How language shapes the way we think | Lera Boroditsky

Rupert Brooke - The Soldier - Poetry Lecture and Analysis by Dr. Andrew ...

War Poets

The FIRST WORLD WAR destroyed the belief in PROGRESS, which had found so many supporters in the 19th centuury

The war lasted LONGER and was WORSE than expected

Young people LOST  their lives quite often because of the stubborness, incompetence, disorganization of politicians and high command.

In ENGLAND, the first response was a sort of ROMANTIC VIEW, supported by propaganda and by a deep sense of patriotic duty.

As the war went on, this attitude changes. The poets described the horror of battles

RUPERT BROOKE(1887-1915)

On the outbreak of the war, he enlisted as an officer

He died of blood poisoning on the island of Skyros

He was really good-looking. He became the romantic symbol of the soldier-poet (1914 and Other poems published in 1915)

The Soldier by Rupert Brooke, 1887 - 1915

If I should die, think only this of me:
   That there’s some corner of a foreign field
That is for ever England.  There shall be
   In that rich earth a richer dust concealed;
A dust whom England bore, shaped, made aware,
   Gave, once, her flowers to love, her ways to roam,
A body of England’s, breathing English air,
   Washed by the rivers, blest by suns of home.

And think, this heart, all evil shed away,
   A pulse in the eternal mind, no less
     Gives somewhere back the thoughts by England given;
Her sights and sounds; dreams happy as her day;
   And laughter, learnt of friends; and gentleness,
     In hearts at peace, under an English heaven.

Il soldato

Se dovessi morire, pensa solo questo di me:
che c’è qualche angolo di un campo straniero
che sarà per sempre Inghilterra. C’è
in quella ricca terra una polvere nascosta più ricca;

Una polvere che l’Inghilterra ha fatto nascere, ha formato, reso consapevole,
a cui ha dato, una volta, i suoi fiori da amare, le sue strade da girovagare,
un corpo di Inghilterra, che respira aria inglese,
bagnata dai fiumi, benedetta dai soli di casa.

E pensa, questo cuore, liberatosi dal male,
un palpito nella mente Eterna, non di meno
restituisce da qualche parte i pensieri donati dall’Inghilterra,
i suoi sospiri e suoni; sogni felici come il suo giorno;
e risate imparate dagli amici; e gentilezza,
nei cuori in pace, sotto un cielo Inglese.

THE SOLDIER

It belongs to the sonnet sequence 1914 written during the first phase of the war.

It expresses what Englishmen felt in the autumn of 1914:

• sense of patriotism
• idealization of those who died in battle
• the sonnet presents a vague generalization of the war seen as self-sacrifice=glory
• no hint at the real  horrors of the war
• the death of the soldier is considered as the ideal reunion with his mother country

SIEGFRIED SASSOON (1886-1967)

He enlisted in the British army (an infantry officer)

He was wounded, decorated and promoted to captain. However, he hated the war.He pointed the grim reality of thench life.

He eventually became a pacifist and wrote satirical anti-war poems (Counter Attack 1918, Satirical Poems 1926)

'They' by Siegfried Sassoon

       The Bishop tells us: 'When the boys come back

       'They will not be the same; for they'll have fought

       'In a just cause: they lead the last attack

       'On Anti-Christ; their comrades' blood has bought

       'New right to breed an honourable race,

       'They have challenged Death and dared him face to face.'

       'We're none of us the same!' the boys reply.

       'For George lost both his legs; and Bill's stone blind;

       'Poor Jim's shot through the lungs and like to die;

       'And Bert's gone syphilitic: you'll not find

       'A chap who's served that hasn't found some change.

       ' And the Bishop said: 'The ways of God are strange!'

Essi

Il vescovo ci dice: “Quando i ragazzi torneranno
non saranno più gli stessi; perchè hanno combattuto
per una giusta causa: essi hanno condotto l’ultimo attacco
contro l’Anti-Cristo; il sangue dei loro compagni ha ottenuto
il diritto di portare avanti una razza onorabile,
essi hanno sfidato la Morte faccia a faccia.”

“Noi non saremo più gli stessi!”, replicano i ragazzi.
“Perchè George ha perso entrambe le gambe; e Bill è diventato cieco;
Al povero Jim hanno sparato nei polmoni ed è quasi morto;
E Bert ha contratto la sifilide: non troverai
alcun tipo di persona che ha servito in battaglia che non abbia subito cambiamenti.”
E il Vescovo rispose: “I mezzi di Dio sono strani!”.

