Tuesday 1st march

Don't forget to write your love poems and send them to the entry Grace wrote last week in our blog!

You also have to write your anecdotes in etwinning.

ETWINNING: ANECDOTES

Our new activity in etwinning will be the writing of real (and funny) anecdotes at school, at home, with our friends or with our family.

Let's use the new section "FORUM", where we don't have to worry about the format of our documents.

Let's also ask some questions about the anecdotes, so that we start threads in the forum!

Robert Burns

Today we looked at a poem by Robert Burns, a very famous Scottish poet. Do you remember when I told you about our Christmas traditions in England and I told you that on New Years Eve we sing Auld Lang Syne? Robert Burns is the poet that wrote this.


In Scotland there is a traditional supper held in honour of Robert Burns, called Burns night or Burns supper. It is a celebration of the life and works of the poet. Traditionally, in the last few hundred years , it is held on the anniversary of his birth, January 25th, but originally it was held in July on the anniversary of his death.

Many people and organizations hold a Burns' supper on or around Burns' Night. Formal events include toasts and readings of pieces written by Robert Burns.

The evening centers on the entrance of the haggis (a type of sausage made from a sheep's stomach) on a large plate to the sound of a piper playing bagpipes. When the haggis is on the table, the host reads the "Address to a Haggis". This is an poem that Robert Burns wrote to the Scottish dish. At the end of the reading, the haggis is ceremonially sliced into two pieces and the meal begins.

Auld Lang Syne

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And auld lang syne!

For auld lang syne, my jo,
For auld lang syne,
We'll tak a cup o' kindness yet,
For auld lang syne. 

And surely ye'll be your pint stowp!
And surely I'll be mine!
And we'll take a cup o' kindness yet,
For auld lang syne.

We twa hae run about the braes,
And pou'd the gowan fine;
But we've wander'd mony a weary fitt,
Sin' auld lang syne.

We twa hae paidl'd in the burn,
Frae morning sun till dine;
But seas between us braid hae roar'd
Sin' auld lang syne.

And there's a hand, my trusty fiere!
And gie's a hand o' thine!
And we'll tak a right gude-willie-waught,
For auld lang syne.

For auld lang syne, my jo,
For auld lang syne,
We'll tak a cup o' kindness yet,
For auld lang syne.

This month is Black history month. Click here to see some information on the heroes of the Civil Rights Movement, including Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King, Jr.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal."

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

From the "I Have a Dream" speech, Aug. 28, 1963

Poems

Here are some of the poems we saw today in class, and some other ones for you to read!

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.

by Elizabeth Barrett Browning

How do I love thee?  Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of Being and ideal Grace.
I love thee to the level of everyday's
Most quiet need, by sun and candlelight.
I love thee freely, as men strive for Right;
I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise.
I love thee with the passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints,—I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life!—and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.

Love Sonnet XVII by Pablo Neruda

I do not love you as if you were a salt rose, or topaz
or the arrow of carnations the fire shoots off.
I love you as certain dark things are to be loved,
in secret, between the shadow and the soul.

I love you as the plant that never blooms
but carries in itself the light of hidden flowers;
thanks to your love a certain solid fragrance,
risen from the earth, lives darkly in my body.

I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where.
I love you straightforwardly, without complexities or pride;
So I love you because I know no other way

than this: where I does not exist, nor you,
so close that your hand on my chest is my hand,
so close that your eyes close as I fall asleep.

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day

by William Shakespeare

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date:
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimm'd,
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance, or nature's changing course untrimm'd:
But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st,
Nor shall death brag thou wander'st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st,
 So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,
 So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

A Red, Red Rose
By Robert Burns

O, my love is like a red, red rose,
that´s newly sprung in June.
O, my love is like the melody,
that´s sweetly played in tune.

As fair art thou, my bonnie lass,
So deep in love am I,

And I will love thee still, my dear,
Till a´the seas gang dry.
Till a´the seas gang dry, my dear,
And the rocks melt wit´the sun!
And I will love thee still, my dear,
while the sands o´life shall run.

And fare thee weel, my only love,
And fare thee weel a while!
And I will come again, my love,
though´it were ten thousand mile!

On the 14th of February is St. Valentine´s Day. It is the traditional day on which people express their love for each other by sending Valentine's cards and giving flowers or chocolates.

What happens on Valentines day in Britain?

Each year in Britain, we spend around £503 million on cards, flowers, chocolates and other gifts for Valentine's Day.

Today Valentine's cards are sent anonymously (without signing their name) by a 'secret admirer'.

Flowers are the most common gift given, a dozen red roses or just one red rose.

It is just as common for a woman to send a man a message of love, especially during a leap year´, and on Valentine's Day in a leap year it is the custom that the woman can ask a man to marry her!

Do you celebrate St. Valentine´s day in Spain? Do you have a special day when you can tell someone you love them? What do you think of this celebration?

Today in class we saw some poems that are very typical in England, the roses are red poems.

Roses are red,
Violets are blue,
Sugar is sweet,
But not as sweet as you!

I want you to write a poem like this, following the roses are red format.

I look forward to reading your poems!