MAGAZINE ZURBARAN 2009-2010

I.E.S. ZURBARÁN NAVALMORAL 2009-2010 BILINGUAL SECTION MAGAZINE

SECCIÓN BILINGÜE DE INGLÉS DEL I.E.S. ZURBARÁN DE NAVALMORAL DE LA MATA.

PRIMERA PROMOCIÓN DE LA SECCIÓN BILINGÜE DE INGLÉS DEL I.E.S. ZURBARÁN, CURSO 2008-2009

En el curso 2009-2010 la primera promoción de la Sección Bilingüe de Inglés obtuvo el título de Educación Secundaria. Nuestra Sección Bilingüe de Inglés de Secundaria se caracteriza por la enseñanza y el aprendizaje de dos áreas del currículo (aunque en los dos primeros cursos fueron tres) en inglés y castellano; además de un incremento del horario de la lengua extranjera, que funciona como lengua instrumental, de aprendizaje, vehicular, paralela a la lengua materna, que también sigue siendo utilizada. Se trata, pues, de estudiar determinadas áreas o materias del currículo en las dos lenguas (En primer ciclo: música y matemáticas y en segundo ciclo: educación física y matemáticas). De esta forma, la finalidad general de la Educación Bilingüe pasa a ser el fomento del plurilingüismo y de la diversidad lingüística en la Educación Secundaria y se utiliza para ello el método de inmersión lingüística, basado en la comunicación, la interacción, en la priorización del código oral y en la metodología AICLE. Han sido cuatro años de incorporación de novedades en el centro: En primer lugar se tuvieron que adaptar los currículos y el horario (una hora adicional que los alumnos en principio llevaban un tanto cuesta arriba, pero que les ha supuesto un tremendo beneficio, pues ese incremento horario ha resultado en una mejoría muy significativa en su nivel de inglés, así como en el inglés empleado para las asignaturas que se enseñan en este idioma). El centro comenzó a llenarse de vitrinas y corchos en los que se recuerdan las celebraciones culturales de países de habla inglesa y se muestran los trabajos realizados por los alumnos de la Sección, además los rótulos del centro comparten espacio en castellano y en inglés. Comenzamos a realizar un Proyecto Europeo, jornadas de intercambio con alumnos de otras secciones bilingües, las estancias de inmersión en colonias de verano, teatro… El curso pasado comenzamos a trabajar el Portfolio Europeo de las Lenguas, siguiendo las líneas metodológicas que el Consejo de Europa propone a través del Marco Europeo de Referencia, con el que se pretende conseguir aprendices más autónomos, conscientes de su proceso de

aprendizaje y de que el aprendizaje de lenguas es un proceso que se continúa a lo largo de toda la vida. Puesto que los programas bilingües de la Junta de Extremadura no contemplan su continuidad en el bachillerato y en un intento de que la trayectoria de nuestros alumnos no quedase limitada y que el trabajo desarrollado a lo largo de cuatro años no se perdiera, se ofertó un Bachillerato Portfolio, continuador de esta metodología de trabajo y con un nivel de inglés acorde con el nivel B1 del Marco de Referencia Europeo.

Hoy en día todas estas características forman parte de la cotidianeidad del centro. Los currículos y metodología AICLE (aprendizaje integrado de contenidos en lengua extranjera) se han consolidado, y los alumnos aprenden una segunda lengua, no sólo como idioma con una metodología comunicativa activa, sino también para aprender otras asignaturas en el idioma. En este sentido, la Sección Bilingüe y la enseñanza de contenidos en el idioma extranjero han ido fraguando la idea de que son diferentes las áreas o materias que coadyuvan en una misma competencia, la comunicativa, favoreciendo la colaboración y la coordinación del equipo de profesores en proyectos interdisciplinares. Precisamente esta línea de trabajo desarrollada por el profesorado de la Sección, está sirviendo activamente para la elaboración del Proyecto Piloto para la Mejora de la Competencia Comunicativa (coordinado por el MEC y el OAPEE) y que dará como fruto el Proyecto Lingüístico de Centro. Además, los alumnos de la Sección participan en el “Proyecto Multilingúísmo y multiculturalidad como factores positivos en el desarrollo cultural, cognitivo y afectivo del alumnado”, dirigido por el Departamento de Didáctica del Inglés de la UEX. Nuestros alumnos son competentes para realizarse como ciudadanos en la sociedad europea actual, promoviendo en ellos la multiculturalidad, el multilingüísmo, la tolerancia y la movilidad entre estados de la Unión Europea. Queremos desde estas páginas agradecer encarecidamente a padres y alumnos que confiaron y siguen confiando en las innovaciones educativas y sin los cuales el éxito de la Sección Bilingüe no sería posible.

A continuación ofrecemos una selección de trabajos realizados por alumnos de la Sección Bilingüe.

Isabel Moreno (Coordinadora de la Sección)

OUR EXPERIENCE IN THE BILINGUAL SECTION

Hello! My name is Ismael Álvarez Fraile. Next week it is my birthday and I will be fifteen years old. I began in the bilingual section three years ago. I was very excited because it was going to be a new experience for me: new friends, new teachers and new subjects!.

Lessons became harder and harder and I started to feel a bit stressed.

There are some advantages like for example, your level of English is higher, you do more trips and you meet nice people.

Almost every single trip is connected with English. They are very interesting and funny, too.

It is also true that we have to work hard, we have to study a lot and we also have a lot homework to do.

English is one of the hardest subjects. We also have P.E. and Maths in English. We learn English through these two subjects and this is good because I like English!

Ismael Álvarez Fraile ( 3rd ESO ) Hi! I`m Lorena, How are you? I`m fine. I`m from the bilingual section, I like this class because I`m with the same classmates as four years ago. The advantages are English, of course and I think that in this group we are very good students and this is another advantage because nobody interrupts lessons.

In this class I can’t see any disadvantage, because now you have to work hard but this is good in the future. I think that in the other classes there are more problems because not everybody want to continue studying. In this class you can do many things, many projects about languages, you can meet people from other bilingual sections. This is the better class!

Teachers are very good, my classmates are ok, many of them are very smart. Last week we went to a musical in English, and a man played his guitar and sang some emblematic songs, it was great because I like these songs very much! We went to the musical because we are in the bilingual section and this is an opportunity that we have but I think that anybody who wants to be in the bilingual section only has to work and this is something that EVERYBODY can do!!

Thanks for this opportunity!

