SUMMER SOLSTICE 2010

• in the Northern Hemisphere, summer solstice begins on Jun 21 2010 at 7:28 AM EDT

• in the UK, on June 21, 2010 at 11:28 UT

Sol + stice derives from a combination of Latin words meaning "sun" + "to stand still." As the days lengthen, the sun rises higher and higher until it seems to stand still in the sky.

As a major celestial event, the Summer Solstice results in the longest day and the shortest night of the year. The Northern Hemisphere celebrates in June, but the people on the Southern half of the earth have their longest summer day in December.

The Summer solstice, also called 'Litha', marks the first day of the season of summer.

 On this day you can see a very old custom at Stonehenge, in Wiltshire, England.

What is Stonehenge?

Stonehenge is one of Europe's biggest stone circles. A lot of stones are ten or twelve metres high. The earliest part of Stonehenge is nearly 5,000 years old. It is thought that the Druids used Stonehenge for a calendar.

Who are/were Druids?

The Druids were the priests in Britain 2,000 years ago. They used the sun and the stones at Stonehenge to know the start of the months and seasons. There are Druids in Britain today too.

What happens at Stonehenge on June 21st?

- the Longest Day of the Year

Every June 21st hundreds of people go to Stonehenge to watch the sun rise. The sun shines on one famous stone - the Heel stone. For the Druids this is a very important moment of the year.

Early Celebrations

Awed by the great power of the sun, civilizations have for centuries celebrated the first day of summer otherwise known as the Summer Solstice, Midsummer (see Shakespeare), St. John's Day, or the Wiccan Litha.

The Celts & Slavs celebrated the first day of summer with dancing & bonfires to help increase the sun's energy. The Chinese marked the day by honoring Li, the Chinese Goddess of Light. Perhaps the most enduring modern ties with Summer Solstice were the Druids' celebration of the day as the "wedding of Heaven and Earth", resulting in the present day belief of a "lucky" wedding in June.

Today, the day is still celebrated around the world - most notably in England at Stonehenge and Avebury, where thousands gather to welcome the sunrise on the Summer Solstice.

Pagan spirit gatherings or festivals are also common in June, when groups assemble to light a sacred fire, and stay up all night to welcome the dawn.

BEAT THE KEEPER

Are you a football fan? Try this game to see how many football words you know in English. Can you beat the goal keeper? Good luck!

MY SECRET TEAM

Rovers or United? Which football team does the boy support - in secret?

WE'RE GOING TO WIN

Listen to a song about a football match. Sing with them in this LINK

LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD

Once upon a time...

After reading and listening the tale, put the story in  ORDER

SOCCER 2010

PLAYERS - FIFA WORLD CUP 2010

FIFA WORLD CUP 2010

ENJOY THE ACTIVITIES

Learn the alphabet. Use your keyboard. Type the missing letters and listen.

   ALPHABET

 Is the word on the basketball a common noun, a proper noun, or not a noun? Click on the label above the basket to tell what the word is.  

    NOUNS

Make a horse for the carousel. Choose a subject, a verb, and a sentence ending that make sense. Click the gears to change the words.   

    SENTENCES

How much do you know about butterflies? Do you know they begin their lives as caterpillars? You can find out more about butterflies.

    BUTTERFLY

ENGLISH SUMMER VOCABULARY

VERB POWER

Try to turn on the carnival lights with VERB POWER

SPANISH TEAM "La Roja"

Profile

On a scale of one to ten, Spain's performance in qualifying for the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa™ can only be given top marks. On top of wins in each of their ten games, La Roja were the European Zone's second top scorers with 28 goals while conceding a miserly five at the other end. Maturity, resilience and the ability to overcome adversity were all in evidence during their campaign, and few national teams in world football are blessed with squads of such depth and sheer talent. The Iberians have not rested on the laurels of their UEFA EURO 2008 victory, consistently bringing in new faces without renouncing their commitment to attractive short-passing football.

