Happy St. Valentine's Day! ;)

Love is the most wonderful of all feelings in the world.It's Valentine's Day, my dear friends! And what could be a better time to let your dearest know that you love them.
If you still don't know who St. Valentine is and why the whole world goes crazy about this holiday, it's high time for you to find out this information. 
And don't forget to greet everyone you love with this lovely holiday;)
I send you my BIG WARM HUG to wish you Happy St Valentine's Day! 

Groundhog Day: when will spring come?

Hello my dear friends!
Today is February, 2 
and it's Groundhog day!
 
So let's find out when spring will come. And shadow certainly knows it ;)
People have always paid attention to different animals' behaviour and believed that it could help to predict weather.
For example, people in ancient Rome celebrated Hedgehog Day. They observed a hedgehog whether it could see its shadow or not. In the northern Germany people watched a badger. This custom is considered to be brought into the USA from the western Europe.
For a long time groundhog observing was only a custom, but on February 2, 1886 a funny article appeared in one of the newspapers. It's said that a groundhog could predict the weather on the Turkey mountain in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania .
If this funny animal can see its shadow - spring will come after six weeks.
And if it can't see its shadow - we'll have an early spring/
So it's high time to find out the groundhog's verdict. And here it is

Winter holidays usefully and with pleasure

Hey, guys! Today is the third day of a new year and winter holidays still go on.
So it's high time to discuss how to spend these days with pleasure and to learn something interesting and useful.
I'm not going to share with you the endless lists of what you can read or do on these winter days. I just want to offer you some interesting sites where you can find the things and information that respond to your desires.
Let's start from the very beginning!
To my mind holidays (no matter what season it is) is the best time to have fun. It's a great pleasure to have a walk with your family or your friends on a frosty winter day.
  
And  here http://www.outdoors.org/articles/blogs/great-kids-great-outdoors-blog/12-great-outdoor-winter-activities-for-kids/ you'll find funny outdoor winter games.
But if you look like this on frosty days

You'd better stay at home. But it doesn't mean that you'll be bored.
You may find many exciting indoor games visiting http://www.todaysparent.com/toddler/20-fun-indoor-games/.
Or you can spend winter evenings with your favourite books. 

Just visit these sites: http://www.mightybook.com/ (for the youngest readers) and  http://english-e-books.net/ ( for teenagers and adults)
And if you like to train your brain

Visit this site  http://www.learn-english-today.com/wordgames.html and check your vocabulary knowledge.
As for me I like to spend evenings watching a good film

Visit this site http://moviesub.org/ and enjoy watching your favourite movie.
No matter what way you'll choose to spend your free time I wish you

Happy New Year!

Here it is -2017 has already come, dear friends! And we all are waiting for something new, something that will definitely change our life for better.
Whatever this year is for all of us, it is very important to find a word of thanks in 2016 for all the good things that it brought to us: our little and big victories.
As for me 2016 was rather difficult and full of different challenges. The biggest event was my participation in "Teacher of the Year" contest where I became the laureate.

My brother (who is my student, too) showed his best results in ZNO  English exam and entered the university of his dream.

My students learnt a lot of interesting things and took part in different contests and performances during the 
last year. 

So thank you, 2016 for all those amazing events!
And welcome 2017! Please bring peace, happiness and joy to our lives!
Happy New Year, my dear friends!;) 

English Language Day

As you all have already known 2016 is proclaimed the year of English in Ukraine. 
And December, 14 is the Day of English in Ukrainian schools. On this day we have special lessons dedicated to William Shakespeare. So I decided to help my seventh formers to learn more interesting information about this great British bard.
We got acquainted with Shakespeare's life facts with the help of this lovely video from Fiveminded 

Then we had an online tour to the Shakespeare's Globe theatre

And my students performed a scene from "King Lear" play:

After the performance we listened to Shakespeare's Sonnet 66 and its translated version by Dmytro Pavlychko 

At the end of our lesson my students took part in a quiz dedicated to Shakespeare's life and works.

A Day in the History:Washington

December, 1 is a special day for Washington, because on December 1, 1800 this city became  a capital of the United States of America, heart and centre of the Land of Liberty.
The territory of the capital of the District of Columbia was named in honor of Christopher Columbus, and the city - Washington in honor of the first president of the United States - George Washington.
 A military engineer and member of the Revolutionary War Pierre L'Enfant was a designer of the plan of this city. Langfang wanted to create a series of architectural ensembles, which would have resembled buildings of ancient Rome and Versailles. And he really succeeded in his work.
Enjoy the magnificence of Washington with the help of the video (finleyholiday YouTube channel):

Hello December! ;)

Hot chocolate, cold snow, warm sweaters, bright lights, Christmas... This list is endless, isn't it?
Today is the first of December, my dear friends, the last month of the year and the beginning of a new season, cold, but at the same time full of exciting things like white snow, winter holidays and Christmas, of course, with its bright lights, X-tree, presents and best wishes. 

Although I'm an adult, I have still been waiting  for a miracle. And winter for me is like a fairy - tale.  

So,