Celia Viñas Bilingual Learning Site
3º ESO C students have made some research to find out about the Spanish tradition in All Saints´ Day (or All Hallows´
Day), a festivity which has been forgotten due to the popularity of festivities from other cultures at the same time. The purpose of this activity was to claim the important role of our traditions which can coexist with customs from other cultures. The origin of the word “Halloween” comes from the expression “All Hallows´ Eve”.
Esmeralda’s Haunted House
“Once upon a time, in the small village of Guajaneco, a beautiful woman, Esmeralda Bolívar, lived with her beloved twins, Gabriela y Graciela. But the happiness turned into tragedy when the twins disappeared one day and they never were seen again. Esmeralda was absolutely in despair, she looked for them everywhere, but nobody found them. Time went by and poor Esmeralda went mad… she spent the days crying and when someone from the village suggested the twins could have been kidnapped and killed, she swore to end the murderer’s life (with a knife) if she became to discover him. Unfortunately, full of sadness, Esmeralda died with no revenge. However, there is a legend which says that Esmeralda could revive if the kidnapper of the twins dares to approach her grave…”
1 ESO students have visited some of the most unknown places in our high school in a Ghost Walk. These places have been decorated like a Haunted House to tell them the sad story of “Esmeralda and her twin daughters” . Students have enjoyed a lot during this activity and have learned about different cultures in this story which mixes the anglosaxon festivity of Halloween with the hispanic customs of celebrating “el día de todos los Santos”.
This is the first one of a group of sociocultural activities that we are going to organize to learn about the features of American places which integrate American and Hispanic cultures, a perfect example of bilinguism : California and Baja California.
We want to thank the 1st and 2nd IB students and the teachers Belén Martínez, Antonia Torres, Raquel Yebra, Maoles Gámez ,Leticia Alonso and our language assistant, Jazmin Roblés for their enthusiasm and excellent performance.
We start our blog this year celebrating a day which focus on the relevance of mental health, an issue which is present worldwide and should be supported by all the governments to prevent future problems and improve people’s lives in this busy and complex world. You can find information about the different campaigns in this link https://www.who.int/campaigns/world-mental-health-day/2022 .
We are sure this movement is crucial in our education and that’s why we show some tips suggested by studentbehaviorblog.org.
If you are interested in reading more about this topic you can link in this website https://learnenglishteens.britishcouncil.org/study-break/magazine-zone/world-mental-health-day
Since the beginning of this course, Aldea Programme and the Biology department have developed lots of activities to promote recycling, eco-friendly products, environmental respect,etc.
Next Wednesday, shorts from different courses will be released in the Assembly Hall in the First Aldea Film Festival. All the films are related to the same theme: Nature and what we can do to preserve it. The Bilingual Programme has collaborated in this festival sending films in English from different classes .
We want to wish good luck to all the participants and we hope these films will help to raise awareness about this topic in all the community of Celia Viñas.
You can watch the Aldea Film Festival in this link
Today, we have almost finished with all the activities about Canada and we wish our students have had a good time while learning about this incredible country. Last week, all 1º ESO students sang “Land of the Silver Birch” and danced traditional folk music to celebrate this cultural week as we can see in these images and we want to thank Belén, the music teacher, and Adolfo, the physical education teacher, and their students for their great effort.
All the classes in the Bilingual Programme have participated in Kahoot contests and have seen short films about Canada. Presentations about History and Geography of Canada have also been done in 2º ESO classes .
And lots of groups have visited our exhibition and have taken photos in front of our Canadian Board and Totem Poles with their teachers, like 3º ESO A and their teacher Mª Jose …
… 1º ESO C with their teacher Mª del Mar…
and the groups 1º ESO A and 4ºESO with their teacher Amparo
Even though, we are reaching the end of the course and students have to focus on their exams and their last projects, we will go on watching some films set in Canada by the end of this course.
We hope we will continue learning about this country because we are lucky to have our language assistant Nick with us next course.
1 IB students have prepared different tasks in English about Nature and Culture for 1º ESO students in a wonderful setting: El Palmeral Beach. This gymkhana has been an amusing way to share experiences with students from different levels but with the same purpose: enjoy while learning.
After the activities, we had time to swim, eat and do some sports on the beach. This activity has been prepared by the teacher of English, Raúl with the help of the Biology, Physical Education,Arts and English Department and Aldea project.
We are so glad after this experience that we are convinced about preparing a new one.
3º ESO students have made a map and projects about different themes which give us a panoramic view about Canada. You can see this display on a big panel next to 3ºESO classes. We hope you enjoy it.
Some Inuit artists have developed an iconic style based on Nature. Our 1º ESO students with their Arts teacher have created patterns to decorate some of the most representative animals in Canada with the reference of those Inuit artists.
Our 1º ESO A students with their teacher, Amparo, have created these totem poles remembering the indigeneous tradition in Canada. These poles were made in the Northwest coast in Canada before Europeans arrived there and they represented the family’s or nation’s history. After being forgotten for many years, Canadian people are proud of showing their ancestors’ culture with these amazing monumental poles similar to the ones that our students have created.
Skip through these documentaries to have a quick look at this astonishing country.