Good morning, afternoon, evening, 

the special squirrel we are talking about is the one in a poem written by the Turkish poet Nazim Hikmet in 1948.

To Life

Life is not a joke/take it seriously/as the squirrel does, for example/without expecting anything/ from the outside or in the hereafter./You won't have to do anything else than living.//Life is not a joke./Take it seriously/but seriously to the point/that put against a wall, for example, hands tied/or inside a laboratory/ with a white coat and big glasses/you die so that men can live/men whose face you won't ever know/and you will die knowing/that nothing is more beautiful, more real than life.//Take it seriously/but seriously to the point/that when seventy, for example, you will plant olive trees/not because they have to be left to your children/but because you won't believe in death/even if fearing it/and life will weigh more on the scale.

We do believe this squirrel is quite wise.

Shall we imitate it and try to be as wise as it is?

That's why, undeservedly, attempting to find this wisdom somewhere, one day we met a squirrel while driving along a country road where we started writing about it. 

This book is aimed at promoting cultural issues, civil and human rights, through the NPO Eurocontact Plus Onlus we funded. At this stage, the book tries to support all its efforts, initiatives and projects, to spread bi/multilingualism as a lively common citizenship to share, and to encourage all possible forms of art underlying in young people, creating work for them.   

It is a collection of texts aimed at sharing meaningful feelings. We would be very pleased if you left your comments here.

If you want to help us and know more about our work, this book is for you to buy, as a donation to the NPO Eurocontact Plus ONLUS whose IBAN code is IT47 Z076 0113 9000 0101 9775 509; we will send it to your address, as soon as we receive your communication via email - see bottom of the page - with your address. If the coordinator of the website is your English teacher, you can ask her directly and you will have the book with a discount compared to the price it has on the Internet.

You can also donate your 5 per thousand on your tax return; the fiscal code is 92121150491. Useless to say that any donation to Eurocontact Plus ONLUS is very welcome and will be fruitful as an investment on the so many projects we are working on.

Let us know in case you want to know more and partecipate. 

It would be very nice of you reading the book and writing a comment about some texts you like.

Anna - Coordinator

Thanks to all five comments whatever the content is. Continue reading and writing, Anna

Source: as written on the cover  of the book

Good morning, afternoon, evening,

can you see from the photographs what we are referring to?

We are going to visit the place and the surrounding area with English students on Monday the 8th of June, getting together at 3,00 p.m. with the first group and 4,30 with the second one in Piazza del Municipio, just under the board showing directions for New York, London, Madrid, and quite nearer cities in Tuscany.  

It would be a pleasure meeting you too, in case you like to join us, to practice English and welcome whoever does the same. Please be punctual. 

While we are going to give you the booklet from which we took the last photograph below and information to consult for answering these questions, here they are for you to reply. 

The aim is to develop the skills of written comprehension from the text given, and to reemploy and rephrase it in formally correct structures, both in writing and speaking. 

When was Livorno founded? Pg. 3

What are the two fortresses in Livorno called?

Why? When were they built? Pg. 13 and Pg. 17

What is it that connects them? Pg. 3  

What are the Medicean Fossi? Pg. 3 

What are in Livorno Capitana, Ampolletta and Canaviglia? Pg. 13

What is actually Piazza della Repubblica? What is it called in Livorno? Pg. 17

Why is the Venezia Quarter called so? Pg. 15

Have you ever been on a boat trip along the canals in Livorno? 

Would you like to sight-seeing Livorno from the canals? 

Enjoy your English, 

Anna - Coordinator

Source: Comune Livorno, Dipartimento Turismo and self - made photographs 

Thank you Natalia, you know then what we mean when we say our city is fascinating. Come and visit it again!

Anna

Good morning, afternoon, evening,

this is a page also for Elementary Students whom we warmly invite to participate in replying to questions and writing comments.

Think of a place where a lot of tourists go. Do you think tourism has a positive effect on that place? 

Read the text you have below and try to find the answers to these questions.  

1. How far is it from London to Sidney?

2. How long does it take to get from London to Sidney?

3. How many tourists go on safari  each year?

4. Which doesn't damage the environment so much: going by train or flying?

5. Which countries earn a lot of money from tourism?

6. Who owns the hotels in many tourism resorts?   

Can you think of more tips for responsible travelling in addition to these ones? 

1. Treat wild animals with respect

2. Wear appropriate clothes

3. Travel in small groups

4. Eat food which is grown locally

5. Speak to local people

6. Don't stay oin big hotels

7. Use public transport

8. Don't use too much water 

Using the mind map of the last picture, write complete questions for each item, and give the answers. 

We'll talk about it in class, see you there

Anna - Coordinator

Source: Cult DeA Scuola 2015

Eleonora: nationalities need capital letter; developed; have arrived (but it is not very English); landscape has changed; and the ecosystem has been damaged; it takes; and a half; world is becoming; for the environment; local populations.

Claudia: always in a hurry replying to students! Thank you for your comment. Possible improvements for your comment: 

then in the past; sorts; everyone has their different consideration for; and everything from; for everybody; we don't have to; because we are guest; for future generations.

