Video Competition win for Tomlinscote Sixth Formers!

Congratulations to Hanifah Hashim-Subhan, Jasmine Carter and Samantha Carter (all in year 12) who entered the Goethe-Institut video competition for 14-19 year old students, entitled 'Sport ist mein Leben' (sport is my life). 
They produced a 3 minute film in German explaining netball, a sport unknown in Germany (where handball is much more popular). 
We are delighted to announce that the girls have won the UK part of the contest and will soon  receive their first prize in the post, a pair of Beats headphones each! 

Well done to the girls and thank you to the Goethe Institut for this opportunity!

Follow the link below to see our video and the winning entries from Sweden and Denmark. You can vote which one you like best - the overall winners are sent on a weekend trip to Berlin!!

https://www.facebook.com/SportDeutsch?v=app_126231547426086&app_data=%7B%7D



http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=WWLvbE0QWng. 


Unfortunately, the girls didn't win the trip to Berlin, but they were very happy to receive their early Christmas presents!

French Exchange - we're coming back

Back in Britain - arrival at Tomlinscote due at 4.00PM as planned.

Congratulations to all students involved for their commitment, enthusiasm and friendliness.

Miss Streeter and Mr Daniel

French Exchange - last day in Lille!

Today, whilst Year 9 and 10 pupils attended a few more lessons with their partners, Year 12 students spent more time with Primary School children. As well as acting as classroom assistants, they did some presentations on French people's favourite topics of interest: British food, the Royal Family, school uniforms, London transport and famous landmarks.

They absolutely loved the attention paid to them.

(Unfortunately, we did not manage to make it to every classroom where 6th Formers were helping - apologies to the students who do not feature on this blog).






In the afternoon, Miss Streeter organised a photography competition in the centre of Lille for Year 9 and 10 students.



She was absolutely overwhelmed with the quality of the entries submitted. Here are a few sample pictures taken by Aidan, Nathan, Ollie and Tim.

After the last evening with families, we will be saying goodbye to the French and to Lille before returning to Tomlinscote tomorrow.

We are all looking forward to March when the French party will be coming over and we will be able to share all different aspects of our home and school life with them.

A bientôt.

French Exchange - day in school and a visit to Paris

On Thursday, students got to sample the French education system first-hand and compare with the British experience. In terms of starting and finishing times, I believe Tomlinscote won hands down. A day with 8 lessons, starting at 8.00 and finishing at 17.40 did not go down too well with all students...

Still, they got to share their expertise of the English language with French pupils.

The day was also an opportunity for Miss Streeter to display the entries from the Franco-British photography competition that she organised in March. The pictures are on show in the foyer of the Lycée for staff and students to enjoy.

Today, we all embarked on a day trip to Paris in the sunshine! After an early 7.00 departure, students enjoyed seeing the main landmarks such as the big Eiffel scaffolding, the Assemblée Nationale, the Invalides palace, the Elysée Palace and the Arc de Triomphe, which we climbed all the way to the top.

 

Quite obviously, the day ended up being too much for some...

 

To celebrate 15 years of collaboration with M. Daullet, M. Mahieu, Executive Principal for NDP consortium, marked the occasion with a get together of all staff involved. Looking forward to another 15 years of exchanges!

Students are now with families for the weekend. More news on Monday.

A bientôt.

French Exchange

The French Exchange party left all smiling yesterday morning in order to meet their partners in Lille and fully embrace the French language and culture for a week.

After a short crossing on the Shuttle during which some students desperately tried to spot some fish through the windows (??!), we quickly reached the centre of Lille and the French school where Mr Daullet greeted us.

Once the ice was broken, everyone went home for the first evening home with the French families.

Today, Wednesday, after listening to many tales about the typical French food consumed by our students the previous night (spaghetti bolognese, Domino's pizza, Mc Donald's, kebabs!!!), we made our way to the very centre of Lille for the traditional photo in front of the column and fountain, followed by the treasure hunt in the pouring rain...

A nice hot chocolate was very welcome for some afterwards. We're really missing the English sunshine here!

This afternoon, Year 9 and 10 students followed their partners home for an early finish, followed by exciting activities such as shopping, handball and drama club amongst others.

As for our Year 12 students, they enjoyed the delights of a 2 and a half hour long practice examination paper which unfortunately had to be completed at some point this week...







Tomorrow, younger students will be sampling the French education system at its best whilst 6th Formers will start their Work Experience in the Primary School. Exciting times!

A bientôt.

Tarte aux pommes!

Some of our Year 12 students worked on a different aspect of French/France. They put into practice their cooking and baking skills and made 'tarte aux pommes' and this very successfully as you can see.

Here is the recipe (in French and in English) if you would like to try. Remember to slice the apples very thinly and add a bit of butter and sugar on the top before putting in the oven. Enjoy.

Tarte aux pommes

Ingrédients :

150g de farine

Une pincée de sel

55 g de beurre

60 – 80 ml d’eau

4 pommes

3 cuillères à soupe de sucre

La pâte

a)      Versez la farine et le sel dans un saladier

b)      Ajoutez le beurre et le mélanger à la farine

c)      Versez l’eau petit à petit et mélangez

d)     En utilisant le rouleau, étalez la pâte, saupoudrez de farine afin que la pâte ne colle pas

e)      Beurrez le moule

f)       Déroulez la pâte dans le moule

Préchauffez le four à  220˚/ 7

Garniture 

a)      Pelez les pommes

b)      Coupez les pommes en quartiers

c)      Disposez les pommes dans le plat

d)     Saupoudrez les pommes de sucre

e)      Ajoutez 4 petits morceaux de beurre

Mettre la tarte au four et la laisser 30-35 minutes

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ingredients :

150g plain flour

Pinch of salt

55 g butter

60 – 80 ml water

4 apples

3 tbsp sugar

The pastry

a)      Sift the flour and salt into a bowl.

b)      Rub in the butter until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.

c)      Stir in water to bind the pastry.

d)     Roll out the pastry to a round slightly larger than the dish, put flour underneath so it does not stick

e)      Butter dish, spreading a little bit of butter

f)       Roll pastry around the rolling pin and then unroll over the dish.

Preheat oven to 220˚/gas 7

Filling

a)      Peel apples

b)      Slice them in a half moon shapes

c)      Place them on the pastry starting from the outside

d)     Sprinkle sugar on the apple

e)      Put 4 little pieces of butter

Put pie in oven for 30-35 minutes

Goethe Institute German Reading Competition - Year 12

The German department are proud to announce that five year 12 students have won second prize in a reading contest by the Goethe Institute. As part of their annual Digital Days competitions, the task involved reading out sports commentaries about the football world cup. Our students convinced with accurate pronunciation and great intonation amongst over 100 participants and won 100 pounds!

Congratulations to Renuka Doll, Hanifah Hashim, Isobel Leigh,  Michael Phillips and Christopher Spain! 

Adiós a Paco de Lucía. The Master.

Probably, you will have heard your parents or grand parents mention PACO DE LUCÍA some time. Or maybe not. He was 1 of the greatest GUITARIST in the world. For me, unique.

I am thinking of how to introduce him to you, it's difficult to do it in some lines. So, just some of his own words about FLAMENCO and how he felt it:

"... is the  music around you, made by people you see, the people you make music with. You learn it from your family, from your friends, in la juerga.  And then you work on technique. Guitarists do not need to study. And, as it is  with any music, the great ones will spend some time working with the young  players who show special talent. 

You must understand that a Gypsy's life is a  life of anarchy. That is a reason why the way of flamenco music is a way without  discipline as you know it. We don't try to organize things with our minds. We just live........ music is everywhere in our  lives"

¡Olé qué arte!

CONCIERTO DE ARANJUEZ by el maestro Joaquín Rodrigo, guitarist P. de Lucía

COMO EL AGUA by Camarón de la Isla and Paco de Lucía

De Lucía recorded more than 10 records with his friend Camaron de la Isla, 1 of the premier flamenco singers.

He collaborated with many Spanish and international artists, and received numerous awards like Grammy latinos, National award of Flamenco guitar, Premio Príncipe de Asturias, the Honorary Doctorate from the Universidad de Cádiz and from the Berklee College of Music (Boston, USA)

Paco de Lucía (Cádiz, España, 21 Dec. 1947 - Mexico, 25 Feb. 2014)

  ¡HASTA SIEMPRE MAESTRO!

