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| I wanted to forget about it! |
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| OK... Yes... It was a 'significant' birthday but I thought that, because it was during the Christmas holiday, it could disappear unnoticed. No such luck! |
| Friday started as a usual morning with the weekly test and all students and teachers working hard. Then suddenly everything went mad! The celebration of my birthday was not a sophisticated affair.... They made me wear an electric blue wig and a bright blue tutu (so sexy over jeans. Then Vera and Joao gave me a policeman's helmet with a flashing blue light (which will be very useful if I hear students speaking their own language)and Jane made me dance around the garden, drink champagne and open lots of lovely presents. Fantastic. I loved every minute of it. I felt very, very special, particularly as Anne had asked everyone to write adjectives descibing me. Most of the adjectives were very kind and flattering (thank you) and some were cheeky (I'm sure they were jokes, weren't they) and the others...? Thank you Anne for throwing them away! So, I've completely changed my mind. I LOVE birthdays, even horrible big ones. Thank you THANK YOU everyone for giving me such a lovely day! xxx (There are more photos in the gallery, if you want to have a look) |
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| Is it possible? |
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| Today is Jane's 10th Anniversary! |
| We all celebrated with cheers and hoorays Jane's 10 wonderful years working at the Winchester School of English. So, what does this tell us about Jane? That she has great staying power? That she is crazier than everyone thought? Or that she is marvellous? We know which we think it is! Here is Jane enjoying her latest state of the art technological method of communication. So next time you phone, you can imagine her talking into something pink and fluffy! |
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| Goodbye and Good luck Q! |
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| We were all so sad to say goodbye to Q last Friday |
| I am sure that any of you who had Q as your teacher will know how much we are going to miss him. Thank you for everything, Q, and goodluck with everything (particularly the driving test!) |
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| Happy New Year from us all |
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| Happy New Year from us all |
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| Rakugo - Japanese Story Telling |
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| March and Yukari's demonstration of the tradition of Japanese story telling |
| March and Yukari have been with us since March last year and we all thought that we knew them very well. HOWEVER, we had no idea what talented people they were. Rakugo involves the story teller kneeling on the floor, telling a story by playing the parts of all the different characters in the story. The girls had translated and learnt by heart wonderful, funny stories involving thieves, gods, landlords, lazy idlers and so on. I don't know how they managed to learn so many words! March and Yukari managed to give each of the characters in the stories it's own personality. The audience always knew exactly which person was speaking and what sort of person he or she was. They were wonderful perfomances. Thank you both for such a wonderful afternoon. We will miss you. However we will remember you every time we have a piping hot piece of toast with delicious melted butter! Thank you from all the teachers and students for our lovely new toaster! |
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| Friendship Bracelets |
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| It was HOURS of struggle!!! Says March |
| While I was making this bracelet I don't remember how often I asked myself why I had joined this activity! This activity was a 'struggle' with eight pieces of cotton. The more knots I made, the more confused I became. I made a lot of knots. I couldn't believe that this cotton would EVER be a bracelet. Despite these awful hours, to my surprise, now it has become one of my hobbies! I've already made about 15 bracelets. Although it took me a long time to get this technique, now I really enjoy making friendship bracelets. Update: March has now made a total of 27 bracelets and one friendship necklace! NO! She's still at it.......Her total is now 32!!!! What a lot of friends she has made in England!!!!! |
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| Jean's Retirement |
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| After 17 years of fun, laughter and hard work, Jean has decided to retire. |
| June 30th was Jean's last day and we decided to say 'Goodbye' in style. Although, in fact it's not really 'Goodbye' as Jean will be coming back to visit us and sometimes to teach. The champagne, cakes, friends, sunshine and song celebrated the end of a wonderful, wonderful era and also the beginning of something new for all three of us. All of you who were taught by Jean know what a talented, dedicated, brilliant teacher she is and she has, without doubt, made a difference to the hundreds of students who have 'passed through her hands'. So, from Anne and I 'Thanks, mate. It's been really, really great!' (Oh and don't forget - See you next Saturday for an Indian meal!) |
