The First Day of Summer

Welcome to summer, which officially begins today, June 21st, thanks to the summer solstice. This is the longest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere.

Summer is all about fun, relaxing, vacation and having a good time.  For those who don't have summer jobs it may take some imagination to fill up all those free hours every day. Here is a look at the summer of two non-working sisters.

Hurricane Season

The official Atlantic, Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico hurricane season starts on June 1, ends on November 30, and averages seven named storms.  The 2005 Atlantic season was a  record breaker. Twenty-eight storms reached speeds of thirty-nine miles per hour, the threshold for being named by the National Hurricane Center. Among them, Hurricane Katrina was the deadliest and costliest hurricane in U.S. history, and Wilma the most intense Atlantic hurricane ever recorded.

The Atlantic basin is expected to see an above-normal hurricane season this year, according to the seasonal outlook issued by NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center – a division of the National Weather Service.

Across the entire Atlantic Basin for the six-month season, which begins June 1, NOAA is predicting the following ranges this year:

12 to 18 named storms (winds of 39 mph or higher), of which:

6 to 10 could become hurricanes (winds of 74 mph or higher), including:

3 to 6 major hurricanes (Category 3, 4 or 5; winds of 111 mph or higher)
Each of these ranges has a 70 percent likelihood, and indicate that activity will exceed the seasonal average of 11 named storms, six hurricanes and two major hurricanes.

To see what type of damage different levels of hurricanes can cause, go to the AP Interactive feature.

Check in at the National Hurricane Center at any time to see what storms are in the area.

Weather WizKids has a very complete hurricane page which will help you learn what a hurricane is, how it forms, and much more, including hurricane vocabulary such as

TROPICAL STORM WATCH - Tropical Storm conditions with sustained winds from 39 -74 mph are possible in your area within the next 36 hours.
TROPICAL STORM WARNING - Tropical Storm conditions are expected in your area within the next 24 hours.
HURRICANE WATCH - Hurricane conditions with sustained winds of 74 mph or greater are possible in your area within the next 36 hours. This WATCH should trigger your family's disaster plan, and protective measures should be initiated. Especially, those actions that require extra time such as securing a boat and leaving a barrier island.
HURRICANE WARNING - Hurricane conditions are expected in your area within 24 hours. Once this WARNING has been issued, your family should be in the process of completing protective actions and deciding the safest location to be during the storm.

and more.

Hurricane Names
Hurricanes, tropical storms, and tropical cyclones in other parts of the world are identified by names. The north Atlantic and eastern north Pacific oceans use a six year rotating list of hurricane names. If a hurricane is severe, that hurricane name is retired and a new one is chosen to replace it. If any hurricane name is retired from the 2011 east Pacific or Atlantic hurricane season the list of hurricane names for 2017 will be adjusted by the National Hurricane Center.

Take a look at the names for hurricanes from 2011-2016.

Memorial Day

Memorial Day is a United States federal holiday observed on the last Monday of May (May 30 in 2011). Formerly known as Decoration Day, it commemorates U.S. soldiers who died while in the military service. First enacted to honor Union and Confederate soldiers following the American Civil War, it was extended after World War I to honor Americans who have died in all wars.

Memorial Day often marks the start of the summer vacation season, and Labor Day its end.

Thanks to Larry Ferlazzo for this list of best sites to learn about Memorial Day -

EL Civics has a good Memorial Day Lesson

Here’s a Memorial Day Quiz designed for English Language Learners.

The History Channel has a great Memorial Day site.

Social Studies For Kids has a good description of the day called Memorial Day: A Time For Reflection.

Arlington National Cemetery has a large collection of images in their photo galleries

Here’s a cloze (fill-in-the-blank) exercise from Glencoe about the day.

The Orange County Register has an accessible interactive graphic about Memorial Day.

ESL Holiday Lessons is a good resource that provides audio support for the text.

Memorial Day Across America is an online video from MSNBC.

Paying Tribute is a slideshow about Memorial Day from MSNBC.

Honoring The Fallen is a similar slideshow from CBS News.

Mementos Adorn ‘Saddest Acre’ is a slideshow from CNN.

