Believe it or not, we’re celebrating out first

birthday! For us, it’s another proof of time

passing by far too quickly. We still

remember every single detail of working

out the concept of what we’re trying to

achieve and creating the outline for the 1st

issue.

Today, exactly 1 year and 11

issues later, we’re proud to say

we’ve got a distinct visual

identity, regular contributors, a

couple dozen subscribers and

250 followers on Facebook.

It’s far from being easy and it’s

more than just time-consuming;

what it actually involves is being

constantly aware of

everything happening around us

and viewing it through

editors’ eyes, finding the poten-

tial and significance for

something to be shared.

Although we’ve received nothing but

positive comments - teachers appreciate

new resources and additional motivation

for students to learn - there are still many

who do not understand why we’re doing it.

They say it’s a waste of our time and a lot

of effort we put into it and get nothing in

return. Well, that simply isn’t true. Both of

us believe teaching is more than a job - it’s

a calling - and we’re ready to do what-

ever it takes to help our students learn. So,

for all those who are trying to

put us down, try joining us in-

stead and see how it feels. The

rewards can’t be measured in

anything tangible but we

believe that’s not the point of

teaching anyway.

Our B’ Day issue is devoted to

emphasizing the importance of

mastering English, so we’ve

asked several

successful individuals, who

aren’t involved in teaching, to

do just that by sharing their

personal

experience. Hopefully, their

stories will motivate and inspire you and

your students to revive your passion and

get into the nitty-gritty of this wonderful

language.

Happy Birthday, Sparkles!© ▪ I.P. & M.I.

WE’VE JUST TURNED ONE!

DID YOU KNOW?

CONTRIBUTORS TO THIS

ISSUE:

Ivan Lukovečki,

cartoon artist

Dario Vidić,

High School Čazma

Tena Erceg Jelenčić

Beiersdorf d.o.o.

Davor Horvatić

Faculty of Science

Mia Gredelj

University of Science and

Technology. Norway

Nina Bačmaj

Carnival Cruise Lines

THE IMPORTANCE OF LEARNING

ENGLISH

2

ST PATRICK’S DAY 4

A GLIMPSE OF IRELAND

5

LANGUAGE TITBITS 6

NEWS FROM SCHOOLS

7

21ST CENTURY TEACHER

8

Inside this issue:

Monthly newsletter for and by English learners and teachers

Editors:

Maja Ivanović, prof. Komercijalna i trgovačka škola Bjelovar

Irena Pavlović, prof. mentor Srednja škola Čazma

email: sparkles.newsletter@gmail.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/

Sparkles.newsletter

Why celebrate anniversaries?

“Anniversaries, by definition,

commemorate important

events in our lives. There are

both happy and sad

anniversaries. Certainly the

main milestones in our lives

we should celebrate. They

help you relive the

experience," says Rabbi

Shmuley an American

Orthodox rabbi, author, TV

host and public speaker.

International Women's Day 2014, observed March 8,

inspires us to celebrate achievements in women’s

equality and emancipation worldwide. The day also

brings attention to areas of continued inequality, where acts of courage and

determination are still needed in order

to make the world more just. http://www.ird.org/our-work/by-initiative/women-and-gender

Saint David's Day is the feast day of Saint David, the

patron saint of Wales, and falls on 1 March each year in

remembrance of the death of Saint David in 569. The date

was declared a national day of celebration within Wales in the 18th century. Adults take

part in parades and children take part in

Eisteddfod - a Welsh festival of

literature, music and performance.

Issue 11/14 March 2014

Knowing English will make you bilingual and more employable in every

country in the world. In India and China, for instance, those who speak

English fluently earn up to 34% more than those who don't speak the

language, a recent report has found, confirming the link between an

education in English and the scope of employment opportunities.

Nowadays, when the world of business is governed by globalization and multinational companies, speaking English is a basic requirement in order to get a job. In most multinationals, English is the official means of communication, i.e. all internal communication, meetings, reports and correspondence are conducted in English. Speaking English is not only reserved for management; operative financial systems are usually standardized - the same in all the countries where the company has its branch offices and all the company's employees need to be able to use English to do business on a daily basis. Quality education also implies being able to speak and write in English. For instance, most of exam titles in undergraduate degree programmes on the Faculty of Economics and Business are available only in English. Postgraduate programme for

Masters of Business Administration (MBA) requires an advanced level of English since lecturers are professors from various European and American universities and exams are mostly in English.

