A FEW REMINDERS BEFORE THE EXAMS

I'd like to remind you of a few important things before the exams begin.

- Remember that you have to take back all the books you borrowed from the class library. Next Tuesday will be our last class, so it'll be your last chance to do it.

- As I told you last Tuesday, next Tuesday 31st will be our last class. As I have to invigilate an exam from 4 to 6.30, it will begin at 7 p.m. and it'll take, as usual, nearly 2 hours. The students from both of my groups are welcome as we'll do some practice for the final exam.

- Your written exam (Reading Comprehension + Vocab, Listening Comprehension and Grammar + writing will be held 3rd June at 18.30. Make sure you arrive on time.

- Your oral exams will be:
Tuesday 14th for the first group (16.00 - 18.00)
Thursday 16th for the second group (18.00 - 20.00)

Everybody has to be there at 16.00
Any change to this timetable will have to be agreed with me.

- Remember that mobile phones are not permitted in the classroom, especially while the exams are taking place.

Queen Elizabeth lays wreath at Garden of Remembrance

Queen Elizabeth II lays a wreath during a ceremony at the Garden of Remembrance in Dublin on the first day of her State visit to Ireland. Photograph: Maxwells/PA Wire

 

Queen Elizabeth II has attended a wreath-laying ceremony in Dublin’s Garden of Remembrance on the first day of her historic State visit.

In a hugely symbolic gesture reflecting a new era in relations between the countries, the British monarch bowed her head as she laid a wreath at the memorial for those who died fighting for Irish freedom, before observing a minute’s silence.
President Mary McAleese and the Queen were greeted and escorted around the memorial by Minister for Justice Alan Shatter and Army Chief of Staff Seán McCann.
During the ceremony, the Irish Army band played God Save The Queen,  an act unthinkable only few decades ago.
The poem Rinneadh Aisling Dúinn (We Saw A Vision),  which is inscribed on the wall of the Garden of Remembrance, was read aloud in Irish by Capt Joe Freeley, from the Second Infantry Battalion in Cathal Brugha Barracks, before the Last Post  was sounded.
Taoiseach Enda Kenny attended the event alongside former Fianna Fáil taoisigh Brian Cowen and Bertie Ahern
The sound of fireworks let off by republican protesters close to the Garden of Remembrance could be heard as the wreath-laying ceremony was being held. Gardaí were also involved in minor scuffles with Éirigí supporters who were rallying in protest at the Queen’s visit.
The Queen’s visit has prompted the biggest security operation ever mounted by the State, with some 10,000 gardaí and Defence Forces personnel deployed on security-related details.
The last leg of the Queen’s itinerary today saw her visit Trinity College, established by her ancestor Queen Elizabeth I in 1592, to view the Book of Kells.

The royal party was greeted on arrival at the university by Provost John Hegarty, Minister for Education Ruairí Quinn and the college chancellor and former president Mary Robinson.

The Queen was escorted on a tour of the old library building and its famous Long Room chamber by the college librarian Robin Adams. A reception in honour of the Queen was also held in the Long Room, where she and Prince Philip met Trinity dignitaries, scholars, musicians and artists.
The British monarch was earlier welcomed by President McAleese and her husband Dr Martin McAleese at Áras an Uachtaráin, marking the official start of her State visit, the first by a reigning British monarch in 100 years.
The 85-year-old monarch and the Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Philip were greeted on the steps of the Áras by Mrs McAleese in front of a combined Army guard of honour.
After meeting the President and her husband, the Queen and Prince Philip were escorted inside the Áras and introduced to Taoiseach Enda Kenny, before being invited to sign the visitors’ book in the State reception room.
As part of the ceremonial welcome at the Áras, the Queen received a 21-gun salute in the forecourt of the residence, followed by a rendition of the British and Irish national anthems played by an Army band. A detachment of the Army Air Corps performed a ceremonial fly-by as the anthems were played.
The Queen later inspected a military guard of honour while the band played a piece of music written in her honour by composer Bill Whelan.

If you want to read more about this historical visit, click here:
Queen Elizabeth in Ireland

SCOTTISH DANCING ACTIVITY

Dear Students,

Tomorrow Thursday 19th, apart from our class, you can also enjoy the rest of the evening dancing in English!
David Vivanco, a famous Scottish teacher, is in Las Rozas. He'll teach us to learn Scottish dances and have a really good time dancing and practising English.

