Christmas Carols

School is...

Pumpkin Contest

Happy Halloween Everyone :-)

Wishing you a frightfully happy Halloween!

Click on the picture...

Tribute to John Lennon and The Beatles

Halloween - Pumpkin Contest

CLEVER PANTS NEWSLETTER - OCT.2010

Comenius Assistant 2010-2011: Jessica Wood

After two great experiences with Comenius Assistants Fatma Narman, from Turkey, and Caterina Binetti, from Italy, it is now time to welcome our new Comenius Assistant, Jessica Wood.

Jessica is a student from the UK. She attends Oxford University where she studies Portuguese and Spanish. In the future, she would like to be a teacher.

She is going to be in our school until December so, if you see her, don't forget to say "Hi!" and welcome her!

 Welcome to Gaia, Jess!

WELCOME BACK! CLEVER PANTS NEWSLETTER - SEPT.2010

"Camp Mosquito" - a funny play

THE MEDIA

Television
Every day an enormous stream of information is communicated by television. It shows us what is going on in the world and it allows us to see events that can happen on the other side of the planet. Some people can sit for hours in front of the set and so communication within the family stops. Here is one disadvantage of TV …

TEEVEE

In the house
Of Mr and Mrs Spouse
He and she
Would watch TeeVee.
And never a word
Between them spoken
Until the day
The set was broken.

Then “How do you do?”
Said he to she,
“I don’t believe
That we’ve met yet.
Spouse is my name.
What’s yours?” he asked.

“Why? Mine’s the same!”
Said she to he.
“Do you suppose that we could be…?”

But the set came suddenly right about
And so they never found out.
By Eve Merriam


READ AND LAUGH
- Television will never take the place of newspapers.
- Why not?
- Well, have you ever tried killing a fly with a TV set?

TONGUE TWISTERS

I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice-cream!

I thought a thought. But the thought I thought wasn't the thought I thought, I thought.

While we were walking, we were watching window washers

wash Washington's windows with warm washing water.

Swan swam over the sea,

Swim, swan, swim!
Swan swam back again
Well swum, swan!

I saw Susie sitting in a shoe shine shop.Where she sits she shines, and where she shines she sits.

I would if I could! But I can't, so I won't!

Love's a feeling you feel when you feel you're going to feel the feeling you've never felt before.

The big black bug bit the big black bear,

but the big black bear bit the big black bug back.

Four furious friends fought for the phone.

One-One was a racehorse.

Two-Two was one, too.

When One-One won one race,

Two-Two won one, too.

THE ENGLISH SHOOL SYSTEM

The school year runs from September to July and is 39 weeks long.

School holidays
End of October – one week
Christmas - 2 weeks
Mid February – one week
Spring - 2 weeks
End of May – one week
Summer - 6 weeks

Full-time education is compulsory for all children aged between 5 and 16. English children attend a primary school until they are eleven and then they go to secondary school. Some pupils go to state grammar schools and most of them attend comprehensive schools. The first–year classes at these schools are of mixed ability and after that they are divided into different groups for lessons in academic subjects.
A large number of comprehensive schools are independent specialist schools, which put emphasis on certain subjects like Information Technology or sports.
Private schools are not run by the state and they are fee-paying schools. Many of them are boarding schools which have very old traditions and a high academic standard. Many of them are boys’ or girls’ schools, but some are mixed schools. This type of schools has become more and more popular and more than 7% of all pupils attend these schools.

At the end of each term pupils get their school reports. Most schools set exams at the end of the school year to test students’ ability. At the age of 15 or 16, students take their GCSEs (General Certificate of Secondary Education) whose results depend on course work and written examination.
After completing the GCSE, some students leave school, others continue at school for two more years and take A level exams, in three or four subjects. These exams determine whether a student is eligible for university.

British English

1. exercise book

2. timetable

3. mark
4. to leave school with A-level qualifications

5. holidays

6. certificate

7. primary school

8. secondary school
9. head teacher
10. break

American English

1. notebook

2. schedule
3. grade
4. to graduate from high school

5. vacation
6. diploma

7. elementary school

8. high school

9. principal

10. recess

Read and laugh
Pupil: Should we be punished for something we haven’t done?
Teacher: No, of course not!
Pupil: Good! I haven’t done my homework.

Happy New Year 2010