Today’s blog shall be dedicated to two of our teachers who have decided to take the plunge and move to England to live and work in London.  I’m referring to Stephanie and Emily Jones.

Whilst taking this opportunity to thank both of them publicly for the sterling job they’ve done at Elanguest in all the years that they’ve been with us, I would also like to wish them the best of luck for their future.  I trust they will do a wonderful job there, as they’ve done at Elanguest!   We all look forward to them coming back home!!

This week we also celebrated the lucky birthday of one of our members of staff – Lynne, who turned 22 on Thursday! I can guarantee that she has celebrated this day in style, surrounded by all her friends and loved ones   So Happy birthday Lynne!

And once again….thanks for everything Steph and Em!!!

After lots and lots of surprises, lots of hope, many disappointments and a lot of spectacular football (not so sure about the refereeing though), the world cup is finally coming to an end.  Many have labelled this tournament as the ‘World Cup of Firsts’ or ‘The World Cup of Surprises’, however, one thing is certain….both Spain and Holland deserve to be where they are.

Another phenomenon associated with this world cup is ‘Paul the Octopus’, dubbed as ‘the psychic octopus.’  This English-born octopus, which is found at the Aquarium Sea Life in the western city of Oberhausen, has captured the attention of football fans and non-fans alike, by succeeding in predicting all of Germany’s World Cup results.  His owners simply put muscles or other treats in two different jars in his aquarium, and apart from the treat each jar would also contain the flag of the two teams that will be playing against each other.  Mysteriously, Paul has always chosen the treat from the jar which contained the flag of the winning team of the following match.

So before deciding who to side with on Sunday…..I think I’ll just wait for Paul!!

Good luck to all the Dutch and Spanish reading this article!!!

May the best team win!

It takes place once every four years, and even those of us who don’t like watching the game make an exception for this big event – I’m obviously talking about the World Cup.

For most people the choice on who to support is an obvious one, because most big European countries qualified to take part.  However, a small country like Malta is very different!  Our national team has never qualified to participate in this tournament; therefore, we always feel the need to support other countries.  The most popular choices for Maltese people are England and Italy, even though there are quite a few supporters of Germany, Brazil and Holland too!

As you can see from the uploaded pictures, most parts of Malta have been transformed into little world cup villages for this month of football, especially St. Julian’s!  One would imagine that in such events tempers tend to flare, however, it is important to keep in mind that at the end of the day football is a sport and we should enjoy it not argue about it.

So, on that note I honestly hope that the best team wins this tournament!

For the time being…Let’s all Wave our Flag! 

Waka Waka

At this time of the year we always start preparing for the summer by employing new teachers, so this week I would like to take this opportunity to introduce the new members of our team – Moira, Mark, Brian, Jasmin and Rob.

Let’s start with the ladies…

Moira has been a teacher of English as a foreign language for over seven years and she’s taught the language at different levels and to students of different nationalities.  If you’re the cultural type and you want to have a good conversation with someone who’s very keen on going to the theatre….Moira is the lady for the job!

Jasmin has been living in Malta for a good number of years and she has work experience in a variety of sectors.  There’s one thing you have to be careful of….her knowledge of languages!! Think twice about passing a comment in her presence because she understands quite a few languages so there’s a very big chance that she’ll understand what you’re saying!

Moving on to the guys now…

Mark is a CELTA-qualified teacher from Australia and he’s been teaching English as a foreign language at different levels and in different countries all around Europe for the past nine years.  His main interests include foreign affairs, politics and fitness!

Rob and Brian have recently moved back to Malta to find out more about their roots, because both are half Maltese.  Brian is another CELTA-qualified teacher with a Bachelor’s degree in Managerial and Administrative Studies from Britain.  Before moving to Malta he was teaching in Nice, France.

Last but not least, Rob is another Australian-Maltese teacher with over six years teaching experience in Asia, mainly in China and Japan.  Before moving to Malta, Rob taught General and Business English in the second largest school in Japan.  His interests include travelling, reading and writing.

In conclusion, I’d like to take this opportunity to formally welcome all of them on board

Hi everyone….this week we shall be talking about a festival organised in Italy, specifically in a town on the outskirts of Milano.  The article is written by Andrea Margiotta

Andrea Margiotta

My town celebrates a very old festivity, called GIOEBIA, every year on the last Thursday of January.

