Do they know it's Christmas?

Stars of 2014 recreate Band Aid spirit as musicians unite to help Ebola victims

     Same studio, same month, but several new faces, most of whom were not born when the first Band Aid single was recorded three decades ago.

       Saturday saw the remaking of Do They Know It’s Christmas?, the single that raised millions for famine relief in Ethiopia in 1984. Bob Geldof and Midge Ure, the same pair who organised the supergroup of British and Irish pop stars then, hope this weekend’s Band Aid incarnation will bring in similar amounts of money to help combat Ebola in west Africa.

     It was an early start on Saturday for pop stars old and young who began arriving in an assortment of gleaming, tinted-window vehicles at the Notting Hill recording studios in west London just after 9am, some more bleary-eyed than others. Liam Payne, of One Direction, told fans he’d slept in. By the time U2’s Bono turned up at midday, fresh young thing Rita Ora had already recorded her segment and left.

      “I just wish we didn’t have to do this,” said Bono as he arrived. “There will come a time when we won’t.”

Now do this QUIZ   "Do you know who sings what?" Do not forget to submit your answers!!!!!

There has been a lot of controversy about the lyrics of this song and some musicians have refused to support it, because of the negative  image it gives of Africa. 

Listen to the song and give your opinion on this topic. 

Give reasons for your answers.

It's Christmas time, and there's no need to be afraid

At Christmas time, we let in light and banish shade

And in our world of plenty, we can spread a smile of joy

Throw your arms around the world

At Christmas time

But say a prayer, pray for the other ones

At Christmas time, it's hard but while you're having fun

There's a world outside your window, and it's a world of dread and fear

Where a kiss of love can kill you, and there's death in every tear

And the Christmas bells that ring there are the clanging chimes of doom

Well tonight we're reaching out and touching you

No peace and joy this Christmas in West Africa

The only hope they'll have is being alive

Where to comfort is to fear

Where to touch is to be scared

How can they know it's Christmas time at all

Here's to you

Raise a glass to everyone

And here's to them

And all their years to come

Let them know it's Christmas time after all

Feed the world, let them know it's Christmas time again

Feel the world, let them know it's Christmas time again

Heal the world, let them know it's Christmas time again

Band Aid 30: X Factor unveiling for Ebola charity song

The new Band Aid single has been broadcast for the first time. A video showing performers including One Direction, Rita Ora and Ed Sheeran singing the reworked "Do They Know It's Christmas?" was shown on ITV's X Factor. They were among the stars who recorded a cover of the 1984 song, to raise money to tackle Ebola, on Saturday. 
          The current outbreak of the deadly virus was first reported in March and has killed more than 5,000 people, almost all in West Africa. The UK government has said VAT will not have to be paid on the single. Organiser Bob Geldof, who was also behind the 1984 original, said he addressed the participants "like the headmaster" before they sang the chorus."I explained the situation in West Africa, I explained what the UN were saying, explained what we could do, and just geed them up," he said.

            Speaking on X Factor to presenter Dermot O'Leary, Geldof described the new recording as a "little bit of pop history".  He said the video - which began with shots of victims of Ebola - was "harrowing and not meant for an entertainment show" but was something the X Factor audience should see. Bob Geldof spoke to the singers before the track was recorded.

            Other artists taking part included Emeli Sande, Ellie Goulding, Sam Smith, ChrisMartin, Elbow, Seal, Jessie Ware, Fuse ODG, Sinead O'Connor, Angelique Kidjo, Olly Murs, Paloma Faith, Queen drummer Roger Taylor, Clean Bandit and Foals. Bono, who featured on the original 1984 version, was also involved, as were YouTube video stars Zoella, Alfie Deyes and Joe Sugg. Geldof had suggested the song and video shown on X Factor may not be the finished versions."We'll have a rough edit on the X Factor and we'll have a rough edit of the film," he said.

          The song will be available to download, costing 99p, from 08:00 GMT on Monday. A CD version will be released in three weeks, costing £4.Geldof and co-writer Midge Ure's first version of the song raised £8m for famine relief in Ethiopia.  Do They Know It's Christmas? was recorded again in 1989 and 2004. The lyrics have been rewritten in parts for the new recording.

Question 1: [2 POINTS] Indicate whether the following statements are true or false and write down which part of the text justifies your answer.

a) The Band Aid 30 single is exactly the same as the 1984 song.

b)The Ebola virus is fatal for many victims.

c) Bob Geldof is a headmaster in a school.

d)Some of the artists of Band Aid 30 also sang on the 1984 version.

Question 2: [2 POINTS] Answer the following questions in your own words according to the text

a) What do we find out about the  Ebola from the text?

b) How and when can people access the song and how much will it cost?

Question 3: [1,5 POINTS]Find words or phrases in the text that correspond to the words and definitions given

a) To show on TV (paragraph 1)

b) a copy of (paragraph 1)

c) disturbing (paragraph 3)

d) launched (paragraph 5)

e) words to a song (paragraph 5)

Question 4: [1,5 POINTS] Complete the following sentences without changing the meaning.

a) ‘Why don’t we do a Band Aid song for charity?’ suggested Bob Geldof.

Bob Geldof suggested………………………………….

b) A CD version will be released in 3 weeks time. It will cost 4 pounds.

A CD version, ……………………………………….

c) Although the Band Aid video is not meant for an entertainment show, it is something the X Factor audience should see.

Despite…………………………………………………..

Question 5: [3 POINTS] Write a short essay (120-150 words) on the following topic:

What do you think about the role of charities in today’s society? Do you think they are necessary? Discuss.

Band Aid 30: X Factor unveiling for Ebola charity song

KEY

Question 1

a) FALSE: One Direction, Rita Ora and Ed Sheeran singing the reworked Do They Know It's Christmas? was shown on ITV's X Factor. They were among the stars who recorded a cover of the 1984 song/  The lyrics have been rewritten in parts for the new recording.

b)TRUE:  The current outbreak of the deadly virus was first reported in March and has killed more than 5,000 people, almost all in West Africa.

c) FALSE:  Organiser Bob Geldof, who was also behind the 1984 original, said he addressed the participants "like the headmaster"

d) TRUE: . Bono, who featured on the original 1984 version, was also involved, as were YouTube video stars Zoella, Alfie Deyes and Joe Sugg.

Question 2

a) The current outbreak of the deadly virus was first reported in March and has killed more than 5,000 people, almost all in West Africa.

b) The song will be available to download, costing 99p, from 08:00 GMT on Monday. A CD version will be released in three weeks, costing £4.

Question 3

a) broadcast     b)  cover     c) harrowing      d) released     e) lyrics

Question 4

a) Bob Geldof suggested /doing a Band Aid song for charity/that they should do…./ that they did…..

b) A CD version, which will cost 4 pounds, will be released in 3 week’s time.

c) Despite the Band Aid song not being meant for an entertainment show, it is something the X Factor audience should see.

Christmas

Christmas activities

Sugary drinks warning signs change habits of US teens

Signs warning shoppers how much exercise they need to do to burn off calories in sugary drinks can encourage healthier choices, US research suggests.

A study of teenagers' purchasing habits found they bought fewer sugary drinks and more water when the signs were up. The most effective sign said it took five miles to walk off the 250 calories in a sugary drink. Public Health England said the study showed simple health messages worked.

Study leader Dr Sara Bleich, associate professor at the Bloomberg School, John Hopkins University, said people do not understand calorie content on its own on a label. "What our research found is that when you explain calories in an easily understandable way such as how many miles of walking is needed to burn them off, you can encourage behaviour change."

For six weeks, the brightly coloured signs were displayed in corner shops in neighbourhoods in Baltimore, in full view of young customers buying sugary drinks. Four different signs were used in the shops. Two translated the calories in the drinks into the amount of exercise needed to burn off those calories. One sign said it would take 50 minutes of running to work off the 250 calories - or 16 teaspoons of sugar - contained in a 590ml bottle of fizzy drink, sports drink or fruit juice. The remaining signs listed the sugar content of the drink and the calories contained in the drink. A can of fizzy drink, which is 330ml in size in the UK, contains around nine teaspoons of sugar.

To find out the impact of the signs, the researchers - writing in the American Journal of Public Health - interviewed children aged between 12 and 18 years old leaving the shop. Out of the 35% of those interviewed who said they saw the signs, 59% said they believed the sign and 40% said their behaviour had changed as a consequence.

Before the signs were put up, 98% of drinks bought in the shops were sugary ones. After six weeks, this was reduced to 89%. The percentage of teenagers who chose to buy no drink at all in the shops increased from 27% to 33%.

 Question 1 (2 points) Indicate whether the following statements are true or false and write down which part of the text justifies your answer.

a. In he signs you could only see the amount of sugar the drinks contain.

b. The study was carried out in England.

c. More than 50% of teenagers didn’t see the signs.

d. Almost all teenagers used to buy sugary drinks.

Question 2 (2 points) Answer the following questions in your own words.

a. What kinds of signs were used and where were they shown?

b. What effect did the signs have and how did they find out?

