Segovia, Spain

                                                        School trip to Segovia

 Nuestra Señora de la Asunción y cathedral of San Frutos

The Holy Cathedral of Our Lady of the Assumption and San Frutos de Segovia, known as the Lady of the Cathedrals for its size and elegance, is a cathedral built between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries, gothic style with some Romanesque. The Segovia Cathedral is one of the last Gothic cathedrals in Spain and Europe, built in the sixteenth century (1525-1577), when most of Europe was spreading Renaissance architecture.

Puerta de Santiago de la Muralla / Francisco Peralta's Puppetry collection 

La Puerta de Santiago, recently restored, houses the collection of puppets that master Francisco Peralta donated to the city of Segovia. The 38 pieces represent characters from popular ballads, plays, musicals, classic literature and children's narratives.

                                                       

Artillería

The Artillery Academy in Segovia is a military academic institution founded in Spain on 16^th May, 1764, as the Royal Artillery School in the Alcazar of Segovia, in the time of King Charles III, under Felix Gazzola, its first director. It is the oldest active military academy in the world.

Alcazar

The Alcazar of Segovia is a fortified palace in stone, located in the old city of Segovia, Spain. Built on a stone peninsula, it rises above the confluence of the rivers Eresma and Clamores near the Guadarrama mountains. It is one of the most distinctive castle-palaces in Spain by virtue of its shape - like the bow of a ship. The Alcazar was originally built as a fortress but has served since then as a royal palace, a state prison, a Royal Artillery College and a military academy.

Riddle

What Am I?

I have no colour,
not even white.
but sometimes I'm wide and blue.
Sometimes I'm still,
and sometimes I rush,
and I can fall down on you.

I can change my shape,
I often do,
but I'm hard to hold in your hand.
You need me to make
your castle stand up
when you're playing in the sand.

I haven't much taste
but on a hot day
your tongue's hanging out for me. 
Then I'm cold,
but I can be hot
When I'm in your mum's cup of tea.

WHAT AM I?

Jo Peters, in The Works

1. Here's a different activity: the first of you to guess and explain the riddle correctly will be awarded a prize, but all others who participate today will get something - that's a promise!

2. Another Challenge: for every single book you read during this Easter break and prepare a presentation to share here, in our class blog, you will be awarded another book in return, in English, and suitable to your level of English.

Is there anything else I can do to motivate you to read and engage in our class blog and activities??? Please, do let me know. LOL.

Springtime!

Today's Google Doodle welcomes springtime with a lovely line of different flowers that grow and bloom. Typical from Spring are also the bees - in this case, a bumblebee lands in the middle of the yellow flower to collect pollen.
Besides being the first day of Spring, there was also a solar eclipse, at least partial!
Below is a nice video for you to watch (and with subtitles!): the Solar Eclipse explained by SciShow Kids!

Happy Springtime and Happy Easter break :)

Movie Invitation

Hey people !!!!!! I leave here the movie poster and trailer of "GOD'S not DEAD".
I would love to see our class well represented there.
Warning: as it is not a childish film, you won't waste your afternoon, because instead of going home (To do what? Play games? Do nothing?) you can watch this fantastic movie.
No further testing, right???? !!!!!! If you can do this for me, you will see it's worth your time.

Aston Martin

MY  TRUE PASSION ..... CARS.

 A rich and prestigious brand, Aston Martin defines itself as something truly unique in the automotive history. Founded in 1913 by Robert Bamford and Lionel Martin as 'BAMFORD & MARTIN LTD', the company has developed a high performance brand and elegance.

In 1914, the brand was born "ASTON MARTIN ', after a successful season MARTIN'S CLIMBING IN ASTON HILL in England.

At the FRENCH GRAND PRIX,  ASTON  MARTIN,  took its first steps to complete the race with two cars. Due to financial problems, the company was forced to close in 1925, but a group of investors in 1926, rescued the company, founding the 'ASTON MARTIN MOTORS LTD'.

The brand has become stronger and has developed a strategy which placed a competitive range of sports cars, luxury and prestige due to a growing improvement in the brand's engineering and design.

