A Book To Read

Here is a book I highly recommend everybody.

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

by 

Annie Barrows and Mary Ann Shaffer

  ". . . I wonder how the book got to Guernsey? Perhaps there is some sort of secret homing instinct in books that brings them to their perfect readers." 
   

  January, 1946: London is emerging from the shadow of the Second World War, and writer Juliet Ashton is looking for her next book subject. Who could imagine that she would find it in a letter from a man she's never met, Dawsey Adams, a native of the island of Guernsey, who has come across her name in a book?

     As Juliet and her new correspondent exchange letters, Juliet is drawn into the world of Dawsey and his friends—and what a wonderfully eccentric world it is. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society—a book club born as a spur-of-the- moment alibi when its members were discovered breaking curfew by the Germans occupying their island—boasts an outstanding cast of characters, from pig farmers to phrenologists, literature lovers all. Read more.

Watch the video
 Celebrating literature, love, and the power of the human spirit, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society is the story of an English author living in the shadow of World War II—and embarking on a writing project that will dramatically change her life.

Watch this other video to see where Guernesy is placed and how it is nowadays. The Channel Island of Guernsey is a  mix of French and British cultures.

23rd April " World Book Day"

By celebrating this Day throughout the world, UNESCO seeks to promote reading, publishing and the protection of intellectual property through copyright.  

• 23 April: a symbolic date for world literature for on this date and in the same year of 1616, Cervantes, Shakespeare and Inca Garcilaso de la Vega all died. 

•  It was a natural choice for UNESCO's General Conference to pay a world-wide tribute to books and authors on this date, encouraging everyone, and in particular young people, to discover the pleasure of reading and gain a renewed respect for the irreplaceable contributions of those who have furthered the social and cultural progress of humanity.  

There is good evidence to suggest that young people who read for pleasure daily perform better in reading skills than those who never do .Read more

  

• The idea for this celebration originated in Catalonia where on 23 April, Saint George's Day, a rose is traditionally given as a gift for each book sold. 

• The success of the World Book and Copyright Day will depend primarily on the support received from all parties concerned (authors, publishers, teachers, librarians, public and private institutions, humanitarian NGOs and the mass media), who have been mobilized in each country by UNESCO National Commissions, UNESCO Clubs, Centres and Associations, Associated Schools and Libraries, and by all those who feel motivated to work together in this world celebration of books and authors. 

• The year 2012 also marks the 80th anniversary of the IndexTranslationum.

• This international bibliography of translation provides a unique tool for the monitoring of translation flows in the world.

• Consequently, UNESCO suggests that the activities organized in conjunction with this year’s World Book and Copyright Day focus on the themes of books and translation. 

So let´s start reading a book for pleasure.

Here you have some of my suggestions

Click here                                                                                                                

Harper Lee: American writer,famous for her race relations novel "To kill a mockingbird",which was awarded the Pullizer Prize in 1961and was adapted into a film in 1962 .

Charlotte Brontë´s Jane Eyre opens with Jane, an orphaned, isolated ten-year-old, living with a family that dislikes her. She grows in strength, excels at school, becomes a governess, and falls in love with Edward Rochester. After being deceived by him, Jane goes to Marsh End, where she regains her spirituality and discovers her own strength. By novel's end, Jane is a strong, independent woman. Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre still raises relevant questions to readers today.      

  
John Edward Williams (August 29, 1922 - March 3, 1994) was an American author, editor and professor. He was best known for his novels Stoner (1965). William Stoner is born at the end of the nineteenth century into a dirt-poor Missouri farming family. Sent to the state university to study agronomy, he instead falls in love with English literature and embraces a scholar’s life, so different from the hardscrabble existence he has known. And yet as the years pass, Stoner encounters a succession of disappointments: marriage...more

Watch this video

Happy World Book Day!  Joe Dunthorne, Owen Sheers and Laura Dockrill, to celebrate the day,  hit the streets of London to find out what people are reading and why they need to keep young people's noses in books. www.worldbookday.com

A Song For The Weekend

Beautiful Song

Adele "Someone Like You"

Find more videos like this on EFL CLASSROOM 2.0

 

Someone like you – Adele

I heard that you’re settled down That you found a girl and you're married now I heard that your dreams came true Guess she gave you things I didn't give to you Old friend why are you so ________ Ain't like you to hold back or hide from the light I hate to turn up out of the blue uninvited But I couldn't stay away I couldn't fight it I had hoped you'd see my f_______ And that you'd be reminded  that for me it isn't over Never mind I'll find someone like you I wish nothing but the best for you too Don't forget me I________ I remember you said "Sometimes it lasts in love But sometimes it hurts instead" Sometimes it lasts in love But sometimes it hurts instead yeah You know how the time flies Only yesterday was the time of our_______ We were born and raised in a summer haze Bound by the surprise of our glory days I hate to turn up out of the blue uninvited But I couldn't stay away I couldn't fight it I had hoped you'd see my face And that you'd be___________   that for me it isn't over Chorus Nothing compares No worries or cares Regrets and mistakes they're memories made Who would have _________  how   bittersweet this would taste? Chorus x2

 

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Discussion:

1.  What famous love stories do you know?               2.   What is “unrequited” love?

3.  Have you ever felt like the singer?                         4.   What advice would you give her?

5.  Do you think love is forever?                                 6.    What is your all time favorite love song? 

Start the Term On the Right Foot

To start the term with good humour here are two videos from "Fawlty Towers".

A British sitcom, produced by BBC TV and first broadcast in 1975-79.

It takes place in a pretty ordinary hotel where Manuel,an Spanish waiter, works. It is the most loveable character, full of sincerity and vulnerability, whose confused English vocabulary causes him to make elementary mistakes. 
Anyway, he is proud of his English, thinking he kowns a lot.