🇫🇷 🇧🇷 🇰🇷 🇪🇸 Translate this page ➡️
For FUN Students & Teachers of English!
“The Most Wonderful Words on the Web!”
(from FunEnglishLessons.com & RainbowEnglishSchool.org)
😲 NO VIDEO ABOVE? 😤 … ➜ Click HERE!
Sab’s INTRODUCTION
Hello Fun English Fans, and Welcome to a very chilly mid-December here in Paris!
All the big department stores like Galeries Lafayette, Printemps, La Samaritaine, Bon Marché and BHV Marais are decorating their windows to attract as many Christmas shoppers as possible.
Many tourists don’t know that some of these famous stores have stunning views from their rooftops. It doesn’t cost you anything to visit them but be careful – you might be tempted to spend more than you expected.
You have to take escalators up five or six floors and every floor is shouting at you: “Spend money, buy something, spend all your money”!
In the photo on the right, we can see some typical Parisian buildings. There is a big colourful Christmas tree in the street below. Of course, you can see the Eiffel Tower on the horizon on the left of the picture.
In the photo on the left, there is another huge Christmas tree at the Les Halles shopping centre. A romantic couple are kissing on a seat under the tree.
Quick Quiz 
Which countries have won the World Cup the most: 5, 4, 4 and 3 times respectively?
a) Italy, Brazil, Germany and France
b) Germany, Italy, Brazil and Russia
c) Brazil, Germany, Italy and Argentina
*INTERESTING VOCABULARY
chilly (adj) – unpleasantly cold 
decorate (v) – to make something look more attractive by putting things on it or around it
stunning (adj) – very beautiful
tempt (adj) – to make someone want to have or do something, especially something that they do not need or something that is wrong
escalator (n)– moving stairs that take people from one level of a building to another
horizon (n) – the line in the distance where the sky seems to touch the land or sea
romantic (adj)– relating to exciting feelings of love
tradition (n) – a custom or way of behaving that has continued for a long time in a group of people or a society
symbolise (v) – to represent something
Try my… Fun English Lessons Sample Pack for just €7! 
4 Interactive Grammar Lessons + One Song-Based Lesson
+ 1 Video-Based Lesson + 1 Article-Based Lesson
IN OTHER NEWS…
Let’s get the ball rolling with this little fact: I’ve been watching the football world cup quite a lot in the last month!
When I was a boy, I never liked football and always just watched from the sidelines. And if I had to play, I would run away from the ball! Maybe that’s why I became quite a good runner!
I found it difficult to take sides in the final, where France played Argentina.
It was a toss-up between supporting France – the country where I have lived for half my life – or hoping the football genius Messi could triumph in the world cup at last. Then he would have won everything! Who would YOU have supported?
I was going to watch the match with friends in a bar, but they kept moving the goalposts, changing the time we were meeting and the place we would meet, so I decided to stay at home and watch the game on my own.
My game plan was just to enjoy the match, whoever won.
In the end, it really was a game of two halves. Argentina dominated in the first half, but France woke up in the second half and almost won.
Anyway, keep your eyes on the ball, and watch out for FunLetter No.15 , coming soon with more fun English!
SEE BELOW for the definition of the expressions in purple! 
ENGLISH IDIOMS ~ Football Idioms
1) get the ball rolling ➜ start some action or activity
2) watch from the sidelines ➜ not take part in an activity
3) to take sides ➜ to decide to support a certain team
4) a toss-up ➜ a random decision (like when you toss a coin – heads or tails)
5) move the goalposts ➜ change the objective or the goal of a project
6) game plan ➜ what you plan to do in a certain situation
7) a game of two halves ➜ where one side starts better, then the other side gets better
8) keep your eyes on the ball ➜ concentrate on what you are doing
Now try this Football Idioms Quiz…
Visit the Facebook group HERE to chat about today’s English FunLetter and… have fun learning English with Fun English Lessons! 
WORDS in the NEWS
From BBC Sport: Football
Argentina beat France in 2022 World Cup Final in Qatar
Argentina are 2022 World Cup champions for the third time after beating France on penalties in the final in Qatar.
Gonzalo Montiel scored the winning spot-kick to give the South Americans a 4-2 victory in the shoot-out, after a frenetic game ended 3-3 after extra time.
Lionel Messi scored twice and Angel di Maria netted for the Argentines, while France’s Kylian Mbappe became the first player since Geoff Hurst in 1966 to score a hat-trick in a World Cup final.
Argentina eventually triumphed to seal their third world title, with Messi crowning an extraordinary career by lifting the golden trophy at Lusail Stadium.
USEFUL DEFINITIONS
penalty (n) – a direct free shot at the goal after the other team has broken a rule
frenetic (adj) – fast and exciting in an uncontrolled way
net (v) – put the ball in the net = score a goal
a hat-trick (expression) – (here) three goals scored in the same game
seal (verb) – (here) make something impossible to change
crowning (adj) – the very best part of something
golden trophy (noun) – (here) the World Cup
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
PHOTO of the DAY
One of my passions is taking photos and writing about Paris every day.
Here is today’s photo:
EXERCISE
Write about this photo or record yourself speaking about it in English.
What can you see?
Where do you think it is?
What time or season is it?
What is the weather like?
Can you see any people or animals?
What are they doing?
What are they wearing?
How do they feel?
Do you like the photo? Why or why not?
Would you like to be in the photo?
Where would you prefer to be?
Listen to the end of the video above and hear me describe this photo in detail!
Post your texts or voice recordings/videos in our Fun Facebook Group here, and comment on other people’s posts.
Quick Quiz – Answer
The countries that have had the most World Cup wins are:
c) Brazil (5), Germany & Italy (4) and Argentina (3)
If France had won in Qatar, they would have been in this list instead of Argentina, with three World Cup wins, but it wasn’t to be!
Let’s make the English love go round!
