Oscars 2016: Leonardo DiCaprio finally wins Academy Award

Leonardo DiCaprio has finally won his first Oscar for survival epic The Revenant, after six nominations.

He was named best actor at the 88th Academy Awards, with Brie Larson named best actress for Room.

Spotlight took home the best picture Oscar with Mad Max: Fury Road picking up the most awards of the night, with six accolades.

Mark Rylance won the best supporting actor Oscar, with fellow Briton Sam Smith winning best original song.

'Is Hollywood racist?'

The ceremony had been boycotted by some Hollywood figures protesting about the lack of ethnic diversity among this year's nominees, as all 20 nominees in the best acting or supporting acting categories are white.

Host Chris Rock addressed the controversy head on as he launched the ceremony, and it was a theme that was returned to several times during the night.

Rock commented he had "counted at least 15 black people" in the montage that opened the ceremony, before welcoming people to the "white People's Choice awards".

"You realise if they nominated hosts, I wouldn't even get this job," he quipped. "Y'all would be watching Neil Patrick Harris right now."

Rock added: "Everyone wants to know is Hollywood racist? You have to go at it the right way. Is it burning-cross racist? Fetch-me-some-lemonade racist? No.

"It's a different kind of racist. Is Hollywood racist? You're damn right it's racist but it's sorority racist. It's like: We like you Rhonda, but you're not a Kappa.''

Among the winners for Mad Max: Fury Road - nominated for 10 Oscars including best director for George Miller - was British designer Jenny Beavan, for best costume design.

The Revenant won three of the 12 awards for which it was nominated. Alejandro Inarritu also won best director and Emmanuel Lubezki won his third Oscar for cinematography in a row, having won in 2015 for Birdman and 2014 for Gravity.

What gets leapt in a leap year?

2016 is a leap year in the Gregorian calendar, making it an appropriate time to consider the origin of this rather puzzling term. After all, leap implies that something is being skipped over, but a leap year has an extra day, making it longer than an ordinary year, not shorter. Where is the metaphorical leap in a leap year?

Leap year is attested from the 13th century, but probably goes back even earlier, to judge from the Old Norse equivalent hlaup-ár. It is thought that the “leap” refers to the impact of the extra, or intercalary, day upon which day of the week specific dates fall on in the year that follows. In a standard 365-day year, a calendar date which fell on Wednesday in the previous year falls on Thursday. The extra day in a leap year causes calendar dates to move ahead by two weekdays rather than just one. Thus, 2015’s Christmas fell on Friday, but the Christmas of 2016 will take place on Sunday, not Saturday. It is that ‘leaping over’ a day of the week that gives the leap year, and hence also the leap day, 29 February, its name.

Another “leap” term has also been in the news this year: the leap second, which is added periodically to the atomic reckoning of time to keep it in line with solar time (one was added on 30 June 2015). The term leap second is modeled on leap day, but while that phrase has been with us for over 400 years, leap second will be lucky to reach the age of 50. Introduced in 1972, the intercalary second has repeatedly faced calls to be abolished. The World Radiocommunication Conference decided, in 2015, to give the leap second a reprieve – and the topic will be considered again in 2023.

The opinions and other information contained in OxfordWords blog posts and comments do not necessarily reflect the opinions or positions of Oxford University Press.

The Surprising History Behind Leap Year

The ancient Egyptians did it, and so do we. Here's how a leap day—which occurs February 29—helps keep our calendars and societies in sync.

It's that time again: This Monday, February 29, is a leap day, the calendar oddity that occurs (almost) every four years.

For centuries, trying to sync calendars with the length of the natural year caused confusion—until the concept of leap year provided a way to make up for lost time.

“It all comes down to the fact that the number of Earth's revolutions about its own axis, or days, is not equal to or connected in any way to how long it takes for the Earth to get around the sun,” says John Lowe, leader of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)'s Time & Frequency Division.

The solar, or tropical, year is approximately 365.2422 days long. No calendar comprised of whole days can match that number, and simply ignoring the seemingly small fraction creates a much bigger problem than one might suspect. 

