special april 2010 schools - sur.esservicios.diariosur.es/mkt/education/education2010.pdf · art...

APRIL 2010

School projectsHow one group ofpupils made theirown garden

Art and writingSamples of some ofthe best schoolwork done this year

Distance educationLearning is not onlyfor the young, it canbe lifelong

Winning storyResults of theannual EOI writingcompetition

ConkersPeter Edgerton onschool curriculumessentials

Special

Educationand learning

SCHOOLS SUPPLEMENT

The future is bright forstudents in Spain

2 SUR IN ENGLISH APRIL 23RD TO 29TH 2010

PoemArt

EDUCATION AND LEARNING

Classwork

Anger is red, as red as the fiery eyes of a monster.It tastes like a disgusting expired sauce, something you wouldn’twant to try every day, and it smells like a raging Rhino’s breath.It looks like a school teacher, after a child forgets his homework.It sounds like the roar of a lion.Anger makes me feel fired up.

Excitement is every colour, a very magical blend.It tastes like a fizzy-cola.It smells like melting chocolate being stirred in a pan, and it lookslike multicoloured grassland.It sounds like the opening of a kid’s party, screams everywhere.Excitement makes me feel buzzing.

Loneliness is blue, as blue as tears.It tastes of nothing, no one can find it, and it smells like a spicewith the spices taken away.It looks like an isolated island, stranded in the deep blue sea.It sounds like a baby crying.Loneliness makes me feel lost.

Happiness is yellow, bright and cheerful.It tastes like your favourite food.It smells like a flower, and it looks like a daffodil swaying in the wind.It sounds like a child laughing, just after a clown show.Happiness makes me feel joyful.

Joy is purple, the colour of a completed task.It tastes like a finished meal.It smells like a perfume.It looks like fireworks, blasting in the sky.It sounds like a football crowd when a team scores a goal.Joy makes me feel happy.

Louis Chislett – Aged 11 Years, Sunny View School

Human emotions

Above, Sophie Hull andEsther UitmanLeft, Simeon Botev

Sunny View School

SUR IN ENGLISH 3APRIL 23RD TO 29TH 2010

Painting


Artwork

Clockwise from the left:Charles R M, by Remy Banghard 5VJL,

Frida Kohl by Estelle Belaiche Y2JRI,Picasso by Emma Olde Boerrigter 5ES,Globe by David González Rosero 5JGL

Aloha College


TripsFundraising


Activities

Class 9C held a cake sale in aidof the Haiti Earthquake vic-tims.The class made a great deal ofeffort by baking and sellingvarious cakes to students andstaff at break. As you can seefrom the photograph, the sale

was a huge success, raisingover 265 euros.As well as supplying informa-tion and images for the news-letter, 9C created and showedan electronic presentation atassembly on Monday 8th Febru-ary. The presentation showed

some of the devastation thatHaiti has suffered due to theearthquake, and some of thethings that we can do to help.

Year 9Laude San PedroInternational College

Cake sale

On March the 18th we visited La Casita de Martin - Granja Es-cuela in Fuengirola - what a lovely day!We visited the animals, we made biscuits, we went in a mazefull of interesting objects, we learnt about recycling, we hadour faces painted and sang songs in an Indian Teepee, we had aride on Santa the donkey, we played in a huge sandpit and wehad a yummy lunch. We enjoyed our day out very much.

Pre-Nursery and nurseryLaude San Pedro International College

Visit to La Casita de Martín



Careers

On Tuesday the 9th of March stu-dents of Swans School attendedSwans Sierra Blanca 2010 careersday. Years 11, 10 and 9 sat with dif-ferent people from a variety ofprofessions to ask questions, lis-ten to what people had to sayabout their jobs for example,their reasons for entering theirprofession and what they hatedor loved about their career. Oneprofessional in particular was ex-tremely inspiring. Ben Nott, anarchitect, said that to him “theclosest thing to giving birth, tome, is seeing one of my creationsfinished”.

As students we received agreater understanding of themany careers available to us, we

also learned that the dream ca-reer we are searching for won’tjust be handed to us on a plate,but rather that we have to workfor what we want and the out-come will usually be a good one.One lawyer who attended the daygave some very good advice whenhe said that “knowledge is thekey to success - reading and

studying is never a waste oftime”.

