"Mens Sana in Corpore Sano"

A Healthy Mind in a Healthy Body

Physical exercise and sport are the keys for a healthy lifestyle. It’s not for nothing that health experts recommend sport as a way to improve the quality of life. More and more people also practise sports as a way of achieving a psychological well being to face the stress of modern life. It gives them a greater feeling of self-esteem. By playing sports, you also feel full of energy and reduce the risk of becoming overweight.

There are many old connections between sports and school in Britain. Some sports like football, cricket and rugby were played in the 19^th century in various ways in different schools, sometimes like a rivalry between older and younger boys. Their transformation into modern sports resulted from the influence of the new industrial middle classes who sent their sons to the public schools to be educated with the aristocracy; they turned games into a form of collective discipline: playing with courage and helping your team. In those days technique and skill were supposed to be less important than character. Fair play was an unwritten rule requiring not only the respect for the rules of the game but also for all the players involved, especially the rival team.

Some traditions in sports

The Calcutta Cup

England and Scotland compete for the Calcutta Cup. It used to belong to the Calcutta Rugby Club, which stopped playing in 1877. The club took all its money out of the bank and used it to make the cup, which they sent to England. It is a beautiful cup with snakes for handles and an elephant on the top.

Twickenham Stadium is the largest rugby union stadium in the United Kingdom. It is often referred to as the home of English rugby.

When D. Manuel II of Portugal was in exile, in England, he lived in Fulwell Park, Twickenham.

Wembley stadium

Wembley opened in 2007 and was built on the site of the previous 1923 stadium. It is England´s national football stadium and the FA (Football Association) Cup Final is held here.

*Sir Alex Ferguson is one of the most admired managers with the longest service in the history of football. He was appointed manager at Old Trafford, the home of Manchester United, on 6th November 1986.

David Beckham and Wayne Rooney are nowadays the most famous British players. In the 2004 European Championship, hosted by Portugal both played for England against the Portuguese national team and were defeated in a dramatic quarter finals.

Some of the best Portuguese players have strong connections with the English football: Eusébio became known worldwide after playing the 1966 World Cup in England, when he was considered the best player; Cristiano Ronaldo also won international recognition after his transference from Sporting to Manchester United, where presently Nani, another Portuguese player is one of the stars of the same team.

José Mourinho, our “special one” manager was in charge of the London club, Chelsea, from 2004 till 2007.The club coached by him set a new record of 64 consecutive home league matches without defeat. He also won the 2005 and 2006 Premier League Cup and the 2007 FA Cup.

*On 8 May 2013, Alex Ferguson announced his retirement as manager of Manchester United. During his 26 years at the club he won 38 trophies.

Cricket

It is very popular in Britain, played mainly in the summer. With the consolidation of the British Empire in the 19^th century it became a popular sport in countries like India, Pakistan and South Africa.

This game has had an impact on popular culture and some expressions related to it are used in the English language:

“It would have been easy to cheat, but it wouldn´t have been cricket” (fair).

“He is on a sticky wicket” (difficult situation)

Wimbledon

Wimbledon is the oldest tennis tournament in the world. Everything at Wimbledon is very traditional: the courts are grass, the dress code is very strict for competitors who can only wear white, and there is a total absence of sponsor advertising around the courts.

The Derby

 Although it is often mentioned when important football matches take place, it has nothing to do with football. The Derby(dar-bi) is the most prestigious horse race in Britain, which takes place in Epsom.

Gericault. The Epsom Derby

The Royal Ascot

The Ascot Racecourse is also a horse race closely associated with the British Royal Family and every year the Royal Ascot is attended by the Queen. There are strict dress codes: women must wear a hat and men a grey or black morning dress with a top hat.

The Boat Race

The Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race is a competition between teams ( of eight rowers and a cox  who steers the boat) from the two oldest universities in England and takes place every year in late March or early April on the river Thames.
Both Oxford and Cambridge use blue as their colour (Oxford – dark blue; Cambridge-light blue). When a student represents one of these universities we say that he “has won a blue”.

  Golf

The Old Course at St Andrews, Scotland,  is the oldest golf course in the world.

This small city became the centre of the news for the media when Prince William married Kate Middleton in 2011 because they both attended the University of St Andrews, the 3^rd oldest in the UK, almost 600 years old.

The topic “Sports” is in the 8^th grade syllabus of English as a foreign language.

The students are going to research on this topic and present their work to the class. I´m looking forward to listening to them.

