31st December: New Year's Eve

As you all know, in Spain we eat twelve grapes at midnight. The actual countdown is primarily followed from the clock on top of  the Correos building in Puerta del Sol square, Madrid. It is traditional to eat twelve grapes, on on each chime of the clock. This tradition has its origins in 1909, when grape growers in Alicante thought of it as a way to cut down on the large production surplus they had had that year. Nowadays the tradition is followed by almost every Spaniard, and the twelve grapes have become synonimous with the New Year. After the clock has finished striking twelve, people greet each other and toast with sparkling wine (such as champagane or cider).

26th December: Boxing Day

Today is Boxing Day. No, it has nothing to do with the sport of fighting with the fists. This is the reason for the name:

A box, usually of earthenware, in which contributions of money were collected at Christmas, by apprentices, etc.; the box being broken when full, and the contents shared.

So, the name Boxing Day derives from the tradition of giving seasonal gifts, on the day after Christmas, to less wealthy people and social inferiors, which was later extended to various workpeople such as labourers and servants.

Music: Christmas Lights, by Coldplay

"Christmas Lights" is a song by British alternative rock band Coldplay released on Wednesday December 1, 2010, at 8PM GMT as a digital download. Described by the band as "a mid-tempo number" that is in the key of G major. The cover art is by Yu Matsuoka Pol.

Christmas' Eve Dinner

In Britain, turkey is the traditional dish for Christmas' Eve dinner. Enjoy it!

No copyright infringement intended. For educational purposes only.

7 O´Clock News / Silent Night

Recorded on August 22nd, 1966, "7 O'Clock News/Silent Night" is the twelfth and final track on "Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme", a 1966 album by Simon and Garfunkel. The track consists of an overdubbing of two contrasting recordings: a simple arrangement of the Christmas carol "Silent Night", and a simulated "7 O'Clock News" bulletin of the actual events of 3 August 1966.

Merry Christmas!

Labor English Zone wishes you the 

Season's Greetings

At Labor English Zone we know what present we want for Christmas!

Christmas Carols & Songs

A carol is a song of praise or joy, especially for Christmas. But it is also an old round dance often accompanied by singing.  The word was probably from Old French, derived from Latin choraula, which means "choral song".

Enjoy a selection of traditional Christmas carols and songs in English. Lyrics are included, so you can learn how to sing them!

8 Facts about Spain's 'El Gordo' Lottery

The following article was published by PR Newswire on7th December 2010.

Best Students - 1st Term 2011-12

Our best students of English during the 1st Term have been:

1 ESO A - Andrea Cobo Arena (9.30)

1 ESO B - Irene Sánchez Sanz (9.77) --Best overall ESO student of English in the 1st Term!

2 ESO A - Diego Anido Pereiro (9.35)

2 ESO B - Mario Quinteiro Sotelo (8.41)

3 ESO A - Rodrigo Rodríguez González (7.80)

3 ESO B - Candela Rodríguez Bernárdez (8.57)

4 ESO A - Miguel Romero Zapatero (9.16)

4 ESO B - Jessica Davila Prado (7.61)

Very often the students who get the highest grades are not the most talented ones, but those who try harder, show a positive attitude and have a praiseworthy work ethics.

Congratulations!

No copyright infringement intended. For educational, non-commercial purposes only.

Superb Job

Labor Students,

We would like to post ESO 1 unit 3 outline by ESO 1 B student, Andrea Aguado. Andrea has done it voluntarily as a preparation for her unit 3 test. We thought it was not only a brilliant idea, but a superb job, and that is why we would like to share it with you all. We would also like to suggest to you to do similar lesson outlines and summaries for your exams. If you do this we are sure your test results will improve dramatically.

Congratulations, Andrea!!

Labor English Zone 2nd Anniversary

Labor English Zone started on 6th December 2009. Since then we have published 500+ posts and have received over 17,500 visitors who have viewed more than 26,000 pages. Our busiest day was 11th May 2010, when our hits peaked at 122 visitors (we guess the following day there was a pbl deadline or some kind of exam!!).  And if you google us you will obtain 2,700,000+ results. Posted on February 27th 2010, this entry about school jokes, with over 580 visitors, has been the most popular one during first two years.

We want to thank you all for being there and for your visits. We would like to encourage you to send us comments and messages with your ideas and suggestions for new posts. We are interested in hearing what interests you.

To celebrate we are 2 years old, we publish again our first post, "The Italian Man Who Went to Malta":

6th December 2009

Let's begin with some humour. Italian and Spanish are arguably the hardest accents to get rid of. Practise pronunciation drills and try to polish your accent in case you go to Malta too!!

No copyright infringement intended. For educational, non-commercial purposes only.