'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

Year 7 Carol Concert 19.12.13

In December 2013, Year 7 students rose to the challenge of learning/practising a German or French Christmas carol (depending on which language they currently study) for 3 weeks whilst juggling end-of-term assessments. Not only that, they also performed it in the School Hall in front of the rest of their peers and a selected audience of lucky Year 6 Ravenscote pupils.

Fantastic work by a primary pupil!

Here is an astonishing piece of work by a girl in year 4 at Ravenscote (one of our feeder primary schools).
Diya Rashid has been learning French since the beginning of year 3.
Recently, her French teacher Madame Butler has taught the class how using a dictionary can enable you to say anything and be really creative with a foreign language.
Diya has clearly understood the message. Not only did she produce stunning work in French, but she also went home and wrote an entire bed time story in German - a language she has not learned at all yet! - only with the help of a dictionary (and her little sister Zara, who gave some inspirations for the story).
Although her text on 'Goldillocks and the three cats' is not 100 per cent accurate, Diya knew that she had to change infinitive verb forms into the past tense or ing form, how to choose the correct translation for the context and managed to communicate the whole story really well! In addition to that, she has illustrated it beautifully!  
What a star and what a promising SUPER LINGUIST!
Well done to Diya! -and to Madame Butler for inspiring her!
Fantastique! Fantastisch! 

OK KID - Am Ende - lyrics

Here's another song recommendation by year 12: OK Kid singing 'Am Ende' (in the end). Maybe some of you have come across it in your FIFA 14 game? Someone has added the lyrics - do you understand anything? Can you correct the slightly dodgy capital letters? Remember in German all nouns should begin with a capital!

A Heated Debate - fantastic German sixth form work

Have a look at some fantastic pieces of work from German sixth form students: They had to write a heated debate on Christmas day between two people of extreme views about whether or not more migrants should be allowed into the country.  Here are two superb examples by Eliza Autherson and Maymun Hashim. Well done to them and the whole class who all have produced great texts!

Mandarin Speaking Competition

6 students from Year 8 and 9 worked really hard and successfully got to the first round.

On Monday 9th December, with a great deal of excitement and a very early start, they travelled up to London (accompanied by their Chinese teacher) to perform in front of students from 14 other schools (and the judges, of course).

We hope to hear whether they have reached the final very soon.

 

 

 

 

 

WOW! What a day, from the early start with feelings of nervousness to the excitement of knowing we were competing for the chance of a place in the finals, and if successful an amazing visit to China. We all met bright and early at the Farnborough train station and made our way to London to perform at the Bloomsbury theatre. On arrival we weighed up the competition groups from all over the country. It was hard to tell as each group presented with such high standard; finally the time came for our performance. We surely gave it our all and felt confident that we had excelled. Only time will tell whether we go through to the finals or not!... fingers crossed!  

Tom Lara 9G

Participating in the HSBC Mandarin Speaking competition has improved my understanding of both the Chinese language and culture – from the scripts we received, I have managed to pick up some new vocabulary that we hadn’t covered yet in our lessons. Also, our script, like all the other entries, had contained a plot surrounding a certain part of Chinese culture (In our case it was about how boys are the favourites of grandparents) and it was interesting to see the contrast between British and Chinese family life. For days, I had practiced my lines, listening back to an audio tape to perfect my tones and accent – when I learn new vocabulary now, I have more confidence in trying to say things I’m not familiar with. Overall, the speaking competition was a great experience for me to learn more about the language and the culture behind it, and I’d recommend anyone to take up more opportunities like this in the future.

By Max Naoe, 9H.

 

German and English Christmas Carols & Songs

To get you into the Christmas mood of 'Besinnlichkeit' (contemplation), here are some German Christmas carols..

German New Year's Eve Tradition: Bleigießen

Bleigießen (pronounced Bligh - geese -n) is a tradition popular in Germany and other Nordic countries to predict what the future holds for the New Year.

Silvester (New Year's Eve) is usually celebrated with friends at big parties or a dinner party with card games. 

Popular meals for these occasions are those that can span several hours, often with a French origin, like fondue (where each person has a skewer to cook a piece of meat in a pot of broth on the table) or raclette (where you melt cheese over vegetables and breads in a special table top grill). 

Just before midnight, you have to count down the seconds, of course, and after shouts of 'Frohes Neues Jahr!' (Happy New Year!), you do 'zuprosten' (raise and touch your glasses of champagne or sparkling wine and say Prost! (cheers). Then you go outside and watch the Feuerwerk (fireworks), or set them off yourselves. Hundreds of Raketen (rockets) light up the sky and loud 'Böller' (bangers/firecrackers) are supposed to chase away evil spirits.

For good luck, many Germans also eat a Krapfen or Berliner (jam filled dougnut) after midnight.

After that, in the early hours of the new year, many people do Bleigießen.

Also known as molybdomancy (if you like a fancy word for your next round of Scrabble!), it is the the technique of predicting the future from molten metal. The literal translation is 'lead pouring'. 
People do this together at their Silvesterparty to see what the new year might bring!


In Germany, you can buy kits for this:
They contain small light figures made of lead  (or zinc, which is less toxic), a spoon and a list of interpretations.

You melt one of the figures in the spoon over a candle, and then pour the liquid into a bowl of cold water. The resulting  'sculpture' then needs to be identified (you probably need quite bit of imagination for this!) and interpreted according to the list.

A pig or a frog, for example, could mean you might win the lottery, while a sword could mean 'problems in your job'.

The tradition of reading the future from molten metal goes back to Roman times, but these days it's just a bit of party fun and few people really believe in it.

 Follow this link to see a video what it looks like:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IEaiuKCh9wI

As the kits are hard to get in England (and lead can be dangerous if you breathe in the fumes anyway) why don't you try the same thing with wax (ask your parent's permission and guidance if you're underage)

Get a candle, a bowl with water, and old spoon and some wax. Melt a small blob of wax in the spoon and then throw it in a bowl of cold water.
Use your fantasy to make out what the 'sculpture' is and make up what you think it means...

Here is a German website with interpretations for the different shapes: go on the letters at the top - and use an online dictionary...

http://www.bleigiessen.org/


Alternatively, if you have a smart phone there are even apps for Bleigiessen - check it out, but beware - you might have to pay!

Viel Spaß!

und einen guten Rutsch ins Neue Jahr!

(literally: have a good sliding into the new year...)