THEY

Analyse  the poem

The two stanzas represent two points of view on war and its effects on soldiers.

The first point of view is based on opinions, while the second one is based on facts.

The poem is an imaginary dialogue between a Bishop urging young soldiers to fight in a just war and the soldiers who have experimented the horror of war.

The bishop encourages the soldiers to go and die at the front, as he believes that the conflict is justified and that it will generate a new and better race of men.

The boys who use the personal pronoun we, reply by making a list of the actual results of a war- terrible wounds, mutilation,physical agony. The only change they are aware of is for the worse.

Two different registers are used in the poem.

In the first stanza the register is religious, high-flown, ornate,figurative, while in the second one it is colloquial, down-to-earth, realistic and informal.

The Bishop expresses his view of war as a just cause.

The soldiers describe the physical horror of war and list their disabled comrades.

The juxtaposition of the two register reinforces the clash between the two views of war- one moralistic and gloryfying suffering having no link wih the real experience of war, the other realistic and emphasizing suffering because born out of first-hand experience.

It is not about what really happens during a war. 

It is about:

• what is said before it (propaganda) and seen after it (the real war)
• the gap in communication within the mother country (between those who fight and those who don't)
• the horryfying effects of war from both the physical and moral point of view.

It is an attack against those who cannot see the cruelty of war- who , like the Bishop, reply when confronted with evidence of suffering ' The ways of God are strange!'

GIUSEPPE UNGARETTI, Veglia.

Un'intera nottata
buttato vicino
a un compagno
massacrato
con la sua bocca
digrignata
volta al plenilunio
con la congestione
delle sue mani
penetrata
nel mio silenzio
ho scritto
lettere piene d'amore

Non sono mai stato
tanto
attaccato alla vita

GIUSEPPE UNGARETTI,Soldati
Si sta come
d'autunno
sugli alberi le foglie

FIRST CLASSES
UNIT 2

SPORTS


I. Nouns

II. Adjectives

III. Verbs




Nouns Adjectives Verbs
Badminton Awful Beat
Baseball Boring Catch
Basketball Dreadful Compete
Cricket Exhilarating Hit
Cycling Fair Lose
Diving Fast Play
Athletics Lucky                    Do
Karate Slow Go
Yoga Terrific Practise
Handball              Unfair Ride
Netball Unlucky Score
Football Wonderful Throw
Rugby Skilful               Draw
Tennis Win
Volleyball
Table tennis

Top 10 Notes: Robinson Crusoe

FLIPPED CLASSROOM (4th class)


Watch the video and answer the questions

1. What were the most important events happened during Daniel Defoe’s life?  
2. What kind of jobs did he do in his life?
3. Who was the man that inspired Daniel Defoe while writing Robinson Crusoe?
4. What does the verb “deem” mean in this video?
5. What was the slave trade? What was its purpose?
6. Which century did it start?
7. What kind of activities does Robinson do on the desert island in order to survive?
8. What terrible thing do the natives do, according to the novel?
9. What does Robinson want to get through his sea voyages?
10. Two adjectives are used in the video with reference to Robinson. What are they?
11. What does Crusoe teach Friday?
12. What’s the word that Friday must use when calling him?
13. What are the themes of the novel connected to?
14. Why was the novel an instant success?
15. What’s the title of a famous TV series inspired by Robinson Crusoe? 

Students in the fourth class have written down seven sentences for each phrasal verb (look,take,break) they have found
PHRASAL VERBS 

TO LOOK

1. I asked my mom to look after my children this weekend.

2. I have to look at all the proposals before coming to any decision.

3. When I look back on my childhood, I realise how happy I was.

4. I hate the way that Lisa looks down on us, she is so irritating.

5. I'm looking for my glasses, have you seen them?

6. I'm really looking forward to my birthday, I will be of age.

7. Look me up if you are ever in Italy.

TO TAKE

1. The backpack I bought was broken, so I took it back.

2. She took down my phone number and said she'd call me later.

3. My best friend lost his apartment, so I took her in for a month.

4. I always take off my shoes as soon as I get home.

5. The company has taken on two new employees.

6. He took me out to dinner on Valentine's day.

7. I know it's wrong, but when I'm angry I take it out on everybody.

TO BREAK

1. My sister's car broke down on the way home, so I went to get her.

2. Some teenagers broke into the school and stole all the computers last year.

3. I'm sorry to break in on your chat, but could I borrow your pen?

4. She broke off the relationship after she found out he was cheating.

5. The fire fighters broke open the door to save the little boy.

6. Some guys broke through the barriers to get into the music festival.

7. The police broke up a fight outside our local pub.

LOOK

 1 I am looking forward to having a hot bath

2 Don't forget to look after the plants!

3 I am looking for my keys!

4 Look out, there is a broken glass on the floor!

5 I hate the way that our boss looks down on us

6 I looked on as my friend danced around the room

7 I have always looked out for my little sister

TAKE

1 Take off your coat and sit down!

2 We are ready to take off!

3 I took the radio apart to find out what was wrong 

4 The teacher took my mobile phone away until the end of the lessons

5 The bad news took us aback

6 Tom has taken up running to lose some weight

7 You look sick and should go home. I will take over for you

BREAK

1 Yesterday thief broke into the bank

2 The prisoners broke out of jail last night

3 A woman broke down in tears when the boss dismissed her

4 She broke him off

5 The ship was broken up for scarp metal

6 We got a trainer to break in our new horse

7 The sun broke through the clouds

• LOOK
• When I look back, the time I spent abroad was wonderful
• I’m looking forward too see ????? you again
• Look out chiara! Someone is watching you.
• I need to look up this word in the dictionary 
• Now, the things are finally looking up
• Henry looked through the magazine quickly.
• We were looking round the shops when we were in Ashville.

• TAKE
• ‘He took up jogging after his doctor advised him to get some exercise.
• Take out the rubbish when you leave.’
• Jenny couldn’t take in all the information at the meeting.
• In my family, I take after my mother. We have the same eyes and hair.
• Could you take back this book to the library for me?
• The restaurant takes on extra staff in the summer.
  
• If you don't take back what you said to my wife, I will have to sack you. She was hugely offended.

The History of Valentine's Day

The Picture of Dorian Gray     vs         Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

COMMON IDEAS

There's always a dark side in every human being

Good and Evil are two different aspects of the same personality

They both criticize the Victorian society and its emphasis 

on respectability and outward appearance

There's a SPLIT between the world of appearances and the inner world

There's a real contrast between good and evil, true and false, moral and immoral

Dorian looks   wonderfully young and pure                                    

⬇

1. The irregular, shameful and criminal habits do not change Dorian's physical appearance
2. The picture reflects Dorian's evil soul (a symbol of his conscience)
3. Dorian is fascinated by his own image but feels disgust when contemplating the transformation of the picture

Dr Jekyll is a respectable doctor, who has a very good reputation

    ⬇

1. The transformation gives Hyde/Jekyll the possibility to follow bad instincts and do evil things without spoiling Jekyll's reputation, because it is Hyde who acts
2. The mirror  reflects the evil side of Jekyll's nature
3. Jekyll likes his other self but feels remorse for the murder

                                                   

AESTHETICISM

ITALY                                                                    ENGLAND

GABRIELE D'ANNUNZIO

                                     
                      OSCAR WILDE

           

poet/novelist/playwright    

poet/novelist/playwright

his greatest play               his greatest play

↳                                                               ↳

La figlia di Iorio 1904                   The importance of being Earnest  1895

                                                                    

                            ↘↙

                    Anti-conformist spirit

                         Foppish way of dressing

                     Influenced by the Pre-Raphaelite 

                                          Movement
Who were the Pre-Raphaelites?