Question 3 (1.5 points) Find words or phrases in the text that correspond in meaning to the words and definitions given.

a.) buy (par2)                                       

b.) incite, stimulate (par3)                                                                    

c.)  get rid off (par.4)                                        

d.) trust (par.5)

e.)  preferred (par.6)

Question 4 (1.5 points) Complete the following sentences without changing the meaning.

a. 59% of the teenagers said they believed the signs so their behaviour had changed.

    They said “ …………………………………………………………………..

b. 89% of the teenagers bought fewer sugary drinks than they used to.

    89% of the teenagers didn’t ……………………………………………….

c. Signs warning shoppers how much exercise they need to do can encourage healthier choices

    Healthier ………………………………………………………………………   

Question 5 (3 points) Write a short essay (120-150 words) on the following topic:

            Drinking habits in your country

Prince Charles and the Mexican city with 'more pasties than Cornwall'

Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall on Sunday visited a remote Mexican mining town to pay tribute to hundreds of British expatriates who brought football and Cornish pasties to the American country two centuries ago. The royal couple spent the day in Pachuca and nearby Real del Monte, 60 miles north of Mexico City, an area nicknamed "Mexico's Little Cornwall" for its close ties to the West Country. They laid a wreath at the memorial of a Mexican-British soldier who died in the First World War, placed the first turf on a new football pitch and visited the world's only pasty museum.

Hundreds of Cornish families moved to Pachuca and Real del Monte in the 1820s for a new life working in silver mines that had fallen into decline. They not only brought mining expertise and 1,500 tonnes of equipment to revitalise the area, but also British culture, which remains to this day.

Pachuca now hosts international pasty, or "paste", festivals and houses an official Fifa football museum to recognise that the country's first club was founded there in 1901, once the Cornish had settled. The city's old clock tower even chimes like Big Ben. Stephen Lay, a spokesman for the Cornish Mexican Cultural Society, said: "It's uncanny, the Cornish influence is abundantly clear even today – pasties are probably even more popular and widely produced than in Cornwall itself."

Around 350 Cornish miners, wives and children sailed to Mexico on three ships in the early 1820s, with the first arriving in 1824. It took them 14 months to haul their equipment 250 miles from the coast to the inland Pachuca and Real del Monte in what is remembered as the "Great Trek" in Mexican folklore.

Private Vial's father, James, from Camborne, Cornwall, is believed to have joined the diaspora in 1881. "Vial" was an adaptation of Veale, the original family name, according to Gill Riffat, whose great, great grandfather, Francis Rule, provided the funds to build Pachuca's Big Ben clock. Private Vial, born in 1894, was 22 when he died of wounds in the Somme in February 1916 serving as a gunner in the Royal Field Artillery. His body is buried at the St. Sever cemetery in Rouen, France, and the plaque in the Panteón Ingles in Real del Monte, near Pachuca is a memorial, according to Mike Kiernan of the Cornish Global Migration Programme. Around 600 of the 700 people buried in the cemetery visited by Charles and Camilla are of Cornish origin, Mr Lay said, many of whom died young in the mines.

The first day of the royal visit fell on the Day of the Dead, a colourful Mexican religious festival where people gather to pray for and remember friends and family who have died and visit their graves. Charles and Camilla also joined celebrations in Real del Monte's town centre, where they saw traditional altars made to mark the occasion known as Olfrenda and watch an Aztec dance exhibition. Later they visited a local secondary school built close to where football was first played in Mexico. The first day of a four-day visit ended with afternoon tea with locals at the pasty museum.

Question 1 (2 points) Indicate whether the following statements are true or false and write down which part of the text justifies your answer.

a. Pachuca is called Mexico’s Little Cornwall because people from the West of England emigrated there.

b.Cornish families moved to Pachuca to try to discover new silver mines.

c. Little remains of the cultural influence of Cornish people in Mexico.

d.On the day of Dead in Mexico, there is a quiet solemn atmosphere.

Question 2 (2 points) Answer the following questions in your own words.

a. What 3 official acts did Charles and Camilla do on their day in Pachuca?

b. How many Cornish people went to Mexico, how did they travel and what did they do for the first 14 months?

Question 3 (1.5 points) Find words or phrases in the text that correspond in meaning to the words and definitions given.

a. Isolated  (para.1)                       b. bunch of flowers  (para. 1)                 c. hold (para. 3)                               

d. start living in a place (para. 3)       e. front part of church/temple (para. 6)

Question 4 (1.5 points) Complete the following sentences without changing the meaning.

a. They joined celebrations in Real Monte’s town centre, then they visited a local secondary school.

After…………………

b. People say that the soldier fought in the First World War.

