Gonçalo Cadilhe visited our school

Monday 28 February 2011

Today our school received Gonçalo Cadilhe, a travelling writer.

His experience is astonishing. Although he is young, his adventures all over the world (approximately 100 countries ) “enriched his soul” and made him capable of describing his life as a book of adventures where he found the happiness doing what he wants to do.
The photos of his journeys were amazing, and his will to fight all the world trends and live like he wants is a message of courage to deal with life and enjoy it.
Personally, I would like to travel a lot, enjoy the wonders of the world and make that my lifestyle, opposing the traditional path that we are taught to follow.
But… My motives would be different because although I agree with his lifestyle, my ideals are different. Probably I would travel and live around the world to get away from this system and fight for some ideas that I defend.
I would go to find out other cultures and ways of seeing life. Just to learn about how other people live and deal with nature around them.
Generally it was worthwhile to think about alternative lifestyles and to see that maybe the way to find our happiness can be out of the world of work in a building for 8 hours every day.

About my class tomorrow, I’ll try to make it fun and create a space when we can all laugh, participate and learn. The theme will be a surprise and I hope you all enjoy it. The main objective is to improve a bit our general knowledge and make you think about a very actual theme that started a long time ago.

Diogo

A poem about the last unit

Sunday 27 February 2011

      You probably remember that our English Teacher asked us to elaborate some kind of song or poem about the last unit we have studied. This is my work, I hope you like it!


This world is such a craziness
Everyone can touch our sadness
That all of us got stuck inside
Hidden between the fakeness and our pride

Most of us keep so quiet
We can only think of our belly
Always fighting to maintain a diet
When others, across the world don't have bread or jelly

How can we be so complaining
Idiots, racists and always demanding
To be superior to those who are outside
Watching our steps glass-eyed

Please say something!
 Can't we do anything?
Are we trying everyday not to die?
Then how can we say such a lie?


Raquel Moreira 12ºB

What happened in my birth year? + extra

Thursday 24 February 2011

I was browsing through my Tumblr when I found out a very interesting and funny site.
Well, the site consists of naming a few events that happened in the year that you're born.
just click to go to the page


hope you like it! (:


and now the extra:
I saw this image and I can't stop thinking about how it portrays the reality hehe.

Vânia Amaral

True Grit

Monday 21 February 2011

This weekend I decided to go to the cinema and I went with António to see this marvelous movie.

Plot of the movie: Following the murder of her father by hired hand Tom Chaney, 14-year-old farm girl Mattie Ross sets out to capture the killer. To aid her, she hires the toughest U.S. marshal she can find, a man with "true grit," Reuben J. "Rooster" Cogburn. Mattie insists on accompanying Cogburn, whose drinking, sloth, and generally reprobate character do not augment her faith in him. Against his wishes, she joins him in his trek into the Indian Nations in search of Chaney. They are joined by Texas Ranger LaBoeuf, who wants Chaney for his own purposes. The unlikely trio find danger and surprises on the journey, and each has his or her "grit" tested.

 We enjoyed it a lot and we hope you all go and see it for yourselves.

Here is the trailer of the movie :) enjoy!

Miguel Amaral and António 12ºA

José Sócrates: Bad English

Saturday 19 February 2011

This is just a video that I found... It shows that after all we are learning English very well.   =D

Hope you enjoy it...

Carlos Silva 12ºB

Black Swan

Black Swan is a mysterious American psychological thriller film directed by Darren Aronofsky and starring Natalie Portman, Oscar nominated as best actress.


A New York City ballet company is preparing for the production of Swan Lake, choosing to cast a new lead to replace the current star performing the Swan Queen. However, the lead must maintain an adequate portrayal of both the White and Black Swans. Nina, a ballet dancer, is competing for the part alongside several other young dancers, including the newcomer Lily. Nina is a perfect fit for the innocent and delicate White swan - Princess Odette - but she lacks the passion of the darkly sensual Black Swan – the evil sister, Odile. As Lily has a personality that matches the Black Swan, the two compete for the role while Nina slowly loses her mind, finding her dark side, as she becomes more and more like Odette's wicked sister. She starts having psychotic symptoms and strong visual hallucinations during her twisted and desperate search for perfection.