This special occasion is held in all the 8 outskirts of my town. In this celebration, hundreds of years ago, farmers used to make a dummy made of cardboard, paper and creeping plants a week before the party. Then, when the dummies were ready on the last Thursday of January, at 8 o’clock in the evening all the people used to gather round in 8 different squares to fire them. For the local inhabitants this event was a ritual that was intended to keep all the natural disasters far from cultivated fields.

The fire goes on for an hour and a half and usually it represents the body of an old woman. After that everybody joins to drink hot wine and chocolate.

Nowadays this custom has disappearing because there are not many farmers left in the city. Probably instead of 8 fires now there are only 1 or 2, it depends on the mood of the people.

Happy weekend everyone

Hello everyone

As I promised you last week, today I shall be uploading another article written by another one of our FCE students.  This time it shall be an article about the GENTSE FEESTEN, held in Belgium and the author is Rebekka Vynckier.

GENTSE FEESTEN

Every year a festival is held in Gent, in the Northern part of Belgium. It lasts for 10 days and this year it will be held for the 167^th time. Welcome to the ‘Gentse Feesten’!

People come from all over the world to celebrate this folks festival that is held in an area of 4.5 km² in Gent. The streets are decorated with flags, lights, various stalls with local food and other international products.

During those 10 days in July, the streets there are crowded and people go to see the music performances by bands from all over the world. Naturally, a lot of beer is consumed while watching these street performances and while wandering around the city. Also, for the children there are shows and animations provided.

The festival attracts thousands of visitors and has grown and is developed every year. Probably, in the future, it will continue attracting people and let them party in our little country.

Hope you enjoyed it I’ll be back with yet another article next week!  In the meantime I’d like to wish all of you a very happy weekend!

Today is the day on which the Dutch celebrate ‘Queensday’ – and it is for this reason that they will be in charge of our diary page this week.  I asked our 6 FCE students to write an article about festivals in their countries and today I shall upload the articles written by Madelon, Cindy and Leyla – our Dutch girls.  In the coming weeks I shall post the articles written by Rebekka (from Belgium), Carlos (from Switzerland) and Andrea (from Italy)….enjoy

Madelon Donders wrote…

Queensday is one of the most popular events and it takes place every year on 30^th April. When the present Queen, Queen Beatrix, succeeded her mother Queen Juliana on 30 April, she decided to keep Queensday on 30 April as a tribute to her mother.

The festival is organised all around Holland and it starts at midnight till the next midnight. The place to be is definitely Amsterdam. This city attracts from 500,000 to 800,000 visitors and had many open air concerts and special events in public spaces. Apart from the concerts, there are also freemarkets, where a lot of children perform music or sell their old clothes, cast-off toys or self-made food.

People dress up in colourful clothes. Orange clothing and other creative accessories are worn by everybody. The colour orange refers to the name of the Dutch royal family – the House of Orange. Of course, there are also people who are dressed in the national colours Red, White and Blue.

It is really a huge festival in Holland. When you wear orange, red, white or blue, you can party all around Holland. It is a must to be there once in your life!!!

Leyla Karadag wrote…

In Holland we celebrate Queensnight and Day every year on the 30^th of April. The tradition started on the, 31 August 1885 when Queen Wilhelmina celebrated her birthday. However, the real date “ the 30 April” is the birthday of Queen Juliana. This was the mother of our present Queen Beatrix. Beatrix’s birthday is on 31 January but she officially celebrates her birthday on 30 April.

Queensday is known for its “freemarket” al over the country, were everybody is allowed to sell old and new things in the street. Other activities during Queensday include different kinds of games and music concerts. On the night before Queensday there are further celebrations. The largest celebration of Queensday/night is in Amsterdam.

Queensday is supposed to be a day of National unity and “togetherness”. During the celebrations people wear the colour orange. This colour represents the name of the Dutch Royal Family: “Het huis van Oranje”. The whole of Holland is orange, even the food, drinks and the accessories. It is the most popular day of the year………..

So You Have To Be There..!!!!

Cindy Janmaat wrote…

In Holland Queensday and night are very famous traditions. On the 30th of April we celebrate the birthday of our queen in every city in Holland. It’s a major event!