Lorena Padilla Obispo (4th ESO)

Hello! My name is Irene and I’m fifteen years old. I’m in 4th of E.S.O. and I’m in my 4th year in the bilingual section. I’m going to talk about my experience during these four years, the advantages and disadvantages.

I started in the bilingual section in 1st of E.S.O with all my friends of Almaraz, so it was perfect.

In the class I made more friends, too.

And now I am in the same class, with some new people but not many, and I`m very happy in this group!

In 4th year we learn maths and physical education in English. We have a higher level, especially in English, than the other groups, and I think this is very good for our future, and we can also enter the third course of the official school of languages if we finish 4th year in the bilingual section!

And this is an important advantage that not everybody has! We have very good teachers, a very good class, good level...

So I think that entering the bilingual section is very important, whether you love English or not, it is a good opportunity.

But I think teachers demand more from us and we have to work a lot in all the subjects, but in special in English and maths, too.

And every time there is a contest in the centre, we are obliged to participate! Just because we are in the bilingual section. I don`t like this.

But in conclusion, I think being in a bilingual section has more advantages than disadvantages.

I have been in the bilingual section for four years and although the demands of the teachers I have got good marks, and I feel very happy in this class.

And when I finish 4th of E.S.O, I will go to the official school of languages!

So, I recommend this option, because it`s a very good opportunity for your future.

Irene Cadenas Jiménez. (4th ESO)

My Experience in the Bilingual Section.

Advantages and Disadvantages: I like being in the bilingual section. When I started high school, I didn´t know if I could have to be in the bilingual section, because people said that it was very difficult!!

When I started I got to like it very soon because I really liked my classmates.

There are many advantages: -I don´t have to change classmates!! ☺ -I like most of my teachers, we do some exchanges with other high schools, we make many trips…

-I love English so I like the bilingual section, we learn more English than in the other courses.

-English is very important in the future and it is very important to have a good knowledge.

In general, the bilingual section is very important because to know English is very useful. Another advantage is that we also have an English language assistant, Tony.

There are also some disadvantages: -I think that most of the subjects are more difficult here than in the other classes. The English level is higher than in the other classes too and we have one extra hour on Wednesday.

There are some disadvantages but I can say that I made a good decision when I decided to be here!!

Fátima Camacho (3rd ESO)

Hello!

I have to give my opinion about the topic: “We should learn more languages apart from English and French”.

I think it can be very interesting and useful to our future: ●On the one hand, we could travel around the world without problems to understand people ●On the other hand, we could find a good job and we don’t have to spend time learning them in private classes.

We could learn languages like Arabic, Chinese (actually this is very important), Italian or other strange ones.

But I know, there can be a lot of people who don’t want to learn languages. This is the reason why I believe that these classes have to be optional.

Finally, there are some disadvantages. We have to spend time for other subjects, learning them. It’s a problem because we have to come here in the afternoon to make up for this wasted time.

What do you think about this topic?

Áurea Sánchez Hernández ( 3rd ESO)

In every bilingual school, the experiences abroad are so important as the knowledge of a language.

This is the reason because I think that students should have more extraactivities during THE SCHOOL PERIOD. In my opinion, students have few opportunities during the school period to improve their knowledge about the languages. There should be more exchanges and trips abroad, not only in SUMMER MONTHS. From my point of view, summer is the best season to relax, be with our friend and family and of course, it´s a good season to travel and to have new experiences; but why can´t students carry out these activities in our school period?

In my view, if we travel abroad and we do exchanges with foreign people, we can have more spare time in summer, because this season doesn´t take very long for students!!

On the other hand, these activities can be like a prize for the students interested in languages but on the other hand, the other subjects´ teachers can´t continue with their subjects´ plan, and these activities can be a problem for them.

I agree with idea because this is a good way to learn and…

Why can´t a bilingual course do it?

Fátima Camacho (3rd ESO)

TRIP TIME OUR TRIP TO THE CANARY ISLANDS HOW TO COOK A GOOD EXPERIENCE: First step, try to collect about twenty children from Cáceres, other fifteen from Burgos and if you want, several from the Canary Islands.

Put them all together on a plane and shake them.

When the ring goes off, take them out of the plane with a lot of care, and leave them to rest.

Next morning, put some juice or milk on them (this is optional…)

When you have already gone through this last step, put them to cook in one of the most beautiful beaches in Spain.

When them get baked, put a little of culture on them. You can find that, mainly, in the museums.

If you want your recipe to be the best, listen to this step.

Before you go to bed, you have to put all of them in a disco, and leave them as long as possible, and please, don’t forget about happiness, friendship and a lot of laugh.

After a few days, you have to move back again. Then, put all of them again on the plane, and when you hear the bell ringing, you will already have your dish ready.

Samuel Miguel Rufo (4th ESO) Almost all my classmates went to the Canary Islands for one week. That was because they were in a project called “Old Measures” and they went there to meet the students from there and from Burgos who were also in the project and to relax for a week. I was in that project too, but I didn’t fancy going to the Islands.

Only six or seven people stayed here, so we had to go to school. I don’t know why but we had to. That week was crazy boring. We did nothing because teachers couldn’t continue teaching because they did the other people would lose those lessons. We only did something in Maths and in English. In Maths we reviewed what we had seen until then. That was really good because when they came back, we had an exam which was a bit difficult.

In English we did some sheets about keeping a vocabulary notebook or using the dictionary. But the best thing of being so few people is that we could talk a lot and listen too, so we practiced our speaking and our listening.

Apart from that, in English, as well, we learnt a lot about Crash Bandicot. That is a famous and old videogame. Rafa had bought it and he brought it to school and we were talking about it. In short, Crash is a creature created by a mad scientist who had created more creatures, too. Crash was the only good one and he fought against the other creatures to beat the scientist.

That is a good way to learn new useful vocabulary.

And that’s everything about that week which was boring except in English.

Mario Calderón Timón ( 4th ESO)

EXCHANGE WITH MORALEJA

Today 16 of November 2009, we are going to do an exchange with the students of 1st of ESO from Moraleja.

First of all, we arrive at the assembly room before the students from Moraleja. After that, the students from Moraleja arrive. The headmaster gives us a welcome speech.

Next, we go to have breakfast. The teachers and the waitress give us hot chocolate with churros.

Then, the students from Moraleja and us play a game. The name of this game is “treasure hunt”. The game has two parts: In the 1st one, you have to find pictures that are situated all over the school yard. In the second part, you have to find a sentence.

After that, in the library, we make musical instruments with glasses, plates, rice...

To finish, the students from Moraleja go back home.

FRANCISCO J. BLÁZQUEZ GONZÁLEZ -2ºESO1

O OU URR TTRRIIPP TTO OM MO ORRA ALLEEJJA A On 1st of February, we went to Jรกlama Secondary School in Moraleja.

When we arrived, the teachers were waiting at the entry of the school. Then, we went to the auditorium. There were the Jรกlama students and a language assistant, who gave a talk about America.

After that, we went to the entry of the school and, there, the teachers gave us some questions that we had to look for around town.

Me and my team had a great time, because the game was very fun. We were in a park, by a river and in many other places, and we saw many things in Moraleja.

At the end, we ate pizza in the canteen of Jรกlama Secondary School and the winners of the game received a gift.

And after all that, we took a photo all together and the student of Zurbarรกn Secondary School returned to Navalmoral de la Mata.

ALBA PASCUAL 2ยบESO1

Hello everyone!

Today, I’m going to talk about one of the best days of my life. It took place on the 9th November 2009.

Several students from Merida came to “Zurbarán”. We had a great time all together and we enjoyed a lot, so I’m going to tell what we did.

They arrived more or less at 10 o’clock and we welcomed them. After that, we had breakfast in the canteen, we ate “churros” with chocolate. It was delicious!

Later, we went to the library and we played ”countdown”. It was fantastic and my group was the winner!

Then, we had a little break in which we talked about our likes, dislikes, pet hates… and more things.

At a quarter to one, we said goodbye to them. It was sad because we wanted them to stay longer.

At half past one, we talked about the exchange and everyone said that it was an excellent experience for our lives.

J. Ignacio Verdugo Fraile ( 3rd ESO)

TRIP TO MÉRIDA Hello! I’m Pablo and I’ am going to talk to you about my classmates and my own experience with the students from Merida.

The pupils from the Santa Eulalia School came to Navalmoral and then we went to Merida.

We went to Merida on the 25th November. We went by bus. We sang, played the PSP… We had a very nice time. When we arrived there, we went to the library. They were not prepared because they thought that we were going to arrive later. They went to the library, too. In the library we did a quiz about Merida. An English language assistant asked us questions about Mérida and we had to answer them. Then they gave us a present. The presents were book marks.

Later we went to the Roman theatre and to the amphitheater. We played in the corridors of the Roman theatre. They are great! There were many sculptures, too.

When we went back to school, Alejandro and I ran and we took photographs of the football field in Merida. When we arrived at the school, we went to the canteen and they treated us to ommelette, coke, Nestea, lemonade, orange juice… and we ate chips, omelets, sausages…

When we went back home, they saw us off. We went back by bus and we told jokes, sang, played the PSP… We had a nice time in Merida and we made friends!

Pablo León Ríos ( 3rd ESO ) It was worth it!

ANDORRA Last Christmas holidays five bilingual students and other older students went to Andorra with Eva and Jordi, two P.E. teachers.

We stayed in a little hotel near the city. Every day we used to go to the ski courts by bus and we had ski lessons with a teacher. The weather was good, but on the second day we couldn’t do anything, because it was windy and snowy.

It was very funny and interesting We also went to a spa with our teachers and we met people from Plasencia. We went back home on the 23rd, we stayed twelve hours on the bus and that was awful!. Áurea Sánchez Hernández ( 3rd ESO)

My two-day trip: This trip was amazing!!

I was glad to go on this trip because I had a great time there and I keep many happy memories.

Everybody was excited, we went with three teachers, two Maths teachers: Valentín and Alejandro and Antonio, our History teacher, went with us, too.

We arrived in Peraleda de San Román by bus and we walked up to the countryside.

The place where we camped was very beautiful, there were many long trees and it was near a river.

In the morning we put our tents up and then we had lunch, Antonio helped us to put them up because we didn´t have any idea of how to do it!! ☺☺ In the afternoon we organised a memorable trip, this trip reminded me of an adventure film!!

Everybody seemed to be lost in a big forest! It was a complete chaos but it was the most interesting thing that day. We walked along very narrow paths, we had to cross several

rivers standing on stones, we also climbed mountains. This was possible because we helped each other.

We didn´t continue our way because we were very tired and the forest was like a jungle!

We had to return to the campsite. Everybody had scratches on their bodies because of the branches of the trees and our legs were sore ,too.!!

Valentín had a bad time, he got sick on the way to the camp, so when we arrived there, Antonio took him to the hospital in Navalmoral because he was quite sick and he had a stomachache. Everybody had a shower in the river when we arrived at the campsite. Our clothes were very dirty and wet!!

When Antonio came back, he prepared a big barbecue for dinner, it was quite nice and we were very hungry!! Oh! Before that we were playing “Twister”, a funny game, and we also took some photographs with my camera.

The night was very cold, we sat around the fire we had made for the barbecue and we started to tell jokes, Antonio told most of them, he has got a good sense of humour!

At two o´clock everybody went to bed, I slept with Noelia .G , Noelia .M and Sara in our tent.

The next day was a little tiring. In the morning after breakfast we took our tents down and we walked up to Peraleda. We went to some prehistoric places with very big stones, the landscape was beautiful!

In the afternoon we returned to the village and we caught the bus to Navalmoral, we returned home. It was a pity! We didn´t want to leave Peraleda!! At seven o´clock we arrived in Navalmoral, our trip had finished!!

Fátima Camacho (3rd ESO)

MY TWO-DAYS TRIP Last week we were on a very special trip for us. We had been waiting for it three years. Our aim was to stay one night in the countryside and to visit Peraleda de San Roman to see the caves and the canyon.

I packed my things and we met in the high school. We went there by bus.

We were very happy because Alejandro, our new gorgeous Maths teacher was going to go with us. We arrived at the village and we had to go on foot to the camp with our bags.

The landscape was great. It was next to a river and we had to cross the river to put up our tents. When we finished our “new houses”, we put on our swimsuits and we had a cold bath in the river. The water was really cold, but I was very funny to see the boys with their pants on.

When we were relaxed, we went for a walk around the forest. It was very interesting, because Antonio was telling us everything about flowers, geography and animals. We were walking for nearly three hours . Valentin, another Maths teacher, had to return home because he had got sick.

We arrived at the camp and we had a bath in the river again. After that, we played some games and we had a delicious barbecue for dinner. At midnight we told jokes around the fire and some boys threw fireworks. Then we went to bed and we fell asleep very early, because we were really tired.

I got up very early, because my alarm clock rang (I didn’t put it off at night). We had breakfast around the fire and we put the tents down. We had to walk a long way up to the village and we were really tired. Finally, we arrived at Peraleda and we had a rest. We had lunch and we went for a walk to see the caves and the prehistoric village.

