Merry Christmas!!!

‘Tis the season to be Jolly! 

What an amazing season Christmas is, in Spain and in Ireland. 

I have been so happy to spend some of the Christmas season here in Spain! Everyone is so festive and the atmosphere is incredible. 

Something I didn’t know, before spending this Christmas season in Spain, was the importance of the day of the Immaculate Conception. By chance, I was walking around Huelva city on the day of the Immaculate conception and I got to see the parades and festivities take place. The day was truly magical and is something I wish was celebrated more in Ireland. In Ireland, the day doesn’t have much significance anymore as the Christmas season begins earlier in modern times. Nowadays the Christmas season begins when ‘The late late toy-show’ aires every year in November (which I highly recommend you watch).

Another difference we have, is that in Ireland we exchange gifts on the 25th of December instead of the 6th of January. Lucky for me, I will get my presents before you! Ho ho ho

Either way I want to wish everyone a very merry Christmas and a happy happy happy New Year! 

Thank you to all for a great first semester and see you all again soon in January!

Halloween

 What is Halloween?

Halloween is a very popular Irish festival (not American) which can be dated back over 2500 years. However back then, the festival looked a bit different. For example, it was a pagan festival called ‘Samhain’ which was celebrated to mark the change of the seasons, from the harvest season to the cold season. The Celtic people that celebrated Samhain believed that their dead could visit them on this day. Similar to ‘Dia de los Muertos’ in Mexico.

 

How did they Celebrate?

The Celts use to light huge bonfires in celebration of Samhain. They would use these bonfires for many different rituals, including divination and spiritual cleansing. They would also have feasts with family and friends to celebrate.

When did Samhain become Halloween?

Samhain became Halloween around 1200 years ago. When Christianity arrived in Ireland, the early church did not like the pagan festival, so they decided to christianize it. They called November 1st ‘All Saints Day’ with Halloween being the vigil. It became a day to remember our loved ones instead of believing they came back. 

How is it celebrated today?

Just like the Celts did years ago, Irish people love to celebrate Halloween and every year there are huge celebrations around the country. Some modern traditions include dressing up in costumes, trick-or-treating, games, fireworks, decorating, bonfires and celebrating with friends and family.

P.E. ACTIVITIES

Our language assisstant is having fun with P.E. students and teachers.

Hello I.E.S Diego Rodríguez Estrada!

Hello to all! Thank you for giving me such a warm welcome over the past few weeks. Some of you may have met me already but if you haven’t my name is Ciarán Fox. 

A few things about me: 

- I am currently 21 years old and I am in my third year of studying Business with Languages. 

- In my free time I enjoy spending time with my friends and family, travelling and exercising.

- A fun fact about me is that I lived in the United States for two months last summer. I worked at a kids summer camp there called camp IHC.

I have come from a town in Ireland called Greystones. My town is just 30 minutes away from Dublin (the capital city of Ireland). 

                                                                          Ireland

                                                                      Greystones

                                                                          Dublin 

I am delighted to be working here at IES Diego Rodriguez Estrada. I am very excited to share my language and culture with you and help you to improve your English Language skills. Please don’t hesitate to speak with me (in English of course) if you see me around the school!

WELCOME TO SAN JUAN DEL PUERTO

Last week, our language assisstant Ciaran Fox came to our school from Dublin, Ireland. To welcome him, we invited him to a traditional Spanish breakfast. Enjoy this school year!!

Halloween Traditions in the United States

Halloween originated in Europe, but it was introduced to Northern America by migrants in the nineteenth century. Since then, Halloween has become one of the most celebrated holidays in the United States. Starting October, people begin with the Halloween traditions, which I will further explain below. 

Costumes

As Halloween approaches, businesses that are completely dedicated to Halloween spring up. They provide a wide range of costumes to pick from, including costumes for children, adults, and even pets. They range from characters from a television show to frightening outfits. Others, on the other hand, would rather create their own.

.

Going to the Pumpkin Patch

Starting at the beginning of October families tend to go to the closest farm where they get to choose out a freshly grown pumpkin from the pumpkin patch. At the pumpkin patch, they also have activities such as a corn mazes.

Pumpkin Carving

People begin carving their pumpkins once they have picked one. Pumpkin carving is one task that the whole family likes to participate in. The great thing is, whatever is leftover from the pumpkins is then utilized to make products like pumpkin pie.

