Traditional Activities with Rodica Vancaand Students from Grade 2A

For this number of the magazine I chose to write about one of ourteachers. Her name is Rodica Vanca and is the teacher of Grade 2D.

When I asked her the reason why she chose to do a “Going Back to theRural Lifestyle” she answered that ‘It is an optional project, prefered byboth children and parents, which offers them a way to encountercultural inheritance’.

I asked her what she likes about the project and she replied: ‘As ateacher, I know that through this activity I extol the richness and thebeauties of the country, the oldness and the national unity, all men’shard work and one nation’s aspirations.This project urges younggenerations through loving the Romanian traditions.’

Rodica Vanca sustained another project with students from our schoolin collaboration with others from some villages around Brasov,having as main objective ‘The Preservation and Promotion ofRomanian customs and traditions’. The aim of the project was for thekids to understand the significance of the global folklore, torecognize folkloric information, to know and to be able to describe thefolkloric local traditions and habits and to be able to work with anethnographic map. Part of the project involved recognizing thetraditional costumes and learning to dance traditional dances.

She did all of those things because ‘most of the kids don’t havegrandparents in the country side anymore. Most of them have neverbeen in a village and, therefore, they don’t know any kind oftraditions’, she said. This teacher chose this project and that’s thereason she does all kind of folkloric activities, so that she can make theyounger generation understand the importance of their pastculture.All of the students from grade 2A and three other students fromoutside Brasov are taking part in this project.

I believe that the teacher Rodica Vanca is a great person who loves andrespects her country and its traditions and wants to maintain thesefeelings through all the activities she does with her students.

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HHey everyone! How was your summer? Did

you have fun? I heard some of you did! Some of youwent outside Romania, in Turkey or in Greece, greatcountries to enjoy the summer. You had greatweather and all in Romania too. You went to the seaside with family or friends. Some of you visited or revisited some places in Transylvania. No matterwhere you went and what you did there is one surething – you had FUN!

But now we’re all back to school, back to learning.We are excited about being back to school becausewe can see our old friends and we can enjoy new greatmoments with them. On the other hand we don’t likeit because we have to learn to get good marks andthen learn again. But that is OK, because we will doa great job, as usual.

So I, Ioana Vaduva, and my very good friends andalso class-mates, Teodora Matei, Lavinia Nica,Cristina Batranu, Robert Cernea and Razvan Idomir,the same old team wants to introduce you to the latest number of Brainstorming News, which is a better one. We also want to welcome you back toschool and wish you a very good year, full of success.Oh, and don’t forget, HAVE FUN!

Brainstorming News Staff

Issue no.2, November 2009 - ‘Anatol Ghermanschi’ School, Brasov

by Ioana Vaduva

Rodica Vanca and her students from Grade 2A in the School Library.

Brainstorming News

This year, I and my colleagues, the other 8th graders, are leaving for high-school. I took some time to ask some of themwhat they think about it, but mostly how they handle the fact that the bond between them, their friends and their teachers will be torn apart.

INTERVIEW with Raluca Maliţa from 8B

How do you feel about leaving school and going to high-school?Well ,it feels great....but I am sad because I'm going to miss my class-mates.

So, is your relationship with your class-mates tight?Yes, I can say that I have a very tight relationship with my class-mates, in just a few years I reallygot to love them.

How about your teachers? Will you miss them?I really got attached to some of my teachers, but not to all of them, so I guess I will miss most ofthem.

What high school do you plan to study at?I would like to go to the ‘Economic’ High-school or to ‘Antipa’, which was considered a sort ofsanitary high school a few years ago.

Do you think you’ll be able to make new friends in your future high school easily?Yes, because I'm a sociable person.

Do you know anyone in that high-school?Yes, I know some people who have been in School 27 with me, or other people who have been studying in other schools.

Okay, thank you, Raluca, and good luck at high school!Thank you. You too!

INTERVIEW with Razvan Idomir from 8D

How do you feel about leaving school and going to high-school?I don't know, it's like a two-edge blade. First, I'm gonna meet new colleagues who will eventually become my friends, but I'm leaving incredible buddies back in the school where Ispent 8 years of my life. Maybe now, it seems better to go to high-school, it's like a new challenge, a change of ... everything.

So, the relationship with your class-mates is tight, right?Not really, tight sounds really hard. We are friends, but that's kind of all. And of course, wehad and we'll have in this year lots, lots of fun.

