When in Britain... Speak English!

Another World Book Day has just passed. Lots of fancy costumes of book characters, competitions, meetings with authors and reading books together- all these attractions students had a chance to experience on this special day (depending on school). Last year I told you about The World Book Week in my school - it was pretty emotional for me. If you want to find out why, click the link:  World Book Day 2016 .  This year on Thursday teachers read short stories to students. I have them for you today. Click the following links to open the short stories. Notice that first two were written by teenagers!  1.  Ode to a boy musician - pdf 2.  e-COURTROOM - pdf 3.  Death by scrabble - pdf   - My favourite one! Enjoy your reading!  😉

Have you ever wondered how Halloween began and who  started the eccentric practices which evolved into our celebrations today? Let's explore local and global customs and traditions that make Halloween what it is today -and why it's so much fun. What is Halloween? Halloween is an ancient festival, which has its roots in the Celtic festival of Samhain (Sah-ween), when the Celts (ancient inhabitants of Great Britain) celebrated their New Year. They believed that on that day souls of those who had died progressed to the underworld. It was said to be the night when ghosts, demons and witches roamed the earth and people tried to placate them with offerings of nuts and berries. Nowadays these offerings are more likely to be the Mars Bars and Snickers given out to children trick or treating. Today Halloween is celebrated on All Hallows Eve, the night of October 31, the last night of October which was originally the eve of Samhain. What are the colours of Halloween? As you probably gues...

Easter has come to our homes. For me it's a symbol of wonderul, warm and sunny spring. For Christians it's the most important holiday of the year. On Easter Sunday they celebrate Jesus's resurrection. Because I'm usually curious about different nations' customs and traditions I tried to find out more about the way Easter is celebrated in different countries.  In  Poland , where I come from, people pay a huge attention to this spring holiday. A week before Easter, on Palm Sunday , Poles march to church carrying their palms which represent the palm branches that the crowd in Jerusalem scattered in front of Jesus. In some regions there are even competitions for the tallest palm. The following week is extremely busy especially for women who aim to clean and tidy up their homes very thoroughly (as if Easter and Christmas were the only occasions to do it) :P So they clean all windows, polish floors and flat their carpets (if they have any), tidy up cupboards and many ot...

On the occasion of International Women's Day I went to see an art exhibition as well as music festival organised by Fish Factory in Falmouth and W.A.N.K. (Women's Art Network Kernow). I have just found out that Kernow means Cornwall in Cornish language :) Obviously, all artists, whose pictures and other pieces of art we could admire and whose songs we were pleased to hear, were women. Mostly from Cornwall and Poland but also from other parts of the United Kingdom. Our Polish representatives were artists from Pomerania: Elżbieta Tęgowska, Magdalena Nowak, Urszula Dulewicz and Anna Sokolska.  Photos from the event below. Enjoy! Elżbieta Tęgowska    F or more information about this artist from Gdansk click here:   Elżbieta Tęgowska   .   Africa VI;  Africa I;  Untitled . Elżbieta Tęgowska; technique: ink and quill Africa I , Elżbieta Tęgowska Untitled , Elżbieta Tęgowska Magdalena Nowak Man I, Magdalena Nowak; technique: mixed media Man II,  M...