niedziela, 22 marca 2015


The New York Times is one of the most important and the most popular american’s newspaper. It is published since September 6, 1896. In the early decades NYT was not as popular as today. It was nearly financial ruin, which saved new owner Adolph Ochs. Then it was easier and the newspaper gained recognition and popularity.

In NYT is one column which I would like to said about. It’s  ‘’Best sellers’’. The list is created since April 6, 1942. It is published each week. It is based on the report of selling independent salesmen of books. There is a lot of categories  for example ‘’Young adult’’ or ‘’Hardcover fiction’’. Yes, hardcover. It is very curious that Amricans divide book for hardcover and papercover.

This list is a really valid thing. Most of people choose book to buy  with help New York Times bestseller’s books. So if some little-known artist’s book appered on this list, immediatly his book will be buying. That ‘s why this list is  big.

In Poland we very often we can see on the cover ‘’Number 1 on the New York Times bessellers’s list!’’ In my case, I do not like this headlines. There were not encourage me to read this position. But, a lot of blogs and clubs are navigated with this list. They know what is reading in the USA nowadyas


Maybe somone say that books from this list are worse because they are popular and they are for mass but when you are looking for a good novel, you will find there something for you  .
IT

niedziela, 1 lutego 2015

CHRISTMAS TRADITION IN BRITAIN

CHRISTMAS TRADITIONS IN BRITAIN

Christmas in Britain strarts on 24th December, but it isn't as important day as in Poland. On 24th in the evenings children preper cookies and milk for Santa Claus and hang specjal socks. They hope he brings their entidlet presents on the next day morning. Adults while this day often spend with friends. They go ro clubs or make a party.

More important day is 26th December- Christmas Day, when families eat christmas dinner. Special dishes for this occasion is roast turkey, christmas pudding with dried fruits and minces pies (round cake with dried friut and nut. Very famous tradition is pulling of crackers.  Ckracker is a  paper tube with toys, puzzle and others small gifts. Two people must pull ends and the cracker breaks, when it is can hears special sound. It's a very funny tradition. On this day British Queen delivers chrismas speech to all people too.

26th December is called Boxing Day, when people preper presents for the poor. It's a very nice and friendly tradiotion. Many shops often ofer a special sales for this occasion.

During all Christmas as in Poland British sings carods. decorate their house and trees, not work and spent time with their families.



Our  school participates in the AIESEC project in cooperation with Warsaw School of Economics. This project enables students from all around the world to serve an apprenticeship 
in various parts of the globe.





 Between 15th and 19th of December our school hosted three students: Terry (New Zealand), Claire (China) and Vicente (Mexico). They had the opportunity to conduct classes and participate in various projects. They took part in a school Christmas Eve and ,accordingly, they learnt Christmas customs, shared the communion wafer and sampled traditional dishes. They listened to the choir, Drohiczyńskie Warsztaty Muzyki Liturgicznej.  These students stayed in  our students’  houses  and visited  Sokolow. 

They even went to the hairdresser.
Each class participated in such lessons. It was really beneficial for students, because they could demonstrate their knowledge of English. We learned a lot about students’ life and culture.









The first person with whom we had a lesson was Terry from New Zealand.
He prepared for us a multimedia presentation.
He talked about the culture of New Zealand and sang a traditional song accompanied by a dance, called the Haka Maori.
This made a great impression on us and some of us were even scared.
Players before the match also sing and dance this dance.
The main language spoken by New Zealanders is English, but  Maori is a traditional language.
Besides all of these, he talked about religion, people, politics, traditional dishes, holidays.
He described how the holidays are celebrated  in New Zealand.  The tradition of this country is much more different than our Polish tradition. At that time,  a lot of people take their families to have a picnic. Christmas Eve is not celebrated at all, what is more, on 24th December  all the people work as usual.
He also told us about the animal species that have become extinct - Kiwi.