On this specific date all the Dutchies dressed up in red, white, blue or orange (the colours that stand for the Dutch flag) and party all night and day.

Queensday is not a famous tradition only in Holland but also in France “Valthorens”. In fact they organise Quensday. They celebrate it during the last week of the winter season – “The Closing Dutch Week” because a lot of people form Holland go there to party all the week just to prepare for Queensday. When Queenday finally arrives all the people, Dutch or not, dress up, and the whole mountain is orange; it’s an amazing thing to see!!

If you’ve never celebrated Queensday before, I can definitely recommend it to you. You have to be part of it, even if it’s only once in your life!

I think the message here is very clear….next year we’ll all celebrate Queensday in Holland – however, this doesn’t mean that this year we won’t be celebrating Queensday in Malta too!  In fact…I will upload some pictures next week to show you what we’ve all been up to! )

Many people in various countries refer to this day as All Fools’ Day, and they use every excuse they can think of to play practical jokes on their friends and colleagues.  In some countries, such as the UK, Australia and South Africa the jokes are meant to last only until noon.  Anyone who plays a trick after noon is referred to as “April’s Fool”.  Have you ever played any jokes on any of your friends?  Or, have you ever been a victim of anyone’s pranks?  We’d love to know!!

Now it’s time to change subject completely, and today I’m going to give you the last recipe related to traditional Maltese Easter sweets – the figolli.  The figolla comes in many different sizes, and the shapes are usually a reminder of Easter (for example, the lamb and the fish, which are both religious symbols).  The biscuit is normally filled with a mixture of sweet ground almonds, and coated with icing or chocolate.  So without further ado, here’s the recipe! 

Ingredients (for 6):

(taken from: http://www.thehealthyrecipes.com/figolli.php )

If any of you decide to try them, let us know what the result was, and whether you liked them! 

Enjoy cooking, and decorating, and eating!!    Have a lovely Easter!

God bless!

This week I’m posting my blog earlier than usual…and do you want to know why?  Well, tomorrow is a public holiday, which means that we can enjoy a long weekend!

The 19^th of March is a religious holiday on the island and also in many Roman Catholic parts of the world – it’s the feast of St. Joseph.  In Malta, the town of Rabat celebrates this traditional feast, where in there is normally a band playing in the streets in the afternoon, whilst in the evening a procession is held with the statue of St Joseph which is carried through the main streets of the town.

Another tradition which is related to the feast of St. Joseph is that of the Zeppole di San Giuseppe – St. Joseph’s Day Cake.  This is an Italian cake and it consists of pastry filled with ricotta.  Here is the recipe

For the pastry:

1 cup hot water
1/2 cup butter
1 Tablespoon sugar
1/2 Teaspoon salt
1 cup sifted all-purpose flour
4 eggs
1 Teaspoon grated orange peel
1 Teaspoon grated lemon peel

For the ricotta filling:

3 cups ricotta cheese (about 1.5lbs)
1 ¼ cups sugar
2 Teaspoon vanilla extract
2 Tablespoon grated orange peel
2 Tablespoon grated lemon peel

(recipe taken from http://www.bulin.com/stjoe/recipes.html )

Have a lovely LONG weekend…and enjoy cooking 

Today it’s time to move on to the next lent recipe, however, before doing so I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate the Elanguest team upon receiving a very special International award earlier on this week.  I’m talking about the ISLQ award – International Star in Leadership in Quality.  This award is given annually to companies to recognise and continue to encourage quality, continuous improvement and customer satisfaction.

It’s time to go back to the food now….and today I shall be talking about the Maltese Fish Soup, which is another very common dish especially during the lent period.  As I mentioned last week, there a quite a few Maltese who refrain from eating red meat on certain days throughout lent and fish is one of the most common replacements.

Here are the ingredients…

• 1 lb white fish
• 2 onions, chopped
• 12 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 lb tomatoes, peeled & sliced
• 1 tsp tomato paste
• 1 tsp olive oil
• pinch of marjoram & dry mint
• 5 peppercorns
• 1/2 cup cooked rice (optional)
• 4 cups fish stock

(Recipe taken from http://www.aboutmalta.com/grazio/maltarecipes.html )

Enjoy cooking   See you next week!