The star players

The team's success has been based on quality and balance throughout the side. In captain Iker Casillas Spain have one of the world's finest keepers, a man who can be relied upon to bring his superhuman reflexes to the rescue when most needed. Midfield string-puller Xavi Hernandez's inch-perfect passing and vision is vital to the Spaniards' fluid style, while at the sharp end of the attack there can be few if any better finishers than David Villa and Fernando 'El Niño' Torres.

Records

Spain recorded ten wins from ten South Africa 2010 qualifiers.
La Selección were the European Zone's second-highest scorers, firing 28 goals to end the campaign just six strikes short of the Fabio Capello's England.

THIS TIME FOR AFRICA (Live from 2010 FIFA World Cup)

You're a good soldier
Choosing your battles
Pick yourself up
And dust yourself off
Get back in the saddle
You're on the front line
Everyone's watching
You know it's serious
We're getting closer
This isn't over
The pressure's on; you feel it
But you got it all; believe it
When you fall, get up, oh oh
And if you fall, get up, eh eh
Tsamina mina zangalewa
Cause this is Africa
Tsamina mina eh, eh
Waka waka eh, eh
Tsamina mina zangalewa
This time for Africa
Listen to your god
This is our motto
Your time to shine
Don't wait in line
Y vamos por todo
People are raising
Their expectations
Go on and feel it
This is your moment
No hesitation
Today's your day; I feel it
You paved the way, believe it
If you get down, get up oh, oh
When you get down, get up eh, eh
Tsamina mina zangalewa
This time for Africa
Tsamina mina eh, eh
Waka waka eh, eh
Tsamina mina zangalewa
Anawa ah, ah
Tsamina mina eh, eh
Waka waka eh, eh
Tsamina mina zangalewa
This time for Africa
Cause this is Africa
Tsamina mina eh, eh
Waka waka eh, eh
Tsamina mina zangalewa
Anawa ah, ah
Tsamina mina eh, eh
Waka waka eh, eh
Tsamina mina zangalewa
This time for Africa
Yango eh, eh
Yango eh, eh
Tsamina mina zangalewa
Anawa ah, ah
Yango eh, eh
Yango eh, eh
Tsamina mina zangalewa
Anawa ah, ah
This time for Africa
This time for Africa
We're all Africa
We're all Africa

WORLD CUP STUFF (just for football fans)

1. QUIZZIES ACTIVITIES: Picture quizzes, puzzles, spelling activities, crosswords, games, bingos...

2. PLAY A GAME: PENALTY CHALLENGE. Choose the option: "Play Solo"

3. FLING THE TEACHER

4. FOOTBALL VOCABULARY

SOUTH AFRICA

The Republic of South Africa, is located on the southern tip of the African continent and inhabits 1,219,912 square kilometres (471,011 square miles) of land. It is neighboured by Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique to the north and Swaziland in the east. South Africa wholly encompasses the mountain kingdom of Lesotho.

The country has a population of more than 47 million that spans across nine provinces. The provinces are the Eastern Cape, Free State, Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, the Northern Cape, North West and the Western Cape. The Northern Cape is by far the largest province, but also has the smallest population while the smallest province is Gauteng, which has the densent population.

The country has three capitals: Cape Town (legislative), Pretoria (administrative) and Bloemfontein (judicial). The government is further divided into three tiers: national, provincial and local.

There are 11 recognised official languages but English is used in road signs, hotels, commerce, banking, government and official documents. The country is two hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time (UTC +2) and has an average of 8.5 hours of sunshine per day.

Generally, the infrastructure in South Africa is very good and moving between cities is relatively easy. The 2010 FIFA World Cup has been a catalyst for infrastructural upgrades and the South African government is investing more nine billion South African Rand for further works.

HISTORY: THE FIFA WORLD CUP

The FIFA World Cup, also called the Football World Cup or the Soccer World Cup, but usually referred to simply as the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the men's national teams of the members of Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The championship has been awarded every four years since the first tournament in 1930, except in 1942 and 1946 when it was not contested because of World War II.