The evidence lies in a long history of wildly shifting dates and accompanying civil, agricultural, and religious chaos. WATCH: Neil deGrasse Tyson explains the logic behind the leap year, with a brief history in calendars as well. That's why most of the modern world has adopted the Gregorian calendar and its leap year system to allow days and months to stay in step with the seasons. (Also see "World Will Gain a Leap Second on Tuesday: Here's Why.") “We've made a calendar that comes close,” Lowe says, “but to make it work you have to do these leap day tricks that have some quirky rules.”  Ancient Timekeeping Efforts to make nature's schedule fit our own have been imperfect from the start. Some ancient calendars, dating to the Sumerians 5,000 years ago, simply divided the year into 12 months of 30 days each. Their 360-day year was nearly a week shorter than our annual journey around the sun. (Also see "Where Our Fear of Friday the 13th Came From.") The practice of adding extra days to the year is at least as old as these 360-day systems. “When the Egyptians adopted this calendar they were aware that there was a problem, but they didn't add any more days to the calendar,” says Lowe. “They just added an extra five days of festivals, of partying, at the end of the year.” Earlier Egyptians (prior to about 3100 B.C.) and other societies from China to Rome once used lunar calendars to track time. (See National Geographic's moon facts.) But lunar months average 29.5 days and years only about 354. So societies that kept lunar time quickly drifted well out of sync with the seasons due to the 11-day lag. The Romans regularly tried to tweak this calendar by irregularly adding days or months, but those patchy efforts only highlighted the need for reform.  "Year of Confusion" By the time Julius Caesar enjoyed his famed affair with Cleopatra, Rome's calendar had diverged from the seasons by some three months. But Egypt was observing a 365-day year, and as early as the third-century B.C. had even established the utility of a leap-year system to correct the calendar every four years. Julius adopted the system by decreeing a single, 445-day-long Year of Confusion (46 B.C.) to correct the long years of drift in one go. He then mandated a 365.25 day-year that simply added a leap day every fourth year. But even this system was flawed, because the 0.25 day leap year adds annually is a bit longer than the solar year's leftover 0.242 day. That made the calendar year some 11 minutes shorter than its solar counterpart, so the two diverged by an entire day every 128 years.  “As it turns out, if you stick in one every four years, that's a few too many,” says James Evans, a physicist at the University of Puget Sound and an editor of the Journal or the History of Astronomy. Between the time Julius Caesar introduced the system in 46 B.C. and the 16th century B.C., this small discrepancy had caused important dates, including the Christian holidays, to drift by some ten days. Pope Gregory XIII found the situation untenable, so his Gregorian calendar was unveiled in 1582—after another drastic adoption of time-warp tactics.  “Gregory reformed the calendar and they dropped ten days from the month of October that year,” Evans says. “Then they changed the leap day rules to correct the problem.” Now leap years divisible by 100, like the year 1900, are skipped unless they're also divisible by 400, like the year 2000, in which case they're observed. Nobody alive remembers the last lost leap day, but dropping those three leap days every 400 years keeps the calendar on time. Alternative Calendars Even today, some calendars discount the leap year meant to keep us in time with our orbit, or ignore the sun altogether. The Islamic calendar is a lunar system that adds up to only 354 days and shifts some 11 days from the Gregorian calendar each year—though a single leap day is sometimes added.  And while China uses the Gregorian calendar for official purposes, a traditional lunar-solar calendar is still popular in everyday life. It follows the phases of the moon and implements an entire leap month about once every three years. “There's nothing sacrosanct about locking a calendar to the solar year the way ours is,” says Evans. “People can get used to any calendar system. But once they are used to it what really seems to rile them up is when something is changed.” (Related: "The Politics of Daylight Saving Time.") Future Decisions The current Gregorian calendar system makes the fractional days of the solar year and leap year calendar nearly equal by occasionally skipping a leap day. This system produces an average year length of 365.2425 days, just half a minute longer than the solar year. At such a rate it will take 3,300 years before the Gregorian calendar moves even a day from our seasonal cycle. That means future generations will have a decision to make on leap year, though not for a long time. “So 3,000 years from now, people may decide to tweak it," Lowe says. "We'll just have to wait and see.” WATCH: What is a leap second?