Finally, since learning is a lifelong process,

finishing formal education is just the

beginning; gaining a degree is the start of

education for business purposes. All

in-training service is based on worldwide

experience and conducted through various

trainings and seminars which are mostly in

English. If you are considering a career in

a multinational company, starting your

own business or gaining a competitive

advantage over rival companies, basic

knowledge of English should be

'upgraded' by learning business English as

well. ▪ T. E. J.

Page 2

From my personal experience I can tell you

that English is not only useful, but necessary

throughout your higher education. I have

often come across titles in English which I had

to master in order to pass certain exams.

None of the professor has ever asked

whether all the students were able to go

through it all, it was expected of us to do so.

Also, there is great potential for students'

exchange and in-training service in various

countries around Europe and the whole

world, but if you do not know English well

you cannot apply. My current situation is an

excellent example. Some of the criteria for

choosing students to go on a students'

exchange in Torndheim in Norway, where I

am at the moment, were the CV and the

letter of motivation written in English and

the knowledge of English on B2 level which

is necessary for students to be able to

follow lectures, take exams and publish

papers. Finally, not knowing English after

having completed your degree will very

quickly close all doors to any further

education or career abroad. ▪ M.G.

THE IMPORTANCE OF LEARNING ENGLISH

Tena Erceg Jelenčić Unv.spec.oec, MBA Beiersdorf d.o.o.

Controlling

Mia Gredelj University of Science

and Technology (NTNU)

in Trondheim, Norway

English is also the language

of the Film Industry - you

will no longer have to rely

on subtitles.

Despite China, the United

States is still a leader in

technical innovation and

economic development.

English is used in each of

these fields.

English speakers in the

United States earn more

money than non-English

speakers. Learning English

will open your job

prospects and increase your

standard of living.

Do black holes speak English?

you could get information from the front

line of physical research. In later years

English became essential because it was

unthinkable to use any other books than

English books. Which translated to my

private life. I do not have almost any

Croatian books on my shelves. Now, 20

years later I’m happy to see when I’m

popularising science to primary school

pupils that they are so full of knowledge.

When I ask them where they learned all

this they exclaim “on YouTube” or “on the

Internet”. They mastered their English well

and they are really using English in a most

proficient way to gather their knowledge

and information which in return enriches

their worldview, making it more wonderful

beyond their wildest dreams. For me, in the

same manner as for these children, English

is the way and the most exquisite ticket to

discover the wonderful world around me.

Do you need more encouragement to learn

English? I do not think so. ▪ D.H.

It was in the year of 1994 that I learned

from experience how important it is to

know and use English proficiently if you

are to become a scientist. 1994 was an

interesting year. Long before Windows

there was the world of UNIX and

mainframes and the Internet just started to

evolve. As a first year student of physics I

discovered that English was my gateway

into the world of wonders. One thing that

was made explicitly clear to all of us in

this first year was, use English books and

practice English. Scientific literature and

books are almost exclusively in English

which is de facto language of science. By

knowing English we managed to use UNIX

machines and to roam the first expanses of

the Internet which was not that big but you

got that “Columbo” feeling in discovering

something totally new and that you could

get information from all over the world in

an instant. More specifically, since web

was first built to support CERN research,

well. I succeeded and now I’m working on

a cruise ship and sailing the world. I’m

thankful for every word of English I know

because now it is my first language. The

world is a wonderful place and worth

seeing, but in order to go somewhere the

first thing everyone asks of you is to

speak at least English and often one more

language besides English. I’m improving

my English every day and I’m using every

chance I get to learn at least a word or

two of some other language because in

my job I never know when I will have to

speak to foreign guests who will

appreciate the effort of speaking their

language. ▪ N.B.

I have always been fascinated with the

English language, but until high school I

hadn't realized how valuable it is to know a

foreign language. I've always wanted to go

study abroad and in high school I got a

chance to compete for a scholarship. This

was the first time I had to show how good

my English really was. Truth be told, I

surprised myself and my parents when I

won a scholarship to go study for a year in

Tennessee in United States. From the second

I left Croatia as a 16 year old girl I had to

use English everywhere because it was the

only international language I knew. A year

ago I got a chance to work abroad and

again I had to show I can speak English

Page 3

THE IMPORTANCE OF LEARNING ENGLISH

prof. Davor Horvatić Faculty of Science,

University of Zagreb

Department of

Physics

Nina Bačmaj dipl.oec Floor supervisor,

Carnival Cruise Lines

"Unwritten rule in the IT sector is that all software,

equipment nomenclature and programming languages

rely on English. It's rather simple - no knowledge of

English - no job in the IT sector. "

Dario Vidić, M.Sc.EE

Since English is based on an

alphabet it can be learned

fairly quickly (compared to

Chinese, for example).

