William Shakespeare

Shakespear was an English playwright, actor and poet. We know very little about William Shakespeare’s childhood.

He was born in the English city of Stratford-upon-Avon in 1564 (on April 26, 1564 he was baptized in Stratford-upon-Avon, England (likely born on April 23rd)). William’s father was a successful leather merchant  He was the third of six children including two older sisters and three younger brothers. He went to the local grammar school where he learned about poetry, history, Greek, and Latin. 

When William was eighteen he married Anne Hathaway. Anne was eight years older than William. They had a daughter named Susanna and twins named Hamnet and Judith. 

After William and Anne had the twins, there are no records of the next several years of his life. Historians often call these years the “lost years.” 

Some of Shakespeare’s early plays include The Taming of the Shrew, Richard III, Romeo and Juliet, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. 

Many of Shakespeare’s greatest plays he wroten in the last half of his career. These included Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, and Macbeth.

Shakespeare also became famous for his poetry. His most famous poem of the time was Venus and Adonis. He also wrote poems called sonnets. A book of 154 of Shakespeare’s sonnets was published in 1609. 

William died on his fifty-second birthday on April 23, 1616 in Stratford-upon-Avon, England.

Useful links

http://www.nosweatshakespeare.com/quotes/shakespeare-food-drink/

http://shakespeare-online.com/sonnets/sonnetintroduction.html

 

“The Gruffalo” by JULIA DONALDSON

A mouse took a stroll through the deep dark wood.

 A fox saw the mouse, and the mouse looked good.

 

April fool’s day

The doorbell is ringing

Better hurry and see!

I think it is the postman

With a present for me.

I think it is a farmer

With a bag of hay

Or a clown from the circus

Who just wants to play.

I think it is a spaceman

Coming in for a call

But today’s April Fool’s day-

There is no one at all.

 

April Fool’s day

April Fool’s day is the first day of April. In England it is the day for tricks. You play funny jokes on parents, sisters, friends, brothers, classmates and sometimes on teachers.

You can play as many tricks as you can on as many people as you like.

 

Brother Axe by Hovhannes Toumanyan

A bilingual animation

 

Sweet Porridge or The magic porridge Pot

The adapted and illustrated version of Grimm’s tale, with Armenian translation

 

The Selfish Giant

Full version of Oscar Wilde’s short story, adapted, with Armenian translation and illustrations

 

Christmas and New Year Rhymes

Christmas

Christmas time is a beautiful time
With lights all red and green,
I think it is the prettiest time
That I have ever seen!

Santa’s Reindeer

“Come Dasher, Dancer,
Prancer, and Vixen.
Come Comet, Cupid,
Donner, and Blitzen.”
Santa said, “I’ve counted to eight.
We need to go. We can’t be late!
It’s very dark this
Christmas Eve night.
We need someone to carry a light.
Rudolph, of course you’ll be fine.
Now my reindeer number nine.”

December

December brings us Christmas
With secrets big and small.
And sharing joys with others;
Oh, December’s best of all!

Happy New Year and Merry Christmas

The bells ring
At Christmas –
We all sing
At Christmas.

Secrets everywhere
You go!
Children’s stockings
In a row.

My little bell
Rings out to say,
“Have a merry
Christmas Day.”

Come and see
The Christmas tree
It is pretty
As can be.

A couple of wishes
And both for you:
Joy at Christmas
A Happy New Year, too.

Source: http://www.primarysuccess.ca

 

It was the night before Christmas

Clement Clarke Moore wrote the poem T’was the night before Christmas, also called “A Visit from St. Nicholas”, in 1822. It is now the tradition in many American families to read the poem every Xmas Eve. The poem ‘Twas the night before Christmas’ has redefined our image of Christmas and Santa Claus.

A Visit from St. Nicholas

BY CLEMENT CLARKE MOORE

‘Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house

Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,

In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there;

The children were nestled all snug in their beds;

While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads;

And mamma in her ‘kerchief, and I in my cap,

Had just settled our brains for a long winter’s nap,

When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,

I sprang from my bed to see what was the matter.

Away to the window I flew like a flash,

Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash.

The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow,

Gave a lustre of midday to objects below,

When what to my wondering eyes did appear,

But a miniature sleigh and eight tiny rein-deer,

With a little old driver so lively and quick,

I knew in a moment he must be St. Nick.

More rapid than eagles his coursers they came,

And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name:

“Now, Dasher! now, Dancer! now Prancer and Vixen!

On, Comet! on, Cupid! on, Donder and Blixen!

To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall!

Now dash away! dash away! dash away all!”

As leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,

When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky;

So up to the housetop the coursers they flew

With the sleigh full of toys, and St. Nicholas too—

And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof

The prancing and pawing of each little hoof.

As I drew in my head, and was turning around,

Down the chimney St. Nicholas came with a bound.

He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot,

And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot;

A bundle of toys he had flung on his back,

And he looked like a pedler just opening his pack.

His eyes—how they twinkled! his dimples, how merry!

His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry!

His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,

And the beard on his chin was as white as the snow;

The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth,

And the smoke, it encircled his head like a wreath;

He had a broad face and a little round belly

That shook when he laughed, like a bowl full of jelly.

He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf,

And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself;

A wink of his eye and a twist of his head

Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread;

He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,

And filled all the stockings; then turned with a jerk,

And laying his finger aside of his nose,

And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose;

He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,

And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.

But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight—

“Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night!”

 

Oscar Wilde (short review of biography and works )

Oscar Wilde was born in Dublin on 16 October 1854. He was an Anglo-Irish playwright, novelist, poet, and critic.