We took photos and we went back the village to get the bus. When we were travelling, everybody was singing popular songs, it was really funny.

Áurea Sánchez Hernández ( 3rd ESO)

The trip was really funny!!!!!!!!!!!!.

I could see that my classmates are better people than I had thought :)

STORY TIME

They are my family.

My name is Lisa Simpson. I live in Springfield, a big town.

We live in an enormous house next to Flanders, our neighbour, he’s really funny and my father hates him. Today all the Springfield’s inhabitants are in the park I am in the middle. Why? I don’t know, but I am in the middle of the crowd I am surprised because the plant that I am holding in my hands is growing too fast I am wearing an orange dress and orange shoes, too. Next to me my father is standing in front of my grandfather who is sleeping. Then Bart is on my left, he is making fun of me because he is really stupid. Behind me my mother and my sister, Maggie, are paying attention to Snowball, our cat and Santa's Little Helper, because our doggy is barking and Snowball is scared, he is sitting on my mum’s bun. Moe is telling off Apu’s children, because they are crying and shouting, but Apu is not concentrating on that problem, he is stressed. His children are climbing up on to his body. Then Crusty is angry with Apu, because he sold him bad shoes and green broken trousers. Agnes is pulling Simuer’s ear, because he is giving a present to Edna; It might be a chocolate parcel. Edna is angry; she is wearing a green dress. Next to them Bigum is drowning, because Ralph is holding a rope around his neck. Rasca is in front of them, he is running, because Pica is chasing

him. Paty and Selma are smoking, they always smoke at break time, they love it.

Flanders is talking with them, but they are ignoring him. Mr Hams Topo is behind Paty and Selma, he is wearing glasses. Rod and Tod are holding some scissors; they want to cut Paty and Selma’s clothes. Behind them, Simfer is holding an umbrella for Mr Burns, because now it’s raining. They are laughing. Then Rambo is fighting with Martin, who´s scared, but now Milhouse is falling down into a heap of leaves, because Mr Burns set a trap for him. Now Rambo is running away and Willy is angry. After ten minutes we go back home and …

That’s all folks!

Sara Pobre Trancón ( 3rd ESO )

GEFAS He is a tall and thin boy. He is dark-skinned but only in summer because in winter he gets paler. He wears glasses that are bigger than his face, and trousers that go up to his chest. He is called Gefas and he is fifteen years old. Wherever he goes, people ask him what his name means and he says. ¨I don’t know, my parents died and I couldn’ t ask them what my name meant¨ .

One day he was thinking about the park. Then a girl came and she asked what he was thinking of. He looked at her for a long time and he said ¨I am not thinking¨ .The girl looked at him, and then she started telling him her bad story about when she was little.

Before she finished, he said ¨I am alone, I don’t have parents, grandparents, friends, nobody in this world, nobody can help me when I am sad¨.

Then the girl asked him what his name was. He said ¨I’m Gefas¨.

She looked at her with a strange face and asked: ¨What does your name mean?¨ he laughed and he said: ¨My parents invented my name”.

They really liked travelling and the places they liked more were Germany, Edinburgh, France, Austria and Spain. So when I was born, they chose the first letter of each place they liked and this is my name. She looked at him and continued laughing…

Faysa Ayadi ( 4th ESO)

CAN WE JUST BE FRIENDS? That girl, who was sitting on that bench reading a book. He couldn’t see the title of the book but he thought it was good and interesting because the girl couldn’t stop reading.

That girl looked familiar to him. He knew he had seen that girl somewhere but he didn’t know where.

Yes, she was. He was completely sure. He began to remember everything…

Twenty years earlier that boy was sixteen. He was a normal boy in a normal family who lived in a normal town, neither too big nor too small.

He went to the secondary school. He didn’t mind studying. He passed all his exams with normal marks.

He had a lot of friends. He got on well with everybody. He wasn’t interested in having girlfriends. He thought that it was a waste of time.

He didn’t go out a lot. He preferred staying at home in front of the computer. He was hooked on computers. He fixed computers to earn extra money.

One day on his way to school he crashed with a girl. He was running because he was late and he had an important exam. A lot of papers were in the street. Both of them ducked to collect them. They stared at each other for a second. Then the boy stood up and he continued walking to the school. He was thinking about the girl all day. He wondered who that girl was.

When he arrived home, his mum was in the kitchen. She said to him that they were going to welcome the new neighbours.

A new family had moved in next door. That house had been deserted for three years. He wondered who the family was and if they had children to meet them.

The boy and his mum were in front of the door. The mum knocked on. A tall man opened the door. They introduced themselves and the man introduced his family. His daughter was upstairs. The man told the boy to go upstairs and said hello to the girl.

He was nervous. He knocked on the girl’s door. The girl invited him into her room.

When they saw each other, they were shocked. The girl was the one that he was crashed with in the morning. They talked for a long time.

In the following weeks they met every evening. They went to the park or to stroll.

The boy was worried because he knew he was falling in love with the girl.

He didn’t want to say anything to her because he was afraid of losing her.

One afternoon he plucked up to the courage and he confessed everything to her. The girl kept quiet. Finally she started talking. She said to him she felt the same but she thought it was a bad idea to begin a relationship, because all relationships have an end which in ninety-nine percent of the cases is sad.

The boy said: “Who gives a damn about what can happen in the future?” She didn’t answer. He asked with a sad voice: “Can we just be friends?” The girl answered that of course, they would be friends forever.

That for ever became a year. The boy went to study in the city. In the he first months they kept in contact but, as the weeks passed, they talked less and less frequently. Until one day they didn’t talk any more.

Twenty years later, the boy was running in the park. He did exercise every day to keep himself fit. He saw a girl sitting on the bench. Her face looked familiar to him. She was reading a book. He tried to remember who that girl could be . Finally he realized who she was. She was that girl who, a long time ago, had been his best friend, more than a best friend.

He went closer to her. They started talking and they went to a cafeteria to eat something.

One week later they were going out. They were really in love. They didn’t care about what was going to happen in the future.

Nowadays they are really old but they are still together…

Mario Calderón Timón ( 4th ESO)

A Great Place A great place is somewhere far beyond your reality, where every hour seems to be a second, because you´re enjoying yourself a lot, so time rushes.

A great place is somewhere in which you can get relaxed, time stands still just for a few seconds, but it does, so you can forget about your problems and kick them from your mind.

A great place is a concert of your favourite group and you´re jumping and shouting and having fun with a lot of people, maybe with your girlfriend or boyfriend, too.

