FILM AND SUMMER REVIEWS-by Máximo Herreros

THE BRIDGE OF SPIES:

 Last Friday I went to the cinema to watch the new Steven Spielberg movie, The Bridge of Spies, a film that relates the world situation in the early 1960’s and with the background of the Cold War at its highest peak.

James Donovan (Tom Hanks), is a insurance lawyer in Brooklyn when he is suddenly involved in the Cold War between his country and the USSR. The CIA asks him to negotiate the liberation of an american pilot (Austin Stowell) captured by the Soviet Union.

Different stages, a great background and the characterization of the characters have made me enjoy this movie.

INSIDE OUT

Riley is a girl that has every kind of feeling. Although her life has been mainly affected by happiness, there are other kinds of feelings in her life. What Riley doesn’t understand is why sadness exists in her life.

This is a film for adults; not in the way that it has violence, sex or a bad language, this is a film for adults because of the many elements that it includes and a kid couldn’t understand although the movie is animated.

Riley is a girl that lives happy in her town in Minnesota. She has friends, plays hockey and has a nice life.

Suddenly her father gets a new job in San Francisco, and something starts to change in Riley’s mind.

One of her feelings, sadness, begins to behave weirdly, changing the feelings that were inherent to Riley's memories, and the consequences in Riley’s behavior soon are evident.

This film explains in a basic form the way how the mind of a kid starts to change when he or she begins to grow up. 

  MY SUMMER

In this blog I will be talking about how these almost three months of vacations were. I don´t have any photos because I was too busy to make any but I think you will imagine it if I tell you it enough accurately.

The holidays started with a not very grateful surprise: I was going to be sent to Ireland, and my mother asked me to when she had already booked the tickets for the plane!

I stayed one month in Ireland and I actually left Ireland thinking the same as I thought when I arrived there: I didn´t like it. Not because of the people (in fact they were very very very very very very very very very very very kind to me), not for the food (although you get a little tired of such potatoes) but because of the weather: there is always autumn, and autumn is the season I hate the most.

After arriving in Spain, I went as every summer to my grandmother´s house, in Palencia (yes, with “P”) and stayed alone just with my grandma and my uncles there for two weeks. You will be probably thinking that was another situation that I didn´t like but the truth is that those were the best weeks in the summer. My grandmother is not the typical kind of grandmother that is always grabbing your cheeks and cooking cakes. Nothing further from the truth, my grandma hates cooking and prefers reading the newspaper and watching TV. In that time and without my brother or parents I rapidly finished my homework (yes, homework in summer) and started watching all the movies I hadn´t seen in the whole year. 

My parents arrived, my cousins arrived; now the family was full and the vacations really started. First, we moved to a couple of apartments on the beach and stayed two weeks there without any important incident. We returned to Madrid the 30 of August and I started preparing the year.

SOME TYPICAL TRADITIONS FOR DIFFERENT COUNTRIES-by Ana Mazarías

SOME TYPICAL TRADITIONS FOR DIFFERENT COUNTRIES

Christmas is a holiday celebrated all over the world. There are many important traditions in the world.

In Mexico, children dress up as Mary and Joseph. They sing songs at the neighboring houses. Children also try to break a piñata and do not receive gifts until January the 4th.

In Ethiopia, Christmas Eve is celebrated on January 6th. On that night priests decorate umbrellas and wear traditional clothing. In the morning, people feast and give each other gifts and some others play sports.

In another country like Finland, Finns believe that the Winter Solstice brings out the spirits of the dead. This happens on Christmas Eve, celebrated at roughly the same time. Finns place candles around the graves of relatives. 

Vietnam is more different than other countries. Christmas was only recently reintroduced to largely Buddhist Vietnam. It is a mainly a Jesus free event. Santa drives a Scooter not a sleigh.

The Philippines Christmas season begins in September with the Feast of Saint Pio and ends in January, meaning nearly half of the year is Christmas in the Philippines. The event close to December 25th is a nine-day mass called Simbang Gabi, which includes hymns and Filipino foods. Christmas Eve is celebrated all night and then followed by a day of family talks and gifts giving.   

I think there are many more traditions that we do not know.The traditions that I chose are some weird but in the end, I think Christmas is about faith, family, fun and celebrate the New Year.  

Merry Chritsmas to all of you!                   

THE KID WHO WANTED ALL-by Rubén Gómez

THE KID WHO WANTED ALL

James is a kid who in the Holy Three Kings letter, ordered more than 20 things. When his mum read this, she said to him: 1. The Holy Three Kings have camels, not trucks. 2. All these gifts won't enter in your room. 3. Think about other kids.

James was thinking all night that everything would be better if he ordered less things. The next day, James said to his mum the things he wanted…. And he left it at 10 things. His mum thought that was better than 25. In this moment, James parents remembered that this year they didn't have Christmas Tree. James started to pray for having a tree. When they reached the shop , the last one was waiting for them. That night James, saw an angel in his room and he said: Tomorrow you will have 25 presents. The next morning, he had 25 presents and he spoke with her parents to give some to the poor kids.

ESSAYS ON THREE TOPICS-by Juan Ybañez

In this blog i’m going to tack about three topics

1* SAN FERMIN

For:

-This festival is followed by lots of visitors from other countries

-Most of the people are teenagers

-The running in front of the bulls are really interesting

Against

-Lots of bulls are killed during the bullfight

-There are too many teenagers drinking and messing around the place

-Lots of people get killed every year during the running of the bulls

2*  LA TOMATINA

For:

-It’s a very curious festival

-The town raises lots of money

Against

-The tomatoes could hurt you

-They waste lots of tomatoes

-You get stained

3*  THANKSGIVING

For:

-You eat with your whole family

-The only time you are with your family

Against:

-Lots of turkeys get killed

-The day after Thanksgiving is black friday and the people have spent the money buying the food

CHRISTMAS & HALLOWEEN-by Alvaro Zunzunegui

Christmas

Christmas is based on Jesus´ birth, a Christian religious tradition.

In the middle Ages, Christmas began to be celebrated.

The famous tradition of the Three Gifts was invented by Celts, many centuries ago.

•Santa Claus: is a imaginary person who gives presents to the good children  all around the world on the 24 of December.

Santa Claus comes from Saint Nicolas ( Nicolas de Bari ).

Nicolas born in 281 and when he was 19, he was appointed as  bishop.

Traditionally, Santa used to wear a green costume, but because of big marketing campaign from the Coca—Cola company, he is now represented with the famous red costume. 

Halloween

Halloween is a very typical tradition in America but there are lots of places around the world that celebrate it. 

Celts invented Halloween about 3000 years ago.

Halloween is celebrated the 31st October.

Another word to say Halloween is “Sanhain” which is an Irish word.

The 1st November is “All Saint’s day” and the previous day, the 31 of October has been called “the eve of All Saint’s Day”

•Trick or treat is a very famous tradition in Halloween in which you have to wear most terrifying costume and to go house by house asking for candies.

INTERNET-by Carmen Merello

Internet

The Internet, has completely shaped the way we communicate, do business, learn, entertain, shop, and do just about anything in today’s world. Information, pictures, and data can all be shared whenever we want. Today, technology has taken the Internet to the next level. Hand held phones can access the entire internet with the same speed and power of most computers, which is absolutely amazing. While there is no arguing the positive impact that the internet has had on society, there are certainly some drawbacks as well .

Has Internet made our lives better or has it made them worse?

Some pros of the internet are: “Communication”, One of the main goals of the Internet is to connect people. With the entire modern social networks people can communicate with other people who live on the other side of the world or with people that you don’t normally see. It helps you to keep in touch with your friends.” Information”, anything you could ever want to know can be found on the Internet only by typing a few words you’ll have all the information you want and more. 

“Comfort” The Internet makes everything convenient. You can play games,shop,work, and communicate with people without having to leave your bedroom. And last but not least “New economic methods” ,Another big thing the Internet has changed is business. It has become the biggest marketing tool, ever.

Some cons of internet are:” Personal Information” People often put a wealth of their personal information on the Internet, without thinking of the consequences. 

“Addiction”, some games or social networks can make addiction. Some people spend more time in their virtual life than they do in their real ones

”Communicaton” As I said before it helps you to communicate with people that you don’t normally see but at the same time it makes you to not communicate with the people of your atmosphere.

How Do You Feel About Internet?

There is no question that the world today would not be the same without the amazing power of the internet, but do you think its pros truly outweigh the cons?

HOMEWORK-by Ana Carmona

In this essay I'm going to talk about homework. I think that most of the students that go to school every day  don't like to have too much homework because they also want to do different things.

Homework has many pros and cons:

I think that homework is important because you learn lots of things by doing them, but sometimes you find it boring and you spend a long time doing them.

At school, the teachers send a lot of homework and on the one handIi think that they don't need to send us a lot because we can learn the same things doing funnier things and more entertaining for us, and most of the times it is easier to learn in a different way.

But in the other hand, I think that homework is important because if we don't do them, we don't learn things and in some subjects we need to practise things, like maths.

We sometimes find it boring but we also need to make an effort and do everything.

NEW YEAR'S AND THE HOLY THREE KINGS-by Ignacio Martínez de Velasco

NEW YEAR

In the 31^st of December all the family gets together in my grandmother’s house and have dinner and then we all eat the twelve grapes.

We all get together: my two uncles, my two aunts, my three cousins, my sisters, my parents and also my grandmother.

We all have dinner and then my cousins my sisters and me go to play games and watch TV. We have a lot of fun and then we all get together again and eat the twelve grapes. Then we watch TV again and adults go to talk to the living room until one o’clock and at that time we go to the street and start throwing firecrackers and is really fun.

Then we all go to our houses to sleep.

I am looking forward to this day because I love it and I hope this new year will be like the last one or better.

HOLY THREE KINGS DAY

Holy Three Kings Day is really fun. We get up really early and me and my sisters go to wake up my parents because we want to open the gifts. Then we open the presents and we spend all the morning playing with our gifts. Then, in the afternoon we go to my grandmother’s house to open more gifts is really fun and I am looking forward to this day, because it's a day where we all get gifts and everybody is happy and you never get bored. It's a fantastic day and if I could, I would repeat it thousands of times.

NEW TECHNOLOGIES-by María Lope

NEW TECHNOLOGIES

There are some new technological inventions that have a lot of pros, but that also have some cons, and very often people don’t see them. They are the smart phones, I-pads, computers, and the like.

There are a lot of pros: they make our lives easier because we have a lot of information in a very short time. If we want to know the meaning of a word, the location of a place to visit, or the weather forecast, we simply google it and get instant information, with photos, and videos… We can be in contact with people who are in a different city, or country. We can store a lot of information that people couldn’t or was very difficult to save some years ago. Nowadays it is easy to download and save music, photos, emails…

But there are also some cons: we can be obsessed about their use; we have less privacy.

If our smart phone, Ipad, or computer breaks down, we lose all the information we have stored, as well as our work. They are also very expensive and very fragile.

NEW TECHNOLOGIES-by Juan Molina

Nowadays there are constantly updates on technology.This situation might seem good but it actually has a lot of disadvantages.For example,lets talk about mobile phones.

These new devices that have been developed in the last few years are very useful in our daily life.What is the problem with them? 

That they have also changed the way that we live. Mobile phones really help us in our normal life but they can be used in a wrong way . From early ages(most of the teenagers get their phone when they turn 12 more or less) people depend too much on their phones.They might be used wisely,but the truth is that most of the people have a really huge addiction with these phones,not to say their obsession with some specific brands such as apple,which make people think of in a very radical way.

So basically,what I am trying to say is that nowadays poeple,and especially teenagers have a really insane dependence on phones even though people notice that we should be doing something about it.

Because of this, since electronic devices have been created to help us (which they can perfectly do if we are conscious about the situation) we can all use our phones wisely

CHRISTMAS SONGS - by María Jose Fustón

CHRISTMAS MUSIC

I´m going to talk about Christmas music .

There are many songs to listen to during Christmas time like Christmas Carols or normal songs from pop music, classical music , etc.

I have searched some songs that are very famous . Some of them are traditional:

·        “We wish you a Merry Christmas”

·        “Jingle bells”

·        “Happy new year”

·        “Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer”

·        “Santa Claus is coming to town”

·        “Happy Christmas”

·        “Slient Night”

·        “Christmas Tree”

But some singers change the melody of the traditional Christmas Carol.

One of the famous singers that sings Christmas Carols is Mariah Carey.

She sings “All I want for Christmas is you”

Another singer that I like so much is Taylor Swift , she has Christmas songs that are:

·        “Last Christmas”

·        “White Christmas”

·        “I´ts when you were mine”

·        “Christmas must be something more”

·        “Santa baby”

STORY OF CHRISTMAS-Julio Gil

Story of Christmas

It all started one Winter in Zaragoza. I was 5 and I was writing the letter for Santa when my parents said to me that I hadn´t behaved well so Santa wouldn´t come.

When I listened to this I was amazed because I didn´t know why they had said that. From my point of view I had behaved well. I didn´t know what I had to do, but suddenly I had an idea. I started to make my bed, next I did some errands and I helped my mother to prepare the dinner.

I was desperate because I wanted my presents but it didn´t matter how hard I tried, nothing seemed to work.

When I was about to give up, I started to think about my new presents: my new ball, my new skate,… I only could do one last thing, speak with Santa when he came with my sister's presents.

I thought that if I could be up all night up I could explain to Santa my situation. I looked the clock and I saw that it was twelve o´clock, I had a mission but I was sleepy.

I don´t remember much of that night, but I remember waking up in a living room full of presents.

I don´t know if Santa is real or is lie but I am sure of one thing, that if you believe in something, you know that you can do something you achieve it.

PRETTY WOMAN-by Marta Eguia

PRETTY WOMAN

Pretty Woman is a movie released in 1990, directed by Garry Marshall and starring by Richard Gere and Julia Roberts.

It is a love story, with some parts of comedy. The movie is about a millionaire that falls in love with a poor girl and little by little they are overcome all the obstacles because love always wins.

This movie can teach us to not judge people by what they seem.

Also, the movie won awards like oscars for the best actress or the best film.

The soundtrack has lots of beautiful songs, but all the people that have seen the film say that the best song is the last one and it is called "Oh Pretty Woman" by Van Halen.

The film made $463.406.268 

All the critics that said positive things but there were many bad as well.

THE BEST CHRISTMAS IN THE WORLD-by Marta Labrado

THE BEST CHRSTMAS IN THE WORLD

One day of Christmas a boy called Pablo was playing at the park. There was another boy called Juan. Juan was allowed in the park when Pablo said "Are you allowed to be here?" and Juan said yes. Pablo asked Juan "Where are your parents?" Juan said "I don`t have parents, they died yesterday in an accident." Pablo said "Where do you live now?" "I live with the nuns in a convent, I am waiting for a family to adopt me, I am very sad. I am not going to spend Christmas with my parents. You are going to pass very good Christmas but not me." "Don`t say that, I will go to my house but tomorrow I'll come again." "Ok, see you tomorrow."

Pablo got to his house and he told his parents all the things that Juan said. The parents of Pablo said "Do you want a brother?" And he said "Yes I want." The next day when Pablo came back from home, he saw Juan in the hall. His parents said this is your new brother. At the end of the story everybody spent the best Christmas in the world.

HOLIRUN-by Sofía Casado

      

Running is the new fashion. Holi run, the colors race , in which you only have to run 5km, starting 11a.m. During this race, the participants receive a discharge of colors with dust of colors that the organization throws. In each km the participants go across HoliBlitz that are stations of music and color where they are sprayed with dust of colors.
•      You can go alone, with friends or with your family, but the main thing is that you have to enjoy it and have a good time. The only rules are: use white clothes and finish covered with colors.
•      In this race it is not important to have a good physical training, but the desire to have fun.
•      The origin of the race was inspired on the festival of Holi Run in India that is develop when spring starts.It celebrates how the good side wins over bad side and they way to do it is throwing dusts of colors which has his origin on medicinal plants.
•      They use lots of colors like : blue, green, yellow, pink, red , purple and orange to throw it to the runners.
•      At the end of the race , there is a big concert called Holi Boom and the singers and performers throw dust of colors to everybody and lots of famous singers go to enjoy it and perform too.

NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS-by María Álvarez

 NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS

The patriots are the US Football team of the state of New England. This team was founded in 1959.

They are well known all through the USA for all their victories, and also for their players, like: Rob Grokowski and Tom Brady who is the best football player of the NFL. 

The Pats have won the Super Bowl 4 times, which makes them one of the best football teams. The most recent was last year which they played against the Seattle Sea Hawks.

SKYFALL-by Alejandro Mira

James Bond. Skyfall.

Today I am going to talk about a James Bond film, Skyfall.

I love James Bond films because I think that they are very intriguing and they have a lot of action and incredible fights , but all the James Bond films don’t have the same action, for example in Casino Royale most part of the film is about a poker game, and in Skyfall or Spectre is more about action.

Skyfall is my favorite James bond film, in this film James has to take care of M (The boss of the MI6) and he has to capture an old agent of M who now wants to kill M.

Some things that I want to stand out about James Bond films are the places, countries where they shoot the films, only in one film they go  to like 3 or 4 different countries, that’s spectacular and I like how Daniel Craig (James Bond) acts. He is a very good actor, a James Bond actor has to be smart and Daniel Craig is smart, another thing that I like about the film is the song Skyfall, I think that the song adds a very good flavor to the film

To finish with, I want to  recommend to see the films Casino Royale and Spectre, I prefer Skyfall but the others are good too.

CHRISTMAS SHORT STORY-by Álvaro Ortuño

Christmas short story .

In a village surrounded by snow-capped mountains , lived a girl named Lola.She was always very happy at Christmas because in those days the family was together.
Lola had a very nice garden with a big fir that she watched from her window, but one day when she came home from school , she saw that the tree had been cut and it had been planted in a wood´s box in the living room of her home.
She was very sad and immediately she told her parents that the fir should be in the garden.
Throughout the year,eventually on the trunk came out new branches and afterwards, when Christmas came , Lola filled it with ornaments and lights before his father cut it and so she could see it from her window, surrounded by snow, in the middle of the garden , where it should always be.
THE END.

DOGS OR CATS?-by Elena Muñoz

I think dogs are much better than cats. Although dogs don’t love you (actually pets do not love their owners) they are very loyal animals. If you have a problem they can feel it and try to “help” you and if you were in a dangerous situation they would protect you. Dogs are very cute when they are puppies and also when they become adults (except pugs that are cute when they are puppies but when they grow up, well…they are cute but not as cute as other types of dog like beagles). Having a dog hasn’t got any cons. You only have to take the dog for a walk, feed him and keep his hair clean. 

Cats are not bad. They are just different. Some cats are very selfish and they only stay in your house because you feed them. If you stop feeding your cat he will run away. Maybe if you try to teach him how to be a dog your cat can be a little more loyal. Cats are cute when they sleep. Having a cat is not difficult, you only have to put food and water in his plate and let him sleep in a warm bed.

MY CHRISTMAS-by Cristina Barreto

MY CHRISTMAS

Christmas is by far my favorite holiday. I really like summer but Christmas is very special to me. I usually spend my holidays in Madrid with all of my family and sometimes I also go to my house in the countryside for new year's eve.

In my opinion, Christmas holidays begin quite late in Spain. We break up for the holidays around on the twentieth of December meaning that we usually have about three days until Christmas Eve which makes the holidays look a lot shorter. This year, for example, the holidays begin on the 23rd of December and I really don't like that, but there's nothing I can do about it.

I always spend Christmas Eve at my house with my family by mother's side. We all have dinner together and it's very nice. On Christmas Day I usually have lunch at my auntie's house with my family by father's side. My auntie is a great cook and we all love her meals. On the days that are not festivities I usually go out with my friends or spend time with my cousins. We always do very simple things like going shopping or ice skating, but we always have a lot of fun. I watch the Christmas Parade every year with my cousins and my sisters, but I think I'll watch it with my friends this year. Epiphany day is my favorite part out of all. I go to my cousin's house the night before and we all bring a shoe so that on the next morning we look for it and that's where our presents are. I always have so much fun opening my presents and seeing everyone else's too. We always have lunch and spend the whole day together and at night we usually watch a movie. Also, every year, I do a secret Santa with my cousins which is always fun!

Every year I decorate the Christmas Tree with my sisters and we also set up the nativity's scene. This year, sadly, I've lost all of the figurines we use for the Nativity's scene and the decorations for the tree. I'm very sad because we need to buy new ones and we haven't been able to decorate the house for Christmas.

Regardless of this issue, I'm really excited for Christmas and I hope everyone will have a really good time and has had a great year.