I strongly recommend to the ones that enjoy gloomy thrillers. It wasn´t one of my favorite movies because I was expecting that it would be more focused on dance, but I really liked Natalie Portman’s performance.



I hope you like it!
Daniela :)

The Great Leap Forward

Thursday 17 February 2011

China’s Great Leap Forward was an economic and social campaign of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) aimed to modernize its economy through decisions made from 1958 to 1961. Mao Zedong led the campaign, using China's vast population to rapidly transform the country from an agrarian economy into a communist society through the process of agriculturalization and industrialization.


Private farming was prohibited, and those engaged in it were labeled as counter revolutionaries and persecuted. Restrictions on rural people were enforced by social pressure, The Great Leap ended in catastrophe, resulting in tens of millions of deaths by starvation and violence. Described by ones as a policy based on coercion, terror, and systematic violence and by others a very expensive disaster, it "motivated one of the most deadly mass killings of human history.”

Mao was criticized and marginalized in the party conferences, leading him to initiate the Cultural Revolution in 1966. It is said that this disastrous policy is an economic disaster, in which 30% was nature’s fault and 70% human error.

Mao Zedong stated:

"Casualties have indeed appeared among workers, but it is not enough to stop us in our tracks. This is the price we have to pay, it's nothing to be afraid of. Who knows how many people have been sacrificed on the battlefields and in the prisons [for the revolutionary cause]? Now we have a few cases of illness and death: it's nothing!"

"When there is not enough to eat people starve to death. It is better to let half of the people die so that the other half can eat their fill."

The great leap forward turned out to be a great leap into the abyss!
Daniela :)

Dictatorship

A Dictatorship is a system where people's opinion is not taken into account. The people live in a repressive ambience and only the dictators have the right to have an opinion, their will must be respected.

Generally dictatorships are associated with cases of political corruption and large massacres where they can reach millions of deads.

Throughout history there have been various types of dictatorships: from the Romans who elected a dictator to rule them during times of crisis, to the most recent that may be the left (e.g. Stalin) or right (e.g. Hitler). One is more focused on the nationalization of property values of the country and the other is focused in race instead the individual.

 

Fidel Castro:

 

Hugo Chavez:

Stalin:

Hitler:

Mussolini:

Salazar:

Diogo nº9 12ºA

Valentine's Day

Monday 14 February 2011

Enjoy your day!

Video: An interview with Durão Barroso

Wednesday 9 February 2011

Link:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXkLGYQ_hRU

We both hope you enjoy it!

Miguel Amaral

Miguel Pedro

What if?

As you know, in the English classes we are talking about globalisation, volunteer work, and we also talked about the Millenium Goals. I've found this video and I really liked it so I've decided to share it with you because we can all make a difference.

I hope you like it.

Ana Pereira, 12ºB

Protect the earth

Tuesday 8 February 2011

Wildlife Management Institute

WMI was established in 1911 by sportsmen/businessmen gravely concerned about the dramatic declines of many wildlife populations. Its founders saw need for a small, independent and aggressive cadre of people dedicated to restoring and ensuring the well-being of wild populations and their habitats.

Events: 

76th North American Wildlife and Natural Resources Conference

March 14-19, 2011

Westin Crown Center
Kansas City, Missouri

Join the industry leaders dedicated to the conservation, enhancement and management of North America's wildlife and other natural resources.

Highlights of the conference include: Plenary Session with featured speakers, Concurrent Special Sessions on key topics to natural resources management, Committee and Working Group Meetings, Workshop and Special Events

Ass: Giselda

Prominent refugees - Philip Emeagwali

Known as a "father of the internet" and sometimes called the Bill Gates of Africa, the computing superbrain Philip Emeagwali spent years of his childhood in a refugee camp before he went on to become, in former US president Bill Clinton's words, "one of the great minds of the Information age".

He was born on 23 August 1954, in Nigeria and he was one of nine children of Ibo-speaking parents.

