Contents
=> “New Years Around the Globe” — Text & Discussion Questions
=> Word Origins: “Bachelor”
=> “Solo Language Learning Tips (Part I)”
=> Events
=> In the Next Issue

———————————————————————–
“New Years Around the Globe” — Text & Talk Topics
———————————————————————–

There’s something strange about starting a new year on January 1st, in the dead of winter. Did ancient people actually say, “Hey, this snow is getting boring; let’s end this dumb year and start another”? Well, of course some fool probably said such a thing at one time or another, but that’s not the reason we have New Years in January. Celebrations of New Year are based on the movements of the sun or moon, or on events associated with the changing seasons.

So, for instance, the ancient Egyptians celebrated the New Year in September when the banks of the Nile flooded. The flooding was good news for the crops in that desert landscape. Lots of cultures, like the Romans, started their New Year in late March with the coming of spring. Spring signifies a rebirth of the land, a new cycle of the seasons.

With the establishment of the Gregorian calendar in 1582, the first day of the year shifted from March to the 1st of January. The date itself is arbitrary, but it does give us a nice excuse to have fun in the middle of winter.

Whatever the actual date of the New Year, new beginnings and good luck are important. In Wales (Great Britain), at the stroke of midnight, people open the back door of their home and let out the bad luck. Then they opened the front door to let in the good luck. (It’s unfortunate to have a house with no back door.) For New Years luck in Venezuela, people wear yellow underwear.

In America, people try to make a fresh start with the New Year by making resolutions. That means they vow to change their life in some way. Here are some of the most common New Years Resolutions:

1. Lose weight
2. Stop smoking
3. Stick to a budget
4. Save or earn more money
5. Find a better job
6. Become more organized
7. Exercise more
8. Be more patient at work/with others
9. Eat better
10. Become a better person
11. Stop dancing on tables in cafes

(Okay, number 11 is not a common resolution, but for some of us it is still important).

An American tradition is to kiss at the stroke of midnight on New Years. Almost anyone will permit you a kiss at that time. For those people who enjoy kissing someone whom they ordinarily can’t, or shouldn’t, this is a great moment.

For Americans, New Years is a holiday to be spent with friends rather than family, and usually at a large party: from 20 to 100 people. In Russia, New Years is more of a family holiday, and the groups that gather to celebrate are likely to be much smaller.

The Russian celebration is centered around a table–a table crowded with dishes–where people can sit (even хорошо сидеть). Americans will walk around, circulating among a large group of people. They may even eat standing up, carrying a plate of hors d’oeuvres with them.

The preferred drink of both Americans and Russians on New Years is usually champagne. Americans toast. That means they clink glasses, say “Happy New Year!”–and всё. Russians tend to “make toasts,” meaning that before they clink glasses someone gives a short (or long) speech. This is rare with Americans, who tend to be a little more casual.

Glossary<
the dead of winter = the middle of winter
dumb = stupid
arbitrary = determined by chance, произвольный
resolution = a resolve or a promise to yourself
vow = make a serious promise to oneself
the stroke of midnight = when the clock strikes 12:00 a.m.
hors d’oeuvres = appetizers
clink = to tap glasses together, чокаться

Russian Words
хорошо сидеть = sit well (to have a nice time at the table)
всё = That’s it. That’s all.

Talk Topics
1. What do you like about New Years?
2. What do you not like about New Years?
3. What do you like to drink on New Years?
4. What are your favorite New Years foods?
5. What time do you usually get to sleep on New Years?
6. What did you do last New Years? Who were you with? Where?
7. What is your favorite holiday?
8. If you celebrate Old New Years (January 13th), what do you usually do?
9. Have you ever experienced New Years in a different country or culture? What was it like?
10. If you could spend New Years Eve anywhere in the world, where would you choose?

———————————————————————–
Word Origins: “Bachelor”
———————————————————————–

There is a “bachelor’s degree” which you get from a university, and there is a “bachelor,” a man who isn’t married. These different meanings probably come from a common root, from the medieval Latin “baccalaris”–a young nobleman wanting to become a knight. Such a man certainly didn’t have much prestige, and he was young, so he was probably unmarried.

So bachelor also represents first level (e.g., aspiring toward knighthood). It is this meaning which became used, much later, in universities, where the “bachelors degree” became the first, or lowest degree.

(Thanks to Zhenya Dudina–again!–in Samara for writing in with this question).

———————————————————————–
“Solo Language Learning Tips (Part I)”
———————————————————————–

One of the most common questions I am asked when I travel through Russia is “How can I practice my English when I’m alone and don’t have anyone to talk to?” There are actually a lot of ways. In a 4-part series over the next 4 issues, “ETs in Russia” will some offer up some tips…

1. Free Voluntary Reading
Read anything easy and enjoyable. Stephen Krashen suggests the best way we can improve language is through FVR (Free Voluntary Reading). Don’t look up words you don’t know. Krashen’s book on the subject offers test results that says that learners who practice FVR score as high or higher on tests than those enrolled language courses.

2. Surf the Internet
Just get on the internet and read any old thing in English: comics, news articles, stories, jokes, etc. (This would be a form of FVR).

3. Read the Translation AND the Original
Writer W. Somerset Maugham learned French in part by reading French novels and the English translation of the novel side by side. Thus, you read both texts, continually comparing. You can enjoy the story. You don’t need a dictionary. You don’t have the frustration of not understanding large chunks of text. (Kevin’s doing this now with Master and Margarita .

4. Create Crossword Puzzles. A great program that is free, and allows you easily to make your own crosswords, is Eclipse. Creating–not just completing–crosswords is great training.

5. Pen Pals
Write letters. Writing, of course, is a different dialect than spoken English. But letters nowadays, especially email letters, are closer than ever before to the language of spoken English. Hello-online has the easiest pen pal system of all between Americans and Russians. Click here to write someone.

———————————————————————–
“Links”
———————————————————————–

Hello-online Essay Contest: I Discover America. What does America mean to you? Tell the story of your personal discovery, even if you’ve never been to America. Deadline: December 31, 2004.

FEELTA (Far Eastern English Language Teachers Association) 8th Annual Winter Methodology School, January 20-22, 2005, Vladivostok
The FEELTA Winter Methodology School is a 3-day conference featuring seminars by local and native-speaking specialists.

———————————————————————–
“In the Next Issue”
———————————————————————–

on or about Dec. 27, 2004:
“Masha’s Psychology Test” — a Dictation and Discussion Activity
“Language Learning Tips (Part II)”