Hats Off for these people!

During lessons about French Culture, Grade 11 students, who have been studying French for four years, have seen the names of French people who  have marked History and Science. Hereunder are some of these people.

Who (not only the ones below), according to you, has made most impact on your life? Explain why...add a comment!

Nicolas Appert

Les freres Lumiere

Louis Pasteur

Pierre et Marie Curie

Carnival in Malta

February in Malta, is certainly marked by Carnival celebrations.

For many years, Carnival has completely entrenched itself in Maltese tradition. It represents a colourful event, in which people from all walks of life participate. Carnival in Malta takes up five days before Lent. Traditionally this was the time to indulge and feast before sobering up for the 40-day fast which in Christian and Catholic tradition preceded the Resurrection of Christ. Actually 'carne vale' marked the period when meat and other earthly pleasures could be enjoyed in a spree prior to the commencement of the term of Lenten penitence. In Malta the five feastdays are celebrated almost exclusively in the capital, Valletta, and Nadur Gozo, even though one can find numerous activities in other towns. 

Do you celebrate carnival in your region? Have you dressed up for the occasion? Add a comment!

'Il- Perlini u l- Prinjolata' (Typical sweets and cakes)

Some anticipation about the workshop

During their stay in Pisa, all students from the 5 partner countries will not only have the occasion to do some sightseeing, appreciate Italian food, visit an Italian school...Certainly it is the right occasion to get to know each other better and share experiences.

An activity that will be carried out during this trip will consist in creating a sort of Identity Card. The only difference from a real ID Card will be, that this one will be written in 5 different languages. The students of different nationalities will help each other to do this. They are also in charge of teaching each other some basic words in their mother tongue. It should be interesting and fun...undoubtedly a learning experience.

Agenda for second project meeting in Pisa

Building Bridges Using the Five Senses

Pisa, November 2013

Agenda

The following matters will be discussed:

Ø  The Action Plan: where are we, what comes next?

Ø  The 'Guide Book': deciding about format, number of pages, dates by when material should be passed on to Italy…

Ø  Check the draft of the evaluation questionnaire prepared by Michèle and her colleagues;

Ø  this year's drama productions to be recorded on DVD;

Ø  Confirming redistribution of tasks: Bulgaria and Poland have been confirmed after the meeting in Challans. Will Poland be able to take care of Press Releases and Bulgaria will be responsible for the editing of DVD?

Ø  The teachers' trip to Bulgaria : setting the dates

Ø  The teachers' and students' trip in Malta : setting the dates, number of students involved...

Ø  Students’ Workshop: Creating an ID Card using the five languages of the partnership. The Activity will be uploaded on blog as “My First Words in…”

Second Project Meeting in Pisa

At the moment, teachers and students are really excited getting ready for their trip to Pisa, Italy. Only two weeks left!! Enjoy yourselves!!

Hereunder is the programme of activities as proposed by Elisabetta and Paola. Thank you so much for the hard work!

March, 12th; Tuesday	arrival of the groups at Pisa airport
March, 13th; Wednesday	Trip to Florence departure (08.30) Guided tour of the town of about two hours and a half packed lunch Visit to Giardini di Boboli later in the afternoon train to Pisa (arrival around 7 pm)
March, 14th; Thursday	morning at school: greetings of the Principal; photo exhibition in the Hall and workshop from 9.30 to 11.00 (ID card in the languages of the project) coffee break sight-seeing tour of Pisa (Students will be the guides) In the afternoon, the teachers will work on the agenda  whilst students will join Italian students in the activities that will be going on at school during this time.
March, 15th; Friday	trip to S. Gimignano and farmhouse nearby departure by bus at 07.45 the group will split in two: visit of the farmhouse in the morning, packed lunch and visit of S. Gimignano in the afternoon for one group and the other way round for the other group arrival in Pisa around 7 pm
March, 16th; Saturday	departure of the groups

Some more commentary on the poem by Wilfred Owen

                    "Dulce et decorum est" di Wilfred Owen

Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,

Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,

Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs

And towards our distant rest began to trudge.

Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots

But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;

Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots

Of tired, outstripped Five-Nines that dropped behind.

Gas!Gas! Quick, boys! – An ecstasy of fumbling,

Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time;

But someone still was yelling out and stumbling,

And flound'ring like a man in fire or lime. . .

Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light,

As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.

In all my dreams, before my helpless sight,

He plunges at me, guttering,choking, drowning.

If in some smothering dreams you too could pace

Behind the wagon that we flung him in,

And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,

His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin;

If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood

Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,

Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud 

Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,

My friend, you would not tell with such high zest

To children ardent for some desperate glory,

The old Lie; Dulce et Decorum est

Pro patria mori.