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| Walk along the Itchen Valley |
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| The skies were blue, the sun was shining - it was a perfect day for our walk. Izumi writes: |
| On 15th July we went on a long river walk along the Itchen Valley. I had never walked a long distance like this since I came to England, so I expected it to be hard. But I was wrong. It was fantastic walking! The weather was also good, so all the land and fields were shining softly. While I was walking I found many kinds of wild herbs and flowers that I had heard of before. What's more, we saw a lot of cows unexpectedly close to us! In the middle of the walk, we had a rest and had lunch on the ground on Forry Hill. Before us, the beautiful landscape spread out so I sat admiring it for a while. Suddenly I had a nostalgic feeling while I was listening to the chirp of bugs. Although the landscape wasn't exactly the same, it looked something similar to my home town. It reminded me of my childhood. I think outside activity is essential for us because we can get many fresh experiences that we couldn't get in ordinary life. I'm grateful to Fran for helping us. This walk has become one of my unforgettable memories. |
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| Mottisfont Roses |
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| June is the best time of year for beautiful roses. Jean took some students to Mottisfont Abbey to see them. Izumi writes: |
| I have always admired British gardens, even when I was in Japan. When I arrived at Mottisfont Abbey, there was an unforgettable landscape. I was very impressed by the brilliant green ground and the lovely scent of the roses, so I felt calm and had a very pleasant time. I really love the way English people take care of traditional things. I'm very grateful to Jean for taking us to the wonderful garden. |
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| Easter Bonnet Party |
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| Hoping to find some Easter eggs, almost every student came to this hilarious party, although everybody had to appear with a hat, self-made or bought. Nicole writes this about her suffering: |
| The party started at 7.30pm with staring and laughing at the different hats. It appears that there are some artists hiding at the Winchester School of English. The first prize was a sweet little cuddly toy which went to Yuki, who had eaten a big sack of Doritos, made it look like a hat and put it on her head! Let's start the games! The teachers divided us into three groups; rabbits, chicks and eggs. Pictionary was the famous game we played first. One of the group had to draw something and the rest had to guess. Everybody was really enthusiastic but only one group could win the game and get the most points. The second game was just to relax and not competitive. Music was played while we sat in a circle and had to put a hat on our neighbour's head. When the music stopped (this happened randomly, Fran claimed)the student with the hat on had to pick up a little slip with an order on it. The orders ranged from kissing four different legs (Why not by using a chair?), standing on ones hands (We discovered another artist), whistling Happy Birthday (Impossible if everybody's laughing) to dancing alone in the middle of the room (Are all French people like this?) The next challenge was to walk about 5 steps forwards and backwards with a chocolate egg on a spoon. Easy, isn't it? Not at all! Jong Won managed to drop the egg and destroy it with his foot! Mmmmhh....eating chocolate. Who doesn't like doing this? But it had to be earned. We had to throw dice, get a 6, put a scarf, a hat and gloves on and try to unwrap and eat the chocolate with a knife and fork. Tricky game! I didn't get one piece! :-( If we had known what the last game was like, we would probably have run away! We had to sprint into a room, take one item of clothing out of our group's bag and put it on. After several spurts, each student looked funnier (or more stupid?) than the last. Some were embarrased, others burst into tears of laughter! The worst thing was that it was getting hotter and hotter. But we survived and in the end, the eggs won the whole competition and got, no not an Easter egg, but a big packet of maltesers. The party was great fun and some students left with an aching stomach because of the constant laughter. |
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| Birthday! |
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| Guess how old we are! |
| Not the teachers - the school. We are 17! NEARLY adult, nearly old enough to go to the pub. Watch out NEXT year when we will suddenly become mature, sensible adults. So, to everyone who has been part of our 17 years we would like to say 'Congratulations' and thank you - it's been really wonderful! |
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| THEATRE We have been SO intellectual recently |
| I can't do MORE photos of us standing outside the theatre, so I'll just list the plays we've been to since January......... |
