A CHRISTMAS CAROL by Charles Dickens

You must have heard of Scrooge and the three goshts who visit him: Past, Present and Future. To enjoy this classical story,  click on the links below.

CHRISTMAS CAROL: The original book

Cuento de Navidad en Español.pdf

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

The term is just gone and it seems it was yesterday when we were meeting each other after summer vacation. It has been so short, despite all the things that have happened!

I wish you a great holiday season. You'll have a lot of time, though. So I hope you "enjoy" a little bit in English, either singing or reading or writing- or revisiting your class material.

In the links below you'll find some interesting sites to keep up to date.

Best wishes!


La gente del luca working with music

2015/2016

Hi!!!
It's great that we are going to share a new year together. I'm eager to begin. Last year was a wonderful experience for me: returning to my homeschool and meeting a new generation of students. I've learnt a lot from you all. You students from all levels teach me everyday one new lesson at least.

A lot of work lies ahead. I wish we face it enthusiastically and cooperatively. The best results are always achieved with those ingredients. Before you know it, Christmas will be here.

Feel free to comment any post or make any suggestion here or in the class.

Ready...   Steady.....

23rd APRIL: WORLD BOOK AND COPYRIGHT DAY

                      Click to know more about this celebration

WELLCOME SPRING!

Here comes the Sun...and the rain! That's only normal in spring.
For many people, including me, this is the best season of the year. There are many ideas associated to spring. Let's coment on them. Say one saying, a poem, a riddle or comment on a stereotype about spring. 
I go first!

“You can cut all the flowers but you cannot keep spring from coming.” - Pablo Neruda

Saint Patrick day, Éire day

On 17th March, Saint Patrick, as a symbol of Irishness, is celebrated all over the world.
Irish are indeed one of the nations which have travelled most. However, they haven't lost their sense of community. But, what do you known about Ireland and Saint Patrick?

Answer to the questions in the following posts as comments.

What does its name mean?

When was Ireland first inhabited?

Who are the Celts?

Why is Saint Patrick their patron?

What relationship has Ireland had with Britain all over history?

What languages are spoken there?

What are the most attrative places to visit in Ireland?

Irish Literature

Irish Music

Cuestión de Pelotas: A matter of balls

Miles de mujeres juegan al fútbol en España. Thousands of women play football in Spain.
However, they are not allowed to to make of it a profession.

Documentos TV abordó el 16/10/2010 la situación de desigualdad que sufren las mujeres que en España quieren dedicarse al fútbol profesional. El documental Cuestión de pelotas muestra la lucha de un grupo de chicas por regularizar su situación laboral y deportiva y alcanzar la igualdad de derechos con el fútbol masculino.

Enlace al Documental

MY MOM, A WORKING WOMAN

ALL PURPOSE WOMEN

CARTA DE UNA MADRE

Queridos todos: Me voy. Volveré cuando sepáis dónde están guardadas las bolas de naftalina, cuando nuestra casa ya no tenga secretos para ninguno de vosotros, cuando seáis capaces de descifrar los códigos de los botones de la lavadora, cuando logréis reprimir el impulso de llamarme a gritos si se acaba la pasta de dientes o el papel higiénico. Volveré cuando estéis dispuestos a llevar conmigo la corona de reina de la casa. Cuando no me necesitéis más que para compartir.

Ya sé que me echaréis de menos, estoy segura. También yo a vosotros, pero sólo desapareciendo podré rellenar los huecos que vuestro cariño me produce... Sólo podré estar segura de que verdaderamente me queréis cuando no tengáis necesidad de mí para comer o para vestiros o para lavaros o para encontrar las tijeras. Ya no quiero ser la reina de la casa, estoy harta, me he cansado de tan gran responsabilidad y he caído en la cuenta de que si sigo jugando el papel de madre súper no lograré inculcaros más que una mentalidad de súbditos. Y yo os quiero libres y moderadamente suficientes y autónomos.

Ya sé que vuestro comportamiento conmigo no es más que un dejarse llevar por mi rutina; también por eso quiero poner tierra por medio. Si me quedo, seguiré poniéndoos todo al alcance de la mano, jugando mi papel de omnipresente para que me queráis más.

Sí, para que me queráis más. Me he dado cuanta de que todo lo que hago es para que me queráis más, y eso me parece tan peligroso para vosotros como para mí. Es una trampa para todos.

Palabra de honor que no me voy por cansancio, aunque sea una lata dormirse todas las noches pensando en la comida del día siguiente y hacer la compra a salto de mata cuando vienes del trabajo y, a la larga, pesa mucho la manía de ver siempre un velo de polvo en los muebles cuando me siento un rato en el sofá, y la perenne atracción hacia la bayeta y la cera. Pero no es sólo por eso. No. Tampoco me voy porque esté harta de poner la lavadora mientras me desabrocho el abrigo ni porque quiera estar más libre para hacer carrera en mi trabajo. No. Hace ya mucho tiempo que tuve que elegir una perpetua interinidad en mi profesión porque no podía compatibilizar una mayor dedicación mental al trabajo profesional con la lista de la compra. Me voy para enseñaros a compartir, pero sobre todo me voy para ver si aprendo a delegar.

Porque si lo consigo, no volveré nunca más a sentirme culpable cuando no saquéis notas brillantes o cuando se quemen las lentejas o cuando alguno no tenga camisa planchada que ponerse.

La culpa de que sea imprescindible en casa es sólo mía, así que desapareciendo yo por unos días, os daréis cuenta vosotros de que la monarquía doméstica es fácilmente derrocable y quizá yo pueda aprender la humildad necesaria para ser, cuando vuelva, una más entre la plebe.

Cuando encontréis la naftalina no dejéis de avisarme. Seguro que para entonces yo también habré aprendido a no ser tan excesivamente buena. Puede ser que ese día no nos queramos más, pero seguro que nos querremos mejor. Besos. Mamá.

C. de Santos - "Ser Humano"

ALMERÍA

DEMOGRAPHY

It is situated in the southeast of Spain on the Mediterranean Sea. The city has got around 200.000 inhabitants. The province is inhabited by a bit more than 700.000 people. Other important towns in the province are Roquetas de Mar , El Ejido, Níjar y Adra.

Europe's driest area is found in Almería and is part of the Cabo de Gata-Níjar Natural Park. The arid landscape and climate that characterizes part of the province have made it an ideal setting for Western films,

HISTORY

The city was founded by Calipha Abd-ar-Rahman III of Córdoba in 955 AD. It was to be a principal harbour in his extensive domain to strengthen his Mediterranean defences.

 The 16th century was for Almería a century of natural and human catastrophes; for there were at least four earthquakes, of which the one in 1522 was especially violent, devastating the city. The people who had remained Muslim were expelled from Almería after the War of Las Alpujarras in 1568.

During the Spanish Civil War the city was shelled by the German Navy, with news reaching the London and Parisian press about the "criminal bombardment of Almería by German planes".

ECONOMY

In the second half of the 20th century, Almería witnessed spectacular economic growth due to tourism and intensive agriculture, with crops grown year-round in massive invernaderos – plastic-covered "greenhouses" – for intensive vegetable production.

ARTS

Archaeologists have stated the rich prehistoric wealth of Almería, particularly that of the Metal Age. Almería is like "an open-air museum". Indeed, Almería is home to two of the most important cultures of the Metal Age in the peninsula: Los Millares and El Argar.

Architecture

The Alcazaba, a medieval fortress that was begun in the 10th century but destroyed by an earthquake in 1522.

Painting

Manuel Domínguez.

Luis Fernández Cañadas.

Music

José Padilla

Manolo Escobar

David Bisbal

HUELVA

CÁDIZ

DEMOGRAPHY

Province in Andalucia

With 121.739 inhabitants

Typicals jobs: Sailing and turism

Important cities: Vejer, Puerto de Santa María, Jerez de la frontera, Chiclana, Aljeciras, San Fernando.

HISTORY AND TRADITIONS

Cadíz has been a principal home port of the Spanish Navy since the accession of the Spanish Bourbons in the 18^th century. The first spanish constitucion was there in 1812 “La Pepa”.Cádiz is sometimes counted as the most ancient city still standing in Western Europe.

The most famous tradition is the carnavals, they celebrate all the years after christmas and they have too a theatre who they do “comparsas” it's like funny songs about it.

FAMOUSE PEOPLE

there are some nobles people like:

    -Camarón de la Isla and Paco de Lucía (flamenco singer and guitarist)

    -Rafael Alberti (writer)

    -Lola Flores (singer)

    -Niña Pastori (singer)

    -Enrique Salamanca (painter)

MÁLAGA

HISTORY

Malaga is one of the right provinces of Andalousia. The province of Malaga is located in the south of the Mediterranean coast, between the provinces of Granada and Cadiz, and bordering the provinces of Cordoba and Seville in the north.

The history of this province has taken place between the sea and the mountains. It`s capital was a witness to economic and culturalboon of the western Mediterranean.The town known as Malaka by the Phoenicians was transformed into a prosperous commercial center. Aftertthe Muslin invasion of the 8^th century,the territory Arabised and laterbecame part of the Nasrid Kingdom in Granada, when a  new period of commercial and cultural prominence.

In the 19^th  century, the iron and steel industries of los Larios and the comenrcializationof the winesprovided significant economic development for the province.

After decades of ecomonic downturn,Mlaga underwent rapid economicgrowth in the second halfof the 20^th century, thanks the tourist industry. Each year millions of the citizens from all over the world choose this idyllic landto relax on its sun-drenched beaches, discover its rich architectural heritage or explore the wild beauty of its mountains geography.

ART

CAC MÁLAGA

The Center for Contemporary Art in Malaga (CAC Málaga) is a cultural initiative of the City of Malaga which aims to disseminate the arts of the XX and XXI century. The former Wholesale Market Malaga, declared of cultural interest and seat center building has 6,000 square meters of total area, of which 2,400 square meters are intended for exhibitions. The CAC Málaga was officially inaugurated on February 17, 2003 and opened to the public on February 23, 2003.

 HOLY WEEK

For more than 500 years of history, Holy Week of Malaga has been constantly present in the religious and popular feeling of people from Malaga.

GRANADA

Demography:

 Granada has got 237,540 habitants.Most of them work in tertiary sector.

Its most important towns are:

Motril, Almuñecar,Guadix, Baza y Loja.

History:

The Nasrid kingdom of Granada

The surface of the Kingdom was about 34,000 km2, somewhat higher than the 27,000 km2 in which would set the Christian Kingdom of Granada after its conquest(1482-1492). The sultanate of Granada Emirate or extended over all of the provinces of Granada, Malaga and Almeria, in addition to border areas of the provinces of Jaén and Cádiz.

The border between the Kingdom of Castille and the kingdom of Granada was formed by a complicated defensive-offensive system established by the Covenant of Jaén and characterized by the construction of parallel fortifications natural limit Béticos Systems, 6 with the exception of the Sierras de Cazorla and Segura, where located the Advancement of Cazorla and Segura. Commendation of the santiaguista, respectively, formedthe vanguard of the territories of the Crown of Castilla.

Art

The Moorish art, also called Granada art, is the last stage of Hispano art. It takes place during the XIII, XIV and XV century, besides extending the Kingdom of Granada, by Barbary and Christians domains of the Iberian Peninsula, contributing to the emergence of Mudejar art.

Monuments

Alhambra de Granada.

JAÉN

DEMOGRAPHY

Generaly Jaen comunity is divided in two zones , rural zone wich is in the northeastern of Jaen, usually in the mountains. The other zone is on the west the biggest cities are: Jaén, Linares, Andújar, Úbeda, Martos, Alcalá la Real, Bailén, Baeza and La Carolina.

The capital is Jaén wich has 670.000 inhabitants.

Life span                         

One important thing is the lifespan one of the highest of the world.

 Population                  

The strong population dispersion does that to be a model out of those provinces where the capital has a huge weight strongly affects any intervention.

Its more important towns are: BAEZA, LA CAROLINA, BAILEN, ÚBEDA, LINARES, ANDUJAR, MARTOS, ALCALA LA REAL, VILLACARRILLO.

ART

archirtecture

 Francisco del Castillo "El Mozo"1 born:1528  dead:1586

painting

Sebastián Martínez Domecel born:1615 dead:1667

Ramón Muñoz Rubioz5  born:1867  dead:1910

Manuel Ángeles Ortiz

music

Joaquin Sabina

HISTORY

History: cities including Baeza and La carolina, took place Batalle of Las Navas de Tolosa . It is related to Greek mythology province and has a lot of rich heritage , most of the territory of what is now Jaén was governed by the kingdom of Oretanos or Orisios.

ANDALUSIA'S DAY

Hi! Our Comunity has many riches and interesting facts to make us feel proud of ourselves. Let's share here some information about it.