Now that holidays are very close I invite you to read last year article in this blog on the topic Christmas.

Christmas is a time of joy and of overeating too. We eat lots of sweets and most of the time we forget about healthy habits.

A group of 2 º ESO students have asked their partners about their healthy habits . It may surprise you that half of the interviewed students , whatever their age, eat junk food (comida basura) twice a week. Or that only 50% of them practice any sport at all, talking about teenagers this number should be higher, don't you think so?

AGE	12	13	14	15	16
Do you brush your teeth every morning?	70 %	90 %	100 %	100 %	100 %
Do you eat two pieces of fruit everyday?	40 %	40 %	60 %	80 %	80 %
Do you practice any sport?	60 %	50 %	50 %	50 %	50 %
Do you eat pizza or hamburgers twice a week?	60 %	80 %	30 %	50 %	50 %
	Affirmative answers

At least most of them brush their teeth and eat fruit everyday!

How about you? Do you think that hamburgers or pizza could be healthy too?

Robots are not science fiction any more

And now, let me introduce you to your new teacher, nurse, shop assistant, friend...

Watch this and think of your future: Female Android Geminoid F

On 2^nd November a group of 2 ESO students went to Málaga airport. They want to tell us what they saw:

“We visited the old airport. It was the first one in Málaga. There is now a museum. We got into three old planes.”

Carolina Riffi, Sara Ponce and L. Tarrazona

“There were dummies of air hostess and pilots. We watched them through a window”

Lidia Soler and MiriamVacas

“We went to the map room, there was a map of the airport. We also saw a helicopter, it was very large and it was just painted”

Antonio Sánchez and Moisés Córdoba

“We were at the old airport. Tere were many different rooms. There was a video room. There were som prototipes of the old plane, another room was about the history of the planes. There was a garden and you could see the private planes from there.”

Guillermo Gutiérrez and Álvaro Camacho

“We went to the airport and we saw the museum teaching material. There we learned playing, we dressed up, we moved parts of planes, etc.”

Araceli Rodríguez and Carmen López

“Finally, we saw Roman tumbs. The workers discovered them when they were doing the museum. We saw a well too.”

Lorena Martos, Samara Santiago and Israel Jiménez

Halloween is an annual holiday celebrated on 31st October. The historian Nicholas Rogers, exploring the origins of Halloween, has discovered that its origin is Celtic. The ancient Celts thought that the line that joins this world with "another world" was bigger with the arrival of the Samhain (a similar party).

The harmful spirits are removed. It is believed that sweets and masks are used to banish the malignant spirits. In Scotland the spirits were supplanted by young men with white masks. The word Halloween means: All Hallows Day.

There are different ways of representing this party: the pumpkins, the candles... Halloween imagery includes themes of death, evil, the occult, magic, mythical monsters, ghosts, witches, skeletons, vampires, werewolves, demons, bats, and black cats. Black and orange represent the darkness of night and the color of bonfires, autumn leaves, and jack-o'-lanterns.

Children go to houses asking for sweets. The typical phrase is: trick or treat. Halloween costumes are traditionally modeled after monsters such as ghosts, skeletons, witches, and devils. Over time, the costume selection extended to include popular characters from fiction, celebrities, and generic archetypes such as ninjas and princesses. Dressing up was prevalent in Scotland and Ireland at Halloween by the 19th century. Costumes became popular for Halloween parties in the US in the 20th century, for adults as well as for children.

The first mass-produced Halloween costumes appeared in stores in the 1930s in the United States.There are also costumes of pop culture, like presidents, athletes, celebrities, or film, television, and cartoon characters. Another popular trend is for women (and in some cases, men) to use Halloween as an excuse to wear sexy or revealing costumes, showing off more skin than would be socially acceptable otherwise. There are several games traditionally associated with Halloween. One common game is dunking or apple bobbing, in which apples float in a tub or a large basin of water and the participants must use their teeth to remove an apple from the basin. Another common game involves hanging up treacle or syrup-coated scones by strings; these must be eaten without using hands while they remain attached to the string.

Halloween is not celebrated in all the countries and regions of the world. Celebrations in the United States and Canada have had a significant impact on how the holiday is observed in other nations. In my city, Málaga, I meet my friends and we celebrate a party with many sweets. We do many games too. Our favorite game is after turning off the lights, we hide and a person must find us. It's called The Black Hall.

Angel Luís Díez López, 3º ESO B

Halloween is a very famous party in UK, but in Málaga too. Here, children go to the houses to ask for sweets, and some people give them money.

Children dress up and make-up to be scarier than their friends. Children dress up as vampires , witches , Frankestein and as ghosts.

The English people that live in Málaga give a lot of money and many sweets to the children because they remember their cities.

The typical colours are orange, black and red. Some people buy pumpkins to decorate their homes.

Carmen María Méndez Moreno 3º ESO B

Halloween will be here soon!

This typical English and American celebration is very popular in the world. Halloween is a very ancient celebration in honour of the dead.

People feast it in UK, and America of course, but in other countries too, like, for example, in Spain, concretely in Málaga, the city where I live.

In Málaga, teenagers and kids go out with their friends at night. Usually, kids disguise like monsters, ghosts, witches, sick-people, dead-men and dead-women , Frankenstein, the dead bride… and then, they go to their neighbours' houses to request candies and lollipops with the typical sentence “trick or treat” (like the English and American kids do).

Teenagers don´t always do the same; some of them make parties at friends' houses , or they meet and tell stories of fear, or they impersonate kids… some of them don´t celebrate it.

Another thing that they do for Halloween is to scare friends with all kinds of jokes .

Finally: don´t stay at home in Halloween!

Candela Mesa Cuevas 3º ESO B

More greetings...

Hello there. My name is Ángel and I’m fourteen years old. My birthday is on 27th January. I love cycling, playing basketball and swimming. I am in 3º E.S.O, in class B in Nuestra Señora de la Victoria high school.

My high school is very far from my home. I go there because my friends and my favourite teachers are there. My high school was the first high school in Málaga! It is an historical school. Many famous people studied here like Picasso, Manuel Altolaguirre and others.

In my school there is a library, a gym, a snack bar, lost of classrooms, a computer classroom, a technology class (where you can make objects of wood and watch the interior of computers), a music class (where there are some musical instruments). There are also two laboratories where you can watch cells in the microscope and do experiments.

And teachers are fantastic!

Every Tuesday and Thursday I go to a language school. I study French there. At he weekends I meet my friends and we go shopping. We buy clothes, shoes… I love reading books but I hate listening to music. My favourite subjecs are English, French, Geography, and History. I don’t like Physical Education because there are not tests.

Come here you will have fun!!!

Hi! I'm Raquel, I'm 14 years old, I'm from Málaga and I live here too. I study on Ntra Señora de la Victoria high school. I am in 3º of ESO, in classroom B.

I study here because it is next to my home and my friends study here, too. My favourite subjects are English, French and Art, but this year we don't do it. The best place of my high school is the library because it is very old and it has got lots of books. In my high school studied very famous people as Pablo Picasso, Manuel Altolaguirre, Severo Ochoa or José Ortega y Gasset.

My high school is very old but it has got an interesting history too. The biggest place of my high school is its chapel, though it's now an auditorium. Finally, I can say that I like my high school!

Healthy eating

Still waiting for your messages about the high school's anniversary...

Let me give you some advices on healthy eating meanwhile:

— Don't eat anything your great-grandmother wouldn't recognize as food.

— Don't eat anything with more than five ingredients, or ingredients you can't pronounce.

— Stay out of the middle of the supermarket; shop on the perimeter, where real food tends to be located.

— Don't eat anything that won't rot eventually.

— Always leave the table a little hungry.

— Enjoy meals with the people you love.

— Don't buy food where you buy your gasoline.

Back to school greetings

Hi there!, here we are again, this year we are celebrating a very special date: it's the 50th anniversary of the construction of our High School Nuestra Señora de la Victoria.

For this reason, I would like you to describe some of the wonders that can be found in our old building:its facilities, its peculiarities, or even the reason behind its name. You know there is a person who can help you finding out these details, your teacher Mr José Francisco Jiménez Trujillo.

I hope this will be a good way of meeting new friends and, at the same time, of learning something about our high school.

Here we have the first message, give yours to your teacher of English to be published!

Hi! my name is Candela, and I´m 13 though I´m at 3º E.S.O (in B class) because my birthday is on 18th December. I´m from Madrid, but I live in Málaga, I love swimming and going to Malaga beaches (however, my favourite beaches are in Tarifa).

I go to "Ntra. Sra. De La Victoria" high school everyday, except on holidays or weekends. I go there because it´s near my house , and my friends study there too.

In my high school there are a library, a gym, lots of classrooms, a classroom of technology, a classroom of art, something similar to a bar...

My high school is very famous in Málaga, it was the first high school in Málaga!! and lots of famous people like Picasso (a VERY famous painter) or Severo Ochoa (a scientist , he won a Nobel) studied at the Ntra. Sra. de La Victoria high school.

Every Monday and Thursday, I go to swimming classes, I can swim very well now.

I like dancing but I don´t know how to do it well. Of course, I like meeting friends, watching tv, listening to music, reading books, chatting on the Internet...

Should Bachillerato students be allowed to leave the High School during break time?

Recently, many High Schools have banned Bachillerato students from leaving school during break time. This is an issue which Bachillerato students have clear opinions about.

On the one hand, if Bachillerato students leave the High School, even though it is just for half an hour, they might not return, or they could be unpunctual to a class. Besides, they might have an accident and the the center is in charge of them.
In addition, many students who are in Bachillerato are not eighteen years old, so it is more dangerous for them if they go out.

On the other hand, if students leave the High School during half an hour, it helps them to change the setting and they will not feel oppressed when they return to class. They can work harder.
Moreover, they will feel it as an example of being trusted.

Personally, I believe that if the students are responsible and punctual in their classes, the headmaster could allow them to leave the High School during break time.


Beatriz Gutiérrez Caneda
IES Nuestra Señora de la Victoria
1º Bachillerato B


Nowadays, Bachillerato students cannot leave the High School during break time because there is a new law that the Government has passed on that matter.
Two years ago, Bachillerato students could leave the High School, even if they were underage.

On the one hand, I think that this new law is correct because before it some students could have an accident during the break time and the High School could be accused of it. Besides, parents were not aware of their children's attitude.

On the other hand, Bachillerato students want to stay separate from Secondary students and feel freer. They think that leaving school is a way of showing their maturity.

In conclusion, it is important that students who are not eighteen years old are not allowed to leave the High School because if they have an accident, the center would have many problems. Moreover, we have to think that students are safer inside the High School.

Marisa Ramírez Fernández
IES Nuestra Señora de la Victoria
1º Bachillerato B


Bachillerato students want to leave the High School during break time to have more time without younger children and be free for a little time. But their parents and their teachers do not want this because it can bring problems to them.

On the one hand, Bachillerato students want to leave the High School during break time because this fact makes them feel responsible. They want to be without children younger than themselves.

On the other hand, their parents and their teachers do not want it because this would cause that Bachillerato students have an accident during this time and the responsible person would be the headmaster of the school.

In my opinion, if Bachillerato students show that they are responsible, they should be allowed to leave High School during break time.

Irene Albea Martínez
IES Nuestra Señora de la Victoria
1º Bachillerato B


If you want to give your opinion on this topic, write it and give it to your teachers of English, they will publish it here.

End-of-year school trip: 1º or 2º Bachillerato?

The date of the end-of-year school trip is a very common issue when students get to Bachillerato. There is a lot of controversy about travelling in 1º or in 2º Bachillerato.

On the one hand, if students do the trip in 2º Bachillerato, they will have a great experience before they leave school. Besides, it will be a wonderful leaving party with the graduation.

In addition, students could save money for more time and, having more money, they can do a better trip or go to a farther destination.

On the other hand, students in 2º Bachillerato are very worried with Selectivity. If they take it, they will have to study.