See you in class, Anna

Good morning, afternoon,evening, 

Eleonora is an agronomist, a professional with very tight roots into the earth as a resource capable of guaranteeing everybody to live on if properly used. Redifining what sustanaibility is for everybody's benefit is something we can't delay any more. There are too many differencies among people on the same very small planet.   

Today we invite you to practice your English with this article to read, suitable also for corageous elementary students.

Do you feel concerned about nutrition? Are you interested in eating habits? Why?

What is the role played by food in your life? 

Do you find it sensible trying a Paleolithic diet? 

Why, according to you, going on a diet called Paleolithic?

What is your perception of such a definition? 

After reading the article, please complete these prompts for sentences according to what's written in it:

  1. Homo Sapiens ...

  2. Many people today...

  3. The Paleolithic diet...

  4. The Paleolithic era...

  5. People from the Paleolithic era...

  6. Devotees of the Paleolithic diet...

  7. People on the Paleolithic diet eat...

  8. People on the Paleolithic diet don't eat...

  9. People on the Paleolithic diet don't...

10. The diet is enormously popular...

11. Singer Tom Jones...

12. Singer Miley Cyrus...

13. Gwyneth Paltrow...

14. The Paleolithic diet does...

15. It's impossible...

16. Food, like people...

17. Our early ancestors... 

Practice your English paying attention to formal correctness!

See you in class, ' good day, enjoy your English, 

Anna - Coordinator

Source: Speak Up, March 2015

Good morning, afternoon, evening, 

thank you Caterina for appreciating biking. I's so important to keep a strong bond with phisical activities. Too frequentely we miss the perception of what our body is, we don't know what potential it has, what its resources are. We go too often to the doctor, without observing what we can do due to embodying all our skills. For we do have skills, haven't we?  

One of them is the capability of making wishes, what we are going to talk about today.

1. If you had to make some, what would they be? 

2. What does it mean putting wishes in action? 

3. What are TED Prizes aimed at? 

After reading the page, 

4. What kind of food is a problem for Jamie Oliver?

5. Who does he think should eat more healthily?

6. What is Sugata Mitra's "school in the cloud"?

7. Who does Mitra think children can learn without?

8. What does JR believe could change the world?

9. Who did JR want to influence in Pakistan?  

After replying to these questions, find words or phrases from the text that mean:

a. participate (Miranda)  

b. alone, without help (Daniel) 

c. the way they prefer (Daniel) 

d. change the world dramatically (Leila) 

Practice and enjoy your English, if you love it, it will love you. 

Anna - Coordinator 

Source: CULT DeA Scuola 2015

Hello everybody, 

our teen classes can find here a few questions to reply about the subject they/you chose for your team to work on. 

Whoever wants to partecipate is as usual very, very welcome. Adult students can give their contribution referring to themselves when they were teenagers. 

Biking: 1.what do you think of using a bicycle in towns and cities? 

2. What are the positive aspects of cycling and the negative ones? 

3. When do you use a bicycle? 

4. Where do you go? 

My Space: 1. can you describe your bedroom to your mates in class? 

2. Please draw a map to make us better understand what it is like. 

3. Did you decide how to furnish it? 

4. Who helped you? 

See you in class, enjoy your English 

Anna - Coordinator 

Good morning, afternoon, evening, 

thank you so much Eleonora for appreciating our very brief article about Gandhi. He was only seventeen when he understood that using the language of the British Empire for freedom purposes would have doubled the effects of communication, making people feel free to spread  what they strongly believed in: freedom is everybody's right!    

To make it easier our work, since time flies and technology sometimes doesn't help, today please

1. choose among the pages from a text book we uploaded on the previous page; 

2. choose also one or more partners to work with and

3. come to class with ideas of yours, notes written and present the topic to your mates.

We all are very interested in listening to you and to the following conversation. 

Enjoy your English and involve families

Anna - Coordinator 

Source: Pages from Get Thinking - Cambridge University Press - 2015

Good morning, afternoon, evening,

this is team homework mainly for all our teenager students, but any other is very, very welcome to partecipate. 

Decide which classmates you want to work with, read this page and give as a group your answers to the questions below or write your ideas and comments.

What time of the day do you enjoy most?

What do you prefere doing at school?

What do you like doing in your free time?

What do you do with your computer and smart phone? 

Are there any negative aspects in always carrying a smartphone with us or using other digital devices?  

Let us know, it is so interesting to know what you think. 

Enjoy you English, see you in class, 

Anna - Coordinator

Source: Get Thinking, Cambridge University Press 2015, Student's Book  

Good morning, afternoon, evening,  

in class we listened to this article and the following conversation was so stimulating!

Do you agree that body and mind are deeply intertwinned?

What is the role played by exercising in your life?

We said it's important to become aware of this importance if action has to be taken. With no consciousness there's no decision to start something new.

How many perceptions can we develop to produce never ending resources?

Which ones do you base your daily life on?  

Let us know what you think and what your experience is.

Enjoy your English and practice it.

Anna - Coordinator 

Source: Speak Up January 2015 

Thank you Maria Luisa,

just a few words here after listening to your comment in class:

Latin capital letter, you can find context and other spelling kistakes by yourself. Coordinate subject and verb, singular singular, plural plural. When speaking in general no articles before nouns.

See you in class, Anna