Welcome to civilization week! Get in character, think about your favorite one or which one you’d choose, and let’s get to reading! First of all, as everything we learn about it’s crucial to know what a civilization is: A civilization is a complex human society, usually made up of different cities, with certain characteristics of cultural and technological development. In many parts of the world, early civilizations formed when people began coming together in urban settlements. All civilizations have certain characteristics. These include: Large population centers. Monumental architecture and unique art styles. Shared communication strategies. Systems for administering territories. A complex division of labor. The division of people into social and economic classes. It is also very important to know some of the oldest and most known civilizations that have existed. Here are some of them: The Incan Civilization The Aztec Civilization The Roman Civilization The Persian Civilization The Ancient Greek Civilization These are just a few of many historic civilizations that have ever existed. A very cool civilization would be the last one mentioned above, the Ancient Greek Civilization (although this might just be personal). Ancient Greece was split up into lots of city states. Each city had different laws, government and even their own army! The Ancient Greeks worshipped lots of Gods and Goddesses, for different things! They built temples and shrines where they could worship them. You might recognize some of them here! Aphrodite – Goddess of love and fertility Apollo – God of the sun and music Athena – Goddess of war Hermes – The messenger of the Gods Zeus – The Kind of the Gods. There are so many interesting things to know about each civilization. Thankfully the internet can provide us so much information for each and every specific one. So, tell me have you gotten in character yet? Would you know which one could be your favorite civilization? To get a little off topic, but following the same lines, have you ever heard about Ted Talks? They are nonprofit powerful talks that spread many ideas. This specific one “What ancient civilizations teach us about reality: https://youtu.be/1geJGnzJ87Q” is very fascinating. It makes us think and gives us some different point of views that we might not have had because this subject isn’t necessarily one, we talk about on a regular daily basis. As always, the more we learn, in depth or a little, about everything, the more successful we’ll be. And also, we’ll always have conversation topics. I hope you enjoyed and learned with us a little more during civilization week!
AMAZING SCIENCE FACTS
It is always interesting and beneficial to read a large variety of topics to expand our knowledge. In this blog we will be diving into some amazing science facts and cool experiments we might not have known about. Plus, isn’t it great to learn about many different things while learning a language, or even just for entertainment? Let’s jump right into it! Amazing Science Facts: Here are a couple amazing scientific facts that I hope will inspire you to learn something new every day. There is enough DNA in the average person’s body to stretch from the sun to Pluto and back 17 times. Wow! Isn’t this shocking? At times we don’t even realize all of the organisms, cells and molecules that our body contains. We see our beautiful and unique exteriors but what’s on the inside of each and every one of us, is astonishing! In an entire lifetime, the average person walks the equivalent of five times around the world. Have you ever thought of how big planet Earth is? Probably not, right? We’re so used to seeing small globes, maps and online Google Earth that we can’t actually imagine how massive the world is. Oh well, little did we know, we will probably walk around it about five times. Grasshoppers have ears in their bellies. Let’s not forget about insects. How little do we know about them? And only because we don’t quite ever study much mites unless we actually want to specialize on this subject or deepen our knowledge. Have you ever imagined how bizarre these creatures could be? Website addresses such as https://hellosalamanca.es/ are known by the term Uniform Resource Locater (URL). People who speak other languages and never learn English might not ever know this. As a matter of fact, even English speakers might not know it, but don’t you think its cool? So basically, website addresses help us locate the resource that we’re willing to know more about. Now that you know some curious data about diverse science topics, that belong to particular science fields, you might want to continue reading things about this range. Cool Science Experiments: Although science can be a little intimidating, it is also very fun. There are plenty of experiments you can do at home. You might even have a few of the materials just lying around the house. Tornado in a bottle. All you need is two bottles, a tube to connect the bottles, and some water. When you whirl the liquid in the top bottle, it creates a vortex as it drains into the bottom bottle. That's because as the water flows down, air must flow up, creating a spiraling tornado. Plus, this experiment can come in handy to empty bottles faster when you’re cleaning them or when you’d like to refill them. Gooey slime. When you mix glue, water, and a little bit of food coloring, then add some borax, a gooey slime forms. Rainbow in a glass. This experiment takes advantage of density to create a rainbow in a glass. When you add sugar to a liquid, it causes the solution to become denser. If you have four different solutions that are all different colors and densities, the colors will layer on top of each other Do you feel like a scientist yet? You can also, always make your own home garden from the seeds to the final growth and log it, follow the process, etc. All in all, science really is amazing, huh? There are so many things we don’t know, it’s always fun to get sneak peeks that might wake our senses into new interests.