Phrasal verbs: transformation

Complete the second sentence using the particles in brackets so that it has the same meaning as the first. Here's a clue to help you: all the verbs in exercise one begin with t and all the verbs in exercise 2 begin with w:

Exercise 1

1.- If something new happens, I'll let you know (up).
1.- If something new __________, I'll let you know

2.- He finally surrendered to the local police (over).
2.- He finally __________ himself _________ to the local police.

Love expressions

How can you express your feelings about someone or something you love?

Here are some fun phrases you can use to describe the way you feel.

Match made in heaven

The phrase “a match made in heaven” refers to a relationship that is happy and successful.

“My parents have such good chemistry. They are a match made in heaven”.

“Phil and Laura are a match made in heaven. They are really well suited”.

A labour of love

“A labour of love” is a phrase used to describe work that you do for pleasure, not because you are paid for it.

“He is always working on his old car, it’s a labour of love”.

“My first book took almost two years to write. It was a labour of love”.

Head over heels

“Head over heels” means to be madly in love.

“I am head over heels with my new boyfriend”.

“It’s a great feeling to be head over heels in love”.

Lovey-dovey

“Lovey-dovey” is an informal phrase used to describe an excessive display of affection.

“As a young couple we were so lovey-dovey all the time”.

“Mark and Tanya are so lovey-dovey. They are holding hands and kissing whenever I see them!”

On the rocks

When a relationship is experiencing problems, we say it is “on the rocks.”

“My friend confided in me because her relationship with her partner was on the rocks.”

“Their relationship was on the rocks so they decided to get a divorce.”

Grammar Unit Have to/don't have to

Have to/don´t have to

• We use have to to say that it´s necessary or very important to do something

          Ex: I´m late I have to go now

                Jimmy is very ill, he has to stay in bed

• We use the negative form don´t/doesn´t have to to say that it isn´t necessary or important to do something.

          Ex: It´s early so I don´t have to hurry

                Diana doesn´t have to get up early on Sundays.

Dating expressions

soulmate	someone who thinks and behaves like you, and loves you
chemistry	(in this context) physical attraction between people
flirting	behaving towards somebody in a way that shows that you are sexually or romantically attracted to them
casual sex	sexual relationship that will not develop into a romantic relationship

Valentine's Day

Did you know that in the UK we spend about £503m on cards, flowers, chocolates and other gifts for Valentine's Day? This lesson is designed to be used near the date of Valentine's Day (14 February) to talk about the topic of love and romance.

Students will brainstorm vocabulary related to the topic and then discuss some well-known quotes about love. They will speak about how people can find love and read about Valentine’s traditions in the UK. Students will then create a character for themselves and take part in a speed dating role play, as well as deciding how important love is in our lives.

Aims:

• To practise and develop vocabulary related to love and romance
• To practise speaking and reading skills
• To practise giving opinions

Introduction

Did you know that in the UK we spend about £503m on cards, flowers, chocolates and other gifts for Valentine's Day? Valentine's Day is big business! This lesson is designed to be used near the date of Valentine's Day (14 February) to talk about the topic of love and romance. If you are teaching teenagers you can expect this topic to cause a bit of excitement and silliness but usually it's a topic that teens want to talk about so can be a great opportunity to extend their vocabulary in an area they are interested in. Task 1 is a brainstorm of vocabulary for you to find out how much vocabulary your students have and to introduce some new words. Task 2 is a selection of well-known quotes about love for students to discuss. Task 3 gets students to think about how people usually meet each other in their country. Task 4 is a reading text from the British Council's Trend UK website which should introduce some ideas for students to discuss using the post reading activity. Task 5 is a role play based on speed dating and can be adapted for most levels. Task 6 is a ranking activity to decide how important love is in our lives.