Moreover, most of them are eighteen year old so they could think that they are grown-ups and then they could believe to have more freedom, but if they cause any damage in the hotel for example, it will have serious consequences.

Personally, I think that if students are responsible and they study every day of the year, the trip can be made in 2º Bachillerato and it can provide a unique experience for them


Beatriz Gutiérrez Caneda
IES Nuestra Señora de la Victoria
1º Bachillerato B



If you want to give your opinion on this topic, write it and give it to your teachers of English, they will publish it here.

Happy April Fools' Day!

April Fools' Day, sometimes called All Fools' Day, is one of the most light hearted days of the year. Its origins are uncertain. Some see it as a celebration related to the turn of the seasons, while others believe it stems from the adoption of a new calendar.
Ancient cultures, including those as varied as the Romans and the Hindus, celebrated New Year's Day on or around April 1. It closely follows the vernal equinox (March 20th or March 21st.) In medieval times, much of Europe celebrated March 25, the Feast of Annunciation, as the beginning of the new year.
In 1582, Pope Gregory XIII ordered a new calendar (the Gregorian Calendar) to replace the old Julian Calendar. The new calendar called for New Year's Day to be celebrated Jan. 1. That year, France adopted the reformed calendar and shifted New Year's day to Jan. 1. According to a popular explanation, many people either refused to accept the new date, or did not learn about it, and continued to celebrate New Year's Day on April 1. These backward folk were labeled as "fools" by the general populace. Other people began to make fun of these traditionalists, sending them on "fool's errands" or trying to trick them into believing something false. Eventually, the practice spread throughout Europe.
The soul of April Fool's Day lies in the funny pranks that are played on that day. The real good prank is the one that makes the victim laugh and enjoy as much as the other people who witness it. It's not nice to harm someone while pranking people and keep it safe.

In Spain we celebrate the Day of the Innocents on December 28th. It observes the day when, according to the Gospel of Matthew in the Bible, King Herod ordered the baby boys under 2 years old in Bethlehem to be killed because he was afraid that the baby Jesus born there would become a rival. As it turned out, though, the baby Jesus had been taken away to Egypt by Mary and Joseph. So the "joke" was on Herod, and thus followed the tradition of tricking friends on that day.

It is Easter in Spain today, and it makes it even odder to think of pulling someone's leg, but just take April Fools' Day into account in case you receive an incredible e-mail from an English friend...

March 17th: Saint Patrick's Day

Saint Patrick was the patron saint and national apostle of Ireland who is credited with bringing christianity to Ireland.
St. Patrick's Day is celebrated by the Irish and Irish at Heart in big cities and small towns alike with parades, "wearing of the green," music and songs, Irish food and drink, and activities for kids such as crafts, coloring and games. Its a time for fun.

Saint Patrick's Day has come to be associated with everything Irish: anything green and gold, shamrocks and luck. Why is the Shamrock the National Flower of Ireland ? Green ribbons and shamrocks were worn in celebration of St Patrick's Day as early as the 17th century. He is said to have used the shamrock, a three-leaved plant, to explain the Holy Trinity to the pre-Christian Irish.

So, why is it celebrated on March 17th? One theory is that that is the day that St. Patrick died. Since the holiday began in Ireland, it is believed that as the Irish spread out around the world, they took with them their history and celebrations. The biggest observance of all is, of course, in Ireland. With the exception of restaurants and pubs, almost all businesses close on March 17th. Being a religious holiday as well, many Irish attend mass.

In American cities with a large Irish population, St. Patrick's Day is a very big deal. Big cities and small towns alike celebrate with parades, "wearing of the green," music and songs, Irish food and drink, and activities for kids such as crafts, coloring and games. Some communities even go so far as to dye rivers or streams green!

This year the Dublin Parade will be on Wednesday 17th March, at the City Centre, starting at Parnell Square, at 12 noon.

Will you go?

International Women's Day 2010 Theme: Equal rights, equal opportunities: Progress for all

Each year around the world, International Women's Day (IWD) is celebrated on March 8. Hundreds of events occur not just on this day but throughout March to mark the economic, political and social achievements of women.

