Is special our Birthday?

A birthday is the day that is exactly a year or number of years after a person was born. Some people think that b-days are nothing but another day in a calendar. But, for many of us it means more than the sum of years we have been living on earth. What makes them special is how we live it, appreciate it, enjoy it and make it important

A birthday happens once a year and it is a right moment to remember the concept of rebirth. So, we have the possibility of another chance, a new beginning. No matter how things went last year, we always have the capacity to try again.

It is a time to get together, with everyone you really love. There is no better way to celebrate a birthday than to spend the day with the people who take care of you every time you need. That is why you should appreciate all the things you have done to deserve all these people near you.

It is good to be thankful for what you have in life and what you have achieved. Every simple thing you have is part of what you really are. Every moment is a decision, and you are the only one to decide. So, enjoy everything because everything was made by you.

Make your birthday important! It is the day your story began but the important thing is that you are still alive, one more year. Remember that it is also an occasion to rethink your life and if you do not like the way…on b-days you have a new opportunity to start again.

What about you?
Is special for you your birthday?
How do you feel that day?
Pedro

Spring assignment

Dear students,

as our next meeting will take place on September 28th, I want you to organize small groups (2-4 people) and carry out the task described in this link. Send your comments to the blog and if you feel comfortable to organize the posters using power point, we can also upload them.
Before sending the posting, make sure you have gone through all the writing stages, including editing!!!
Anahí

“A story for Christmas”

Last Christmas I felt a strong will to read a short story or novel. So, I looked at my collection of "books to be read... someday" and I discovered the one , the perfect story for the occasion."A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens tells the story of Ebenezer Scrooge, an extremely insensitive and antisocial businessman that has devoted his life to work very hard and hoard money. But during the Christmas Eve, he is visited by four spirits that change his life for ever.

The first one is his dead best friend and partner Jacob Marley, the man for whom he had managed "Scrooge and Marley" firm for many years. Jacob reappears in Scrooge´s life to explain to him that every man has to walk among the others. So, if it does not happen in life, he has to do it once dead. That is why Marley´s soul is condemned to wander among the living. But luckily for Scrooge, Marley´s phantom also foretells the arrival of three more ghosts that will show Scrooge the correct way for him to avoid suffering from the same condemnation.

The second ghost is the Ghost of Christmas Past. It carries him back to many places where he had spent his childhood, adolescence and early adulthood. Thus, they witness old Ebenezer Scrooge´s moments at school and home; they see Ebenezer Scrooge´s friends, his girlfriend and his family. Throughout this journey, the aim of the spirit is to remind Mr. Scrooge about his old life-style, feelings, and happy experiences; and to force him to think about his past actions.

The third ghost is the Ghost of the Christmas Present. This spirit conducts Scrooge to the city streets at Christmas morning when people are having fun and sharing moments of joy. Then, they go to visit Scrooge´s clerk and his family –poor but sweet and honest people whose youngest child is severely ill. Since they have serious problems with money, the little boy cannot have the especial medical treatment he needs. The wealthy but greedy Scrooge had always refused to help them; but now, he experiences the flavour of regret.

The fourth ghost is the Ghost of the Christmas Future. It is the most frightening specter because it never speaks to Scrooge but uses one finger to point to the things for Mr. Scrooge to look at them. They go to Scrooge´s mourning where everybody is stealing some of his possessions –except for his niece and his clerk. Thus, he realizes that since he had inflicted such cruelty on people, he receives the same treatment. Almost nobody felt sadness when he died, nor did they miss him. He clearly sees that he has passed away leaving no loving memories in the others.

Mr. Scrooge learnt the lesson. After the ghosts visits he was not any more the man he used to be. His heart was laughing and his goodness was overflowing. He made amends for his wrong actions and from that moment onward his Christmas spirit was the most shining of the town. So, this year when December comes, if you feel the Christmas spirit growing inside you, I recommend you to read Dicken´s story. I believe it is quite easy to follow. What is more, perhaps you could have something to learn from it.

Lorna

Graffiti is art or an act of vandalism ……!!