Even if particular students didnot see themselves in any of thecareers that were there to discuss,everyone walked away with a tasteof something new and exciting.

Georgina and Sabina, Year 10Swans School

What shall I do?

TALKS A TASTE OF SOMETHING NEW AND EXCITING.

ADVICE STUDENTS MET A VARIETY OF PEOPLE FROM DIFFERENT PROFESSIONS.

Students look intocareer possibilitiesand discussthe best wayof achievingtheir dreams


Design Technology

Apart from the core academicsubjects it is extremely impor-tant for all children to showtheir flair and creativeness atschool, which undoubtedlyshapes their career paths in thefuture.

It has been proven in recentyears that many graduateswith academic degrees havetrouble in placing themselvesin a career of their choice.Conversely there is a hugeshortage of skilled tradesmanin all western countries, whichis currently being balanced byimmigrants from all over theworld.

Emma Burbidge, SeniorTeacher at the ISE says “ DT,apart from being part of thecurriculum, is such an impor-tant subject, allowing the chil-dren to create and see the re-sult before their own eyes.”

In the photo, Sophie Wil-liams, Class Room Assistant,can be seen with the Year 6class in the making of modelchairs that includes the use ofwoodwork and modelling clay.

The International School Estepona

PoemArt


Classwork

They cry for their dead,They see where they bled,Gun fire and explosionseverywhere,Yet nothing can compare,To the loss of the dead,Children hide away undertheir bed,As evil men kill,Thinking what a thrill,To see people dying,And buildings frying,All by their hand,Invading the land,Laughing with malice,As they conquer the palace,Taking women and children,Only to be driven,To a nightmare worse thanhell,Upon their knees the menfell,Crying for their family,Together they die, happily.

Daniel Wattam, Year 10The Benalmádena

International College

War

The world through young eyesThese are just a few examplesof the wealth of artistic talentamong the Costa del Sol’s stu-dents, in this case, fromBenalmádena InternationalCollege. Imagination and crea-tivity combine to help theseyoungsters portray their viewof the world through art andpoetry.

Clockwise from top left:artwork by Roberto Lópezde Vreeze, year 9; Ximena

Guijarro Poincot, year 8,and Alicia Lorimer, year 10

The BenalmádenaInternational College



Garden project

On Monday 15th March two gar-deners called Phil and Klauscame into our class to talk to usabout creating a Square FootGarden. We talked about the idea

and asked lots of question. Wethen lined up outside our class-rooms and we were split intothree groups, after that the threegroups were set to work doing

PREPARING IN THE CLASSROOM.

Creating a gardenGETTING DOWN TO WORK OUTSIDE.

different jobs. I was in group one.We started by making our gardenframes with Phil. We made it withbig, heavy bricks. Every twentyminutes we changed activities. So

twenty minutes later we changedwith group three and went up-stairs into class to make labels forthe plants. Then we went withKlaus to dig up some soil to addto the mixture of compost, ma-nure and coconut fibers. After thateverybody came down to wherethe gardens were and we weregiven a variety of plants such as,marigolds, mint, oregano, lemonbalm, onions and lettuce. Then weplanted our herbs, flowers andvegetables. This made the gardenscome to life.

My favorite part of the day was

planting because it was when wecould see the finished gardens.

Now all we have to do is waterthe gardens every day so every-one in Year 5 and 6 will have achance to look after the plants.We are hoping that the herbs andvegetables grow soon as we willbe able to give them to the cookto add to our lunches.

We learned lots of things onMonday but the most importantthing was we had FUN!!

By Lily Griffiths, Year 6.Sunland International School

Open to everyoneR.S.

Once upon a time there waslittle option other than tofollow the traditional route ofschool to work to family, butnowadays we have a greaterdegree of control over thepath we take through oureducational and professionallives. With the OpenUniversity it does not matterwhere you are, how old youare, or what personal orprofessional circumstancesyou find yourself in, there isstill the chance to find acourse that you can fitaround your own schedule sothat continuing youreducation does not force youto sacrifice any existingpriorities. Working towards anew degree or otherqualification could delivergreat prospects for careeradvancement, or may just besomething you choose to dofor personal development.No matter what your initial

motives for going back tostudying, you are bound tolearn a lot of valuablelessons along the way, notleast of all time managementand commitment, as well asmeeting new people.