Vocabulary around Halloween
When we learn English at Hello Online School, it doesn’t have to be all about grammar, syntax and all the rather technical and, although important, potentially boring stuff. Learning English is as much about discovering the culture of the countries that speak the language as it is in studying the words. One of the biggest festivals of the year is Halloween, which falls on October 31steach year. In this article we will look at some of the main Halloween idioms and Halloween vocabulary. Huge in the USA, and growing in the United Kingdom, costumes and goodies start appearing the shops from late summer – from spooky masks, the colour orange (which has grown to be the colour of Halloween) to chocolate spiders! Before we look at some of the most common Halloween words, here’s a little history of the celebration. Halloween, or All Hallows Eve, is a festival which prays for the souls of those trapped in purgatory – the world between Heaven and Hell. Traditionally, children would hand out the ‘soul cakes’ their mother and grandmother had baked, to support the prayers for those in purgatory. Halloween Vocabulary From this, we have developed the tradition of trick or treating. This is where groups of children pass from door to door seeking treats from their neighbours. The concept of a ‘trick’ to be played on non-participants is fortunately no longer practiced. ‘Treats’ are usually sweets or candy (the UK and US versions of the same confectionary). One way of knowing whether or not a particular household is participating in Halloween is to look for a lit pumpkin in their driveway. These large orange vegetables have grotesque(frightening looking and evil) faces carved into them, and candles shine through the eyes, noses and teeth. Another way to learn Halloween idioms is to watch films. The most scary and frightening (but usually in a comic way) will feature some of the evil creatures associated with Halloween. Just to make sure that audiences are not confused, a whole series of horror (or frightening, scary) films exist under the name of ‘Halloween’. Vampires are blood sucking people with large incisors who bite the necks of their victims and drain their blood. In turn, these victims become vampires themselves. But vampires are a little easy to get rid of; they cannot live in daytime and are allergic to sunlight andgarlic. So taking one for a nice lunchtime meal of Chicken Kiev on the terrace of a sunny restaurant is sure to finish a vampire off. If that doesn’t work, a wooden stake (a large, pointed wooden stick) through the heart does the trick as well. Zombies, also known as the living dead, because that is what they are, are also everywhere on Halloween. Get killed by a zombie, and before long your body will partially decay while your eyes turn hollow and green. Ghosts (the spirit of the dead) of course feature heavily in Halloween vocabulary. Although many of the greatest ghost stories – ‘A Christmas Carol’ and ‘The Woman in White’ for example are set in pre-Halloween times, lots of films and merchandise in the shops feature these creatures. And there are nearly as many different names for ghosts in English as there are types of white sheets and scary masks on the shelves of supermarkets at Halloween time. Apparitions, wraith, phantasm are some of the more unusual, while spectre, Doppelganger, spook, spirit and phantom are more common. Witches, which are supernatural women able to cast spells over innocent people, but interestingly their male equivalent – warlocks – are much less common. Halloween Idioms Many Halloween idioms have developed over time. Many of these phrases are used in every day conversation to illustrate a point. To have one’s blood run cold means to experience a frightening or disturbing event, and to create that unpleasant, shivery feeling and sense of our stomach falling that occurs when we have a shock. To dig one’s grave is a way of expressing that we have made a bad mistake. In cold blood is a way of expressing that an action, often a bad one, was carried with complete knowledge of the consequences. Like a bat out of hell is not just a hard rock hit by the singer Meatloaf, but means to move very quickly. Playing devil’s advocate means to present the other side of an argument even though you do not personally support it. Skeleton staff is a minimal amount of workers needed, and to be stabbed in the back is to be betrayed by a friend or colleague. This phrase most probably comes from Julius Caesar, a Shakespearean tragedy. Indeed, the Bard (Shakespeare) was extremely fond of using the supernatural or spirit world in his works, most famously Macbeth, where witches dictate the murder of the king. In fact, Shakespeare was quite brave to pen that particular play, since it followed the Gunpowder Plot, where plotters sought to blow up Parliament and kill the king, and which followed just a few days after Halloween. A witch hunt means to unfairly seek to damage others, perhaps because of a false view of their beliefs and at death’s door is a slightly sarcastic way of suggesting somebody is not as ill as they are making out. Horror