A Tot of English 2025-2026 by ELI Publishing

Giraffe gazelle

It is called this because it has a long neck like a giraffe. It lives in Africa and can eat the leaves of the taller trees. Its eyes and mouth are surrounded by white fur and the males have small horns. It is great at standing on its back legs, even for half an hour! It is very difficult to see—it has a shy and

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fearful* character. It is careful when it is escaping from predators* and keeps its neck low so as not to get* stuck in the plants. Agile and fast, it can jump far and lives in small groups (3-10 animals). During the day it is very active, mainly looking for food, but on hot days it likes to rest in the shade.

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Good day A Tot of English friends!

If you already know this magazine, you may notice three new columns: on page 2 you will find out about very curious animals, on page 6 you will find a souvenir photo that travellers always take home. On pages 4 and 5 we will explore some of the most famous mysteries in the world, starting with the disappearance of Amelia Earhart. The report on the central pages celebrates YouTube’s twentieth anniversary, while the interview on page 10 is with the wonderful Zendaya, actor, singer and dancer who is a symbol of GenZ. With your class you can challenge each other to the quiz on page 11: the topic is “TV series”.

Have a great start and... have fun!

Everyone out on the streets to dance!

It is now a tradition: in Greenwich Village, New York, everyone goes out on the streets to dance. What? Michael Jackson’s Thriller dance, obviously! The New York Halloween parade* is animated by the group dance to the tune of Thriller, the ‘80s song that became a huge hit* by Michael Jackson. The New York group Thriller NYC danced to this song the first time in 2004 and hasn’t missed a parade since then! The West Village parade is even older: the first, invented by mask manufacturer Ralph Lee, was on October 31, 1974. Today it is the biggest Halloween parade in the world and also the only night parade in the United States!

Hi, I’m Grammy. This month we’ll learn about:

- the present perfect simple - time expressions

- the passive - adverbs

- the relative pronoun “which” - uses of the infinitive

Michael Jackson, the “King of Pop”, was not only a great singer, but also a fantastic dancer. He himself perfected* a dance step that, thanks to his videos, has become really famous! Which one? Go online and learn how to do it, too!

fearful: feeling afraid or anxious get stuck: be unable to move hit: success, usually refers to music parade: a group of people walking together for a reason perfected: made as good as possible predators: animals, like lions, that hunt other animals scientific name: decided by Linnaeus, indicates the genus and species of a living being in Latin

Mysteries are all around us—things that happen that we cannot quite explain. Let’s take a deeper look at some mysterious events that have shocked* the world!

The disappearance of Amelia Earhart

Amelia Earhart was a courageous woman who had a dream—to be the first female pilot ever to fly around the world. Born and raised in Kansas, in the USA, Amelia was a child that, from an early age, always liked adventure. It was in the early 1920s, when she visited an air* fair, that she developed an interest in flying. She began going to air shows to watch these

mysterious inventions in action. Soon after, she started taking flying lessons. On May 16, 1923, she got her flying license, becoming the 16th woman in the United States to be given one. In 1928, Amelia reached another first—she was the first woman to fly across the Atlantic Ocean. This time, she was only a passenger—a man named Wilmer Stultz flew the plane. However, this experience made her desire to* pilot a plane by herself grow. In fact, in May 1932, she became the first female to fly alone nonstop across the Atlantic.

Early in 1936, she started working on her plan to fly

around the world. If successful, she would become the first woman to do so. On one of her flights, while preparing for this, the unthinkable happened. Amelia was flying with a man named Fred Noonan, who was her navigator*. The duo had begun their journey from Miami and were headed* east on June 1. They had made various stops to refuel* the plane in the weeks that followed. After one of these stops, they were flying towards Howland Island—a coral atoll* near Hawaii in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. The flight was expected to be difficult because this island was hard to locate. The last communication received from Amelia during the flight was, “We are running north and south.”