| Moll Flanders The Eva Cassidy story The Full Monty Great Expectations Horror for Wimps Musical, comedy, drama - we've seen it all! As usual, we were in the front row seats(cheap!)which was an advantage (or maybe not) as we seem to have been exposed to a fair amount of male nudity over the last couple of months! They have all been very different theatrical experiences, but we have enjoyed them all! |
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| Hilarious Theatre! |
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| We went to see 'Horror For Wimps'at the Theatre Royal |
| Naoko writes: Only two actresses played seven characters! It was amazing! I only realised it halfway through the performance. They changed their clothes many times. The story was about a man and a woman watching a scary film. The man tried to get INTO the film when they were watching it and, strangely enough, he managed to! At the same time we also saw the actors on film. It was a scary story, but they played it comically. Their expressions and actions were really funny. Even if you don't understand English, I am sure you would be able to enjoy it. We laughed and laughed and laughed! If I have the opportunity, I'll go and see it again |
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| Valentine's Day |
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| On 14th February - also known as Valentine's Day - Sara changed one of our classrooms into the studio of the show 'Blind Date' to pair off her students....:-) Corinna Schmidt was there! |
| While one guy had to read out his prepared questions, three girls (separated from him by a panel) had to answer them spontaneously to impress the object of desire! Sara, as the presenter,helped us with some language difficulties and led us through the evening. We had four runs and it was GREAT FUN! The decisions were extremely difficult, but the four lovely guys had to make them in order to get their 'Blind Dates'. The lucky winners and their handsome partners won a date in a really romantic pub........so the rest of us joined them, curious to see what would happen after a few drinks and to have more laughs about the evening! (There are more photos of this lovely evening in the photo gallery) |
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| Pantomime |
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| You cannot claim to have experienced English culture until you have been to a Pantomime! |
| A few brave students went with Fran to see the 'Robinson Crusoe' Pantomime in Winchester. I should explain that this is not Shakespeare.......Audience participation is a must! Sadly, as this was the first matinee performance, we were the audience. (Yes, really - us and 3 children!)However, it didn't stop us! We shouted, pointed, told the actors where the treasure was. We were as loud and enthusiastic as a room full of children. 'Oh, no, you weren't.' 'Oh, yes, we were!' Interesting? Yes! Exciting? Yes! Strange? Very! |
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| Sara's Friendship Bracelets |
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| Cho Kyoung said:After school, we usually have extra curricula activities. There are many kinds of activities, so I'm able to choose according to my preference and it's a good opportunity to experience English culture and to improve my English skills. |
| A few weeks ago I had a great time. When we finished our afternoon lesson, I went to the students' room. It was raining and quite a cold day but the atmosphere in our school is very cozy. The students' room especially is very snug so it is a popular place for students. There was a crowd of people in the room. First of all, my favourite teacher, Sara, explained how to make a bracelet and gave us lots of colourful cottons. We picked out 2 or 3 colours of cotton and made a knot. For me, it was not so difficult. It was interesting. If you apply a little more force, you will make it tight. (A loose knot doesn't look good.)While we were making the bracelets we were listening to music. The music made me more comfortable. I am still using this bracelet. Sooner or later I'm going to make another type of bracelet and give it to a friend. |
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| Badminton Competition |
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| The Winners: Janis and Beate |
| It was a very good idea! The teachers of the school organised a badminton competition. The students organised themselves into doubles and all the pairs played against each other. We played in the sports centre for about one hour. It was a very funny mature of players and teams. Janis and I played together and although we had never played before, we worked together very well. In fact, so well that we won all the games! Look at the picture: we were very happy with our victory! |
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| International Food Party July 2005. |
| Roca Ma. Gonzalez survived! |