Procedure

Task 1 - Valentine’s vocabulary	To get students thinking about the topic of Valentine's Day draw a big heart on the board and see if your students can fill it with words to do with love. Depending on the level make sure you try to stretch their vocabulary so everyone takes away a few useful words they didn't know before.
Task 2 - Love quotes	Pick and choose the quotes you use depending on the level of your students. If you have to spend ages trying to explain each one the activity will lose its fun. You could cut up the quotes and give them to pairs or small groups to decipher (translate into their own language if you feel it's appropriate and useful) and comment on, or get students to discuss the quotes in small groups and then share their ideas with the whole class.
Task 3 - Looking for love	UK info – Over 50% of British people are unmarried. You could use this statistic as an introduction to this discussion
Task 4 - I sent a letter to my love… Reading task	This is a reading task from the Trend UK website and should be suitable for intermediate levels and above. It should give you the basis for talking about Valentine's Day in the UK. The post reading questions can be used as a starting point for further discussion. Answers: 1) What is different about Valentine’s cards to cards for other occasions? They're usually anonymous. 2) Which is more popular in the UK? Sending cards by ‘snail mail’ or sending texts? Text messaging (six times more texts than cards are sent in the UK). 3) Do you think sending a text or instant message is a good way to declare your love? Why (not)? Students' opinions. 4) What are the most common gifts to give on Valentine’s Day? Flowers and chocolates. 5) Name two of the more interesting Valentine’s Day gifts mentioned in the article. Any two from helicopter ride, balloon flight, Ferrari test drive or visit to a health club.
Task 5 - Speed dating game	Speed dating is a popular way to meet people in the UK. It was designed in LA in the 90s for singles who don't have time to go out much to look for love! Speed dates are organised all over the UK and in many other countries too. The idea is people pay to attend (usually ₤15+) and all the participants meet in a bar or a club. An equal number of men and women attend. The men rotate and have three minutes (in some cases seven minutes) to speak to each woman. At the end all participants decide if they would like to meet anyone again and give the numbers of the people they were interested in to the organisers. If both the man and the women decided they would like to see each other again the phone numbers or e-mails are exchanged and it's up to the two people to follow it up. There are also gay speed dating events in the UK. This is a role play activity based on the idea of speed dating. It is suitable for a range of levels from pre-intermediate upwards. Questions can be very simple or more complex depending on the level of the students. Before you start do a quick brainstorm of possible jobs, hobbies, interests and personality types and make sure there are a few unusual ones to make for some comical encounters. If you think your class need to, you could also brainstorm some possible questions for them to ask each other on their ‘speed dates' so they don't get stuck once the three minutes begin. You could reduce the time to one minute for lower levels. If your students have never heard of speed dating, explain the idea to them and get their opinions. Warning: I would probably only do this role play with a reasonably mature group of students!
Task 6 - How important is love anyway?	This is a simple ranking activity. Put students into small groups to talk together and put the following in order of importance for them. Encourage them to justify their rankings. Then ask two groups to compare their answers.

Pancake

Makes around 8 pancakes

Ingredients

• 110g/4 oz plain flour
• 1 large egg
• ½ pint/280ml milk
• 2 tbsp melted butter

Method

Sift the flour into a bowl and make a well in the middle. Break in the egg, add a pinch of salt and a splash of the milk.

Whisk the egg, gradually incorporating the flour, to make a smooth cream. Whisk in the rest of the milk and the melted butter.

Put all the ingredients in a blender jug with a pinch of salt. Whizz until smooth.

Brush a hot pan with oil before adding a ladleful of batter, tipping the pan so the mixture spreads evenly. Pour any excess back into the bowl.

When the pancake is browned on the bottom give the pan a shake to make sure the pancake is loose.
If it is sticking, use a spatula to loosen it. When it moves freely you are ready to toss it. The other side will only need a few seconds.

San Valentin

Should you give something up for Lent?

Once again, it's that time of year when the standard small-talk question becomes, "What have you given up for Lent?", and this year, my answer is going to be a bit different.

Lent (which started a few days ago) is the 40 days between Ash Wednesday and Easter. It's traditionally a period of time each year when Christians remember the 40 days that Jesus spent fasting in the desert, with no food, so they adapt their own lives to be more modest - they give something up.

Nowadays, just as with other Christian festivals such as Christmas and Easter, it has become a more universal event. Every single year, people of all faiths observe Lent, giving up things like chocolate, sweets, junk food, social networking websites, swearing ... The idea is to challenge yourself , by avoiding something you like but know should cut down on, for 40 days.

Let me tell you - 40 days is a long time! Over the years I've given up various things, but have never lasted the whole of Lent (chocolate is my most common and worst failure). In fact, very few people I know have done the whole 40 days.

Giving something up is hard to do, especially if (like me) you don't have great self-control. The human mind is also working against you: when you're not allowed something, your automatic reaction is to want it. It can also be a very negative feeling, not to allow yourself something, especially when you are the only one who's given up that thing. If someone offers me a chocolate, I just can't say no!