References:

Wilson, Ken,and Peter Tite. Project GB. Sport. London: Mary Glasgow publications Ltd, 1978

http://images.search yahoo.com

Punctuation saves lives

Punctuation is very useful in preventing enormous mix-ups. Lynne Truss says: “Punctuation marks are the traffic signals of language.They tell us to slow down, notice this, take a detour, and stop”. (85)

Read and compare:

A woman, without her man, is nothing.

A woman: without her, man is nothing

 Charles the First walked and talked half an hour after his head was cut off.

Charles the First walked and talked. Half an hour after, his head was cut off.

The Apostrophe indicates

1.    Possession:  singular nouns and irregular plurals (´s ), plural nouns (` ).

The boy´s hat               the boss´s policy          the babies´ bibs          the children´s playground      Bridget Jones´s Diary      my parents ´car

1a. With older, foreign or classical (ancient Greek and Roman) words, we just add an apostrophe.

Socrates´ ideas         Cervantes´ Don Quixote       Guy Fawkes´ night     Achilles´ heel

2.    Time or quantity

In one week´s time       Two weeks´ notice

3.    Omission of  figures in dates:

The summer of ´78

4.    Omission of letters

I´m            she´s got     he´s     I´d rather        they can´t      you don´t     we won´t        it doesn´t

5.    Plural of letters and numbers

He writes b´s instead of d´s.   It happened in the early 1970´s.

      Be sure to dot your i´s and cross your t´s.

6.    Plural of words which do not normally have plurals:

It seems a good idea, but there are a lot of if´s.

Here are the do´s and don´ts.

7.    Irish names

O´Neill and O´Casey

,

Comma

1.    It is used to separate items in a series or list.

In a series of just two elements:

It was a long, hot summer.

Her blouse was red and black. (no comma)

In a series of three or more elements separate them by commas. When a conjunction (and, or, but) joins the last two elements, put a comma before the conjunction.

In her will, the woman left jewellery, coins, stocks, but no cash.

2.    In non-defining relative clauses:

My daughter, who lives in Lisbon, is a doctor.

;

Semi-Colon

1.    It is used to join two independent sentences with a closely connected meaning.

           Some people work best in the mornings; others do better in the evenings.

2.    It is also used to separate items in a list, particularly if they are long and complex.

The company has offices in Lisbon, Portugal; Boston, Massachusetts; Los Angeles, California; London, England; and Taipei, Taiwan.

:

Colon

1.    It is often used before explanations.

We had to abandon our holiday plans: the dates didn´t work out.

2.    Use the colon to introduce a list.

We need three kinds of support: economic, political, and moral.

3.    Use colons before quotations or before a speech in a dialogue:

In the words of Oscar Wilde: “I can resist anything except temptation”

JULIET: O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?

_

Dash

1.    Dashes are often used, especially in informal writing, to add afterthoughts.

We had a great time in Disneyworld – the kids really enjoyed it.

.     ?

Full stop, Question mark

They both come at the end of a sentence. The full stop marks the end of a statement; the question mark the end of a question.

She enjoyed all kinds of fruit.

Who will win the election?

!

Exclamation mark

1.    An exclamation is followed by an exclamation mark.

What a talented artist Almada Negreiros was!

I can´t stand that noise!

2.    An imperative may be followed by an exclamation mark.

Hold that line!

 

References:

 

http://freethoughtblogs.com/xblog/2011/10/09/punctuation-saves-lives/ 10 Oct.2011

Good, C. Edward. Who´s (oops) Whose Grammar Book Is This Anyway? New York: MJF Books, 2002.

Kinneaavy, James L.,John E. Warriner. Elements of Writing. Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1993

Swan, Michael. Practical English Usage .Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1986

Truss, Lynne. Eats, Shoots & Leaves. The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation. New York: Gotham Books, 2004.

English Showcase II

An exhibition of a map showing the geographic growth of the United States is presented together with some facts about that country, one of the largest and richest in the world.

It is made up of 50 states, each of which has its own government. The national government is based in the capital, Washington DC. The letters DC stand for District of Columbia, the name of the area in which the city is situated.

Alaska is the largest state and it was purchased from Russia in 1867.  Rhode Island is the smallest.

The United States has many natural resources with large deposits of raw materials, such as iron, coal and oil, which are needed to produce industrial goods. It is also rich in farmland and exports huge amounts of agricultural products, especially cereals, cotton, and tobacco.

FLAG: Stars and Stripes. It consists of 13 equal stripes of red and white representing the 13 colonies that rebelled against the British monarchy and became the first states in the Union. The 50 stars represent the 50 states.

NATIONAL ANTHEM: The Star-Spangled Banner

The other showcase is about one of the countries that belong to the United Kingdom (UK): Scotland.

The Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh is the official residence of the Queen in Scotland, but the estate of Balmoral, purchased by Queen Victoria in 1848 has been the Scottish home of the Royal Family ever since.

The patron Saint of Scotland is St Andrews. The city with the same name is the home of golf and of one of the oldest universities in the UK, almost 600 years old.

Among many Scottish traditions the kilt and the bagpipe won´t be forgotten.

Some great Scots: Walter Scott, Robert Louis Stevenson, Arthur Conan Doyle (writers); James Watt, A. Graham Bell (inventors); Alexander Fleming (scientist) and some actors will be referred in the classroom.

October 2011 Newsletter

© Clever Pants 2011

www.clever-pants.com

Quotes on the subject of parenthood

“Your children will become what you are; so be what you want them to be.” - David Bly

“Human beings are the only creatures that allow their children to come back home.” - Bill Cosby

“It takes a whole village to raise a child.”

- African Proverb

Idioms - Cool as a cucumber!

Back once again with some idioms for you. This month we’re hungrily devouring idioms featuring foods!



Idiom: (n). an expression, word or phrase that has a figurative meaning that is separate from the literal meaning or definition of the words of which it is made.

Bring home the bacon

A person who brings home the bacon earns the money that a family live on.

“When we had our son, we decided that I would stay at home with the kids and Jane would bring home the bacon.”

Butter wouldn't melt in their mouth

If someone looks as if butter wouldn't melt in their mouth, they look very innocent.

“She sat there looking like butter wouldn’t melt in her mouth, when I knew full well she had cheated on the test!”

Chalk and cheese

 Things, or people, that are like chalk and cheese are very different and have nothing in common.

“Olivia and Sam are really happy even though she’s a Jewish, vegetarian liberal and he’s a Muslim, meatloving conservative! They’re like chalk and cheese!”

Don't cry over spilt milk

When something bad happens and nothing can be done to help it people say, 'Don't cry over spilt milk'.

“You failed the test? Well you’ll just have to study hard and take it again! There’s no use crying over spilt milk.”

About as useful as a chocolate teapot

Someone or something that is of no practical use is about as useful as a chocolate teapot.

“Some of our politicians are about as useful as a chocolate teapot when it comes to sorting out this financial crisis!”

All your eggs in one basket

If you put all your eggs in one basket, you risk everything at once, instead of trying to spread the risk.

“If I were you, I would try a few different gyms before you join one. That way you’re not putting all your eggs in one basket.”

As cool as a cucumber

If someone is as cool as a cucumber, they don't get worried by anything.

“Everyone around her was going mad, but she was cool as a cucumber!”

Bun in the oven

If a woman has a bun in the oven, she is pregnant.

“Have you heard? Tim and Sandra have got another bun in the oven!”

The text was taken from:

© Clever Pants 2011

www.clever-pants.com

Tony Cabral is running for Mayor of New Bedford



Antonio F. D. Cabral (Tony Cabral) is a Massachusetts State Representative from the Democratic Party. In June he announced that he was running for Mayor of the city of New Bedford (The Whaling City). Mr. Cabral will remain as state representative during the campaign, but will resign his seat if elected Mayor on 8^th November 2011. 

Tony Cabral won the primary elections on 4th October (elections in the USA are always held on a Tuesday) and now the mayoral race will be between Tony Cabral and Jon Mitchell.

He was born in the island of Pico, Azores. The Cabral family immigrated to the USA when he was 14 years old. At that time Tony didn´t even speak English but he was very determined to succeed. After graduating from the Bristol Community College, Southeastern Massachusetts University (now UMass Dartmouth) and Brown University, he began his career as a public school teacher.

Cabral was elected for the first time to the Massachusetts House of Representatives in 1990.  In the last two decades he has been successfully re-elected in an area of New Bedford City, where its inhabitants are mainly Portuguese descendants.

As a State Representative, he always cared for matters related to education, passing anti-bullying legislation, securing education funds for New Bedford, and strengthening registration requirements for sex offenders, among many other projects.

Throughout the primary campaign, Cabral mainly focused on his own experience, choosing not to criticize his opponents.  Asked by Dan McDonald from SouthcoastToday if that would change, Cabral said, “I’ve always ran positive campaigns, I’ve really believed in ... staying with the issues and debating the issues. I’m going to continue to get my message across.”

Congratulations, Tony Cabral!

http://www.southcoasttoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20111004/NEWS/111009959 consultado em 5 de outubro de 2011

Spillane, Jack. (blog). All Politics is Local. Consultado em 5 de outubro de 2011.

http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/cabralformayor