ANIMAL FARM
The historical connections between Animal Farm and Stalin's Russia. A very interesting short film, which will probably clear up some of your doubts.
READING COMPREHENSION
ANIMAL FARM SUPPORT MATERIAL
If you click on the following links, you will be taken to pages which list summaries of the ten chapters of Animal Farm. There are also some quizzes, and other material you might be interested in.
ONLINE TEXT of ANIMAL FARM
http://www.netcharles.com/orwell/books/animalfarm.htm
BACKGROUND MATERIAL
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_Farm#Plot_summary (lots of information which is useful )
http://www.gradesaver.com/classicnotes/titles/animalfarm/
http://www.cliffsnotes.com/WileyCDA/LitNote/Animal-Farm.id-12.html
LIMERICKS
Limericks are five-line poems, often witty or humorous, and were popularised by Edward Lear.They are simple and short and easy to learn, and when you read them, acquire a very characteristic intonation.
Sample Limericks
There was an Old Man in a tree,
Who was horribly bored by a Bee;
When they said, 'Does it buzz?'
He replied, 'Yes, it does!'
'It's a regular brute of a Bee!'
There was an Old Person whose habits,
Induced him to feed upon rabbits;
When he'd eaten eighteen,
He turned perfectly green,
Upon which he relinquished those habits.
There was a Young Lady whose eyes,
Were unique as to colour and size;
When she opened them wide,
People all turned aside,
And started away in surprise
There was an Old Man who supposed,
That the street door was partially closed;
But some very large rats,
Ate his coats and his hats,
While that futile old gentleman dozed.
There was an Old Person of Chili,
Whose conduct was painful and silly,
He sate on the stairs,
Eating apples and pears,
That imprudent Old Person of Chili.
There was a Young Lady whose chin,
Resembled the point of a pin;
So she had it made sharp,
And purchased a harp,
And played several tunes with her chin.
READING COMPREHENSION QUIZZES
As I have told you on countless occasions, reading is a skill which needs to be practised frequently. This will improve your comprehension of thelanguage, increase your vocabulary, extend your knowledge of the world around you and make you realise that English is THE language of international communication.
Below you will find some places to visit which you can use to practice your reading comprehension skills.
Timed Reading Comprehension
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Academy/1929/Lawrence.htm
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Academy/1929/quake.htm
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Academy/1929/bread.htm
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Academy/1929/dinosaurs.htm
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Academy/1929/Xmas.htm
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Academy/1929/AIRT.htm
Good luck with these links!
QUITE INTERESTING - THE WORLD IN ONES (The Daily Telegraph-August 4th)
One speaker
Alexander von Humboldt (1769-1859), the great German explorer, naturalist and geographer was something of a one-off himself (he is often referred to as the "last man who knew everything").
In his epic South American journey of 1799-1804, he came across an elderly parrot that was the sole speaker of an extinct Venezuelan language. Humboldt recorded the last 40 words of the Arture indians direct from the parrot's mouth.
One signature
Michelangelo only signed one sculpture: The Pietà, completed in 1500. He was prompted to do so by an overheard conversation in which his masterpiece was attributed to another sculptor.
He sneaked into the chapel where the statue was placed and, by candlelight, carved: Michaelangelus Bonarotus Florentinus Faciebat ("Michelangelo Buonarotti, Florentine, made this").
He later regretted this chiselled outburst and never signed a work again. In the 1970s, a crazed artist named Lazlo Toth attacked The Pietà with a hammer, screeching: "I am Jesus Christ, risen from the dead!" Restorers working on the damage found a secret "M" monogram by Michelangelo carved into the marble lines on the palm of Mary's left hand.
One eye
The Cyclops legend may have its origin in elephant skulls. Two million years ago, elephants were widespread across what is now the Mediterranean, particularly on islands such as Sicily and Crete.
When the Greeks arrived there 5,000 years ago, they would almost certainly have uncovered the fossil remains. Elephant skulls, without the trunk or giveaway big ears, do look rather like the remains of a one-eyed giant.
The huge central nasal cavity, from which the trunk hangs, looks like a socket for a single large eye. The actual eye sockets are very small and on the side of the head.
One daffodil
Prince Charles is paid one daffodil annually by the Isles of Scilly Wildlife Trust as rent for all the empty land, islands and rocks within the isles.
One birthday
Yin Yat, the 7th Day of Chinese New Year, is known as "Everybody's Birthday", when all Chinese add a year to their age. In Chinese tradition, all humans were created on the 7th day, dogs on the 3rd and crops on the 8th.