Wilfred Owen in Dulce et Decorum est pro patria mori, gives us a terrible view of war, through the death of a soldier killed by the gas of chemical weapon in world war 1.

With this poem he denounces trench life and the death by gas and describes it with such realistic and cruel words that we can’t remain indifferent to this. The agony of this soldier, and the description of the other ones marching under the weight of their weapon, give us an imagine that is far away from that of heroes fighting for the honor of their country, in fact they are represented like “old beggars … coughing like hags”.

The poet wants to give us the real image of the war, he gives a painfull description of the situation just to impress the reader, because he thinks that only by seeing war in all its crude horror he can fully understand the poet’s accusation at the end of the poem. 

The poem ends with a latin phrase “Dulce et Decorum est pro patria mori” which reminds us of a centuries-old tradition of patriotism, but according to Owen it is an “old lie” because love for ones country cannot justify the horror of war and the waste of so many lives. This latin sentence sounds noble and idealizing, while war is considered as something horrible to be avoided.

Giannino Francesca , 4 B

Commentary on the poem by W. Owen

Wilfred Owen's poem "Dulce Et Decorum Est" was written during his World War I experience. Owen, an officer in the British Army, deeply opposed the intervention of England.

His poem explains how the British press and public opinion comforted themselves with the fact that, however terrible it might have been, all the young men dying at war were dying noble, heroic deaths.

The reality was quite different: they were dying obscene and terrible deaths. Owen wanted to throw war in the face of the reader to illustrate how vile and inhumane it really is.

In his poem he explains that people will encourage you to fight for your country, but, in reality, it may simply result in sentencing you to an unnecessary death.

The breaks throughout the poem indicate the clear opposition that Owen strikes up. The title of the poem means "Sweet and Fitting it is," but then Owen continues his poem by claiming that the title is, in fact, a lie.

Aligned with powerful imagery and vast irony, the author was eventually killed in the very war he opposed. Before his death, he was thought to be one of the best poets of the Twentieth Century.

War is not worth it, as Owen proves with the lie perpetuated across generations: it is NOT sweet and fitting to die for one's country.

Analysis of the poem by W. Owen

Wilfred Owen in Dulce et Decorum est pro patria mori, with realistic words, cruel in their truth, describes a moment of withdrawal, not strong, not glorious, not honourable. The writer’s memory is vivid like the green killer gas. It is a bitter consideration about the old lie inculcated in the minds and in the enthusiasm of children, who haven’t known death yet.
The “war poets” were the first who denounced trench life or death by gas; but they also revealed the sense of exaltation and the spirit of adventure that marked the first years of the war. “Dulce et Decorum est” is an example of Owen's statement of the horror of war and the hypocrisy and ignorance of patriotism. The poem focuses on the terrible new chemical weapon of World War I: Gas. “Dulce et decorum est” is divided in four irregular stanzas. Each stanza deals with a precise point, in fact we can notice that in the first the poet introduces the situation, in the second he describes the gas attack, then in the third we can find the description of the poet's dream-nightmare and at the end he describes the soldier's death and produces the poem's message:
the sweet death for the country only results in a lie to tell children in search of glory. As the most sacred ties were set aside with reference to the relationship between soldiers and the country, because they did not feel supported by the nation that they protected, other new interpersonal ties resulted from belonging not to the same country but to the same community in the trenches; they were increasingly reinforced through human contact and trust within the troops.

Grassi Vittoria , 4 B

First World War propaganda

First World War propaganda.
The First World War was marked mainly by propaganda and posters that were hung in various cities.
The weight of propaganda organized by the various countries depended on their level of "democracy", namely on the level of participation of the middle strata in the politics of the nation, according to an inverse relationship: the attention paid to propaganda and the size of the persuasive apparatus were exceptional in England and the United States, small in Italy and very poor in Russia and Austria-Hungary. The media, then basically summarized in the press, were an essential component of the progression of the event of war, from its origin to the end, inside and outside the states. When the war broke out the military mobilization was accompanied by an equally impressive political and media mobilization for the development of the legend of "right war", carried out with strength by the traditional right-wing newspapers and the industrial and financial groups, and supported by some left-wing  journalism. The press among the an interventionist forces that made the Great War (and especially its duration and its size) possible.
In Italy at the beginning of the First World War, the vast majority of the country was against or indifferent to the cause of war. The elements that made ​​it possible to overcome this opposition would be ‘support to the king’, ‘the great demonstrations promoted by interventionists’, ‘the press campaign led by the Corriere della Sera’ (an Italian journal)  and ‘the ack of action in neutralist forces.’