                                           

                                 ↘↙

                         Aesthetic ideal

Life is a creative act closely intertwined with art

The artist is beyond moral conventions

⇓

Art is an absolute value. It is the supreme form of life

My life is like a work of art

⏬                                                                                         ⏬

D'Annunzio Il Piacere                 Wilde The Picture of Dorian Gray

                      1889                                        1891

translated in English as

The Child of Pleasure

Who were the Pre-Raphaelites?

https://www.helblinglanguages.com/it/it/blog/an-interactive-lesson-plan-the-picture-of-dorian-gray

Aestheticism
Walter Pater
He was the theorist of the Aesthetic movement in England

• He rejected religious faith
• He denied that the aim of art should be realism
• He advocated the superiority of art over life
• Art is the only means to stop time, the only certainty
• Life must imitate Art
• Life should be a work of art
• Each passing time should be filled with intense experience, feeling all kinds of sensations (the main purpose of life is pleasure)
• The task of the artist is to feel sensations, not to describe the world
• Art has no reference to life
• It has no moral or social purpose. It is self-sufficient

1891 
The Picture of Dorian Gray

• The cult of beauty
• The choice of a life beyond common reality
• Life imitates art
• Dorian experiments all kinds of experiences and sensations

Matt Simons - We Can Do Better [Lyrics]

You Can Do Magic + America + Lyrics / HD

FIRST CLASS ACTIVITY

Explain the meaning of the verb CAN in one of the songs you really like

I Believe i can fly lyrics

I Believe I Can Fly

R. Kelly

I used to think that I could not go on
And life was nothing but an awful song
But now I know the meaning of true love
I'm leaning on the everlasting arms

If I can see it, then I can do it
If I just believe it, there's nothing to it

I believe I can fly
I believe I can touch the sky
I think about it every night and day (Night and day)
Spread my wings and fly away
I believe I can soar
I see me running through that open door
I believe I can fly
I believe I can fly
I believe I can fly hoo

See I was on the verge of breaking down
Sometimes silence can seem so loud
There are miracles in life I must achieve
But first I know it starts inside of me, ho oh

If I can see it hoo, then I can be it
If I just believe it, there's nothing to it

I believe I can fly
I believe I can touch the sky
I think about it every night and day
Spread my wings and fly away
I believe I can soar
I see me running through that open door
I believe I can fly
I believe I can fly
Oh, I believe I can fly hoo

Hey, 'cause I believe in me, oh

If I can see it hoo, then I can do it
If I just believe it, there's nothing to it hey

I believe I can fly hoo
I believe I can touch the sky
I think about it every night and day
Spread my wings and fly away
I believe I can soar
I see me running through that open door
I believe I can fly (I can fly)
I believe I can fly (I can fly)
I believe I can fly (I can fly) hey

If I just spread my wings (I can fly)
I can fly (I can fly)
I can fly (I can fly)
I can fly, (I can fly) hey
If I just spread my wings (I can fly)
I can fly (I can fly)
(I can fly)
(I can fly)

How to Talk About Your Free Time and Hobbies in English - Spoken English...

Write about your hobby

MY HOBBY

Why do people have hobbies?
What is your hobby?                                           
Do you spend money on your hobby?
When did you start it?
When do you practise it?     
How many hours a week do you spend on your hobby?

What do you like most about your hobby?

What don’t you like about it?
Does your hobby interfere with your work/study/personal life?

Do you know anyone who has your own hobby?                                                            
Do you know anyone who has no hobby?

Which hobbies are the most popular with girls in your country? With boys?                             
Are there any hobbies you would like to try?

THE UK SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT vs THE ITALIAN ONE

INSTITUTIONS- The British political system vs The Italian political system

INSTITUTIONS- The British political system vs The Italian political system

 

The United Kingdom is a constitutional monarchy and parliamentary democracy.

Up until the Second World War, Italy was ruled by kings. But in June 1946, Italians voted to abolish the monarchy in a referendum, and the country became a democratic republic.

Thus, Italy is today a parliamentary, democratic Republic.

The UK has no written constitution: the Constitution is made up of common law (laws established through court judgments) and legislation (laws passed by the legislature, parliamentary conventions: there is no single document that can be classed as the British Constitution.

The Italian Republic, on the contrary, has a written Constitution which is composed of 139 articles and came into force on 1 January 1948. 

In the UK the King is the head of the state: he is a hereditary member of the Royal family but he has very few formal powers.

The President of the Italian Republic represents the unity of the nation and has ceremonial duties. He is elected by the two chambers of Parliament in joint session for a period of seven years at the end of which he can be re-elected. He appoints the Prime Minister. He must be a native-born Italian citizen at least 50 years old.

Both, the queen and our President, are the commander-in-chief of the armed forces.

Both English and Italian Parliaments have a Bicameral system.

The English Parliament is divided into the House of Commons with 650 members and the House of Lords with about 800 members.