Thoroughbred horses worldwide share January 1 as their official birthday. Breeders try to foal their horses close to the start of January, to ensure they are as mature and strong as possible for their year-group.
One food
Properly stored, honey is the one food that does not spoil - 3,000-year-old honey found in the tombs of Egyptian pharaohs was tasted and considered edible. Honey is hygroscopic: it can absorb and hold moisture so that any moulds and bacteria that touch it quickly lose their own moisture and die.
It's why cakes made with honey stay moist longer than ones made with sugar.
FOCUS ON READING COMPREHENSION
Remember that reading comprehension is a skill you should use and improve as much as you can. I have already mentioned this in several previous articles. The importance of reading, and reading everything and anything cannot be underestimated! The more you read, the more vocabulary you will absorb. You may not realise all the new words you are learning, but you are... all the time. Read all sorts of texts: short and longer stories, magazine articles, newspapers, commercials, advertisements, brochures, leaflets, the dictionary, textbooks, children's books, the Internet, labels on bottles, boxes and jars, medicine containers, etc...
Below I include several useful links, some with exercises for you to do to test your comprehension, others just to read through. Make a firm proposal to read something in English every day, apart from what you may do at school. One day, what you read now, may be enormously useful in some situation you cannot even imagine!
http://beewebhead.net/exos/endiva.html
http://school.discovery.com/quizzes/cc_bdieu/time.html
http://beewebhead.net/exos/mong.html
What was school like in Shakespeare's time?
http://www.likesnail.org.uk/welcome.htm
http://www.mcspotlight.org/case/pretrial/factsheet.html
http://web2.uvcs.uvic.ca/elc/studyzone/410/reading/pepper.htm
http://web2.uvcs.uvic.ca/elc/studyzone/410/reading/hiker.htm
http://www.seussville.com/main.php?section=home&isbn=&catalogID=&eventID=
http://www.shelsilverstein.com/play.asp
MORE VERB EXERCISE LINKS
http://cla.univ-fcomte.fr/english/grammar/tenses_time_words/01_sp_or_pc/01.htm
http://www.englishforum.com/00/interactive/iverbs/
http://www.better-english.com/grammar/goingto1.htm
http://esl.about.com/library/weekly/aa011201a.htm?once=true&
http://a4esl.org/q/h/lb/psnv.html
http://a4esl.org/q/h/fb004-ck.html
http://a4esl.org/q/h/0101/sv-goingto.html
http://a4esl.org/q/h/vm/pastpastcont.html
http://a4esl.org/q/h/0001/sb-present.html
http://www.englishpage.com/verbpage/verbtenseexercises.html
WE TEACHERS ARE LOOKING FORWARD TO SEEING YOU! Welcome back to school...
ANIMAL FARM Links for studying
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_Farm
Read the novel online
http://www.mondopolitico.com/library/animalfarm/c1.htm
THE PORTRAIT OF DORIAN GRAY
Dorian Gray wishes for eternal youth. But at what price?
REVIEW OF ANIMAL FARM CHARACTERS
An extremely clear review of the characters of Animal Farm. Read on..
ANIMAL FARM
Here is a very interesting video short on Animal Farm and its connections with Stalin's Russia.
ASSORTED CARTOONS
WEIRD BUT TRUE
OFFICIAL! WORLD'S FUNNIEST JOKE 
LONDON -The British Association for the Advancement Of Science, in its largest ever scientific study into humor, asked Internet users around the world to submit their favorite jokes and rate the funniness of other people's offerings.
After a year of more than 40,000 jokes from 70 countries and two critiques later, this is it:
Two hunters are out in the woods when one of them collapses. He doesn't seem to be breathing and his eyes are glazed. The other pulls out his phone and calls emergency services.
He gasps to the operater: "My friend is dead! What can I do?"
The operator in a calm, soothing voices replies: "Take it easy. I can help. First, let's make sure he's dead."
There is a silence, then a shot is heard.
Back on the phone, the hunter says, "Ok, now what?"
- Reuters.
| The Sultan Who Owns 350 Rolls Royces | |
| |||
TIME FOR A FEW LAUGHS
Ghosts in the White House
One night, George W. Bush is awakened by George Washington's ghost in the White House. Bush asks, "George, what is the best thing I could do to help the country?""Set an honest and honorable example, just as I did," Washington advises.
The next night, the ghost of Thomas Jefferson moves through the dark bedroom. "Tom," W asks, "what is the best thing I could do to help the country?"
"Cut taxes and reduce the size of government," Jefferson advises.
