Dialogues on the use of New Technologies...(Batxillerat)

This year, the students from Batxillerat had to perfom a dialogue on a topic chosen by them. Here you have an example of these dialogues.

Sant Jordi Literary Competition / Prix Sant Jordi 2013

General view of the audience /

2nd Prize: ' Young Love' by Núria Rodriguez (4A)

1st Prize: 'Learn about Life' by Gemma Alfonso (4A)

 :

All the winners

Claudia Serrano in the USA

- Can you remember how your first experience on American English was once you were in the USA?

Before leaving, they told me it wouldn’t be easy to understand the language, but I thought they were just trying to scare me. Well, they weren’t. During the first days, I felt like I didn’t even know what language they were speaking. Here’s an example: it was the first class of my first day of high school and I was very nervous. The girl next to me said: Hi, my name is Kya. I don’t know why, I didn’t understand her the first time, so I asked: sorry? She repeated it again and again and again. It took me four times to understand her, and that was only a very short sentence, so imagine when I tried to understand my America Studies teacher talking about how Colon discovered America, it was almost impossible. After a couple weeks, I started getting used to it and after I couple months it wasn’t a problem to understand them.

Winter Carnival

- What do you do every day and how is a normal day in an American family?

On a school day, I used to get up at 7am, get ready, have breakfast and drive to school with my sister. School started at 8 and it was over at 14:45. After that, I usually had practice. Then I used to go home, do my homework, have dinner, watch TV or do something with the family and go to bed.

Weekends were completely different; we used to have a big breakfast and then do lots of different stuff like shopping, hiking, hanging out with some friends, going to the movies, etc. It is also very common to have sleepovers very often.

- How is your life at the High School?

High School in America is completely different from Spanish schools. In my case, I had 4 classes every day, which were called periods or blocks, an each period lasted for one hour and a half. We had a 10min break after first block and we had a 22min break at around 12 to have lunch. After school, many people played sports. Most popular sports are football, baseball and basketball. Each school has its own teams, so you play for your school, not for a private club. High school is more than just classes; there are clubs like the drama club or the math club. They also celebrate two dances at the high school, homecoming at the beginning of the school year and prom at the end of it.

In general, school is easier in America than in Spain; you don’t need to do much homework because you work a lot in class and exams don’t have as much importance as here. A part from that, you can choose your classes, so you can make your own schedule and take the classes that you like the most. There are also some fun classes like foods (cooking), music, art, drama, etc.

My Experience in Ireland

Having been in Ireland was one of the best things I have ever done. Actually, I went there to learn English but also to know their culture, meet new people, be independent…There’s a lot to see around the world and all are adventures.

I was surprised about how is life there: the food, the customs, the timetable, the people’s manners… and I could see that it’s very different than here but I like it. Perhaps the first month I had difficulties to understand, particularly the children, but I wasn’t afraid to ask, talk; and I was so lucky with the family and classmates.

I’m so pleased with the experience. It had been gorgeous. I’m looking forward to come back soon.

Laura Garcia

Concours de traduction

Les élèves de 3ème et 4ème d'ESO sont allés au Concours de traduction organisé par l'Universitat Pompeu Fabra et l'EOI.

John Carlin at Manuel de Pedrolo

Here you have a link about the last meeting John Carlin had with Nelson Mandela:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/nelson-mandela-dies-he-smiled-and-i-knew-i-would-never-see-him-again-8987639.html

John Carlin delivering his speech

John Carlin, the British writer and journalist, was invited by the English Department to give a speech to the students in Batxillerat. He talked about three main topics: Nelson Mandela, who is a friend of Carlin, Oscar Pistorius and Rafael Nadal. John Carlin has known the politics in South Africa because he lived there for six years while being the director of the newspaper 'The Independent'. It's then when he met Nelson Mandela and when he got inspired to write his book 'Playing the Game', which was later adapted into the cinema in the form of  a film called 'Invictus'. He claimed that the South African society is still quite violent although the Apartheid having disappeared for some years now. It's within this framework where Oscar Pistorius lives and where he has killed his girlfriend. He, then, talked about Rafael Nadal as he has written a book about him. He referred to Nadal as a very respectful sportsman towards every single person who comes across with him.  The students, finally, had the chance to ask him some questions.

John Carlin speaking to some students

The English Department considers John Carlin's visit to the high school as a very rewarding experience for the students. 

Some students listening to John Carlin

Lluc Salvadó in the USA

Two students of IES Manuel de Pedrolo, Lluc Salvador and Clàudia Serrano, are coursing 4ESO in the USA. We get in touch through this page so they can explain to us their everyday experiences at the High School. This is what Lluc tells us about it.

- Can you remember how  your first experience on American English was once you were in the USA?

It was not as hard as I thouhgt it would be because they are pretty used to foreigners. The easier people to understand was actually the teachers, who spoke much slower. And the hardest thing to get was my friends' jokes.

- What do you do every day and how is a normal day in an American family?

We start school at 8.30 and each period lasts 70 minutes. We take five periods every day, so we finish school at 3.15 p.m. We eat lunch at noon and dinner at 5 or 6. Bed time is between 9 and 11.

We eat a pretty large breakfast and a really small lunch. Dinner is pretty large too.

All the houses are the same. There are two kind of houses you can choose in a neighbourhood. The streets are all the same, and there are not really people walking in the street. You need a car for everything: shopping, hang out with friends. You need people to bring you everywhere because you can't walk to go anywhere.

The stores are all chains. There are not many small stores. They are all ten times bigger than a supermarket here. Almost all stores sell everything. From food to cell phones; everything is big here!

- How is your life at the High School?

The schools are pretty different. Many of the teachers don't come directly from college, but they have worked for pretty cool companies or organizations. The I.T. teacher knows Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch, German and English.

Three or four of the teachers have worked for the United States Government, and they told us that they cannot say anything about what they saw or heard while they were working for them. The Chemistry teacher has worked in a place where they investigate about Astronomy stuff.

Everything is in the school: basketball team, volleyball team... Everyone is really friendly and curious about other countries.