Seeking Peace - Children's tales of peace

Recursos Educativos en Inglés - Stories in English

Cuentos en inglés sobre la paz - Peace Stories

Seeking Peace - Stories for children peace day

Once upon a time there was a king who offered a great prize to the artist who could capture perfect peace in a painting. Many artists tried. The king looked at and admired all the paintings, but there were only two that he really liked and he had to choose between them.

The first was a very peaceful lake. This lake was a perfect mirror with placid mountains surrounding it. Above them was a very blue sky with faint white clouds. Everyone who looked at this painting thought it reflected perfect peace.

The second painting also had mountains. But these were rugged and bare. Above them was a raging sky from which fell an impetuous downpour of thunder and lightning. Down the mountain there seemed to rumble a foaming torrent of water. All this did not appear at all peaceful.

But when the King looked carefully, he saw behind the waterfall a delicate bush growing in a crevice of the rock. In this bush was a nest. There, amidst the roar of the violent waterfall, sat placidly a little bird in its nest....

Perfect peace...?

Which do you think was the winning painting?

The King chose the second one.

Do you know why?

"Because," explained the King, "Peace does not mean being in a place without noise, trouble, hard work or pain. Peace means that in spite of being in the midst of all these things we remain calm in our hearts. This is the true meaning of peace".

♦ Canciones día de la Paz en Inglés - Songs Peace's Day

♦ The Seven Coloured Knights - Diversity and Tolerance

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How to organize a romantic dinner?

Ideas for a magical candlelight dinner!

Romance can be a simple little gesture that shows you care without necessarily getting out the tissues and violins.

If you've landed on this post, it's because you've decided to organise a dinner for someone you care about. Nice attention!

So whether you're a romantic at heart, or a die-hard who might be tempted to have a candlelit dinner this year, here are some tips and tricks for an unforgettable romantic evening. A truly romantic dinner at home!

1. How do I decorate for a romantic dinner?

Decorating your home for a dinner party will help you create an atmosphere conducive to a romantic, intimate or complicit moment, depending on what you are looking for. Because you should know that not everyone sees a romantic dinner in the same way! When some people want a rather simple atmosphere (haaa the beginnings it's hard to let go!), others will prefer to live a moment of complicity for two, or even passion for those who want to declare their love!

The important thing is to know what kind of decoration you can use to create a romantic atmosphere:

• Flowers: they always have an effect! They can be offered in a bouquet but can also be part of the decoration. On the table, hanging from the chairs, scattered in petals...
• Balloons: well chosen, they can be very cute. In the shape of a red heart for passion or to form the word "Love"... Or even by the dozen to declare your love!
• Candles: no romance without candles! Candlesticks and mood candles... Don't forget to dim the light for a cosy touch.
• Music: a small playlist of soul, jazz, acoustic...

2. Decorating a table for a romantic dinner

To organise the perfect romantic dinner, the table decoration must not be neglected. It's all about the details and even more so for the love feast, which must be absolutely perfect! The aim is to make this dinner an unforgettable moment, so the colours must be well chosen in order to create a romantic atmosphere that your other half won't forget.

A white tablecloth, a pink table runner and a few touches of red on your romantic table, nothing could be easier to make your Juliette. fall in love with you. For the colours, you should know that total white is also a good idea. It's not only women who love this atmosphere, so don't hesitate to organise a romantic evening for your man that will make a huge impact!

For a chic romantic table:

To make a romantic decoration worthy of the greatest restaurants, you need a few essentials! A white tablecloth, a beautiful candlestick, cloth napkins, plain white dishes, pretty stemware... For the bouquet of flowers, you can opt for red passion flowers like red roses or softer pastel-coloured flowers like peonies. Place your bouquet in a pretty vase.

Tip: If you don't have a vase, scatter your flowers on the table, or turn your stemware upside down and put a flower in it like a flower under a bell!

For a romantic table setting:

Go for red, the colour of passion! Dare to use red rose petals scattered here and there... Place candles everywhere for a sensual atmosphere. You can also use a scented candle that will awaken your senses.

The organisation of a romantic dinner for two also involves the choice of crockery, which should be selected with the greatest care. Bring out a beautiful tableware or, failing that, white crockery (which is perfectly suitable for the occasion).

