My blog is aimed at anyone who wants to improve their English. I try to post two or three times a week and include grammar tips, interesting links, exam skills and some brief summaries of some activities we've been doing in class.
I know everyone works hard on their English throughout the year but the Christmas holidays can be a great time to practice English in unconventional ways...... If you need listening practice and like Christmas carols I have the perfect solution for you:- https://es.lyricstraining.com/en/genre/christmas Yes! Lyricstraining.com has a whole Christmas category... If you're not familiar with lyricstraining, it's a website that has music videos you play and complete (there are gaps in the lyrics). You can choose between four different levels and hundreds of songs. If you need speaking practice and you like party games try this app:- https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.xinora.charadasadivinalapalabra&hl=es_419 It's like the classic Christmas party game "charades" but instead of mimicking the words you must describe them to your partner so they can guess what they are. There are several different lexical categories and most importantly you can change the language to English. If you're more into watching something or just listening (or even some cooking!) check this out:- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dU8-hqOPw-U Amigos ingleses is a lovely channel with short dialogues in video format or podcasts. Top quality material that I would recommend to anybody! I hope this helps to give you some inspiration for your holiday English practice!
Where do you normally do your Christmas shopping? This year I have done my christmas shopping, mostly, online. For several reasons; a lack of time to go shopping on the High Street, better prices online and having everything delivered to a pick-up point or your front door being so convenient. However, there are still some things that I needed to resort to a shopping centre or the High Street to get. That's my take on Christmas as a shopper but what's Christmas like for retailers? Let's do this reading activity and find out:-
Christmas as a top-selling season
Christmas is generally a top-selling season for retailers in many countries around the world. Because it is a season where people buy gifts, decorations, and supplies to celebrate, sales escalate rapidly. In the U.S., the "Christmas shopping season" starts as early as October. In Canada, merchants begin advertising campaigns just before Halloween (October 31) and step up their marketing following Remembrance Day on November 11. In the UK and Ireland, the Christmas shopping season starts from mid-November, around the time when high street Christmas lights are turned on.
Christmas statistics
In the United States, it has been calculated that a quarter of all personal spending takes place during the Christmas/holiday shopping season. Statistics reveal that expenditure in department stores nationwide rose from $20.8 billion in November 2004 to $31.9 billion in December 2004, an increase of 54 percent. In other sectors, the pre-Christmas increase in spending was even greater. There was a November–December buying surge of 100 percent in bookstores and 170 percent in jewelry stores. In the same year employment in American retail stores rose from 1.6 million to 1.8 million in the two months leading up to Christmas. Industries completely dependent on Christmas include Christmas cards, of which 1.9 billion are sent in the United States each year, and live Christmas Trees, of which 20.8 million were cut in the U.S. in 2002. In the UK in 2010, up to £8 billion was expected to be spent online at Christmas, approximately a quarter of total retail festive sales.
The film industry also take the opportunity to make more money during the Chrismas holidays. Film studios release many high-budget movies during the holiday season, including Christmas films, fantasy movies or high-tone dramas with high production values hoping to maximize the chance of nominations for the Academy Awards.
Christmas Day
In most Western nations, Christmas Day is the least active day of the year for business and commerce; almost all retail, commercial and institutional businesses are closed, and almost all industries cease activity (more than any other day of the year), whether laws require such or not. In England and Wales, the Christmas Day (Trading) Act 2004 prevents all large shops from trading on Christmas Day. Scotland is currently planning similar legislation.
Protest against consumerism
Recently, many people have started protesting against the Christmas season consumerism. For example, Buy Nothing Christmas is an ongoing protest and reaction to the commercialization of the North American Christmas season. Contemporarily a movement was created to extend Adbusters magazine's Buy Nothing Day into the entire Christmas season. The idea advocated by this movement is that buying something never makes one happy. It is our human connections that are essential for our happiness. At a critical moment in human history when global warming is causing so much harm, this movement claims that it is wiser to ignore the advertisements that incite us to buy more, to buy things we do not really need.
Are the following sentences TRUE or FALSE?
Expenditure in department stores has tripled between November and December 2004. a. True b. False
The film industry releases movies during the Christmas season to make a lot of money and to have the chance to get nominated for the Academy Awards. a. True. b. False.
Most stores are open during Christmas day. a. True b. False
Christmas is only about three weeks away and we're still not ready. Let's see what's on my Christmas check list:- - I have to decorate my Christmas tree
- I have to write my Christmas cards for my friends and family
- I must buy and wrap a present for my secret santa (amig@ invisible)
As you can see I have my work cut out!
Let's talk about traditions....
In the UK it's very typical to:-
Eat roast turkey for lunch
Eat mince pies
Watch the Queen's speech
These are just some of our Christmas traditions, that people normally put into practice once a year but there's an exception.... Do you know who "Mr Christmas" is?
Christmas is generally a top-selling season for retailers in many countries around the world. Because it is a season where people buy gifts, decorations, and supplies to celebrate, sales escalate rapidly. In the U.S., the "Christmas shopping season" starts as early as October. In Canada, merchants begin advertising campaigns just before 