movies Although some horror movies, such as The Exorcist or The Shining are genuinely scary, many take the idea of the supernatural and gently lampoon, or make fun, of it. An example of this can be seen in the ‘Scary Movie’ franchise. Similarly, The Addams Family set of films and TV programmes are entertaining for both children and adults. Plays such as The Woman in Black by Susan Hill and Leeches and Scream by Alan Peters take the Halloween style comedy to heart, although the first of these will certainly make you jump if you go to see it in London’s West End. So Halloween is a light but popular feature of British and American culture; learning Halloween vocabulary and Halloween idioms can be both fun and a good way of expressing and understanding ideas in everyday conversation.
Who speaks better English?
This year, European rivalries are on even more, as can be seen from the latest edition of the Language research, the English Language Knowledge Index published . The rivalry between the largest countries in Europe goes far beyond wine, food and football in the latest edition. This time the rivalry is not about the best football team, the tastiest cousine or who provides the most delicious wine. We are wondering: who can really speak English best out of these four countries? Fluent knowledge of English, the language of scientific research, business and diplomacy, is a strong indicator of the economic competitiveness of a country and its future prospects.The latest report is showing that three of the largest economies in Europe, France, Spain and Italy are falling behind in English, a figure consistent with previous editions of the EPI. Of the three, only France has achieved slight improvements in the last two years. The gap in the level of knowledge of English is particularly worrying, because both Italy and Spain suffer from high unemployment rates, especially among young people and would desperately need new economic opportunities that faster, smoother communications with the rest of Europe would bring. The report, English Proficiency Index (EPI) attempts to rank countries by the average level of English language skills amongst those adults who took the test. The English Proficiency Index places the surveyed countries and territories into five proficiency bands, from Very High to Very Low. “Today, English is a fundamental language to maintain relations between countries of different cultures, it is not a surprise that, in Spain, if we want to maintain these relations, we must include English in our day to day activities.” What does the ranking mean? In the latest edition of the EPI research, Italy is ranking at number 36 out of 100 countries in the world and our score of 55.31 places Italy in the average level of knowledge. Germany, France, and Spain are all in first place, respectively in 10th, 31st and 35th place. Leaving aside the good score obtained by Germany (63.77) which makes it appear in the top ten countries with the best knowledge of English in the world, France, Spain and Italy are positioned all three in the average level of knowledge of the English language. This level means that France, Italy and Spain are generally able to complete the following actions in English: attend meetings, understand the words of the songs and write professional emails on commonly used topics. Despite this, however, Italy’s level of English proficiency is still too low to address efficient workplace interactions and may prevent us from expanding our business and our international collaborations. A global language reduces the costs of transaction English is now more than ever important to learn; the report tells us that countries with English skills are more competitive and open. These countries are usually better to take advantage of opportunities, knowledge and talent around the world. A global language reduces the costs of transactions between different countries. This means that the more English is adopted and used, the greater the savings generated for the country itself. With the world more globalized and with economic development, learning English is seen more as a core skill for the present and for the future generations What can we learn from the test? Today, more than a billion people speak English as a first or second language. Learning English is so much more than learning a language. For businesses, graduates, scientists, tourists and researchers, the English language broadens horizons, opens opportunities and lowers barriers. The reasons for learning English have never been greater. Developing a culture of good knowledge of English allows companies to draw on resources and skills that, only a few years ago, would have been completely out of reach. Taking these trends into account, the results of the latest edition of EPI demonstrated a strong correlation between the level of knowledge of English and the Global Talent Competitiveness Index, or the relationship that evaluates a country’s ability to attract, develop and retain qualified workers. What does countries with high level proficiency do differently? Italy, Spain and France could get great