House Decorations

Families usually start to decorate their houses at the beginning of October from Halloween. They use decorations such as spider webs, fake blood, lights, and skeletons.

Trick or Treat

Kids and adults knock on doors and ask for treats from house to house (candy). When knocking on the door, it is expected to say "Trick or Treat" so the homeowners can give them candy. This activity lasts from sunset until late at night.

My Hometown of San Francisco

 San Francisco, California

Grime Music

Grime is a genre of electronic music that emerged in London in the early 2000s. It developed from UK garage and draws influences from jungle, dancehall, and hip hop. In the beginning it was first played on UK pirate radio stations (illegal/unlicensed stations). Some of the original grime artists are Dizzee Rascal, Kano, Lethal Bizzle, and Wiley. Grime never received the same attention worldwide that it did in the UK.

The popularity of grime music began to decline in the late 2000's, but it made a comeback in 2015. A wave of new successful young grime MC's also began to emerge, such as Skepta, Stormzy, AJ Tracey, Novelist, Jammz, and Lady Leshurr. In February 2017, Stormzy's Gang Signs & Prayer was the first grime album to reach number one on the UK Albums Chart.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPuj6UISMhs - Blinded by your Grace

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFOErVWlsxg  - Big for your Boots

As grime became more popular in the UK, it spread out of London to other major British cities. In 2019, Stormzy became the first grime artist and black British artist to headline Glastonbury Festival.

Grime is also known for its “battles”, different artists would release diss-tracks aimed at other grime artists.

British Travel Guide

 

Top Places To Go Visit

London

The Tower of London

This was built in 1078 by William the Conqueror 

Buckingham Palace

One of the official residencies of the Monarch of the UK, it was built in 1703

Big Ben

This Clock Tower was constructed in 1859 and it stands 96 metres tall

London Eye

The London Eye, or Millennium Wheel, was opened in 2000 and is the most visited tourist attraction in the UK- 3 million people ride it every year! 

Stonehenge

Stonehenge is a prehistoric monument on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, England

There is an outer ring of stones, each around 13 feet (4.0 m) high, seven feet (2.1 m) wide, and weighing around 25 tons, topped by connecting horizontal  stones. Inside is a ring of smaller stones

Archaeologists believe it was constructed from 3000 BC to 2000 BC

Some of the stone comes from 140 miles (230 km) away from the monument and no-one is sure how the stones were moved into their final position!

The Lake District

It is the most visited national park in the United Kingdom with more than 23 million annual day visits.

There are 16 lakes

Loch Ness

This is a large lake in the Scottish Highlands, its deepest point is 230 metres!

It is most famous for the alleged sightings of Nessie - The Loch Ness Monster!

Giant's Causeway

The Giant's Causeway is an area of about 40,000 interlocking basalt columns in Northern Ireland and it was formed by volcanic activity somewhere between 50 and 60 million years ago.

However, according to local legend, the stones were placed there by a giant who wanted to cross from Northern Ireland to Scotland without getting his feet wet.

Jurassic Coast

The Jurassic Coast is a World Heritage Site on the English Channel coast of southern England. It stretches a distance of about 96 miles (154 km) The site spans 185 million years.

Hadrians Wall

This was built in 122 AD during the reign of the Roman Emperor Hadrian in order to keep the Scottish people out of England. It stretches 73 miles across northern England and many of the remains are still there today.

York

This ancient city was founded in 71 AD and was once the capital city of England.

This city is known for its picturesque streets but there is also a chocolate museum - here you can learn about the history of chocolate, along with chocolate tasting and making your own!

Its famous Cathedral was built in 637 AD and is know as the York Minster.

Have you ever thought about be able to interview some historic figure? What would Louis XVI about the French Revolution? Did Marie Antoinette really say “Let them eat cake”? What was society of the 19th Century in Spain? We have the world's best journalists in History here in San Juan del Puerto.

In the first chapter we will be in France during the 18th century where we can experience first-hand the historical moments of the Storming of the Bastille and we will talk with Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. Later, we will travel to 19th century Spain where Fernando VII and María Cristina will narrate their experiences in these troubled years.

In this second chapter, we will be in the 19th century Spain, where we found Fernando VII, María Cristina and Isabel II. They could tell us more about the society, the war and the politic situation in Spain in this times.

