Ready, steady... GO!! Enjoy your Christmas!!

Hark! how the bells
sweet silver bells
All seem to say
throw cares away.

Christmas is here
bringing good cheer
To young and old
meek and the bold

Ding, dong, ding, dong
that is their song,
With joyful ring
all caroling

Christmas has come!

Mince Pies - A Sign that the Festive Season has Begun

Mince pies are the first sign of Christmas in the UK. These tiny tartlets, start popping up everywhere, from workplace canteens and coffee corners to the local Starbucks (...) It's supposed to be good luck to eat a mince pie every day of December and most people don't turn them down when offered.

MINCE PIES = PASTELILLOS DE FRUTA

TINY = DIMINUTO

POP UP = SURGIR, APARECER

TURN DOWN = (phr. vb) RECHAZAR

Mince pies have been eaten as part of a traditional British Christmas since as long ago as the 16th century. Then they were made of meat but are now made with sweet mincemeat; a mixture of dried fruits, sugar, spices and brandy.

SWEET MINCEMEAT =PICADILLO DULCE

Christmas just wouldn't be Christmas without Mince Pies. Why? Take a look at this easy Christmas Mince Pie Recipe full of rich, sticky, sweet fruits wrapped in pastry. Delicious.

  

 Ingredients:

• 350g all purpose/plain flour (harina normal)
• Pinch (pellizco) of salt
• 225g butter
• 1 beaten egg + 1 cold water as needed
• 1 jar of mincemeat, shop bought or home made
• 2 table spoon (cuchara sopera) icing sugar

Preparation:

Heat the oven to 200°C

Make the Pastry

• Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean bowl.
• Rub the butter into the flour with your fingertips until the mixture is like fine breadcrumbs (migas de pan), working as quickly as possible.
• Add the egg to the mixture and add cold water a teaspoon at a time until the mixture binds ( ligar) but don't make it too wet that it is sticky.
• Wrap (envover) the dough in plastic wrap and chill (enfriar) for a minimum of 15 minutes, up to 30 minutes

Assemble the Pies

• Choose a muffin or bun tin (molde para magdalenas)  for the size of the pie you want.  The number of pies will depend on the size of cup you choose.
• Dust a work surface lightly with a little flour and roll out two-thirds of the pastry to 3mm thick. Cut circles to line the cups of your tin, don't worry if the pastry doesn't come to the top.
• Fill the pastry lined tins 2/3 full with mincemeat.
• Roll out the remaining pastry to the same thickness (grosor) and cut smaller circles to fit as lids (tapas) on the tarts or to be decorative, cut stars or other fancy shapes.
• Dampen (humedecer) the edges of the tart bases with a little cold water and press the lids on. Make a small hole (agujero) in the surface of each pie with a small sharp knife to allow the steam (vapor) to escape..
• Bake in the preheated oven for 20 mins (15 mins if making canape size) or until golden brown. Remove from the oven and sprinkle (espolvorear) with the icing sugar.
  
  Mince pies are delicious served hot or cold ...

................................................................................................................ From: about.com

MORE anti-crisis Christmas presents...

There's no need to spend a lot of money. Love and imagination are enough sometimes...

 Recycled Disco Ball

YOU WILL NEED Large paper clip Tacky glue (= pegamento) 8-inch (20.3-centimeter) Styrofoam ball (=bola de poliestireno) 8 to 10 old CDs (ask for permission to use them) String (= cordel) WHAT TO DO Straighten the paper clip and bend it into a U-shape. Dip both ends of the clip in glue, then stick them into the Styrofoam ball With a parent’s help, use scissors to cut the CDs into irregular one-inch pieces. (Be very careful of sharp edges!) Rest the ball on top of a bowl to keep it from rolling. Dab glue in the center of a CD piece on the side that is less shiny. Press onto the ball. Repeat until half of the ball is covered. Let dry. Repeat on the other half of the ball. Tie the string around the paper clip loop, and hang near a window or light. Then start practicing your dance moves. STRAIGHTEN = ESTIRAR.............................................SHARP EDGE = BORDE AFILADO BEND = DOBLAR.........................................................REST = DESCANSAR, POSAR EN DIP = SUMERGIR........................................................DAB = APLICAR SCISSORS = TIJERAS..................................................SHINY = BRILLANTE ONE-INCH = UNA PULGADA........................................LET DRY = DEJA SECAR LOOP = LAZADA Text by NGS Staff Photograph by Rebecca Hale ......................................................................From: kids.nationalgeographic.com

