Burns´ Night

On the 25th January, people in Scotland celebrate Burns Night, a celebration of the life and work of Robert Burns, Scotland´s most famous poet. People typically gather for a meal in the evening, sing songs, recite the poetry of Robert Burns and eat Haggis, a traditional Scottish food. Haggis is a pudding containing sheep's heart, liver and lungs, and boiled in its own stomach.

Before the Haggis is eaten, traditionally Robert Burns´ poem "Address to the Haggis" is read. It is written in Scots, a dialect of English.

The History of Groundhog Day

Groundhog Day is a day celebrated on February 2. According to folklore, if it is cloudy when a groundhog emerges from its burrow on this day, then spring will come early; if it is sunny, the groundhog will supposedly see its shadow and retreat back into its burrow, and the winter weather will persist for six more weeks.

Script of the video

Winner of "Write your own legend" Contest: Paula Redondo (i1A - Loeches)

The Legend of Wiltshire Castle

In Wiltshire, southwest of England, a group of friends went on holiday to a small rural house in the countryside. All of them liked travelling and discovering new things so, as they didn´t know the village, they decided to go around and have a look. As they walked they saw a huge castle in ruins and they agreed to go in. Once they were in, one of the girls stepped on something. She thought it was a rock but then she realised it really was a metal bow that opened with the hit. Inside, they found an old map of the castle before it was damaged. In the map, there were three placed marked: the kitchen, one of the living-rooms and the attic. So they decided to follow the map and go to each of the rooms in which they found identical boxes. Each box had a clue about an underwater cave in a lake near the castle. The boys rented some kayaks and went to the lake. When they arrived there, they saw some rocks standing out of the water and they thought it was the entrance to the cave. They put on the diving equipment and went under the water. As they went down they saw a hole on the rocks and knew it was the cave, so they got in and found another box, but much bigger than the others at the castle. Inside they discovered lots of jewels, rubies and emeralds. The boys sold them and with the money they made they renewed the castle and moved there. With the passing of time, all of them died and the castle got ruined again. The legend says that their ghosts come back to the castle every night and have a walk around it.

Martin Luther King Jr. Day

Martin Luther King Jr. Day

Martin Luther King Jr. (MLK) will be known as one of, if not the most, influential Civil Rights Activists in the United States. Himself and many others during the Civil Rights Movement fought to end segregation that existed among white Americans and African Americans during the mid-1950s until the end of the 1960s. He gained a lot of respect from U.S. presidents and from international leaders. King attended meetings with President Richard Nixon, President Dwight D. Eisenhower, Prime Minister Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana, Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and many of Gandhi's followers

As a Christian minister, Martin Luther King Jr. demanded peaceful protest. He encouraged and joined in on boycotts, marches and sit-ins. Although many law enforcement officers and vigilantes used force to disband civil rights protests, MLK and his followers refused to change their methods. Due to his involvements and actions, he was arrested thirty times in a ten year span. He also received numerous death threats, which resulted in violence to his family and home, and his eventual assassination in 1968.

Martin Luther King Jr. Day is celebrated on the third monday of January every year as a national holiday. He only lived to the age of 39, but his fight against racism and segregation still goes on.

“I say to you today, my friends, though, even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream. I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up, live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal."”

• Martin Luther King Jr., Washington D.C., 1963, “The March on Washington”

LyricsTraining

LyricsTraining is an easy and fun way to learn and improve your foreign languages skills through the music videos and the lyrics of your favorite songs.  You just need to know three things:

1. As the video plays, users are expected to complete a gap fill exercise using the transcript of the lyrics below the video. The video will not continue until the missing word is filled in
2. To listen to a line again, press the "backspace" key.
3. To skip the words you don't understand, press the "tab" key.

Try it yourself! For example, you can start with this Dido's song. Choose your level (beginner, intermediate, advanced or expert) and start playing: