Welcome to the world, Princess Charlotte Elizabeth Diana of Cambridge!  The baby princess is a sister for Prince George and fourth in the line of succession to the British throne.

Here is a royal baby wordsearch for you:

ROYAL BABY WORDSEARCH

Z S R E X M E E M R P N E R J 
D N T A L T A B O R N V T E G 
I O G H A I C I I G H V U O S 
T I B K R A Z N L Z H N L U D 
Z T Q A Z O C A F L O U A A S 
C A F U I E N J B I I F S T C 
G L V W S R M E S E N W R C A 
E U Y S Y K H S P X T K A P M 
O T B N S S E N H G I H H A B 
R A A A D C H A R L O T T E R 
G R B I C S I S T E R H I H I 
E G A U Y B A B M U Y I E U D 
P N S L A Y O R O O Z J E R G 
A O D N S Q F F S Y S Y Y H E 
C C Z I J N U V M O W K N G M 

BABY
BORN
CAMBRIDGE
CHARLOTTE
CONGRATULATIONS
DIANA
ELIZABETH
FOURTH
GEORGE
HEIR*
HER
HIGHNESS
KATE
PRINCESS
ROYAL
SALUTE**
SISTER
SUCCESSION
THRONE
WILLIAM

*heir = erede

** Gun salutes are normally fired in London to mark the birth of a royal baby.

A KING'S REBURIAL

This is a simplified version of the story of King Richard III of England. Can you put the verbs [in brackets] into the past simple tense? Answers are at the end of the post.

King Richard III

King Richard III [be] an English king who [live] from 1452 – 1485. He [become] King on 26^th June 1483.

The white rose of York

Richard [be] a brave soldier and he [take] part in the Wars of the Roses.  These [be] battles for the throne of England between the House of York, which [use] the white rose as its symbol and the House of Lancaster, which [have] the red rose as its symbol.  Richard [belong] to the House of York.

The red rose of Lancaster

Henry Tudor [defeat] Richard at the Battle of Bosworth and Richard [die]. He [be] the last king of England to die in battle.  Henry Tudor then [take] the throne as King Henry VII.

King Henry VII

William Shakespeare [write] a play about Richard III and [portray] him as an ugly, deformed and evil man who [kill] his own nephews to obtain the throne. But Shakespeare [write] for the court of Queen Elizabeth I, a Tudor, so this representation of Richard may not be true.

Willian Shakespeare 

In 2012 archaeologists [find] Richard's skeleton under a car park in Leicester. Scientists at the University of Leicester [test] the DNA and [match] it to the DNA of two of Richard’s descendants.They [confirm] that the body was Richard’s.

On Sunday 22^nd March 2015 a procession [carry] Richard’s remains from the University of Leicester past Bosworth Field to Leicester Cathedral.  People [throw] white roses on the coffin.  Richard [receive] the burial of an English king in Leicester Cathedral on 26th March 2015,  530 years after his death.

The Queen [not attend] the funeral service.   She [send] Sophie, Countess of Wessex.

Highlight the space below to see the correct past simple tense forms:

was, lived, became, was, took, were, used, had, belonged, defeated, died, was, took, wrote, portrayed, killed, wrote, found, tested, matched, confirmed, carried, threw, received, did not / didn't attend, sent.

INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY WORDSEARCH

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CELEBRATE	DAY	EMPOWERMENT
EQUALITY	HAPPEN	HASHTAG
INTERNATIONAL	MAKE	MARCH
MATTEI	NATIONS	OPPORTUNITY
PURPLE	RIGHTS	SOLIDARITY
TERESA	UNITED	VOTE
WOMEN

Notes:

The UN theme for International Women's Day 2015 is empowerment.

The social media hashtag for the day is #makeithappen .

It was the Italian activist Teresa Mattei who suggested the mimosa flower as a symbol for International Women's day, as it blooms at this time of year and is easy to find.

Purple was one of the colours used by the suffragettes [campaigners for votes for women] in Britain. It was adopted as a symbol of dignity. Some people in Britain wear purple ribbons on International Women's Day.

