HALLOWEEN HISTORY

Halloween History Customs Origins and Facts

HAPPY HALLOWEEN !!

Care2.com ecard: "Too Old For Trick Or Treat (Flash)" by Camilla Eriksson

STARDUST - Mathias

Stardust is a fantastic movie. A young villager, Tristan Thorne ( played by Charlie Cox ) is in love with the prettiest girl in the village. He promises to bring back to her a star which has fallen from the sky. To do so, he crosses a wall and arrives in a world inhabited by strange creatures and other mysterious characters. There are funny moments in the movie, with an effeminate captain, for instance ( played by Robert De Niro ).
A movie you should go and see if you feel like spending a nice moment in a heated room !!

MY FRIENDS AND I - Yéléna ( 4°)

I have got a lot of friends but I have two best friends whose names are Anais and Anne. If I am sad, they cheer me up by making me laugh. They are big laughs and I can confide in them. They are good-hearted and ... very greedy ! Anais is resentful whereas Anne is forgiveful. Anais is a bit clumsy ! She always breaks things ! Together, we have invented nicknames for us: Anais's nickname is " Naisou le caritoux", Anne's is " Nanou' and mine is... " Yélou le poux" ! We have the same tastes : we love music, shopping, fashion, the cinema..
There are some people I don't like because they are quarrelsome, stupid or aggressive..
For me, a perfect friend is a person who makes me laugh, who is intelligent and who has the same tastes as me.
For me, Anais and Anne are perfect friends because they never get on my nerves !

I HAVE PLENTY OF FRIENDS.. - Emma (4°)

I'm a good mixer, therefore I've got plenty of friends. My best friend is Camille because we've got the same tastes and she is very understanding and considerate. Each time I'm down, she cheers me up. She is a good laugh. Both of us like going shopping. I can rely on her, that's why, whenever I've got a problem, she is here for me.
Unlike my cousin, Camille is a reliable person. I can't stand my cousin who is a boaster. He gets on my nerves. We quarrel all the time whereas I get on very well with Camille.
According to me, a perfect friend has to be reliable, understanding, considerate and attentive. As Camille has got all these qualities, I think she is a perfect friend.

FRIENDSHIP - Benjamin ( 4°)

AS I'm quite sociable, I get along with most of the people I know, that's why I have got loads of friends and I don't hate anyone in particular. But of course, there are a few people I get along better than with other people, like my friend Kevin for example. I have known him for some years. We have the same tastes and, as he is a good laugh, we like having fun together.
For me, the perfect friend is someone who helps you when you're sad or dejected. A perfect friend is someone you can trust all the time as much as he trusts you. Finally, in my eyes, the perfect friend is someone who likes sharing lots of things with you, and maybe just some time.

OUR AMERICAN PENPALS' BLOG

Here is the address of our American penpals' blog. There are nice photos of the students and messages about all the different events organized by their school - Eleanor Roosevelt highschool. Don't hesitate to post your comments !

http://lyceeerhs.skyrock.com

+ why don't you go and visit their school's official site ?

http://eroosevelths.pgcps.org
http://eroosevelths.pgcps.org/about.htm

JIMI HENDRIX BIOGRAPHY (CHLOE)

Johnny Allen Hendrix ( Jimi's real name) was born in Seattle on November 27th 1942. For his sixteenth birthday, his father bought him his first accoustic guitar. Shortly after, Jimi joined a group called "The Velvetones"which he left after only three months to persue his own interests. In 1961, he enlisted in the United-States army but he was discharged for he got hurt during a parachute jump, that's how he started working as a guitarist. He played with famous artists such as Tina Turner or Little Richard, among others. Then , he formed his own group: "Jimmy James and The Blue Flames". In the sixties, he became successful thanks to his first single, "Hey, Joe" and his first album, "Are you experienced", which became one one the most popular albums of all times. His participation in the Woodstock Festival in 1969 remains in history especially because he played the American national anthem ( "The Star Spangled Banner") on the guitar. Finally, he died of an overdose of sleeping pîlls in 1970, at the early age of 27. But he still remains one of the greatest rock legends of his time.