The Open University haslong been a pioneer in thefield of distance learning,opening doors forinternational students all overthe world. Spain is noexception, and you can findnumerous courses, all taughtin English, which allow for thedevelopment of previousknowledge whilst adding all-important training andqualifications to your CV.Certain course can becompleted in a matter ofmonths, and others can bespread across several yearsas something you embarkupon in your spare time.For more information visitwww8.open.ac.uk/europe/in-your-country/spain



Writing

The pianist

An ancient man is sitting lone-some in an extensive darkspace. When you look closeryou will see that he is calmlyplaying a sweet melody on apitch black, old fashioned pi-ano. His frog-like, watery browneyes watch his thickset fingersmove over the piano keys.CRISTINAHe plays with powerful expres-sion, his hands moving like achild’s.JOSÉ MAThe old, wrinkled hands moveswiftly across the ivory and eb-ony keys, making an enchantingmelody. As the elderly man playsfeeling isolated he remembers hiswife.ALEXA pale, transparent female handappears at the keys. It had beenhis experience but a sad memoryof the lovely days with his inti-

mate wife. The hand belongs to aghost-like, elderly lady who kisseshis pallid face.CRISTINAYou can’t bring people back to life,so now he gently, sadly plays thepiano, trying to wipe thosethoughts away. Unfortunately foreveryone it is difficult to forget atrue love.INMAHis memory starts to work evenfurther back, to the era whenhe was in the Great War withhis close friend; the memory ofthe moment when his friendpoked his head out, ready toshoot. He heard a bang and asecond later his friend fell. Heran up to him to hold his hand.Sadly, he remembers thisgloomy, desperate moment.CRISTINAIt is only a flashback but it seemsso real!! His music calms him.

His tears are flowing down hismind but he doesn’t have enoughtears to cry.GEMAHis childhood had not been socheerless, especially the mo-ment when his father gave hima hobby horse as a present. Itwas the most joyous moment ofhis life. He was so glad andthrilled that he spent ages andages playing in the mud brownstreets of his town.CRISTINAHe remembers the huge smile onhis face! Now that same smile ison his grandson’s face. He is thebest of his present life. The muchloved hobby horse is now in hishands. He plays happily with no-one distracting him. His grand-son drops the horse and is happyto play the last note of the song.SIGNEThe moral is to live each day asif it was your last one because,as I have said before, lifechanges.INMA

Year 6Almuñécar International

School, Granada

Writing inspiredby the short film,“The Piano” byAidan Gibbons

It is only aflashback, but itseems so real. Hismusic calms him Bárbara, Year 3

Swans International Primary School

Illustrated story


Project

PoetryCelebrations


Activities

The Día de Andalucía (”Day ofAndalusia” or “Andalusia Day”)is celebrated February 28 andcommemorates the February 28,1980 referendum on the Statuteof Autonomy of Andalusia, inwhich the Andalusian electoratevoted for the statute that made

Andalusia an autonomous com-munity of Spain.In the morning, Primary had afantastic procession of all thepupils from Pre Nursery to Year6 in the Sports hall. All the chil-dren looked fantastic. Followingthe parade we were treated to a

brilliant presentation on beauti-ful Andalucía by the PrimariaEspañol Department with somebrilliant acting and dancingfrom many of the children.

Laude San PedroInternational College

The ‘Día de Andalucía’

Along a road we walk and growAnd many times we stop or fallOn a rock that is in the way of our flow

We learn to observe and change our feelingsEven if that rock could be meaningThat not everything has been changedTo stop you falling over and over again

Risk is the station that is on the road thatMany times you could do on your own

Cindy Toivainen, aged 15Sunny View School

We are born

Castle Project, Year 7Swans School



Short story

The girl that loved the ocean

Once upon a time there was alittle girl that loved the ocean.Ever since she was born, everytime her parents took her to thebeach she would spend thewhole time just sitting in herbaby chair, in silence, staring atthe blue sea. In fact, shortly af-ter she said “mummy” and“daddy” for the first time, “theocean” were the words she choseto speak. She would always saythe two words slowly, and it al-most sounded as if she wanted

to show deep respect.By the age of four she loved

swimming and was never afraidto jump in the water. Sometimes,when it was windy and therewere waves, her cousins (withwhom she used to go to thebeach) would stay away from thewater; but she was not the tini-est bit scared. She would sit downon the sand right at the sea shoreand wait for the waves to hit herfeet. It was as if she believed thatthe sea would never mean anyharm to her.

