Global warming

The weather is changing in Japan. It is extreme now.
The coldest temperature is -17 degrees centigrade this winter in my city. The highest is about 35 degrees centigrade last summer.
And it didn't rain much last summer. So there was a shortage of water. Sometimes we have typhoons in summer - heavy rain and wind. But we din't have many. Some people had restricted water use.
When I travel to another city, I use a car everytime in Japan.
I've come to England, I think about environment. We must think more about the Earth. Because we live on the Earth.

Global Warming

I'm going to speak about global warming, and I'd like to introduce to you several wildlife species affected by the pollution of environment.

For several years certain animal and floral species have stared to disappear in the world.
Nowadays, they are hundreds and thousands of fish, insects, trees, plants, birds, bacterias, mammals, which are disappearing because of global warming.

Indeed, it is not just the human race which is suffering from the pollution around the world, animal and vegetation species are also affected by the dryness, the extreme climate, floods, freezing rains, the hole in the ozone layer, dangerous sunlight, too much UV, deforestation, desertification, ... etc...

So little by little, certain races are completely killed and have disappeared forever.

For example, polar bears need icebergs to live.
However, icebergs tend to melt because of global warming.
Consequently, polar bears are disappearing slowly...

We have to pay attention to this ecological problem, even if it costs a lot of money, because if you do nothing to avoid pollution, animals, vegetation and the human race will completly disappear.

What a shame if the human race will killed by itself!

the greenhouse effect

Before the development of our countries the world was better and today we are suffering the consequences of this development. We thought that inventing new factories, new nuclear arms, new ways to develop was the most important thing to do but now we know that there are more important things to do such as save our planet !

explanation of the greenhouse effect :

Around our planet there is the ozone layer in the atmosphere which is becoming smaller.
Humans pollute the planet a lot, and so we can speak about global warming.
The hole in the ozone layer doesn't allow us to keep the UVA out and so the temperature increases each year.

Consequences :

The icebergs are melting because the temperatures is getting hotter.
So the sea-level is rising and there are lots of risks of floods, tornadoes...
Then lots of species of animals are disappearing (certainly because there is too much UVA).
The problem of deforestation, desertification and water shortage is a terrible event
Humans are suffering more from cancers than before because they receive too much UVA.

Solutions :

Usually, lots of people speak about global warming but nobody is really doing anything to save our planet and our descendants.
First of all, I think about ways of prevention and reducing the greenhouse effect.
We have to educate children at school to recycle their rubbish .
I think create a law to limit the consumption of water and electricity per person is a good solution.
There are too much cars in our country and the system of buses is not really developed beause people prefer to take their cars. So if there are more buses maybe people will take this communal transport.
The simplest thing to do is not to dump our rubbish anywhere.

So I can't save the world alone but if everybody is careful and tries to help our planet (with recycling for example) I think the "health" of our earth will be better.

Global warming

Yesterday we talked about global warming. Choose one of the topics which you talked about in your group to write about. What can we do about this situation? What is happening in your country?

The "Printemps de Bourges" festival

The "Printemps de Bourges" is a music festival which takes place every year during the April holidays. It was created by three men who had a strong link with music in 1977.

The main characteristic of this festival is that there are only a few well known musicians who come because the principle is to discover new talent.
- On the day, there are 3 or 4 open air stages where bands perform for free and the music played on these stages is often quite varied.
- At night, locals bars host music groups to play and everybody goes out and thousands of peoples walk from bar to bar until the next morning to see them.

There are already concert tickets on sale. This year, the will festival host numerous artists such as Rose, Renan Luce, Sefyu, Justice...

For more information, you can visit the official web site of the festival :

www.printemps-bourges.com

Venice Carnival

In my country there are a lot feasts linked to popular traditions.
For example in the North of Italy there is German influence in our festivals.

In particular, in my region there is the Carnival of Venice in this period.

The Venice Carnival is known for its fascination and mystery which has been around for 900 years.

In the original carnival people can feel the atmosphere of the Carnival and how it was during the Calm Republic.

Usually the Carnival lasts for about two weeks before Lent.

This is a popular festival for Venetians and foreigners. During this festival foreign musicians meet each other and there is a mix of foreign people and different kinds of culture.

The Deauville American Film Festival

I would like to present the Deauville American Film Festival which takes place in Deauville, in Normandy.
This festival is devoted to American cinema and was established by Lionel Chouchan and Andre Halimi in 1975. Since its origin, the festival has not been competitive. However, this festival began to award prizes in 1995 for feature films and in 1998 for short films.
The American festival has been attended by important stars like Robert de Niro, Clint Eastwood, George Clooney, Harrison Ford, Tom Cruise, Sharon Stones, Al Pacino, Michael Douglas, Julia Roberts and so on...

gaelle

May 1st is a bank holiday in France

In France, since 1947, May 1st has been called Labour Day or May Day!!!!!!! This date is often celebrated in some countries around the workd but not everywhere. First of all, this date celebrates the union of workers who requested eight hours of work a day. In France we had to wait until the 29thof april 1947 for this date to become official.

On this day, in France, people give each other an attractive small sprig of lily-of-the-valley which is a flower in the form of white bells and the symbol of spring. In France this flower is a lucky plant. This tradition started on the 1st of May 1561 when the French king Charles IX, after having recieved a sprig of lily-of-the-valley , decided to give this flower to the ladies of him court every year and the tradition was born !!!!

This bank holiday seems be good but there are some demands because a law permit people to sell "muguets" (the flower) without tax and the florist disagree with this law because it's for a bad idea for them!!!

NATIONAL DAY

The 14th of July in France is the national day and each year there is a celebration on this day.

