April 2013 No 7

The English school magazine Business Academy, Topoľčany

Also inside: 71 Into The Fire

Review; Carrot Cake recipe; Lights lyrics

The Importance of Music in Our Life eTwinning project

A Story of the Month:

The Proof of Maturity?

Web Radio & TV Comenius project

Report from Portugal

The best April Fool´s Jokes

Annual writing competition

Weather idioms

The Beauties of Slovakia, Part 1

Interview with a handballer

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Dear readers,

Here we are again with another edition of ZINGER, the English school magazine of Business

Academy, Topoľčany, which we completed a bit later than we had intended it to due to many planned

or unplanned activities we have been working on lately and the fact we have been trying to find new

students´ editors-in-chief.

Now we are very pleased to say that we have managed to find two young ladies - Dominika

Bielichová, II. C and Denisa Kotlárová, I. C - who agreed to replace Jakub Železník and Dávid Hatala, IV. D

(plus Filip Gális, IV.D, unofficially) in their positions of students´ editors-in-chief. Let me wish the girls

would succeed in improving the quality of the magazine and involving lots of their peers in creating it.

I would also like to express a great thanks to the boys on behalf of the whole editorial board for their

excellent work done in the past years and wish them good luck with their Maturita exams and any

future plans they have.

What will you find in this 7th edition? First of all, I would like to mention a brand new column

under the supervision of Mgr. Júlia Gálová named The Beauties of Slovakia in which students of Tourism

at our school will describe some places of interest they have visited on their excursions all over Slovakia.

The descriptions are based on two-day itineraries they had to design prior to the excursions and we

hope they could help you with your preparation for your Maturita exams. Furthermore, a story of the

month, The Proof of Maturity?, brings an inside look of Jakub Železník and three of his classmates on

their experience with the written form of Maturita exams.

Next, we have prepared the report from the working meeting of our international project

(shortly Web Radio and TV) held in Portugal as well as the news on an eTwinning project of the English

department named The Importance of Music in Our Life.

We indeed have loads of other interesting reading for you: an interview with a handball star

teaching at our school, Mgr. František Zaťko; three winning works of our annual writing competition;

a bunch of "weather idioms" to broaden your vocabulary; some of the best April fool´s jokes; a review of

definitely non-mainstream Korean movie titled 71 Into The Fire, a delicious Carrot cake recipe or lyrics of

Ellie Goulding´s Lights.

Do not hesitate to check out the website of the Department of Foreign Languages of Business

Academy, Topoľčany - www.pkcj-oato.webnode.sk for any information on our activities as well as all

editions of our magazine.

Enjoy reading!

Mgr. Martin Huba

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THE IMPORTANCE OF MUSIC IN OUR LIFE

eTwinning project

In November 2012 our school joined

eTwinning´s community for schools in Europe once

again thanks to Mgr. Katarína Quintas who accepted the offer of the collaboration on an

interesting project given by Lycée of Mesopotamia -Kastoria, Greece.

And the collaboration is exactly what eTwinning, the main action of the European

Commission´s e-Learning Programme launched in 2005, encourages - the collaboration of

European schools through the use of Information and Communication Technologies by

providing support, tools and services for schools.

The eTwinning Portal (www.etwinning.net), available in twenty-five languages, with its

Twinspace is the main meeting point and workspace for the action which provides online

tools for teachers to find partners, set up projects, share ideas, exchange best practice

and start working together, immediately using various customised tools available on the

eTwinning platform.

The growing and active community of about 170,000 registered members having

worked on more than 5, 300 projects

involving two or more schools (by July

2012) enforced the change in the motto

of eTwinning from "School partnerships

in Europe" to "The community for schools

in Europe".

And so following the idea of school

twinning a new partnership between

Business Academy in Topoľčany, Slovakia

and Lycée of Mesopotamia-Kastoria, Greece was established last November. We set up

a project whose main

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theme was music and named it "The importance of music in our life". The main

objective of the project is to improve communicative skills of the students involved in the

project at English languague, develop their use of Information and Communication

Technologies and acquaint themselves with different kinds of music, traditions and culture

of the partnership country.

We began to work on the project in December 2012 when 11 students of I. C

under the patronage of Mgr. Katarína Quintas, a coordinator of the project created their

profiles in Twinspace (the eTwinning

workspace for collaboration). The students

were divided into workteams and each

team prepared a presentation about their

members and their hobbies.

The first on-line meeting was

organised in February 2013 and the

students of both schools communicated in

Twinspace, shared detailed information

about themselves and their schools and discussed the future project tasks.

In March 2013 the students´ presentations about folk music in both countries were

published and the second on-line meeting was organised.

After that our students made presentations on popular music in Slovakia and the

third on-line meeting was held in April 2013. Finally, our students created a quiz on popular

music and the Greeks prepared a questionnaire on the influence of music on our life. The

results of both were published in Twinspace.

At the moment both sides are working on the evaluation of the whole project.