As time passed by, the oceansaw her grow up and become abeautiful young lady. It witnessedmost of the sweetest moments ofher yet short life: her first kiss,the very first time a boy told herhe loved her... She always felt asif the big blue sea was a very oldfriend that would be happy forher. Also, whenever she was sad,she would take long walks on thebeach and this would always giveher peace of mind. Because nomatter what happened, the seawould always be there, in all itsbeauty, giving her calm.

By the time she turned twenty-seven she had a boyfriend withwhom she was very much in love.They decided to move in togetherand started looking for a placewith a great sea view. Theyowned a small boat and loved tosail on Sunday mornings. Theywould go a bit further every timethey sailed; they loved to be faraway from the land and be sur-rounded just by water.

But one time the waves caughtthem by surprise. They fought ashard as they could to get control

of the boat, but it was impossi-ble. After fighting for about halfan hour, the boat finally sank.They had to swim back to thecoast. She almost drowned; shelost consciousness and her boy-friend had to carry her all theway back. They both had to betaken to hospital.

She woke up in a hospital bed.The doctor asked her how shefelt. She remembered everythingat once, and could only reply: “Ifeel sad”. Her good old big bluefriend had tried to kill her. Shefelt sad indeed. She felt betrayed.

It was decided they would notlive by the beach. She could notstand seeing the ocean; she wasso angry at it. They finallybought a place on top of a hilland moved in together. They wereabout ten miles away from theocean.

Those were happy days, de-

spite the big hollowness she al-ways felt inside. Life was goodand she felt safe. Two years latertheir daughter was born; a cutelittle girl with a big smile on hertiny face.

But whenever it rained shewould feel so sad. The raindropsseemed to her like tears from thelong forgotten friend she was soangry at. She would look throughthe window and remember thosebright summer days and thoselong walks on the beach. Shemissed that part of her life, butshe was so afraid of it as well.

It happened the day before herdaughter’s third birthday. Shewent into a store to buy a nicebirthday gift for the baby. Thereshe stumbled upon a man thatwas reading a book for children:“Pete and the sea”. The covershowed a little child playing onthe beach. And he looked so

happy.“Hi”, she said. “Is it good?”.

“Very”, the man replied. “ThenI think I will buy a copy for mydaughter, but I don’t think I willbe able to read it to her”. “Andwhy is that?”, asked the man.And she told him the story: howshe almost died that day sixyears ago, how she had neverbeen able to look at the sea again,and how she was angry and dis-appointed but she still missedthe ocean. The man listened care-fully, nodding at every sentence.When she was finished, he saida few words that broke her heart.“Well, I am a sailor. The sea ismy life. And it is, indeed, like lifeitself: it can be cruel, it can hurtyou. It can break you in half. But,if you are strong, you choose tolove it, over and over again. Be-cause it gives you much morethat it takes from you; becauseyou always forgive what youtruly love. Because if you areafraid of pain you are afraid oflife. And I’d rather be dead thanafraid of living.”

She could not help crying. Shesaid goodbye to the sailor, boughtthe book and drove straight backhome. She hugged her daughterand said to her: “Sweetie, I havea surprise for your birthday. Iwant to introduce you to a goodfriend of mine”.

The day after, the three ofthem arrived at the beach. It wasa warm spring afternoon.“Sweetie, that is the ocean”, shesaid to her daughter. “I want tolive by the sea again”, she said toher husband. “I have forgiven it.You always forgive what youtruly love”.

The little baby gazed at the seafor a good while. A smile showedin her face. “The ocean”, the babysaid, and it sounded as if shewanted to show respect.

María InmaculadaDomínguez BenítezWinner IX Malaga EOI ShortStory Contest 2009-10

Every year the Official Language School(EOI) in Malaga holds a short storycompetition for students of English. TheSUR in English editorial team are proudto be invited to take part in the judging.Here is this year’s winning entry.