English is the most

commonly used language

among foreign language

speakers. Throughout the

world, when people with

different languages come

together they commonly use

English as lingua franca.

In the UK and the USA, the Irish communities celebrate St Patrick’s Day on March 17th. The Irish community in the United States is very big. In the 1800’s thousands of Irish immigrants went to America and they settled in all parts of the country and they took their traditions with them. This custom came to America in 1737 when that day was first publicly celebrated in Boston. St Patrick is the patron saint of Ireland. He was born in Britain in 389 AD. His given name was Maewyn, and he almost didn’t get the job of bishop of Ireland because he lacked the required scholarship. Far from being a saint, until he was sixteen, he considered himself a pagan. At that age, he was taken to Ireland to become a slave. After six years he escaped to France where he became a priest. He returned to Ireland in 432 AD where he became very successful doing missionary work.

He taught the Irish people the Roman alphabet and converted many Irish to

Christianity. A legend says that he used a shamrock to teach the Irish about the

Trinity. Today the shamrock is the symbol of Ireland and its people. St Patrick died

on March 17th in 461. That day has been commemorated as St Patrick’s Day

ever since. His tomb at Downpatrick is the centre of pilgrimage.

Much Irish folklore surrounds St Patrick’s Day. There is a belief that Patrick raised people from the dead. He is also said to have given a sermon from a hilltop that

drove all the serpents from Ireland. Since there were no snakes ever native there, this is believed to be a metaphor

for the conversion of the pagans. Today on March 17th there are big

parades in most American cities in honour of the Irish. American and British people wear green clothing on St Pat-

rick’s Day, and most people wear a shamrock. Marching bands dressed in

green play lively Irish music. ▪ M.I.

St Patrick’s Day

Page 4

Ireland: factfile

THIS MONTH’S BUZZ

Capital: Dublin

Total Area: 70,280 sq km (land:

68,890 km2, water: 1,390 km2)

Population: 4,722,028 (July 2012)

Languages: English and Irish

Religions: Roman Catholic 87.4%, Church of Ireland 2.9%, other Chris-tian 1.9%, other 2.1%, unspecified

1.5%, none 4.2%

Government Type: republic

Currency: euro (EUR)

Patron saint: St. Patrick (March 17)

Symbol(s): the Shamrock, representing St. Patrick's Day, the Irish harp, symbolising the coat of arms, the Celtic cross, combining a cross with a ring and the Leprechaun, a mischievous Irish fairy that wears a red or green coat Natural Resources: natural gas, peat, copper, lead, zinc, silver,

barite, gypsum, limestone, dolomite

Page 5

Key info: Ireland is a small independent country situated in

the north-west of Europe. It’s an island nation, surrounded

by water. Ireland is divided into two parts -The Republic of

Ireland and Northern Ireland. The Republic of Ireland

occupies about 83% of the island of Ireland. Northern

Ireland, in the northeast, is part of the United Kingdom.

Dublin is the capital of the Republic and Belfast the capital

of the North. Ireland is called Éire in Gaelic, the native

language of Ireland. English is the main language of the

country but there are many pockets of the country,

especially on the western seaboard where Irish is the

everyday language of the people.

History: The Emerald Isle - the name Ireland got due to its greenery - has been inhabited for 7,000 years. Some of the key notions related to the history of Ireland are Celtic invasions from Europe in the sixth century B.C., St. Patrick's conversion of the Irish to Christianity in the fifth century, England seizing their land from the 1100s, great potato famine in the 19th century and the battle for independence that was won in 1922, when the Roman Catholic counties won independence, while mostly Protestant Northern Ireland remained under British control. However, since independence, forces for and against uniting the island have claimed thousands of lives.

Less known facts: Many Irish family names start with "Mac" or "O'...", which means respectively "son of ..." and "grandson of ..." in Gaelic. Ireland has won the Eurovision Song Contest seven times, more than any other country. Ireland is a snake-free island. Due to its isolation from the European mainland, Ireland lacks several species common elsewhere in Europe, such as moles, weasels, polecats or roe deer. However, unlike the popular belief, St. Patrick had nothing to do with it. It is estimated that over 80 million people of Irish descent live outside Ireland which is 14 times more than the population of Ireland (including Northern Ireland) itself. Irish novelists have made major contributions to world literature. Famous writers include Jonathan Swift - Gulliver's Travels, Bram Stoker - Dracula and James Joyce - Ulysses.

Gaelic football and hurling are traditional sports of Ireland

and remain the most popular sports in the country.