Anti-crisis Christmas presents

Christmas is a time of added expense and the global financial crisis will make things difficult for us. We HAVE to SPEND LESS.
Be imaginative, be thoughtful...  and ENJOY preparing gifts for your beloved.


ADDED EXPENSE = GASTO AÑADIDO.............THOUGHTFUL = CONSIDERADO, AMABLE, ATENTO...........GIFT = REGALO

Pot O' Gold Craft 

Create your own pot o' gold and save some money. This craft is totally green too! You can use leftover chip cans and tissue paper!

POT O'GOLD =  HUCHA (pot of gold = puchero de oro)........................SAVE = AHORRAR

CRAFT = MANUALIDAD..................................................................GREEN = ECOLÓGICO

LEFTOVER = SOBRANTE, DE SOBRA..............................................CHIP CAN = LATA DE PATATILLAS

TISSUE PAPER = PAPEL DE SEDA

YOU WILL NEED

• Cylindrical can with lid (= tapa)
• Festive tissue paper or wrapping paper (= papel de envolver)
• Clear contact paper (= papel adhesivo)
• Tape (= cinta adhesiva) or glue ( =cola)
• Scissors (= tijeras)
• Optional: Garland ( =guirnalda), glitter (=brillantina), or markers (=rotuladores)for additional decoration

HERE'S HOW
1. Tape tissue paper or wrapping paper to the outside of the can.

2. Cover in clean contact paper

3. Cut a slit in the lid.

4. Fill with money.

.........................................................................From: kids.nationalgeographic.com

..................................................................................................Text by NGS Staff

..................................................................................................Photograph by Lyssa White

..............More ideas coming soon!

In case of emergency...

YELL = gritar, chillar

They are the best!

Agrupación Musical do Rosal, winner of V Certame Galego de Bandas.
CONGRATULATIONS!

International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women

25 November 2011

In 1999, the UN General Assembly designated 25 November as the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. Violence against women and girls is a problem of pandemic proportions. At least one out of every three women around the world has been beaten, coerced into sex, or otherwise abused in her lifetime - with the abuser usually someone known to her.

Women's activists have marked 25 November as a day against violence since 1981. The date commemorates the brutal assassination of the three Mirabal sisters, political activists in the Dominican Republic, in 1960 on orders of Dominican dictator Rafael Trujillo (1930-1961)(...)

From:www.who.int

PANDEMIC =  over a whole country or large part of the world 

ONE OUT OF... = una de cada...

COERCE = obligar, coaccionar

OTHERWISE =  de otra manera

End Violence Against Women is a powerful UK-wide coalition calling for urgent action to end all forms of violence against women and girls. 

A woman is raped every 9 minutes in Britain. Are rape jokes ok or part of the culture in which rape takes place? Watch We Are Man and see what you think.

RAPE = violar (sexualmente)
JOKES = chistes


From: www.endviolenceagainstwomen.org/uk

SCRIPT:

All right darling?

I tell you what, she could do with a good raping.  What man? I'm joking.

SHE COULD DO WITH... = le vendría bien..

RAPING = violación

Every 9 minutes a woman is raped in Britain

That's not WHO I am, I am man. 

Spain battles youth unemployment

LISTENING EXERCISE about the problem of youth unemployment in Spain.

If you cannot  work with this activity properly, change your browser or click on this link: http://www.edu.xunta.es/centros/iesasangrina/aulavirtual/mod/hotpot/view.php?id=12760
LEARN and ENJOY!

