"Cymru am byth"

Don't you know the meaning of this title? This phrase is written in Welsh and means "Wales for ever".
The name Wales comes from the Anglo-Saxon term Waleas, meaning foreigner. It's a small country with a population of just 2.94 million. The majority or people speak English; however, the Welsh language is popular and is now spoken by more than 20 per cent of the population. Welsh is one of Europe's oldest languages. Since 1999 all schoolchildren in Wales have had to study Welsh, either as a first or second language. The Welsh language has two additional vowels - w and y - to add to the English a, e, i, o and u. The Welsh for Wales is Cymru, and the country's motto is "Cymru am byth" as we have seen before.

Do you want to know more? Go on reading in It's Magazine.

If you want to read about this country, enter the BBC page .

Today is the national day in Wales, it is Saint David's Day. Read about him and then try a comprehension test.

Once Upon a Time...

...there was a wonderful place where all people who love reading novels, tales and any other stories could find the most interesting ones to read aloud to our students, or even to enjoy ourselves. Its name was Lookybook.
But in these times of crises, the web disappeared and even those post written about their books were lost. We cannot move their pages gently while reading or enjoying the drawings...
but I've just found another suitable place to read, not as the way before, but it could work: The Children's Library org , a place where you can fing stories in many languages to learn.
Today we are going to read The Haunted House Party.

I hope you enjoy the story!

Zack Hill's Life

Clik on the image to enlarge

The Scent of Love

The Chinese Zodiac

The Chinese zodiac has twelve different animals. What animal are you?

How to play
Put your date of birth in the zodiac machine to find out which animal you are. (You have to delete the zeros first!)

Chinese New Year is celebrated in many countries around the world. Each new year is named after one of twelve animals.

2009 was the year of the ox.

2010 is the year of the tiger.

People born in the year of the tiger are good leaders. They are intelligent, generous and calm. But they can also get very angry quickly - so watch out!
Listen to a girl telling us about why she likes Chinese New Year, and what she does at this time.And even you can try some more games!

Easy Listening

Are you interested in improving your listening? British Council Learn English Kids' page offers plenty funny audios to teach you how to identify people, animals and objects in a shop. Playing you can see that you know more that you have expected, so don't be shy and try these games!!

Remember you can find this information at the permanent link on your right, in Useful skills section

Phrasal Verbs I. School Days

Phrasal verbs are very common and are a really good way to make yourself sound more natural when speaking informal English. They can be difficult, but here you can find out how to use phrasal verbs to talk about school days.

You can listen to conversations one and two, where the phrasal verbs are used, and at the end, you can test your knowledge by trying the quiz.

Dialogue 1:
VICKI:We’re going to go back to school.
CALLUM:Because if you want to get ahead, you need a good education!
VICKI:That’s right. Well one way to get ahead with English is to use more phrasal verbs. For example:
CALLUM:'get ahead' Yes..my education certainly helped me get ahead – it helped me to become more successful than other people.
VICKI:It must have done Callum because now you’re working with me!
CALLUM:And that really is getting ahead!
VICKI:So what were your school days like, Callum?
CALLUM:Well..I suppose I got on okay.
VICKI:So you were quite successful.
CALLUM:I got on okay, yeah. Sometimes I messed around.
VICKI:Ah, you were sometimes naughty, and just played when you should’ve been working?
CALLUM:Yes, I messed around sometimes, just like most kids.

Dialogue 2:
CALLUM:I messed around sometimes, just like most kids. But then I usually got down to work in the end!
VICKI:Well, yes, if you want to succeed you have to start doing your work sometime!
CALLUM:So, I got down to work and I’m glad to say I got through all my exams.
VICKI:Well done you! So in the end, you started working, and even though it was hard, you managed to pass your exams, so then what did you do?
CALLUM:Well I went on to university.
VICKI:So after school, you continued your education at university – just like me.

How to: Use Your Friends' Hobbies to Your Advantage

(Click on the image to enlarge)
Thanks to basicinstructions.net

Peanuts: "It is cold today, isn't it?"