benefits by putting into practice a practical teaching of English in schools, including even the most specialized and specific education sector – for example in three-year and master’s degree courses. In this way it would be possible to give valid support to anyone who wishes to build useful language skills for his profession. Italy, France and Spain have one thing similar and that is the lack of exposure to the English language itself: it is necessary to improve and expand this exposure to make people much more confident of their language skills. The countries with the highest English proficiency in Europe are clustered in Scandinavia, but the number of very high proficiency countries across the region has grown every year since 2017. School systems in these countries employ several key strategies, including an early focus on communication skills, daily exposure to English both in and outside the classroom, and career-specific language instruction in the final years of study, whether that is vocational school or university. The EU’s robust data-collection and information-sharing network has been helpful in spreading best practices between member countries. What is the easiest way to learn English? There is no one-size-fits all solution for learning English, since we all have diverse academic and linguistic needs while learning a new language. To learn English quickly, one of the best ways is to travel to an English-speaking country and immerse in the English language and being daily exposured to the language both during and after attending an English course abroad. In this way, perfecting your English you will not only have access to better personal and professional opportunities, but you will also help your country to become an increasingly competitive and internationally innovative country. But this might not be an option for everyone, to go abroad can be expensive and to also leave your everyday life and your busy schedule
Why is online learning so important during coronavirus?
Online learning has become more and more common, whether for comfort, adapting to work hours or just having the freedom to study from anywhere. And now with the coronavirus pandemic, as people are having to stay at home, it has become more important than ever. The measures put in place by governments and entities to allow workers and students to do their daily tasks from home confirms that it is possible to carry out these activities from anywhere, with just a computer or smartphone. What makes online learning so interesting? Online learning has been growing – in the last decade, the number of online courses, degrees, and masters have greatly increased. Here are some of the positive aspects of online learning: Technology has changed everything. Learning through videos, voice recognition, automatic corrections, and live exams, are a few examples of the effectiveness of online learning Ease of monitoring: This is very simple, in a physical class we would have to take notes on everything the teacher tells us, but in online classes, everything is recorded either on video or in writing. The human factor. When we talk about online learning we are not talking about self-study, although it is very useful. We must always bear in mind that the help of a teacher is the best way to learn The ability to connect with people around the world. The democratization of education.One of the advantages of online learning is that it is relatively low cost and gives people who can’t afford to go to physical school access to quality education. How has learning English adapted to online education? One of the most important factors when learning a language is human presence – nobody can teach you a language better than someone who knows it. It is important to have a good balance between self-study exercises and live classes. Each student has specific needs when learning English – and although CEFR standardizes English levels between A1 and C2, each person lives and learns English in a different way. At Hello Online School, we have always focused on technology and innovation in education, and we have been offering online courses to learn English from home for almost 20 years. Our online school includes hundreds of interactive exercises and multimedia lessons for you to improve your grammar, vocabulary, reading, writing and speaking skills. Our key strength is our teachers, who guarantee the best learning experience. Both in one-to-one private classes and in group classes with students from all over the world, our teachers are dedicated to guiding and supporting our students. Furthermore, all our teachers are experts in learning English online, with TEFL or TKT certification. Why learn English online during coronavirus? The current fight against the coronavirus is something that concerns us all, and therefore it is very important to follow the guidance from WHO to stay at home. But this should not mean that we must stop learning! #StayHome but don’t stop learning. We are #StrongerTogether
How to speak English like a native speaker
