HOLIDAYS - ST. Patrick’s Day!

In the United States and Great Britain, the Irish communities celebrate St. Patrick’s Day on March 17. The Irish community in the United States is very big.
Who was St. Patrick and why is he important to the Irish?

Patrick was born in Britain in 389 AD. When he was 16 years old he was captured and taken to Ireland. He became a slave. After 6 years Patrick escaped to France by ship. There he became a priest. He returned to Ireland as a bishop in 432 AD. He converted most of the Irish to Christianity. There are legends about St. Patrick. One legend says that he banished all the serpents from Ireland. Another legend says that he used a shamrock to teach the Irish about the Trinity. Today the shamrock is still a symbol of Ireland and the Irish. On March 17 there are big parades in most American cities in honor of the Irish. Many shops and restaurants are decorated with green shamrocks.

ENGLISH TIPS - STEAL X ROB

You steal things but you rob people, places

HOLIDAYS - Carnival around the world

Brazil: The celebration is supposed to go on from the Saturday before Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday) until Mardi Gras Day, but in some Brazilian cities the celebration can last seven or eight days. People celebrate on the street, dancing with samba schools, or in ballrooms.

Bolivia: Bolivia has carnival parades for children and adults in the streets. Most everyone gets wet from water balloons and water buckets.

Caribbean Islands: There are multiple carnival celebrations in Trinidad and Tobago and Haiti, like marching bands, crowning a Calypso King or Monarch and "Playing Mas"/Masquerade, a masquerade ball.

Venice, Italy: Many events are held in the canals, including shows, concerts, dances and water processions with masked rowers and decorated boats.

Cadiz, Spain: They celebrate with papier mâché figures and satirical songs copied from Venice’s celebration.

Germany: Carnival is called as "Fastnacht". There is a big parade through the main street.

New Orleans, USA: Celebrations are concentrated for about two weeks before and through Fat Tuesday (Mardi Gras in French). Usually there is one major parade and several large parades each day. The parades in New Orleans are organized by Carnival krewes. Krewe float riders toss throws to the crowds; the most common throws are strings of plastic colorful beads.

Audiobooks

If you want to improve your fluency in English language, Audiobooks are a great tip.

Audiobooks are audio-CDs from which you can listen to an actor or the author him/herself read a book. Sometimes there are even multiple voices and sound effects.

At the Alumni Libraries you have many genres to choose from: comedy, short stories, poem, history, detective and mystery stories. Most of them are accompanied by the corresponding book.

English Tips

Hello everybody!

Every day we’re gonna make an English Tip available to you. The tips are on the right side on this blog. Follow the example below:

Choose one of the tips available and click on the picture. Another site page will open and the slide tip will be there.




Preposition of time






Oneself and each other






To or for

Magazines

At the Alumni Libraries there are 39 titles of magazines that you can borrow for one week.

Music, sport, art, English language, fashion are some of the subjects these magazines bring to you. Enjoy them and improve your English.

DVD collection

The Alumni Libraries offer students a large collection of DVDs. There is a variety of genres: comedy, cartoon, drama, thriller, romance, scientific fiction and documentary. The DVDs are meant for educational use. The students can improve their listening as well as have fun.

The libraries have most of their DVD titles in book versions. Go to the libraries and ask for information about the You Can Read, You Can Watch project.