Some Historical Backup for any Language Exam - Some great disasters (industrial and natural disasters): Chernobyl nuclear accident - Former Soviet Union, Ukraine, 26th April, 1986 Exxon Valdez oil tanker accident, Alaska, 24th March, 1989 Hurricane Katrina of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season was the costliest natural disaster 23 - 30th August, 2005 Tohoku earthquake, the Great East Japan Earthquake, 11th March, 2011 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- - Some extinct animals: Dodo bird Tasmanian wolf English wolf Quagga zebra ---------------------------------------------------------------------- - Some political assasinations: Presidents: Abraham Lincoln (by John Wilkes Booth), Ford's Theatre, Washington, D.C. 14th April, 1865 John Fitzgerald Kennedy (JFK) (by Lee Harvey Oswald, but not clear), Dealy Plaza, Dallas, 22nd November, 1963 Activists: Martin Luther King (MLK) - prominent American leader of the African-American civil rights movement (by James Earl Ray), Memphis, Tennessee, 4th April, 1968 Performers: John Lennon - former Beatles member (by Mark David Chapman), The Dakota apartment building, New York, 8th December, 1980 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- - Some prominent English/American people: Rosa Parks - African-American civil rights activist, whom the U.S. Congress called "the first lady of civil rights", and "the mother of the freedom movement". Johnny Cash - American singer/songwriter, who protested for better living conditions in prisons and the only musician everybody enjoys from the country fan to the rapper. Elvis Presley - besides being the King of Rock'n Roll, he raised his voice against the Soviet Union in 1956 for crushing the Hungarian Revolution. Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) - the longest serving president in the US before and during WWII. Advocate of the "New Deal" policy which helped America get out of the depression of the 1930s. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- - Some saints: Saint Nicholas (270 AD - 6th December, 343 AD) had a reputation for secret gift-giving, such as putting coins in the shoes of those who left them out for him, and thus became the model for Santa Claus. Saint Elisabeth (7th July, 1207 - 17th November, 1231) was a princess of the Kingdom of Hungary, elinquished her wealth to the poor, built hospitals, and became a symbol of Christian charity in Germany and elsewhere after her death at the age of 24. Saint Margaret (27th January, 1242 - 18th January, 1271) was a nun and the daughter of King Béla IV and Maria Laskarina. According to the legend, Margaret chastised herself from early childhood, wore an iron girdle, hair garments and shoes spiked with nails. She also performed the dirtiest works in the convent. Saint Ladislaus (1040 - 29th July, 1095) was King of Hungary[4] from 1077 until his death, "who greatly expanded the boundaries of the kingdom and consolidated it internally; no other Hungarian king was so generally beloved by the people". ---------------------------------------------------------------------- - Some famous foods: Hot Dog: first used as term 1884 (supposedly sausages were made from dog meat - only urban myth). Hamburger: originally derives from Hamburg, Germany's second largest city, from where many emigrated to America (first minced meat products were dated in the 15th century). Gyros: derived from the Turkish döner kebab, which was invented in Bursa in the 19th century. Pizza: foods similar to pizza have been prepared since the Neolithic age. Records of people adding other ingredients to bread to make it more flavorful can be found throughout ancient history. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- - Some English teaching methods: Direct method: teacher only speaks in English, students have to decode all messages without using the native language Grammar translation: teacher tells about grammar in the native language, then dictates sentences Communicative method: putting grammar into context by using dialogues The "Army Method": listening to tapes and repeating the material Today a teahcer can and should use every method, aim is to get the students understand the language. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- - Some famous inventors: Nicola Tesla: inventor of over 700 machines and scientific methods we use today, father of 20th century electricity (AC technology, radio, speedometer in cars, etc.) Albert Einstein: the father of the Theory of Relativity, warnes the US about the dangers of nuclear weapons Marie Curie: discoverer of radioactivity Louis Pasteur: developer of vaccines against bacteria and rabies ---------------------------------------------------------------------- TO BE CONTINUED... - 2011.05.29.