Chrismas Carol celebrates its 175 anniversary

Сьогодні 175 років від виходу з друку “Різдвяної пісні” Чарльза Діккенса! Книга мала небувалий успіх - видана у 1843 році тиражем у 6 000 примірників, вона була повністю розпродана до Різдва.

Що треба знати про "Різдвяну пісню в прозі"?

1. Це класичний твір не лише англійської, але й світової літератури, перша в світі різдвяна історія.

2. Вважається, що цим твором Чарльз Діккенс відродив Різдво в Англії 19 сторіччя, нагадавши людям про справжнє значення свята, коли саме час згадати про милосердя та любов до ближніх.

3. За жанром "Різдвяна пісня в прозі" - це оповідання про привидів (a ghost story), які традиційно розповідали в канун Різдва.

4. Це новелла, а отже цікавість та захопливість гарантовано.

5. За формою твір нагадує різдвяну пісню (a christmas carol) - складається з 5 куплетів (staves).

English version is here - 5 Curious Facts about "Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens

Оберіть для себе оптимальний варіант знайомства з твором:

1. "Різдвяна пісня в прозі" у перекладі Івана Андрусяка.

2. Адаптована версія твору англійською мовою (з завданнями до кожної глави).

• Chapter 1 – Marley’s Ghost
• Chapter 2 – The First of the Three Spirits
• Chapter 3 – The Second of the Three Spirits
• Chapter 4 – The Last of the Spirits
• Chapter 5 – The End of It

3. Оригінальний текст твору.

4. Мультфільм

5. Екранізація твору

Також рекомендую до перегляду біографічний фільм "Людина, яка вигадала Різдво" ("The Man Who Invented Christmas"), який оповідає історію створення "Різдвяної пісні". Для кращого розуміння фільму бажано познайомитись з біографією письменника.

The Carol of the Bells

Did you know that Shchedryk is the most famous Ukrainian song? Its English version is called Carol of the Bells.

There's a Wikipedia article devoted to this song which says it was composed by Ukrainian composer Mykola Leontovych in 1914 on the basis of the Ukrainian folk song. English lyrics were written by Peter J. Wilhousky in 1936.

Perhaps you remember hearing it while watching Home Alone.

Lyrics: 

Hark how the bells, 

sweet silver bells, 

all seem to say, 

throw cares away 

Christmas is here, 

bringing good cheer, 

to young and old, 

meek and the bold, 

Ding dong ding dong 

that is their song 

with joyful ring 

all caroling 

One seems to hear 

words of good cheer 

from everywhere 

filling the air 

Oh how they pound, 

raising the sound, 

o'er hill and dale, 

telling their tale, 

Gaily they ring 

while people sing 

songs of good cheer, 

Christmas is here, 

Merry, merry, merry, merry Christmas, 

Merry, merry, merry, merry Christmas, 

On on they send, on without end, 

their joyful tone to every home 

Ding dong ding ding... dong! (Once again) 

Enjoy here 10 best covers of Shchedryk

Today is Saint Andrew's Day

Every year on 30 November Scotland celebrate a national holiday - Saint Andrew's Day. On Scotland's national day most people in this country get a day off and mark the occasion with traditional food, music, dances, flag flying and seeing family and friends.

St.Andrew has been honoured as a patron saint of Scotland since 1000 AD.

Get a glimpse of St.Andrew's Day parade in this video.

Find out more and get the idea of what being Scottish means by reading the following articles.

St.Andrew's Day 

Happy St.Andrew's Day! When is St/Andrew's Day and what it is all about?

Seven Weird and Wonderful Scottish Traditions

Happy St. Patrick's Day

St. Patrick’s Day is a global celebration of the Irish culture on March 17 which remembers St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland. It began as a religious feast day in the 17th century. Now St. Patrick's Day has evolved into a variety of festivals across the globe celebrating Irish culture with parades, special foods, music, dancing, and a whole lot of green.

Shakespeare 400 - Online resources to learn more about the Great Bard and his works

2016 is the four hundredth anniversary of the death of William Shakespeare. Here are some online resources you can use to learn more about his life, works and impact on the English language.

1. A series of lessons about the most famous English writer (Intermadiate, Upper-Intermediate Level).

2. A lesson about "Macbeth" for kids with games.

3. A course "Shakespeare Speaks" on BBC Learning English about the words and phrases that Shakespeare introduced to the English language which are still used today. These are my favourite lessons from the course:

Animal Idioms
Colour Idioms
Idioms and Phrases Relating to the Appearance
Talking about People You Can Rely on
Useful Expressions Relating to Guilt
Phrases and Idioms with "World"

4. A course "Exploring English: Shakespeare" by British Council on Future Learn which will help you to learn more about Shakespeare's plays and the language used in them

Christmas associations: Films and Music

Happy New Year!

As we can still feel the Christmas spirit (and we will be able to do it till 7 January in Ukraine) I'd like to tell you about my favourite Christmas movie Love actually.

This British-American comedy (with a perfect cast consisting of Hugh Grant, Emma Thompson, Liam Neeson, Laura Linney, Colin Firth, Alan Rickman and Keira Knightley, among many others) tells the stories of a handful of people that are all somehow connected to each other, and sums these small bits up to a beautiful tale of love and Christmas.

Although Love Actually is set in the Christmas time and is considered a “Christmas movie” the main theme of the film is love. It is based on the idea that love is all around us - there are different kinds of love, different views on and attitudes towards love

What is worth mentioning is definitely the music. The two large hits (I mean their covers) are closely connected with the plot.

Christmas Is All Around

With the help of his longtime manager Joe, rock and roll legend Billy Mack (Bill Nighy) records a Christmas variation of The Troggs' classic hit "Love Is All Around". Although he thinks the record is terrible, Mack promotes the release in the hope it will become the Christmas number one single. 

Enjoy the video with lyrics. 

All I Want for Christmas

Mariah's Carey's cover is performed in the culmination of the story as you can see it in the video.

 

Here are the lyrics of the song

So these are my Christmas associations. And what are yours?