Symbols and meanings: The tricolor flag of Ireland was introduced by Thomas Francis Meagher in 1848. The color of the green represents the Irish people, the orange represents the English supporters of "William of Orange" and the white color represents peace.

The Symbol of the Irish Harp The harp has long been a symbol of Ireland. Perhaps

the legends of it's magical powers comes from the time

when the bards would sing and tell stories of famous events to

the Irish kings and chiefs. Since the early 1500s the harp has been depicted on Irish coins

and used for other official duties such as the state seal, official documents and uniforms.

The Symbol of the Shamrock In ancient Ireland the Shamrock was thought to have magical powers and the number 3 was considered a powerful number. When St. Patrick came to Ireland he used the Shamrock to symbolize the meaning of the church's teaching on the Trinity.

The symbol of the Claddagh Ring The symbol of the Claddagh Ring dates back to a

fishing village in Galway. It represents the fishing Kings of Claddagh, whose motto was "in

love and friendship let us reign." Tradition says that the heart is worn outward to show that the

wearer is "heart whole and fancy free." Many Claddagh Rings have become family heirlooms and are

a gift to be passed down from the mother and worn by a daughter on her wedding day.

The symbol of the Celtic Cross The meaning of the Celtic Cross is told in legend of Ireland's St. Patrick. He was shown a sacred standing stone that was marked with a circle. St. Patrick took this opportunity to show the union of old and new ways. He marked a cross through the circle and blessed the stone.▪ I.P.

A Glimpse of Ireland

Over My Dead Body

If you use this idiom, you mean that you will

do everything you can to prevent the thing

in question. It is used when the only way

you’ll allow something to happen is if you’re

no longer alive to stop it.

Everything But the Kitchen Sink

This implies that nearly everything has been

packed/taken/removed. If someone said:

“The burglar stole everything but the kitchen

sink!” it means he took everything he could

carry (it’s too hard to remove a sink and

carry it around). In short, it means including

nearly everything possible.

Page 6 STUDENTS’ CORNER

CHECK IT OUT! Have you heard this? Have you seen this? Have you read this?

It's been a couple of months since Ella

Marija Lani Yelich-O'Connor, a New

Zealand singer-songwriter of Croatian

and Irish ancestry, published her debut

album Pure Heroine but Royals, her first

single, is still rather high on charts all

over the world. Last month Lorde - as

we know her - was chosen International

Female Solo Artist at the BRIT Awards.

Lorde's voice is "unique and powerfully

intriguing" according to one online

publication and has been described as

being "way beyond her years", having

to do with the fact she hasn't turned 18

yet. Lyrics are complex and tunes cap-

tivating.

Make sure to

listen to her.

▪ I.P.

Captain Phillips, nominated for six

Oscars, is the true story of a captain

whose ship was hijacked by Somali

pirates in 2009, making it the first

American cargo ship to be hijacked in

two hundred years. Surprisingly enough,

Tom Hanks who has the leading role,

hasn't been nominated for this year's

Academy Award, but there are numerous

other awards he got for it already.

Barkhad Abdi, an actor of Somali origin

made an outstanding performance in a

supporting role and won as many

awards as Hanks. All in all, one of the

rare films which

was well received

by the critics and

the audience. ▪

Markus Zusak, an Australian writer who

became well known due to adaptation

of his The Book Thief for big screen last

year, wrote another novel for young

adults, called The Messenger. Though it

was published in 2002 and won the

2003 Children’s Book Council of

Australia Book of the Year Award it

didn't get much attention worldwide

until The Book Thief made Zusak an

author worth reading. The Messenger is

narrated in first-person and tells a

story of a down-and-out underage

taxi driver who receives an Ace of

Diamonds in the mail, from an unknown

source, with a series

of tasks he must

complete. Totally

compelling, with an

amazing moral! ▪

I.P.

LANGUAGE TITBITS

Bite Off More Than You Can Chew

This idiom implies that you’ve taken on more

than you can handle successfully. The

meaning can be easily understood, it is like

taking a huge bite of a sandwich that will fill

your mouth up so much that you can’t move

your jaw. It is often used to advise people

against agreeing to more than they can

actually deal with.

You Can’t Take It With You

You can’t take anything with you when you

die, so don’t bother hoarding your stuff or not

using it except for “special occasions”. Live

now, because all your stuff is going to be

around long after you’re gone. Enjoy life,

enjoy what you have and don't worry

about not having a lot, especially money.

A Chip on Your Shoulder

To have a chip on one’s shoulder implies that the person is carrying around some grudge

or bad feelings about something that happened in the past.

