2º History of Religion Presentations

The other day, Andrés, Borja, David, Eva and Gabriel presented their work on different religions which they had been studying over the past few weeks. The presentations all look great, and I for one learned a lot about these religions from them (I have to admit I didn't know ANYTHING about Zoroastrianism until very recently!).

Andrés - Sikhism

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Borja - Islam

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David - Zoroastrianism

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Eva - Christianity

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Gabriel - Judaism

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Helen's visit

This week we invited Helen, a friend of Morven’s, to come to class with us. First, the students were given some minutes to write some questions for her, and then they asked her in turns.  They did an interesting interview!

She was also in the class of History and Culture of Religions with the second years and students had the opportunity to discuss the differences between the Catholic Church and the Church of England.

Thanks for your visit, Helen!

Esta semana invitamos a Helen, una amiga de Morven, a venir a clase con nosotros. En primer lugar, les dimos unos minutos a los estudiantes para que escribieran preguntas para ella y luego, por turnos, formularon sus preguntas.  ¡Le hicieron una interesante entrevista!

También estuvo en clase de Historia y Cultura de las Religiones (2º de ESO), donde los estudiantes pudieron debatir las diferencias entre las iglesias católica y anglicana.

¡Gracias por tu visita, Helen!

Glasgow Commonwealth Games 2014

And don't forget that even once the 2012 Olympics are over, there's not long to wait until another huge sports event takes place in the British Isles!

The Commonwealth Games are a sports competition in which 71 countries compete. Most of the countries which take part were formerly part of the British Empire, are British overseas territories or island states. The first games were held in 1930 in Hamilton, Canada, when eleven countries sent 400 athletes to take part.

The Commonwealth Games began in 1930 and, like the Olympics, are held every four years. Scotland has held the Games twice before, in 1970 and 1986. A lot of work is taking place to make sure that Glasgow is ready for the games. An althletes' village is being built in the city's east end and many venues are being built and refurbished for the seventeen different sports that will be taking place.

As we talked about in class a couple of weeks ago, in 2014 the Commonwealth Games are coming to Glasgow. Have a look at the video below - it actually doesn't say anything about the Commonwealth Games but it has some nice shots of the beautiful city of Glasgow!

Cuando los Juegos Olímpicos de Londres hayan terminado, no habrá que esperar demasiado para que haya otro importante acontecimiento deportivo en las Islas Británicas.

Los Juegos de la Commonwealth son una competición deportiva en la que participan 71 países, la mayoría de los cuales son teritirios de ultramar o islas estado que formaron parte en el pasado del Imperio Británico. 

Los primeros Juegos se celebraron en 1930 en Hamilton, Canada, con la participación de 400 deportistas de 11 países. 

Al igual que los Juegos Olímpicos, los Juegos de la Commonwealth se celebran cada cuatro años. Escocia ya los ha organizado en dos ocasiones anteriores: 1970 y 1986. Se está trabajando mucho para que Glasgow esté lista para los Juegos. Se está construyendo una villa para los atletas al este de la ciudad y se están construyendo o reformando numerosas instalaciones para los diecisite deportes.

Como hablamos en clase hace unas semanas, en 2014 los Juegos de la Commonwealth se celbrarán en Glasgow. Mira el vídeo: no dice nada de los Juegos pero muestra bonitas imágenes de la ciudad de Glasgow.

London 2012 - Olympic Torch Relay

After a special ceremony in Greece and an eight day journey round the country, the Olympic Flame arrived in the United Kingdom over the weekend, ready to begin the 70 Day Torch Relay, a special event leading up to the London Olympic Games. The Torch Relay will see specially chosen Torchbearers carry the Flame through every nation and region of the United Kingdom, a journey of over 8000 miles, before reaching the Olympic Stadium on 27th July.

The first person to carry the Flame was three-times Olympic gold medallist Ben Ainslie, who began the relay at the Land's End signpost in Cornwall. Over the next 70 days the Flame will be carried by 8000 'Torchbearers' who have been chosen to take part in this historic event.

Today the Olympic Flame began its journey in Exeter (Devon) and will reach the town of Taunton in Somerset by the end of the day.

You can see how the Flame's journey is progressing live on the London Olympic Games website here.