Organisations, governments and women's groups around the world choose different themes each year that reflect global and local gender issues.

Since its birth in the socialist movement, International Women's Day has grown to become a global day of recognition and celebration across developed and developing countries alike. For decades, IWD has grown from strength to strength annually. For many years the United Nations has held an annual IWD conference to coordinate international efforts for women's rights and participation in social, political and economic processes. 1975 was designated as 'International Women's Year' by the United Nations.

IWD is now an official holiday in China, Armenia, Russia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bulgaria, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Macedonia, Moldova, Mongolia, Tajikistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan and Vietnam. The tradition sees men honouring their mothers, wives, girlfriends, colleagues, etc with flowers and small gifts. In some countries IWD has the equivalent status of Mother's Day where children give small presents to their mothers and grandmothers.

The unfortunate fact is that women are still not paid equally to that of their male counterparts, women still are not present in equal numbers in business or politics, and globally women's education, health and the violence against them is worse than that of men.

However, great improvements have been made. We do have female astronauts and prime ministers, school girls are welcomed into university, women can work and have a family, women have real choices. And so the tone and nature of IWD has, for the past few years, moved from being a reminder about the negatives to a celebration of the positives.

Make a difference, think globally and act locally !

Make everyday International Women's Day.

Do your bit to ensure that the future for girls is bright, equal, safe and rewarding.

VIRTUAL VALENTINE

Although the origin of St. Valentine, and how many St. Valentines there were, remains a mystery, the feast of St. Valentine was first established in 496 by Pope Gelasius I. There was a Valentine holy priest in Rome, who, with St. Marius and his family, assisted the martyrs in the persecution under Claudius II. He was apprehended, and sent by the emperor to the prefect of Rome, who, on finding all his promises to make him renounce his faith in effectual, commended him to be beaten with clubs, and afterwards, to be beheaded, which was executed on February 14, about the year 270.

However, many authors have suggested that Valentine's Day was created as an attempt to supersede the pagan holiday of Lupercalia. It was a very ancient, possibly pre-Roman pastoral festival, observed on February 15 to avert evil spirits and purify the city, releasing health and fertility in the spring.

Whatever historical reasons we can find to explain this celebration, the fact is that nowadays it is used as an worldwide excuse to go romantic for a day.

People get mad trying to buy love: Valentine cards, chocolates, flowers, supper, parties...

It would be interesting to find out how people from other countries celebrate or feel Saint Valentine. You could start by asking the foreign students in your class the way they say love words in their mother tongue, and their opinion about this celebration. Here are some opinions from people of your age:

Romance can happen on any day of the year. Why do two people need to manufacture it on a holiday invented by other people?
Peter Smith, UK

Mankind is becoming increasingly practical. What's the point of wasting time on courting and purchasing chocolate, when you're going to end up having sex anyhow?
Andrej, Russia

Romance and courtship is the nice name humans put on Mating, and why not? We do need to take time out and appreciate the ones we hold dear. You certainly don't need over priced roses to do that! Long Live Love!

Ian, Scotland

You'll be surprised to learn that people show love in very different ways around the world. That there are kisses, French kisses and rubbing of noses as Eskimos and Polynesians do. By the way, I don't want to make you paranoid, but just to tell you there's no such thing as "safe kissing" so keep that in mind. You can catch anything from just a cold to a pretty serious sexually transmitted disease by kissing, especially if you have any cuts in your mouth.

The latest trend is virtual love. It's not only finding a boyfriend by e-mail, but finding your ideal virtual man or woman. After the robot dogs and fish, Tamagotchi, the portable cyber pet, and virtual popstars. Now it's the girlfriends and boyfriends who are virtual. Games such as Falling in Love by Mail, My Prince and First Love Game are just a few of the dozens of online games developed for the i-mode internet-capable phones.

Bandai Network's Mail de Koi Shite (or Falling in Love by Mail) is targeted towards men who are given the choice of seven virtual women, including a school teacher and a nurse.

During a three-month email courtship, the user must seduce his cyber-love by scoring as many points as possible by finding out as much as he can about his "girlfriend" - apparently not always an easy task.

