Thursday, December 17, 2015

The Last One- From one of the BBC School Reporters

Franceska is going back to Romania. Before her trip she wanted to report about her experience at Prendergast Ladywell School. Here it is;

 
Hi, here is Francesca from BBC School Report.
This time I’m writing about my experience at Prendergast Ladywell School. It was the best experience of my life. When I came here I was scared, I thought I wasn't going to be part of the school. I found new friends and they encouraged me to be brave, believed in me and always smiled. I learned a lot of stuff and it didn’t matter if they were hard or easy.
It was the best experience.
We wish you all the best! We will miss you Franceska!

New Londoners Trip- October 2015

On Friday, 23rd of October 2015, 20 EAL (English as an Additional Language) students from PLS who have recently come to live in UK were invited to join New Londoners Trip to central London to see London Eye, the Parliament, Big Ben, 10 Downing Street, Buckingham Palace and Trafalgar Square. This trip helped them to familiarise themselves with English heritage and culture they have been studying as part of KS3 Induction. The value of New Londoners trip for these young people was immense, as it provided them with an insight into English history, politics and lifestyle, which is often very different from their countries of origin.

After the trip Doroteus, Yr7 Romanian speaker, said “I loved the trip not only because I have never been on London Eye before, but also I could see all the places you normally just see in pictures”. Whereas Jhon, Yr9 Spanish speaker, stated “I liked the 4D cinema at London Eye the most because it was very realistic and scary.”
 

Mrs. A. Bachurska
PLS EAL Teacher





 

Friday, December 11, 2015

BBC School News Reporters- News Practice Day- 10th December 2015


Saint Nicholas:

The true story of Santa Claus begins with Nicholas, who was born during the third century in the village of Patara. His wealthy parents, who raised him to be a devout Christian, died in an epidemic while Nicholas was still young. Obeying Jesus' words to "sell what you own and give the money to the poor," Nicholas used his whole inheritance to assist the needy, the sick, and the suffering. He dedicated his life to serving God and was made Bishop of Myra while still a young man. Bishop Nicholas became known throughout the land for his generosity to those in need, his love for children, and his concern for sailors and ships.

 He died December 6, in Myra and was buried in his cathedral church, where a unique relic, called manna, formed in his grave. The anniversary of his death became a day of celebration, St. Nicholas Day, December 6th.

Saint Nicholas is celebrated in Belgium. There are people who dress as Saint Nicholas to give presents to young children who were good for the entire year. You would wait till the 6th December to get sweets and presents. He would come to the homes of children with his donkey.  

I love saint Nicholas day as it brings memories of the days when I was a child.
 
 
By Mariya- Year 10

BBC School News Reporters Practice Day - 10th December 2015

Romanian Christmas

In my city, all the people love Christmas. The children go to from door to door singing Christmas carols. Our moms are preparing foods, cookies and more staffs. Some teenagers go to park, restaurants or they stay home and do a little party. By Franceska- Year 9

 


In my town there aren’t many traditions. The biggest tradition we have is hanging the Christmas lights each year. The lights are usually hanged after the first day of snow but if it doesn’t happen we would hang them anyway just on the trees. When it does snow, some of the town’s people would come and build snowmen in order to hang the Christmas lights around them. Every night most kids and teens come to the park and sleigh down the big hill. Chrismas is probably the best time of year in my town. By Selena- Year 10
 

 

BBC School News Reporters Practice Day - 10th December 2015


Romanian Christmas(Maramures)             

 There are a lot of traditions in Romania Modern Romanians only keep a few of them, but many of the old traditions can be discovered in the countryside, in remote areas of the country.

 In Romania, Christmas and mid-winter celebrations last from 20th December to 7th

January. The 20th is when people celebrate St. Ignatius's Day. The Lenten is a period of religious preparations for the great feast of Christmas. Religious people don’t eat meat, nor other animal products during this period before Christmas. It is not the only Lent period during the year. Religious Romanians usually keep the Lenten tradition during Wednesdays and Fridays throughout the year, while longer periods of Lent are set before more important Orthodox holidays during the year. It is traditional that if the family keep pigs, one is killed on this day. The meat from the pig is used in the Christmas meals.

The Christmas celebrations really begin on Christmas Eve, 24th, when it's time to decorate the Christmas Tree. This is done in the evening of Christmas Eve. In Romanian, Christmas Eve is called 'Ajunul Craciunului'.

 Carol singing (known as 'Colindatul') is also a very popular part of Christmas in Romania. On Christmas Eve, children go out carol singing from house to house performing to the adults in the houses. The children get sweets, fruit, traditional cakes called 'cozonaci' and sometimes money for singing well. Adults go carol singing on Christmas Day evening and night.

