THE ENGLISH HOLLY

Photo by Davideño, taken from panoramio.com

“Tell me and I'll forget; show me and I may remember; involve me and I'll understand.”


Welcome to the English Holly (el acebo), the English department blog in Siles, welcome to your blog.


martes, 27 de noviembre de 2012

International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women

On the 25th of November we celebrated the day for the elimination of violence against women. To do so, our students were asked to think about different slogans in Spanish and some of them did it in English too. They also attended to a very interesting talk where they participated actively to speak about violence against women. To finish with this celebration, we are going to watch the Spanish film Sólo Mía (Just Mine) starring Paz Vega and Sergi López. After the viewing, we will debate about the most important topics dealt in the film. Moreover, we will listen to the song "Love the way you lie" by Eminem featuring Rihanna. This song has to do with the topic of violence against women and our students will love it for sure!

4º ESO A slogans



Visit to the Cosmolarium in Hornos de Segura

Last Monday, we visited the Cosmolarium in Hornos de Segura. The Cosmolarium has many rooms: a room called "Universe", a reception area, a store, some research labs, a room called "A trip back in time" and a space to observe the sky with various telescopes.
We split into three groups. My group first visited the Planetarium and we saw an exhibition about the universe, the planets, the meteorites, the comets... The exhibition lasted about an hour. Then we had a break to eat. Later, we went to a room and we were explained the constellations and the planisphere. In the same room, we saw a very realistic exposure about Mars. 
Our visit ended with watching an exhibition about the universe. The room was full of interesting facts.


Elena García Salas 4º ESO A

jueves, 22 de noviembre de 2012

Thanksgiving Day celebration


On the fourth Thursday of November, Americans celebrate Thanksgiving Day. For this reason, our language assistant, Tyler has prepared a presentation to explain this festivity to our students.
 It is a special day for American families and it started when the founders of a colony in North America were helped by a native Indian when they were about to die because of poor crops.He taught them how to grow crops, to hunt and to fish.
The governor of the colony decided to celebrate a dinner for the Pilgrims and ninety native Americans. This was the first Thanksgiving day.
Our language assistant explained that nowadays, the traditional thanksgiving meal is similar to the first. People eat roast turkey with cranberry sauce, potatoes, corn, etc. We also watched a video about the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Then they drew their hand on a paper in order to form a turkey, and wrote on each finger what they were thankful for. Finally we sang a typical song about this festivity.

miércoles, 14 de noviembre de 2012

GUY FAWKES NIGHT


Guy Fawkes Night is a British festivity. It takes place on 5 November.
 
Who was Guy Fawkes?
           
            The Roman Catholic Church was the most important form of the Christian religion in England from the eighth century. The leader was the Pope, in Rome. But in 1534 the situation changed. King Henry VIII of England wanted to divorce his wife, Catherine of Aragon, because she could not have children, and marry another woman, Anne Boleyn. The Catholic Church did not permit this, so Henry VIII left the Roman Catholic Church and started the Church of England, with himself as its leader.

            In 1605 the King – and leader of the Church of England – was James I. He passed laws against Roman Catholics: they had to pay a lot of money if they did not go to Church of England religious services. A group of Catholics planned to blow up Parliament in London on 5 November 1605, when the King was present. This plan was called the Gunpowder Plot.
           The leader of the plot was Robert Catesby. He and the others put thirty-six barrels of explosives under the Palace of Westminster. Guy Fawkes stayed there and waited to light the fuse. But because of an anonymous letter the King’s soldiers discovered the plot. They searched the Palace of Westminster and found Guy Fawkes with the explosives. They took him to the Tower of London. They wanted the names of the other men, but Fawkes did not speak. They then took Fawkes to King James I, but he still did not speak. Finally, they tortured him, and he told them everything. Soldiers went to arrest the other men, and killed some when they tried to escape. On 30 and 31 January 1606, they hanged Guy Fawkes and another seven men from the plot.
 
Celebrating Guy Fawkes Night.
          
          On the evening of 5 November there are fireworks and bonfires. Guy Fawkes Night is also called Bonfire Night. Children often make a ‘guy’. This is a model of Guy Fawkes. They use old clothes and fill them with newspaper, and they make a head and draw a face on it. They put the ‘guy’ on the bonfire and burn it. Some people have bonfires in their gardens. But many people buy tickets and go to a public bonfire and firework display in their town or city. Children love the noise and the excitement. On Bonfire Night in Lewes, Sussex, in south-east England, people wear historical costumes from the time of the Gunpowder Plot.



Reading is a guessing game


martes, 6 de noviembre de 2012

Halloween 2012

This year we celebrated Halloween in class with our 1st and 2nd of ESO students. Our conversation assistant Tyler showed the students the importance of this holiday and how they celebrate it in the USA by means of a power point presentation. Moreover, he brought some pumpkins to class and he taught our pupils how to make a real jack-o'-lantern! It was great!
We asked our students to make their own jack-o-lantern and then to give a short description of it in front of class. There were really cool jack-o'-lanterns! We voted for the most original one and there was a winner!
To finish with the celebration, we gave the students a handout with Halloween vocabulary and we played bingo in teams to practice it. We had a really good time and there were sweets for the winners!

Thanks to Tyler and thanks to all the students who did a really good job!!!