Nobody wants to speak ‘textbook English’. The dated expressions and formal phrases you may remember from school can be entirely different from the real-world English used by native speakers. While achieving native-level fluency is a lofty goal, there are many small steps you can take to sound more like a native speaker yourself. Listen more carefully Speaking more fluently actually starts with improving your listening skills. Listening to a range of accents and different speakers will help you to mimic their speech patterns and sound more fluent in your own speech. Watching a film or listening to the radio is a great place to hear real-world English. You’ll pick up new vocabulary and also get more comfortable with the natural intonation of natively-spoken English. Of course, our online English school is also full of listening exercises and mini movies to help improve your listening. Use idioms By listening to native speakers, you’ll undoubtedly pick up a few funny phrases known as idioms. While these may not make sense when taken literally, they are used all the time in casual spoken English. Colorful phrases like in the blink of an eye [very fast] or it’s a piece of cake [it’s easy] can add a level of sophistication to your English and make you sound more like a native speaker. Get to grips with slang Like idioms, slang is regularly used by native speakers, almost unconsciously. You’ll find that English slang has regional differences, so using distinctive words like the locals is key sounding more like a native. For instance, a Brit may say that they’re “knackered” while an American from the south use “tuckered out”. They both mean that they’re very tired. Tip: Remember, slang is generally considered informal. Be aware when using it in professional situations. Improve your pace and clarity If you’re trying to sound more like a native English speaker, what you say is as important as how you say it. Improving the pace and clarity of your speaking will go a long way to improving your fluency and help native speakers to better understand you. Reading aloud in English is a great way to work on the clarity of your pronunciation. If you’ve spent enough time listening to native speakers, try to mimic the way they talk. Allow your voice to rise and fall with the natural flow of the language. Need a little extra practice? Hello English School has Advanced Speech Recognition (ASR) built into many of the lessons in our online school. This clever practice helps you to hone your pronunciation and speak more clearly and correctly. Talk with a native speaker This is the most important step you can take to sound more like a native English speaker. Whether it’s at the airport or in a live online class with one of our teachers, simply having a chat with a native speaker is the fastest way to improve your own English fluency. Many non-native speakers are nervous to talk at first, but the more you do it, the more confident you’ll become. Ready to give it a try without leaving home? Learn more about our Hello online English courses or take a trial now to start talking with one of our native-speaking teachers today.
Reasons Why Autumn Is the Best Season
Fall is our favorite season at Hello Salamanca. Who doesn’t enjoy observing the leaves from the trees and plants changing into multi-colored works of art before finally falling away? The bare and vulnerable branches that are created reveal the true and beautiful scenery underneath. There are many reasons why we love fall and why we think it’s the best season, but here are just a few: 1. The Trees Change Color In the southern part of the United States, all the seasons are very apparent. The spring season is very green, the summer is very hot, the winter is very cold and the fall is full of magnificent colors. The maple trees are especially vibrant with colors of red and golden-yellow and combinations of both. When I was younger, we called them «tree stars,» a reference to the movie The Land Before Time. To this day, they are my favorite trees when the season changes. This season is perfect for taking beautiful scenic photos and spending time outdoors. Nothing can relax and rejuvenate you more than enjoying nature and its surrounding scenery. 2. The Weather Is Perfect Autumn is the «cooling off» month right between the blazing summer and chilling winter. When the cooler temperatures of fall start rolling in, saying goodbye to summer is not hard to do. Autumn is a great time to break out the jackets, coats, boots, scarves and hats in preparation for the change in season. It’s also the perfect time to start making hot cocoa and lighting a fire in the fireplace. This season creates the perfect setting for a sense of comfort, warmth and reflection. It’s also great time to go camping or fishing or take a road trip or anything else where you can spend quality time with family while eating good food. 3. The Sun Hangs Low in the Early Morning While 4:00 pm sunsets aren’t everyone’s cup of tea, daylight savings time offers stunning views of the sun in the sky during daybreak. The glitter of frost or rain from the night before is always a beautiful sight. Did I mention how perfect the lighting is for the all-important selfie after that early morning run? And who didn’t enjoy that extra hour of rest on the first morning of daylight savings? 