He showed early promise at school and he was called "Calculus" by his classmates because of his extraordinary abilities in maths.

In 1966, started a civil between central government and the ethnic Ibo population so, as I told before, he spent most of the time in a refugee camp.

In 1974, Emeagwali went to USA and fifteen years later he graduated in mathematics, civil, coastal and marine engeneering and also in computer science.

In 1989, he won the computing World's Nobel Prize and The Gordon Bell Prize for solving a problem, that had benn classified by USA government as one of the 20 more difficult computing problems ever, performing the world's fastest computationat 3.1 bilion calculations per second.

Carlos Silva 12ºB.

Ps: Sorry for the delay but I have been a little bit busy so I couldn't post it before.

Help, volunteer, help the others and don't have fear



2011 International year of Volunteering

Diogo Andrade, Hugo Queirós 12ºA

An interview with Durão Barroso

We are going to interview Durão Barroso  for Chicago Tribune to discuss about Globalization issues such as the environment, migration and health.

Interviewer: Hello mr. Durão Barroso, we are from The Chicago Tribune and we came to ask you a few questions about Globalization and it's influence in today's Society. Can you please spend some of your time answering our questions?

Durão Barroso: Of course I will. Go ahead.

I: What do you thing Globalization has to do with environment?

DB: I think that Globalization has an huge impact in the environment. Globalization brings positive and negative aspects to the environment.

I: What negative aspects do you think are related to the environment?

DB: Globalization spreads the top industries in almost every part of the world but mainly in developing country. Those industries are unsustainable and they emit lots of greenhouse gases that are harmful to the atmosphere and consequently, for the human being.

I: So, what positive aspects do  you think Globalization brings to the environment?

DB: Some of the industries are investing in environmental friendly technology with the same benefit for both: industries and environment.

I. Now let's talk about migration. What does migration have to do with Globalization?

DB: Migration is only possible because Globalization provides better and faster means of communication. The main consequence of migration is a change in the demands at work. Many people migrate to other countries to look for new opportunities such as: better working conditions, a better way of life and better salaries and health. All these facts helped improving the global mobility.

I: You mentioned health previously. Is there a straight relationship between health and Globalization?

DB: With globalization the spread of diseases has an higher rate than ever before. People travel around the world and carry those diseases from country to country. However , these situations help to improve and develop medical care. Globalization also allows those who have diseases to travel to other countries to get healed.

I: I think that's all for now, we appreciate the time you have spent and thanks for having answered all our questions.

DB: It was my pleasure.


Miguel Amaral and Miguel Pedro 12ºA

World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF)

Saturday 5 February 2011

 World Wide Fund for Nature is an international non-governmental organization working on issues regarding the conservation, research and restoration of the environment.

It is the world's largest independent conservation organization with over 5 million supporters worldwide, working in more than 90 countries, supporting around 1300 conservation and environmental projects around the world.

Currently, much of its work focuses on the conservation of three biomes that contain most of the world's biodiversity: forests, freshwater ecosystems, and oceans and coasts. Among other issues, it is also concerned with endangered species, pollution and climate change.

             Slogan - For a Living Planet

             Founded -  April 29, 1961

             Founders - Julian Huxley

                               Max Nicholson

                               Peter Scott

                              
Hugo Queiros
I hope you all enjoy...

VIM

Friday 4 February 2011

 VIM

Volunteers in Medicine (VIM) began in Hilton Head, South Carolina. "Culture of Caring" VIM recognizes the strengths of those in need and respects their dignity. Seeks to heal not only physical illnesses, but also the injury caused by bias, prejudice and indifference.

ASS:Giselda Bica n11 12 A

Our commitment!

Thursday 3 February 2011

       We all need to be aware of what's happening in the world, beyond our borders!

       Millenium Development Goals for 2015 are so obvious, that's probably why we don't really care about them; because we have already heard about the issues related to them thousands of times. Fortunately some minds with real power across this world we live in, have thought about setling a deadline to solve these problems that are failing our Earth and, above all, Humanity!

Raquel Moreira 12.ºB