Story

The best Christmas gift ever!

As soon as the phone rang, she knew something was wrong. It was Christmas Eve and Stella had been excited all day long. However, she started feeling very worried when she heard the phone ringing.

She picked it up. It was her mum. She told her that her dad wouldn’t be spending Christmas Day with them.

”Why, mum?”, Stella asked her sadly.

“Because he has to go to a meeting that is held abroad.”, her mum told her. Stella was very disappointed.

She wasn’t excited any more. Her mum was sad to see her so unhappy. She tried to cheer her up by preparing her favourite meal. Unfortunately, that didn’t work.

It was almost midnight when there was a knock on the door.

“Will you open the door, please?”, Stella’s mum asked her. She opened the door. She couldn’t believe her eyes! It was her dad and he was holding a cute puppy! It was the best Christmas present she had ever received.

Review

COLDPLAY

Coldplay, the famous pop group, gave a concert in my town last summer. It took place at Pangritium Stadium at 8 p.m. There was a capacity crowd.

They were great on that day! The special effects and the lighting were spectacular. The crowd was cheering, but they really went wild when Coldplay performed one of their most popular songs, “Clocks”. Their performance of “Viva La Vida” was excellent, too. There were two encores at the end of the concert.

Although the concert was successful, there were one or two problems that disappointed me. Firstly, at some points, the microphones did not work properly, so the audience could not hear the songs. Secondly, the food and the drinks the canteen sold were very expensive.

Despite these problems, the concert was fantastic and I had a great time. You should definitely go and see Coldplay if you like pop music.

Informal transactional e-mail

Dear Pam,

Thank you for your last e-mail. It was great to hear from you! By the way, is your brother doing fine? Is he in pain?

I enjoyed the housewarming party, too. I had a great time! I was a little nervous at first, but after a while I started to unwind and I had so much fun! However, it was very hard to clean the house the next day! It was horrible! There were empty cups everywhere. It took me a whole day to clean up that mess! Thanks for the photos you sent me! They were very funny! I noticed that some photos were missing, such as the one where Natalie is tickling Mike. I would also love the one where you are singing my favourite song.

I just found your diary. It was in the kitchen! Do you want me to send it now or should I bring it when I come?

I’m going to come next month on the 5^th. Is that okay? I would like to go shopping when I’m there! I heard there was a huge variety of shops. I would love to go sightseeing, too. I heard the museum is really interesting.

Write back soon! I can’t wait to meet you!

Love,

Nassia

Informal Letter

Dear Lorena,

I read about you on the E-Communications website. My name is Nassia. I’m 13 years old and I live in Heraklion. It’s on the island of Crete.

I live in the suburbs in an area called “The Three Pine Trees”. My house is on a main street, so it gets a little noisy and crowded here. My school is a 15-minute walk from my house. The city centre is not very far from here.

In my free time, I like playing the keyboard. I’ve been having lessons for 6 months now. I like pop and rock music and my favourite singer is Avril Lavigne. I also like playing volleyball with my dad in our backyard. I do that every weekend. I’m not so good, but my dad is great.

I would like to have a pen friend because I want to learn about other countries’ culture, habits and celebrations.

What about you? Write back soon and tell me.

Bye!

Nassia

A project I did with my friend at school...

How will the world be in 50 years?

A lot of things will have changed in 50 years. Scientists have made lots of predictions, but nobody can be certain.

In my opinion, major changes will have been made. First of all, technology will have advanced. The world will be full of robots and skyscrapers. People will be driving flying cars which will be faster than ordinary cars. We will live for longer, but there will be wars because of people’s need for oil and petrol.

To sum up, I feel that our lives will be quite different in the future. All WE can do is waiting!

Extra reading at home!

Let's see who loves reading stories in English! :-)

Two very easy stories to choose from:

The Little Hunters:
http://markaki-reading.wikispaces.com/The+Little+Hunters+%28Story%29

Sherlock Holmes and the important exam paper:
http://markaki-reading.wikispaces.com/Sherlock+Holmes%2C+C%27+Class%2C+The+story

After you read one of the stories (or both!), you can express your opinion about them on your blog.