RUGBY WORLD CUP

SELF-PORTAIT ( Anne - 4°)

Norman Rockwell-Self-portrait- 1960

Dear friend,
To know each other better, I think we should both introduce ourselves in a letter, so I will do the first step. My name is Anne ; I was born on the the thirteenth of April 1994, so I'm thirteen years old.
My parents are married, but my father has already been married before, so I've got four half-brothers. In his second marriage (with my mother), my father had three other children : my older brother, my older sister and me. In all, we are a very large family ! What about you ? Is your family bigger than mine ?
To come back to me, I'm going to describe myself : I'm a brown-haired and brown-eyed girl, I'm quite tall and slim. I think I look like my mother more than like my father.
Concerning my personality, I can tell you I'm very clumsy as everything is broken in my room (and not just in my room... ). That's quite simple : when I go somewhere, I break everything which is around me. My nickname is "La Pas Douée"-in French- and in English, I guess it would be " The not talented girl", or something like that. When I'm not breaking things, I'm sleeping, working or playing (on my computer, playing badminton or just playing with my cat!!). No, maybe, I'm a bit exaggerating in what I'm saying (but just a little bit!).
What about my tastes ? Well, I love sports, particularly badminton and tennis, I love the cinema, especially fantastic movies... but I like "Bridget Jones' Diary" and that's not fantastic at all. As a conclusion, I'm just fond of the cinema in general, I love going downtown with my friends, or just going to the restaurant with them to talk about everything. Have you got a lot of friends ? And do you do the same things as me with them ? If you come over here one day, I hope you like cats because I have one in my house. He is called Mika, and he's always stuck to you !
Lots of love from your friend, Anne.

THE HIPPIES - WOODSTOCK 69 - Mrs Sauliere

HIPPIES AND HIPPIE VANS

Here are a few photos of hippies or hippy vans in the 70's.

THE HIPPIES :

Hippie refers to a movement that began in the United-States during the early 1960's and that expanded to other countries before declining in the mid 1970's.

Originally, the hippies were part of a youth movement composed mostly of white teenagers and young adults, between the ages of 15 and 25 years old. They rejected established institutions, criticized middle-class values, opposed nuclear weapons, opposed the Vietnam War, were often vegetarian and eco-friendly, promoted the use of psychedelic drugs and created communities. They used folk music and psychedelic rock as a part of their lifestyle and as a way of expressing their vision of the world and life. They promoted peace, love and personal freedom as in The Beatles' song "All You Need is Love".

BACKGROUND MUSIC ( Paul N.)

Hey ! you if you like background music, take a look at that myspace page :
http://www.myspace.com/semlabel
That's the label of my brother, Alexandre Navarro ( like the Indians).He does music too on his label under his name.

ELEANOR ROOSEVELT HIGHSCHOOL - our American penpals'school in Maryland

LET'S TALK ABOUT MY SCHOOL - Mrs Cherubin, French teacher in Eleanor Roosevelt Highschool

Hi everybody! After contributing to your school blog for about a month, I decided it was time to send you an article of my own and some pictures of our school in Maryland. It is a high school situated in Greenbelt, Maryland, half an hour from Washington, DC. It is simply the best school in the county and one of the best schools in the state of Maryland. Can you hear how proud I am of my school??? Well, there is a lot to be proud of. It is called Eleanor Roosevelt High School. It is a magnet school, which means that we offer a Science and Technology magnet program for very talented students. There are also a lot of students who are in a comprehensive program with regular classes.

The students are very lucky to be at our school. They have the opportunity to work with some of the finest teachers in the state and participate in a lot of activities. We have the finest music program you could ever imagine. We have various bands and orchestras, not to mention the various choirs.
There are hundreds of after school clubs that students can join and, for the most athletic ones, we have sports teams that compete at the regional, county and state levels.
Students who first come to ERHS are inducted to the "Roosevelt Way, The right way of doing things!" It is not just about academics, but also about building a character and continuing the tradition of community based service that has shaped the lives of many students who came through our school.
If you think I am bragging then you need to spend a few days at our school to realize that we work harder than anybody else and, may be not all the students appreciate it, but after they leave they tend to come back. They recognize the uniqueness of their school and they want to be a part of it again!