REFERENCES:

http://www.etwinning.net/en/pub/discover/what_is_etwinning.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ETwinning

By Mgr. Martin Huba and Mgr. Katarína Quintas

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Web Radio and TV REPORT FROM PORTUGAL After the first organizational meeting of teachers held in a historical Italian town Matera in October 2012, the second working meeting of the multilateral Comenius project (WEB RADIO AND TV) took place in Portugal 13-17 January 2013. In a picturesque village of Almalagues, only a few kilometres from Coimbra, a 100, 000-inhabitant centre of Beira region, our school was represented by four students: Tibor Kuna and Tamara Kováčová from III.C, Jana Štefkovičová and Silvia Chválová z III.B, chosen on account of their previous work on the project,

accompanied by two English teachers, Mgr. Terézia Škorcová (the project coordinator) and Mgr. Martin Huba (the chief of department of foreign languages). Our students had a unique opportunity to communicate in English with not only the students of the Institute, but also with about 50 peers from the other 11 participating countries, to attend a few lessons, to compare and assess their work on the logo of the project and thefirst audio and video-clips or to play football and volleyball. In the meanwhile

the teachers discussed the plans for the upcoming months, the place and date of the next meeting and agreed on 6 thematic areas for thestudents´ contributions: SCHOOL, HISTORY, CULTURE, SPORT, NATURE and SPORT. Moreover, the radio jingle contest was announced. Apart from the working part of the programme, we took a walk around Almalagues along with going to a local museum and weaving workshop and we visited the most preserved Roman

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ruins in Portugal in Conimbriga. In Coimbra we attended a beautiful thematic park called PORTUGAL DOS PEQUENITOS where we could admire sample miniatures of Portuguese architecture from the whole country as well as its former colonies and we had the chance to see the premises of one the oldest and most famous universities in the world –UNIVERSIDADE DE COIMBRA – founded by King Dinis I in 1290 AD, which tower over the old part ofthe city high above the Mondego river. BIBLIOTECA JOANINA, an amazing Baroque library, which is embodied

in the university, was another landmark we could visit. All participants also had a privilege to meet a Coimbra mayor Joao Paolo Barbosa de Melo. The teachers enjoyed a live concert of the young band in the Fado style. The students could experience the differences of life and culture in Portugal while staying at the host families. Although we were forced to prolong our trip by a day and stay in Paris on our way back home due to the bad weather conditions at the Vienna airport (which was, of course, highly appreciated by the students), I must say, all of us had a wonderful time and will surely cherish lots of magical moments we spent with all the project participants. These positive experiences and exclusive opportunity of multirateral cooperation of twelve European countries have considerably increased our students´ interest in the project and many more of them joined the hard but exciting work on the project tasks. At the moment they are finishing their work on another set of audio and video-clips plus radio jingles and four of them can look forward to the following meeting which will be held in Las Palmas, Canary Islands in May 2013. If you want to get any further information on the project, contact Mgr. Terézia Škorcová (The project

coordinator) or other English teachers. Do not forget to check out the rich project photo gallery on: http://pkcj-oato.webnode.sk/. By Mgr. Martin Huba

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ANNUAL WRITING COMPETITION As we had found the best students´ works impossible to compare and assess only in two usual categories, we decided, in order to make our annual WRITING COMPETITION fair, to divide them into three categories: STORY, ESSAY and LETTER. Here are the names of the three best competitors in each category: STORY: 1. Jakub Železník, IV. D 2. Karolína Slováková, IV. D 3. Jana Štefkovičová, III. B ESSAY: 1. Patrícia Cabajová, II. C 2. Dominika Bielichová, II. C 3. Katarína Sigetová, II. A LETTER: 1. Vladimír Anděl, IV. A 2. Ondrej Škvarenina, II. C 3. Simona Hlavinová, II. A The winners of each category were awarded with a commemorating letter, small gifts and now you have the chance to read their works below.

The winning STORY titled "GRUMPY" by Jakub Železník, IV. D:

Once upon a time in a land far far away there was a very brave but lazy dwarf Grumpy. He was from a fellowship of seven dwarfs that were protecting the village of Nothinghappenshere.

One day a creature started to kidnap villagers and they never returned to the town, so the Mayor called the fellowship to help them. They wondered what kind of creature could have done such things, only Grumpy knew that it had been a werewolf. However, he did not know how he had got into the land because all of magical creatures had gone to Narnia to live happily there. He told his brothers about the case and went to prepare the things that he needed to set off a journey. As he was a lazy dwarf, it took him about a week to get prepared.

He knew there was only one way to Narnia and that was a magical wardrobe that was in the castle where the princess lived. When he came to the

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castle, he went straight to the princess to talk to her about the problem. She whispered silently : "I know about the werewolf problem and we all hope you will take care

of it." He answered angrily : "I am the best warrior from the fellowship, so obviously I will take care of

it. I hope I will have some reward waiting for me when I return." He entered the wardrobe straight to Narnia to face the beast itself, but when he came there, he

saw that everything changed since his last visit. The grass was slippery, the trees were on fire but the fire did not spread to anything. He knew something was wrong.

He went straight to the cave where the werewolf lived and he slayed the beast with his mighty axe

Hilarious - if you are wondering why his axe was called Hilarious - it was so because anytime he cut someone, it made them laugh until they bled to death.

After killing the werewolf, he was still feeling something was wrong. That is why he went to the

other side of the cave to get to the castle of Narnia where, as far as he remembered, the king Aslan lived. Walking along the path to the castle, he encountered a fairy that was not corrupted and she told him that the king had died and a very filthy queen then ruled the kingdom with her pet dragon. The fairy gave him a blessing and told him to fix it as soon as possible because if he does not, all good will die in the land of Narnia. That encouraged Grumpy to go and kill the queen and her dragon that was fed with the villagers.

When he came to the castle, he went into

the throne room and the queen was there waiting with only a staff in her hand. She said : " I was waiting for you, dwarf, I saw you kill my werewolf and that made me interested in your power."

Seeing her, he knew it was the spoilt

stepsister of the princess in the land without magical creatures and he said: "When I was young, I adored you for your vampire hunting skills, I wanted to grow up and slay vampires like you.. How did you end up being an evil queen in this land? "

"When my father said that my stepsister was going to be the next queen, something changed

inside of me," she said. "I was not happy for my sister and when my hatred started to flow through me, I´just had to go to Narnia to have my own kingdom. I knew my sister would call you eventually to stop me because of my blackmailing her, but I was not expecting you so soon."