The second lesson was conducted by Claire from China.
She also prepared a multimedia presentation for us and talked about the traditions of her country. She told  us  about the religion and traditional dishes.
The red colour is regarded as the colour which brings luck, so there is plenty of it in China.
Claire showed us red New Year's Eve ornaments, which are affixed to the windows. They depicted dragons, butterflies, flowers, etc.
We could have a closer look at Chinese signs. Caire taught us how  to write down  different words on a special mat. It was amazing experience for us, because after short period of time the words disappeared. Anyone willing could try to write something in Chinese. This experience showed us that the Chinese language is very difficult.




The last person with whom we had lesson was Vicente from Mexico. He, like the other two students, prepared the presentation which described his country: culture, traditions, food, religion.
His lesson was very interesting. He brought a lot of toys. He took with him a Mexican attire: the well-known sombrero and poncho. We took a commemorative photo of it.
Vincente found common ground with our classmate. She exchanged with him the knowledge of Mexican soap operas.
We enjoyed the meeting with students.
By dint of lessons, we learned a lot about the culture of other countries.



They readily  answered the questions and shared interesting stories. It was interesting experience!


                                                                                                                     
 Lots of love, 
                                                                                       Marta i Ola 



sobota, 31 stycznia 2015

Christmas in Poland

 Everyone loves Christmas.This is unique time when people try to be kind, friendly and generous to one another. They seem to forget all their problems, quarrels and just enjoy being together. 
Streets are lit by coloured lamps: shops are full of people buying presents ,chooing Christmas cards : Christmas trees are set up in every home and decorated with sparkling tinsel ,candles, chains ,toys and trinkets. The day preceding Christmas is a unique one. It is belived that everything that might happen on it might influence the whole year to come. 

 

Much attention ,for instance ,is paid to the person who first enters the house and if it is a man ,he ensures welfare to all members of the family. Some people say that if you ask for food on that day ,you will be hungry throughout the year. 
The moment everyone waits for is Christmas Eve. When the first star appears in the sky ,people take their seats at the Christmas table.They do not forget to leave an empty place for an unexpected guest. The table is covered with a white tablecloth and hay is spread on it. Another custom is the number of dishes. Taditionally there should be twelve of them and they all must be tasted. The most popular dishes are red borsch ,pies or sour cabbage with mushrooms ,fish and poppy-seed cake. Before the family stars eating ,all its mebers share the holy wafer. 



There is also a custom of giving presents and everyone may find something nicender the Christmas tree. At midnight many people go to church to attend a special mass during which Christmas carols are sung. 
The first day of Christmas - 25 december - is usually spent at home. Work is forbidden. On that day carol-singers dressed as an angel ,a devil ,King or death ,visit people's houses. The second day of christmas is spent in different way. People visit one another ,spend much time at the table talking or singing carols. From that day the festivities begin.


by Asia Ś.

sobota, 1 listopada 2014

English theatre


TNT Theatre Britain presents:
Frankenstein

by Mary Shelley 

adapted by Paul Stebbings and Phil Smith 

directed by Paul Stebbings


Almost two weeks ago a group of pupils was in the Studio Buffo on art ‘’Frankenstein’’. It was performance in English so for us – students - it was pretty good lesson.




,,FRANKENSTEIN is one of the most potent modern myths. Too many stage versions and even films ignore that this story is not a novel but a myth that has grown out of Mary Shelley’s original; so this production combines Boris Karloff’s immense impact with that of the original story to create a fascinating and entertaining new work. It will explore that myth through a Gothic comedy that mixes popular entertainment with a serious exploration of the darker themes within the myth. ‘’


The spectacle was extremely hilarious and very good prepared. Only four artists was playing - you should know there were more roles to play, but it was not (surely) a problem. They were awesome ! Especially I do like doctor Frankenstein. He was really funny and he put in all his heart to this role .

In Studio Buffo there is no microphones – that means actors and actress have to say loudly and distinctly.  I was impressed cause even if performers was saying quietly, we heard all of words and sentences. Another way, when someone did not understand some phrases because of different reasons. For example, I have not understood not of all first words which had been saying by ‘’mad scientist’’ , who have not spoken distinctly.