ST DAVID'S DAY 2015

Sunday is St David's Day and we're ready early at London Town, Modica - Centro Linguistico Internazionale:

Thanks to Delizie d'Autore for the spectacular dragon cake.   Pat made the traditional Welshcakes.

You will find a St David's Day wordsearch here and a quiz about Wales here.

HAPPY ST DAVID'S DAY, EVERYBODY!

BURNS NIGHT WORDSEARCH

January 25th is Burns Night, when people commemorate the Scottish poet Robert Burns. Can you do the Burns Night wordsearch? 

F S X F Z J L Y T L S B H R I 
Y F O S W V I O X Y E U L E H 
T R Q N N P O E M Z L R X P K 
Q L T I G G F O O Y K N O P W 
M S G E V D P S K Y I S N U J 
T H T Q O V N S J S R J B S V 
T L U Y N P I D E A K Z L E R 
D E A F V H A P O L N O B O H 
N T Y D W S I G G A H U B Z T 
A S B V D P C L A X E E A E E 
L A L T G I X Q T T R C O R I 
T O Q A K C E M P T J P A A Y 
O T B S C O T T I S H S H R R 
C R E P I P L A S S I E H K G 
S X Z D S Q B I F I T K Y J A 

BAGPIPES
BURNS
GRACE
HAGGIS
JANUARY
LADDIE
LASSIE
NIGHT
PIPER
POEM
POET
POETRY
ROBERT
SCOTLAND
SCOTTISH
SELKIRK
SONG
SUPPER
TOAST
WHISKY

Notes:

The Selkirk Grace is a grace [preghiera prima dei pasti] attributed to Burns but it is probably older.

lassie - a Scottish word for a girl or young woman

laddie - a Scottish word for a boy or young man

CHRISTMAS QUIZ

See if you can do our Christmas quiz! Answers at the end.

Christmas Quiz 2014

1.  What name do we give to the 24th December?
2.  What name do we give to the 25th December?
3.  What name do we give to the 26th December?
4.  A Christmas religious song is called a Christmas - - - - - .
5.  The answer to question 4 is also the title of a famous book about Christmas by Charles - - - - - - - .
6.  In Britain and the USA people usually eat roast - - - - - - on Christmas Day.
7.  After the meat course people eat a dessert called Christmas - - - - - - - .
8.  We send Christmas  - - - - - to all our friends, neighbours and colleagues.
9.  At 3 pm on Christmas Day the  - - - - - speaks to the British nation and the Commonwealth.
10. What name do we give to the 31st December?
11. What name do we give to the 1st January?
12. What is the New Year celebration called in Scotland?
13. Who wrote the traditional poem Auld Lang Syne, which is sung to welcome the New Year?
14. Which famous children's book opens with the words, "Christmas won't be Christmas without any presents"?
15. A special carol service takes place on Christmas Eve at King's College in - - - - - - - - - , UK.
16. Who says, "Ho, ho, ho!" at the beginning of every sentence?
17. What will probably happen if you stand or sit under the mistletoe [vischio] ?
18. Can you complete this song line? "We - - - - you a merry Christmas, we - - - - you a merry Christmas..."
19. Mince - - - - are traditional Christmas sweet pastries.
20. New Year's - - - - - - - - - - - are promises that we often break.

Merry Christmas!

Please highlight the space below to see the quiz answers:

1. Christmas Eve  2. Christmas Day  3. Boxing Day  4. carol  5. Dickens  6. turkey  7. pudding  8. cards  9. Queen  10. New Year's Eve  11. New Year's Day  12. Hogmanay  13. Robert Burns  14. Little Women  15. Cambridge  16. Father Christmas / Santa Claus  17. Someone will kiss you! 18. wish  19. pies  20. resolutions

NEW CHRISTMAS BOOKLET - NUOVO LIBRETTO PER NATALE

We have a new Christmas booklet at London Town, Modica - Centro Linguistico Internazionale. It contains Christmas vocabulary, information about British Christmas and New Year traditions, a puzzle and a Christmas quiz:

Nel libretto troverete: un vocabolario natilizio inglese, informazioni sulle tradizioni natilizie britanniche, un gioco di parole nascoste e un quiz.  Chi s'iscrive avrà il libretto!