Bush isn't sleeping well the next night, and sees another figure moving in the shadows. It's Abraham Lincoln's ghost. "Abe, what is the best thing I could do to help the country?" Bush asks.
Abe answers, "Go see a play."
Scottish Student
A student at an English university, by name of Donald MacDonald from the Isle of Skye, was living in the hall of residence during his first year.
After he had been there for a month, his mother came to visit, no doubt carrying reinforcements of oatmeal.
"And how do you find the English students, Donald?" she asked.
"Mother," he replied, "They're such terrible noisy people! The one on that side keeps banging his head against the wall, and won't stop.
The one on the other side screams and screams and screams away into the night!"
"Oh, Donald! How ever do you manage to put up with these awful noisy English neighbours?"
"Mother, I do nothing, I just ignore them! I just stay here quietly playing my bagpipes!"
How smart is your right foot?
This will keep you busy for a while, trying to outsmart your foot, but you can't.
1. While sitting at your desk, lift your right foot off the floor and make clockwise circles.
2. Now, while doing this, draw the number "6" in the air with your right hand.
Your foot will change direction. . . . . . and there's nothing you can do about it!
The Blind Man -- A True Story
A man was flying from Seattle to San Francisco. Unexpectedly, the plane stopped in Sacramento along the way. The flight attendant explained that there would be a delay, and if the passengers wanted to get off the aircraft, the plane would re-board in 50 minutes.
Everybody got off the plane except one gentleman who was blind.
The man had noticed him as he walked by and could tell the gentleman was blind because his Seeing Eye dog lay quietly underneath the seats in front of him throughout the entire flight. He could also tell he had flown this very flight before because the pilot approached him, and calling him by name, said, "Keith, we're in Sacramento for almost an hour. Would you like to get off and stretch your legs?"
The blind man replied, "No thanks, but maybe my dog would like to stretch his legs."
All the people in the gate area came to a complete standstill when they looked up and saw the pilot walk off the plane with a Seeing Eye dog!
The pilot was even wearing sunglasses. People scattered. They not only tried to change planes, but they were trying to change airlines!
MORE PEANUTS
PEANUTS FOREVER!
Peanuts is my favourite cartoon strip. Charles M. Schulz was a genius! Just enjoy yourself reading the following.
REAL-LIFE EXCUSES FOR BEING ABSENT
Read the following excuses which were sent to a school by parents of children in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
1. Ralph was absent yesterday because he had a sore trout.
2. Dear School: Please accuse John from being absent on January 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, and also 34.
3. George was absent yesterday because he had a stomach.
4. Please excuse Lupe. She is having problems with her ovals.
5. I had to keep Willie home because she had to go Christmas shopping because I didn't know what size she were.
6. John has been absent from school because he had two teeth taken off his face.
7. Execute Gloria. She has been under the doctor.
8. My son is under the doctor's care and should not take fizical ed. Please execute him.
9.Excuse Sarah for being absent. She was sick and I had her shot.
10.Please execute Johnny for being. It was his father's fault.
As you can see, it is important to be able to write well, or misunderstandings may arise!
JOKES IN ENGLISH
An English teacher wrote these words on the whiteboard: "woman without her man is nothing". The teacher then asked the students to punctuate the words correctly.
The men wrote: "Woman, without her man, is nothing."
The women wrote: "Woman! Without her, man is nothing."
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Jim was speeding along the road one fine day when the local policeman, a friend of his, pulled him over. "What's wrong, Eric?" Jim asked. "Well didn't you know, Jim, that your wife fell out of the car about five miles back?" said Eric. "Ah, praise God!" he replied with relief. "I thought I'd gone deaf!"
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
How do you count a herd of cattle?
With a cowculator.
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A man asked for a meal in a restaurant. The waiter brought the food and put it on the table. After a moment, the man called the waiter and said:
"Waiter! Waiter! There's a fly in my soup!"
"Please don't speak so loudly, sir," said the waiter, "or everyone will want one."
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A man walks into a doctor's office. He has a cucumber up his nose, a carrot in his left ear and a banana in his right ear. "What's the matter with me?" he asks the doctor. The doctor replies, "You're not eating properly."
FUNNY SIGNS
Here is a collection of funny or curious road signs. Read them and have a good laugh!
Rather confusing, don't you think?
If this is true, how do you get to Houghton?
It's good to know this.
I hope this doesn't happen too often. There are even bullet holes in the road sign.
Do you think anyone will be caught speeding today?
Write 'funny road signs' in your Google or Yahoo searchbar, and see what YOU can come up with!