Isabel II, in this chapter 3, will explain to us the relationship between María Cristina, Espartero and Carlos María Isidro. Do you want to discover the truth about the Carlist War?

Gossip!! In this chapter 4, Isabel II on Father's Day "Let me tell the truth". The truth about her opinion on his father reign.

Traditional English Folk Music

 Traditional English Folk Music

Traditional English folk music has existed in England since the late medieval period (1500’s). This type of music was typically never written down, instead it was passed down orally through the generations (songs, poems etc.). There are distinct variations of this music in each English county. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twix9KfES9Y Greensleeves

Nowadays folk music often demonstrates the typical dialects of the various regions and these songs can often be tricky to understand if you are from somewhere else.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5leMI95urQ Ilkley Moor Baht'at

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJIWvUJ-tqg Pub version

This music has produced and contributed to many cultural phenomena, such as sea shanties, jigs and morris dancing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uS5xR7jBxDw Sea Shanty 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sArAC2_ow2k Morris Dancing

Music - Fill in the Gaps

Listen to this song and see if you can fill in the gaps!

 Drivers License - Olivia Rodrigo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmDBbnmKpqQ 

I got my driver's ___________  last week, just like we always talked about

'Cause you were so ___________  for me to finally drive up to your house

But today I drove through the suburbs, crying 'cause you weren't around

 

And you're probably with that ___________  girl, who always made me doubt

She's so much older than me, she's everything I'm ___________  about

Yeah, today I ___________  through the suburbs, 'cause how could I ever love someone else?

 

And I know we weren't ___________  but I've never felt this way for no one

And I just can't imagine how you could be so okay now that I'm gone

Guess you didn't mean what you ___________  in that song about me

___________  you said forever, now I drive alone past your street

 

And all my friends are___________ of hearing how much I miss you, but

I kinda feel sorry for them, 'cause they'll never know you the way that I do, yeah

Today I drove through the suburbs and pictured I was ___________  home to you

Pancake Day

 

 This is one of the best days of the year!

Pancake day - or Shrove Tuesday is always the day before Ash Wednesday, this is the start of Lent and 40 days before Easter!

Traditionally this day was a day to use up all of your eggs and fats before giving them up for Lent.

Nowadays people all over the UK, even if they do not follow Lent, eat lots of pancakes on this day!

People also often take part in fun and silly games such as pancake races! In these races you have to run whilst you are flipping a pancake in a pan!

There are lots of different toppings that you can put on your pancake, Lots of people like lemon juice and sugar but you can put orange juice, chocolate and many more sweet toppings on the pancake- or even make it savoury!

This is my favourite topping!

This is a group of school children running a pancake race!

OUR LANGUAGE ASSISTANT ELEANOR 2010-21

Hello, my name is Eleanor, or Ellie for short, I am 20 years old and I come from a town in the north of England called Huddersfield (its close to Manchester and Leeds). I am currently in my 3rd year of studying German and Spanish at the University of Birmingham, but I can also speak a little French! When I am home, I live with both my parents, my younger sister, Izzy, and our cat. My mum is a solicitor, and my dad is an engineer and Izzy has just moved to the University of Liverpool to study History. In my free time I love to horse ride, I have my own horse, who is called Caz and she is 23 years old! I love spending all day up at the stables with her. I can also play the flute and when I was younger, I played a lot of hockey. The area where I come from is very different compared to this part of Spain, at home it always seems to be raining and overcast and it definitely is not as pretty as here. My town used to be a big wool producer, but all of those mills have shut down now. My favourite book is called Pride and Prejudice and my favourite films are the Harry Potter series. I really enjoy reading and am starting to read the Harry Potter series in Spanish – but it is quite tricky! I am really looking forward to exploring this region of Spain and experiencing lots of new and exciting things!

3° ESO students work in PE

Students in Virginia's PE class have been creating posters and booklets to display the vocabulary learned in class. They have worked very hard on their pieces and some of the best are shown below.

Some of the best students made booklets to display their Badminton knowledge. These usually included vocabulary lists and pictures of the sport. They also explained rules and common phrases of the game.

These students learnt about Badminton as well as Basketball. Some students wrote about the formation of the NBA and some of the famous American teams. Using diagrams to explain the features of the basketball court were really effective, as well as showing the different things a player can do. Clearly some students have a great interest in the sport!

Great work by all students!