How about your teachers? Will you miss them?Uhmmmmm, they are teachers after all. Of course I'll miss them, but not too much. I'll missthem if I get "bad" teachers in high-school, a thing that will probably happen.

What high-school do you plan to study at?Well, I going to go to the Grigore Moisil Informatics High School

Do you think you’ll be able to make new friends in your future high-school easily?It depends ... But, yeah I make friends pretty quickly.

Thank you for your time, Razvan. I wish you the best in high-school!Thank you too. Yeah, thanks I really hope I'll have fun, but you say that like there will be no fun this year. That's so ... not true!

I got to the conclusion that people think a lot like me, that high-school will be a new, different and interesting experience. That’sgood. It means that we are ready to go to the next level.

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by Lavinia Nica

Since the Wright Brother’s first flight, aviation hasn’t been only something special, new and sometimesfunny, but also quite difficult. The Wright Brothers took theirfirst flight on December 17 1903.Since that day a long history has been started.Now it seems that the biggest arlinecompanies are Boeing and Airbus. They’ve been always arguing for the 1st place, but have never been friends. Asyou may know, the f-15 was made by Boeing company. Iam going to present it a little bit, because I think it’s one ofthe best planes.

The McDonnell Douglas (now Boeing) F-15 Eagleis a twin-engine, all-weather tactical fighter designed to gainand maintain air superiority in aerial combat. Developed forthe United States Air Force, it first flew in July 1972, and isnow one of the most recognized modern fighters. The F-15is expected to remain in service until 2025. Despite originally being envisaged as a pure air superiority aircraft,the design proved flexible enough so that company couldcreate an all-weather strike derivative, the F-15E StrikeEagle,that was later developed, and entered service in 1989.

Flying with one wing; one of the recent stories ofthe F-15 is the tale of the man who flew with only one wing.It is a story about a mid-air collision between 2 planes, oneof them being our F-15 Eagle .It seems that the pilot didn’treally realize that one of the plane’s wings was missing, untilhe touched the ground. He flew with only one wing for abouthalf an hour, and yet he didn’t eject.

‘I was prepared to eject, but I managed to stabilizethe plane, and land safely. Once one of my F-16 colleaguessaw the plane with just one wing happily said he wanted totransfer to F-15’ series. It was unbelievable’, stated the pilot.He also declared that it was so fast that he didn’t even feelthe one wing difference. (source: www.wikipedia.com)

As the picture below demonstrates, it seems thatthis kind of event can really happen! You can see clearly thatthe right wing is missing! This however is a picture takenafter the “lucky” pilot landed the F-15.

INTERVIEW with Tohotan Sandra fromGrade 8D

Do you like planes?Yeah I like planes,they are very interesting.

What do you thinkabout the kids thatwant to risk they’relife with this job?About the childrenthat want to risk theirlives in aviation, Ithink that there arevery brave and intelligent.

Are the planes really that dangerous?No, I don’t think so, in my opinion, all the tragedies happened because of the human errors, as people didn’t dotheir jobs properly.

Are you against aviation?No, definetly! I can’t find a reason to be against it!

Did you ever fly? If yes, how was it?Yeah I flew twice to Turkey and back, and I loved seeingeverything from up there.

What are the advantages of planes in your opinion?Well, with a plane you can get faster to a destination, and it’smore comfortable. And sometimes you can save money.

Do you think that pilots are different from the otherhuman beings? If so,why?No they’re not so different, they’re just some simple guyswho do their job. Maybe, the job is a little more difficult thanthe other ones.

Did you know that these common people have to workhard and train very well, to do their daily routine?No,I didn’t ,but I supposed so. It will always be a thoughjob!

by Robert Cernea SScciieenncceeAbout Aviation

‘It’s an unbelievable plane. It’s magic.It’s...impossible!’

Joke!

Ladies and gentlemen, if you wish to smoke, the smoking section on this airplane is on the wing and ifyou can light 'em, you can smoke 'em.

On landing, the stewardess said, "Please be sure to takeall of your belongings. If you're going to leave anything,please make sure it's something we'd like to have.

collected by Robert Cernea

TTrraavv

eellFinding the Unknown

I was thinking about the last trip I went on and I thought that if I share this with you, you could find out about the bestway to have fun with your colleagues and your teachers too.