The Italian Parliament is divided into the Chamber of Deputies with 400 members and the Senate of the Republic with 200  members. 

The Italian Chamber of Deputies currently consists of 400 members.
This composition came into effect with the beginning of the 19th Legislature, on October 13, 2022, following the approval of Constitutional Law No. 1/2020 in the 2020 constitutional referendum.

This law reduced the number of deputies from 630 to 400, and the number of senators from 315 to 200.

The reduction in the number of parliamentarians was intended to streamline and improve the efficiency of the legislative assembly. However, it’s important to note that the number of deputies elected abroad remained unchanged at 8, as established by Article 56 of the Italian Constitution.

The main functions of English Parliament are: to pass law, to vote taxation, to discuss important political issues, to control the government.

The House of Lords has a limited power, because its members are not elected by people but they are either hereditary or appointed for life by the sovereign on the advice of the Prime Minister (Life Peers). The members are divided into Lords Temporal (Hereditary Peers and Life Peers) and Lords Spiritual (Archbishops and Senior Bishops). They examine and revise bills from the House of Commons. The majority are life peers.There is no upper limit on the total number of members.

As of May 2025, the House of Lords in the United Kingdom comprises approximately 804 eligible members. 

• 691 life peers: appointed for their lifetime by the monarch on the advice of the Prime Minister or the House of Lords Appointments Commission.

• 88 excepted hereditary peers: remaining from the 1999 reform, who retain their seats through elections within the House.

• 25 bishops: senior members of the Church of England, known as the Lords Spiritual.

The House of Lords does not have a fixed upper limit on membership, and its size can fluctuate due to new appointments, retirements, or deaths. Recent discussions have focused on reforming the House, including proposals to eliminate all hereditary peers and introduce a mandatory retirement age for members .

Any British, Irish or Commonwealth citizen who is a UK resident and taxpayer over 21 is eligible to be nominated or can apply to become a member.

The members of the House of Commons are elected by universal adult suffrage. General elections are held every five years. The UK is divided into 650 areas called constituencies. The candidate who gets the most votes in each constituency becomes the MP for that area until the next election.The leader of the party that wins most seats at a general election is invited by the Queen to form the Government.

Most MPs are members of one of the three main political parties in the UK - Labour, Conservative and Liberal Democrats. Other MPs represent smaller parties or are independent of a political party.

The Government is the center of the executive. The head of the Government is the Prime Minister who is appointed by the King in England.

Keir Starmer is a British politician who has been serving as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom since July 5, 2024, following a significant Labour Party victory in the general election.

The Cabinet is a coalition government  and they meet at 10 Downing Street. Government departments are the main instruments for giving effect to government policy. The principal departments are the Treasury, the Foreign Office and the Home Office.

The Judicial power is exercised by the Law Courts, which are divided into Criminal Courts and Civil Courts.

In Italy, there are three branches of power in Italy: executive, legislative, and juridical.

The legislative is vested in the two houses- the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate, which can introduce bills and holds the majority in the Parliament.

The executive power is in the hands of the Council of the Ministers, presided over by the President of the Council - more commonly known as the Prime Minister (officially referred to as President of the Council).

Giorgia Meloni is the  Italian politician who has been serving as the Prime Minister of Italy since October 22, 2022, becoming the first woman to hold the office. She is the leader of the Brothers of Italy (Fratelli d’Italia, FdI) party, a right-wing nationalist party she co-founded in 2012 and has led since 2014.

The ministers are responsible for executing laws and other political decisions. This is usually done by presenting bills to parliament, but can also be done by passing decrees - this happens in cases of urgency, or if parliament gives the council the authority to do so.

The judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislative branches.It is headed by the High Council of Judiciary.

The Chamber of Deputies is elected by direct and universal suffrage by voters who are 18. All voters who are 25 are eligible to be deputies.

The Senate is elected by direct and universal suffrage by voters who are 25.

All voters who are 40 on the election day are eligible to be senators.

There is a small number of senators for life, appointed  "for outstanding merits in the social, scientific, artistic or literary field" - and there are also the  former Presidents of the Republic, who are ex officio life senators.

https://www.slideshare.net/amocarska/italia-costituzione-inglese-comenius-ecc-2

https://www.slideshare.net/maestrolawrencecarandang/italian-political-system