Graffiti was the first sign that gangs were taking over a neighbourhood. They used it to comunicate with their rival gangs. So, they wrote messages or draw things on the walls.I think that you will agree with me that graffiti is an act of vandalism, because this people destroy our public and private property. This affects our society and the image of our country. For me, graffiti as an act of vandalism because it is illegal and offensive, it has transformed the image of the city into a place of intolerance. For that reason, the police should defend public property. On the other hand, some people think that graffiti is more colourful, humorous and vibrant piece of art than vandalism.I think that public goods belong to every member of the community. So, as good citizens we must preserve and protect our common property. What do you think?

Lilo

Storytelling

Hi people, this is a useful contribution sent by Claudia. Thanks!!

Lines On The Loss Of The "Titanic" by Thomas Hardy

Even though I enjoyed reading Lines on the Loss of the Titanic by Thomas Hardy, I enjoyed even more reading M.A.Peel’s analysis of the poem. I completely agree with her in that” it is a haunting poem whose theme, unexpectedly, offers a comforting way to look at heartache”.
The first part of the poem describes the ship on the bottom of the ocean and the second establishes that the catastrophe was an inevitably and unexpected event that shaked two hemispheres: the iceberg and the Titanic grew bigger at the same time to be afterwards two halves of the sinister event that took place in August, 1912.
Pen concludes the analysis of the poem relating this event to the experiences we have through our lives. There are events that are meant to be and “the twain shall be met”. What is really amazing is that Pen finds comfort in the poem because of the sense of inevitability of certain events. This inevitability takes away all the possible “if...” in our lives that very often torture us. Things have to be as they are and rarely have we the opportunity to make the choice.
For the first time I was able to see such a tragic and unfortunate event in a different way, I mean, from a somehow comforting perspective.
Cheeps
Click here to read the poem and M.A.Peel’s review

Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift

Gulliver's Travels is a novel written in 1774. The novel recounts the story of Lemuel Gulliver, a practical-minded Englishman who is a surgeon. Gulliver takes to the sees when his business proved to fail. Gulliver's Travels is narrated in the first person and does not show any sign of deep emotional response or self reflection. Gulliver narrates the adventures that befall him on these travels. Gulliver's adventures in Lilliput starts when he wakes after his shipwreck to find himself bound by many tiny threads and addressed by tiny captors. His captors are in awe of Gulliver but fiercely protectiveof their kingdom. Although they use violence against Gulliver with their tiny arrows, they are hospitable and risk famine in their land and still feed him. Lilliputians get to abore Gulliver because they consider him to be different, since he cracks eggs in a very different way. Later Gulliver is convicted of treason for putting out a fire in the royal palace with his urine and is condemned to be shot in the eyes and starved to death. Gulliver is able to escape to Blefuscu, where he repairs a boat and set sail to England. He stays in England with his wife and family for two months, and then he undertakes his next sea voyage. He goes to a land of giants called Brobdingnag. The natives treats him as little more than an animal, keeping him for amusement. Gulliver is sold to the queen by a farmer. Gulliver feels repulsion for the physicality of the Brobdingnagians, whose ordinary flaws are magnified by their huge size. Gulliver feels startled by the ignorance of the natives, even the king knows nothing about politics. Fortunately, Gulliver leaves the place when his cage is plucked by an eagle and dropped into the sea. Gulliver sets sail again, and after being attacked by pirates, ends up in Laputa, where a floating island onhabited by theoreticians and academics oppresses the land below, called Balnibarbi. The scientific research undertaken in Laputa and Balnibarbi proves to be totally impractical, and its residents too appear to be wholly out of touch with reality. Gulliver sail to Japan and from there back to England. In his fourth journey, Gulliver sets out as captain of a ship, buy after the mutiny of his crew and a long confinementin his cabin, he arrives to an unknown land. The land is populated by Houyhnhnms, rational-thinking horses who rule and by yahoos, brutish creatures who serve the Houyhnhnms. Gulliver learns their language and then he narrates his voyages and explains the constitution of England. The horses treat him with great courtesy and kindness and is enlightened by his many conversations with them and the exposure to their noble culture. The horses finds him similar to a Yahoo, and he is banished. Gulliver leaves the place and arrives in an island, where he is picked by a Portuguese ship captain that treats him well. Gulliver can not help seeing all humans as shamefully Yahoolike. Gulliver concludeshis narrativewith a claim that the lands he has visited belongs by rights to England, as her colonies, even though he questions the whole idea of colonialism. The novel is a satire of the society of the period in England. Where people were too much concentrated on superficial matter, and science. Moreover colonialism was a very importan aspect for England. I recommend reading this novel since it is very fanny and imaginative.
Angels.