 This progress led to the entry of Aston Martin in the famous running of the 24 Hours of Le Man in 1928. In this test the Aston Martin with its 1.5L model was very successful in the class AT THE 1933 RACE. In the 30s, car production continued to increase, reaching 140 cars in 1937.

In 1950 the success of Aston Martin increased with the participation in various events, such as the 1000km Nürburgring and the famous LE MANS 24H.

In 2006, its newest model was first seen in the James Bond film "CASINO ROYALE '. The launch of this model was quickly followed by the opening of Vantage V8 Roadster in LA MOTOR SHOW. The Aston Martin continues today to be a brand of reference in the automotive world though only accessible to the upper class.

Info & Reminder

Here's a short info, reminder and request:

Once we're part of the eTwinning Project "Stone Culture Rolling Over Europe" and have thus been publishing stuff in different files within the twinspace, I've collected all our materials and gathered them in a padlet wall, whose link you can (not easily) see below the pic "A Proud eTwinning Class" on the right-hand column.
Anyway, here's the link http://padlet.com/teacheralex_dua/StoneCulture for you to follow.
I'd love to have your opinion on the final products mostly with your materials / pics, but all comments should be here, below, in this blogpost.
Thank you.

Bárbara, a pierced self

Hello!

Well, since I have a piercing, I thought it appropriate to make a publication here in our class blog concerning a subject that gives a lot of "itching" to our aging population (someone has been studying geography LOL) and to our society in general.

I don’t know, but I think the blog’s administrator was already expecting a publication on the subject. (weren’t you, teacher Alex?)

I will tell you what led me to do my piercing. Well, when I pierced my lip I was (still) 14 years old, and did the piercing because, at the time, I was also heading to the FMM Sines – Festival Músicas do Mundo I was going to make dreadlocks! I had already been thinking about having them for some time and even tried to create them on my own, but in vain. So, lucky me, at the festival were plenty of stalls making dreadlocks for 7 euros. As much as I wanted dreadlocks, my father didn’t allow and didn’t pay for them…

When I came back to Coimbra a few days later, I felt so much anger!  

I turned my rage against all the limited, outdated people and, with my mother’s permission, I had my lip pierced. I wanted to prove to the "world" that the fact that I have a piercing does not mean that I smoke or take drugs; I wanted to prove that dreadlocks are not that bad, not loaded with lice, as many think ... there are people with dreadlocks who have their hair cleaner than those with "normal" hair.

I think dreadlocks are beautiful, provided they are well cared for. There are people who think that those who have dreadlocks do not wash their hair ... LIE !!! The dreadlocks are washed, yes ... washed with blue soap.

Unfortunately, because one has dreadlocks and listens to Bob Marley, (s)he is a drug addict. OMG – what a limited perspective! Unfortunately, that's how our society works, I have to accept, as everyone now has to accept that I have a piercing.

Now, if I go back to the festival this year, besides the promise of a new blog post on this issue, I’ll have dreadlocks made! I will be even more criticized, but I just don’t care! It also happened when I first had the piercing… criticisms and more criticisms: it’s horrible, no boy will kiss a girl with a piece of metal… I haven’t even answered those provocations!

As for my mom, she didn’t react that well at first. Initially, she said I was crazy, but then let me do it and even helped me look for the right place to do it.

My mom has been fantastic, really! I’m sure that this year I can count on her for my first dreadlocks. Finally!

International Women's Day 2015

Today's Google Doodle celebrating female achievement across the globe

Sunday 8 March 2015 marks International Women’s Day, an annual event that celebrates women’s accomplishments and promotes global gender equality.

This year’s theme is ‘make it happen’ and aims to encourage effective action for advancing and recognising women. It focuses on women in different professional sectors; the arts, female-owned businesses, in senior leadership roles, and all aspects of working environments where gender parity has still not been achieved.

Happy Day, Happy International Women's (Girls') Day if that's the case :=) 

Celebration of Love - Part II

As a follow-up of our last class post - namely the one by Carlos - here is a a beautiful video on LOVE, on Diversity and Inclusion.

Love has no labels - at all, don't you agree?