5. Fall Is Full of Family Holidays Autumn is a part of of the jam-packed holiday season. There’s the back-to-school rush, Halloween, and Thanksgiving before rolling into winter and Christmas. And these aren’t just regular old holidays. These are all very involved, family-centered holidays. Autumn is the season to be thankful and to be surrounded by the people you love. It’s the perfect time to change up your decorations by adding orange, red and yellow colors and to pull out the spice-scented candles. The holiday season encourages you to spend time thinking about what you and your family have been through in the last year as well as the memories you’ve made together while looking forward to a new and exciting year. Another reason I love the holidays is the food. You’ll generally eat far better food during this season than you will during the rest of the year. 6. The Seasonal Shopping Is Awesome During the fall you can expect to see your favorite stores load up their inventory with themes related to this time of year. Everything from pumpkin-flavored pies and Starbucks drinks to apple ciders and new fragrances and clothes hit the shelves. Below are a few fall essentials that you shouldn’t be caught without. 7. Profound Symbolism Associated With Fall Underneath the surface of all the obvious reasons we love fall lie those more subtle associations rooted in science, ancient tradition and astrology. Balance. The Fall Equinox represents the balance between the seasons as well as the balance between light and dark. Fall provides an opportunity for us to balance ourself with our earth. Change. In tandem with spring, fall is a part of a beautiful cycle of loss, regeneration and regrowth. The dead leaves and branches on the ground disintegrate and become part of the soil, acting as seeds and fertilizer later once the cold welcomes the warmer weather. Conservation. Farmers and critters alike work tirelessly during this time of year to protect the basic necessities of life. We as people also work to preserve our comfy abodes like the animals do with their hibernation spaces.
10 Considerations for Transitioning Back to Work in a Post – COVID-19 World
The COVID-19 pandemic has presented new and incredible challenges for millions of workers around the globe. In just a matter of weeks, the workforce at large has quickly and strategically navigated the sudden shift to remote working, while maintaining the symbiotic relationship between business continuity and employee well-being. As we look ahead, our clients across the globe are grappling with how they can plan, communicate, and transition hundreds to thousands of employees back into the office with new guidelines and policies to maintain the health of both employees and the company. They’re asking: How do we start planning the transition back into the office when the time comes? What can we start doing now? For many organizations, implementing an effective outcome starts with those on the front lines: the IT, human resources, real estate, facilities, and service teams who support teams remotely and accommodate the critical staff who still remain in the office. These teams are challenged with the logistics of planning and implementing new ways of working that balance business continuity with employee safety — now, and in the months to come. Introduce a shift pattern and fix shift groups to reduce the number of contacts each staff member has and to ensure that where contact is unavoidable this occurs amongst the same people. This also applies to staff required to share a vehicle, travel together or stay in onsite accommodation as part of their role. There are many different ways to re-organize shift patterns such as splitting the workforce in half from one to two shifts. To ensure that all necessary skills are covered on each shift, conduct a skills audit to understand what is required to manage the daily workload, whilst complying with Health and Safety requirements (such as the need for First Aiders onsite). To support you, we have developed a skills matrix template which can be accessed here.If it is not possible to cover all tasks and processes on each shift, it may be necessary to adjust operational delivery or timescales, or to redeploy resource from less critical areas of the business. A good rule of thumb to cover all the skills your business needs is to have three people trained up for each essential skill in your business. This will help create a diversity of skills across your workforce and ensure resilience even in the event of employees required to take a leave of absence. Read more about multi-skilling your workplace on our factsheet. Communicate and engage with your staff during a consultation period prior to implementing any new shifts or groups to ensure change is managed effectively. In addition, remember to review employee contracts to ensure shift patterns are designed in accordance with your legal obligations (consider full-time vs. part time employee requirements). In some cases, you may have