After that—silence. Amelia and her navigator disappeared over the Pacific Ocean on July 2, 1937. There was a long search for Amelia and Fred, but they were never found. There are many theories about her disappearance. The most

To understand more about this amazing woman, it is now possible to visit Amelia’s childhood home in Kansas. Not only can you see the place where she was raised*, but you can also understand a bit more about the time period she grew up in. If you can’t make it to Kansas, visit the museum site at https://www.ameliaearhartmuseum.org/ to take a free virtual tour or follow its blog to learn more about her.

Unscramble the quote

Bessie Coleman was an African-American woman born in Texas in 1892. Like Amelia, she dreamed of flying. However, life wasn’t easy back then... Facing discrimination because of her race and the fact that she was a woman, Bessie traveled to France in 1921. She got her pilot’s licence and became the first AfricanAmerican woman to get one. Unscramble the quote to see what she has to say about flying!

“AIR PLACE ONLY THE

probable seems to be that the plane ran out of fuel and crashed into the ocean. However, not only were Amelia and Fred never found, but neither was the plane wreckage*! Even without their bodies, after months of searching, Amelia Earhart and navigator Fred

Amelia Earhart isn’t the only woman to make history. The list is long! Here are just a few more that we cannot forget for their contributions to history...

• Maria Salomea Skłodowska-Curie discovered radium and was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize (she actually won two—for physics and chemistry)

• Aretha Franklin was a soul singer and the first woman to get into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

• Florence Nightingale was the founder of modern nursing

• Junko Tabei was the first woman to reach the top of Mount Everest!

Noonan were pronounced dead on January 5, 1939. We may never know what happened but one thing is sure— Amelia Earhart was a courageous woman who will never be forgotten!

Glossary

air fair: a show with airplanes atoll: a chain of islands made of coral headed: going towards something navigator: a person who plans and directs travel raised: brought up, educated refuel: fill with more gas to pilot: to drive a plane wreckage: what is left of something that has been destroyed

How wonderful is it to take pictures when you travel and then look at them on the couch, once you get home? It’s impossible to be a tourist in Barcelona and not photograph the Sagrada Familia, the city’s most famous monument!

The construction of the Sagrada Familia, which began on March 19, 1882, has not yet been finished: work on this monument has been underway for practically 138 years! In fact, it is the largest unfinished* church in the world. Antoni Gaudí, who directed the initial work on the construction of this masterpiece, planned 18 towers, although in the end he only had time to build one before he died in 1926. All the towers are dedicated to figures of the Catholic religion, the height of the towers themselves depending on their importance: the tallest is dedicated to Jesus.

TheSagrada Familia

It is certainly the most famous and characteristic church in Barcelona, located in the lively Eixample district. The style is neo-Gothic but has Catalan* modernism and art nouveau influences. For the interior Gaudí, who was inspired by the forms of nature, chose columns in the shape of tree trunks. In fact, it looks like a huge stone forest!

Since 2012, the chief architect has been Jordi Faulí i Oller, but many events have hindered* the construction,

such as the fire in 2011 and Covid, which stopped work for many months. On November 29, 2021, a twelve-pointed crystal star dedicated to Mary was placed at the top of the tower, which is always illuminated and is 7 meters high. According to some, the church will be finished by 2032.

Do I… or don’t I like it?

Do you like this image? Could it be good as your phone or computer wallpaper? Do you know this work? What strikes you about it? What don’t you like? Explain.

Spanish architect Antoni Gaudí dedicated most of his life to this project, which he considered fundamental. His nickname is “God’s architect”.

Catalan modernism: artistic style born in the late 1800s in the Spanish region of Catalonia hindered: made difficult, blocked unfinished: not ended

Happy birthday,

The most famous online platform to share and watch videos online turns 20!! Let’s find out interesting facts and secrets about YouTube together!

What can you see on YouTube, the second most-visited website in the world after Google? Everything! Videos, trailers, short films, the news, live streaming, shorts, slideshows, video blogs, creative or educational videos, tutorials… For now there are precise rules to follow for

uploading videos and checks on those uploaded* badly, which can be deleted. In the future, projects related to artificial intelligence will certainly be developed, both in the video production phase and to increase audiences, for example by automatically* translating videos from lesser-known languages.