Every time I went on a trip I had a really great time and I enjoyed every second of it. Even if the weather wasn’t so niceor when something was in our way, we still had an amazing time as long as we were together. And I’m not the only one whocan say these things about the trips that have been organized.

So, as I first said I want to tell you about the trip which was planned by our Math and Romanian teachers, Mrs Mariana Bajan and Mrs Baiesiu Cecilia. We went to Maramures but on our way we visited some cities and various otherplaces. We visited some monasteries too and we had a tour in the center of Cluj, which I enjoyed so much. Our teachers wantedus to find out more about the people and the way they live, so that’s why they chose this itinerary. Despite the fact that not everything was perfect we really had a great time.

Students from different classes came on this trip. Most of them were from my class,8D, but there were also some otherstudents from Grades 6 and 7 and also three students from high school.

However, I took some interviews from two students in different classes, because I wanted to know their opinion too. Iasked them the same questions and I noticed that they had similar answers.

In my opinion this trip was really good and I enjoyed it. To tell you the truth, I don’t think that it matters where, why and withwhom you go because in the end it’s all about finding out that you can manage by yourself and you can socialize with otherpeople.

Finally, if you have an opportunity to go anywhere and do something you enjoy, do it because sometimes these experiences are unique.

by Teodora Matei

Name/age/class

Questions

Szakal Anita/12 years old/ 6C Vaduva Ioana /14 years old/8D

Was this trip up to your expectation? Was it better? Was itworse?

“Yes I liked it very much. It was better than I expected it to be.”

“The trip was ok, but not really what Iexpected. We came back home very tiredso it wasn’t so great.”

What did you do in theevening? Did you sleep or you stayawake and talked with your friendsall night long?

“I stayed in my room and I talked withmy best friend. After that we watchedTV and then we fell asleep around 1o’clock.”

“In the first night we stayed and had funwhile saying jokes and taking photos until 3am.Then, the secondnight, because we were tired we stayedup till 2am but the teacher caught us sowe went to bed”

Did you make new friends?“Yes, but not so many. The friends thatI made are very nice and funny”

“I made some new friends from the 7thgrade, they are pretty cool”

Did you like the hotels where youwere checked in? What about thefood?

“I liked the first hotel more than the second one. The food was very good. Ireally liked it”

“The first hotel was ok, but the secondone wasn’t the best and you know whatI mean. The food was good. We didn’teat caviar or any other specialties, but itwas fine.”

Did you enjoy the sight-seeing? Whatdid you like more?

“Yes I really enjoyed the sight-seeing .Ithink the Barsana Monastery was themost beautiful.”

“We visited a lot of monasteries. Theywere very enjoyable. I really liked ‘Cimitirul Vesel’. This was a great trip”

Thank you for your time. I hope youenjoyed answering to my questions. “Thank you too. It was fun”

“Thank you too. Yes, I enjoyed answering your questions about thistrip”

SSppoorrttsse Passion for e Ball - the coach of sports

Sport is an activity that is governed by a set of rules or customs and often engaged in competitively. I like sportsvery much, especially the ones which involve the play in ateam. I love dance as a sport because I enjoy moving on thebeat of music. I also enjoy chess as I think it is the king ofall sports. I took some interviews with my colleagues and tomy sports teacher about their passion for this subject. Let’ssee what the results were.

Interview with Madalina Apostol

Hello! What’s yourname and how oldare you?Hey! My name isMadalina Apostoland I am 14 yearsold.

How did you discover your passion for handball ?

My mother played handball and she taught me at first. Lateron,when I was in the 5th grade, my sports teacher took meto Dinamo club. I liked it there and I continued to play thissport.

How long have you been plaing handball for?I’ve been playing it for 3 years

What is you position in the game?I am a goal keeper. You need a lot of courage to not be afraidto be hit by the ball. It is risky.

What do you gain from this sport?Reflexes, attention, speed the ability to anticipate the adversary’s moves.

What other sport would you chose besides handball ?Football because I had many occasions to play and I likedit. At fisrt, I started playing mixed football last year.

Interview with Mrs. Camelia Niculcea, theSports Teacher

Hello! What’s yourname ands your job inthis school?Hello! My name is Niculcea Camelia andI’m a sports teacher.

How did you discoverthe passion for sports ingeneral?I was 10 years old whena coach came to ourclass to tell us a lot of interesting things aboutsports in general. He told

me to go to a sports club and then the results came.

What made you love sport?The pleasure to move.