The top threestory writers

The winner, runner-up and finalistin the IX Malaga EOI short story con-test, all in their fifth year at the lan-guage school, are as follows:

WinnerMaría Inmaculada DomínguezBenítez for “The Girl that Loved theOcean”. María Inmaculada was bornin Malaga in 1972. She is an Englishteacher in Valle de Abdalajís.

Runner-upMiriam Rodríguez Pareja for “TheOwner of Time”. Miriam was bornin Malaga in 1983. She is a PrimarySchool teacher.

FinalistEva María Barreche Burgos for “Be-yond the Walls”. Eva María wasborn in Malaga in 1975. She has adegree in tourism and works forthe Junta de Andalucía.



Parental priorities

HIGH SCHOOL WHIMSICAL

Parenthood brings with it manya sound reason to indulge in a bitof teeth-gnashing and wailingand the like. Choosing a schoolfor the little devils always rankshighly on the list.

Not to worry, though, it’s sim-ply a matter prioritizing. Forthose of you who may need a lit-tle help , I’ve taken the liberty ofpreparing a simple guide to whatthe ideal school should offer yourchild; it’s then simply a questionof finding the nearest one to youthat fits the bill.

First of all, let’s consider sport.Sport should be compulsory; notall sports, of course - actuallyonly conkers. It’s no coincidencethat educational standards havedropped exponentially since pu-pils were forbidden from hang-ing vinegar-hardened horse-chestnuts from shoe-laces and us-ing them to crack each othersknuckles to a pulp. Any schoolwhich insists on its students play-ing conkers in the yard is to beheld in the highest esteem andwill inevitably have outstandingexam results. There should alsobe a sports day – with real win-ners and real losers. Oh, and aparents’ three legged race.

Secondly, homework. Be sureto ask any headmaster you visithow much homework the stu-dents are expected to do. If hesays anything above an hour aday, laugh whimsically to your-self and whisk your little ones

from the premises forthwith.Then take them to the park for agame of Frisbee.

Next , school dinners. Be sureto ask if chocolate sponge andpink custard is on the menu atleast once a week. If it’s not youcan be sure the school in ques-tion has no sense of style or tra-dition, so you may clear off asquickly as you wish. Be sure toscarper extra sharpish if the

head begins to rattle on about Enumbers and a balanced diet.Anyone who does this has clearlyfailed to grasp the fact that Enumbers are the only thing thatkeep teenagers awake in class.

Extra-curricular activities.Any school expecting studentsto participate in more than oneof these is patently run by de-mented lunatics and should beavoided at all costs. Your chil-dren only need one hobby each.It doesn’t make them morerounded people just becausethey can play Greensleeves onthe tuba and make a life sizedmodel of the dinner ladies frompaper -mache. In fact it justmakes them weird. Talking of

dinner ladies, your child’sschool should have lots of themscattered liberally about theplace and they should be called‘dinner ladies’, not ‘lunchtimeauxiliary attendants’ or any-thing like that. It will be under-stood that these women arequite welcome to give your childa clip round the ear at any timethey should wish for any per-ceived misdemeanor, and, infact, for nothing much at all

should the mood take them.Finally, nicknames. Feel free

to wander about the school un-announced at your own conven-ience, listening intently as yougo. If you hear pupils addressingeach other as Justin and Kate,you can be sure that there’s some-thing profoundly amiss. If, on theother hand , the names ‘Monkey-chops’, ‘Hankyboy’ and ‘Delilah’(the latter must be for a bloke, ob-viously) are to be heard ringing

around the corridors, then you’vefound the establishment you’relooking for. Sign your childrenup immediately.

This document is meant onlyas an orientative guide and maynot be considered legally bind-ing. Should the reader find theinformation contained herein tobe of too complex a nature forsimple digestion, the author po-litely suggests that you went tothe wrong school.

EATING IN IF PINK CUSTARD IS NOT ON THE MENU, LEAVE AT ONCE.

PeterEdgerton

Sport - or rather,conkers - shouldbe an obligatoryschool subject

Visit unannouncedand listen to howthe childrenaddress each other

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