Chinese New Year

Chinese New Year

Chinese New Year begins according to the Chinese calendar. This calendar is based on two different systems and New year can begin any time between late January and mid-February. Each year takes its name from 12 animal names. So, year names are repeated every 12 years. January 23 2012 was the first day of the Chinese New Year-Year of the Dragon.

Chinese New Year is the longest and the most important of the traditional Chinese holidays.

People spend money to buy decoration, presents, clothing and food. Housewives also clean the houses in order to sweep away any ill-fortune and to make way for good in coming luck. On New Year's Eve, people get together to have a meal which include pig, duck, chicken and sweet deicacies. They also end the night with firecrackers. Early the next morning children willl greet their parents by wishing them a healthy and happy new year and receive money in red paper envelopes.

Celebrations start on the first day of the new yera and end with Lantern festival which is on the 15th day.

During the celebration people wear red clothes because red symbolizes fire which according to legend can drive away dad luck.

The highlight of th Lantern Festival is the dragon dance. The dragon-which might be a hundred feet long-is made of silk, paper and bamboo. The dragon is held by young men who dance as they guide the colourful beast through the streets.

New Year's Day is also called Lunar New Year and in China it is known as "Spring Festival".

CHINESE NEW YEAR

Chinese New Year starts with the New Moon on the first day of the New Year and ends on the full moon 15 days later. The 15th day of the New Year is called the Lantern Festival, which is celebrated at night with lantern displays and children carrying lanterns in a parade. 

The Chinese calendar is based on a combination of lunar and solar movements. The lunar cycle is about 29.5 days. In order to "catch up" with the solar calendar the Chinese insert an extra month once every few years (seven years out of a 19-yearcycle). This is the same as adding an extra day on leap year. This is why, according to the solar calendar, the Chinese New Year falls on a different date each year.
New Year's Eve and New Year's Day are celebrated as a family affair, a time of reunion and thanksgiving. The celebration was traditionally highlighted with a religious ceremony given in honor of Heaven and Earth, the gods of the household and the family ancestors.

The sacrifice to the ancestors, the most vital of all the rituals, united the living members with those who had passed away. Departed relatives are remembered with great respect because they were responsible for laying the foundations for the fortune and glory of the family.

The presence of the ancestors is acknowledged on New Year's Eve with a dinner arranged for them at the family banquet table. The spirits of the ancestors, together with the living, celebrate the onset of the New Year as one great community. The communal feast called "surrounding the stove" or weilu. It symbolizes family unity and honors the past and present generations.

THE LANTERN FESTIVAL

A report

To: Mr. Brown
From: Athanasia Tournaki
Subject: Making the library more attractive to young people.

Introduction:

In this report, I will make some recommendations to make the library more attractive to young people.

The library:

The library now is a really old building with old-fashioned decoration. However, it is very convenient because it is beside a school, so it attracts some people. The real problem is that it does not attract teenagers.

What teenagers would like:

Teenagers do not really like studying, so a library is not their favourite place. They like connecting to the Internet and chatting with their friends online. They also like watching films and listening to good music.

Recommendations:

I strongly believe the library would attract more young people if some things were different. First of all, we should stock the library with more interesting books teenagers would like. A new section especially for teenagers could also be made. In addition to that, I suggest that we add a section from which young people can borrow classic films and documentaries, as well as music. Creating special reading rooms with a different colour scheme and decoration from the rest of the library would also improve its popularity with young people.

Report about a library

TO: Tom Green
FROM: Rafaela Varveraki
SUBJECT : Making the library more popular

INTRODUCTION
In this I will make some recommendations  about how to make the library more popular with young people in our area .

THE LIBRARY
At the moment ,the library only accepts visitors ,who can come from 9:00 to 21:00 .It is in the center of our town ,so many people come here .

WHAT TEENAGERS ENJOY
Teenagersdo not enjoy coming to the library ,but our library has modern equipment .For examble modern computers ,a room with projectors e.t.c. On computes teenagers can chat and surf the Internet too. And of course reading sci-fi ,fantasy ,comics, adventure books .

RECOMMENDATIONS
I believe the library will become a very popular meeting place for local teenagers iif major changes are made in addition to chairs , desks and bookshelves .We could offer both books access and computers .Also , some board game could be bought I suggest game such as chess and backgammon ,which train your mind . Finally , a large flatscreen TV showing doccumentaries and presentations would also prove to be a popular feature