Quickly! An example of a quick romantic table!

Simple and efficient, that's what you need because your loved one is going to arrive any minute! No time to go and buy anything, it's panic...

Here is what you need to make a romantic table in 10 minutes:

• a table
• a tablecloth if you have one
• two plain plates
• two glasses of champagne or two wine glasses
• two or three tea lights
• a bouquet of flowers, if the florist or local shop is still open!

Place your tablecloth or table runner on the table.

Place the plates, cutlery and champagne glasses.

At the centre of your table, place three glasses of different sizes upside down and place your candles on top.

If you have flowers, put some in the upside down glasses or put them in a vase in the middle of the table.

Light your candles just before your host arrives (not too early, otherwise they will burn out too quickly).

Play the romantic playlist!

3. What recipes for a romantic dinner?

When organising a romantic dinner, it's important not to take too many risks! Go for easy but well-presented recipes. You don't want them to keep you in the kitchen too long if you want to organise everything and have time to prepare!

There are plenty of quick and easy recipes for a romantic dinner. Remember, taste is important, but so is appearance! There's nothing like a beautiful, well-prepared plate on a tastefully decorated table to further surprise you with a romantic dinner idea at home.

You can start with a variety of plates, but in small quantities, such as :

• sushi
• pan-fried prawns
• spaghetti
• pan-fried foie gras
• tiramisu
• fish en papillotte
• chocolate fondant

Avoid strong-smelling dishes such as cheese-based dishes or dishes that are too heavy to digest!

4. What should I wear for my romantic dinner?

Yes, the organisation of your romantic dinner will not be finalised until you have chosen your outfit! The question has been on your mind for several weeks now. The outfit is even more important than the meal and it has to be more delicious than your chocolate dessert and more explicit than any Marvin Gaye song!

But be careful! The idea is to remain classy and chic without being tacky, beautiful and elegant without overdoing it, sensual without being vulgar. So we're going for a pretty black dress, a classic that always appeals. Choose a dress with a low neckline in the back, for example, with a veil that only partially covers the skin. You can also try a strapless suit that reveals the shoulders. Make up the shoulders with light sequins that will sparkle on your skin thanks to the candlelight. In red, to symbolise passion, you are sure to drive your other half completely crazy!

Finally, for the make-up, make up your eyes with a nice dark smokey eye instead of your mouth. Indeed, it's through your eyes that all the emotions come through, and then, the kisses will multiply all evening; the lipstick won't last long for sure!

For you gentlemen, if you are comfortable with the shirt, go ahead! Out with the short-sleeved shirt though... You'll wear it during the holidays! If you are not comfortable with dressing up, don't overdo it, but do it enough so that we can watch your little efforts with pleasure ;)

A nice well-trimmed beard, a shirt, a touch of perfume... It's the details that count!

Recursos en inglés para San Valentín

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Blizzard - William Carlos Williams

Recursos Educativos en Inglés - Poems in English

Winter Poems for Kids - Poesías invierno en inglés estaciones del año

Blizzard

Snow:
years of anger following
hours that float idly down —
the blizzard
drifts its weight
deeper and deeper for three days
or sixty years, eh? Then
the sun! a clutter of
yellow and blue flakes —
Hairy looking trees stand out
in long alleys
over a wild solitude.
The man turns and there —
his solitary track stretched out
upon the world.

By William Carlos Williams

William Carlos Williams was an American writer associated with modernism and imagism. He is especially known for his poetry.

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After Apple-Picking - Robert Lee Frost

