April Fool's Day

Originally, New Year's Day was April 1. Later, when the Church changed the calendar, they also changed the date for January 1. However, some people continued using April 1 as the date of the New Year. These people were referred to as "April Fools".

In the early Roman calendar, April 1 was the first day of spring, the spring equinox, and before 154 B.C. it was New Years Day. Many celebrations of many cultures observed this day as the coming of the renewal of the earth and life. There would be sacrifices and gifts given to the gods. When the Christians came into power in the Roman Empire, they created a celebration we call Easter that replaced the spring rituals.

Although the most common belief is that the observance of April Fool's Day began in France,there really wasn't a "first April Fool's Day" that can be pinpointed on the calendar. Some believe it sort of evolved simultaneously in several cultures at the same time, from celebrations involving the first day of spring.

French children fool their friends by taping a paper fish to their friends' backs. When the "young fool" discovers this trick, the prankster yells "Poisson d’Avril!" In England, tricks can be played only in the morning. If a trick is played on you, you are a "noodle". In Scotland you are called an "April Gowk" or cuckoo bird. It lasts for two days there. The second day in Scotland is called Taily Day and is dedicated to pranks involving the buttocks. The Scotts can be given credit for the "Kick Me." Americans play small tricks on friends and strangers alike on the first of April. One common trick on April Fool's Day is pointing down to a friend's shoe and saying, "Your shoelace is untied." If victim falls for the joke the prankster yells, "April Fool!"

Some popular pranks

• Replacing salt in the sugar bowl at breakfast.
• Attaching a small piece of tape to the mouseball so it does not work.
• Setting the alarm clock ahead one hour and allowing the victim to think they have slept in.

Check out this SlideShare Presentation:

BBC Penguins Prank

An awesome BBC prank: film maker and writer Terry Jones discovers a colony of penguins, which are unlike any other penguins in the world: they can fly!!!

And if you wish more, here you have a behind the scenes look at how the BBC created the BBC iPlayer trail for April Fools' Day, featuring a colony of flying penguins:

April Fool's Jokes

One Day at Nick's

Nicholas James Vujicic, best known as Nick Vujicic (born 4 December 1982) was born with tetra-amelia, a rare disorder characterized by the absence of all four limbs. He struggled as a child, eventually came to terms with his disability and started his own non-profit organization Life Without Limbs – at age seventeen. He is widely known as a motivational speaker, giving talks wordwide on life with a disability, hope, and finding meaning in life.

Look at this video that shows one day in the life of this incredible man.

More information at Life Without Limbs Organization

Parts of the Body

Look at this presentation to learn the parts of the body:

parts of the body

More PowerPoint presentations from ana apulabutarello

Here you can listen to this same presentation:

And now is time to practise what you have learned:

• Would you like to make your own monster? Make a monster with this game while you learn the main body parts.

• Wioth this online game you are going to match and listening the parts of the body with their picture.

• Two hangman about the parts of the body: puzzle 1 and puzzle 2.

• In this link you will find a complete list of body parts and three exercises on head, face and the whole body.

• An online exercise with that works a complete vocabulary.

• 115 exercises of different types to work on body parts.

The Fonix 2.011: The Die is Cast

That is! What is done is done; and the Fonix exam has already been done. We can only wait for the results next April the 26th.

In the meantime, you can see some pics taken before and after the exam:

The Past Simple

The Past Simple expresses an action in the past taking place once, never, several times. It can also be used for actions taking place one after another or in the middle of another action.

Most Verbs

Most verbs conjugate by adding -ed like the verb "wait" below.

Positive	Negative	Question
I waited. You waited. He waited. She waited. It waited. We waited. They waited.	I did not wait. You did not wait. He did not wait. She did not wait. It did not wait. We did not wait. They did not wait.	Did I wait? Did you wait? Did he wait? Did she wait? Did it wait? Did we wait? Did they wait?

Exceptions in spelling when adding -ed
after a final -e only add -d	love – loved
final consonant after a -l or short, stressed vowel as final consonant after a vowel is doubled	admit – admitted travel – travelled
final -y after a consonant becomes -i	hurry – hurried

Irregular Verbs

Many verbs, such as "have," take irregular forms in the Past Simple. Notice that you only use the irregular verbs in statements. In negative forms and questions, did indicates Past Simple.

Positive	Negative	Question
I had. You had. We had. They had. He had. She had. It had.	I did not have. You did not have. He did not have. She did not have. It did not have. We did not have. They did not have.	Did I have? Did you have? Did he have? Did she have? Did it have? Did we have? Did they have?

To Be

The verb "be" is also irregular in the Past Simple. Unlike other irregular verbs, there are two Past Simple forms: "was" and "were." It also has different question forms and negative forms. Always remember that you DO NOT use did with the verb to be in the Past Simple .

Positive	Negative	Question
I was. You were. We were. They were. He was. She was. It was.	I was not. You were not. We were not. They were not. He was not. She was not. It was not.	Was I? Were you? Were we? Were they? Was he? Was she? Was it?

Past Simple: List of Irregular Verbs (2nd ESO)

Here you have the list of the main irregular verbs with their past simple form:

Infinitive	Simple Past
be	was / were
beat	beat
become	became
begin	began
break	broke
bring	brought
build	built
buy	bought
catch	caught
choose	chose
come	came
cut	cut
do	did
draw	drew
dream	dreamt/dreamed
drink	drank
drive	drove
eat	ate
fall	fell
feed	fed
feel	felt
fight	fought
find	found
fly	flew
forget	forgot
get	got
give	gave
go	went
hang	hung
have	had
hear	heard
hit	hit
hurt	hurt
keep	kept
know	knew
learn	learnt/learned
leave	left
lose	lost
make	made
meet	met
pay	paid
put	put
read	read
ride	rode
ring	rang
run	ran
say	said
see	saw
sell	sold
send	sent
sing	sang
sit	sat
sleep	slept
speak	spoke
spend	spent
stand	stood
swim	swam
take	took
teach	taught
tell	told
think	thought
understand	understood
wear	wore
win	won
write	wrote