It……..

c. Pachuca now hosts international pasty festivals and houses an official Fifa fooftball Museum.

International pasty festivals………………………and an official Fifa football museum………………………….

Question 5 (3 points) Write a short essay (120-150 words) on the following topic:

How important do you think it is for people to maintain their cultural traditions? Give reasons.

Exclamations!!

Translate the following sentences into English

1. ¡Qué frío hace hoy!
2. ¡Qué cansado estoy!
3. ¡Qué flores más bonitas me regalaste ayer!
4. ¡Qué bien baila esa chica!
5. ¡Qué caros eran los zapatos!
6. ¡Cuánto hemos comido hoy!
7. ¡Qué rápido conduce tu hermano!
8. ¡Qué examen más malo he hecho!
9. ¡Qué pronto se levanta mi padre!
10. ¡Qué coche más rápido!
11. ¡Qué difíciles eran estas frases!

KEY

1. How cold it is today!
2. How tired I am!
3. What beautiful flowers you gave me yesterday!
4. How well that girl dances!
5. How expensive the shoes were!
6. How much we have eaten today!
7. How fast your brother drives!
8. What a bad exam I have done!
9. How early my father gets up!
10. What a fast car it is! How fast this car is!
11. How difficult these sentences were! What difficult sentences they were!

Bath

Watch the video and answer the questions

1. Why is the town called Bath?
2. Which author was attracted by Bath?
3. When does the festival under her name take place?
4. What was Bath known as?
5. What kind of houses were invented in Bath?
6. What's the name of the grandest set of houses?
7. What do the houses look like?
8. What do people consider it similar to?

KEY

1. Because of the waters
2. Jane Austen
3. Every September
4. The valley of pleasure
5. The terraced houses
6. The Circus
7. A wedding cake
8. The Colosseum in Rome

Sugary drinks warning signs change habits of US teens

KEY

Question 1

a.      “ Four different signs were used in the shops. Two translated the calories in the drinks into the amount of exercise needed to burn off those calories. False….. The remaining signs listed the sugar content of the drink.”

b.      False. “For six weeks, the brightly coloured signs were displayed in corner shops in neighbourhoods in Baltimore, in full view of young customers buying sugary drinks.”

c.      True. “ Out of the 35% of those interviewed who said they saw the signs,”

d.      True. “ 98% of drinks bought in the shops were sugary ones.”

Question 2.

a.      They put up four different signs with bright colours. Half of them showed how much exercise you had to do to work off the calories in the drinks. The other half showed how much sugar and the number of calories the drinks had. They chose the shops in the area where teenagers usually do their shopping.

b.      The effects of the signs were two. The number of sugary drinks teenagers bought became much lower after six weeks and a small percentage of teenagers didn´t buy any drinks. They found out asking young people as they were leaving the corner shops.

Question 3

a.      Purchasing / to purchase

b.      Encourage / to encourage

c.      To burn off / to work off

d.      Believed / to believe

e.      Chose / to choose

Question 4

a.      “We believe the signs so our behaviour has changed.”

b.      89% of the teenagers didn’t buy as many sugary drinks as they used to.

c.      Healthier choices can be encouraged by signs warning shoppers how much exercise they need to do.

Prince Charles and the Mexican city with 'more pasties than Cornwall'

KEY

Question 1

a. TRUE Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall on Sunday visited a remote Mexican mining town to pay tribute to hundreds of British expatriates who brought football and Cornish pasties to the American country two centuries ago.

b.FALSE Hundreds of Cornish families moved to Pachuca and Real del Monte in the 1820s for a new life working in silver mines that had fallen into decline.

c.FALSE They not only brought mining expertise and 1,500 tonnes of equipment to revitalise the area, but also British culture, which remains to this day.

d.FALSE The first day of the royal visit fell on the Day of the Dead, a colourful Mexican religious festival where people gather to pray..

Question 2

a)       They laid a wreath at the memorial of a Mexican-British soldier who died in the First World War, placed the first turf on a new football pitch and visited the world's only pasty museum.

b)       Around 350 Cornish miners, wives and children sailed to Mexico on three ships in the early 1820s, with the first arriving in 1824. It took them 14 months to haul their equipment 250 miles from the coast to the inland Pachuca and Real del Monte in what is remembered as the "Great Trek" in Mexican folklore.

Question 3

a)       remote           b) wreath         c) host       d) settle     e) altar

Question 4

a)After joining celebrations/ they had joined celebrations in Real Monte’s town centre, then they visited a local secondary school.

b)It is said that the soldier fought in the First World War.

c)International pasty festivals are now hosted in Pechuca and an official Fifa football museum is housed there.