Mme Cherubin

MY SCHOOL IN JAPAN ( Lucie )

I arrived four years ago in Bordeaux. Before that, I used to live in Kyoto, the former capital of Japan, near the big Imperial Palace of kyoto. Around the Palace, there is a large expanse of pebbles with a lot of gardens and parks for kids and picnics, with beautiful cherry trees in spring and maple trees in autumn.In the middle, there is the Palace itself which was built during the Middle Ages of Japan.
I went to school named EFK ( école Française de Kyoto ). We were only 20 students for all the levels from CP to CM2 every year (!!)because there were not many French-speaking people in Kyoto. But, as it was located inside a former Japanese public school which was no more in use, it was a big school and we shared it with an American school ( Kyoto International School or KIS ). There was a big sand playground ( much bigger than Casignol's), with a gym and toys. In the class we were all friends. Even more, we were like brothers and sisters. In the classroom, there was a little place to read with cushions and bookcases. There were also a piano for the music lesons, some computers and two blackboards.
We had class every day from 9.00 am to 4.00 pm. When we finished lessons, we could go and play with interactive games on computers or read books. It was really cool as there was just one teacher, it was very different from now. Our teacher always gave us exercises to do and then went to see the other students. I remember that I was with two boys in CM1 but I always spoke with my sister and her friend. The teacher said nothing when we talked or when we stood up and walked in the classroom. On Mondays, Wednesdays ( we worked a full day on Wednesdays in Japan) and on Fridays, we had Japanese lessons because it's useful to speak Japanese when you are in Japan !!
For lunch, we ate in the classroom with our "bento" ( Japanese name for a box containing our packed lunch)...
So, it was very different from now. Changing from 20 to 800 students is a very big change, you know !

"DEATH AT A FUNERAL" ( MATHIAS )

On Wednesday, I saw the movie entitled "Death at a funeral" ( = "Joyeuses Funérailles", in French ). This film is very funny although the topic is rather sad as it's about a family gathering at a funeral. The director's name is Frank Oz - he played Yoda in Star Wars. It's super, so you should go and see it !

Joyeuses funérailles - Bande-annonce 1 - Anglais - wideo
Un homme tente de révéler le sombre secret d'un patriarche d'une famille britannique à problèmes, récemment décédé. C'est alors le chaos.

Mots-clés : frank oz matthew macfadyen rupert graves

Video de allocine

THE WILD CACTUS- MY BAND ( PAUL )

My band's name is the Wild Cactus. Three people play in this band. There is Adrian, Pierre and myself Paul Nivelle. We play rock pop punk like blink 182 or the rolling stones. The video which is on our myspace page was taken in Carbon Blanc during the show organized by the Russian learners. We have some of our own compositions but we haven't recorded them.
Everybody is welcome to have a look at our myspace page !

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=198277744

SOPHIA COPPOLA ( Julien )

After a short film (" lick the star"), which was quite successful, Sophia Coppola directed a full-length movie entitled " Virgin Suicides", which was even more impressive. This is the real story of a girl who decides to kill herself. This first film, by Francis Ford Coppola's daughter, was inspired by an atrocious piece of news. Some people may think that the movie is a bit slow, maybe even boring. Actually, as early as the beginning of the film, the exceptional music track created by the French group AIR, casts a spell on the spectator. For Sophia Coppola, music is something essential for the progress of the film. It works as a sort of third character that we also find in her two major following movies : "Lost in translation" and the brilliant "Marie-Antoinette". I'd like to insist on the awesome performances of kirsten Dunst, James Woods and Kathleen Turner.
So, I recommend all movies by Sophia Coppola for she is extremely talented.
It is to be noticed that Sophia Coppola made members of her family participate in her films (among whom her brother Roman and her cousins Chris Niel and Robert Schwartzman- the Louis XVI of Marie-Antoinette).

A PROMISING SCHOOL YEAR ( Philippine )

Dear diary,
I have been worried and I dreaded the start of the new school year. At present, I reckon that the year looks promising. Indeed, all my friends are in my class and I get on well with all my schoolmates, therefore I'm delighted. However, a friend of mine has repeated and I'm upset. But she is a good-mixer and I fancy that she will have a lot of friends.
As far as I'm concerned, I feel that the form teacher, Mrs Philippe, is pleasant and we have a good time-table. so, I think I will spend a good year even if we have to take our final exam at the end of the year and even if the works is harder than last year !

MY NEW SCHOOL ( Alix )

Dear diary,
On september 6th, I discovered my new school and my new schoolmates. This school is very different from my previous one. Here the pupils dress differently and I think they're more sensible. In my class, many pupils look clever and some boys are beautiful. Our class is not very noisy. I like my teachers, some are funny. I think we have got much homework for the beginning of the schoolyear. I'm in the same class as Camille, whom I already knew, so I'm happy. I live in a town now. I'm saying that because I used to live in the country, but I like Bordeaux very much.