| Last 21st July we had the International Food Party in the school. Most of us discovered a lot of different things such as, English people cook their pies with creamy or mashed potatoes over them and the apple cake was fanatastic. I want another small piece, please Sara and Jane. Also we discovered that Chinese, Japanese Korean and Taiwanese foods are really different from each other and that the people don't eat fish all the time (as I thought)and although many of their vegetables are different from ours, all of us loved them. The Asian food disappeared in seconds! *Jay and Jamie cooked chicken wings and fish with vegetables. *Kyoko, Hiroko,Yuko and Kaori cooked chirashi sushi. *Joon, Min, Yunina, Park, Jee Youn and Jamie cooked seafood Korean pizza, 'San jeok' and 'tteokbokke'! *We have a Venezuelan man and he cooked us'arepas' the traditional fast food in his country. *Thank you to Kate, our Polish woman. The Carpatian Mountains are known as the sweetest mountains. *Our Italian girl, Carola, cooked pasta. If you live with her, you won't starve! *We ate goulash cooked by Zoltan. It was really spicy. *Thanks to Inna's mother and Fedex we ate authentic red caviar and Russian chocolates. *Yanna, our German student, didn't cook sausages. What a pity! *Olga cooked a Greek dish for us with feta cheese. *Our Latvian man, with his Spanish housemate brought white wine. *Finally the Spanish people showed three different ways to cook fried potatoes and eggs - Traditional Spanish omelette, cooked by Ascension. (I only peeled one potato and whisked the eggs!) - Mixed potatoes and eggs by Luis - and the first omelette Felipe has ever cooked! It was a small green omelette. The next time might be better. Thanks Felipe! - 'Brave potatoes' cooked by Alvaro and Iker. - Montse and Ana made 'gazpacho' a cold soup with vegetables. It was a really fantastic evening; we had a big table full of extremely delicious dishes. It was the most varied dinner of my life. FANTASITC! Thanks to all international chefs! |
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| Chris's Experience on St Catherine's Hill |
| Dear Diary Today, the 17th August, I went back to St Catherine's hill. Just as on the first occasion, feelings of amazement started to fill my body when I stood at the foot of the steps. During my climb I was astonished by the wild flowers like Senecio Jacobaea (Ragwort) and Centaurea Scobiosa (Knapweed), but I couldn't get the mysterious maze built by a boy from Winchester College at the top of the hill out of my mind. So I continued climbing the steps. In the meantime I was looking for clues, trying to resolve the mystery. When I reached the top, the maze wasn't the only thing that was mysterious. I couldn't take my eyes off the most beautiful, panoramic view I have ever seen in my life. It took my breath away. I was just in time to see the sun burning into the opposite hill. This caused a shadow and I watched St. Cross disappear into the darkness. For only a few seconds you could see the spectrum of a rainbow caused by the last beams of light. Then suddenly, night fell and lights across the city were lit. You could see the central part of Winchester and its suburbs in the orange glowing light. When I took a look at the Riven Itchen I saw in its reflection that stars were appearing in the clear sky above. It was getting late and I suddenly remembered why I had wanted to go back to St Catherine's hill. I returned to the maze............................... |
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| A Party in the Spring |
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| On a lovely sunny evening the students at the Winchester School of English experienced another strange party. Konrad Madej explains: |
| Have you ever dreamt of being a flower? I haven't, but I was made an offer I couldn't refuse - an invitation to a Flower Party at the school.We (students and teachers) were all supposed to look like flowers. We could take meaning of the word literally or we could use our creativity and the dark side of our minds to change into flowers.... The games flew by very quickly. There were a few funny battles between the flower teams which showed us which team was the most intelligent,creative,imaginative - simply..the best. The champions won a huge prize and shared it with everyone. I think everyone had a great time and enjoyed the flower party. Let the Flower Force be with you! |
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| Our Day In London |
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| The Queen and Annina Stammbach tried to get together to celebrate Annina's birthday - unfortunately there were too many tourists and Annina could only wave at her at the window |
| Annina's experiences: A cold wind was blowing when we arrived in London but we soon warmed up as we walked with Jean through St.James' Park to Buckingham Palace. Lots of tourists were there but we could hear the music of the Changing of the Guard. At Trafalgar Square everyone chose to go in different directions for their own 'London Discovery'. I decided to go with some other students up St Paul's Dome - 513 steps on narrows stairs! But then - it was just amazing.....the view, big London at our feet! We also visited Tower Bridge and then returned to the meeting point by underground. (It was the evening and crowded with people - now I know why it's called rush-hour!) We returned to the coach and drove back to Winchester with plenty of impressions of the big city and also very tired! |
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| A Walk in the New Forest |
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| Sunshine! Blue Skies! Horses! Pigs! Deer! Beautiful colours and MUD! (I KNOW! The title is a New Forest WALK and the picture shows us sitting down, eating but we stopped for a picnic Yes! In November, outside, sitting on the grass....Who says we're mad!) |