Honoring Those Who Served Us is a slideshow from MSNBC.

Here’s a list of interesting facts about Memorial Day that wouldn’t be accessible to ELL’s, but teachers could certainly modify them.

The Military Times has an amazing presentation honoring those who have been killed in Afghanistan and Iraq.

The Military Times also offers a panoramic tour of Arlington National Cemetery.

CBS News has an online video of President Obama visiting Arlington National Cemetery. The Associated Press has a similar video

CNN has a slideshow of the same visit.

Take a Memorial Day Quiz for ELL’s

Memorial Day 2009 is a series of photos from the Big Picture.

Voice of America Special English has an accessible explanation of the holiday and provides audio support for the text.

Memorial Day Observations is a slideshow from The New York Times.

Here’s an audio slideshow of Memorial Day in Washington, D.C.

Flags in remembrance at Arlington National Cemetery is a Washington Post slideshow.

Honoring The Fallen is a CNN video on the same activity at Arlington.

“Iraq & Afghanistan War Casualties” is a pretty amazing interactive graphic from CNN showing all U.S. casualties from both wars.

Cartoonists Honor Heroes is a collection of editorial cartoons related to Memorial Day.

Women In Uniform is a slideshow from MSNBC

ABC News has several related videos:

Remembering Those Who Died, 2010

Celebrating Memorial Day In Iraq

War Vets Rev Up Washington

Memorial Day Messages

Try-out this Pre-Intermediate English Lesson – Memorial Day from ESOL Courses

How We Bury The War Dead is a slideshow from The Wall Street Journal.

Honoring America’s Fallen Heroes is a slideshow from MSNBC.

Honoring The Fallen is a Fox News slideshow.

CNN has several related videos on this page.

Faces Of The Dead is a New York Times interactive

The Great Unknowns is a New York Times graphic

Silence, ceremonies mark sacrifice of military is a CNN video.

Memorial Day is a slideshow from The Wall Street Journal.

Labor Day

In 1882, Peter J. McGuire, a leader of the labor union the Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners (joiner being "a craftsman who constructs things by joining pieces of wood" or "a worker in wood who does more ornamental work than a carpenter") proposed a day to honor laborers. Laborers were considered a new class that worked in the factories and plants created by the Industrial Revolution. Labor Day became a national holiday on which workers in the 1890s and early 20th century used to call attention to their grievances. There were often parades, political speeches, fireworks, and a picnic. Today, Labor Day, celebrated on the first Monday in September (as of 1894, by law), simply honors anyone who works. The date has no traditional or historic significance but was picked because it filled a gap in the schedule of legal holidays. Canada also celebrates Labor Day on the first Monday in September; many other countries observe this on May 1. 
Labor Day  Weekend (Saturday, Sunday and Monday) is generally regarded as the end of summer, even though the season does not officially end until September 21st. In the northern U.S. students generally go back to school in the week after Labor Day weekend. Labor Day weekend is often celebrated with last trips to the beach, barbecues and other festivities. Families with school-age children take it as the last chance to travel before the end of summer recess. Similarly, some teenagers and young adults view it as the last weekend for parties before returning to school. 

In U.S. sports, Labor Day marks the beginning of the NFL and college football seasons. NCAA teams usually plays their first games the week before Labor Day, with the NFL traditionally playing their first game the Thursday following Labor Day.

Summer Word Origins

Summer is the warmest season of the year and starts at the summer solstice and runs till the autumnal equinox. The word summer derives from Old Norse sumar, but ultimately is from Proto-Germanic. By the late 1500s to early 1600s, it locked into its current spelling. The term midsummer actually refers to the day of the summer solstice as well as the "middle of summer." Its formation was patterned on words like midday, midnight, andmidwinter.

Bonfire comes from the words bone and fire, referring to an open-air burning of bones or funeral pyre. The Oxford English Dictionary describes the use in Scotland of the formbane-fire and also to the annual midsummer banefire or bonfire in the burgh of Hawick, for which bones were collected and stored regularly until around 1800. Lighting bonfires was one of the most universal of ancient midsummer rites and one that still survives in some northern European countries. The solstice bonfires were believed to prevent cattle disease and were also associated with human courtship and fertility.