I HATE SCHOOL ( Julien )

Dear Diary,
Today, it's the start of the new school year. All my friends seem disappointed to be back to school. In my class, I don't know anybody. When I look at all those people with whom I'm supposed to spend my last year in Cassignol, I'm sad, I don't like it. But I'm very satisfied with my teachers who are nice, especially Mrs Sauliere, the English teacher. She's so funny and so cool. At the moment, my physical education teacher is giving us our timetable while I'm chatting with my mate Johan. I'm rather happy he's in my class. From now on, things will be the same everyday. I hate school !

ESTRANGED FROM MY FRIENDS ( Lou )

Dear diary,
It's the first day back to school. I'm really afraid of having to go back. The head is calling my name and I'm asked to rejoin my class. The only pupils I know are Simon and Ana. I'm very sad because I don't like the pupils of my class. I cry for a long time and I look so ridiculous. We stay in a classroom for two hours and our form teacher gives us information about the year. I don't listen. I'm thinking of my friends who are together. But I'm reassuerd as far as teachers are concerned. Adélaïde, Iris, Marjory Marie ... I imagine they must be so happy to be in the same class. I'm sad too, because I think of Maylis and Célia who have gone to another school ( La Benatte ) this year. Well, I have to go. I'm going to see my friends and then, I'll go back home.

HERE WE GO AGAIN... ( Paul-Adrien )

Dear diary,
My first day back to school was OK. However, once more, I was disappointed to see all the teachers again. A whole year of wasting time ! I'm the only student to be repeating this class.
I have a feeling that this school year is going to be long. My class is not a difficult one. It seems to me that they are rather good pupils., unfortunately for me... or happily, I don't know....We will see what turn the schoolyear will take ...

NEW AT SCHOOL ( Camille )

Dear diary,
Today is my first day in my new school. New school, new city, new friends.., so it's a whole new life ! I come into the quad and I think to myself:" what are those clothes ? They look like English pupils !.. well, don't be prejuficed, Camille !". But where is the crowd of pupils who ask me: "Are you new? What's your name ? Where do you live ?". Nobody asks in this school. It's so different from my former school. Then , we come into the classroom. My schoolmates look nice but I must be invisible because nobody seems to be noticing me. My friend Alice thinks just the same.
Finally, this first day is over.
Day after day, things turn out differently : more pupils speak to me, I find new friends, I buy new clothes. It's difficult to become integrated.

BACK TO SCHOOL.... ( Julien )

Dear Diary ,

Today is wednesday and it's the first day back to school. Unfortunately, the holidays are over.
I'm sad. This year is a certificate year. I'm scared of the examination and my schedule is very bad. I finish at 5.30 every day. But it's cool because I'm with my friends from last year as all the students who learn German remain in the same class. So, this is good news to me. I'm OK but for the group of Spanish learners ... I'm not so sure. Most of them don't look happy. Probably because they're not with their friends. Maybe that's the reason, maybe not. It's not my problem anyway.
I know all my teachers, except the maths teacher. It's a woman who looks old and boring and I HATE maths ! It's too bad ! But I'm glad because my English teacher is very good and my French teacher is funny. He has a funny face ( but he's nice ) !
So, on this first morning, dear diary, we only have two periods. We have to take papers and bring them back to our parents. That's about all ! Time is nearly up and for the moment, I have no homework !!! Now, I'm going back home and in the afternoon, as I have a free ticket to take the bus, I may go to the MOVIES .. if I have enough money !

WELCOME TO THE CASSIGNOL WRITERS BLOG - Mrs SAULIERE

This blog is a free space for the Cassignol pupils to express themselves in English. The topics tackled may range from school life, friendship to sports, the cinema, music...It may be used to introduce others to a specific interest or passion or it could simply be a means of self-expression...but ALWAYS IN ENGLISH !! This blog, however, shouldn't be concieved as a mere diary in English but also as a way to communicate with our American penpals from Eleanor Roosevelt Highschool in Greenbelt, Maryland. We will be happy to give them an insight into our school system, our culture and simply to share with them our joys, concerns or points of view. They will be very welcome in their turn to send their reactions and comments. We thus hope to favour a better mutual understanding and cutural exchange ; and maybe we will just realize that teens share the same preoccupations whether they live in old Europe or far across the Atlantic ocean !