A great place is anywhere, nowhere or just one place, maybe it can be a person, maybe it´s in your mind, maybe you haven´t found anyone yet...

Well, a great place is anywhere you feel great because of whatever, but you feel that unique sensation that can´t be expressed with words Umh...I´ll try...maybe Awesome feelings or something like that.

Well it doesn´t matter...a great place is anywhere which shocks you the first time you see it, I think.

Francisco Javier El Hannati López ( 4th ESO)

A NEW HEROINE CALLED MAUREN Mauren went out on Saturday night, like her friends. When she was coming back to her house, she heard some shouts. It was twelve o’clock and the shouts came from a house burning.

She asked who was there and a little girl (5 years old) was at the window. She was crying, because she couldn’t find her mum. Mauren called the police, but it was very late and she knew that the police were going to arrive in fifteen minutes as a minimum.

Suddenly, she had a very good idea: she put some cushions from her house onto the pavement. She told the girl to jump on the cushions, but she didn’t want to. Finally, Mauren persuaded her and she jumped.

Police arrived at the house and the firemen put the fire out. They found the girl’s mother under a big table, but she was healthy. Luckily, there was a happy end, thanks Mauren!

Áurea Sánchez Hernández ( 3rd ESO)

I SAW A ROBBERY: Dear Brian, l´m writing to tell you what happened to me yesterday while l was depositing some money in the bank. l was standing in the queue when two bank robbers suddenly appeared at the door.

This morning there were five people in the bank. The manager was talking on the phone before the robbery and the cashier was counting some money. In the queue there were two more people. There was an old lady waiting there and a young woman that was with a little girl that was sitting on a chair.

When I saw the robbers l felt very nervous and l ran and hid next to a wardrobe. Tha manager stood up, the cashier put his hands up.

The old lady fainted and the young woman caught her very quickly.

The young woman´s daughter started to cry. l didn´t know what to do. l could scape and called the police but maybe the robbers could catch and shoot at me.

The two bankers couldn´t ring the police. One of the robbers went to the counter and asked for all the money.

When the robber caught the money, suddenly the other robber caught him and he took his pistol out of his pocket and he said “Hands up!, l am a policeman”.

Oh, l couldn´t believe it! The other robber was a policeman!! The police were waiting out of the bank, they came in and took the robber. The other policeman stayed in the bank and he calmed us down. The young woman got to revive the old lady.

Everybody thanked the policeman and when he left the bank, the morning continued like before the robbery.

When l returned home l told the story to Emily and l thought that l can tell you about it. too.

Oh, next Saturday we´ll go to visit you, so I will tell you more things.

We´ll see each other!

Martin

Fátima Camacho

PROJECTS ´TIME

OLD MEASURES “Antiguas... ¡Las medidas!” This is the project’s name that we are working on. th The pupils from 4 ESO that are participating in this project have to collect information about the old kind of measures.

The project is along with two high schools. One of them is from the Canary islands and the other one is from Burgos.

The purpose of the project is to compare the different measures from all over the world.

Last year, in November, pupils from Cáceres and Burgos travelled to Tenerife to increase our knowledge about the measures that they use there. We learnt the reason why they use different measures. That is a question of geography establishment.

Very soon the pupils from the Canary islands and Burgos are going to come to Navalmoral and then we are going to go to Burgos.

Teachers from all these high schools are collaborating to organise the project and helping the pupils to do their activities.

This is undoubtedly a chance to help us to get a wider knowledge about the measures´world.

Francisco Ramos Jiménez (4th ESO)

EUROPEAN PORTFOLIO OF LANGUAGES Newspaper Article On PORTFOLIO Ceremony Last Monday (22nd February 2010) the students of the bilingual section at I.E.S. Zurbarán in Navalmoral went to the high school auditorium where they did several things. The headmaster gave them a talk on the Portfolio and Professor Héctor García Romero was recording the event with a camcorder. The headmaster said that the Portfolio is very important in Europe. He also spoke of the portfolio contest winners: Fernando Alarza and Christian Mancebo. The prize was a blue folder in which the logos of the winners were on the front and back. After giving a round of applause to the winners, he gave everyone the folders and then they all went to their classes.

José Manuel Bravo Comendador 2ºESO

PORTFOLIO. Last Monday I.E.S Zurbarán in Navalmoral held a ceremony for students in the bilingual section. All the bilingual classes were at the Assembly Hall, where the headmaster gave us a speech. After that, the teachers who attended, all the teachers who are in the English Department, gave us the portfolio folder, which are folders that will last a lifetime to know what you did while you studied languages. First, they gave them to the 1St year class, after that the 2nd, later the 3rd and finally the 4th year class of the bilingual section. Then, we put the name on the folders to put them on the shelves that are in the English classrooms. They keep the activities we do during the school years. Two students were given a prize, one from the 3rd year class and another from the 2nd year class. They won the contest for the logos on the covers of the folders. In the end, they delivered the folders back and the monitors and sub-monitors for each class helped bring the folders to the appropriate classrooms. All this was recorded by the Spanish teacher.

LAURA MUÑOZ 2ºESO1

Two weeks ago the teachers and the students in the Bilingual section went to the assembly room. When we arrived, the Headmaster gave us a speech.

The English teachers, the Spanish teacher and the Music teacher had organised a contest on Portfolio. There were two winners, one of them was a boy in my class, his name is Fernando Alarza and the other winner was a boy from my town, his name is Christian Mancebo. When we were in the assembly room, these two boys were the first in obtaining the folders and, after that, the teachers delivered the folders to the rest of us .The winners had made designs for the covers and they had obtained a prize.

The prize was money to buy books. My Spanish teacher, HĂŠctor, recorded it with a video camera while we were taking the folders.

FRANCISCO JAVIER BLAZQUEZ GONZALEZ 2ÂşESO

FILM REVIEW

THE BUTTERFLY CIRCUS THE STORY Mr. Méndez went to the fair with Summy and George.

In the fair there were many things including a circus.

In the circus there were very strange people: a very fat woman, the man with most tattoos in the world, two Siamese girls, a woman with beard but everybody laughed at “ the man without extremities”. Will didn’t have any arms or any legs.

Mr. Méndez (was the most famous showman in the circus world, because he had an important circus) wanted to talk with Will, but Will spat at Mr. Méndez.

Will didn´t know who this person was and he went to his van.

People didn´t like Will and he knew it.

One day, Will and Mr. Méndez talked and Mr. Mendez told him why he was special and he was like the other people in the circus.

One day in the river, Will didn´t cross and nobody helped him.

