This week of course the British were celebrating ‘Guy Fawkes Night’ when we set off fireworks and light bonfires to remind ourselves of the ‘Gunpowder Plot’ of 1605. A group of rebels tried to assassinate King James but were found (just in time!) with a lot of gunpowder under the Houses of Parliament getting ready to blow up the King. Every year we have fireworks to celebrate the discovery of the plot and the survival of the King and Parliament. I was surprised when a Canadian friend of mine told me that they still did this in her part of Canada too! If you’re interested read more here in Wikipedia about the story. Wikipedia is good for this general knowledge type of reference – just don’t use it as a source in your university work! In true British style the fireworks that my family and I were going to go to were cancelled because of the rain!
Every year when my students get ready to do presentations I hunt around in my filing cabinet for my old handouts with all the useful phrases for giving presentations such as My presentation will last about ten minutes and then at the end I’ll be happy to answer any questions you have. Enough! It’s high time I made this handout available to all. The Presentation Phrasebook from English for University. Com is here.