The current format of the tournament involves 32 teams competing for the title at venues within the host nation(s) over a period of about a month – this phase is often called the World Cup Finals. A qualification phase, which currently takes place over the preceding three years, is used to determine which teams qualify for the tournament together with the host nation(s).

During the 18 tournaments that have been held, seven nations have won the title. Brazil have won the World Cup a record five times, and they are the only team to have played in every tournament. Italy, the current champions, have won four titles, and Germany are next with three titles. The other former champions are Uruguay, winners of the inaugural tournament, and Argentina, with two titles each, and England and France, with one title each.

The World Cup is the most widely-viewed sporting event in the world, where an estimated 715.1 million people watched the final match of the 2006 World Cup held in Germany.[1] The next World Cup will be held in South Africa, between 11 June and 11 July 2010, and the 2014 World Cup will be held in Brazil.

FOOTBALL MATCHES 2010

CORPUS CHRISTI FESTIVAL IN MALAGA- 6th June 2010

Corpus Christi is the Catholic holiday in honour of the presence of the body of Christ in the Holy Wafer.

It is celebrated throughout Spain and is held in either May or June depending on when Easter occurs. To calculate the next Corpus Christi date, look for the first Thursday after Trinity Sunday (the eighth Sunday after Easter) and you’ll know when the fiesta is set to begin in towns and villages throughout Andalusia.

Malaga recovered the Corpus Christi procession yesterday afternoon, after doing it in the morning for seven years. A change whose main objective is to attract more visitors, was fulfilled. The amount of spectators and participants in the procession through the streets of the city center was higher than in previous years.

At 20:35 hours under the tolling of bells and applause of the audience that filled Bishop Square, the Most Blessed Sacrament in one of the novelties of this edition first came out the front door of the cathedral being carried by the Bishop of the diocese, Jesus Catala, who was accompanied by his predecessor, Antonio Dorado Soto and Fernando Sebastian. Moments later, under the strains of the national anthem, performed by the Municipal band music, the consecrated Host was placed in the silver temple situated on a motorized hearse decorated with white gladioli coves and dotted with ears of corn.

Nine Altars
The procession walked past the nine altars installed on the tour. One of the most striking was that of the Last Supper, chaired by its owner cristífero and located in the Plaza del Siglo, while that of Humility and Patience, in Calle Larios, was rewarded for the cathedral chapter.

The Congregation of the Patrons and the Brotherhood of Victoria prior to the representation of the six Archpriest (set territorial parishes) of the city: Santa Maria de la Victoria, Cristo Rey, Virgen del Mar, Los Angeles, San Patricio and San Cayetano . As a novelty, each parish had a cross and a sign with the name of it and behind the faithful. Behind them, the evening worship groups, six children, about 70 children for first communion, the clergy, the coach, the bishop and the canopy of respect.

BOOK FAIR IN MALAGA

Another year is being celebrated the Book Fair in many Spanish cities, the annual meeting with news of the publishing world and bookselling in general.

In Malaga the Book fair is celebrating from the 28th of May to 6th of June its 40th edition in the Paseo Park, which is close to the town hall. The Book Fair is also a good opportunity to enjoy the beautiful gardens of the best park in Malaga during an excellent season.

The new edition will feature a series of activities such as workshops, concerts, film series, signatures, book presentations, contests and storytellers, as well as’ The Night of the book.”

Around fifty posts turn the Paseo del Parque in a great celebration of the written with the presence many local and national authors.

Storytellers and puppet shows and music become the greatest incentive to move closer to reading as a family; legends, songs, riddles, games, a little bit of everything to enjoy as a family and, incidentally, kill another bird with the same stone: promote reading.

In the Playroom children can give free rein to their sense of artistic creation or the bindery workshop. Open to the general public on weekends, it was been filled, especially in the evenings, with curious of all ages. They have learned to sew the leaves, glue the back and mount the covers of a book. Of course, then they could take it home. Anyone who wants to try his luck has a new appointment the next 5th and 6th of June. Meanwhile there are a thousand and one titles in any of the 47 booths throughout the week to “ennoble the Park,” as expressed by the poet Alfonso Canales.