MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR

Winter Holidays in Ukraine, by Yulia Horobets

The Ukrainians, like any other people, have their own customs and traditions.  Many of these are very old.  Most of the customs are connected with religious festivals or with Ukrainian’s particular way of life.

The most popular of the holidays is New Year’s Day, which is celebrated on the 1st of January.  On the eve of the holiday, children and their parents decorate a New Year’s Tree with shining balls and other Christmas ornaments, because for Ukrainians, Christmas is after New Year’s.  The mothers of the families are subjected to sexist practices and prepare holiday dinners.  People also exchange presents with their relatives and friends.  Additionally, they often go to see them or invite them to their homes to see in the New Year together.  Like the rest of the world, Ukrainians raise their glasses at 12 o’clock and often toast the New Year with champagne.

There is also a second New Year celebrated by the

Orthodox Church on the 14th of January, as is in accordance with the Julian calendar.  In the evening of the 13th of January, children go from house to house and sing Christmas carols: they wish all the best to the people who live in these houses.  Carol-singers are given some reward for their singing - sweets, cakes, or even a little money.

The Orthodox Ukrainian people celebrate Christmas on January 6th.  The evening before this Christmas is called the Holy Evening.  On the Holy Evening the whole family gets together to have Christmas Supper.  According to the religious tradition, it is necessary to prepare 12 different dishes because of the 12 apostles, and no one at the table can eat till the first star appears in the sky.  Interestingly, unlike the

rest of the world’s Christmas, Ukrainians do not exchange presents on that day.  Also, on this eve, people go to church and some of them spend the whole night there.  They pray and listen to Christmas songs which glorify Christ’s birthday.

JOURNEY TO KYIV

Another religious festival in winter is Twelfth-day or the Jordanian Holiday which is celebrates the memory of Jesus Christ’s baptism.  This takes place on January 19th.  On the morning of the Jordanian Holiday, a festival procession goes from the church to a river or to a pond where the priest blesses the water.  People then jump into this holy water, even though it’s January!  After that, the priest consecrates the peoples’ homes and things.

Activities, by Zoya Balan

On December 19th the English teachers organized English week at the Hlyboka Lyceum.  It was done in relationship to the closing of the English Year in Ukraine.  A lot of activities were held in order to

make learning the language fun. The teachers Zoya Balan and Alla Duschak showed demonstrative lessons where they shared their experience with the other teachers and Larisa Zelen’ko and Vitaliya Lakhman organized some after-school activities for the pupils.

On the first day, the pupils of the 4-C form presented a poster they made and invited everybody to participate in the English Week.  That day the pupils also presented projects which were organized by the English teacher Larisa Zelen’ko.  

The next day there was “A Parade of Students’ Power

Point Presentations”.  It was organized by the English teacher Vitaliya Lakhman and the pupils prepared some very interesting presentations on a

dedicated         to         William

Shakespeare, a famous English playwright.  The primary-school children watched a short video about the life and work of Shakespeare, who played a huge role in the establishment of the English language.  The English teacher Zoya Balan presented some masterpieces of William Shakespeare to the kids.  The children watched the tragedies “Hamlet” and

“Romeo and Juliet”.  They also enjoyed the comedy “The

Twelfth Night”.  After watching these plays in the form of short stories, the pupils played some games.

The pupils of the 9th form were presented with a Power Point about Shakespeare and

“Song Festival” organized by the English teacher Larisa Zelen’ko.  The pupils sang a lot of songs.  Most of them were about Christmas since the holiday was so near.

English week wouldn’t have

but the happiest ones were the

performers, because they realized that they can really do it – speak English!

We recommend you try to use English every day.  Share the information from this newspaper with your relatives and friends.  This way you practice your English.

We summed up our English week with the help of a poster, which represented some of the activities we did during the week. Remember! Learning

English can be lots of fun! You should just believe you can do it.

WHO WAS WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE?

A Biographical Report, by Kristina Karp

Sometime in the late 1580’s a young actor named William Shakespeare left his family and home in rural Stratford-uponAvon to make his fortune 100 miles away in London.  Over the next 20 years he produced some of the finest poems and plays in the English language.  How did the son of a glove maker turn into one of the world’s greatest writers?

The most successful playwrights of the time usually went to university, but

Shakespeare didn’t.  He left King Edward’s school at 15, around the same time his father began to have financial difficulties.  But, while he was still at the school, he was an avid reader, many of the stories he read he put into his plays.

His style when writing plays was completely new.  The text had a

lovely lyrical style; it was beautiful

poetry. He broke through the old, formal way of writing a play, and suddenly a new kind of theatre was opened up for everybody to come and see.

Shakespeare continued his playwriting almost until he died in 1616.  However, his work lived on, thanks to his friends, who saved many of his plays in a book now known as the First

Folio.

Shakespeare belongs to everyone.  He was writing for everyone.  And there’s a reason why Shakespeare’s theatre was called The Globe. 

It wasn’t just reflecting England, London, or Britain, it was meant to represent everyone.  His characters come from Italy, Britain, France, and Africa. 

not have known a great deal

to speak for all of it.  That’s why he is so popular and famous.

WHY I LIKE WINTER

A Composition by 2^nd grader Olexandra Balan

Winter is my favorite season.  I like winter because we have lots of celebrations. They are New Year, Christmas, and St.

Winter is the season of magic. 

Snowflakes dance in the air. 

They look very beautiful. 

Children are happy in winter.  They can ski, skate and have snowball fights.