Valentine's Day
February 14

On this holiday, people exchange romantic cards and gifts. Saint Valentine is the patron saint of lovers.

This holiday is celebrated in both the UK and the USA.

Here are the results of a SCOOL Web poll in February 2003. The question was "Do you believe in love at first sight?"

Yes, and it has happened to me = 5 votes (26%)
Yes, but it hasn't happened to me = 10 votes (53%)
No, that isn't true love = 4 (21%)

This page last updated 7 February 2006.

Things to do:

• Learn about Valentine's Day
• Learn about the science of love
• Improve your vocabulary
• Take a quiz
• Watch a video clip
• Read or listen to a love story
• Send a Valentine's card

Learn about Valentine's Day:

• Valentine's Day History History of Valentine's Day (from pictureframes.co.uk)
• The History of Valentine's Day (from The History Channel)
• The Origin of Valentine's Day History of Valentine's Day (from thefunplace.com)
• How Valentine's Day Works History of Valentine's Day, and other information (from howstuffworks.com)
• Valentine Day Facts Why February 14th is the most romantic date of the year (from BBC Berkshire)

Learn about the Science of Love
(BBC Science & Nature: Hot Topics: Love)

• What are the three stages of love?
• What can we learn from the science of flirting?
• Why are we attracted to some people, but not others?
• Love can drive you mad. True or false?
• Flirting tips for girls
• Flirting tips for boys
• Vote: Do you believe in love at first sight?

Improve your vocabulary:

• Love and Marriage Hangman Spelling Game (higher levels) at the SCOOL Study Centre
• Stages of a Romance (higher levels) gap-filling exercise at the SCOOL Study Centre
• Valentine's Day Crossword (Intermediate) at the Internet TESL Journal
• Valentine's Day Crossword (Advanced) at the Internet TESL Journal
• David and Nicole Get Married: Weddings in the US (Intermediate) Vocabulary Quiz at the ESL Partyland Quiz Center

Take a quiz:

• Take a fun psychology test: Create an Interactive Lonely Hearts Ad and then see the analysis (from the BBC)
• Matchmaking quiz: are you good at matching romantic partners? (from the BBC)
• Body language quiz: Are you fluent at body language? (from the BBC)
• Love Test - Animal Test
  8 questions based on your choice of animals in different situations.
• Love Test - A Visit to Your Boy/Girlfriend's Place
  6 questions based on your decisions when visiting your boy or girlfriend's place
• The "Self and Love" Calculator
  Choose a personal trait from the pull-down menu below. The "Self and Love" Calculator will decipher your results...
• What Color Is Your Love?
  10 questions: Take this quiz and find out the current colors of your love!

Teenage Advice Quizzes:

• Is it love?
  It is a very common question, "How can I tell I'm in love?", but it is not an easy question to answer. Is it love, lust or bust?
• Are you a good kisser?
  A quick and easy quiz to help you determine if your kissing style is magical or all wet.
• Sex, do you know your stuff?
  Take our fast and easy true or false quiz to see if you really know sex fact from sex fiction.
• Are you ready to have sex?
  45 questions that will help you decide if you are ready to become sexually active.

Watch a video clip:

BBC Video Nation Valentine's Day
has 19 video shorts connected to Valentine's Day, February 14
(Requires RealPlayer)
BBC's Video Nation takes video cameras out of the hands of professional film makers, and puts them into the hands of ordinary (unpaid) British people, allowing them to present their views and experiences, with over 750 short video films on the website. The clips are by people in all parts of Britain, 1 to 3 minutes long, and free for anyone to watch. Including...

• FIRST KISS Sandra and Lucy wonder what their first kiss will be like...
• BOYS Lauren tells us who she fancies...
• GIRLS Jonathan can't imagine being married...
• LOVE IS... Owen tells us what love means to him...
• BABY CAKES Steve remembers the day he asked Janet to marry him...
• WEDDING NERVES Tarquin gets an attack of the nerves...
• ENGAGED Jono has proposed to Kate...
• LOVE Mark, 38 and single, wants to have some romance in his life...
• LOVE IN Christine and Andrew are following in the footsteps of John Lennon and Yoko Ono...
• VALENTINE In 25 years of marriage, Margaret has never received flowers on Valentine's Day...

Read or listen to a love story:

• Famous Love Stories in History
  Read love stories from around the world through the ages
• The Ideal Woman (Advanced) Listening Comprehension at Randall's ESL Cyber Listening Lab

Send a Valentine's card:

• Free Electronic Postcards from St Clare's, Oxford, On-Line
• Valentines Day Cards (from ValentinesDayCards.Net)
• Valentine Greetings (Holiday E-Cards from The Family Corner.com)
• Flirty Valentine's Day eCards (from BlueMountain.com)