'Como tu no hay dos' - Spanish Song

HOLA AMIGOS!

Here you have a SPANISH SONG (with lyrics) that was very famous few years ago!

The singer, Beatriz Luengo, is a Spanish actress who was so successful dancing and singing in a popular Spanish TV series (UPA Dance), that then she also became a singer, being very popular in Spain and France as well!

Will you be able to repeat the catchy chorus?

HASTA LA VISTA!

in case the video doesn't work, follow this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxAdD4N1tg8

MFL Songs: German: Im Ascheregen - Casper (Lyrics)

Here is a song recommendation from this year's German A level class:
Casper is a rapper from Bielefeld who is highly successful at the moment, with two of the songs from his upcoming album 'Hinterland' in the German singles chart.

The song has a rather long intro, so if you're pressed for time go straight it at 1:40 to get an impression...
Once you're learned the lyrics by heart (!), see Casper dancing in the woods in his official video, or check out his other single 'Hinterland'....


Vielen Dank an den Deutschkurs....

EU Education Project - Trip to Munich

Through our status as a PASCH school, we are very fortunate to have many opportunities presented to us that not every school does.  The most recent example of this is the participation of two of our German A-level students in an EU project on the future of education (Dialog: Bildung und Zukunft).

40 youngsters  from Germany, Sweden, the Netherlands, Finland and the UK were invited to discuss the strengths and weaknesses of their respective school systems. Bella Giovanni and Eliza Autherson (from Collingwood due to our SHAPE lessons) represented us in this project.

in the class room

Back in March eight students from Newcastle University visited Tomlinscote to start working on a presentation of the English school system. Further online tasks followed, and the project culminated in a trip to Munich accompanied by Miss Allen. Here, they met the students from other countries and had to present their results and collaborate on ideas, as well as participating in cultural activities.

Bella says: "It was a huge benefit being able to communicate with and understand the people from each country through the German language."

After numerous presentations about the advantages and disadvantages of each education system, and having learned from one another, each country produced a petition to their education secretary with ideas how to improve their own system. Our students proposed a strengthening of apprenticeships as an alternative to university education.

Miss Allen says: "Despite the linguistic challenges and the heat wave, students were resilient, always gave their best and in my opinion were amongst some of the most organised members of the wider group.

I congratulate Bella and Eliza for seeing the opportunity in this project and am very proud to have been able to accompany them to Munich."

presenting to the group

with the poster of the English school system

 The trip also included cultural experiences in Munich. Here is Bella's account of it:

Spätzle

"We enjoyed trying various traditional Bavarian foods, such as Spätzle (a kind of pasta often served with lots of cheese), Schnitzel, and of course, sausages!  It was amazing how we often went for dinner at the local Bier Keller, Augustines, to not only sit and eat in the place where beer is made, but also a beer hall identical to that of the Munich Putsch. In other areas of the city there were Beer Gardens, which lit up the heart of Munich as German people congregated in the evening to catch up on the events of the day. 

Other events included a historical tour of Munich. It was fascinating to be standing right next to the Ludwig University where Sophie Scholl and her brother spread their leaflets in resistance to the Nazis. 

We also visited the Verkehrszentrum (public transport) museum where we observed how transport developed from horse and carriage to trains, air helicopters and Mercedes Benz. 

We ended the trip with the unforgettable experience of climbing to the roof on the Olympic Stadium. It was interesting to listen to how the architecture was such a unique feature, and the sight we saw from such a height was unbelievable. 

Can you see the people on the roof of the stadium?

in front of the Olympic stadium in Munich

Although I was only in Munich for 5 days, it felt like twice as long! Every single day was packed with presentations, activities and trips to the city.  It was a truly efficient schedule with every minute being used to the maximum and getting up at 7am and going to bed after midnight was definitely worth it. I hope to one day return to Munich, as I feel like the city is so rich in activity and life, and I would need much more time to experience it all properly.

Nevertheless, I definitely feel like this experience has not only improved my German, but also improved my cultural awareness and understanding of Bavaria, a part of Germany I had never before visited.  It is all thanks to Frau Soylucicek at the Goethe Institut for informing me of the opportunity and allowing me a once in a lifetime experience. "

Bella Giovanni

on the way home with Mezzo Mix & German books