CROSSROADSCROSSROA DS Language StudioÊs Newsletter June,
June , 201
20 1 9Here are some unusual holidays celebrated
in America every June.
June 1st Heimlich Maneuver Day:
For those who don’t know, this is a first-aid
procedure for dislodging an obstruction, such asa piece of food,, from a person's windpipe.
June 2nd National Rocky Road Day:
The stock market crashed in
1929 and there seemed to be
only “rocky roads” ahead formost Americans after thecrash. What did Americans do
to take their minds of theirtroubles? They ate ice-creamof course! And they named their favoriteflavor – a delicious mix of cream,marshmallows, almonds and chocolate –“Rocky Road.” To this day, Rock Road isstill one of the most popular among
theEllaassortment of ice-cream flavors.
June 3rd Chimorazo Day:
What is the tallest
Janismountainintheworld? If you measurefrom the center of theglobe, it’s, no notEverest, it’s Chimorazo
in Ecuador!
thJune 6 National Yo-Yo Day:
When you are feeling bored and there isnothing exciting on TV, you usually pull out
your yo-yo and try some new tricks, right?
Did you know that there is a national holiday
for this entertaining pastime, at leastin America? Yoyos were first invented
and manufactured by Pedro Flores
in the 1920’s, but they didn’t become
mainstream until Donald Duncanpurchased Flores’ toy company and began tomass-produced them.

June 7th National Doughnut Day:
Staying in a “sweet-tooth”
mood, how about a doughnut day? This day iscelebrated on the first
Friday every June. It
was first celebrated in 1938 to honor the“Doughnut Dollies,” members of theSalvation Army who, during WW1,
distributed doughnuts to soldiers as asupplement to their rations.
June 18th International Sushi Day:
It was bound to happen - aholiday to celebrate sushi.
Sushi restaurants can befound all over the worldthese days, so why not?
June 21st Take Your Dog to Work Day:Pet Sitters International created thisholiday in 1999 to encourage people to adopt
stray dogs fromanimalshelters.
One possible motive
was an intention tomake
yourcoworkers so jealousthat they would go the their local shelter
and adopt a stray of their own!
June 27th National Handshake Day:
More or less self-explanatory, and why not aholiday to celebrate thistime honored custom ofexpressing trust andfriendship?
These are a few offbeat holidays you could also
enjoy along with the Americans. Or, how about
making up a few wacky new ones of your own?

NET LESSONS: Too busy to come to CROSSROADS?
…. Try our lessons on the net!
Find all the world’s June holidays here. Follow the links forsome extra info: https://travelnotes.org/Events/06-jun.htm

Joshua Says: Samuel Johnson (1709 – 1784), a British author is quoted as saying,“The happiest conversation is that in which nothing is distinctly remembered but ageneral effect of pleasing impression.” He may have been on to something. To first gain a“pleasant impression” from the new language you are studying before you get into thenitty-gritty of understanding such issues as vocabulary, grammar, etc, it might do you
well to relax a bit and get the gist first before struggling with the particulars.
Junko Says: Japan’s names for the months are very easy to remember as we only
use numbers. When we used the lunar calendar, the names of the months had
meanings expressing the characteristics of each month just as the names in otherlanguages do. So, I checked through the internet to find out how or why we started
using numbers. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to find a good answer yet. I’ll
keep looking, but if anyone else knows the answer, please let me know.
Kevin Says: Japan play England in France in the Women’s World Cup this month,
the 19th. The women don’t cheat as much as the men, so I often prefer to watch themplay. Both these sides are fairly strong so we should expect a good game. May the bestside win. Competitive sport at the highest level should inspire or entertain us. I think
too often our competitiveness gets the better of us and we resort to unfair methods ofwinning, from the subtle to the downright malicious. That’s a shame.
Darrin Says: The first Rugby World Cup held in 1987 was hosted by both Australia andNew Zealand. 32 matches were played between 22 May and 20 June. The tournament
featured one African nation, three American nations, one Asian nation, seven Europeannations and four Oceanic nations. One notable omission was the Springboks who were notcompeting due to the international sports boycott. New Zealand became the first everRugby World Cup Champions, defeating France 29 points to 9 at Eden Park in Auckland.

Mandcy dit: Connaissez-vous la fete de la musique? Chaque année, le 21
juin, une grande fête est organisée dans chaque ville. Et alors, vous pouvezécouter, chanter, danser ou bien jouer de la musique. Avec le beau temps,c'est idéal!! Et vous, qu'est-ce que vous allez ecouter?? Racontez-moi
tout!! Personnellement, j'ai bien envie d'écouter "sous le soleil exactement" deGainsbourg en sirotant un petit verre de rosé!
1ACROSS
2 current and accepted norms
6 diversion to occupy time with
12 fixed and limited portion (usually food)
14 tube-like part of the body that supports breathing
15 (to) governed by fate
16 collection of various things
DOWN
1 very strange or eccentric
3 take in as a new family member
4 uninterested
5 moving out of position
7 a quantity added
8 something blocking the way
9 move about aimlessly
10 spread or given out
11 feeling
13 very unconventional (print version here)

2

345
6

8

910

12

13
14

1516

117

Here is another idiom puzzle to think about. Look at the list below
and use the images in the passage to complete the story.
8. pullpull(ing my) someoneÊsomeoneÊs leg:
leg to jokingly tell someone
something that is not true.
9. speak of the devil:
devil to be talking about someone when
they unexpectedly appear.
10. egg on his face:
face to look embarrassed or foolish
11. zip it:
it stop talking.
12. loslose (lost) your (his) head:
head become angry, confusedand not thinking clearly.
13. curiosity killed the cat:
cat used as a warning not to be
so curious as to risk danger.
14. dressed to kill:
kill dressed to make a strong impression.

1. giving him the cold shoulder:shoulder to show no interest insomeone.
3. two peas in a pod:
pod very similar in appearance.
4. fly off the handle:
handle suddenly get very angry.
5. string(ing me) someone along:
along to keep someone’s
attention while deceiving or fooling them.
6. the cat got your tong
tonguengue:
ue said to someone who can’t
or won’t speak freely
7. pain in the neck:
neck someone or something that is very
annoying or troublesome.
.

Yesterday, I was talking with my friend in a café. We

were talking about his cousin when,, she walked into the café. She looked! My friend went over to speak to her

but it seemed as though she washad. When he came back to our table he looked like heand didn’t want to make eye contact with me. But when I tried to ask him what waswrong he told me to! He seemed to haveover something she had said tohim. It is said thatbut I had to know what was troubling my friend so I said, “minute! I can see you’re upset over something. What is it? Has
about toa?“ He looked like he waswith rage. But then he suddenly started to laugh out loud. He said he was just, he wasn’t angry at all! He had been

. In fact that wasn’t even his cousin.

But she resembled his cousin so much that they were likehe becomes a. My friend is such a jokerat times, but we are the best of best of pals ... most of the time....

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Last Month’s Puzzle Solution
ACROSS
1 currently in existence
6 relating to a defined area
9 a low, small dam
10 confined on all sides
13 an indefinite number more thantwo
14 (stone) excavated from the landsurface
15 gained approval or appreciation
16 plan or design

DOWN
2 a long, narrow strip of water
3 clearly different from4 any shapes resembling the curve of
the moon
5 a way of regarding a situation
7 two, a pair
8 a point of view that prevents
objectivity
11 by comparison to
12 similarly styled houses sharing
dividing walls

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