| Secondary Schools: Students School Time | ||||
| country | days / year | days / week | minutes / day | hours / year |
| Spain | 175 | 5 | 297 | 866 - 1027 |
| France | 180 | 5 | 280,5 | 841 - 990 |
| United Kingdom | 190 | 5 | 300 | 950 |
| Germany | 188 | 5 | 252 | 750 - 959 |
| Finland | 190 | 5 | 270 | 855 |
| United States | 180 | 5 | 300 | 920 |
| School Holidays (Secondary and Primary schools) | |||||||
| country | summer | autumn | Christmas | winter | Holy Week | 3rd Term | public holiday |
| Spain | 11-12 weeks | - | 3 weeks | 3 days | 10 days | - | 7 days |
| France | 9 weeks | 1 week | 2 weeks | 1 week | 2 weeks | 1 week | 3 days |
| United Kingdom | 6 - 8 weeks | 1 - 11 days | 2 weeks | 0 - 10 days | 1 - 2 weeks | 0 - 9 days | - |
| Germany | 6 weeks | 2 - 11 days | 1 - 3 weeks | 0 - 10 days | 1 - 15 days | 0 - 9 days | 0 - 10 days |
| Finland | 10 -12 weeks | 1 - 7 days | 10 days | 1 week | 4 days | - | 3 days |
| United States | 10 weeks | 1 week | 2 weeks | 1 week | 1 week | 1 week | 7 days |
Asimismo los diplomados de las escuelas normales que se gradúan en junio serán contratados para empezar en septiembre y tendrán tiempo para cambiar su residencia y preparar sus clases en el nuevo colegio, lo mismo aquellos profesores que cambien de lugar de trabajo.
The Task
Christmas is coming! - a conversation (intermediate) with :
The word “storey” is used to refer to the hight of a building, while “floor” is used to talk about each of the different levels of the building.
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The words “draw” and “drawer” can have the same pronunciation [dro:]
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American settlers borrowed more than 500 words from the Spanish. However, some of these words were originally Indian, having been adopted by the Spanish settlers. Some examples are: rodeo, bronco, buffalo, burro, fiesta, coyote…
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The word “dollar” comes from Joachimsthaler, which refers to a 16th century silver mine in Joachimsthal, Germany. It was first recorded as “daler” in 1553.
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OK is probably the most versatile word in English. It can be a noun, adjective, adverb, verb and interjection.
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Around 4,000 common words are used differently in Britain and the USA.
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English is the official language of 44 countries, more than any other language in the world.
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Japanese is the language with the largest number of English borrowings. It is estimated to have taken around 20,000 words from English. Some examples are: erebeta (elevator), bata (butter) or beikon (bacon).
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Smith is the most common surname in Britain and the USA.
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The word “hoover”, meaning “to vacuum” and “vacuum cleaner”, comes from a brand name.
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The symbol & is called ampersand.
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The names of more than half of the states, and thousands of lakes, rivers and towns in the USA have an Indian origin.
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The words “landscape” and “cookie” were taken from Dutch by American settlers.
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The Oxford English Dictionary insists that Shakespeare should be spelt “Shakspere”, even though it admits that the most common spelling is “Shakespeare”.
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Tall and high are basically synonyms but while you can say “a tall / high building” you can only say “a tall person”.
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The sound “sh” can be represented in 14 different ways: shoe, sugar, champagne, passion, ambitious, ocean, etc.
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There is a larger variety of accents in Britain than in the United States.
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In modern England it is considered more refined to pronounce “ate” as /et/, instead of /eit/.
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The International Phonetic Alphabet is composed of 52 sounds in English, divided equally between vowels and consonants.
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The letters “ough” can be pronounced in eight different ways, as in: through, though, thought, tough, plough, thorough, hiccough and lough (an Irish-English word for “lake”)
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The word “goodbye” comes from the expression God-be-with-you, while “hello” comes from the Old English “hal beo thu” o “whole be thou”.
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The word “nice” was first recorded in 1290 and it meant “stupid and foolish”.
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The verb “tell” used to mean “to count”. This meaning still persists in the American expression “bank teller” (cajero de banco) and when we refer to the person who counts votes.
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English has borrowed words from a large variety of places and languages. In fact, at least half of its common words do not have an Anglo-Saxon origin. Some examples are:
- “shampoo” from India - “ketchup” from China - “potato” from Haiti - “sofa” from Arabia - “slogan” from Gaelic - “breeze” from the Spanish “brisa” - “bankrupt” from the Italian “banca rotta” |
There are still 250 irregular verbs in English.
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Superstitions can be defined as, "irrational beliefs, especially with regard to the unknown"
(Collins English Dictionary)
General Superstitions
Good Luck
Horseshoes are generally a sign of good luck and feature on many good luck cards.
On the first day of the month it is lucky to say "white rabbits, white rabbits white rabbits," before uttering your first word of the day.
Bad Luck
Food Superstitions
Table Superstitions
If you drop a table knife expect a male visitor, if you drop a fork a female visitor.
Animal Superstitions
Wedding Superstitions
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Lucky to meet a black cat. Black Cats are featured on many good luck greetings cards and birthday cards in England. 
Unlucky to walk underneath a ladder. 
When finished eating a boiled egg, push the spoon through the bottom of the empty shell to let the devil out 
One ancient British superstition holds that if a child rides on a bear's back it will be protected from whooping-cough. (Bears used to roam Britain but now they are not seen on our shores)
In some parts of the UK meeting two or three Ravens together is considered really bad. One very English superstition concerns the tame Ravens at the 
It is said to be bad luck if you see bats flying and hear their cries. In the middle ages it was believed that witches were closely associated with bats. 
If a Sparrow
enters a house it is an omen of death to one of the people who live
there. In some areas it is believed that to avoid bad luck, any Sparrow
caught must be immediately killed otherwise the person who caught it
will die. 
In some areas black Rabbits are thought to host the souls of human beings. White Rabbits
are said to be really witches and some believe that saying 'White
Rabbit' on the first day of each month brings luck. A common lucky charm
is a Rabbit's foot, but not for the Rabbit. 
It is thought very unlucky to have the feathers of a Peacock
within the home or handle anything made with them. This is possibly
because of the eye shape present upon these feathers i.e. the Evil-Eye
associated with wickedness. 
