Enjoy them and relax, and don't forget English is all around you. Take some time to listen to songs in English, watch some videos (subtitles can help you), visit interesting websites, play games (you'll find lots of suggestions here) and, most important of all, READ IN ENGLISH. There are many amazing books on the net, too, discover them!
Look at the delicious flags that were created by the WHYBIN advertising agency for the Sydney Food Festival celebrated in 2009. They were made with products commonly associated with each country.
The 8th of June marks the date of publication of 1984, by George Orwell, the pen name of an English novelist and journalist whose real name was Eric Arthur Blair. He was opposed to all forms of totalitarianism and injustice and wrote articles and fiction around them.
Some terms that he coined have entered the English language and originated concepts that hadn't been considered before, but became realities in later years: cold war and Big Brother are just two of them. His novel depicts a crude world in which privacy is absolutely forbidden. People's emotions, work, time, passions, thoughts even, are owed to Big Brother, a political idol who no one knows and may not even exist. However, he is omnipresent, watching everyone anywhere all the time. BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU can be read on walls and posters in all public places in Oceania, and so it is, as every second of each person's life is under surveillance by thousands of telescreens, even in their own private homes.
There's a Party, the elite, who make sure every citizen obeys the rules and lives exclusively for Big Brother, the leader who 'protects' each one of them and makes sure all enemies are destroyed, so that 'no threat affects the people of Oceania'. As long as there is an enemy, the Party is safe. But they, too, have a terrible foe, the one they fight against with all their power: Intelligence. Individual thinking is the beast.
The language is adapted to these principles, and Oceania has their own language with selected terms that shape everyone's mind. History is altered, too, to fit the needs of the Party. The Party is always right and no one has a right to object to it or even question it.
Is this world possible? Or was it only in Orwell's imagination?
Orwell invites his readers to think (no more and no less) of the worst possible scenario.
Do you know what is in Room 101? Take a look...
(Click on Choose Language (bottom left) and then English 100% to read the subtitles).
It is the most dreadful place imaginable, where only terror is possible, where your worst fears become a reality.
A few questions for you:
Think carefully before answering: What is your worst fear?
Do you keep a personal diary? Have you ever done it?
When would you consider your personal space invaded?
Can one rebel privately? Or must one make it explicit and public?
Where does one's integrity lie?
Could the world depicted in 1984 become a reality?
And finally, could you solve this problem?: two plus two equals...
Queen Elizabeth's coronation ceremony took place 60 years ago in Westminster Abbey in London. It was the 2nd of June, 1953. In all these years she has met twelve U.S. presidents.
Take a look at this link and find out more. How many of those presidents do you know?
I'm sure you know this artist, even though so many years have passed since her death.
Have you seen any of her films? Could you mention one? Perhaps not, but surely you have seen her image hundreds of times or have, at least, heard her name.
Marilyn was a very popular American actress in the fifties. Her real name was Norma Jeane Mortenson, and was born on the 1st of June, 1926. Her beauty and charm made some call her "an angel", for most she was a sex symbol. The camera was "in love" with her and never failed to capture a perfect image, which made her one of the most admired and even adored actresses of all times. She started a career as a model, but her seductiveness soon drew the attention of the film industry. She starred in numerous successful pictures.
She used to smile for the cameras, but her eyes showed her frailty. She had it all, beauty, talent, fame and money, love, and an intense life. Still, this was not enough and she took her own life at the age of thirty-six. Extraordinary as she was in many ways, not even Marilyn could escape suffering and disappointment. She sought relief in drugs and alcohol, until one day, in the summer of 1962, she died.
Marilyn is considered an icon of pop culture, as reflected by Andy Warhol's portrait of her, made in 1964, two years after her death. Do you know it?
Here are some scenes from one of her movies:
And some more images of the actress and her home:
It's your turn now to find out more information about Marilyn Monroe.
Find out some biographical facts (city of birth, early life, family, etc).
Name at least three of her films.
Who was Andy Warhol? Tell us about him.
Can you find the true Marilyn among these celebrities impersonating her?
Enjoy them and relax, and don't forget English is all around you. Take some time to listen to songs in English, watch some videos (subtitles can help you), visit interesting websites, play games (you'll find lots of suggestions here) and, most important of all, READ IN ENGLISH. There are many amazing books on the net, too, discover them!
Some terms that he coined have entered the English language and originated concepts that hadn't been considered before, but became realities in later years: cold war and Big Brother are just two of them. His novel depicts a crude world in which privacy is absolutely forbidden. People's emotions, work, time, passions, thoughts even, are owed to Big Brother, a political idol who no one knows and may not even exist. However, he is omnipresent, watching everyone anywhere all the time. BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU can be read on walls and posters in all public places in Oceania, and so it is, as every second of each person's life is under surveillance by thousands of telescreens, even in their own private homes.
