HAPPY CHRISTMAS EVERYBODY !

It was just delicious ! Thanks a lot to all those who worked to offer this to the whole Chagall's community.

Now everybody, enjoy your holidays !

           On Friday, the 21st of November, from 9 to 12 o’clock, in the lecture hall from the Marc Chagall’s high school, two Slam-Tribu’s members came on to present poetry slam to the 2D1 and the Euro group of  1E2. We worked on the body’s expression and the mind’s creation.

         First, everyone had to come in front of the rest of the group and introduce themselves without a word. Then, we walked in the lecture hall and , in a loud voice, we said words. When this was finished, we came back on our seats and worked on  face expression. One of the speakers said a feeling and we had to make a face . For example, the speaker said « angry » and we had to look angry.

         During the second part of the session, it was  calmer. Somebody said a noun (chicken) and another said an adjective (magic) and speakers told us to write a story including a magic chicken. They let us a lot of time and added words as it went along.

       Finally, we read our text in front of everybody. We were applauded when we came on stage and when we got out of it. That was a good moment of sharing, and it was great to discover new parts of people, and new people.

Eléa.

http://www.slamtribu.fr/article-contact-80987872.html

Some students have been writing in English about scientific topics. Thank you for these serious and very interesting texts.

On

Tuesday, December 16th,

there will be a great show in

Chagall High School's amphitheater

at 4:00 pm and 5:00 pm

To attend this unique event and discover your schoolfriends' talents, it's easy and cheap!

Just bring a tin of peas or a packet of pasta or rice, anything that is non-perishable, and you'll get a ticket. 

All the food you'll bring will be given to the organisation:

After a few lessons with Sabrina, here is what a student from 1 ES EURO has sent to me:

India is an Asian country. It's a peninsula, because of the three seas that surround the country: the Arabian Sea, the Bay of Bengal and the Indian Ocean. At the southern point of the peninsula, there are no buildings and Sabrina told us it is very beautiful for sunrises. What's more in India, it is always the equivalent climate of our summer. So, when it rains, everybody is happy. There the rain is not cold as in Europe. They even have "rain food" that they only eat when it rains. 

               Kachori                                                                  Masala chai

But in India there is a place where you can find snow: the Himalaya. This is the famous mountain range in the north of India, with the highest mountain in the world.

You can find the colour of snow in the flag too. It is composed of safran, white, green and a blue circle. Every colour represents something: safran is courage, white is purity, green prosperity and the blue cirle is the chacra to be more forward.

The beauty of the peninsula is described in the national anthem, written by a poet. At school children sing it at least once a week and for every important event. To celebrate beauty, the national flower is lotus. There used to be a lotus on the coins. The national fruit is mango. They eat it only in April and May. These are the two hottest months of the year. That's when mangos are the best.

The capital city of this amazing country is Delhi. Speaking of cities, some big ones have changed their names when India became independent. (Bombay became Mumbai, Madras became Chennai.)

The Indian territory is composed of 29 states, small islands and 9 union territories. Each state has its own government and is like a small country. Each has its own food, traditions, dance, culture and language. Indeed there are approximately fifteen languages in India. So people grow up hearing different languages ; TV channels are all in different ones and in the street or with friends Indians hear or learn new ones. Moreover from 3 years old up children learn English at school. All the subjects are taught in English. So it is very easy for them to learn a new language when they need to. Children are all in private schools and they stay at the same school from 3 to 18 years old. They have a school song and uniforms.

India is totally different from what we know ; it is a country of beauty and purity.

Eléa.

Maybe this would be the ideal place to ask Sabrina more about her home country. Please write your questions in the comments !

Don't forget it's World Aids Day on Monday !

So it's everywhere.

In the USA:

http://aids.gov/news-and-events/awareness-days/world-aids-day/

In Australia:

http://www.worldaidsday.org.au/internet/wad/Publishing.nsf/content/home

In the United Kingdom

http://www.worldaidsday.org/

What about you ? What will you be doing to help fighting against AIDS on December 1st?

https://www.sidaction.org/journee-mondiale

Here are some of the poems written by 1L students  this month:

Today I'm waking up and I'm feeling unhappy

My face is dark Like a black cat

It happens when the sky is sad

It sounds like a bad melody

Today I'm waking up and I'm feeling unhappy

***

I’m feeling crazy,

Purple is the colour of folly,

It happens when I’m in my last lesson of the day,

Folly sounds like a good piece of rock !