The birth of a legend

Created twenty years ago by three American guys, YouTube originated in San Diego, California. This is where the three filmed and uploaded the first video, Me at the zoo, which was posted at 8:27 p.m. on April 23, 2005. The short video was filmed in front of the elephant cage* at the San Diego Zoo and one of the three boys was the first to register on the site with the username “jawed”.

Since then YouTube has gradually become the main platform for sharing videos and was elected “Invention of the Year” for 2006 by Time magazine.

YouTubers

People who produce and post videos are called YouTubers, a word that has now entered dictionaries around the world. YouTubers can earn a lot of money through views and subscribers to their channels, and today they are as famous as actors and singers! Being a YouTuber has become a real job: some even earn millions of dollars, thanks to companies that become sponsors* of their videos. They are often paid to be testimonials* and sometimes organize events to celebrate the community.

Record-breaking videos and channels

The video with the most “likes” (54 million) until some time ago was Despacito by Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee, while the single Butter by BTS had the record

MrBeast is the most followed YouTuber in the world. Born in Kansas, Jimmy Donaldson has posted videos with extreme challenges* or big cash* donations or prizes since 2012. He is often criticized for his expensive videos, but is very popular among young people.

PewDiePie is the stage name of a Swedish YouTuber, a creator who has the most subscribed gaming channel of all (110 million)! He began in 2010 simply by playing Minecraft.

YouTube Shorts were first launched in India after TikTok was banned in 2020 and allows videos up to a minute long to be posted. The most-viewed short features a diver cracking an egg underwater!

for most views in the first 24 hours (more or less 108 million). Currently the record for the mostwatched video ever is Baby Shark, made by a Korean company that makes things for children. The channels with the most

subscribers are MrBeast and T-Series, which mainly posts Indian music videos. Video* tutorials of all kinds are muchloved. It is increasingly becoming a way for artists to advertise themselves

Guess

Which country uses YouTube the most?

a. Brazil

Anagram

b. the United States

c. India

What are the two most typed words on YouTube by users around the world? Unscramble the letters and you will find out!

L M F I N S G O

The answers are on page 14

Advice for internet surfers

Some advice when surfing the net: a lot of the news that you find, especially on social media, is false. There are those who enjoy posting and sharing false information, sometimes as a joke and other times to influence* people’s ideas. Therefore, the advice is to always treat social media as a place of entertainment and not a place of truth. When you find some news on social media, always remember to verify it through other news sources and wait before commenting on and sharing it!

Glossary

automatically: right away

cage: closed space where animals are kept at the zoo cash: slang for money

challenges: contests, competitions influence: guide the way others think sponsor: someone who supports an idea, an event or a product with money

testimonials: people who promote a product or service

uploaded: tranferred from one computer to another video tutorials: videos that teach you how to do something

A symbol of GenZ, she has a simple name that comes from an African language, is full of passions and talent, and she loves Harry Potter. Let’s meet… Zendaya!

Today you are a symbol of GenZ and the new star of Hollywood. How did it all start?

When I was a child, I studied dance and theater. Then, at 14, I began to act and sing, with Bella Thorne, in the Disney Channel series Shake it up! The turning point arrived later, with the Euphoria series, which I won an Emmy with. The credit goes to my mother Claire Marie who is a theater manager and taught music and theater: she is my role model! If I hadn’t become an actress, I would have been a teacher, like my parents.

They say you are very shy. Is it true?

Yes, very true! When I was a child, my mom made me repeat a year of nursery* school because I sat on a chair without talking to anyone. Over time, I have gained more self-confidence. Now I don’t like to see my photos retouched* with Photoshop. That’s why I always post my original photos: we should not be afraid of our defects* we are beautiful because we are imperfect! J

Can you tell us the meaning of your name?

I dropped my surname way before becoming famous. My family calls me Marie, my friends Daya or Big Head, but for everyone I am Z. My name has

Z e ndaya

African origins and means “to say thank you” in a Bantu language of Zimbabwe. My mom is American with European origins while my father is AfricanAmerican.

You have 146 million followers on Instagram. So many!