It means to blame other people for something bad which has happened to you

and to continue to be angry about it so that it affects the way you behave.

For the past couple of years, English County Competition

was organized in High School Čazma. After school

competitions which took place in 10 schools, with 164

students competing, the best of the best in each

category were invited to show what they can do in 120

minutes on the county level. Among second year grammar school students the best was Igor Radojčić (Gimnazija Bjelovar, mentor Inga Mušeta Bajić) who won the first place. The second was Vladimir Šeba (Gimnazija Daruvar, mentor Jasmina Šimek) while the third place goes to Paula Kovač and Juraj Markešić (both from Gimnazija Bjelovar, mentors Inga

Mušeta Bajić and Vesna Bajić Ćesarov,

respectivelly).

In the 2B category - the second year of other high

schools - the first place was won by Josip Fran

(Ekonomska i birotehnička škola Bjelovar, mentor Ljiljana

The best of love… your choice!

NEWS FROM SCHOOLS — English County Competition

Page 7 STUDENTS’ CORNER

BEST COUPLE

Chuck & Blair

(Gossip Girl)

BEST LOVE SONG

Just Give me a Reason

by Pink and Nate Ruess

BEST LOVE FILM

The Notebook

(2004; Ryan Gosling

and Rachel McAdams)

and the third by Sara Klobučar (Srednja škola August

Šenoa Garešnica, mentor Martina Terranova).

Among the grammar school seniors, the first three places were taken by Dino Budinjaš Gimnazija Daruvar, mentor Jasmina Šimek), Lorena Bartolčić and Domagoj Bet (both

from Gimnazija Bjelovar, mentor Vesna Bajić Ćesarov).

Among the seniors from other high schools, there were four winners. The first place was

taken by Martina Sinković (Ekonomska i biro-tehnička škola Bjelovar, mentor Smiljka Bujić)

and Dominik Josip Ivošević (Ekonomska i turis-tička škola Daruvar, mentor Anita Ružić). The

second was Josipa Gašparović (Tehnička škola Daruvar, mentor Nina Tuček) and the third

Sebastian Mujić (Ekonomska i turistička škola

Daruvar, mentor Tanja Čarapović).

Sparkles© would like to congratulate all the students and

their mentors, and especially the winners. We hope that

Bjelovar-bilogora county will, thanks to them, have its

representatives on the state competition in late April. ▪ I.P.

TEACHERS’ CORNER Have you tried...?

Using Facebook pages to enhance your teaching

Since there are Facebook pages solely dedicated to English teachers why not use it as a resource? If you often visit Facebook and use it as your personal

learning network, why don't you extend it by becoming an avid user and interact with others - you can meet an entirely new community of teachers from all over the world. Here are the five pages I personally use most often and

enjoy the most. Teaching English - British Council, offered by the British Council to accompany

their website Teaching English regularly posts about resources and classroom skills, ELT events, and the British culture. Highly recommended since there are

new posts a few times a day and all are extremely useful. TED, the non-profit devoted to ideas worth spreading, is a must "like" for every

teacher! They have an extensive collection of talks by people from all over the world, covering all sorts of topics. All the videos are not only inspiring and educational, but also free to use and share.

Teachers with a Sense of Humour is a perfect page to chill out and relax. Moderators and contributors regularly post teaching jokes, cartoons, pictures,

and funny student errors to help us see the funny side of our job. (If you prefer jokes about the English language and life in general, check out English Jokes.)

For those among you who want to keep up with the latest developments in educational research and educational psychology, visit

Language Teaching Professionals. There are regular posts related to research, articles, and developments in language education and educational psychology, including teaching tips, videos, and links to various resources.

Finally, if you want just one page with a little bit of all of this, follow Facebook page for Really Learn English! They have a number of helpful

resources, teaching tips and ideas, funny stories and teacher jokes, lively discussions about teaching and the English language and much more. Enjoy! ▪ I.P.

Have you tried... Storyboards

Online storyboarding software offers interesting possibilities for project

work with learners. Using software such as www.wevideo.com learners

can combine images, film, text and audio in a single video clip. You can

access it via Google Drive if you have a Gmail email account or register

directly on the site. Your students will love it and you'll have something to

show off with among your colleagues.

CPD in 10 minutes or less

Giving simple, short answers to big questions this website can be an

excellent resource when you need an interesting piece of information to

piqué your students' interest. However, be careful... It gives so much you

can easily lose tons of hours reading through everything you can find.

http://www.englishlanguagefaqs.com/