Viflaimul is the climax .
After the end of Mass on December 25 , men should play Viflaimul . It's a play that represents the early days of Jesus' life . In front of the church , everyone should know their role well . It is only made from boys even if they have to dress up as a woman. Even after hundreds of years, this is usually enforced for Maramures . Viflaimul is the highlight of Christmas.
Here some links to a small part of the play.-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VCPco09MLsE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AEi8Hi8MAgo


Traditional Romanian Christmas foods include Roast Gammon and Pork Chops , 'Ciorba de perisoare' which is a slightly sour vegetable soup made with fermented bran and pork meatballs; 'Sarmale' cabbage leaves stuffed with ground pork and served with polenta; 'Cozonac' a rich fruit bread; Romanian doughnuts called 'gogosi' and cheesecakes.
In Romanian, Merry Christmas is "'Crặciun Fericit'
By Maria -Year 10


Thursday, November 12, 2015

BBC School News Reporters Practice Day- 13th November 2015

Here are the PLS BBC News Reporters, reporting from the activities they enjoyed at school!  
 

Physical education


In a new module, we were playing badminton. It was not that hard, because I was doing this in year 7 which was last year.
In the first game, the teacher split us up. It was really sad, because I was the only boy in that group. I was doing well but after we switched, I started playing badly. The score was 23:6. I was upset and the team were shouting at me. In the next round I was still in that group and continued to lose. Unfortunately, the other team won the game. They were very happy!
Although we lost, I had a lot of fun! Yubing- Year 8


Romanian Club


Hi, I’m Romanian and in my school we have a Romanian club. We like attending this club because we learn more things. We always have fun.
Soon I will do a project about Greek Gods. I love learning about world history. In the club we help each other, we speak about the things that we learn in each lessons.
 This club is helping me a lot because if I don’t know something my friends/teacher can help me. In my opinion this club is the best of everything.
I love speaking and helping my friends. Having the opportunity to continue learning in first language is amazing.
We do a lot of projects such as; Christmas, Easter and other holidays.

So Romanian Club is incredible and a lot of fun!
Franceska- Year 9




Teaching the class

In P.E we have to plan and teach a lesson. Being the first person to do is pretty scary but badminton is easy to teach. The whole class staring at you isn’t always the best thing ever, but since nobody in our class is a sport champion, I was confident enough to teach them. As  in every P.E lesson at the start we had a warm up, just a few stretches. Then I gave them a few tips on serving, focusing mostly on the front hand as I myself had to improve on it. When we were done practicing our serves came in the matches. Everyone chose a pair and started a match with their partner on a four person court . However some people decided to play in a four.
At the end of the lesson we put back the rackets and some of my classmates said that they enjoyed the lesson. It was fun but honestly I wouldn’t do it again, teaching a class of people is hard.
Selena- Year 10

Year 10 assembly GCSE Music Students’ concert 

The most amazing musicians in Prendergast Lady well school gave a concert this morning, singing the songs ‘Next to me’ and ‘Believe’. The singing was mind-blowing.  
Mia, one of the musicians who played the bass guitar, told me that as everyone came in she started shaking, but when she looked at the others, she saw that they had the same feeling as well. At the beginning she was so distressed, because she was trying not to make any mistakes. She even had problems remembering the chords. However, she remembered that the teacher told them to have fun, so she decided not to worry and tried to have fun with music.
Everyone enjoyed the concert. They were INCREDIBLE. For some reason I wanted to cry and I felt so proud when I saw my friend up there.
Maria- Year 10

PLS Girls’ basketball team

On 11th November, PLS Girls’ basketball team played against Sydenham Girls and another team. Our school won the second place as well as the silver medal. The girls had to play their first match of the year and the coach of the team Ms. Odusanya led the team. The girls played well and had a lot of fun. I played in the game and thought it was amazing. In the first game, we scored 12 to 4 and in second  game we scored 6 to 10 against Sydenham Girls.
During the first game we all had passion to win. We had team work, skills and energy. The whole tournament lasted for 2 hours. We lost focus but got back into the game as we saw our opponents being better than us. We felt joy and sadness as we lost the first place. However, we held our head high as we took pictures to remember the first PLS Girls’ basketball match.
Mariya- Year 10
 

GCSE Turkish Club

My name is Elidzhan and I come to Turkish club because it is interesting and a lot of fun!
This year I will do my GCSE in Turkish. It is little bit difficult for me, because I come from Greece. In Greece we didn’t have Turkish language club. When I came to London I started to learn reading and writing in Turkish. I am not perfect in writing yet but I’m trying my best.  
Also the alphabet is very different then Greek alphabet because Turkish alphabet is written with Latin letters.
This year it will be my last year and I want to do GCSE in Greek and Turkish.
I hope to get high grades in both of these GCSE assessments.
Elidzhan- Year 11
 



 





 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

 

 

 
 
 
 

 

Friday, October 9, 2015

PLS BBC School News Reporters were interviewed by a BBC Producer

In February 2015, PLS BBC School News Reporters were interviewed by Ms. A. Tinline who is a BBC Producer. Since all our reporters in the group are EAL students, Ms. Tinline asked them to make a comparison between schools in their country and in the UK.






You can listen to this interview on the website below;
https://soundcloud.com/pls-eal-students/tracks

European Day of Languages at PLS

We have celebrated European Day of Languages and our BBC School Reporters ran assemblies at the school.

