One life is not enough

Green Renaissance

‘If you are not a reader, you have only one life. But if you are a reader, you have a million lives.’ Rakel believes that one life is not enough. The span of years and hours and seconds that makes up her life, do not give her the time to experience all that she would like to. But the power of a good story opens the door to endless travel and adventure. Rakel Helmsdal is a writer, a puppeteer and an artist. Journey into her world!

Visit Rakel HERE

Vocabulary chunks to learn :

• One life is not enough
• Hundreds and thousands of things
• Go exploring
• A new adventure
• If you are a reader you have a million lives
• You lose yourself in it
• It makes me richer
• Understand the world more
• Something that touches you
• I can’t help telling stories
• I have to tell them
• It’s larger than themselves
• The errors you made
• Life is not perfect
• According to plan
• The world needs creative people
• Its so terribly important
• Do what you love
• Keep your feet on the ground
• Dream while I’m still awake
• Get lost
• It’s your adventure
• I want to make people dream
• That’s what I love the most

 

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Open your eyes back to nature

[The Great Big Story]

Culinary Artist, James Gop, has dedicated his life to embracing local foods, open fires and the vast beauty of the Berkshire Mountains. Mother Nature, to Gop, is a giant grocery store full of endless possibility. To celebrate the chef’s refreshing take on what it means to be an artist/explorer/chef in today’s world, Coors Light is enabling James’ next masterpiece: a sumptuous feast that showcases his top dishes, using hand-picked ingredients from the surrounding flora and fauna.

Follow James on   HERE

Vocabulary chunks to learn after watching the video

• Walk around in the woods
• Curious nature
• Culinary artist
• More often than not
• Later this week
• Building a menu
• Native species
• The growing seasons are short
• He never stops
• It’s very inspiring
• Continue to be better
• My artistic expression
• A seventeen-hour day
• Sauté them in a lot of butter and a lot of salt
• Little red berries
• To forever change your lives today
• Being here, present
• Weeds and grasses
• An edible grocery store
• Exposing them to something they’ve never seen
• Foraged pine bark
• Whole-wheat flour
• Making time
• Be part of this experience
• Open your eyes back to nature
• Giving us the opportunity to tell our story

How wonderful life is while you’re in the world

 [John  Lewis]

This year’s story is about the power of a gift. And how that gift inspired, changed and influenced the course of a little boy’s life. That little boy just happens to be Elton John. The film begins in present day and works backwards chronologically through Elton’s life right until the moment on Christmas morning when he received the special gift that changed his life.

Your Song Lyrics

It’s a little bit funny this feeling inside
I’m not one of those who can easily hide
I don’t have much money but boy if I did
I’d buy a big house where we both could live

If I was a sculptor, but then again, no
Or a man who makes potions in a traveling show
I know it’s not much but it’s the best I can do
My gift is my song and this one’s for you

And you can tell everybody this is your song
It may be quite simple but now that it’s done
I hope you don’t mind
I hope you don’t mind that I put down in words
How wonderful life is while you’re in the world

Writer(s): JOHN ELTON, TAUPIN BERNARD J P 

What is the power of trees?

New research shows that trees communicate with one another and share nutrients through their roots! They need each other. In urban areas, trees also help us with health, economic and social benefits. They are part of our culture. We need them. So, how can we return the favor?

Vocabulary chunks to learn from video :

• Great great great grandson
• Run around in the woods
• Make rope swings
• Inland rain forest
• We spent all of our summers in the bush
• Trees in urban environments are essential
• As equal partners
• People recover more quickly from surgery in hospitals
• The workplace
• There is evidence of these benefits
• Every trees was connected to every other tree
• Everything was connected to everything else
• We would bury then in the trees
• They literally live in the trees
• Trees can recognize their kin
• The air is cleaner
• Constant contact with trees
• It comes down to economics
• Kids are doing better in school
• A more urbanized nation
• The value of having nature in the city
• The cycle of life
• We are just a strand in this web
• We don’t own the earth we are part of the earth
• Maintain that connection