| Manami Toriya writes:....... On Saturday November 12th about 15 students went to the New Forest. Jean and Fran led the expedition and Fran's family also accompanied us. The weather was beautiful. We met at 10.30 at the car park and headed for the New Forest. As we approached the New Forest we saw horses, ponies and pigs on the side of the road. 'Now we've seen all the animals we should see, we can go home!' Fran said and laughed. Once we got out of the car and walked into the forest, there were lots of trees and a muddy path. It was a beautiful day but it had been raining the previous week, so the forest ground had absorbed rain and then been covered with leaves. We stepped into the muddy patches before we even noticed them and cried and shrieked!! Everyone's boots became encrusted with mud. We really enjoyed this experience as it had been a long time since we last played with mud (maybe in kindergarten!?) The air was so fresh there and the trees were calm and magnificent. We met a very large pig just after entering the forest and saw a group of deer after lunch. Jean gave us delicious toffees to keep us going, saying 'It'll just take 5 minutes to the lunch place.' 'Only 5 more minutes to the pub.' We walked through the forest and eventually got to the village, Fritham at about 2.30. The we took a rest in the pub. It had been a long but exciting day. I have climbed mountains in Japan but have never walked in a forest like this. I found the hiking really fine! It is easier than mountain (or rock) climbing and you get a great view! |
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| A Visit to Winchester Crown Court |
| Students went to see a trial in Winchester Crown court. Yuko writes: |
| We went to the local court near the school to watch some trials. At first I thought that the court was small but when I got inside, I was surprised that the court looked big and impressive. I watched two trials and the first one was about a rape. The judge and the barristers wore wigs and gowns. It seemed as if they came from the Middle Ages. The prisoner had not confessed to the rape, so the jury had to consult with each other on whether he was guilty or not. The scene in which one of the jury said 'Not guilty' was extremely exciting and well worth seeing. In Japan, only judges have the right to convict. Tha's why I was really impressed with this trial. |
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| English Food is Delicious! |
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| When Ayako goes back to Japan she is going to surprise everyone with a wonderful taste of England. Ayako says: |
| One day after school we made scones in the school kitchen. It was the first time we had made scones, so at first, Jean told us what scones are and how to make them. Before, I thought that making scones was very complicated and difficult, however it is not true. Making scones is very easy. We made two kinds of scones; Cheese scones and Devonshire scones. After cooking, we had 'Cream Tea Time'. Jean taught us how to eat scones. She said that Cheese scones go with butter and Devonshire scones go with jam and clotted cream. We really enjoyed eating and talking. It was a very 'English Experience' for us. |
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| Darko |
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| Darko says 'Good bye!' |
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| Skittles |
| Skittles? What kind of game is that???? (Luis Cruz Mateos asked himself.) |
| That was my first question when I heard that word. The teacher laughed and answered: It will be fun. You must come! The next day I went to the pub and went inside and saw the special room for playing skittles in. 'Oh My God!' I thought. 'What's this?!' I didn't know exactly what that was. Bowling? Boules? Skittles was a mixture of both of them. The truth is that that evening was awesome. I think that the rules were invented by Jeni, the teacher. But it was really funny. Everybody enjoyed themselves a lot. You were able to drink, talk and laugh at the same time. We spent more than three hours there, and for eveybody it was a short time. It's a pity that I wasn't able to repeat that experience but if, some day, I come back to England, I'm sure that I'll play that game again. |
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| A Recipe by Severine |
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| How do you make a successful Pink Party? |
| Ingredients: Pink students Pink Teachers Pink games A great deal of good mood Imagination First of all, take the students and the teachers and have them wear PINK clothes. 'Don't forget to use your imagination: you have to be as pink as possible.' Secondly, divide the students into several groups and make them play games. Don't forget to add a lot of great mood. The result should be a lot of fun and an unforgettable party. So, if one day you're passing the Winchester School of English and you see a group of boisterous pink people...Don't worry. You are not on another planet....It's just the Pink Party. I have just one more thing to add: Let's Get PINK!!!!!!!! |
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| Lovely words from Olga |
