French pupils doing their research about our 5 countries, for our next exhibition at school first and then in town.

Happy Christmas number 2

Happy Christmas !

It's Christmas time ! Some  of our year 7 pupils sang a Christmas Carol today to their friends. They all loved doing the karaoke ! We hope you will enjoy it too !
Happy Christmas to all of you !

Christmas e-cards

Our students have created these e-cards in English, Italian and German. We all want to wish you a very merry Christmas :-)

A lesson with a difference!

Grade 11 students of French and History have gone on an educational outing to Valletta. The aim was mainly  to appreciate our historical, architectural and artistic heritage. Our visit took off as we passed by the recently placed statue of Grand Master Jean de la Valette, a French nobelman, founder of our capital city:  Valletta.

Then, we proceeded to the Co-Cathedral of St. John. It was designed by the Maltese architect Glormu Cassar and is undoubtedly a fine example of Baroque art and architecture. Behind its austere facade lies a magnificent treasure...We admired the intrinsic decorations, sculpted in Maltese stone;  the side chapels belonging to the different 'langues' including the French and Italian ones; the ceiling by Mattia Preti, known also as 'il Cavaliere Calabrese' depicting the life of St. John, and the inlaid marble tombs were important Knights are buried.

Surely one of the main highlights has been 'The beheading of St. John' by Caravaggio. Simply breath-taking! 

To end our visit, we have been on a short journey in time thanks to the incredible show 'Malta 5D'. This show has provided us with an interactive and exciting way to explore the history and culture of our islands. 

Our Comenius Exhibition on Parents' Days

At San Andrea School, Parents' Days took place on the 6th and 7th December. This was the occasion where the parents of 400 students met with their children's teachers and discussed their achievements and ways of improving.

We thought that this would be the ideal occasion to inform the parents about our Comenius Project 'Building Bridges using the Five senses', who are the participating countries and also allow them to admire the work done by children in different Grades with various teachers. For this reason, we have set up an exhibition. Hereunder are the pictures of the exhibited material. Well done Ms. Lara, Ms. Sharon, Mr. James, Ms.Charlene, Ms. Joanne, Ms. Louise, Ms. Marie Louise and Ms. Lesley!

The French regions

During French lessons, Maltese students get to learn about the different regions French regions. The concept of a country being divided into regions is new to our students as this does not exist in Malta due to our small geographical size. The students, who are still in their first year of learning French, carried out research and presented their work in the form of a chart or a model. 

Pisa

At San Andrea School, during lessons of Italian, students discovered Pisa, the town from where the Italian partners come from. Students also had the opportunity to research and prepare a presentation of their findings.

Some of the students' work on display 

A visit to the Maltese National Museum of Archaeology

Students of Grade 9, (second year of secondary school) went on an educational outing to the National Museum of Archaelogy. This outing was organised by their teacher of History Ms. Alison Dunn.  One of the students, Elizabeth Grech, wrote about her experience on this outing.

"The Pre-Historic exhibit in the Museum of Archaeology in Valletta is extremely interesting. With the first evidence of the first humans in Malta in 5200B.C found at Ghar Dalam in Birzebbuga, we can see that pre-historic people used tools, some made of flint, and through this we can determine that pre- historic people were very intelligent. Pottery similar to that found in Sicily was found in Malta which suggests that people from Sicily might have come to Malta.

The discovery of Obsidian glass was a very important one as this glass is made from volcanic rock and we do not have any volcanoes in Malta. This could mean that pre-historic people traded items from one country to another. This could also suggest that people came from abroad, most probably from Sicily since it is quite close.

Skorba was another very important archaeological site since here, archaeologists found the very first evidence of settlements in Malta. Pottery found at Skorba can be divided into two parts: The Grey Skorba Phase and The Red Skorba phase. The Grey Skorba Phase pottery had a grey-like colour whereas the Red Skorba phase pottery had a red-like colour. At the Museum one can also see Red Ochre.  It was a colour that was used a lot in pre-historic art and even in temple decorating.     

Hal Saflieni was another discovery made in Malta. Hal Saflieni was an underground burial site and one room was decorated using spirals. These people believed in an afterlife, they might have used the spirals to symbolised eternity, or simply as a decoration.

It is important to know that Malta is home to the oldest standing temples in the world, these are the Ggantija temples. They were built in 3600B.C.

Pre-historic man used rounded boulders to roll huge slabs of rock, called Megaliths, on from one place to another; this made it easier to carry rather than pulling and tugging it on the flat ground.

There is also an abundance of interesting figures that represent the Fat Lady, also known as the Mother Goddess or the Goddess of Fertility. She is probably portrayed as fat to symbolise fertility. If women are fertile then the population and tribe will increase in number and the people will not die out.

Animal figures were also important in pre-historic art as animals were a main source of food. They might have drawn these animal figures to wish for luck before a hunt, or after a successful hunt as thanks. They might also have been drawn in temples to portray sacrifices that the people offered to their gods. The fact that freezes of fish were found in Buggiba may suggest that the people there were fishermen, since Buggiba is close to the sea.

This visit to the National Museum of Archaeology shows us that the island of Malta, however small it may be, has an extremely rich heritage and us Maltese should appreciate it and be proud of it."

Malta at Christmas Time

Being a devout catholic country, Christmas time is a very special time for us. It is the perfect time to be with family and friends. Most families in Malta enjoy decorating their houses with the typical Christmas tree, colourful baubles...and most especially the traditional Christmas Crib ("Ïl-Presepju"). Various amateurs create the cave of Betlehem themselves, some more elaborate than others, and complete it with little figurines ("pasturi") representing Holy Mary, Joseph, baby Jesus, the three kings, the angel, farmers and much more.

Another tradition is the Christmas Eve Midnight Mass and the Christmas Sermon ("Il-Priedka tal-Milied"). On this night, a chosen young boy or girl, an altar boy/girl, recites the sermon, the story of Jesus instead of the priest. It is amazing how at such a young age, this child manages to memorise all the sermon and recite it with such passion.

Of course, there are traditions related to food:  from the roasted turkey to Christmas logs, roasted chestnuts to mince pies, it is the perfect contour to the festive spirit.

Below are a few pictures that I took of decorated streets in Valletta (our capital city) and Sliema, a town very well known with shoppers.

A Christmas tree made with baubles of Mdina Glass

Republic Steet, Valletta

Artisan Market in Sliema