The phrase dog days is said to have originated in Roman times as canicularis dies, 'days of the dog,' referring to the dog star Sirius or Procyon. The Romans thought the rising of the most brilliant star of the constellation Canis Major contributed to the heat of summer.

The word humidity is from Latin humidus, from humere 'to be moist.' Humidity was found in English c 1400.

The solstice is one of the two times of year when the Sun's apparent path is farthest north or south from the Earth's equator. In the Northern Hemisphere, the summer solsticeis on June 21 or 22, the longest day of the year. The situation is exactly the opposite in the Southern Hemisphere, where the summer solstice is on December 21 or 22. The wordsolstice is from Latin solstitium, from sol 'sun' and sistere 'to stand still,' as it is regarded as a point at which the Sun seems to stand still. The word was first used in English around 1250.

Though modern observances of the summer solstice are rare, there were celebrations in ancient times in Europe, the British Isles, China, Egypt, North Africa, and Scandinavia. These include the celebration in ancient Egypt at the Temple of Amen-Ra at Karnak, starting around 3700 B.C.E., where a beam of light would illuminate a sanctuary in the temple's interior for about two or three minutes on the day of the solstice. A similar phenomenon was observed at Stonehenge in southwest England. If one stands at the center of the monument and faces northeast along its axis, the 35-ton Heel Stone appears 256 feet away, marking the approximate place on the horizon where the sun rises on the summer solstice. Astronomers have discovered at least two dozen other solar and lunar alignments that the ancient builders of Stonehenge incorporated into its structure.

Vacation is a word coming from Latin vacation/vacatio, from vacare 'to be free, empty; to be at leisure.' Around 1395, this term entered Old English, meaning 'rest and freedom from any activity.'

(from dictionry.reference.com)

Fourth of July Word Origins

Independence Day or Fourth of July is the annual celebration of the United States' "birthday," the date of the passage of the Declaration of Independence by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776. The first celebrations included bell ringing, bonfires, processions, and speeches. In some towns, these celebrations also had a mock funeral for the king, symbolizing the end of America's rule by the British monarchy. It was not until 1941, however, that Congress officially established the Fourth of July as a legal holiday. The date could easily have been July 2, the day on which the Continental Congress approved a resolution for independence, or August 2, the day on which the members of Congress actually signed the document. But it was on July 4 that the final text of the Declaration, which had been drafted by Thomas Jefferson, was ratified. By 1788, the Fourth of July also commemorated the U.S. Constitution as well, which had recently been approved by ten states.

Feasting has always been part of Fourth of July celebrations. In the beginning there were banquets, but this has evolved into outdoor barbecues and picnics. Barbecue was originally a word for a wooden framework for sleeping or for drying or storing meat or fish. The word derives from Arawak or Haitian or Taina barbacoa and became Spanishbarbacoa, "wooden frame on posts" or "framework for meat over fire." Barbeque is the variant spelling. In English, the word's first meanings were the framework and the animal roasted on it; the usage of "social entertainment" is not recorded until 1733. Picnic is from French pique-nique, but that word's origin is unknown. Picnics started out as social occasions (the word first recorded in English in 1748) to which each participant brought comestibles.

The bald eagle (also called the American or white-headed eagle, Haliaeetus leucocephalus) is the national bird of the United States and one of the largest birds in the world. "Bald" in this instance means "white," not "hairless." Eagle comes from the Latin word aquila, "black eagle," from aquilus, "dark-colored," which it is until it gets the white head plumage as an adult. The eagle has been a symbol of freedom and liberty and power since ancient times. Some people, like Benjamin Franklin, did not agree that the eagle was an appropriate symbol. Franklin thought the turkey was a better choice for the national bird.