Summary of the Day of English

On the 28th March, CPEB Las Arenas held its first ever Day of English! We spent a good few months planning activities and deciding how we would decorate the school for the big day. Everyone got involved making decorations and posters which we hung up throughout the building so that the school looked really festive for the occasion.

The younger primary children made mini flags to hang in the corridors as well as badges with the flags of countries where English is spoken. The older primary kids and secondary pupils made posters showing UK festivals and traditional British food as well as profiles of English-speaking countries such as Canada, Malta and India. All secondary pupils also made a poster of ‘My Favourite English Word’ which made a really great collage when we hung them all up in the corridor. We were also lucky to have the support of many teachers out with the English team, and a big thank you has to go to my extra-enthusiastic friends and colleagues who spent many hours helping us create a two metre high Big Ben!

We spent part of the morning doing a scavenger hunt-type quiz with the secondary pupils – each pupil had a question sheet and had to find the answers which were on cards dotted around the school. The kids really enjoyed this activity – and even those who don’t study English got involved by pairing up with an ‘English-speaker’. The primary kids also did quizzes in a similar style, and without exception they all got into the spirit of it. There were prizes and certificates for the three winners at the end of the day – so there was an added incentive to find all the answers!

At lunchtime, we ate some typical British food – including a main course of fish and chips. The kids really enjoyed the novelty of it, especially since the menus are printed in advance so they were excited about it for a month leading up to the Day of English! The afternoon was spent watching films in English (although with subtitles in Spanish!). 1º and 2º watched Up while 3º and 4º watched Bend It Like Beckham, although I spent the afternoon correcting quizzes so there was no rest for me!

As if there wasn’t enough going on, to make the day just that little bit more challenging, I vowed to go the whole day without speaking a word of Spanish. Which (given that I’m a native English speaker) was actually a lot more difficult than it sounds! As well as trying to organise various bits and bobs throughout the day with a certain head of studies who claimed her knowledge of English extended only to the question ‘Do you have a pen?’ the students enjoyed trying to catch me out, and admittedly I did slip up once or twice (OK, three times!). However with a lot of pointing, gesturing and dragging English-speakers into conversations to translate I managed to survive the day.

The Day of English was definitely worth all the hard work we put in to make it a success – it was great to see the whole school behind it and spending the day learning and practicing English in a whole variety of ways. I’m hoping we’ve now started a yearly tradition and I’m sure next year it can only get bigger!!!

Day of English - The photos (ii)

Some more photos of the Day of English.

Más fotos del Día del Inglés.

Day of English - The photos

The Day of English which we celebrated on 28th March was definitely a great success! Both students and teachers did a great job. All the activities were interesting and fun. Here are some of the pictures that we took.

El Día del Inglés que celebramos el 28 de marzo fue un gran éxito. Tanto los estudiantes como los docentes hicieron un gran trabajo. Las actividades resultaron interesantes y divertidas. Aquí tenéis algunas de las fotos que hicimos.

DAY OF ENGLISH - THE DAY

THE DAY IS HERE,
Everything went perfectly and we enjoyed an ENRICHING DAY, FULL OF EDUCATIONAL INCENTIVES
Just have a look to THE PICTURES BELOW, and YOU will SEE SOME EXAMPLES

Day of English - Six Days to Go!

With less than a week until the Day of English, we are putting the finishing touches to preparations for the big day. 


The Big Ben is almost finished, the films are being tested to make sure there are no last-minute projection disasters and the quizzes and prizes are ready to go.


I'm sure the school's going to look great next week, when we hang up all the fantastic posters you've done, the mini flags the primary pupils have been working on, and the 'my favourite word' sheets.


I don't know about anyone else, but I'm looking forward to the fish 'n' chips - yum yum!!!

2º ESO History of Religion Presentations

Divorced, beheaded and died, divorced, beheaded, survived!

For the last couple of months, the 2º ESO students on the Bilingual Programme have been learning about the history of religion in the United Kingdom. After listening to a brief introduction to the topic in class with Silvia and Morven, the students were split up to study different stages of religious history in the UK. Over the next few weeks, the students put in a lot of work researching their topics and making presentations. Below you can see the outcome of their hard work - very well done!!!

The First Missionaries - Andrés and David

The First Missionaries to the Time of Henry VIII - Borja and Gabriel

From the Reformation to the Present Day - Eva