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| Olga, happy in the pub! |
| Well, I was supposed to write a diary every day, but these last days I haven't been able to do so. The programme has been so full; a lot of homework to do, a lot of things to do in the evening, hasn't left any free time at all. I enjoyed the evening with Alvaro, Felipe and Carola at the swimming pool very much and the coffee straight after. Wednesday evening was a very nice evening as well. It made me think, once more, how well the functions at the school had been organised. What they call the Social Programme is so enjoyable for students and is, at the same time,so useful, improving the communication between students and between students and teachers. I feel a bit depressed leaving Winchester after two wonderful weeks. On the other hand I think to myself how lucky I was to have come across the website of that school just a few weeks ago, almost lost in the internet. It's not only the lessons in the English Language that I've taken; it's also the energy from the people that love what they do; it's the atmosphere you have the opportunity to share. It was one of the best experiences of my life, that I'll never forget. |
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| Basketball |
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| Visit to Jane Austen's House |
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| Jane Austen is one of England's most famous writers. One beautiful afternoon in May a group of students drove to see her house. Mike Rousek from Czech Republic says: |
| We visited Jane Austen's house in Chawton which is a small village near Alton in Hampshire. It's the house where Jane Austen lived with her family for a number of years. It was Wednesday 11th May in the afternoon. The weather was very nice and we visited the house with a large, beautiful garden and some other buildings which were used, for example as a kitchen. The house is in very good condition, everything looks the same as in the time of Jane Austen. When we went back to Winchester we spoke with Fran about English writers - which of them is the most popular, which is boring and why Jane Austen is so popular in England and other English speaking countries. Visiting this house was a very good opportunity to learn something more about English life and literature. |
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| The Seagull at The Theatre Royal Winchester |
| In April we went to see 'The Seagull' by Chekhov (in translation!). It was a great experience. This is what the students who went to see it said..... |
| MaRo (Korea):For only £5 you can enjoy a play and delicious ice cream! I could feel the emotion of the actors and actresses because we could see their faces. Sometimes they came up close to us. It's a fantastic experience to see plays in the theatre. It helps us to improve our English and we can learn about English culture as well. Ute (Germany):I really enjoyed the play. I especially liked the scene when Nina compared herself with a seagull. 'I'm a woman destroyed by a man casually - like the seagull was shot.' This part was one of the most tense for me. It is one of the best sad plays I have ever seen. Monika (Hungary):I liked 'The Seagull' very much because I could understand it better than the cinema. It was very satisfying for me! I think in the theatre the pronunciation is different - it is easier to understand. For me it was very good English. Erika (Japan): At first I couldn't understand but after two or three times going to the theatre I can understand a lot of words. I felt very happy. Sometimes the theatre is very cheap, so I can have a good experience and I enjoy the theatre. Ruediger (Germany): The theatre was very nice and I understood a lot of the play. Carmelina (Switzerland): The seagull shows us once again that we often want things we cannot have. Love is the same as roulette, we can win, but also lose. Mike (Czech Republic): If I listened hard, I could understand a lot. I don't think the actors spoke very fast. It was a good choice to see this play - it was very nice and it touched me. Kaori (Japan): I enjoyed it very much!! Actually I could only hear 40% of the play but I could feel and understand because the actors' performance is really impressive and wonderful. I'd like to have even more opportunities to watch English actors play. Meri (Spain):The Seagull was a lovely dramatic story with a great sad ending. I couldn't understand everything but I understood most of the words. It was not very difficult to understand. JiYoung (Korea): It was my first time at the theatre for 5 months and it was really nice! When a stage hand rolled a carpet up on the floor I realised there was a carpet because we were sitting in the front row! One more thing...I suggest taking an umbrella in order to keep dry from the 'rain' from the actors mouths! Konrad (Poland): Although one man went to sleep during the play(!)it was good. I really enjoyed watching and especially listening to the actors. It was a great experience in the exploration of the language. |
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| Theatre: White Men with Weapons |
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| Fourteen of us went to the theatre. Sabine Eisenbeis and Marie Anne Mercier enjoyed the intellectual and linguistic challenge! |