They wanted him to do the things by himself because he was very important.

He started to take part in the performance and everybody started to appreciate him.

CHARACTERS In my opinion the most important characters are: Will, as he is the main character and because he is an example of the fact that humans have feelings and they can do anything.

All the children because they never laugh at Will and the men and women always laugh at him and they see Will like an animal and children don´t.

MORAL In my opinion this video is the best video that I have seen so far.

I think, that humans aren´t animals and we are people and we have feelings and moral values.

It can be a silly thing but the name of the main character is important. Will is the auxiliary of future and Will is an example of future because the people with physical and psychological problems are our future.

Here is the address if you want to have a look at it. It is worth it! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9582NStUdqU Rodrigo Alonso GonzĂĄlez ( 4th ESO)

“ People who are disabled are also important ” This is true; we normally forget about disabled people because we think that they are a burden and we normally think that “normal” people are better, but many times it is just completely the opposite.

A disabled person can also be very useful, and I think that on some occasions we mustn’t distinguish between disabled or not disabled.

SAMUEL MIGUEL RUFO 4TH ESO

THE E.T SCENE Which people didn´t know this moment? l think that it is the most important scene in this film.

E.T is a very moving film. An alien came to the Earth and Eliot, the film star, had to take it to the flying saucer with its family to go to its planet. The scientist coudln´t catch it.

The star moment took place in the street. Eliot carried E.T in the basket of his bike. They went to the place where there was the flying saucer.

Eliot´s friends went behind him, too.

The police were chasing them. They couldn´t continue the way because it was closed by the police. They were lost!!

Eliot didn´t know what to do but suddenly he started to fly, Eliot was confused, he was pedalling, how could the bike fly?

Eliot realised that was made by E.T!! Eliot´s friends flew too!! ☺☺ This was the moment: E.T and Eliot was flying with the bike and Moon was in the background of the scene.

It was very amazing, nobody could forget this moment!!

Fátima Camacho ( 3rd ESO)

CELEBRETIES' TIME

IKER CASILLAS He is Iker Casillas. He is 24 years old. He lives in Madrid and he is Spanish.

He is tall and slim. He has brown, short hair. His eyes are brown, and he has a short beard. In fact, he is very handsome.

He´s wearing a black and orange t-shirt, shorts and socks, because this is the football kit of this team. He´s wearing white trainers, and on his hand he’s wearing red, white and black gloves, too.

Why is he very famous? Because he is the best goalkeeper in the world.

And I like him because he seems very kind and very loving.

Iker gets up at nine o´clock. He has a shower, and at quarter past nine, he has breakfast. After breakfast, at half past ten, he goes football training with his team. At twelve o´clock he goes to the shopping centre with his girlfriend and they talk about stuff. At three o´clock, they go to eat in a restaurant with Iker´s family and they talk until four o´clock.

In the afternoon, he goes to his house and he washes his dog in the garden, but he doesn´t do the housework. At eight o´clock he goes to play football with his team and he wears a tracksuit.

In the evening, he meets his girlfriend and they dine together in a restaurant at a quarter past twelve.

At one o´clock, they meet their friends in a club and at six o´clock they go to sleep.

Alba I. Pascual Rubio 2º ESO 1

This is a photo of Maxi Iglesias. He is 22 years old. He is a Spanish actor. He Works in a TV series, its name is “Física o Química”. He isn´t very tall, but he is slim. He has got short, brown hair. His eyes colour is blue. For girls he is very handsome .He is very friendly. He is wearing a blue T-shirt, blue jeans and a white pair of trainers .These clothes are very nice.

Francisco Javier Blázquez Gómez 2ºESO1

Robert Pattinson GEMA PARRA 2ºESO1

This is a photo of Robert Pattinson. He is an actor. He acts in the “Twilight” saga.

He is from England and he was born in London, on the thirteenth of May. Now he is twenty-nine years old.He is tall and slim.

He has got green eyes, but in the film his eyes are golden. In the photo he is wearing a shirt, a grey t-shirt, a pair of jeans and shoes.

He is very sociable, very handsome and attractive. He is very good person because he is helping Haiti.

He is very sociable, very handsome and attractive.

He is a very good person, because he is helping in Haiti.

He is my favourite actor! ☺ I love him!

Homer is a really good person but very stupid. He is fat, he’s not very tall and he’s a bald man. He always wears a white shirt, blue trousers and black shoes. He’s not very hard-working but he has done more than one hundred jobs, from gravedigger to astronaut.

He has got three children: Bart, Lisa and Maggie. He’s married to Marge. His hobbies are watching TV and drinking beer. His favourite food is onion-rings, chops, hot-dogs and all kinds of fast food but he hates vegetables. Homer is very versatile.

GONZALO CALVO 2ºESO1

Andrés Iniesta is a famous football player. He plays for F.C. Barcelona. He is very good but, for me, he is the best in the world. He is from Fuentealvilla in Spain. He is very nice. He is short and thin. He has got blue eyes. He has got black, short hair. He is wearing blue jeans, a white T-shirt and a black cardigan. In this picture, he is receiving a prize.

BY: Fernando Alarza Blázquez

Letizia Ortiz She is very beautiful. She is short. She has long blond hair, small eyes, a small mouth, a small nose and small ears .She is Felipe de Borbón´s wife and she is the Princess of Spain .She lives in La Zarzuela, King Juan Carlos I and Queen Sofia´s home.

Everyday she gets up very early. She has breakfast and a shower and plays with her children. She goes to see her husband in La Zarzuela and she goes to visit the King and Queen.

Daniel Felipe Millanes Aparicio 2º ESO-1

Sergi Orduña Orduña His name is Sergi Orduña. He is 23 years old. He is tall and slim. He has got short, brown hair and his eyes are brown. He lives in Barcelona and he has got a girlfriend. She is called Wendy Garcia and she is a dancer like him. Sergi is wearing a white t-shirt, black jeans and blue trainers. He is the winner of the programme Fama 2 .

He dances very well. I love him a lot! He is handsome and sociable.

CARMEN PÉREZ 2ºESO1

MICHAEL JORDAN Michael Jeffrey Jordan was born on the 17th of February,1963 in New York ( The United States).

He is an American retired basketball player. He is considered “The greatest basketballplayer of all times”.

When he was young, he got a lot of triumphs for his old basketball teams. He also played baseball and American football when he was a young man.

When he was a little boy, people said that he was a born sportsman.

When he grew up, he started to play in the NBA in the “Chicago Bulls” basketball team, he started when he was 21!!

