Return of New York City's Favorite Housewives

This Thursday, March 4th, the popular reality series, The Real Housewives of New York City will be returning to Bravo for an all new season. This show is a spin-off of the very popular series The Real Housewives of Orange County.

The series first premiered in March of 2008 featuring five housewives, Bethenny Frankel, Jill Zarin, Alex McCord, LuAnn de Lesseps, Kelly Killoren Bensimon, and Ramona Singer. This Thursday night will commence the third season and introduce two new recurring women to the show.

All of the women on this show however, are not actually housewives. Many of them have active careers. The Real Housewives of New York City is aims to show the luxurious lifestyle that these very affluent women enjoy and sometimes even take for granted.

Vocabulary

series- a daily or weekly program with the same cast and format and a continuing story
spin-off- a product that is an adaption, outgrowth, or development of another similar product
premiered- first public showing or appearance of a show, movie, opera, etc.
housewives- a woman who is married and manages the house as her primary job
career- occupation or profession, usually requires special training
luxurious- over-elaborate, excessively flamboyant
recurring- on tv show, characters that appear in multiple episodes but are not major characters

Use the clues to complete the crossword puzzle using the vocabulary words:




Grammar Point:
Look at all of the vocabulary words. For each word, identify what part of speech that word is (ie, noun, pronoun, verb, adverb, etc.) Then write a sentence using each word correctly.

2010 Winter Olympics

Every four years countries from all over the world come together to compete in numerous sporting events for the Winter Olympic Games. This winter marks the 21st Winter Olympics which will be held February 12th-28th in Vancouver, Canada. This year athletes from over 80 countries, including the USA, Germany, Russia, Italy, and Canada, will have high hopes for bringing home the gold medal. Thousands of spectators will applaud on their favorite athletes as they vie for the right to call themselves the best in winter sports such as: Figure Skating, Speed Skating, Luge, Snowboarding, and many others.
At the close of the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy, the mayor of Vancouver, Sam Sullivan, received the Olympic flag. During a special ceremony, on February 28, 2006 the flag was raised and on display at the Vancouver City Hall until the 2010 Winter Olympics opening ceremony.

Vocabulary
compete (verb)- to strive to outdo another
spectators (noun)- people who look on or observe
applaud (verb)- to praise or express approval of
Luge (noun)- a one- or two-person sled for racing down a chute
mayor (noun)- chief executive official, usually of a city or town
ceremony (noun)- formal activities conducted for an important occasion.

Fill in the blanks with the appropriate vocabulary word:

1. The fans began to _____________________ when the baseball played scored the winning home run.

2. The _____________________ of the city passed a new law to help the city's trash problem.

3. The world's top skiers will _______________ for the gold medal in this year's Olympic Games.

4. The wedding _________________ will be held at a beautiful old church.

5. In the sport, ______________, athletes will race down a chute at speeds up to 99 miles per hour (160 kilometers per hour)

6. The ___________________ at the football game booed when the referee made an unfair call.


Grammar Point: Pick out 8 verbs in the passage above. Identify what tense the verb is in and rewrite each verb in 2 other tenses.

History of St. Valentine's Day

People all over the nation participate in the tradition of exchanging gifts between husbands and wives, couples, and loved ones every February 14th. They do it in the name of St. Valentine. This day contains vestiges of ancient Roman traditions as well as Christian. Three saints named Valentine are today recognized by the Catholic Church, all of whom are seen as martyrs.
The legend of Valentine says that he was a priest who served in Rome in the third century AD. The emperor of Rome of the time, Claudius II believed that single men would serve as better soldiers for his army than men who were married and had families. Therefore, marriage was outlawed for young men, who would be Claudius’ strongest soldiers. Valentine, believing this to be a great injustice, chose to defy Claudius and decided to continue to perform marriage ceremonies for young couples in secret. When Valentine’s actions were exposed, Claudius had Valentine arrested. While Valentine was in jail, he fell in love with a young woman, believed to be his jailer’s daughter who had visited him during his confinement. Valentine, on the evening before his execution wrote a letter which became the very first “valentine” greeting, and signed it “from your Valentine.” This expression is still used today when lovers write to each other.



Vocabulary

tradition- (noun) handing down of statements, beliefs, legends, customs, information, etc.
martyr- (noun) one who willing suffers rather than denounce their religious beliefs
outlawed- (verb) to make illegal or unlawful
defy- (verb) to resist boldy or openly
exposed- (verb)to make known or reveal
confinement- (noun) to shut or keep in; to enclose within bounds

Fill in the blanks with the correct vocabulary words

1. The king ________________ slavery in his country.

2. The prisoner was kept in ____________________.

3. Decorating a tree is an old Christmas _________________.

4. The student chose to ____________ the teacher's demands.

5. The girl _______________ her friend's big secret.

6. The man was a _____________ for not rejecting his unpopular beliefs.

Grammar Point
What did you do, in the reading above, to help you figure out unfamiliar words? Write a paragraph about what you do for Valentine's Day.