Christmas time in Spain

Christmas in Spain from Ana Arias Castro

Christmas in Spain

Christmas spain 2015 from Ana Arias Castro

What is Constitution Day in Spain?

Constitución Española - Public Domain

Constitution Day, which is commemorated every 6th of December in Spain, marks the anniversary of a referendum held in Spain on the 6th December, 1978. In this referendum, a new constitution was approved, after 40 years of dictatorship. This was an important step in Spain's transition to becoming the constitutional monarchy and democracy it is today.

Public Holiday

Constitution Day is a public holiday. It is a day off for the general population, and schools and most businesses are closed. As the 8th of December is another public holiday, both workers and students often enjoy a long weekend off work and school.

Private life

• At schools children and young people have extra lessons on the history, politics and constitution of Spain. In fact, every year, a selection of high school students are invited to read the Constitution in the Lower House of the parliamentary buildings in Madrid a few days before December 6. 
• The parliamentary buildings, both the Congress and the Senate, are open to the general public during the previous week. 
• On the 6th of December, a cocktail party presided over by the monarch is held in the parliamentary buildings. 
• Anyway, Constitution Day is a quiet day off work for most people, as they usually spend time at home relaxing with family members or close friends. Some people even spend this long weekend travelling or doing some shopping for Christmas.

Congress - by Epaminondas Pantulas - CC BY 2.0    

Public life

• Constitution Day is a national public holiday. Public life is generally very quiet and most businesses and other organizations are closed. 
• If the 6th of December falls on a Sunday, regional or local authorities can move the public holiday to a different date. If December 6 falls on a Tuesday or Thursday, many businesses and organizations are also closed on Monday, December 5, or Friday, December 7.

Some history

• Dictator Francisco Franco was head of state in Spain from April 1, 1939, until the 20th November, 1975.
• King Juan Carlos I was crowned on the 22nd November 1975 but the country needed a new constitution and political system. 
• General elections were held on the 15th of June 1977 and the newly formed parliament started drew up a new constitution.  
• The Spanish Constitution of 1978 was approved by 91,8% of the voters  in a referendum on the 6th of December 1978.
• Now, the date has become a national holiday and the Spanish people conmemorate the approval of this constitution every year.

Sources

• https://www.timeanddate.com/holidays/spain/constitution-day
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constitution_of_Spain

English courses abroad for Galician students

Cartel informativo 2018 from Ana Arias Castro

The most frequent names in Spain

The most popular names in Spain in 2016 according to INE figures:

Christmas in Spain

Christmas spain ana_maria_noelia from Ana Arias Castro

The USA vs. Spain

Gossip in Spain

Today we are going to speak about different Spanish celebrities. Here is a list but you can choose any other you feel like speaking about:

1. David Bisbal
2. Sara Carbonero
3. Belén Esteban
4. Letizia Ortiz
5. Íker Casillas
6. Cristiano Ronaldo
7. Kiko Rivera
8. Isabel Pantoja
9. Chabelita Pantoja
10. David Bustamante
11. Mario Casas
12. Queen Letizia

European eTwinning Quality Label for Call Me Maybe

Your opinion about education

Spanish education system:

American education system:

QUESTIONS:

• What would you change in our education system? How would you improve it?
• What do you think is better in our system?
• And in the American one?
• What do you think of bilingual programmes?

READ MORE

• Understanding the American education system

Today's eTwinning activity

1. At 13:45 go to the chatroom and communicate with the students from LIthuania, Ukraine and  Poland.  Speak about the project, what you have done, what you liked, what you didn't like, etc.
2. Use your eTwinning user and password.

eTwinning tasks

GROUP 1: SMS Language

• (led by Barbara N'Sir/Spanish students Carla Fernández, Sandra Núñez/Xacob Yáñez)

Message from Barbara: Thank you for the work on the sms-language task. Now I’d like to summarize our job in an unusual way and to create some visual materials using some free internet applications like Popplet or Text2Mind Map.

• You or your teachers can use a very simple application Text2MindMap https://www.text2mindmap.com/ - it doesn’t require registration – it’s very easy to use, you have to only copy the words, paste them into the window on the left and click: Draw mind map.

• The second tool I’d like you will try is the Popplet: http://popplet.com/ - it requires registration and 5 popplets are free. It’s a very simple tool. I’ll send you the link to the instruction in English: https://youtu.be/CxLDsWHsQ1g

• You can see examples on a Page (SMS language ) and subpages (Gathering information- Popplet and Text2MindMap).

GROUP 2: Survey on mobile phones

• (led by Ana Arias/Spanish students Francisco Martínez/Javier Pajón)

• Check the data in the form and then complete the presentation with graphs and comments about the information given. Try one graph per slide and one comment summarizing the results. They can be global (including people from all four countries), specific to a country, comparing the same aspect in all four countries, or comparing teachers to students.
• Summary of data
• Data in the spreadsheet
• 
  

GROUP 3 : History of Mobile phones

• (led by Neringa Lemeziene/Spanish students Josefina Feito/Jennifer Vázquez)
• Message from Neringa: I appreciate your work on the slides about the history of mobile phones. Some of you have also shared some information and a photo of your first mobile phone. 
• Now, a new challenge is waiting for you. Why don't we create avatars? Go to www.voki.com and create a speaking creature which will say everything you write about your first mobile phone. When you do this, send the address of your avatar to your teacher. 
• Here is my avatar. Have a look and you will understand what I mean.  http://www.voki.com/site/pickup?scid=12646038&width=575&height=323&chsm=38ff2517dbc3a782b88b8b215c1efdcb 

GROUP 4: Phones of the future

• (led by Halyna Mohylyak/Spanish students Antía Cabanas/Daniel Rodríguez/Lucía Villar)
• Teacher Halyna said she would like to start a blog for the project. Why don't you start it and then make her administrator of the blog? Be creative and start a good blog where we might upload all our materials and results.

eTwinning activity

GROUP 1 - SMS language

• (led by Barbara N'Sir/Spanish students Carla Fernández, Sandra Núñez/Xacob Yáñez)
• TODAY'S TASK: Go to the Google Drive document and complete the translations of SMS language into Spanish
• Then you might write another message in the forum and tell your group about the activity: what you have done, if you liked it, any other comments, etc.

GROUP 2 - Survey about mobile phones

• (led by Ana Arias/Spanish students Francisco Martínez/Javier Pajón)
• TODAY'S TASK: Go to the Google Drive form and complete the questions for the survey. Check all the questions in the forum and document are included.
• Then you might write another message in the forum telling your group partners about the activity, what you have done, if you liked it, any other comments, etc.

GROUP 3 - History of mobile phones

• (led by Neringa Lemeziene/Spanish students Josefina Feito/Jennifer Vázquez)
• TODAY'S TASK: Go to the Google Drive presentation and try to finish your work. Remember to describe and DRAW your first mobile phone using some computer tools as Neringa has asked you to do. 
• Then you might write another message in the forum telling your group partners about the activity, what you have done, if you liked it, any other comments, etc.

GROUP 4 - Phones of the future

• (led by Halyna Mohylyak/Spanish students Antía Cabanas/Daniel Rodríguez/Lucía Villar)
• TODAY'S TASK: Go to the presentation and add more information if possible. If you see any mistakes, please correct them if they are typos; if they are more serious, write your comments in the forum, so that the authors can correct them.
• The coordinator, teacher Halyna Mohylyak has said thanks to you for your work, so now write back telling her  and the other student members about the project. So go to the forum to do so.

eTwinning European Quality Label

We have been awarded the European Quality Label for our project from last year, Let's Cook Together.

Etw europeanqualitylabel lets_cook_together_2014-2015_es from Ana Arias Castro

New eTwinning Project: Call Me Maybe

This will be our new eTwinning project for this school year 2015-2016:

CALL ME MAYBE

Partner schools

• Gimnazjum nr 23, Poznan, (Poland)
• CPI Tino Grandío, Guntín, Lugo (Spain)
• Tryškių Lazdynų Pelėdos gimnazija (Lithuania)

 Short description
Our students using different methods will enquire about the usage/importance of their mobile phones (frequency, applications, texting, phone calls, etc.) and constant feedback will be received from the partner schools.

Communication language: English

Age range: 12-16

Number of students

• Lithuania 12
• Spain 11
• Poland 12

 Subject areas

• cross-curricular
• ICT- information and communication technology
• maths
• European studies
• foreign languages

 Tools to be used

• mobile phones/iPhones/smartphones
• computers – computer room
• online polls
• questionnaires
• e-mail
• social networks
• blog
• project diary

 Aims
The final aim is to create a newspaper and/or online blog in which students can put all their articles about mobile phones trying to get a critical perspective of their importance and usefulness for European teenagers.

Work process
The students from our schools will decide on the aspects to be dealt with and then they will try to enrich the monthly topics created with their descriptions, charts, photos, sms language, etc.

They will make at least one survey about phones that can help to answer various questions from what are the favorable means of communication with friends and parents to what appliccations they prefer in their mobile phones. Students will collect data using different methods: questionnaires,  interviews, group work.

Communication will take place either using the Twinspace (forums, chatroom) or using social networks. If this last option is chosen, a common hashtag will have to be used. (very good)

Expected results

• An increase of cooperative skills and competence.
• Better ICT competence.
• An improvement of our students communicative competence in English.
• A critical view of our use of technologies.

Maps of Europe and Spain

MAP OF EUROPE IN SPANISH 

(Banco imágenes INTEF)

MAP OF EUROPE IN ENGLISH 

(http://www.youreuropemap.com/europe_map_political.gif)

MAP OF SPAIN IN SPANISH 

(Banco Imágenes INTEF)

MAP OF SPAIN IN ENGLISH 

(http://www.mapsopensource.com/images/spain-political-map.gif)

 

Mars biscuits (eTwinning recipe)

This is our version of the eTwinning recipe from our project, Let's Cook Together:

Jelly dessert (etwinning recipe)

This is our version of the eTwinning recipe from our project, Let's Cook Together:

eTwinning recipes to comment on

These are the latest recipes that have been uploaded at the eTwinning Let's Cook together blog, so that you can have a look at them and write your comments.

Come on, watch the recipes and share your comments.

Carnival time

Carnival is a public celebration which takes place in many cities and towns in many countries around the world, in February or March each year. Carnival can sometimes last for several weeks. In some places there is only one day of celebration. There are often street parades, bands, costumes and many people wear masks. Carnival is linked to religious traditions in the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches, and it is also linked to local customs.

Lent

Many Christian churches have a 40 day "season" of fasting called Lent, in which Christians prepare for Easter which is one of the two most important feasts in the Christian year (the other being Christmas). Easter is in late March or April. Lent always begins on a Wednesday, which is called Ash Wednesday in February or March. On that day, many people go to church and have some ash smeared on their forehead as a sign of sorrow for their sins. Then for 40 days, they try to work hard on improving themselves and thinking about the teachings of Jesus. It is usual for people to "give up" something for Lent. They might stop smoking or stop watching TV so they can spend more time reading the Bible or talking with the family. Many people give up all their favourite foods and have no cake, wine, beer, chocolate, ice cream or other luxury foods.

Carnival in Ukraine - picture from Wikipedia

The name "carnivale" comes from Italian and means "putting aside the flesh". This means that during Lent people were not to think about their "flesh" (their bodies) but do things that were good for their souls. The word "flesh"" also means "meat" so many people would eat no meat during Lent.

Mardi Gras

Mardi Gras means "Fat Tuesday". This was the day just before Lent. The first day of Lent was called Mecredi Meagre meaning "Mean Wednesday". ("Mean" used to mean "poor" and "thin" rather than "nasty".)

During the Middle Ages in Europe, it was normal for people to have a big feast on the Tuesday before the Lenten fast started. In many towns this developed into a big public party, with entertainment in the town square. There is a famous painting by Pieter Bruegel dating from the 1550s and showing the "Battle of Carnival and Lent". 

Modern celebrations of Carnival

Nowadays many cities and towns around the world celebrate Carnival for a week or more. The final day of the celebration is Mardi Gras, when there is often a parade. In some cities the Mardi Gras parade is held on the weekend before Lent begins, rather than on the Tuesday, so as not to disturb the business and traffic of the town.

In some towns such as the Belgian town of Binche the preparations for the Carnival are complex and start many weeks before Carnival takes place, with most of the town's people taking part in some way. The Carnival of Binche is listed with UNESCO as an event of great historic importance because it has been held there in almost the same way for more than 500 years.

Carnival is celebrated differently around the world, but there are some things that are similar:

• There is often dressing-up in fancy costumes, which often include masks.
• There is usually a street parade of people and musicians. There may also be floats which are decorated vehicles.
• There is often loud noises, bright colours and scary faces. These are to frighten evil spirits away while people are fasting. A traditional reason that the performers wear masks is so that the evil spirits do not know who they are.

In the Carnival of Rio de Janeiro, which is one of the biggest and most famous in the world, a major feature is the glamorous costumes as both men and women wear bright colours and wonderful headdresses to dance down the street to the sound of many bands. In Rio there are many very large and expensive decorated floats.

In New Orleans the bands are one of the most important parts of the Carnival celebrations. In Düsseldorf in Germany, one of the features of the Carnival parades are the enormous models of politicians and other well-known people. In Sydney, the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardis Gras which started out as a parade for Sydney's homosexual community, now includes exhibitions, live theatre and competitions, and stretches over two weeks.

In Venice the Carnival was celebrated from December 26 until Lent began. During that time, people were allowed to disguise themselves by wearing masks in the street. In the 1930s this was forbidden by the Italian Government, but in 1980 a mask-makers shop was set up in Venice again. Soon the old tradition was brought back, and now many people dress in costume and wear masks for two weeks before Lent begins.

Carnival  in Bolivia-picture from Wikipedia

In Brussels in Belgium, the main Carnival procession is held in the Grande Place, the town square in front of the Gothic Town Hall with its huge tower. Every part of the procession is ruled by a tradition, but some of the traditions are so old that no-one remembers what they mean anymore. At the beginning of the procession is a large group of people dressed in beautiful costumes of silk and velvet, who act out an historic scene of the coming of the King of Spain and his royal court to Brussels 500 years ago. When they have taken their seats, there comes an amazing procession which includes stilt walkers, fire eaters, Goldilocks with a dancing bear, a mad camel, a wizard, lots of men in huge feathery headdresses, and the Archangel Michael whose job is to frighten the Devil. These characters are traditional to Brussels. In every city, the characters that take part are different.

Different uses of the word "carnival"

Although the word "carnival" still has its old meaning, it is often used to mean public entertainments of different kinds. Some towns have carnivals that have nothing to do with Lent and are at different times of year. Nowadays there are all sorts of different carnivals. Some of these carnivals, like the Notting Hill Carnival in London and the Melbourne Cup Racing Carnival in Australia are very famous.

The word "carnival" is now used for festivals, parades and competitions of all sorts. There are school sports carnivals, folk carnivals, multi-cultural carnivals, horse-racing carnivals, wine and food carnivals and boating carnivals.

COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS:

• List some common characteristics of carnival celebrations around the world.
• Which is your favourite? and, why?
• Which of the above mentioned is not a real carnival?
• What is the connection between religion and carnival celebrations?

text from Simple Wikipedia