HAPPY SPRINGTIME TO EVERYONE!!!

Spring is seen as a time of growth, renewal, of new life being born and of the cycle of life starting once again. In all cultural traditions, it symbolises re-birth and new beginnings...

Find out more about Spring and its symbolism

4th ESO INTERNATIONAL EXCHANGE PROGRAMME

PAIDOS SCHOOL (DENIA) - INSTITUTO GUIDO PIOVENE (VICENZA)

As you know, our 4th ESO students are taking part in an exchange programme with a school in Vicenza, Italy. Last week, a group of Italian students visited us. They stayed as guests in our students' homes and had the opportunity to get to know our country and our culture and to improve their Spanish. It was a great experience both for the Italian and the Spanish students.

Paidos students' will be travelling to Italy in a few weeks (from 12th to 19th April). During that time, the Italian teachers have organised some day trips for them, so they will have the chance to visit some of the most beautiful Italian cities like Verona, Venice or Padua.

SPEAKING PRACTICE 3rd & 4th ESO:

As you know, we will be doing Speaking Practice once a week in order to improve your oral skills. You can post your ideas for possible topics here and one of them will be chosen each week to be discussed in class during the following Speaking lesson, which will take place on Thursdays. You will be expected to do a bit of research on the topic if necessary and organise your ideas before the lesson.

Your performance during the Speaking lessons will be evaluated as part of the Practice of the 3rd term (20% of the final mark).

Here you can find some interesting websites to practise and improve your Listening and Speaking skills:

• Listening
• Speaking

30th January - School Day of Non-violence and Peace

The "School Day of Non-violence and Peace", founded in 1964 and also known as World or International Day of Non-violence and Peace, is a pioneering, non-state, non-governmental, non-official, independent, free and voluntary initiative of Non-violent and Pacifying Education,

which is now practised in schools all over the world and in which centres of education, teachers and students of all levels and from all countries are invited to take part.

It advocates a permanent education in and for harmony, tolerance, solidarity, respect for human rights, non-violence and peace. It is observed on January 30 or thereabouts every year, on the anniversary of the death of Mahatma Gandhi.

Its basic message is: "Universal Love, Non-violence and Peace. Universal Love is better than egoism, Non-violence is better than violence, and Peace is better than war".

MAHATMA GANDHI

This is the song we learnt and sang in class today. 1st ESO students did a great job! Now you can all watch this video and sing along with the lyrics, as part of our celebration of the International Day of Non-violence and Peace, which will take place on Friday, 28th January at the school. Enjoy!

...and this is the song we're going to sing in 3rd and 4th ESO, I hope you like it!

3rd and 4th ESO - PROJECTS 2nd Term


Here you can find lots of information for your research on the projects. Remember you are expected to select the relevant information and summarize it yourselves with your own words, so don't just copy and paste!


3rd ESO - ELIZABETHAN ENGLAND
The presentations will start on Monday 28th February. Each group will focus on one of the following topics and they will introduce it to the rest of the class:

• History
• Arts and Culture
• Drama
• William Shakespeare
• Hamlet

Recommended websites:

Elizabethan Era

Elizabethan Era (Wikipedia)
Shakespeare online
Absolute Shakespeare


4th ESO - VICTORIAN ENGLAND
The presentations will start on Monday 28th February. Each group will focus on one of the following topics and they will introduce it to the rest of the class:

• History
• Arts and Culture
• Literature
• Oscar Wilde
• The Picture of Dorian Gray

Recommended websites:

Victorian Era
Victorian Web
History - Victorian period

Victorian Literature
Oscar Wilde (wikipedia)
Oscar Wilde online

The project will be evaluated according to the following categories. Each category is worth 0.5 and the maximum mark is 2. This mark is part of the Practice, which represents 20% of the final mark.

CATEGORY	4	3	2	1
Information / Content	Covers topic completely and in depth. All information presented is clear, accurate and thorough.	Includes essential information and it is mostly presented in a clear, accurate and thorough way.	Includes some essential information and it is presented in a clear and accurate way, but not thorough.	Includes little essential information. It has several inaccuracies OR is not clear.
Understanding of Topic	The student clearly understood the topic in-depth and presented the information forcefully and convincingly.	The student clearly understood the topic in-depth and presented the information with ease.	The student seemed to understand the main points of the topic and presented those with ease.	The student did not show an adequate understanding of the topic.
Cooperative Group Work	Works well with others. Assumes a clear role and related responsibilities. Motivates others to do their best.	Works well with others. Takes part in most decisions and contributes fair share to group.	Works with others, but has difficulty sharing decisions and responsibilities.	Cannot work with others in most situations. Cannot share decisions or responsibilities.
Oral Presentation Skills	Communicates ideas with enthusiasm, proper voice projection, appropriate language, and clear delivery.	Communicates ideas with proper voice projection. Adequate preparation and delivery.	Some difficulty communicating ideas, due to voice projection, lack of preparation, or incomplete work	Great difficulty communicating ideas. Poor voice projection. Little preparation or incomplete work.

These are the Readers for the second term and the dates for the Reading Tests:

• 1st ESO: The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (Washington Irving). Burlington Books - 11/03/2011.
• 2nd ESO: King Arthur. Burlington Books - 11/03/2011.
• 3rd ESO: Hamlet (William Shakespeare). Oxford - 10/03/2011.
• 4th ESO: The Picture of Dorian Gray (Oscar Wilde). Oxford - 10/03/2011.

The deadline for handing in the activities about the Readers will be the same date as the Reading test.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

This is the song they sing in English speaking countries to celebrate the start of the New Year. At the stroke of midnight on New Year's Eve, people get together, they hug and kiss each other and sing along...and by the way, they don't eat any grapes, that's a Spanish tradition! The lyrics come from a poem by Robert Burns, a Scottish poet. He wrote it in 1788 in Scots, one of the ancient varieties of English, so it is quite difficult to understand, but here you can find the modern English version to help you, and more information about the poem and the author:

Auld Lang Syne