She might get irritated because she doesn't receive as many emails as she wishes and give the player a hard time. But that doesn't seem to stop many of them from wanting to continue their affairs.

After a certain amount of emails has been sent, the girlfriend delivers her verdict: "I really like you" and the more disappointing "we can still be friends" are on the cards.

As you see, there are many ways of feeling love, what about you?

"Candelaria" in Spanish", “Lichtmess" in German, "La Fête de la Chandeleur" in French, or “Candlemas” in English

In many cultures, including in some Latin countries today, Candlemas marks the end of the Christmas season. It is celebrated on February 2^nd, the 40^th day after Christmas, and is technically known as the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary as well as the Presentation in the Temple.

The basis of the Feast of the Purification was the Jewish tradition that women were considered unclean after the birth of a child and were not permitted to enter the Temple to worship. This was 40 days after the birth of a son and 60 days after the birth of a daughter. At the end of the 40 or 60 days, the mother was brought to the Temple or synagogue and ritually purified. Now she can go to religious services again, and generally go out in public.

It is customary to bring candles from home to be blessed so they can be lit after dusk on All Saints' Day (1 November), during the Sacrament of Unction, and during storms and times of trouble.

Candlemas began as a Roman festival to celebrate the return of spring. The Romans had a custom of lighting candles to scare away evil spirits in the winter.

Candlemas was also believed to be a good day for weather forecasting (it falls halfway between the winter solstice and the spring equinox). People believe that Candlemas Day predicted the weather for the rest of the winter. The weather proverbs express the idea that a fine bright sunny Candlemas day means that there is more winter to come, whereas a cloudy wet stormy Candlemas day means that the worst of winter is over.

Candlemas Day is also known as "Groundhog's Day" in America, the day when, if the groundhog sees his shadow, there'll be 6 more weeks of Winter. All Europeans have a similar belief about how Candlemas weather portends the length of winter. The English have a saying, "If Candlemas Day be bright and clear, there'll be two winters in the year." The Germans also have a saying :

Ist's zu Lichtmess mild und rein If Candlemas is mild and pure,
wirds ein langer Winter sein. Winter will be long for sure.

In Scotland it is now a Scottish legal "quarter day" when rents and other payments fall due. There is an old traditional poem which said:

"If Candlemas Day be bright and fair
Half the winter is to come and mair (more)
If Candlemas Day be dark and foul
Half the winter was over at Yowl (Christmas)

Will spring arrive soon this year?

Start 2010 with a smile!

Well, here we are again, back to school and ready to face a hard term.

I know that January could be one of your toughest months, now that you have spent all your spare money in December and the next holidays are so far away, so I would like to ease your English lessons.

I propose you do something different: have a good laugh while learning new vocabulary.

There are many web pages where you can find short jokes. They may be simple like this one:

"Am I the first man you have ever loved?" he said.

"Of course," she answered "Why do men always ask the same question?".

They may force you to look some words up in the dictionary:

“Why couldn't Cinderella be a good soccer player?
She lost her shoe, she ran away from the ball, and her coach was a pumpkin.”
(Requires basic knowledge of the Cinderella story and that both ball and coach have double meanings.)

Or you might even guess the meaning reading the word in a context:
“Two cows are standing in a field.
One says to the other "Are you worried about Mad Cow Disease?
The other one says "No, It doesn't worry me, I'm a horse!"

Brian, a Scottish friend of mine has sent me a couple of links to pages that you should visit to get your daily humor dose.

The first one includes many categories, jokes for children:

“What did the traffic light say to the car?
Don't look, I'm changing.”

Or for cannibals: “Is it true that cannibals don't eat clowns because they taste funny?”

And if you feel like something even simpler, try the smileys and SMS in varied categories too that you could find in the second page Brian suggested:

smileys: wink ;-) tongue tied :-&

funny SMS: i want u 2 know dat our friendship means alot 2 me.U cry i cry.U lauf i lauf.U jump out of da window... I look down & den... i lauf again

GOOD LAUGH!