I’m very crazy.

*** 

Do you know this feeling of guilt which invades all your body?

You’re yellow like a lemon oppressed more than pressed.

Guilt happens when I annoy my brother, just since it is funny.

It sounds like his tears, because I make him be stressed.

Do you know this feeling of guilt which invades you now?

***

My heart throbs to the beat of euphoria

Orange and sparkling as a vitamin pill

It happens when I see you

It sounds like a never-ending melody

Like a heartbeat sound.

***

That's all for now, but come back and you'll be able to read more poetry by the 1L.

Have you noticed? This blog is alive !!!

I have never received as many articles as over the last few weeks. Thanks to everyone and, please, keep writing!

Recently I had published an article about Sabrina, our new English language assistant. Here are some more! 

They were written by some 1 Euro students. The meeting was lively and it seems they remembered quite a lot from the conversation.

On Thursday, October 9th, we met Sabrina. She is an Indian girl. She's finished her studies and she's come to France because she wants to become an English teacher and she chose our country because she has studied French. She has been selected among other candidates and she told us that if we want to, we can go to India to teach French after we finish our studies as it's a really interesting thing to do and it's well paid.

She and her family live in Chennai, in the south of India. Chennai is a huge city, densely populated and bigger than Paris. It's a good place to study. There are a lot of universities (for example the University Of Madras). In the universities there are hostels for men and for women and there are even private hostels. In Chennai you can find a lot of foreigners especially French people. Sabrina told us some things about her country and her city. She said they have an exam at the end of the 12th grade, and it's like the "bac". In their country the dates of holidays change every year. [...] The shops are always open, even on Sundays. They have no Starbucks cafés because she said they have better coffee. They eat three times a day and they have dinner really late. They eat especially spicy and steamed food. There are a lot of choices in Indian food. There are McDonald's and KFC's restaurants in India.

Manon

This year our English language assistant comes from Madras (now called Chennai) in India. Her city is huge (like four times our capital city). The best place to study there is UNOM. In Chennai there  are a lot of foreign students and a lot of French ones, because there are a lot of embassies.

Our new assistant's name is Sabrina. She studied a little bit of French but over all she studied English literature. She would like to become a teacher in that subject or a writer.

In her city students and pupils have the same vacations as us (Christmas, April,...) but they also have five days of holidays that are decided according to the moon for the Hindu festivals.

In India they eat three times a day like us in France : breakfast, lunch and dinner. But in India they always eat spicy or steamed food, EVEN FOR BREAKFAST !

But the main question for us was: why is she here with us in France? Sabrina answered she was here because she had been selected by the embassy to teach us English for seven months. We're all excited I think because we will discover her culture, and in English !

Perrine

Last Tuesday we met our new English language assistant, Sabrina. She's 23 years old and comes from a city called Chennai, which is the capital city of a state in South India. Sabrina studied English literature and wants to become a teacher in the future. She was selected by the embassy to go to France for 7 months to teach communication. I think it's great that she's got this opportunity to come to Reims because she can get a glimpse at what teaching really is.

Chennai is a huge and growing city with a big population. Indeed, Sabrina compared it to Paris and said that Chennai is probably 4 times bigger than Paris. It's a good city for students because there are a lot of colleges. UNOM (University Of Madras) is one of them and that's also where Sabrina studied. You can find a lot of foreigners in Chennai because thanks to the embassies students from all around the world can go and study in other countries. Many French students go and teach in Chennai after they've passed their degree because you can live a very comfortable life since teaching there is a really well-paid job. The universities have separate hostels for men and for women that are facing the beach, and if you don't want to stay in the university's hostels, there are private hostels where you can stay too.