 

Cook with your soul and spirit

great big story

Mexico’s Zapotecs are an indigenous community living in Oaxaca, Mexico. Before Spanish colonization, Zapotecan civilization was a thriving epicenter of food, culture and tradition. Today, chef Abigail Mendoza is on a mission to keep those traditions alive by cooking the food of her ancestors. All the dishes she cooks—including pre-hispanic mole, stuffed chiles with Oaxaca cheese and atole—are made using ancient techniques. Recognized by the world’s best chefs for her dishes, she hopes to keep the food of her ancestors alive and thriving.

Vocabulary chunks to learn from video

• An indigenous group
• Pre-colonial era
• Keep their traditions alive
• She has become world-famous
• Keeping the traditional ways of cooking alive
• A Corn-based sauce
• She cooks chilies directly on coals
• Foods that were eaten thousands of years ago

Map of Oaxaca :

3 000 Villages to discover

 

visit Greece

Bustling cities, small traditional villages, breathtaking nature, rich culture, archaeological sites, mesmerizing islands, culinary treats and recipes form a fascinating destination. Enjoy Greece all year round, as each season has something special to offer. Uncover Greece’s hidden treasures   HERE

Only in Africa

biggest leaf media

Visit the Nelis HERE

Vocabulary chunks to learn from video :

• An absolute passion for the primates
• Such close proximity
• Even the youngsters
• Mothers with infants
• A certain pose a certain look
• It’s all about being observant
• Keep an eye open
• Animal behavior
• The comfort zones
• Working very closely with wildlife
• Lighting conditions
• A really great safari experience
• To date I’ve done 45 gorilla tracks
• More in-depth knowledge
• Go on a safari
• The difficult part

I love life

Green Renaissance

For centuries, the greatest thinkers have suggested the same thing: Happiness is found in helping others. There is no greater gift than that of giving of one’s time and energy to help others, without expecting anything in return. “What you receive is just wonderful. You don’t receive it in money. Just the pleasure of seeing their faces.” – Peggy

Vocabulary chunks to learn from the video :

• I’m a very luck old lady at 83
• I’ve had a lovely life
• The departure lounge
• I love life
• We so fortunate to be alive
• Everyday is a challenge
• What’s around the corner
• Enjoy every minute of it
• I never get bored
• Think positive
• I never ever ever got lonely
• It’s beyond my understanding
• Make a cup of tea
• Just knit a few stitches or a few rows
• I love to knit
• I’ve knitted 25 jerseys so far
• A busy outlet
• It’s for you It’s a gift
• What you receive is just wonderful
• Packed like a sardine can
• I give them away
• What a wonderful idea
• I’ve never bought wool, It’s just arrived
• It’s part of me
• I’d be very heart sore
• I so badly want to be remembered

Fly me to the moon

futurism

Like a Segway for the sky, this hoverboard is piloted by shifting your body weight.

Visit the EZ-Fly site HERE

Dive into the oven

Great Big Story

Shotis puri is a traditional Georgian bread, usually served with every meal. Baking the bread, however, can get a little extreme. For a new baker interested in venturing into the world of shotis puri, be prepared to dive headfirst … literally. The bread is baked in a tonir—a deep, clay oven onto which the unleavened dough is stuck. After the bread has been baked, bakers must dive headfirst into the hot, hot oven to retrieve their goods. No one knows the process better than Skhirtladze Davit. For the past 16 years, he’s been enduring the heat, all for the love of bread.

Vocabulary Chunks to learn from video :

• A bread maker
• In the making of this video
• As you can probably gather
• Armenia
• Not your average bread maker
• Bread oven
• It translates to bread
• It is essential
• Turned up to the highest level
• A salt based liquid
• As close to the fire
• As if diving into
• Is just a part of the job
• Intense enough
• The end result
• With a salty twist
• That is eaten on special occasions