There are 2 sessions: 16.30 and 18.30. Both will be held in I.E.S. Burgo de Las Rozas (entrada Parque de París).
The price is just 2€ and they'll provide you with a bottle of water.
If you are interested, you can see me or any other teacher today or before the performance.

If you are in the group who has the class at 16.00, you can go to the second session (18.30).
If you are in the group who has our class at 18.00, you can go to the first session (16.30)

Here you have a link to have a look at the activity:
Ceilidh Dance

Spain prepares for Seve Ballesteros funeral

Ballesteros won five majors in a glittering career.
The funeral of golfing legend Seve Ballesteros will take place on Wednesday in his home village of Pedrena in Spain.
The ceremony will be at the San Pedro parish church at 1200 BST.
Ballesteros died aged 54 in the early hours of Saturday morning after a long battle with cancer.
"Seve will be cremated at a ceremony that will be as intimate as possible and at a place that nobody will know," said the Ballesteros family.
"That was his express wish. His ashes will remain at his estate, at his home in Pedrena."
Seve's brother Baldomero Ballesteros was quoted as saying: "The funeral rites will be as simple as those for any neighbour from the village. He was born here and here he will remain."
Miguel Angel Revilla, head of the local Cantabria government, said the region will observe three days of official mourning.
At the Players Championship in Florida this week, the Spanish flag will fly in honour of Ballesteros until Sunday.
Normally, the previous year's winner has his national flag flying over the Circle of Champions but the South African flag marking Tim Clark's victory last May has been replaced.
Ballesteros, one of the most gifted players the sport has ever seen, won three Opens and two Masters in a career that had 87 tournament victories.
He played in eight Ryder Cups, winning 22½ points from 37 matches, as well as captaining the European side to victory in 1997.
His passing has been marked across the world of sport, with silences being held at the European Tour's Spanish Open and at the Wells Fargo Championship in America over the weekend.
South African Thomas Aiken dedicated his Spanish Open victory on Sunday to Ballesteros. He said: "He was everything to the game of golf and I am happy to have won for him - any of us would have won for him."
There was also a tribute before the Madrid Open tennis semi-final between Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer on Saturday, while the Barcelona and Espanyol football teams paid their respects to Ballesteros before their La Liga match on Sunday.

Barack Obama pays 9/11 respects at Ground Zero

US president remembers victims of Osama bin Laden at the site of 2001 World Trade Centre terrorist attacks.

Barack Obama spoke no words as he laid a red, white and blue wreath at the centre of Ground Zero. But then he didn't need to: the location and the identity of the individuals gathered round him spoke for him.

The location was in the shade cast by the Survivor Tree, an oak that was recently planted at the World Trade Centre for a second time. The first time was in the 1970s, but the tree was later engulfed in rubble on 11 September 2001.
Remarkably, it was found alive though badly damaged, then nursed back to health and finally replanted at its old home last December. It now stands 9 metres (30ft) tall.

Close to the oak stood Payton Wall. She was four years old when her father, Glen Wall, died in the Twin Towers. Now 14, she wrote a letter to the president describing how she coped with that loss. By happenstance, Obama read the letter on Monday, the morning after he had orchestrated the killing of the architect of 9/11, Osama bin Laden.

A tree. A child. On the back of one man's killing, the almost 3,000 lives that he took were remembered in their company.
It happened under the same cloudless New York sky that had famously been a feature of 9/11 itself. On that day, almost 10 years ago, the beauty of the crystal clear blue sky seemed to mock the terrible events that were to unfold beneath it.
But on this occasion, with the knowledge that 9/11's architect had been confined to a watery grave, the beauty of the day seemed more in tune with events. Before laying the wreath, Obama walked through the memorial plaza that is now taking shape at the heart of Ground Zero. He saw the two giant footprints of the Twin Towers that form the physical and aesthetic heart of the site, which will become reflective pools and the largest manmade waterfalls in America. In the past week the first of the 2,976 names of those who died in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania have appeared, etched in bronze plates that have just been set out along the pools' edges.

If you want to read more, click here:

Obama pays respect at Ground Zero