9-10 class Reading comprehension  

Bank holidays in Colombia

https://learnenglishteens.britishcouncil.org/magazine/life-around-world/bank-holidays-colombia

Bank holidays … we all love them. In the UK, we only get eight bank holidays in one year, and at least five of those occur around Christmas time and Easter time! A bank holiday is a British English term for a public holiday. This is an official day that is decided by the government, when banks, shops and offices close for the day (even though it’s a weekday – usually a Monday) and a lot of people have a day off work.

Bank holidays are different in Colombia – firstly, they are called ‘festivos’. There are twenty festivos for the whole country in one year! (In Britain, people get more holiday allowance than Colombians but fewer bank holidays.) There can be even more festivos in Colombia, depending on which region of Colombia you live in. This is because different regions have their own holidays. For example, some regions have a patron saint in their region, so they have an extra festivo to celebrate that saint. Most of the festivos in Colombia exist for religious reasons. The Colombian people are mostly Roman Catholics, and Colombian national festivos usually exist to celebrate a saint that is important to the Catholic Church.

However, there are some days that are national holidays for historical reasons. There is an Independence Day celebration on the 20 July every year. This is called Día de la Independencia in Spanish. This is just like Bastille Day in France on the 14 July, or Independence Day in the United States on the 4 July. Other important festivos in Colombia are: Labour Day (Día del trabajo in Spanish), on the 1 May, and Columbus Day (Día de la Raza in Spanish) on the 12 October. Columbus Day is a historical bank holiday that almost every country on the continent of America celebrates. This includes Colombia, Chile, Peru, Argentina, Mexico and the United States. It is a commemoration of the day that the Italian sailor, Christopher Columbus, first reached land on the continent, in the year 1492. Many people criticize this day and say it is not something to celebrate because of the way Columbus and his teams treated the people that were already living there.

Festivos are very important for Colombian people. They often travel to spend time with their families and it is an extra day on the weekend, to relax and forget about work.

1. How can you explain the term “a bank holiday”? Give the examples of Russian bank
2. How will you say  “a bank holiday” in Spanish?
3. Do all the regions in Colombia have the same number of bank holidays?
4. Which kind of extra festivo  does  any region have?
5. Which of the holidays are celebrated  for historical reasons?
6. Do you think all the people in Latin America celebrate Columbus Day?
7. How do Colombian people spend Festivos ?

My first music festival in France

https://learnenglishteens.britishcouncil.org/magazine/entertainment/my-first-music-festival-france

It is the end of the school holidays where I am posted as a language assistant in France. I spent most of the holidays travelling round France and I spent the last couple of days at a music festival in Bourges a city close by to where I live.

The music festival was called ‘Printemps de Bourges’ which means springtime in Bourges in English. This music festival takes place every year during the April school holidays. This was the first music festival I have been to in France and it was great. It was very different from any music festivals I have been to in England that are normally in muddy fields where it rains! This music festival was in a big sports arena that was transformed into a concert Who’s that for the week.

The favourite act that I saw was Mika, he produced a lot of music when I was a teenager so it was great to relive some happy memories from when I was younger. Mika is half French and his music is in French and English, all of his songs are very upbeat and happy, they are great to dance to! Another act that I enjoyed seeing was ‘Maitre Gims’ who is a French rapper. I do not normally listen to his type of music, but he created a great atmosphere and drowned out the arena with his catchy and loud songs. The music festival was full of young and old people, it was great to see such a varied audience. Music festivals in the UK are normally attended by young adults.

The day after the music festival I woke up exhausted from all the dancing and I was also still covered in glitter which one of the acts had sprayed at the audience during their performance. I am very glad that I got to experience a French music festival and it is definitely in my top ten best experiences of things I have done in France. There were lots of different types of music at the festival and it was great to listen to new music and experience another side of French culture.

1. Where did the girl spend her holidays?
2. What kind of festival did she visit? How often is the festival held?
3. How did the festival differ from  festivals in England?
4. Who’s that Mika? Why does the girl like his songs?
5. Did the girl enjoy seeing ‘Maitre Gims’? Why?
6. How did she feel  the day after the music festival ?
7. Why does the girl believe  the festival to be in her top ten best experiences of things she has done in France?