Why is the 14th of July the national day in France?

In fact on the 14th of July 1789 there was the French revolution and everybody went to the Bastille because before it was a prison and people took weapons to fight against the French army.

One year after, they celebrated the day of federation in the Champs de mars in Paris.

On the 21st of May, 1880 Benjamin Raspail passed a law to make the national day each year on the 14th of July

Now each 14th of July there is a military parade and a demonstration which takes place every year in numerous places around France on the occasion of its national holiday.

The main parade is in Paris. It goes down the avenue des Champs-Élysées, to the place de l'Etoile until Concorde.

There are the other parades of a much lesser scale in the other cities of France, for the same occasion, by local regiments.

There are also fireworks each 14th of July to celebrate.

Coming-of-Age Day

There is Coming-of-Age Day in Japan. It's the second Monday of January. On that day, there is a celebration ceremony in each city for people who are 20 years old in this year. This is because in Japan you become an adult when you are 20 years old. You can drink alcohol and smoke legally.
Men wear a suit or a Hakama. Women wear a Furisode. Hakama and Furisode are traditional clothes.
Nowadays they have a drink at the ceremony. And they don't listen to mayor's speech. Sometimes they is violence. Of course they are arrested immediately. This is a big problem.
Every city proposes new types of ceremonies. But the most important is changing their way of thinking.

Traditional food of Saudi Arabia

Helo,,, I am going to speak about the traditional food of my country. We don't have a special day but we have a lot of traditional food. I am going to tell you about a very special food. It's from our genersity when guests come to your home you should have MOFATH which is a whole lamb with rice like in the picture :). If you have a
very big party and important people you should have camel on big plate with sumal?? lamb. I know its crazy
but this is the way we are ;). Sometimes its costs you a lot if you have more than 10 people but whatever.

Its ok if you grill some other meat instead. people will understand you.

_Cannes_Film_Festival_

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I'm going to talk about the Cannes Film Festival, founded in about 1940. It's the oldest and the most famous film festival in the world, which takes place in the month of May.
This year, it starts on the 14th of May for two weeks.

I live near the town of Cannes in the South of France, so I go every year to the "Palais des Festival" to meet lots of stars. But often, stars come with their bodyguard, so it's too difficult to approach them, to ask them for a photo or an autograph, or anything else.

Speaking about the programme, there are about twenty films in the competition. There are also about a hundred actresses, actors, directors, screenplays... in the competition.
The best film and the most prestigious is awarded with the Gold Palm.
The jury is made up of a President, various film personnalities, international critics, industry profesionals, and journalists.

Since 1940, the Cannes Film Festival has become an important showcase for international films. Moreover, it's much more of a film competition because there are lots of extra events, exhibitions, specials screenings, etc...

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Carnaval of Nice

Each year, there is the carnival of Nice in February which lasts for 2 weeks.

People dress up in very funny costumes during this festival period.

Each year there's a different theme, I remember last year it was for the rugby world cup.

There are lots of different floats and parades in the street and many people watch them.

People are always smiling and they throw confetti.

During the week there is a special day : the battle of flowers. People who are in floats throw lots of different kinds of flowers.

Last year I worked in the carnival and I was a Hakka dancer (the famous dance of the all blacks) , I was dressed in yellow, my face was painted yellow too, with a blue flower around one eye and a red lipstick, I was a little bit ridiculous and I danced in front of about a thousand people.

During this period we have "mardi gras" like the English "shrove tuesday", we cook crepes for all the family it looks like pancakes and you put what you want on them.

I'm a little bit disappoincted not be here for the Carnival this year because the city of Nice has had lots of renovations, and now we have the tram. Nice has become a great place and next year I will see the carnival in this "new city".

a video : http://www.dailymotion.com/relevance/search/carnaval+de+nice+2007/video/x1bf9y_zizoucarnavalnice_parties

Ephiphany

I would like to talk about a big feast that all French people keep.

Epiphany is a Christian feast day which celebrates the "shining forth". The feast corresponds to jesus' presentation to the Kings.

The feast falls on January 6th in France. In general, people eat a big flat cake with a broad bean in it. Sometimes some people collect this bean and they put it on a shelf in the living room.

Usually, people see their family during this festival and so you can spend time with them. The aim of this game is to find the broad bean, so, when you eat a part of this big flat cake, you hope that the broad bean is into your part. Often with the flat cake, you must drink something.
After, when you find the borad bean you have a paper crown on your head and so you are the King or the Queen of the day.

In the south of france, people don't prepare a flat cake but a brioche, which is similar to a crown, called "Frangipane".

Often, people can eat the flat cake for one week, between the first of January and the 6th of January.

21 June in France

The 21st of June in France, is the day of the Music.
This event started in the city of Metz (France) in the late 70's, and grew quickly around the country.
This event was made official in 1981 in France by the French's Culture Minister, Jack Lang.

Why the 21st June? It's because it's the day of the summer solstice.

Neimo in Concert at "La Fleche d'or" for the "Fete de la Musique".

This music festival has two goals:

• Amateur musicians are encouraged to perform in the streets.
• Many free concerts are organized, accessible to the public.

The BB Brunes in free music pub the 21 June 2007.

The 21st of June is the only day of the year where musicians can play all the night, there is no noise restriction.

Inspired by the French tradition, a lot of countries have copied this music day, like in Belgium, Germany, Costa Rica, Israel, India, Morocco, Colombia and other countries.
And in 2007 the first music festival was in New York.

In Paris there are concerts on every streets and everybody is on the street dancing, singing, listening or playing music. It is a general party, if you have never seen this event I'd definitely recommend it to you.

by Arthur Morbois.