May 1st | Fête du Muguet
"Au mois de mai, fais ce qu’il te plait."
In May do what your heart fancies.
Provencal proverb
So today I feel like sharing a little bit of French culture with you. The 1st of May is a public holiday in France for the Fête du Travail and the day you will find people offering Le Muguet (Lily of the Valley) to their friends, neighbors and acquaintances, a tradition that began during the Renaissance, in 1561, when Charles IX offered them to his subjects as a symbol of porte-bonheur or good luck.
On April we enjoyed Spring holidays and celebrated Easter in most countries in the world. Students and teachers left school for a week or two. Some students and teachers went on educational field trips.
But this Easter something went wrong to a great number of South Korean students and their teachers on field trip to Jeju Island.
"Teacher, please rest in peace"
South Korean vigil
My tribute goes to the South Korean teenagers and teachers who died at sea. They left school two weeks ago on a field trip with hundreds of classmates. Unfortunately only few came back. About 70 survivors from the sunken South Korean ferry visited a memorial at the Danwon High School in Asnan. For these students, school will never be the same.
"It feels so empty now," said student Kim Song Kyum, 17. "It's not an environment where you can study now."
Tt's a tragedy. So sad. I have no words, I was devastated, absolutely devastated, still am. I have no words.
To the students, teachers, parents and families of Danwon High School in Asnan my deepest thoughts.
Here are April's most popular posts:
International Girls in ICT Day 2014
Education: Earth Day 2014 : resources & activities
Education : Stay Up All Night & Watch the Lunar Eclipse
Literature: Charlotte Bronte & Google Doodle
International Dance Day in School Education
Arts Education: Street Photography Contest
Spring Holidays : have fun
Education : World Book And Copyright Day 2014
International Jazz Day & Humanities
Education : April Fools Day
Tomorrow is Mother's Day in Portugal. Mother's Day is celebrated on various days in many countries, yet most commonly in Spring, April or May.
Celebrations of mothers and motherhood occur throughout the world; many of these can be traced back to ancient festivals, such as the Greek cult to Cybele, the Roman festival of Hilaria or the Christian Mothering Sunday celebration.
I would like to pay tribute to all the South Korean mothers who lost their children with the poem "To my mother" by Edgar Allan Poe:
Because I feel that, in the Heavens above,
The angels, whispering to one another,
Can find, among their burning terms of love,
None so devotional as that of "Mother,"
Therefore by that dear name I long have called you-
You who are more than mother unto me,
And fill my heart of hearts, where Death installed you
In setting my Virginia's spirit free.
My mother- my own mother, who died early,
Was but the mother of myself; but you
Are mother to the one I loved so dearly,
And thus are dearer than the mother I knew
By that infinity with which my wife
Was dearer to my soul than its soul-life.
The angels, whispering to one another,
Can find, among their burning terms of love,
None so devotional as that of "Mother,"
Therefore by that dear name I long have called you-
You who are more than mother unto me,
And fill my heart of hearts, where Death installed you
In setting my Virginia's spirit free.
My mother- my own mother, who died early,
Was but the mother of myself; but you
Are mother to the one I loved so dearly,
And thus are dearer than the mother I knew
By that infinity with which my wife
Was dearer to my soul than its soul-life.
Edgar Allan Poe, To my mother
Hope you could catch some interesting ideas to your own lessons. My usual readers know I write in English, French, and Portuguese. On April, I wrote in English and Portuguese.
Wherever you are this weekend, I hope that Spring weather is treating you well !
Ray Bradbury
G-Souto
03.05.2014
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April rundown of the most popular posts & 1st May ! by G-Souto is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