So this year I'm taking a different approach. I am taking up a new habit, rather than getting rid of an old one. I'm challenging myself to do exercise 5 days a week for the whole of Lent. I'm not a lazy person - I cycle and walk everywhere -but to stay at my optimum fitness level, I need to push myself a bit more, and I've been neglecting it recently. Let's face it - watching TV for half an hour when you get home from school or work is much easier than going for a 30 minute run!

I'm feeling good about it though. Starting something new is much easier than stopping something. There's a saying - "Old habit die hard". This means, that the longer you've been doing something, the harder it is to give up. I've been eating chocolate my whole life, so of course it would be hard to stop. On the other hand, making time for something new (if you start organised) isn't too hard. It also feels like a more positive change - I feel like I'm adding something to my life, rather than missing out on something.

I'm also aiming to take this beyond Lent. If I can manage to do this until Easter, what's to stop me doing it for the rest of the year? Who knows - I might be able to improve my fitness on a long-term basis!

Wish me luck, and I hope you succeed in your own Lent challenge!

Vocabulary: Words with more than one spelling

Grammar Unit Too + adjective

• The adverb too + adjective has a negative meaning – when we use too, we mean “more than is good” or “more than I want”

          I´ve only got £300, and the CD player costs £450. It´s too expensive.

          It´s only 5°C today. I don´t want to go out – it´s too cold.

• Compare too with very, which doesn´t have a negative meaning.

          The film was very good.

        This computer costs £3,000 – it´s very expensive. But I´ve got lots of money, so for me it isn´t too expensive

Chinese New Year

Dragon dances, acrobats, fireworks, a parade ... London is buzzing with excitement at Chinese New Year. Find out what you can do to join in the excitement!

The event
For London’s Chinese community (and everyone else who loves a party!), Chinese New Year is a huge event. Before Chinese New Year, people make sure their houses are clean and tidy, buy new clothes and have their hair cut, to bring good luck for the new year. London has the biggest celebrations outside of Asia. Hundreds of thousands of people go to watch the parade from the West End to Trafalgar Square, which includes Chinese acrobats, and traditional lion and dragon dances.

The date
In 2016, Chinese New Year is on 8th February. The exact date is calculated according to lunar and solar calendars, so it changes every year. This year will be the end of the Chinese year of the goat and the beginning of the year of the monkey. So, from 8th February, especially in Chinatown, listen out for people wishing each other a “Kung Hei Fat Choi” - Happy New Year!

The celebrations
In central London there are fireworks and stage performances with all kinds of acts and special guests. Previous celebrations have included fashion shows and Chinese hip hop acts, as well as more traditional performances with Chinese acrobats. Chinatown is buzzing with excitement. The streets are decorated with lucky red lanterns and full of craft and food stalls. If you’re thinking of eating in one of Chinatown’s excellent
Chinese restaurants, however, book a table early, because you won’t find one on the night!

Chinese people in Britain
For young Chinese people studying or working in the UK, video conferencing is a brilliant way of joining big family celebrations back home. Those missing home might also cook traditional Chinese dumplings for friends in Britain or organise an evening of karaoke, another popular way of celebrating. The festivities are not as noisy as back home, they say, where loud firecrackers are traditionally used to frighten away evil spirits, and the special red envelopes of money from relatives may have further to travel to the UK. But there is still plenty of excitement, happiness and good feeling, as people come together to enjoy the celebrations.

QUESTION
1. Chinese New Year is a big celebration in London.
    True          False

2. Improving your appearance and tidying your house are part of the preparations.
    True          False

3. Chinese New Year is always on 8th February.
    True          False

4. 2016 is the Chinese year of the snake.
    True          False

5. All of the Chinese New Year entertainment on offer in London is traditional.
    True          False

6. You can buy Chinese food in the streets of Chinatown.
    True          False

7. Modern technology helps to unite families who are living in different countries.
    True          False

8. Young Chinese people living in the UK won’t receive any red envelopes of money from their relatives.
    True          False

KEY

1. True  2. True  3. False  4. False  5. False  6. True  7. True  8. False

Drama: Phrasal verbs. Episode 12