| On Tuesday 15th March we went with the school to the theatre in Winchester. We wanted to see the play 'White Men with Weapons' acted and written by Greig Coetzee. The thing which made this play different was that there was only one actor who played 13 characters by himself. The main subject of this play was the old South African Defence Force. (Thank you to Fran for explaining the story before we went. It made it easier for us to understand!) It was especially hard for us to understand because the actor sometimes spoke in different dialects and also in Afrikaans - a totally different language! However we enjoyed the play because he was a great actor and had a great evening. |
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| International Food Party |
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| Delicious! MaRo Kim with a very full stomach wrote: |
| Everybody can cook. People who want to eat special food must come! There are a lot of different dishes that you might never have had before. We call it the International Food Party.It is such a good chance to introduce your traditional food to other people who don't know it all. Once you start, you can't stop eating food from all over the world. So think of your poor stomach before you lift your knife and fork - it may be smaller than you think! |
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| Badminton |
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| It was OUT! Sports Reporter Martin Nauerth writes: |
| When our teachers told us about their plan for us to play badminton, many students were very happy. When Fran had explained the rules of this game after the lunch break, the majority of students went to play badminton in the evening after school at the Leisure Centre in Winchester. In spite of some little 'misunderstandings' during the matches between the partners of the international teams, all the students had a lot of fun and a great experience. BUT the evening wasn't a great experience for ALL of the participants. Two racquets didn't survive! They were the sacrifice to the enormous strength of the students! My opinion is that an event like this helps the students to communicate easily outside the school in their leisure time. Thank you for this nice evening!!!! |
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| Indian Restaurant |
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| Indian Food Experience Jose Manuel Garcia Martin says: |
| It isn't very English but this is an International school and they organise International Experiences.... This was the second time I had eaten in an Indian restaurant and if you want to 'Feel Hot' in England in March, this is a fantastic way. Thank you for your modern methods of dividing the bill, Jean. Give me a piece of paper! |
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| Friendship Bracelets |
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| Sandra Heibili says: |
| I was looking forward to Thursday all week, because this was 'Friendship Bracelet'day. Everybody was quiet on this afternoon - which was really unusual- because everybody was concentrating very hard! Even a boy tried his best (he may be the only dextrous boy in the school!) and he was very patient. All in all, it was a nice after school activity and, although you might not believe it, we were all a little bit tired after it! |
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| Theatre 'Very Little Women' |
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| A photo of the 'intellectual' students at the Winchester School of English! |
| On Thursday we went to see a play called 'Very Little Women' which was based on a famous American book 'Little Women'. This was a story about 4 sisters who have very different characters and their mother. Though they are poor, they are happy and help poorer people and sick people. The play was the same as the original story, however the play was arranged to be much funnier. There were only two actresses and one actor and they played about 8 roles in turn with some dolls. As we sat in the front seats, we saw their eloquent faces. Even though we didn't understand all the English, we laughed a lot. Whenever we go to see a play the teacher explains the story so we don't have to worry. It's a great experience! |
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| Theatre Visit |
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| 'I love going to the theatre' says Mai Umeda |
| When you go to the theatre, what do you imagine? That it is for the rich, that it is expensive, special? No, it isn't! There is a theatre which is called the Theatre Royal in Winchester. It's near the school in the city centre. We usually go there every two or three weeks. As we buy the cheapest tickets, it only costs £5- £8 and we sit in the front seats. Even if we can't understand all the English it's worth going to have a good experience. We can hear real English and see their faces clearly. The only problem is your neck might ache because of the seat! Never mind! The Theatre Royal is a small theatre which has 2 floors and was built many years ago. It's clean and beautiful. We go to the theatre in the same way as we go to the cinema. It's popular in Winchester and I love it! |
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