Feel-Good Songs

For the Oscars this year (the movie academy awards), one of the movies nominated for best picture was Bohemian Rhapsody – about the rock band Queen.

A few years ago, there was a scientific study in England to find songs that made people feel good. The study chose a song by Queen as the #1 feel-good song – Don’t Stop Me Now

Other top feel-good songs included: Abba’s Dancing Queen, the Beach Boys’ Good Vibrations, and Billy Joel’s Uptown Girl

Presidents’ Day

   Until the middle of the 1970s, February 22, the birthday of George Washington who was the first president of the United States, was a national holiday.  Also, February 12,  the birthday of Abraham Lincoln, the president during the Civil War, was a holiday in most states.  In the 1970s, Congress declared a single holiday, to be called Presidents’ Day, would be observed on the third Monday in February (Monday February 18th this year) to honor all past presidents.

Here’s a video rap to help you remember their names.

Here’s information about what places are open or closed on this national holiday…

Town/City Hall and other government offices and courts: Closed

Public Schools: Closed (Part of February vacation week)

Senior Center: Closed

Public Library: Closed

Supermarkets: Open

Retail stores: Most are open

No Mail Delivery

Abraham Lincoln

  Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States, was born on February 12th, 1809. He led the United States through its Civil War in the 1860s, which abolished slavery in the country.  He was assassinated (killed) in 1865 – only a few days after the war ended.

At the site of a large battle in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania (where 23,000 soldiers died in just one day), President Lincoln gave a 3-minute speech (now known as The Gettysburg Address) that has become the most famous in American history…

Vacation Week Ideas

If you have kids out of school this week, or just have extra time for yourself, here are some places to go – to see more of Boston and MetroWest, have some family fun, and practice your English:

He/She/It – Present Tense

Don’t Say Say This
He work in Boston.
He works in Boston.
She like pizza. She likes pizza.
Her dress look beautiful. Her dress (it) looks beautiful.
My brother do landscaping. My brother (he) does landscaping.
My daughter try to help her little sister. My daughter (she) tries to help her little sister.

Remember

  • Present Tense – Use when something happens in the present in a usual/regular way.
  • For he/she/it in present tense – Don’t forget to pronounce the sound of the S at the end of the verb.
  • Add the s (or ‘es’) only when
    • it’s with a he/she/it form (called ‘3rd person’)
      (not with I/you/we/they)
    • it’s in the present tense
    • the sentence is affirmative (not negative)
      • Affirmative example: His mother cooks dinner every night.
      • Negative example: His mother doesn’t cook dinner every night.
  • When s/es is added to the end of the word, the sound can be different – depending on the word.
    Here’s an explanation:

It’s from Woodward English in England, but the American pronunciation is very similar.