Recursos Educativos en Inglés - Poems in English

Winter Poems for Kids - Poesías invierno en inglés estaciones del año

After Apple-Picking

My long two-pointed ladder's sticking through a tree
Toward heaven still,
And there's a barrel that I didn't fill
Beside it, and there may be two or three
Apples I didn't pick upon some bough.
But I am done with apple-picking now.
Essence of winter sleep is on the night,
The scent of apples: I am drowsing off.
I cannot rub the strangeness from my sight
I got from looking through a pane of glass
I skimmed this morning from the drinking trough
And held against the world of hoary grass.
It melted, and I let it fall and break.
But I was well
Upon my way to sleep before it fell,
And I could tell
What form my dreaming was about to take.
Magnified apples appear and disappear,
Stem end and blossom end,
And every fleck of russet showing clear.
My instep arch not only keeps the ache,
It keeps the pressure of a ladder-round.
I feel the ladder sway as the boughs bend.
And I keep hearing from the cellar bin
The rumbling sound
Of load on load of apples coming in.
For I have had too much
Of apple-picking: I am overtired
Of the great harvest I myself desired.
There were ten thousand thousand fruit to touch,
Cherish in hand, lift down, and not let fall.
For all
That struck the earth,
No matter if not bruised or spiked with stubble,
Went surely to the cider-apple heap
As of no worth.
One can see what will trouble
This sleep of mine, whatever sleep it is.
Were he not gone,
The woodchuck could say whether it's like his
Long sleep, as I describe its coming on,
Or just some human sleep.

By Robert Frost

Robert Lee Frost was an American poet, considered one of the founders of modern American poetry for expressing, with philosophical simplicity and sentimental depth, the life and emotions of rural New Englanders.

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Now Winter Nights Enlarge - Thomas Campion

Recursos Educativos en Inglés - Poems in English

Winter Poems for Kids - Poesías invierno en inglés estaciones del año

Now Winter Nights Enlarge

Now winter nights enlarge
The number of their hours;
And clouds their storms discharge
Upon the airy towers.
Let now the chimneys blaze
And cups o’erflow with wine,
Let well-turned words amaze
With harmony divine.
Now yellow waxen lights
Shall wait on honey love
While youthful revels, masques, and courtly sights
Sleep’s leaden spells remove.

This time doth well dispense
With lovers’ long discourse;
Much speech hath some defense,
Though beauty no remorse.
All do not all things well;
Some measures comely tread,
Some knotted riddles tell,
Some poems smoothly read.
The summer hath his joys,
And winter his delights;
Though love and all his pleasures are but toys,
They shorten tedious nights.

By Thomas Campion

Thomas Campion was an English composer, poet and physician of the Elizabethan era. Lyrical poems by Thomas Campion can be found in songbooks from this period.

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Lines: The cold earth slept below - Percy Bysshe Shelley

Recursos Educativos en Inglés - Poems in English

Winter Poems for Kids - Poesías invierno en inglés estaciones del año

Lines: The cold earth slept below

The cold earth slept below;
Above the cold sky shone;
And all around,
With a chilling sound,
From caves of ice and fields of snow
The breath of night like death did flow
Beneath the sinking moon.

The wintry hedge was black;
The green grass was not seen;
The birds did rest
On the bare thorn’s breast,
Whose roots, beside the pathway track,
Had bound their folds o’er many a crack
Which the frost had made between.

Thine eyes glow’d in the glare
Of the moon’s dying light;
As a fen-fire’s beam
On a sluggish stream
Gleams dimly—so the moon shone there,
And it yellow’d the strings of thy tangled hair,
That shook in the wind of night.

The moon made thy lips pale, beloved;
The wind made thy bosom chill;
The night did shed
On thy dear head
Its frozen dew, and thou didst lie
Where the bitter breath of the naked sky
Might visit thee at will.

By Percy Bysshe Shelley

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The Darkling Thrush - Thomas Hardy

Recursos Educativos en Inglés - Poems in English

Winter Poems for Kids - Poesías invierno en inglés estaciones del año

The Darkling Thrush

I leant upon a coppice gate
When Frost was spectre-grey,
And Winter's dregs made desolate
The weakening eye of day.
The tangled bine-stems scored the sky
Like strings of broken lyres,
And all mankind that haunted nigh
Had sought their household fires.

The land's sharp features seemed to be
The Century's corpse outleant,
His crypt the cloudy canopy,
The wind his death-lament.
The ancient pulse of germ and birth
Was shrunken hard and dry,
And every spirit upon earth
Seemed fervourless as I.

At once a voice arose among
The bleak twigs overhead
In a full-hearted evensong
Of joy illimited;
An aged thrush, frail, gaunt, and small,
In blast-beruffled plume,
Had chosen thus to fling his soul
Upon the growing gloom.

So little cause for carolings
Of such ecstatic sound
Was written on terrestrial things
Afar or nigh around,
That I could think there trembled through
His happy good-night air
Some blessed Hope, whereof he knew
And I was unaware.

By Thomas Hardy

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