A FOREIGNER IN AUSTRALIA by Fiona Smith (Ed. Burlington Books)

Burlington Books

This reader is a good way to get to know Australian major touristic highlights through the eyes of two youngsters, one of them Spanish. In the book, we learn about a new form of volunteer work called Wwoofing (this organization also exists in Spain) and, in this way, the two teenagers are able to discover different places and people.

Places so different as Ayers Rock or the Great Barrier Reef or the Daintree Forest and towns such as Seal Rocks or Byron Bay and then, the capital city, Melbourne; apart from the native people, the Aborigines. This is a very special trip for its protagonists, who at the end of the book, decide to go further in their relationship. Will you read their next adventures?

You can listen to all the chapters at Burlington Books website.

So, do you have any questions? Have you already finished reading it? Tell us, did you like it?

International Men's Day.

International Men's Day is celebrated over more than 60 countries on the 19th November. It is a day to celebrate and take care of "men's and boy's health, improving gender relations, promoting gender equality and higlighting positive role models" as they say at their web International Men's Day.

It was created by Dr. Teelucksingh from Trinidad and Tobago in 1999, next to Children's International Day which is tomorrow and in the month of the Movember (moustache+November) movement, created in 2003 in Australia to promote especially men's health.

In these days, I think men can also claim to have a day of their own so that we can focus on health and social  problems that are specific to them, what do you think of this idea?

April Fool's Day

Spaghetti harvest, 1957
projectbritain.com

April Fool's Day is celebrated in many countries in the world on the 1st of April every year. It is not a bank holiday but people are used to making jokes to relatives and friends. Also, the television and radio take part in this festivity making jokes to their audience. In 1957, the BBC explained how families in Switzerland picked spaghetti from the trees as you can see in the photo. If you want to see the complete video, you can.

What is its origin?
 The origin of this festivity is not really clear but it has its oringins in Roman times. Nevertheless, the closest to truth that we know may be related to the changing from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar which started in the 16th century but which, due to the bad communications system of the time, wasn't accepted in England until 1752. In the Julian calendar, New Year was celebrated on the 1st of April and in the Gregorian on the 1st of January. It seems that people who started celebrating it on the 1st of January laughed and played tricks on people who celebrated it on the 1st of April on this same day. Even though all of this, there are references to this celebration in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales which dates back to the 14th Century!!!

If you want to learn more about this celebration, you can go here. Do we celebrate April Fool's Day in Spain? What date do we celebrate something similar? Leave your comments!!!

Soccer or Football?

http://carrie-persichini.blogspot.com.es 

From the 15th century onwards many games involving a ball and different parts of the body were played in England, they were all called "football"; these have evolved into different modern sports. The most famous one in Europe is called "Association Football", more commonly named as "football" or "footy". "American Football", also called "gridiron football" or just "football" in the USA, comes from the football that started to be played at the Rugby School and later on took its name, that is, from rugby.

So, what is "football"? 

In Europe, we call "football" to the game played by two teams of eleven agile and quick players who try to put a spherical ball into the rival's goal without touching it with the arms or hands.The game lasts for 90 minutes with a 15 minutes rest in the middle. In 1863 the Football Association was created. It is nowadays an Olympic Sport.

In the USA, we call "football" to the game played by two teams of eleven really strong players with lots of protective equipment who try to get an  ellipsoid ball into the opponents' end zone, they can run with it in their hands or kick it, they normally protect it with their own bodies so that the opponents don't get the ball. The game normally lasts for four 15 minutes quarters with a rest of 10 to 20 minutes after the second quarter. The first records of an official game dates back to 1869. It is not an Olympic Sport.

Americans, but also Canadians, Australians and New Zealanders, refer to"Association Football" as  "Soccer".

A fun way to learn football vocabulary at the British Council's web.
So, do you like football, or should I say "soccer"...? Leave your comments and tell me!!!