June 09, 2007

Vocabulary and Grammar: Valentine's Day

Would you like to try a vocabulary game? Can you find all the words related to Valentine's Day on the grid? Remember that they can go vertically or horizontally, in any direction! And why not try a grammar activity to test how many famous couples you know and revise the past simple? Good luck!

3 comments:

Teresa Almeida d'Eça said...

Hi, Monica!
I enjoyed the post about Valentine's and the audio to motivate true stories. I also enjoyed doing the exercises and have a suggestion to make, if I may. You could make both grammar exercises interactive with Hot Potatoes. For the verbs in the simple past you could use JCloze and for the matching pairs you could use JMatch.
Happy Valentine's Day!
BTW, can you tell us why Valentine's is celebated on a different date in Brazil?
Hugs, Teresa (in Portugal, where Valentine's is celebrated on Feb. 14)

Mônica said...

Hi Teresa, thank you so much for the suggestions! I downloaded Hot Potatoes a while ago, but still haven't found the time to "play" with it - but I guess now is the right time!

Valentine's Day is celebrated on June 12 in Brazil because it's the day before the feast day of Saint Anthony (of Lisbon and Padua), who is the saint young single women pray to when they want to find a husband! He is one of the most popular saints in Brazil (and, in fact, in many Catholic countries). He is also the patron saint of the poor, the elderly, couples and pregnant women.

There are some funny traditions here regarding Saint Anthony. For instance, when the girl wants the saint to find her a husband, she takes baby Jesus from his arms, promising to return him as soon as she got a boyfriend - and that's why most babies nowadays are glued to the saint! :-) Also, a girl sometimes turns the saint upside down, and he stays that way until she finds herself a husband.
Hugs from Brazil!

Anonymous said...

Hi Monica,
I loved your idea!
Keep it up!
Doris
Rio