It is amusing situation when you are watching English film or theatre. Why ? For the reason that with first words you do not focus on meaning of words, because you are waiting for translation. You just have to ‘’turn on English thinking’’.

It is quite curious and worthy initiative to go on English spectacle . You can check your knowledge and hear ‘’live’’ language.  It is also another side of theatre, which is waiting for discover… 


The cast :
Mag Travers 
as doctor Frankenstein's wife
Kieran Mortell 
as doctor Frankenstein
Gareth Fordred 
as Frankenstein's monster
George McLean 
as doctor's helper

piątek, 31 października 2014

Love in the time of the apocalypse


We'll run far away and nothing will ever tear us apart.
Only you and me.



The history of our country is quite long. Polish people have been taking part in battles and wars for ages so we have had a lot of ups and downs. Life isn't easy and we could experiance it many times. Today we live in a free country and are an independent nation. Despite the fact that not everything here is as good as it should be, we need to remember about people who fought in order to make our motherland  autonomous. That's probably one of the reasons why our class was invited to watch a film called "City 44", the film, which I'd like to introduce.


"City 44" is a martial film with a romantic thread. It was released about a month ago and directed by Jan Komasa, an author of another popular with movie-goers film -"Sala samobójców". The starring roles are taken by unknown actors who, despite their lack of experiance, experiance every obstacles and play very well. It stars Józef Pawłowski (Stefan), Anna Próchniak (Kama) and Zofia Wachlewicz (Biedronka).



The film tells a story of a group of young people, who live in Warsaw in 1944. Their life is complicated, they have a lot of difficulties but they are able to confront them.The main character is Stefan who at the beginning of the story is just a casual boy who takes care of his mother and little brother. Suddently he loses his job and tries to find another one. Of course his friends sipport him and employ him in a mechanic's garage. They all work in plotting, so they are able to lose life for the country. It is said that two birds in a feather flock together and it seems true, because finally Stefan joins the secret group. A few days later insurgency begins and friends become insurgents. They have to stand face-to-face with the new reality. Everyday each of them can die which makes film more experesive. As I said at the beginnig, there is a romantic thread too. The main character has feelings for two girls being his friends. There is a kind of contention between Kama and Biedronka, because they both fell in love with Stefan. Which one would he choose? You need to see it on your own.


The film has been probably the biggest polish production ever and it's full if special effects. As a result in some scenes there is too much blood or violence. Anyway, I need to appreciate the scenery. It really lookes as if it was a devastated city. There were milions kilos of stones and sand transported to Warsaw, As for costumes, they were enjoyable too. You just had a feeling that every scene happened in real life, The soundtrack involved old song from 20's and some new ones which were made special for the film.They made this move even more beautiful.

To sum up, I would tell that I can throughly. recommend it for everyonr. It's moving, convincing and inspiring. Despite it's not a classical tearjerker, I'm sure it won't leave you indifferent to the war and young people's dedication. In my opinion, it is certainly worth taking a closer look.


niedziela, 26 października 2014

Polish teen role models





We don’t have many teenage role models around us. In this age young people are very rebellious. But few of them are affable in contrast to their peers. In my opinnion a person who is inspiration for people is Jasiek Mela.



Jan Mela is polishboy who, as a double amputee, was the youngest person to reach the North Pole when He was 16 and eight months later the South Pole.


Jasiek was pleasant, cheerful teenager. He was always smile and happy. One day he had an accident. He was playing table tenis with friends when it suddenly started raining. He climbed up on an electrical transformer builing and he was electrocuted. After accident surgeons had to amputate his left chis and right forearm. But Jasiek hold your ground. Marek Kamiński helped him in work and train. Finally we reach two Poles and next three mountain tops – Kilimangaro, Elbrus and El Capitan. It’s amazing! Moreover he created the Foundation „Poza horyzonty”


I Admie Jasiek Mela because he is very determined and never back down. He had a big failure but he didn’t fall and surrender. He is a awesome fabulous person. Surely he is teen role model.