He answered: "The princess did not call me. It was the Mayor of Nothinghappenshere, I did not

even know about the blackmailing. How can you blackmail our princess? She never did anything bad, so what can you have on her?"

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The Queen said " She took my dragon´s egg because of her envy of me. Then she served me dragon omellete without me knowing that I was eating my unborn pet. After that I cried for a week - the last week I was in the kingdom." Grumpy replied : "That was very rude and wrong. Nevertheless, I don't think she wanted to hurt you. " The Queen said : "That´s exactly why she did it. Anyway,we don't have time to talk because my pet is back. Welcome Smaug, your dinner came to you"

Our hero turned around and saw a huge dragon that was chewing one of villagers. He did not hesitate to cut him with his axe, but it had no effect on the dragon. He was feeling hopelessly and did not know what to do. In desperation he grabbed the staff from the evil queen and attacked the dragon with the gem on the top of it. He hoped it would be sharp enough and full of magic. That worked on the dragon but it did not kill it. It just fell asleep. Grumpy turned around again and swung his mighty axe on the queen. Although it only made a small cut, the queen could not do anything but laugh and laugh. "It is time to go home", he thought to himself. He knew the queen would die as the magical wound could not be healed.

He went out of the castle and saw a small cottage, so he decided to go there for a rest. When he came in, the fairy he had met on his way was resting there. Suddenly he spotted the wardrobe, so he ran inside and immediately he was back to the castle again. When the princess and his fellowship saw him, they were all really happy. So was he after the princess rewarded him sweetly with a kiss.

Not long afterward the princess fell in love with Grumpy and her father approved of their love because of the heroism Grumpy had showed. They had a beautiful wedding and the wedding feast lasted for weeks. Everything turned well in Nothinghappenshere and Grumpy and the princess lived happily ever after. Or did they? The winning ESSAY titled "THIS IS A PLACE WHERE I ALWAYS RETURN" by Patrícia Cabajová, II. C:

There are a lot of places that come to my mind when I think about a place where I always return, but the one that I decided to write about is my home. The place where I always like to return is my home.

There is an English proverb that says "Home is where the heart is", and I think it's true. What you call home can be just a normal building for other people. However, what really makes home a home is the heart in it. The memories and dearest people our home carries. They make a home and they give you the feeling of safety and happiness. We return home whenever we are sad, tired or feeling alone because we know our home can make it all go away, even when for just a few moments.

What's sad is the fact that not everyone is lucky enough to have such a place they can call a home. Some lost their homes in wars and fights, some have a place to live in but they don't feel that it's their home for various reasons. Abusive parents are the most common reason. It makes one really sad to think that someone is returning to a place that they should call home with fear.

But I am one of those lucky people to have a loving home. I always return there (sometimes because I have nowhere else to go) and find all my dearest ones. Home is where the heart is and my heart is in a small village called Blesovce in a house with number 66. 8

The winning LETTER by Vladimír Anděl, IV. A: Dear Korry, Long time no see, huh ? Can´t reach you on the internet anywhere, so I´m writing a letter to you - the old-fashioned way. How have you been doing? Me, well not so good, but hey, that´s life. Do you remember our last conversation about your life in the UK? Well, I decided to expand it a little bit, since you probably don´t know anything about our lives in this God´s forgotten land, huh.

First, let me start with education and young people, because they´re connected. Education in our country is on a pretty low level in comparison to yours. We still have old methods of learning, old teachers that have the old school methods of teaching, and the whole system is basically just plain messed up. The worst part is, that not a lof of effort is put into reforming the main aspects of this system. All in all, it sucks.

Young people in this country, are, well how to describe it, strange. Some are just totally sick to the

head, while others are pretty good. Most of us just want to enjoy our lives to the fullest, but in some cases, it goes a bit overboard. We like to go to the clubs, hang out with friends, families and have fun, and we try to live by that no matter what. You will hear people complain, but not a lot, because we maybe don´t care or don´t want to care. And it´s good that way.

Fashion is just like in your country, on the same

level I would say, so I don´t think there is anything to expand here. Maybe that some guys dress like sissies, and some girls like, um you know what but other than that pretty standard.

I will talk about our lifestyle for a bit. Lifestyle, at least in my city, has lots of varieties. Some eat healthily, work out,

try to live that good, healthy life, while others just don´t give two cents about their lives. About relationships, it´s complicated here. Family relationships and bonds are really tight and

close here. Barely you will see families fight for something. About relationships between girls and guys, it´s also complicated, but again it depends on the people. I am hapilly in a relationship with a girl that I love and she loves me, but a lot of times when two people are together, they don´t like each other. It´s just totally mind boggling.

Well, that´s all I´m capable to write today, you know me, writing with a pen is not my strong suit. Anyway, I hope you´ll get this paper and answer me soon. Until then: "hakunamatata".

See you later buddy. Vlado

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INTERVIEW WITH

A HANDBALLER When thinking about who to make an interview with for

this issue of our magazine, it emerged that we would not have to go too far to find the right person. Dominika Bielichová together with her classmates from II. C prepared an interview with hidden treasure of Business academy, Topoľčany for many of his students - Mgr. František Zaťko – born in Nitra in 1978, a loving husband and proud father of a daughter, a PE teacher and especially one of the best left wingers of contemporary Slovak handball. Just check out these impressive statistics of his:

Left winger, 35 appearances in the Slovak handball national team, 78 goals

Has played for Topoľčany (1997 - 2002), Prešov (2002 - 2004, 2005), Kostelec na Hané (2004 -2005) and Hlohovec (2006 -)

Double champion of the Slovak Republic with HC Topoľčany (1998) and HT Tatran Prešov (2004)

Winner of the Czech-Slovak Handball International League (2004), round of 16 EHF Champions League, both with HT Tatran Prešov (2004),

2nd place in the Slovak Handball Extra-league (2003, 2010 and 2012)

The Slovak Hanball Extra-league best goal scorer (2010)

18 goals in a match Hlohovec : Sečovce, 43:23, 2007), (the Slovak record holder)

And here is the interview: What lead you to become a professional sportsman?

Nothing led me to do this. I started to play handball when my parents signed me up for handball trainings. I never dreamed about being a professional sportsman. It just happened. Maybe it should have been so.

Do you or have you ever played any other sports except for handball?

No, I played and I play only handball. In winter I like skiing.

How do you keep fit – is there a special diet you have to follow?

Of course, it would not work without it. I try to eat five times a day and rather less and more times. I can't afford to put on too much weight because if I did, I would have to bear it with me.

Does your sport bring you any restrictions – for example, in your personal or working life?

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No, I just have to take care in all sports that I do except for handball so that I did not get injured. To tell the truth, I prefer avoiding doing sports which could get me hurt.

How do you bear defeats?

Actually I do not deal with them. If we lose a match, particularly to better opponents, we should just learn from the defeat. If we lose to opponents who were not better than us, it is unnecessary to deal with this for too long. We analyze defeats in detail only when they repeat.

Do you see a lot of support from your family and friends?

Definitely yes, my parents have encouraged me since my childhood and my wife has supported me at nearly every match since we started dating together up to now.

Do you think the way people look on you has changed after your sudden career advancement?

I do not think there was any sudden advancement in my career. I have always been lucky to be in the team playing the highest competition. Whenever I changed clubs, my personal advance could be compared to the quality of the clubs I was playing for.

Do you lead your child to handball?

I try to lead her to do sports or in general to move at gymnastics or any other sports, but I would not want to make her focus on a certain sport until she has chosen one.

Have you gained a nickname during your career?

No, I have not.

Do you have any handball idols?

My handball idols have been coming and going as I was growing old. But I have never focused on a particular person. One of my idols when I was younger was a German national team player Stefan Kretzschmar. As for Slovak handball players playing in my position of left winger it is Martin Straňovský – an excellent and extremely talented player from his childhood, particularly his style of game is admirable.

What is the greatest achievement in your life?

I consider my happy family and my child the greatest achievement in my life together with the fact that during my handball career I have not changed handball to another sport.

Have you had any negative experience in your career as a sportsman – e.g. injury?

Not really. When I was younger I had a cruciate ligament plastic of my right knee, but since then nothing serious.

By Dominika Bielichová, II. C and Mgr. Martin Huba

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A Story Of The Month By Jakub Železník, IV. D THE PROOF OF MATURITY? Being in the 4th grade of Business academy, Topoľčany, I have had to

take my school-leaving exams recently - their written form consisting

of a test and a writing task. As well as many of my peers I fought

a bunch of different feelings during the day and now I together with

my three classmates would like to share them with you and describe our experience with the exams in detail. It

could help you overcome any negative feelings you might have during your own exams.

So first of all, my experiences were not that bad, to be honest my whole preparation consisted of getting a good

sleep day before the exam and being confident that I could pass it without any problems. So the day when the exam

came I woke up, had breakfast and went to school with

clear head and with my goal set clear - pass the tests. I

am not really a person that stresses about something so

when they gave us the tests I was not stressed instead I

was really chilled and my feelings were like on every

other test that I had. In the middle of the time that we

had for the test, after the teacher said that were are half

way through and we were supposed to have at least half

of the answers I looked on my test and I had more than

that but for some reason I panicked and that was the

moment when the stress came up on me. I think that

because of that stress I messed up some of my answers. When we finished the exams and after I had talked to my

classmates I felt really good but I had regrets that I had made some mistakes that I shouldn't have but well I cannot

change that even if I could - that's what the stress did to me.

So that was my story and now you can read about different experience from my classmates.

“My experiences were a little bit different. My preparation consisted of doing tests week before the actual school

leaving exams and trying to not be stressed. In the morning of the day I went with a couple of my classmates to our

favourite cafe for a cup of coffee to cool our heads and we were making fun of the exams to lighten the atmosphere.

When we came to school most of the people I saw were really stressed but we were in good mood because of the

coffee. We were like „Sup school leaving exams, come right at me! “ During the exams the time went really slow

for me, or at least I felt like it was going slow but still I was kinda worried that

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I will not have enough time to complete everything but in the end

everything was ok, I finished everything even a bit ahead because

when I was finished the teacher just said that we still have 10 more

minutes.

After everyone finished I went home and on the way there in the bus

I met my friend from other school and she was crying because she

had messed it up so I cheered her up and that made me think that

I did a good job so I don’t have to worry.“

“My experience was also a little bit different from my classmates. My preparation consisted of revising my

knowledge that I had gathered during 4 years at this school. I started studying 3 months before the actual tests and

I was pretty well prepared. When the day of the exams came I woke up early to study some more and to have

a healthy breakfast and a run around my house. After that I took a shower and suited up and then I went to school

on my bicycle. During the ride I felt pretty good about myself and when I came to school I almost did not make it

in time. I smelled pretty bad because I was all sweaty so I had to find some deodorant. Fortunately my friend had

one with him so everything was good and we went to the classroom to take the school leaving tests. During the test

I knew everything so I tried to help some people arround but the teacher was not that pleasant and warned me 2

times and then he said that if I didn’t stop she would take the test and I wouldn’t pass so I stopped helping people

arround and just went outside. I hopped to my bicycle and went home. During the ride I stopped for a beer with my

friends and we laughed about how easy these tests were because we all prepared in advance and we did not

underestimate it. “

“My preparation consisted of nothing at all, I did not learn anything because I knew it will be a piece of cake. The

day before the exams I slept really well and when the day came I got up early to at least find my suit that I needed

for the tests. When I found it I went to school with my dad by his

car and he dropped me by the school half hour early so I had

nothing to do. After the neverending half hour the exams started

and I panicked and my fear overwhelmed me. I was sweating a lot

and I realized that I don’t even know what half of these things

mean. Tasks were harder and harder and I didn’t know what to

do so I went full guessing mode. In the end of the exam I was

totally mentally ruined and I cried a lot at home. My mom was

very angry with me because I underestimated the tests and

because I was really cocky and unprepared. If I fail or not I think

that this can be taken as an example for everyone that you should

prepare atleast before the exams and that you should not stress

because that can ruin your chances to pass even if you are

prepared like a boss.“

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THE BEAUTIES OF SLOVAKIA THE BEAUTIES OF SLOVAKIA

PART 1 Central Slovakia has plenty of treasures to show Day 1 Banská Štiavnica-Zvolen-Banská Bystrica Banská Štiavnica If you are an early bird then leaving Topoľčany at about 7 a.m. shouldn´t cause you any serious troubles. It will take you about two hours to get to Banská Štiavnica through the beautiful Štiavnické mountains. Banská Štianvica is a must-see place for every Slovak and is visited by many foreign visitors every year. Being on the list of UNESCO cultural heritage becasue of its historical value Banská Štiavnica and its surroundings hide treasures such as:

Slovak Mining Museum The open-air museum is situated in the original mining creations – shaft Ondrej and adit Bartolomej. In Slovak mining

museum you can visit expositions that are both above the ground and underground. And it is the undergound exposition that gives you an unfogettable experience. Dressed in special coats with helmets on your heads and torches in your hands you will find showrooms of mining workplaces and mining mechanisms.

Trinity square is dominated by a monumental plague column. The square is used for frequent

cultural events and there is also a mineralogical museum. Two castles, “Old castle“ and “New castle” have been transformed into museums.

When having discussions about the English speaking countries with my sudents I am not surprised by the lack of their knowledge about the places of interest in UK, stereotypes of Americans or natural beauties of Australia and New Zealand. It´s quite understandable and excusable, especially when taking in account, they have never been to any of the English-speaking countries. But there is something else that more than surprises me. And this is the fact that students show difficulties to answer when being asked about their homeland! That´s why I decided to start a new column about our country. All the places described were visited and are recommended by the students of Tourism at our school and are based on a two-day itineraries always having their starting point in Topoľčany. So if you are planning a trip with your friends or you need and want to know something about Slovakia simply follow the itinerary designed by our students.

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Brewery ERB Brewery ERB is a small brewery that follows up the history of small breweries in Banská Štiavnica (in the Middle Ages there were 9 of them). Brewery ERB is situated in completely restored historical building from the 16th century in the centre of the town it has a restaurant is a theater, placed not traditionally in the attic of the building. The brewery offers beer of high quality and unusual tastes. You shouldn´t miss smoked beer.

Besides the mentioned landmarks and attractions there are also others which are worthseeing e.g. Tajchy - ancient artificial mining water reservoirs, smaller mines open to the pulic, Botanical garden and others. Zvolen It won´t take you long, just 30 minutes by car to get to Zvolen - the second stop on our journey. Though small, Zvolen has some things to offer. Zvolen castle Zvolen castle was ordered by Louis I the Great as a hunting residence of Hungarian kings. Nowadays it hosts a regional branch of the Slovak National Gallery with an exposition of old European masters, including works by P. P. Rubens, Paolo Veronese, and William Hogarth.

Armoured train Reproduction of an armoured train, that took part in other things in the Slovak National Uprising in 1944 is situated just

under the castle hill in the town park and is favourite with both, children and adults. Pustý castle

If you feel like walking you can reach the ruins of the castle “Pustý“. Pustý (meaning "deserted castle") is a castle whose ruins are located on a forested hill in the southern part of Zvolen. With an area of 76,000 m² it is arguably one of the largest medieval castles in Europe. There is an educational pathway with 20 stops.

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Banská Bystrica

While driving from Zvolen you will be passing by famous Slovak spas Sliac and …., airport Sliac and protected landscape area Kozlinec. In less than twenty minutes you will have a chance to admire another fascinating Slovak town Banská Bystrica and its attractions.

SNU Museum

Slovak National Uprising Museum is a national Museum which documents the development of Slovak society between 1938-1945, with a focus on the anti-fascist resistance and the Slovak National Uprising. The Museum is surrounded by a large park which contains an open-air exhibition of heavy armaments. Close to the entrance to the park there is a most interesting exhibit – the aircraft LI-2, which carried persons and material to Three Oaks Airbase in time for the Slovak National Uprising. The interior of the aircraft is open to the public. SNU Square

Dotted by cafés, restaurants, and small stores, it is a popular place for the locals to linger, and a tourist attraction notable

for its historical buildings, and visual appeal. Places worth seeing are: The Church of St. Francis Xavier features two bell towers and dates to the beginning of the 18th century; The layout of the cathedral is based on the design of the Jesuit Church of the Gesu in Rome. The clock tower, which stands imposingly over the upper section of the square, has also been dubbed a leaning tower thanks to its slight deflection of 68 cm from vertical. After admiring The Baroque Marian Column constructed to give thanks to the end of the plague; you can have a rest next to Stone fountain –Your attention will be drawn to the sound effects and to the changing and varied colourful lighting. Besides the mentioned landmaks you can also visit Barbacan – a drawbridge over a man-made moat, Matej‘s house, which is eye-catching at first glance thanks to its height, currently

the house is home to the Central Slovakia Museum‘s travelling exhibition on the history of Banská Bystrica or The Church of the Virgin Mary‘s Ascension, built on the foundations of a previous Romanesque basilica. The Church is home to some of the best works of Gothic art in Slovakia the altar in the chapel of St. Barbara produced by Master Paul from Levoča. By Mgr. Júlia Gálová and Tamara Kováčová, III. C

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AN IDIOM FOR A DAY By Mgr. Martin Huba, 22nd March 2013

Everybody must probably admit that the traditional change of four seasons is disappearing even in our

part of the world and more and more often we can observe winter penetrate spring or summer shorten up

autumn. I reckon most ofus do not mind if the warm and sunny summer days extend over a few more

weeks. On the other hand, winter lasting for too long makes us feel miserable and depressed regardless of

how much we love winter pastimes. The last winter season definitely gave us some hard times, which is

why I decided to choose weather as the theme of our regular section of idioms.

So check out sixteen definitions of weather idiomatic phrases with Slovak translations below and three

short stories on the next page to practise your understanding them.

WEATHER IDIOMS 1. If you are/feel under the weather, you feel a bit/slightly

ill/unwell/indisposed/depressed (cítiť sa pod psa)

2. A storm/tempest in a teacup is a small event/problem that has

been exaggerated out of proportion (búrka v pohári

vody/mnoho kriku pre nič)

3. If s.t./s.o is/feels right as rain, it/they is/are perfectly fine/all

right (v úplnom poriadku)

4. Every cloud has a silver

lining means that you can benefit from every bad thing that happens

to you (všetko zlé je na niečo dobré)

5. If you are chasing rainbows, you are trying to get or achieve

s.t. impossible (naháňať sa za preludom)

6. The calm before the storm is a peaceful and quiet period

immediately before a period of great activity or trouble (ticho pred

búrkou)

7. If you/s.t. get/gets your/its/a second wind, you/it have/has a greater or renewed energy or

strength gained at some time after starting (chytiť druhý dych)

8. A fair-weather friend is there for you only when things or times are good and pleasant

(nespoľahlivý/nestály/falošný priateľ)

9. If you do s.t. like greased lightning, you do it very fast (ako namydlený blesk, veľmi rýchlo)

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10. If you say you will do s.t. come rain or shine, you mean you will do it whatever happens (nech sa

deje, čo sa deje/za akýchkoľvek podmienok)

11. It never rains, but it pours/when it rains, it pours means that when one bad/good thing

happens, a lot of other bad/good things also happen, making the situation even worse/better

(nešťastie nikdy nechodí samo/na posratého, aj záchod spadne/keď sa darí, tak sa darí)

12. If s.t. is a bolt from/out of the blue, it happens unexpectedly and suddenly (blesk z čistého

neba/z čista jasna)

13. Any port in a storm means that in a difficult or emergency situation, any solution or help must

be accepted, whether one likes it or not (topiaci sa aj

slamky chytá)

14. If you have your head in the clouds, you do not know

what is going on because of paying too much attention to

your ideas, dreams, fantasies (mať hlavu v oblakoch)

15. If you are on cloud nine, you are in a state of great

happiness (byť v siedmom nebi)

16. If a project/business is in the doldrums, it is not very

successful and is not making any progress (stagnovať)

And here are the three stories. Choose the correct option to complete them. The KEY can be found on

page 25.

A.

Believe it or not, as for me 1. when it rains, it pours / any port in a storm: the other day I was going to

Exchange my mobile phone that hadn´t been working for days, but while talking to the shopassistant,

I found out I didn´t have my receipt. 2. Feeling under the weather / Having my head in the clouds

about what the hell had gone wrong with the phone, I must have lost it somewhere on my way. Pretty

pissed off, I was looking everywhere while walking back home and guess what? 3. Come rain or shine

/Like a bolt from the blue, my phone started to ring. Totally amazed I picked it up and was said by the

shop assistant he´d just found my receipt by the counter. 4. Being on cloud nine / Being in the doldrums

as my phone seemed to be 5. a tempest in a teacup / right as rain I told him to throw it away. You

probably think what fool I was...and yes, you´re absolutely right: that damn phone went dead the next

morning and surely I wasn´t able to exchange it without the receipt. I tried to have it repaired, but it just

didn´t help at all. Nevertheless, 6. I get my second wind / every cloud has a silver lining. In the end

I decided to buy the latest model of a diffferent make (twice as expensive) and since then ...

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B.

Sitting in the study of my natal home and looking into my dad´s eyes I felt like there was some sort of

a vaccuum suddenly – what do they say? – 1. the calm before the storm / a storm in a teacup. We

surely hadn´t got on very well after my mum´s death. Actually, we´d hardly seen each other since then.

And I´d have probably never come back. Nor would I have ever begged himfor a single penny, but when

my business started to 2. do like a greased lightning / be in the doldrums, all my usual partners showed

to be only 3. like bolts out of the blue / false-weather friends and didn´t help me. I didn´t even manage

to get enough money from the banks, which was only presumable due to a number of previous loans.

Moreover, having invested my reserves into those goods of a dubious Asian origin, my hopes to bring my

company back to its feet quickly appeared to 4. be just on cloud nine / be just chasing the rainbows. So

I had to to come back, you know, it was a case of 5. any port in a storm / it never rains, but it pours.

Sitting there I only wished I´d be able to persuade him. With his money my company could 6. get

a second wind / feel under the weather.

C.

I´ve been 1. under the weather / right as rain for

a couple of weeks when my old friend recommended me

a spa and wellness resort not far from the place where

I live. "I know you´re not into these kinds of places,“ he

said "but I guarantee you won´t regret. When I was there

last weekend, I 2. had my head in the clouds / felt on

cloud nine. You must see the place, 3. come rain or shine

/ a fair-weather friend" I´d never said that before, but

after what I´ve experienced there I must admit that next

time I´ll go there 4. like a bolt from the blue / like

a greased lightning.

REFERENCES:

Englishidioms in use, Michael McCarthy and FelicityO´Dell, Cambridge Unversity Press, 2003

EnglishVocabulary in Use (Upper-intermediate), Michael McCarthy and FelicityO´Dell, Cambridge University Press, 2007

Idioms and phrasalverbs (Intermediate), RuthGairns and StuartRedman, OxfordUniversity Press, 2011

MacmillanEnglishDictionaryforAdvancedLearners, A&C BlackPublishersLtd., 2007

http://www.usingenglish.com/reference/idioms/s.html

http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/

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The Best April Fool´s Jokes 1st April is widely recognised in many countries all over the world as a day when people play practical jokes, pranks or hoaxes on each other. Have you ever become an April fool? Have you got a favourite prank? We will show you some of the best April fool´s jokes of all time. Try to choose the correct ending of each of these real stories. The KEY can be found on page 25.

A) Mount Edgecumbe

On the morning of April 1, 1974, Alaska’s inactive volcano Mount Edgecumbe was seen to be spouting thick black smoke and panic-stricken inhabitants gathered their children and began to evacuate.

Local police department soon investigated only to discover 100 tyres that had been doused in petrol before being set a light at the peak of the mountain. Next to the volcano’s crater they found the giant words in black: ... 1. "God bless you". It turned out to be the work of local priest Oliver Bickar who had planned this joke to attract more sheep in his parish. 2. "April Fools". It turned out to be the work of local resident Oliver Bickar who had been planning this joke for over four years. 3. "No worries, bros. Peace". It turned out to be the work of local tire recycling factory worker Oliver Bickar who had planned this joke with three more buddies under the influence of weed.

B) Spaghetti Harvest

On April 1st 1957, The BBC pulled off an ambitious prank which left many viewers of that day’s Panorama programme rather red faced.

The 3-minute video package showed a family from southern Switzerland gathering a bumper harvest from their fictitious spaghetti tree after a mild winter and virtual disappearance of spaghetti weevil.

Its voice-over by a respected broadcaster Richard Dimbleby and especially the fact that in the 1950s this Italian dish was not widely known in the UK (mainly from tinned spaghetti in tomato sauce) and considered by many an exotic delicacy made the report more believable.

Despite how absurd it sounds now, ...

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1. hundreds of people fell for the ambitious hoax and called in to the BBC to ask where in the UK they can get such spaghetti trees. 2. hundreds of people fell for the ambitious hoax and called in to the BBC to ask if it is possible to grow any other kinds of pasta on trees as well. 3. hundreds of people fell for the ambitious hoax and called in to the BBC to either discuss the story or ask how they can grow their own spaghetti tree at home.

C) Fake your own death

It was April of 2004 and a guy

named Randy Wood from West Monroe, New York decided he would play a prank on his ex-wife.

He made a harness in a tree in his front yard, with a fake noose, to make it look like he had hanged himself. He climbed the tree and managed to get himself into his fake suicide setup without actually murdering himself in the process. Then he called his ex-wife up to come over so that he could show her something.

It is difficult to say why Randy decided to do such a thing to his ex-wife or how he expected she would react when seeing him in this situation, however, she did exactly what you´re supposed to do when you see somebody hanging by their neck from a tree limb: She called 911. Soon they sent fire trucks, ambulances, and cop cars to the scene. At this point Randy had to either admit that it was all a stupid prank, or try to pretend that he had really tried to kill himself.

As it turns out, faking an incident to dispatch emergency services ...

1. is punishable by a $10,000 fine and up to a year in jail. "He said he did it as an April Fool's joke but obviously it's not a funny matter," Sherriff Reuel Todd said. Well, we do hope they set up the bar pretty high in West Monroe. 2. is punishable by a $1,000 fine and up to a year in jail. "He said he did it as an April Fool's joke, but obviously it's not a funny matter," Sherriff Reuel Todd said. Well, we do hope they set up the bar pretty high in West Monroe. 3. is it punishable by up to 90 days of community services. "He said he did it as an April Fool´s joke, but obviously it's a funny matter," Sherriff Reuel Todd said. Well, we do hope they set up the bar pretty high in West Monroe. REFERENCES: http://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/scotsol/homepage/4867934/The-Top-10-best-April-Fools-jokes.html

http://www.cracked.com/article_20378_the-5-most-misguided-april-fools-pranks-all-time.html

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/weird-news/april-fools-day-top-10-1788823

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spaghetti_tree_hoax

by Dávid Hatala IV. D and Mgr. Martin Huba

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71 INTO THE FIRE (2010) Review Directed By: John H. Lee

Written By: Lee Man Hee, Kim Dong Woo

Stars: Choi Seunghyun /T.O.P( Oh Jung Bum),

Kwon Sang-Woo( Ku Kap Jo)

Cha Seung-won (Park Mu Rang)

Kim Seung-woo (Kang Suk Dae)

Storyline: 71 Into the fire is a Korean movie about Korean war between North and South Korea often

called a forgotten war. The movie takes place in South Korea in August 1950. It shows

how strong and organised North Korea was and that South Korea had no choice but

recruit unexperienced students and men to fight. The movie is based on a true story of 71

students soldiers that tried to defend Pohang-dong middle school. The very first scene of

the movie shows us the main character a young and very quiet soldier Oh Jung Bum in

the middle of a battle field. Oh Jung Bum is ordered to command another 70 students,

while other soldiers are on a battle field because he is the most experienced. They have to

defend the school, but if that was not enough, Jung Bum has to deal with arrogant

deluquents led by Ku Kap Jo.