Adele's "Rolling In The Deep" cover

Excellent cover by Angie ( 10 years old), Gustavo (13) and Abelardo (15). 
Join them and ENJOY!

There’s a fire starting in my heart
Reaching a fever pitch, 
it’s bringing me out the dark
Finally I can see you crystal clear
Go head and sell me out 
and I'll lay your shit bare

See how I leave with every piece of you

Don’t underestimate the things that I will do

There’s a fire starting in my heart

Reaching a fever pitch

And its bring me out the dark

The scars of your love remind me of us

They keep me thinking that we almost had it all

The scars of your love they leave me breathless

I can’t help feeling

We could have had it all

Rolling in the deep

You had my heart inside of your hand

And you played it

To the beat

Baby I have no story to be told

But I’ve heard one of you

And I’m gonna make your head burn

Think of me in the depths of your despair

Making a home down there

It Reminds you of the home we shared

The scars of your love remind me of us

They keep me thinking that we almost had it all

The scars of your love they leave me breathless

I can’t help feeling

We could have had it all

Rolling in the deep

You had my heart inside of your hand

And you played it

To the beat

Throw your soul through every open door

Count your blessings to find what you look for

Turned my sorrow into treasured gold

You pay me back in kind and reap just what you sow

We could have had it all

We could have had it all

It all, it all it all,

We could have had it all

Rolling in the deep

You had my heart inside of your hand

And you played it

To the beat

Have FUN with Phrasal Verbs

KEEP OFF = mantenerse alejado de, no tocar...

Keep your hands off my mama, keep your hands off my...

Elephant rescue in Zambia

Photograph courtesy Abraham Banda, Norman Carr Safaris

A mother African elephant and her baby lie mired in mud as family members look on in  Zambia's Luangwa Valley  on November 1.

The pair were rescued by wildlife officials and conservationists after a two-hour battle against heat, dehydration, and rapidly drying mud.

MIRE = ENREDARSE, ENLODARSE

MUD = LODO, BARRO

WILDLIFE OFFICIALS = AGENTES MEDIOAMBIENTALES

The Kapani lagoon, where the elephants got strapped, is nearly dry and very sticky at this time of year—making it easy for an animal to become ensnared (...)

On this particular occasion the baby became trapped first. (...)

GET STRAPPED = QUEDAR ATRAPADO

STICKY = PEGAJOSO

ENSNARE = ATRAPAR

When the mother elephant came to help the baby, she sank into the mud as well. Other members of the herd quickly retreated when the rescuers arrived (...)

Without a rescue attempt, the prospects for the elephants were grim, South Luangwa Conservation Society's McRobb noted.

SINK, sank, sunk = HUNDIRSE

HERD = MANADA, REBAÑO

RETREAT = RETIRARSE

RESCUE ATTEMPT = INTENTO DE RESCATE

PROSPECT = PERSPECTIVA, POSIBILIDAD

GRIM = NEFASTO, SOMBRÍO

"If hyenas and lions didn't come and eat them alive, they would have slowly just dehydrated" to death over a period of five or six days, McRobb said.

   

...................................................................................More photos: "Dramatic" Elephant Rescue in Zambia

                            

The point is... animal health!

LEAN = APOYARSE
FENCE = VALLA, CERCA
THAT MIGHT MAKE = ESO PODRÍA HACER...

From: www.funnysigns.net

Aaaand... Let's review the conditional!

Of course....!

UNLESS = A MENOS QUE, SI NO...

From: www.funnysigns.net

Boys and girls of every age... Wouldn´t you like to see something strange?

"This Is Halloween" is a song by composer Danny Elfman from the 1993 film The Nightmare Before Christmas, performed by the residents of the fictional "Halloween Town", which is the film's main setting.

It was covered by Marilyn Manson for the 13th anniversary re-release of The Nightmare Before Christmas

(produced/co-written by Tim Burton) soundtrack

From: http://en.wikipedia.org

Sing, learn and... ENJOY!