I know very well that for my age I have a really important career! I didn’t waste any time and now I see the results of my work. Even if I have more followers than Billie Eilish and Demi Lovato, I am very reserved about my private life. My boyfriend is Tom Holland, who I met in 2016 on the set of Spiderman Homecoming We told the world that we were a couple only after years of being together: people call us Tomdaya. J

Identity Card

Name: Zendaya Maree

Surname: Stoermer Coleman

Place and date of birth: Oakland, United States, 1 September 1996

Profession: actress, singer, dancer Interesting facts: Mattel dedicated a Barbie to her, imitating her 2015 Oscar look, with dreadlocks* and a white mermaid gown by Vivienne Westwood

Your passions?

I write poetry, draw and paint. In 2013 I wrote the book Between u and me, in which I try to give advice to people to improve themselves. I love cooking meatless dishes. I am a vegetarian and love brown rice salad. I like sports and when I was a child I played basketball. I like to do my own makeup, even for important events. And... I am a crazy Harry Potter fan and if I could, I would watch a movie a day! I am committed to defending rights: I’ve marched for women, animals, equality and for the care of the planet. I am also an AIDS ambassador for the United Nations.

Glossary

defects: things that are not perfect about us, either physical or about our personality dreadlocks: type of long braids nursery school: school before three years old retouched: changed for the better, to remove the defects

TV series

Do you love TV series? Do you know the cult series and the more modern ones? Try to challenge your friends! Why not organize a couch, popcorn and TV series night together?

True or False?

1 Stranger Things was immediately accepted* by Netflix.

2 When Lady Gaga was 15, she appeared in an episode of Breaking Bad.

3 Yara Greyjoy of Game of Thrones is called Asha in the book.

4 Adam Brody showed up for the auditions* of The O.C. unprepared.

5 Doctor Who is one of the shortest series in history.

6 Lost was mainly filmed in Hawaii, on the island of Oahu.

7 The Rings of Power has the same characters as The Lord of the Rings

8 In Wednesday the main character wears only white or black.

Guess

A. Where does the American series Stranger Things get its inspiration from?

1 The ‘60s and cartoons

2 The ‘80s and Steven Spielberg

3 The ‘90s and love of nature

B. Cobra Kai gets its inspiration from a particular sport and movie. Which?

1 Karate and Karate Kid

2 Kendo and Ghost Dog

3 Surfing and Point Break

C. The second season of Wednesday changes its setting*, from Romania to…

1 Ireland.

2 Iceland.

3 Italy.

T F

Match

Match the title of the series to its definition.

A. The Last of Us

B. Money Heist

C. One Piece

D. Glee

E. Freaks & Geeks

1 The first Spanish series to have worldwide success

2 A series with a cast of… future stars!

3 A manga that has become a fun TV series

4 Excellent series that come from a video game

5 One of the very few musical series

For the Game of Thrones series, HBO asked a company that invents new languages to create the Dothraki language, spoken by the Nomadic* tribes across the plains of Essos. This language, which resembles* Russian and Arabic, has 3,000 words and doesn’t include words like “thank you” or “throne”, or words that end in W or Q.

accepted: approved, chosen auditions: short acting tests to choose an actor Nomadic: living the life of people who move from one land to another resembles: is similar to setting: the place where something is filmed GlossarY

Royal National Mòd

An annual event to celebrate the wonders of Scotland, every October this Celtic festival showcases* the best of Scottish culture!

The Royal National Mòd is an annual international Celtic festival. Its goal is to show the world everything that makes Celtic culture unique: its literature, music, history and art. Every year, this event takes place in a different Scottish town. This allows communities around the country an opportunity to engage* in Gaelic culture. But what happens at this festival?

What’s a Mòd?

To understand what this festival is all about, we first need to know what a Mòd is. This is the Gaelic word for parliament or congress,

that is, a gathering* of people.

Traditionally, the Mòd is not only a moment to exhibit the culture of the country, but also a formal competition where the best of the best show their talents and compete* for a prize.

A variety of events

So what can you see at a Mòd? There are choral* concerts, musical events where you can hear traditional instruments like fiddles* and bagpipes, spoken word in the form of poetry readings and storytelling, as well as ancient folk tales and

humorous monologues*.

