The Bell Vietnam Times

The Monthly English Language Newsletter                                                              

June 2009

Bell Vietnam is moving to a great new building at the end of June.  The new school is located in the tree-lined street of Nguyen Dinh Chieu between Pham Ngoc Thach and Pasteur, right opposite the Economic University and it’s within walking distance of many cafes, restaurants and bars. 

There is plenty of undercover parking space, and there are plans to have our very own Bell Vietnam Cafe where you can relax, drink and eat and speak English with your friends and teachers!

The new building is bigger and better than our centre in Ngo

Thoi Nhiem and we hope it will provide a nice, comfortable and productive learning environment for all our students.

The school will be closed whilst we move from Saturday 27 June until Wednesday 1 July when classes will be held as normal at the new school. 

Please contact our Front Office staff if you have any questions or queries regarding the move or the scheduling of your classes.

 

The June summer solstice also sees the greatest music festival in the world with over 150,000 people attending the 3 day event.  No other festival attracts such a mix of generations – children play games in the Kidz Field whilst aging hippies recount their festival tales from before.

The festival is not just about music but about living the life of freedom from work and worry for a few glorious days in the sunshine.  There is always something exciting to find around the next corner; theatre, circus, poetry, comedy, new bands, famous bands, cinema, dance, the list goes on!

Glastonbury is essentially about people and will never be just a music festival.  Everyone enjoys the atmosphere and the nonstop, 24 hour a day entertainment and it's a great opportunity to make new friends.  As well as being the largest festival in the UK, Glastonbury also raises more money for charity than any other festival.

 

Top: Glastonbury and Glastonbury Tor before the festival ....

 

Bottom: Glastonbury during the festival.

A solstice is an astronomical event that occurs twice per year, when the tilt of the earth's axis is closest or furthest away from the Sun.  June sees the summer solstice, the longest day of the year, when the Sun is at its most northern point in the sky.

Solstices are a time of celebration all over the world and there are many places in England where people gather to watch the Sun rise on midsummer morning.  One of the most famous of these is Stonehenge, a sacred prehistoric circle of stones built many thousands of years ago. 

There's an amazing communal excitement at the solstice sunrise as the spiritual ancestry of this prehistoric temple is celebrated - with cheering, singing and applause...it makes you feel good to be alive!

 

 

 

 

 


 

This often confusing form of slang is traditionally used by people who come from an area of inner London now know as the East End.  To be a true Cockney you must have been born within the sound of Bow bell, the church bells belonging to the Church of St. Mary le Bow, in Cheapside.

 

The origins of the slang are uncertain but it is thought that it was invented by dockworkers so that they could talk to each other without their bosses understanding.  The principle is to decide what it is you want to say, and then find words which bear no real relation to what you're going to say, but which rhyme loosely with your phrase.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sometimes the connection is totally obscure. For example, ‘rabbit & pork’ means ‘talk’; ‘trouble & strife’ means ‘wife’; ‘dickie bird’ means ‘word’ so somebody might say “my trouble rabbits all the time, I can’t get a dickie in edgeways!”.  Here’s another example:

 

'Allo me old china - wot say we pop round the Jack. I'll stand you a couple of Britneys and you can rabbit on about your teapots. We can 'ave a ruby for tommy and be off before the dickory hits twelve.

or, to translate

 

Hello my old mate (china plate) - what do you say we pop around to the bar (Jack Tar). I'll buy you a beer (Britney Spears) and you can talk (rabbit and pork) about your kids (teapot lids). We can have some curry (ruby Murray) and supper (Tommy Tucker) and be gone before the clock (hickory dickory dock) strikes twelve.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

WORD SUDOKU

 

This month we have a difficult puzzle for you. You may have seen number SUDOKU but have you tried word SUDOKU?

 

9x9 Classic Word Sudoku Puzzle
Each row, column and 3x3 square must contain the letters in the word exactly once. The word is:

 

NAUGHTILY

A big shout out and thank you to my Intermediate Living English class, Thuan, Luong, Hien, Xuan, Thanh, Tung, Son, Giac, Chi, Tung, and Tien for planning and organizing an AWESOME picnic at Binh Quoi ecotourism park on Sunday24th May.

We had an amazing day of getting together, playing games, singing songs ( English songs of course ), drinking and eating great food, telling funny stories and just enjoying the relaxing environment at Binh Quoi.

I look forward to the next weekend outing this summer, where LIVING ENGLISH, will be enjoyed by all.