external and/or temporary personnel supporting your permanent in-house workforce (e.g. vehicle drivers) and it is crucial that these staff members are also briefed on new ways of working. Stagger work start and finish times, avoiding the usual peak hours when public transport could be congested. Transport for Greater Manchester have released guidance to help keep individuals safe whilst using public transport. Support is also available for other travel methods including cycling, through the Cycle the work. Extend the time between shifts. Allow the previous shift to leave before the next shift arrives to minimize contact at “pinch points” such as entrances, exits, break rooms, change rooms, timeclocks and others. Allow extra time per shift for cleaning, both during and at the end of a shift. HSE has published guidance on cleaning your workplace to reduce the risk of the spread of coronavirus. The government has also published guidance on cleaning in non-healthcare settings including general principles of cleaning during the COVID-19 pandemic and principles of cleaning after an individual with symptoms, or a confirmed COVID-19 case has left the setting or area. Consider using one-way systems with appropriate signage to minimize contact especially at bottlenecks such as entrances and exits. Ensure social distancing is always adhered to including during shift handovers. The Growth Company has developed a signage pack for businesses to download and use in the workplace to further promote appropriate social distancing measures. Do not share items (tools, pens, materials, handheld devices and others) and if possible, allocate these to individuals. If devices must be shared between shifts, ensure they are properly cleaned between transfers and a drop-off-pick-up process is established to reduce the risk of transmission through worker contact. Avoid having staff facing face-to-face where possible and opt for working side by side or facing away from each other. You can also establish physical barriers to separate workspaces (clear plastic screens or curtains) and further minimize contact. Don’t forget to also consider appropriate arrangements to minimize risk of transmission during staff breaks. Key suggestions include the following: Use safe outside areas where possible as risk of transmission is lower Provide more regular breaks for staff to wash their hands more often Stagger breaks so that fewer people are in the communal areas at one time Repurpose other rooms such as meeting rooms and use as break areas Reconfigure seating so that people can maintain distance Encourage employees to stay on site during working hours
Sustainable Fashion
Sustainable fashion is a movement and process of fostering change to fashion products and the fashion system towards greater ecological integrity and social justice. Sustainable fashion concerns more than just addressing fashion textiles or products. It comprises addressing the whole system of fashion. This means dealing with interdependent social, cultural, ecological and financial systems. The main responsibility of fashion companies is obviously to change their production, distribution and marketing practices and strategies towards greater sustainability. But companies also have the possibility to contribute to more sustainable consumption patterns. Some Swedish fashion companies provide fashion as second hand or have initiated rental systems for leasing clothes and accessories. Other companies focus mainly on creating fashion that is of high quality and timeless design, i.e. of long-lasting style and durability. Other companies (e.g. H&M) have set up collection and recycling systems that supports increased textile recycling. Some companies choose to partner with I:CO, for example H&M, Adidas, Jack & Jones, Puma and the North Face.
10 TOP TOMATO FACTS
1. Their colour! Believe it or not, tomatoes aren’t always red. They can be yellow, pink, purple, black and even white! 2. Sooooo big! Found at Walt Disney World Resort, Florida, USA, the largest single tomato plant in the world covers an area of 56.73 metres sq. That’s bigger than an Olympic size swimming pool! 3. Origins It’s thought that tomatoes originally came from Peru. 4. What about Ketchup Did you know Heinz Tomato Ketchup has a speed limit? If the yummy sauce pours at more than 0.028mph when it’s in the Heinz Tomato Ketchup factory, it’s considered too runny and rejected! 5. Throwing tomatoes?!?! La Tomatina is an annual festival in Spain, where people throw 150,000 tomatoes at each other. Sounds messy! 6. Fat Tomatoes The largest ever tomato on record was picked in Oklahoma, USA, in 1986. It weighed over 3.5kg – that’s more than the average UK newborn baby! 7. For Drink? Tomatoes please In Ohio, USA, they love tomatoes so much that tomato juice is the official state drink! 8. What about types? There are around 10,000 varieties of tomatoes worldwide! 9. First tomato The first tomatoes in Europe may originally have been yellow. They were first referred to in writing as “pomo d’oro“, meaning “golden apple”. 10. Spacial tomatoes Tomato seedlings have been grown in space before!