I heard you practiced fencing. Why fencing?Fencing was the first sport I practiced. I saw it on TV and Iliked it

What kind of abilities does the fencing develop?Attention, reaction speed and anticipate enemy movements.“The fencing is the sport of hitting without being hit”.

Do you consider that the team sports make the personality stronger?Yes, team sports forms team character.

Has your passion for sports remained the same over theyears?Yes, but I have also found other news passions. Performinga certain sport is not a priority now.

Interview with Mihai Pol

Hey! What’s your name?Hello! My name is MihaiPol and I’m 14 years old.

How did you discoveredthe passion for swimming?In the 3-rd grade ourteacher told us aboutswimming. Then, I wentswimming and I liked it.

What attracted you to swimming?I wanted to become a swimmer, to win medals, to become atall guy with strong muscles.

Why did you give up swimming?In the last 2 years it became very difficult and I didn’t get tothe results I wanted.

How long have you been swimming?I’ve been swimming since I was 5 years old.

So as you can see, sport is very important in our daily lives.There are many kinds of sportive activities that range from simply running to fencing and team sports. Therefore thereis surely one sport that you and I can enjoy and practice.

‘Keep yourself healthy!’

by Cristina Batranui

The movie reviewfor this issue is for‘Harry Potter andthe Half BloodPrince’, the lastmovie I saw. I won’tspoil your fun, sodon’t worry. Iwatched the DVDversion, the one Iwaited for since this summer, because Ithought that the special effects woud-n’t be at their best inthe cinema. And goodness, it’s been along wait for me, anold Harry Potter fan.

In the beginning of the movie, Harry and Dumbledore (theHeadmaster of Hogwarts) are searching for a new Potionsteacher, who knows a secret about the Dark Wizard, Voldemort. They convince Proffesor Slughorn (thenew teacher) to get a job at Hogwarts. From now on, Harryhas the mission to discover what secret the new Potionsteacher has. Professor Snape(the ex-Potions teacher) becomes the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher.Being forced to take the Potions class, Harry discovers anold book that belonged to the “Half-Blooded Prince”, wherehe finds information about potions and learns new dangerous spells. Eventually, you will discover who is “thePrince”. For the skeptical people out there, I must say that this movieis not only based on the “magical” stuff. Multiple sub-plotslike the Ron-Hermione and Harry-Ginny relationships are inthis movie.

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Simona BuzeaEnglish TeacherAlexandra IchimProjects Abroad Journalism CoordinatorBrodie RobertsonProjects Abroad VolunteerSusanne PerssonProjects Abroad Volunteer

www.projects-abroad.co.uk

I want to point out the special effects in this movie, which aretruly great. I was expecting them to be good, but not so good. Iguess that technology is evolving way too fast, don’t you think?

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince is a great movie and Irecommend it, especially if you like magic or you are a HarryPotter fan. I don’t know if it’s the best movie in the series, I always tend to think that the first creations in any series are thebest, but it’s just a misconception of mine.This movie gets an 8 from me. Besides the effects, this moviedoesn’t stand out for me but it’s a really good movie for the fans.I am looking forward for the next two movies (the last book issplit in two movies) and I hope that you would consider watching it.

Interview with Andy (from 8D)

OK,what good movie comes toyour mind now?Definitely ‘Step Up 2’.Can you give readers a part ofthe plot? (no majors spoilersplease)In this movie the main characteris a girl named Andie who is partof a break-dance group named

410, but she misses their training in order to attend school.Then, she is expelled. She tries to form her own dancing group,which seems really promising. The rest you should see for yourself...Are there any good/very popular actors in this movie?There are no very known actors in this movie, but there are somegreat dancers.Did you enjoy it? What did you find special about it?Yeah, I really enjoyed it and I find it special because is full offeelings and break-dance, which I really like.How would you rate it?11 out of 10.

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DDo you love to write? Are you a lover of rural Romanian culture? Do you want to see your name inprint? If you’ve answered yes to any of the above, The Village magazine is looking for you! Let your creativejuices flow and write us an English article of 300 to400 words about Romanian rural life - culture andtraditions. Your article should also contain your name,age and grade.The two best articles will be published in Issue No 4 ofThe Village magazine.

Send us your submissions now! Email address:alexandraichim@projects-abroad.org by the 15th of January, 2010.

The winners will be announced in the BrainstormingNews Magazine No.3.

Brainstorming News