He was a scort and he wore the numbers 23 and 45.

He was playing in the “Washington Wizards” before his retirement from basketball in 2003, it was his last team.

He won more than 73 titles! He won many rings and he had six records.

He won many titles when he represented the USA in the Olympics.

He has got three sons and a daughter.

He was the image of many important brands like Nike, Coca-Cola, Gatorade, Chevrolet, Mc Donald´s…

He joined the “Basketball Hall of Fame” on the 11th of September 2009.

Michael Jordan is called “ His Royal Airness” or “Air Jordan” because people thought that he levited when he jumped high to throw his famous mates.

Fátima Camacho ( 3rd ESO)

ARTICLES'TIME

AN IMPORTANT EVENT THE DAY BEFORE. It was the second day of September, 2009. The next day was the concert by “El Canto del Loco”. I was very nervous. All day I was listening to songs by the group.

THE BIG DAY. In the morning I was sleeping. My mother and i went to Mérida. We arrived there. We were with my mother’s friend.

We were waiting until 9 o’clock. The concert started at 10 o’clock in the evening. It was special because I saw Dani Martin.

THE DAY AFTER. The day after, in the morning, I was sleeping. I was very happy remembering these moments. I told my father and my sister all about the concert.

MARIA MORENO 2ºESO1 MY HOLY COMMUNION The day before the event In the morning, I was in my house. I had lunch at 2 o´clock, as I normally do. In the afternoon, I was very nervous and I drank some tea .At night, I put my suit on. It was a beautiful suit.

The day of the event I got up at half past seven .I put my suit on and I went to church with my family. I felt very nervous, but I was very happy .I went up to the altar.

After mass I went with my family to a restaurant. There, I ate and I gave some presents to the guests. After eating, we went to my house.There, we drank and ate again.

The night after the event I got up very late. I visited my friends and I went to school to see my friends who were at school .After that, everything was normal, but I felt very happy, because this event was an important step for me.

FRANCISCO JAVIER BLAZQUEZ GONZALEZ

2º ESO 1

A Special Day January 26th 26th A special day for me was when my cousin Nerea was born.

I was very nervous and did not know what to do, but time went quickly.

January 27th 27th I was nervous, my mother woke me. I got up very early and we went to Guadalajara.

The journey was very long and I wanted to see my new cousin. When we got there, I saw her and I was surprised.

She was pretty, little and cried a lot.

January 28th 28th I was very happy to meet my new cousin and enjoyed it ,but the day before was exhausting and I was tired. At least, it was worth it.

Jose Manuel Bravo - 2ยบESO1

150 years ago, children didn’t live as children live nowadays (in the 21st century). One of the main characteristics were the clothes. The children of that time normally wore shorts, a shirt and a jacket, socks and a pair of boots, and the girls wore a dress, a jacket and shoes.

The houses are not the same either. Now they are normally made of bricks and 150 years ago they were made of stone, mud and sticks (wood). Now, children eat vegetables. They also eat a lot of fast food, with a big quantity of fat, which years before didn’t happen, because the only foods that they ate were the products that they planted in their orchard; and the animals, like cows, pigs, chickens…that they fed to eat their meat.

One of the most important games was the blind man's buff, skipping with a rope and “the Pon”. These games aren’t the same as what children play nowadays.

Now, we play computers games, with the Nintendo….

FRANCISCO JAVIER BLAZQUEZ GONZALEZ 2º ESO 1 IRENE BARBA CHACON 2º ESO 1

The children in 1860.

In Spain a lot of children were poor. They worked with their parents. They were usually farmers, but some were miners. They worked all day long and they didn’t earn a lot of money.

There were schools but the majority of the children didn’t go to them. They didn’t have an education and their parents couldn´t read and write. They used to play in the street when they didn’t have to work.

The children wore old, white shirts, small jackets and hats.

They usually played with balls, the girls played with a skipping rope. The boys played with marbles and with spinning tops.

Poor people had houses made of stones and mud and they were very small. A lot of houses didn’t have many rooms. All the family slept in the same room.

Rich people had a lot of money, so they had great, big houses. They had large lands where poor people worked for them.

GEMA PARRA Y LUCÍA MORENO 2ºESO1

The children worked on the farm land.

These are the clothes for poor boys.

My special week The day before.

I was nervous; I had the suitcases and everything prepared. In the evening, my parents and I watched TV and then we went to bed early. I was tired and I fell asleep quickly.

The special week My mother, my father and I got up early and we had breakfast. At eight o’clock we went to Madrid. When we were there we went to look for my aunts. We went to Barajas, and my aunts, my mother and I took the plane to go to Egypt.

I enjoyed it very much, I rode a camel, I visited the pyramids, I saw Tuntankamon and his tomb… I visited Abu Simbel, Luxor, The Cairo…

The journey back.

The day we came back I was sad, because I liked it a lot. In the evening, we went to the airport and we took the plane to Spain. We arrived at night, my father was there, in Madrid, waiting for us. We went home.

It was fantastic!

GEMA PARRA 2ºESO1

OUR TOWNS

MY WALKING TOUR Almaraz is my village, it isn´t a big city, but it´s very interesting. My village is known by the nuclear power station, but there are more places and landscapes apart from that.

First, many years ago there was a castle in my village. It was demolished, the principal tower fell off too but another tower was built there but it was more little than the other one.

Today it is known as “The Torreón”. It´s very near my house and when you drive your car long the carriageway, you can see it. It is closed, so nobody can visit the monument.

The most important monument in my village is the church. It´s very old and striking. It has got two big vaults. The priest celebrates the masses every day.

My favourite place is the square. It was reformed in 2006. There is a big square, a bar, a shop and here is “The Casa de la Cultura”. In the middle of the square is the “Rollo”. It´s seven metres tall and here the people sit down and talk all the afternoon.

Another interesting place is the hermitage. It isn´t old. In the hermitage there is a big picnic place where the people go when there is a holiday. It is far from the village. In this place you have excellent views of Almaraz and the Arrocampo.

In summer everybody goes to the swimming-pool. My friends and I have a great time there!!

Fátima Camacho (3rd ESO)

Town Facilities Peraleda de la Mata

I live in Peraleda de la Mata. It is a town in the north of Cáceres Cáceres (Spain). In Peraleda there is a school and a nursery but there aren´t any secondary schools. There is a police station but there aren´t any fire stations. There is a health centre. There is an old people´s home. There is a library and a cultural centre. centre. There aren´t any shopping centres or malls, but there are a lot of shops.