There is also a shinty competition... but what’s that? Shinty is a sport played with long sticks and a ball, similar to field hockey. Two teams play to win the Mòd Cup!

How did this all start?

When was the first Royal National Mòd? It was first held in 1892

Connections

and was organized by An Comunn Gàidhealach— which is a company and voluntary membership organization dedicated to promoting the preservation and development of the Gaelic language. It also wants to keep Gaelic culture alive through its literature, music, history and art.

This year’s event

This year, the Royal National Mòd will be from October 10 to October 18 in Lochaber, a region in the Scottish western Highlands. It will surely offer all the best Scotland and Gaelic culture have to offer—in a beautiful setting. So Fàilte (“Welcome”) and remember: Thig crìoch air an t-saoghal, ach mairidh gaol is ceòl (“The world will end, but love and music will endure”)!

Find three groups of three words from the article that have something in common. Then give the group a name (ex. clothing: hat, jeans, T-shirt) .

• bagpipe

• poetry

• telephone • literature

fiddle • TV • refrigerator

music • harp

What is “Gaelic culture”?

Gaelic culture refers to the cultural heritage and traditional languages of the Gaels. The Gaels are a group of people primarily from Scotland and Ireland. They share a common language and cultural backround, which includes language, literature and music. In the past, they often sang about their farming lives and felt a strong connection to their land.

Scotland doesn’t only have a rich culture. It has also given us some very famous and important people! John Logie Baird—the inventor of the television—was born in Helensburgh. We can speak with whoever we want, whenever we want thanks to the telephone, which was invented by the Scottish native Alexander Graham Bell. More recently, Scotland has given us tennis star Andy Murray, who was the world’s number 1 ranked player in 2016. And what would James Bond be without Sir Thomas Sean Connery, an Edinburgh native?

Glossary

choral: sung by an organized group of singers compete: take part in a contest engage in: to take part in or do something fiddles: violins, stringed musical instruments gathering: a meeting of a group of people monologues: long speeches by one person showcases: shows in an attractive way

Diagram

Write the correct definitions in the diagram and find out in the colored column what audio programs, often divided into episodes, that you can listen to in streaming online or download, are called.

1 Someone who financially supports an idea, event or product.

2 The world’s first most-visited website.

3 The city in California of the creators of YouTube.

4 The first game that was played on PewDiePie’s channel.

5 A closed space where animals are kept at the zoo.

6 A series of actions taken in order to do or achieve a particular thing.

7 A person that produces and posts videos.

James Bond... trivia!

Sean Connery is one of the famous Scotsman mentioned on pages 12-13. He is most famous for his role as international spy James Bond. Are you a James Bond fan? What do you know about this fascinating character? Take the quiz and find out!

1 How many actors have played James Bond? A three B seven C six

The answers are below

2 Which famous singer sang “Skyfall” for the James Bond movie of the same name? A Adele B Beyoncé C Rhianna

3 One of these is NOT the name of a James Bond bad guy. Which one?

A Mr. Big B Shark C Trigger

4 This film character is the secretary to James Bond’s superior officer and head of the British Secret Intelligence Service. What is her name?

A Miss Moneypenny B Miss Dollarsign C Sharon Spy

Lazenby, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan, and Daniel Craig), 2A, 3B, 4A. P 16 Word

film, song. P 11: True or False? 1F (it was rejected by various platforms more than 15 times!), 2F (she appeared in the third season of The Sopranos), 3T, 4T, 5F (it is one of the “oldest”, it has been going on for more than 60 years), 6T, 7F (many characters from the original trilogy are not in the series, while there are new ones), 8T. Guess: A2, B1, C1. Match: A4, B1, C3, D5, E2. P 12-13 Connections: Possible answers: Scottish musical instruments: bagpipe, fiddle, harp; culture: poetry, literature, music; Scottish inventions: TV, telephone, refrigerator (invented by Scotsman William Cullen). P 14 Diagram: 1 sponsor, 2 Google, 3 San Diego, 4 Minecraft, 5 cage, 6 steps, 7 YouTuber: podcast. James Bond… trivia! 1B (Sean Connery, David Niven,

7-9

George

Scramble: