MY EASTER WEEK IN FUENTERRABIA & END OF THE YEAR-by Casilda Troncoso

MY EASTER WEEK IN FUENTERRABIA

This past easter week I went to Fuenterrabia. It is in the north of Spain, in the Basque Contry and it borders France.It is small town located by the sea. I go there every summer and Easter Break because my father is from San Sebastian, a city that is 20 minutes away from Fuenterrabia.

I have a lot of friends there and during Easter we have made many fun plans for example, we went to San Sebastian on Monday and we wander around “ LA CONCHA” beach. On Wednesday , I went with my family to a near town called: Pasaia and we ate a typical dish from there: “Txuleton” . On Friday we had a sunny day , we took advantage of it and we went to beach and swam. On Saturday we went trekking to the mountain of Guadalupe. we went to bed early because we were leaving the day after.

I left on Sunday because I had to do homework. I had an amazing week and I´m willing to go back this summer.

END OF THE YEAR

When I think about school, I remember when I was 3 years old and it was my first day in school.

I can´t believe that now, I am 14 years old.

This year has passed very quickly and it has been one of my best years in my life.

One of the best things has been to meet my best friend. She has come this course and at first I hated her but when I sat next to her, we started to talk and I saw her best side.

In studies, I started off a little badly but now I have gotten good grades.

We are ending the course and I hope to have a good summer.

MY HOBBIES-by Álvaro Zunzunegui

                My hobbies

I have lots of hobbies, but I don´t have any better than another.

My favorite hobbis are: playing videogames, being whit my friends, playing sports (swimming, football, motorbike…). When I don´t have anything to do I like to play videogames with my friends, or play more sports. My favorite sport is motorbike. I think I´m very good at motorbike and my friends think it too.

About videogames: I like to play in my PS4, but also I like to play with my phone. 

MY SCHOOL YEAR-by Mario Campos

My school year:

When I began the school year, I never imagined I would come so far, not only in my studies or sports, but in growing up and increasing the number of friends.

When it comes to studies, I have always performed with good grades, but I am really pleased with myself for achieving such good grades in most of the subjects and although the exams haven’t finished yet I am feeling pretty confident as I have made a good performance so far.

At the beginning of the year, I already liked many subjects, such as maths, science or history but for an unknown reason I became to love them even more and currently they are my favorite ones.

In terms of sports, I think I have learned new things which will surely be taken into account in the future as they haven’t only made me better at these sports but made me a better person and taught me how to win or lose well and above all, how to always respect everyone.

I find it easier now  to express myself with strangers than I used to, and I am not as shy when I meet new people. In my opinion I have grown this year, not only physically but as a person. I see myself as more mature and as someone who can take things seriously when they need to be taken as such.

This year has been truly great. I would like to thank all of the teachers and students for such a wonderful year.

MY SCHOOL YEAR & ENDANGERED ANIMALS IN THE PLANET-by Marina Pérez

MY SCHOOL YEAR

This school year passed by very fast. I remembered the first day, I was a new student at school and no one knew me. I will never forget that first day.

I was a little bit scared because everyone had told me that the course was going to be very difficult, because there were new schoolmates and new teachers for me.

This year had two new subjects: Biology and Physics and Chemistry. I like Biology but in Chemistry, at first, I didn´t understand anything!

This year I went to Galapagar for the “Convivencias” and then, I went on another trip to Segovia. Segovia was so beautiful but the weather could have been better.

Finally, I love this new school and it is pleasure to be a part of it.

ENDAGERED ANIMALS IN THE PLANET

®                      Tiger

Recent studies indicate that there may be only 322 tigers left in their natural habitat. The deforestation and the hunt could mean their extinction. They are caught because some parts are used for Chinese traditional medicine, at the same time as their skins are highly valued and sold on the market. Also, because of the increasing sea level because of climate change.

®                      Polar bear

The polar bear in the Arctic is classified as an endangered species. It could become extinct in the next century if we keep up the warming in the Arctic. 

®                      Magallanes penguin

Previous to the oil spills,the problem for Magallanes penguins now is the loss of the fish that serves as food. Displaced by warm ocean currents, they fish away more of their usual spots, forcing this bird to travel further to find food.

®                      Red tuna

It´s a big fish that is located in the east and west of the Atlantic and in the Mediterranean Sea.                                                                                    It has been used in the preparation of first quality sushi. The temporary prohibition of international trade in the red tuna could afford the recovery of this kind of overexploited species. 

®                      There are more endangered species like the walrus of the Pacific, the mountain gorilla, the monarch butterfly, the rhino of java or the giant panda.

®                      And in Spain...

In addition to share the global problems of red tuna, in our country we can highlight the presence of the feline that is most threatened on the planet, the Iberian lynx. It greases with only two hundred units in the world, located between Sierra Morena and Doñana.                                                  The division of their habitat, the loss of food and the mortality due to man, are their biggest threats.

MY SCHOOL YEAR-by Marta Labrado

My school year was very good. This year some things changed , we started with new class mates and different subjects. My class is very good; I’m with my friends and it's a very good class. The teachers of this year are good as well. They teach very well and if you don’t understand something they explain it to you again. The new subjects are good and I like them. The changes of the classes give you the opportunity to get to know other people that you don’t now. The trips of this year have been the Convivencia and Segovia. The trip to Segovia was a lot fun I think that we should do this more times in the year. One thing that I don’t like is that the teachers told us that we were going to go to the cinema and we didn’t go. But most of year was very good.   

MY SCHOOL YEAR-by María Lope

My school year

I am going to talk about my school days during this academic year. The days before starting school I was very nervous because the classes were changed and I didn’t know if I was going to be with my friends. In the end, I am with many of my friends, and I also like the rest of the people in the class.

I was also very nervous because of the teachers, because they weren’t the same as the year before, but finally I adapted to them and their work manners.

And also I felt nervous because everybody had told me that 3º of ESO is the most difficult year of ESO. Now I don’t think so, you have new subjects and you have more things to study, but I think that you also have less homework assignments and this is nice because I hate homework.

I liked very much the excursions. In the Molinos we had the opportunity to know better the people in our class, and in Segovia we visited a beautiful city and we had a lot of fun. In my opinion we should have more excursions.

This year passed by very quickly to me. I can’t believe that we will have the exams of the 3º term in 3 days. I am nervous about the finals because we have never had finals before and in some subjects we have a lot to study, but I think that I can pass them.

This school year has been one of the best school years, and I hope the next one will be as good as this one or even better.

OÑA-by Elena Saiz

 Oña by Elena Saiz

My favourite place to spend the summer holidays is Oña. It is 320 miles from Madrid. Oña is a small village in the north of the province of Burgos, between Cantabria and Vizcaya.

It is surrounded by large rocky mountains with abundant pine trees and crossed by the river Oca. In the morning you wake up to the songs of birds. This place is ideal for summer because the temperature is very pleasant, warm and sunny during the day and chilly at night. There are good country paths for bike riding and hiking in the mountains.

So, I think, Oña is a fantastic place to relax and for doing sport and having a good time.

Besides all this, Oña has an important historical heritage several Romanesque monuments, Gothic and Baroque.

Finally the food is delicious. Good meat(steak and lamb), fruit and fresh fish from the Cantabrian Sea.

It is an idyllic place for summer time.

MUSIC-by Paloma Macazaga

MUSIC

Music is an art form, a cultural activity, an “organized sound” as defined by the French musician Edgar Varèse. It is an abstract concept which can be perceived in many different ways in each mind, and varies a great deal from a genre to another one. The denotative definition from the dictionary is “an art of sound in time that expresses ideas and emotions in significant forms through the elements of rhythm, melody, harmony, and color”.

The concept of music, as well as the music itself, has been developing to our days since the very beginning. There is evidence that people used instruments to produce sounds during pre-history, but the aim of this activity was to communicate with others and to repeat the sounds from nature so it isn’t considered as music. The origin of music is believed to go back to Ancient Greece, but it wasn’t until Catholicism was spread that music really became known and important since they used sacred music and Gregorian chants to praise God. Musical notation appeared during the 6^th century a.C. and since then, people have been able to pass on music so that it wouldn’t be forgotten.

Nowadays, the main music genres are rock and roll, pop and electronic music. You can often hear these types of music all over the world, but there are many more genres like regaeton, rap, metal, classical music, blues, jazz, country…

We hear music everywhere, and it is an important part of our lives. We can express how we feel through music, we are able to relax listening to the right music, we can have fun with others, it can bond people together, it has medical effects on our brains and it is good for our health. Music is one of the most important parts in movies, especially scary movies because the kind of music that is played makes the blood pressure increase making it easier to get scared. In the past, people used music to teach and to transmit traditions as everything is easier to remember with rhythm.

I think that music can say a lot about a person, it can tell you what their personality is kind of like and mostly in what mood they are. Music represents the personality of the composer, and the interpretation of the songs reflects how the listener is.

I personally love music and can’t live without it. My favorite movies are musical films, and I’m always listening to music, for example right now. I like many music genres and I like music from all times, and even though I really like the music from these days, I love the music from the past century. Also I like to play the piano and I mostly play classical music and sometimes movie soundtracks.

SUMMER 2016-by Eugenia Rodríguez

Summer 2016
This summer I will go to different places.
In July I’m going to probably make a trip with my brother and father, but we still don't know where. At the end of July I want to go to Soto Grande to a friend’s house who lives in Mexico and I haven't  seen her since Christmas.
In August the 5th I will go to Pollensa, Mallorca. I have invited my friends Fabiola and Sofia, the first fortnight Fabiola will come , and the second Sofia.
Last year I went to Mallorca but another spot, and I think I’m going to have much fun this year, because in Pollensa there are more people of our age and many things to do.
We have a boat there so we are going to make wake board and go to different beaches.
I will be again in Madrid the 28th of August.
I can’t wait for this summer!

WAR LETTER-by Cecilia Galarraga

I shuffled strangely to try to lie on the unconfutable wood of the trench. It was cold, and my feet were wet. Some of the other soldiers already had trench foot. Tom stood with his riffle looking at no man’s land, whilst I tried to write a letter to Meredith.  I could not concentrate, but I tried hard to express my feelings in the letter in a certain way that the officers allow me to send it back home. I was writing about the friend I had made at war. Tom was a very loyal friend and he was always alert. He passed day and night looking with his rifle over the sandbags of the trench, having him near makes me always feel secure. Our superiors treated us, the soldiers, horribly and unfortunately Jeff can’t tell this with his own words. Jeff already had had trench foot for about one week and could barely stand up. If he did not get his feet fixed up soon I fear they are going to cut his feet off. He has tried to commit suicide more than once and when the enemy artillery begins he shakes uncontrollably or becomes paralysed, he cries constantly and sometimes is unable to speak. To all of this, the generals do not allow him to go back home or even have a small break although he suffered any physical injuries.Jeff was suffering what is known as War Trauma or psychiatric casualties. David is the youngest, and I feel quite sorry for him as he is very scared of being in the frontlines. Even though he listed up voluntarily because his family was very patriotic he never was very sure if fighting in war was what he wanted to do. This always makes me remember how I got here, I remembered how life was before this horrible war started and I dreamt of having the life that I had before, in a near future.

I remembered I had a lovely life. I lived in a big beautiful house in the countryside with my parents, my older brother and my little sister. We had beautiful horses, very funny chicken and we lived near the woods. I spent whole afternoon horse riding with my dear girlfriend Meredith.

 One day my father told me and my brother that Britain was at war with Germany, but he said it did not have any importance, that it would not affect our lives and that it would end up soon. But he got everything wrong.

Months passed by, and war kept on. The army looked for more soldiers to join in saying war was great, but I did never believe it. My brother Frederic was chosen to fly new planes at war, and he accepted since he loved flying. My mother begged him to reject the job but she could not convince him, and he went.

Some weeks later, officers started to force men into war. Until one day of spring they arrived to my house and forced me to join. I could not refuse because if I did they would shoot me for being a coward. My mother cried, Meredith also cried and my father did not stop saying to me that he was proud, but I could see a deep sadness in his eyes. Before setting off to the training, I married Meredith and promised her I would return for Christmas. Even though when I said it I was not so sure about it.

Since I joined the army, around seven months ago, I have suffered a lot. I have passed through artillery attacks, bullet injuries, fear, anger, concern, I have seen good friends of mine being killed by the enemy, I have felt the horrible feeling of killing a man and the one you feel when you are about to be killed. But there is one thing I am totally sure about, and it is that war is anything except great.