There aren´t any museums or train stations, or coach stations, but there is a taxi rank and several bus stops. There is a church and a town hall. There aren´t any restaurants but but there are two pubs and two clubs.

There is an outdoor swimmingswimming-pool, but there aren´t any indoor swimmingswimming-pools. There is a sports centre, a sports pavillion and a stadium. There is a hotel, but there aren´t any cybercafés. There are three petrol stations. stations. There aren´t any funfairs. There are no universities. There is a factory. There is no beach, no airport, no cinema, no theatre, no zoo, and no casino.

Santiago Blázquez Fraile 1º E.S.O. 1

COUNTRIES

AUSTRALIA Australia is the sixth largest country in the world.

Australia is in the Southern Hemisphere, below the Equator. The colour of the flag is red , white and blue .

Its population is 20,6 million .The capital is Camberra . People from Australia are called”Aussies”. The languages spoken in Australia are English and Maori. Other major cities are Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaida . Sydney is the oldest and largest city with a population of almost four million people.

Most Australian live in cities because the Outback is too hot and dry. There are sheep farms and cattle ranches, called “cattle runs”, in the Outback. They are so big that farmers use helicopters.

The currency in Australia is the Australian dollar.

Animals: there are some animal species that only exist in this country. They are the kangaroo, the koala and the platypus.

Food: the most traditional food in Australia is the is typical Vegemite, a product by Kraft, which is traditional in Australia, it has a very peculiar flavour, and only people that have eaten this this product since they were children can appreciate it.

The most popular sport in Australia is

Australian football.

FRANCISCO JAVIER BLÁZQUEZ GONZÁLEZ 2ºESO 1

The USA is in North America. It has got Fifty states. Its population is three hundred million and its capital is Washington DC. Its currency is the American Dollar ($ or USD). Its religion is Christianity, but there are many protestants, Roman Catholics, etc.

There are a lot of National Holidays: Martin Luther King (January, 3rd), President’s Day (February, 3rd), Independence Day (July, 4th), Columbus Day ( October, 2nd), Thanksgiving Day( the 4th Thursday of November)‌ Its flag is white, red and blue, it has got a lot of stars and one star is equal to one state.

There are some very important monuments, Some are: The Statue of Liberty, the White House (it is where the president lives).

The heads of the presidents are carved into the Rushmore mountain.

Its president is Barack Obama. He is the first black President in the United States of America.

Other major cities of the USA are: New York, San Francisco, Dallas, Hollywood, Tennessee, Springfield‌ In New York there are a lot of famous monuments such as: The Statue of Liberty, The Empire State Building,etc.

Hollywood is the city of famous actors.

San Francisco, with the most important Bridge in the world.

GEMA PARRA 2ÂşESO1

AND NOW A BIT OF ENGLISH HUMOUR‌

THE SCRIPT: AT A RESTAURANT

It is Tom's father-in-law's birthday and they're in a restaurant.

Tom: So, how old are you? OK, never mind. It's normal you cannot remember it at your age.

Tom's wife: Tom! Tom: OK, OK, I forgot about it. He's completely deaf. I'll shout next time.

The waiter arrives.

Waiter: Good evening! What are you gonna have for dinner?

Tom: How much is the bread?

Waiter: It is for free, sir.

Tom: OK, so bread for everybody.

Son: Daddy, the grandpa's gonna invite us.

Tom: Oh, so I want a piece of roast beef and this bottle of wine which costs $1000.

The waiter is leaving but Tom makes a sign to indicate him to come closer.

Tom: My father-in-law doesn't have any teeth, so it's better a soup for him.

Tom looks at his wife.

Tom: How can he afford this?

Tom's wife: Because he has been working all her life and he has got a lot of money. Not like you!

Tom: Yeah, I know. But he will have all the money in the world, but there's something he can never buy... a dinosaur.

They are leaving the restaurant.

Tom: Thanks sir. What a shame it could be your last birthday!

Son: Dad! Tom: I've shouted this time! What's the problem?

Mario Calder贸n Tim贸n (4th ESO)

OUR LANGUAGE ASSISTANTS My Experience in Spain by Toni Marie Griffith I remember the day I found out where I had been placed in Spain. They told me: I.E.S Zurburán, Navalmoral de la Mata, Extremadura. I had never even heard of Extremadura before! And there was nothing on the Internet in English about Navalmoral…I cried! And so, when I arrived here in Spain I was very scared and nervous. I didn’t know very much about Spain (apart from the tourist coastal areas, like Benidorm!): the language, the culture, the timetable, the food, etc… everything was so different and new to me!

However, I soon began to settle in when I was welcomed warmly by the staff and pupils of Zurburán, and my Spanish flatmates (who I found through a teacher from Zurburán!). Everyone was really nice and patient with me, when I barely knew what to say or do, and with time, and the help of the people around me – helping me to learn Spanish, and explaining customs to me, I became very settled and happy working there, and living in Spain in general, so much so that I decided to stay another year and now I’m very sad to leave!

I remember the first few classes I had with the students of the bilingual section, I was very nervous for many reasons: I was new, they were teenagers, I didn’t understand them when they spoke Spanish to me, they struggled to understand me when I spoke English (at first!), I didn’t know what to do with or say to such a large group of people that I didn’t know. But now I look back after two years and I think of how much time has changed things. The students and I came to understand each other, I learnt about Spanish culture from them and they learnt about English culture from me, I came to know them as individuals and I really enjoyed working with them. What I loved the most was seeing how much the students have improved their level of English over the last two years.

As for my life in general here in Spain, it has been a rollercoaster of ups and downs…I struggled at times because I missed home or because the culture was so different, but it got easier and easier and now I love it here! Despite the fact that being a vegetarian (i.e. I don’t eat ham!) has made it a bit more difficult living here in Extremadura, I have still come to like Spanish food (what I can eat!). I adapted to the timetable (I eat a late lunch, and I sometimes take a siesta in the afternoon!), I came to love Spanish TV (once I could understand it!), especially ‘Perdidos en la Tribu’ and ‘Fama’, and I made the most of visiting towns and cities around Extremadura and the rest of Spain.

The truth is I love Spain and hope to come back to live here one day, and this I owe to the fact that these two years have been the best experience of my life and I’m glad they were spent with the people of this school and of this town, and in this area of Spain. As I said before, I had never heard of Extremadura until I came here, and I think it would have been a huge pity if I had never been sent here, because it really is a great place: for the culture, the people,

the countryside and the towns. You should all be very proud to be from here, as I am to have lived here!

GOOD BYE TONI AND JORDAN, WE WISH YOU ALL THE BEST