (31st December)

    Many cities and countries around the world are very proud of their New Year celebrations. Cities organize street parties with fireworks, music, food and dancing. Here are some examples of how Christmas is celebrated in different countries: Scotland In Scotland many of the traditions of 'Hogmanay' (as the New Year ...

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    Festivals: American Day of Independence (4th July)

    This is considered to be the birthday of the United States of America and is celebrated each year with fireworks displays, parades, family gatherings and concerts. At the end of the Seven Years' War in 1763 (a conflict mainly about trading rights between Great Britain and France in the ...

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    Festivals: Children's Day: Kodomo-no-hi (5th May)

    This festival is believed by some to come originally from an ancient Chinese festival dedicated to boys during which people would hang medicinal herbs to keep away childhood diseases. This day was created during the Edo period of Japan's history (1603-1867) to stress the importance of military training for boys. ...

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    Festivals: Europe Day (9th May)

    In the aftermath of World War II, Europe faced a difficult future to try and rebuild itself. On the 9th May 1950, the French Foreign Minister, Robert Schuman read to the world a declaration calling for France, Germany and other European countries to bring together their coal and steel industries ...