Amélie

On October 9th our European English class met someone. Her name is Farrell Sabrina Desiken but she wants us to call her just Sabrina. And it's a good thing because her entire name seems to be a bit difficult to pronounce. In fact she isn't English even if she speaks English very well. She also speaks French a little. She comes from India, more precisely Taminladu. She was born in the city of Tirunelveli and she stayed in her "region" during her studies because she lives in Chennai which is the capital of Taminladu. She told us that Chennai is a very huge city. In her opinion it is like four Paris together. She thinks it is a good city for students because there are a lot of colleges. She said that there are many foreigners too who are there for their studies or to visit the city. Consequently in Chennai we can find several hostels for students, in the universities or private mansions down town. We asked her if there are many shops in Chennai and she said yes and added they were open 24/24, 7/7. It is not like in France.

Concerning Sabrina, she is 23 years old and she hasn't got brothers or sisters. In her university she studied mainly English. She likes reading books and especially English literature, the classics and Shakespeare. Sabrina wants to be an English teacher or maybe a writer, that's why she came here. She is here in our city to teach communication and speak English. She explained to us that she chose Reims because it's in the northern part of France, it's close to Paris and because of the weather. Indeed in India the weather is totally different: it is very hot, more than 40° and there are no seasons. She plans to stay in Reims for 7 months until the end of April. She probably will be stunned by the weather this winter. To my mind she doesn't know snow. I hope she will like it! For the moment she is surprised by French people. She thinks they are very warm. Because it is totally different from in India, she was also surprised by the French traffic: the fact there are traffic rules and people who can cross the street and are able to walk a lot. It is a funny observation.

We also talked about holidays in India. It's pretty much like ours, for the important events but it changes each year. They have a lunar calendar. During her vacations she likes travelling. France is a very beautiful country. She has never seen the Eiffel Tower. I hope she will be able to see it.

Then we talked about the school system in India. We learned that there are 2 exams : in the 10th year and in the last one, the 12th.

The last topic we broached was Indian food. She explained there are 3 meals a day. Like us, they have a breakfast, but they eat spicy and savoury food because it has to be substantial enough for all the morning. Then they eat their lunch between noon and 2 PM. And they have dinner at 9. She praised the quality of Indian coffee because it is the best in the entire world.

Sabrina seems to like new adventures. We hope she could live a great one here in France with us. Welcome to Reims ! Enjoy your experience !

Marie

2°8 students have written their own dreams. Thank you very much for this optimistic reading time.

I have a dream that men and women will one day live in a nation where they will be equal. I hope that they will be judged by their abilities, not by their gender.

I have a dream today!

I have a dream, that women will be as important as men in our society and that one day, inequality will no longer exist. Why should women be considered as weaker than men?
Today I believe in equality!
...................................................................................

I have a dream that one day, people will stop thinking that insulting someone is ok.
I have a dream that one day, being different will be fine and that we will not have to be obliged to fit into an "ideal" form.
I have a dream today!
I have a dream, that we will all accept one another and that original will be the new normal.
I have a dream today!
.......................................................................................

I have a dream that one day, people will be able to love who they want without being judged.
I have a dream, that people will open their eyes and their minds.
I have a dream, that people will stop hating what they don't understand, and that they will know that a family can be happy with two fathers or two mothers.

...............................................................................................

I have a dream that one day, we will live in a peaceful and tolerant world where the terms of war, racism, starvation and poverty will no longer exist.

I have a dream, that everyone will be generous and respectful in a world without hypocrisy and jealousy.

.....................................................................................................

I have a dream,
That all humans will live in harmony,
The most important word will be "equality",
No differences, no injustices, no hunger,
A world of wonder.

I have a dream,
That everything will be easy;
We will be able to teleport and fly,
For going anywhere or touching the sky,
Just to be free.

..............................................................................

Imagine you could be who you want
No judgement, no bullying, no harrassment
We all should stop criticising and blaming
Because no matter what your name
You shouldn't have to be ashamed.

Imagine a perfect equality
Between absolutely everybody
No discrimination, no possessions,
Everyone would be the same
It's maybe a crazy utopia
But i'm sure it's not as hard as it seems
If we all start to dream.