3rd & 4th ESO: DEIRDRE OF THE SORROWS - AN IRISH LOVE STORY

One of the best-known love Irish legends is the story of Deirdre. 

    Before Deirdre, daughter of the bard Phelim, was born a druid foretold that the girl would grow to be so beautiful that could provoke wars over her and many would die because of her.

    Conor MacNess, king of Ulster, said: “I will never sacrifice this innocent child. Deirdre will live alone in the forest, and when she is older I will marry her and make her my wife”. He put her under the care of Lavercham, his old nurse, and visited her from time to time, to see the first part of the prophecy, at least, fulfilled. Deirdre was indeed stunningly beautiful.

4th ESO: NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTIONS

THE NEW YEAR HAS COME AND PEOPLE USUALLY PROMISE TO DO NEW DIFFERENT THINGS IN 2013. THIS IS WHAT WE CALL IN ENGLISH "NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTIONS". 

Here's a list of the most common New Year's resolutions - and, more importantly, some ideas for getting started on them (and actually keeping them past January 1st).

1. GET HEALTHY. Getting healthy doesn't just mean losing weight. It can also mean playing more sports, eat healthy food, or just resolving to stand up and walk a little more often. Make one small change at a time - like riding your bike to school instead of taking the bus, or ordering a salad instead of a burger - and you'll have an easier time keeping this resolution.

2. GET HAPPIER. This is a little more of an abstract resolution that can mean different things to different people. See if you can find ways to boost your self-esteem, or just spend more time doing things that you love instead of things that make you feel bad about yourself.

3. BE A BETTER PERSON. Being a good person is so good that it can be addictive. Dedicate your time or money to those people  in need, or just by doing acts of kindness into your daily routine. 

4. FIND LOVE. You can be perfectly happy by being single, but be honest: wouldn't it feel great to find a great boyfriend or girlfriend? There's no magic potion that'll bring love into your life.

5. SHOW MORE LOVE TO YOUR FAMILY. Like it or not, your family is made up of the most important people in your life. This year, take a couple of deep breaths and resolve to be a little nicer to them.

6. BE A BETTER FRIEND. The more love you give to your friends, the more love they'll give back to you. So, basically, if you do this New Year's resolution you've got nothing to lose. Find a couple of ways to help a friend out this month. Not only will you be making someone feel good, you'll also feel good yourself.

7. GET BETTER IN SCHOOL. You don't need to suddenly turn yourself into a 10 points student - but if you increase your school marks by just a little bit this year, you'll feel better about yourself, you'll make your parents proud, and you'll have a bright future. So it's a good idea all around.

8. LEARN SOMETHING NEW. There's nothing more exciting than learning new things. How about putting some of that holiday money towards learning a new hobby? It'll be way more fun than maths, and you might just learn a skill that you'll love for the rest of your life.

9. BE A ROLE MODEL. Being a good role model is easier than it sounds. All you have to do is make smart decisions - and then make sure that other people are listening in on it. You can do it, right?

   10. MAKE SOME MONEY. Hey!, you can always find time to work on your spirit, but in the meantime, there's nothing wrong with wanting to fill your wallet a little bit. Step one is getting a job, or just finding a better one.

You can find some more ideas in the original article website: http://teenadvice.about.com/od/stayinghappy/tp/top_new_year_resolutions.htm

NOW, WRITE A  COMMENT IN ENGLISH, PLEASE:

1.-  Think about the following words and answer these questions in English

a) boost - What can you boost? For example, ...

b) single - Are you single?

c) proud - I'm proud of ...

d) smart - Is a donkey smart? 

e) meantime - How do you translate "meantime" into Spanish?

2.- Which of these 10 New Year's Resolutions do you need for 2013?

3.- Have you got any specific New Year Resolution which is not listed here?

4.- According to the article, can you do anything to find your love?

5.- According to the article, who's the most important people in your life?

ANNABEL LEE - A LOVE STORY By Edgar Allan Poe

Apart from mystery and horror stories, the American writer Edgar Allan Poe was also a magnificent poet. One of his best and famous poems is this one dedicated to the love of his life, her young wife Virginia Clemm. They got married although Virginia's family didn't accept this marriage because she was too young. Soon, Virginia died from tuberculosis and it is said that Edgar A. Poe spent nights beside her sepulchre in the cemetery. This poem, Annabel Lee is possibly inspired in his own life. He gave his wife the name of Annabel Lee.

Our students Rosana and Beatriz (4º ESO) read the poem both in English and Spanish for the last Book Week. They did so fine that they are repeating the poem with the help of other four 3º ESO students (Celia, Mª José, Sharon and Patricia) in the Special Poetry Festival we are doing in the Casa de la Cultura in Santa Amalia on June 14th from 8'00 in the evening. In this Festival we'll be collecting money for the Old People's Home in Santa Amalia.

Here you are a video with the poem recited in English and the video made by the Spanish rock band Radio Futura translating the song into Spanish.    

LOVE SONGS, POEMS AND RIDDLES

A DIFFERENT CHRISTMAS, A SOLIDARITY CHRISTMAS

Christmas is coming and in our school we are trying you to live Christmas in an alternative way to the individual consumism provided by the famous "Markets". This is the third year we put forward a solidarity campaign with the motto: "LIVING A DIFFERENT CHRISTMAS, A SOLIDARITY CHRISTMAS".

We're waiting for presents, buying lots of food, but this is a moment to think of other people who can't live Christmas and the rest of the year like us.

Here you can watch, read and sing  the song by Phil Collins Another Day in Paradise (1989), written for the Non-Governmental Organization CARITAS, supporting the people who live in the streets.

You can also watch the video from Michael Jackson's song Heal the World. After this song, the singer also created the Heal the World Foundation, a charitable organization which was designed to improve the lives of homeless children. The organization was also created to teach children how to help others 






BY THE WAY...

1) Do you know what's a  (NGO) Non-Governmental Organization? Caritas is the name of a Non-Governmental Organization, do you know other Non-Governmental Organizations?

2) Look for the meaning of the words "charitable", "improve" and "homeless".


3) NGO is the abbreviation, that is, the acronym in English for Non-Governmental Organization. How many acronyms do you know in English? For example, USA,...Acronyms are widely used in English. Find the meaning of the following acronyms in English:
USA  -  UK  -   EU  -  UN  -  UNICEF  -  B&B  -  ASAP  -  UFO  -  P2P  -  AC/DC  -  LASER  -  CD  -  DVD  -  HD  -  PC  

4) In your opinion, how can we help other people in our life? Write three or four sentences.

HALLOWEEN IN IESO SIERRA LA MESTA

For the first time, we celebrated Halloween in our school. Fifty-one Jack-o-Lanterns were shown made by the students and some posters to decorate the halls of the School Center.

Next year we'll try to  do it better.