Review: 71 Into The Fire is a really beautiful movie and I like it, because rather than focusing on

the plans and strategy and the battle istelf it focuses more on the life of the soldiers, their

feelings. It shows that even our enemy is just a human being and soldiers are scared too,

what was shown in a scene where Jung Bum is writing a letter to his mother. I personally,

am not a big fan of war movies but this movie was very interesting for me because it

showed a war in a different angle and it was very emotional. It shows how brave and

courageous these men were. So even if you are like me and you do not watch war movies,

you should give this movie a try.

REFERENCES:

http://unitedkpop.com/2012/09/10/korean-film-review-71-into-the-fire-2010/

By Simona Hlavinová, II. A

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It is a cake or pie that contains mainly carrots. The carrots are mixed into the dough. The cake usually has a soft, dense texture. Ingredients: 3 eggs 300 grams powdered sugar 300 grams medium flour 400 grams subtly grated

carrot ( 6 bigger carrots ) 1,5 dcl oil 1 dcl water 1 baking powder 1 vanilla sugar 1 spoon lemon peel

Frosting: 2 tablespoons butter 1/3 less – fat cream

cheese 3 cups powdered sugar 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions: o Preheat oven to 180 ⁰C o Whisk eggs with powdered and vanilla sugar. o Add oil, water, then flour with baking powder, lemon peel, grated carrot and mix it

all. o When it is mixed, pour it in greased form for baking. o Put the mixture into the prepared oven for 45 minutes. o When it is done cool completely on a wire rack. o To prepare frosting, combine butter and cream cheese in a large bowl. o Beat with a mixer at medium speed until smooth, then beat in powdered sugar and

vanilla sugar just until smooth. o Wipe the frosting over top of cake. o Garnish pieces of cake with grated carrot

REFERENCES: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carrot_cake

http://recepty.vareni.cz/mrkvovy-kolac/

By Denisa Kotlárová, I. C

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Ellie Goulding Famous as: Singer, songwriter Birth Name: Elena Jane Goulding Birth Date: December 30, 1986 Birth Place: Hereford, England Albums: Lights (2010), Halcyon (2012)

LIGHTS

I had a way then losing it all on my own I had a heart then but the queen has been overthrown And I'm not sleeping now the dark is too hard to beat

And I'm not keeping now the strength I need to push me

Chorus:

You show the lights that stop me turn to stone You shine It when I'm alone

And so I tell myself that I'll be strong And dreaming when they're gone

'Cause they're calling, calling, calling me home Calling, calling, calling home

You show the lights that stop me turn to stone You shine It when I'm alone

Home

Noises, I play within my head Touch my own skin and hope that I'm still breathing

And I think back to when my brother and my sister slept In an unlocked place the only time I feel safe

Chorus: You show the lights...

Yeah, hee Light (14x)

Chorus: You show the lights...

Home, home Light, lights, lights, lights, light, lights, lights, lights

(4x) REFERENCES:

http://www.kidzworld.com/article/27329-ellie-goulding-bio http://www.karaoketexty.cz/texty-pisni/goulding-ellie/lights-164398 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ellie_Goulding By Dominika Bielichová, II. C

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KKKEEEYYYSSS AAANNNDDD SSSOOOLLLUUUTTTIIIOOONNNSSS

WWWEEEAAATTTHHHEEERRR IIIDDDIIIOOOMMMSSS,,, ppp... 111777---111999

A. 1. when it rains, it pours

2. Feeling under the weather 3. Like a bolt from the blue

4. Being on cloud nine 5. right as rain

6. every cloud has a silver lining

B. 1. the calm before the storm

2. be in the doldrums 3. false-weather friends

4. be just chasing the rainbows 5. any port in a storm 6. get a second wind

C.

1. under the weather 2. felt on cloud nine 3. come rain or shine

4. like a greased lightning

THE BEST APRIL FOOL´S JOKES, p. 20-21 A) 2 B) 3 C) 2

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And at this point we would like to make a little wish for all 4-graders leaving our school in about a month:

c o m f o r t on difficult days, s m i l e s when sadness intrudes,

r a i n b o w s to follow the clouds, l a u g h t e r to kiss your lips,

s u n s e t s to warm your heart, h u g s when spirits sag,

b e a u t y for your eyes to see,

f r i e n d s h i p s to brighten your being,

f a i t h so that you can believe, c o n f i d e n c e for when you doubt,

c o u r a g e to know yourself, p a t i e n c e to accept the truth

and l o v e to complete your life.

The full-colour version of the latest issue of ZINGER magazine can be found on the website of Business Academy, Topoľčany:

www.oato.edu.sk The full-colour versions of all issues can be found on the website of

the Department of Foreign Languages, Business Academy, Topoľčany: www.pkcj-oato.webnode.sk

Do not forget to check it/them out.

And at the very end, here are all the people responsible for this issue: Editor-in-chief: Mgr. Martin Huba Assistant editor: Mgr. Júlia Gálová

Art & Graphic design: Mgr. Júlia Gálová, Dávid Hatala, Jakub Železník, Filip Gális Web support: Mgr. Roman Vavro

Students´ editors-in-chief: Dávid Hatala, Jakub Železník Editorial staff:

Dávid Hatala, Jakub Železník, Filip Gális, Tamara Kováčová, Dominika Bielichová, Denisa Kotlárová, Simona Hlavinová