Here is their recount:

When I went to the assembly hall, I was very shy and nervous, but when I started talking, I felt fine. I taught the students how to say
'How are you?' Πώς είσαι? (Pós eísai?)- 'Hello' Χαίρετε (Chaírete)- and 'Peace' Ειρήνη (eiríni)in Greek . 
I enjoyed the assembly very much!

Elidzhan- Year 11

When I first arrived to the assembly hall, there were just a few people. Afterwards many more students came. When I saw my friends, I got more nervous. I taught how to say 'Hello' 您好 (Nín hǎo) and 'Good-bye' 再见 ( zàijiàn) in Chinese Mandarin. When we finished, I was relieved. I thought that it was easy. I also thought that it was very funny!

Yubing- Year 7

We celebrated European Day of Languages at our school. I felt very comfortable with the presentation. I taught people some Romanian words. They are; 'Hello'  Bună!- and 'I miss you' mi-e dor de tine- 'You are sweet' esti dragut.
I was very proud of myself and my country.

Francesca- Year 9

We celebrated European Day of Languages at our school. During the assemblies I felt that it was amazing to be listened and watched by everyone. When I first walked into the assembly hall, I started to get distressed, and my heart was beating so fast as if it was going to come out of my chest.
Afterwards people came in and we started waiting for our turn. 
I taught 'Peace' Pace- 'Happy Birthday' La multi ani- and 'Sunset' apus in Romanian.     


 



Wednesday, March 18, 2015

World Poetry Day- Poetry Writing Workshops- 2

Ebele made us listen to a song and draw things on a paper with our eyes closed. Then we folded the papers in half and passed them onto others. Each of us wrote one word to describe the drawings.

When we finally got our own drawings, we had to write a poem about them using these words.

Here are our poems:

A dog called Ice cream

A long time ago, a strange dog,
that did nothing in his life except drawings,
thought about going to a park,
and he fell into a trap.

Everyone laughed,
because it was a strange ice cream,
and the dog trapped in it.
It was a chocolate ice cream.
A baby cried, because of the dog.

The dog did not die,
but he made a lot of money with his drawings
and everyone loved his work.

Now everyone calls him 'Ice cream'!

Maria- Year 9

In between

I hear a wave sound near to the sea,
The colour of the sea water is black.
The black sea water float to the grass,
in the park next to the sea.

When I see the sea,
in a very far distance,
it looks like they were attached together.

Between the sky and sea,
The first flash of light,
were shooting out from the Sun in the space!

                                                                                    Zi- Year 10


Alone Star  


Once upon a time,
a Star was so bright,
like a cloud of fire.
Star had a very good friend.
They always tangled together.
It's like they were siblings,
and they had the same DNA.

But Star's friend betrayed the Star,
The Star felt like,
it was stuck in a string of mess.
The Star was enraged,
it couldn't keep it
and it exploded with great force and anger

It exploded like a Nebula!

Magisha- Year 10

Creative Love 

Once upon a time,
there lived a creative girl.
She loved to paint,
and she had a picture of a house
hanging on her wall.

One day a prince went to buy
one picture of this girl,
but they ended up sitting
under the sunlight.

Prince turned around
and said to the girl;
"I love you!",
And they lived happily ever after!

Anastasia- Year 10

Darkness of life  


I think that sometimes,
life is full of darkness.
When I move forward,
and then stop and look back,
I feel proud of
what I have done in my life.

No one's life is perfect.
There is always dark side of it.
When I think about darkness,
I think about my uncle dying,
and leaving me here alone.

When I think about depression,
I think about me asking God
why He took him away from me!

So in few words,
I think life sometimes
can be a long string of depression!

Mitchell- Year 10







World Poetry Day- Poetry Writing Workshops

We celebrated World Poetry Day with poetry writing workshops. We have invited the wonderful Nigerian Poet, Ebele Ajogbe into our school.
Ebele prepared great activities for us... All these activities helped us to create beautiful poems.

One of the activities was to write the languages we spoke on a piece of paper and throw into a pot.

Our poems started with 'This pot has the power to...'

This pot has the power to make people know each other,
This pot has the power to make friends
This pot has the power to learn different languages.

Nurta- Year 7

This pot has the power to help people
This pot has the power to express feelings to others
This pot has the power to overcome fears!

Aliyah- Year 7


This pot has the power to make people happy,
This pot has the power to keep people alive!

Kajenthiran- Year 9

This pot has the power to learn languages,
You just look at it,
And you would know any language!

Yubing- Year 7


This pot has the power;
to make the people travel
around the world!

Thanushanth- Year 7






This pot has the power;
to bring everyone together like one family.
This pot has the power;
to make you realise that,
you shouldn't be racist!

Andreea- Year7

This pot has the power of language,
This pot has the power to bring everyone together.
If you speak a different language,
it doesn't mean that you can't make friends,
because YOU CAN!

Marta- Year 7



This pot has the power;
to make people happy
and educated!

Georgi- Year 8



This pot has the power,
to make people understand!

Franceska- Year 8