The term for a combustible or explosive or pyrotechnic ("pertaining to fire art") projectile was "rocket" until fireworks was used in 1777 to describe these in connection with the first Fourth of July celebration. "Rockets" are still the most popular form of firework. Rockets are lifted by recoil from the jet of fire created by the burning ingredients — and they are designed for maximum combustion and maximum thrust. Fireworks originated in ancient China. The word firecracker refers to those that make loud sounds and sparklers are those that send off a shower of sparks. The very first Fourth of July celebrations in 1777 included fireworks as a part of the festivities.

A flag as a piece of cloth used as a standard, signal, or symbol in English dates to the late 15th century. The word may be an onomatopoeic representation for such a cloth flapping in the wind, but the origin remains obscured. As far as the American flag goes, there are many theories about its origin, with the story of Betsy Ross being the most famous.

The first Fourth of July parade took place on the Potomac River in Washington, D.C. when President John Quincy Adams led a boat procession up the river. Parade comes from a French word meaning "a showing" or "action of stopping a horse," originating from Latinparare, "to prepare."

(from dictionary.reference.com)

101 Things to Love About Summer

Here is a list of thing to love about summer - Do you recognize all these things? Which do you enjoy year round in Maracaibo and which are uniquely North American?

1. lemonade stands
2. whirring vintage fans
3. sundresses
4. fireflies
5. wildflowers by the highway
6. s’mores
7. easy grilled dinners
8. summer thunderstorms
9. the long, lingering daylight hours
10. fireworks
11. marching bands in parades
12. linen
13. the return of Mad Men
14. cold watermelon
15. napping in a hammock
16. sunglasses as headbands
17. the smell of sunscreen on kids
18. farmer’s markets at their most glorious
19. a chelada on a hot day
20. picnics
21. daytrips to the beach (and the reminder of it with sand everywhere)
22. iced tea in mason jars
23. espadrilles
24. bocce
25. swimming
26. halter top strings dangling down your back
27. outdoor movies
28. long hikes in the cool, quiet woods
29. sandcastles
30. wavy, sexy beach hair
31. saltwater taffy
32. camping
33. drippy ice cream cones
34. yoga outside
35. easy entertaining on your porch or in your backyard
36. lying on a floating wooden platform in the middle of a lake
37. croquet with a pimm’s cup
38. kids playing in sprinklers and open fire hydrants
39. street fairs
40. horseshoes
41. a fresh pedicure tucked into fancy sandals
42. Lillet on the rocks with a slice of orange
43. so-golden-you’d-never-know fake tans
44. visiting national parks
45. outdoor concerts
46. sno-cones
47. big, floppy hats
48. canoeing
49. sheer, pretty make-up
50. vacation, staycation, or just giving yourself a quick relaxation break
51. iced coffee
52. the sounds of the ice cream truck
53. raffia, jute, and straw anything
54. braids
55. eating outside
56. sleeping in tents (in the backyard or the wilderness)
57. crisp, cool cotton sheets, dresses, and shirts
58. the seasonal return of rosé
59. going to a baseball game
60. fresh basil and mint growing on your windowsill
61. homemade posicles
62. sunny days = sunnier moods
63. blowing bubbles
64. getting lost in a juicy novel for an afternoon
65. water balloons
66. car wash fundraisers
67. rooftop parties
68. road trips (and kitschy roadside attractions)
69. corn dogs
70. frisbee
71. the ripest, most luscious tomatoes
72. collecting seashells
73. mini golf
74. lobster rolls
75. state fairs (and food on sticks)
76. flea markets and antique fairs
77. staying inside when you’ve had too much sun, blasting the a/c, and watching movies
78. retro bathing beauty swimsuits
79. country church suppers
80. pretending to be Amèlie on Bastille Day
81. driving with the top down
82. crickets
83. the sound of lawn mowers
84. open windows
85. kids in sunglasses
86. sand between your toes
87. sitting in the shade on a hot day
88. the sound of ocean waves
89. blackberries
90. a cool breeze on a hot day
91. flip flops
92. the smoky smell of people barbecuing in the evenings
93. relaxed attitudes
94. surfing
95. spotting hot air balloons
96. skinny dipping
97. dogs with their heads out car windows, tongues wagging
98. bicycles built for two
99. snorkeling
100. neighborhood block parties
101. the weightlessness

(from Pink of Perfection)