Englishman in New York by Sting

Englishman in New York is a very catchy song by Sting, in which the writer compares New York with his hometown in England. On the one hand, the story describes typical English habits that he has to leave aside, such as the tea tradition. Besides, he highlights his culture’s values and customs like good manners and sobriety. On the other hand, the composer criticizes some negative characteristics of the new society that really annoy him. For example, their violent behaviour. In my opinion, the author can only see the worst part of American society, because he feels like “an alien” that can not fit in. However, I think that the problem is not only the difficulty to accept a new culture, but also the hard task that giving up his previous life means. In addition, this song is a great piece of music that you can enjoy even if you don’t want to analyse the lyrics.

Atlantis

"Exámenes" (by Nelly Fernández Tiscornia)

Last weekend I went to the theatre .It wasn't in English , but the topic is very related to our job . This play is about a student that has failed a final exam five times .His father is furious about this situation and appears in scene begging for his son in the head master's presence .It is a moving scene because he remembers his school days and an English teacher that had left the examination board because he was not ready to be objective due to his difficult behaviour during the whole year.But the scene in which the audience gave them a big round of applause was when the history teacher appears.He is the typical teacher of the old days :strict,severe,interested only in the knowledge.Unlike this teacher,a substitute teacher comes to change his narrow-minded point of view.I strongly recommend it.(Sala Armando Discepolo 12 62 y 63)

Sky

Ginger for the heart by Paul Yee

This story takes place in China. There, the buildings are stoutly constructed of bricks.
Chang, who is a merchant tailor, lives in a tower room and he rents the others. His wife and his daughter, Yenna, work together. Yenna is a really beautiful girl. All day long, she and her mum sit by the tower window and sew. They like singing while they work.
One day, a young man comes into the store, because he needs some mending. After seeing the girl, he goes there many times. They fall deeply in love. But as spring comes, he has to leave. She gives him a ginger, and tells him that she will wait for him.
After some years, the man comes back. He wants to marry her and goes to live in a farm. But she can’t go with him, because her dad can’t stay alone…
The reason that I don’t write the end of the story is because that may be you want it to discover it by your own.
I hope you like it.

Anush

The "Tomatina"

Yesterday I saw an advertisement about the world greatest tomato fight. Do you know what it is?. Well, it is called the "Tomatina". This celebration is not a religious one or even with a political significance. The first "Tomatina" took place in the mid 1940s. There, the participants must throw tomatoes each other. They have to pay for the 40,000 kilos of tomatoes used during the fight. Nowadays, this festival is an international affair and people from all over the world come to Buñol every year to enjoy the fun. Isn´t it fantastic?

Miss Squirrel

Festival of Lights in India

Last day I read an article that explained how the festival of lights was in India. As you know Diwali is the name of that festival which takes place in the Hindu month of Aswin (October/November), and it lasts four days and ends with the celebration of the Hindu New Year. On the first day, people decorate their places with rangolis, traditional patterns which people draw on the floor with different coloured powders. On the second day, people get up early and take a bath before sunrise. On the third day, they celebrate with an enormous fireworks display. Finally, the fourth day arrives and most families celebrate by dressing in new clothes and wearing jewellery. Diwalli is also celebrated by Hindus all over the world. Do you know another important celebration like this? Please answer my question because I am interested in knowing different cultures.
Miss Squirrel