Life in the trenches

The first core line of trenches was obtained from the holes made by shells, connected by passages and defended with barbed wire. Even after the battle of the Marne, on the western front a complex system of moats and fortifications was  for a long time the scene of terrible suffering for soldiers in war. The two opposing lines were separated by  the so-called "no man's land", a real pile of dead bodies, wounded soldiers and craters, which even the rescue teams could not access. The rear of the trenches housed the military headquarters and medical centers, while in trenches troops lived in very poor conditions in housing inside dungeons.

When the whistle of an officer launched an attack on the enemy line, the soldiers went to the white assault with fixed bayonets or rifles: many were wiped out by the enemy machine-gun fire, others remained injured or maimed, without any hope to be rescued. Often all the efforts made to gain some line of enemy trenches turned out to be unnecessary because of the counter-offensive of the enemy. Going ahead meant going to one's own death, but also those who came back were summarily executed in cowardice or mutiny. It was a real massacre: thousands of men were killed to gain a few meters, then regularly often lost.

The situation was aggravated by the fact that the soldiers in the trenches were always in danger of death during the long hours of inertia between an attack and the next one: the sniper fire, grenades, machine guns and assault enemies were always on the agenda, exhausting the nerves of the troops already worn out by the poor living conditions due to dirt and, in winter, the cold, the rain and mud. To withstand the strain and superhuman mental fatigue which they were subject to, soldiers had as their only consolation alcohol and occasional licenses.

Pisan students on Wilfred Owen

The poem by Wilfred Owen highlights all the five senses. It appeals to the reader's sight, smell, hearing, taste and touch. It is at the same time very personal, expressing the poetic voice's own war experience and “European”, because it reflects on a historical event involving most of the countries participating in this project.

Some students have analyzed the poem and its message; others have focused on war propaganda, life in the trenches and soldiers' uniforms and weapons.

BASIC UNIFORM & EQUIPMENT 1916-18 The basic uniform and equipment worn by the British soldier during the 1916-18 period differed little from the Infantryman of 1914-15. Service Dress and 1908 webbing equipment were commonplace, although the large pack was normally only worn on the march, and rarely in the trenches themselves. It was never worn in battle, or carried into an attack. The Service Dress peaked cap was still worn, and since the Winter of 1914/15 the internal stiffener had been taken out and it was usually worn 'floppy'. CHANGES IN UNIFORM & EQUIPMENT 1916-18 While the basic uniform and equipment had not changed, many new pieces of equipment had been introduced and were commonplace by 1916. In the early period of the war, it proved impossible to keep up the production of the 1908 webbing equipment, and so the War Office produced a set of leather equipment, known as the 1914 Pattern. This differed substantially in design to the webbing, and had two cartridge pouches, instead of smaller web ones. It had a narrow leather belt with a brass, 'snake' buckle, left and right braces, a water bottle carrier, bayonet frog with entrenching tool handle attachment, and entrenching tool blade in a leather cover. The backsack and large pack were in khaki material, but with leather fittings. This kind of equipment remained in use in the field right up until the end of the war. However, it was unpopular with soldiers, as it did not distribute the weight correctly. The 1902 Service Dress tunic and trousers remained in widespread use, but from 1914 a 'Utility Tunic' was produced, which was a simplified version of the original; both cheaper and easier to produce in large numbers. It differed in that the breast pockets were much larger and had no pleats. The arrival of gas on the battlefield, following the Second Battle of Ypres (April-May 1915), saw the introduction of Gas Masks. The first ones were very primitive designs, often a face mask with goggles. By the time of the Battle of Loos (September-October 1915) the PH Helmet was in widespread use, which was a large cloth hood with two eye pieces and a filter through which the soldier breathed. It was uncomfortable and difficult to use, the eye pieces normally misted up, but it stayed in use well into 1917. At the close of the Battle of the Somme in 1916 the Box Respirator, the first proper gas mask issued to British troops, appeared and all soldiers had one by the Spring of 1917. However, many continued to carry the older PH Helmet as a back-up. While it was first introduced in late 1915, the Steel Helmet, or Shrapnel Helmet, was only in widespread use from the Spring of 1916. Indeed, the Battle of St Eloi (April 1916) was the first time that it had been worn in battle. The 'soup-bowl' design had a leather liner, with a leather chin-strap. More than 7.5 million were made by 1918, and as it was constructed of tough steel, it offered greater protection that other designs. Some soldiers welded their regimental badges to the front of the helmet, but this was found to weaken the steel and German snipers often used them as an aiming point! It was more common to find a regimental design painted on, as well as a battalion, brigade or divisional battle flash. Some soldiers wore khaki covers on the helmets, to stop them reflecting the light. Many new weapons appeared in this period, including hand grenades, light machine guns, flare pistols, trench weapons, and trench mortars.

And here it comes...

And 2 more to come...

Sorry, I can't upload the Bulgaria and Poland ones :(

I wil try again later !

More pictures from France

Here are some pictures we've taken on our French school Open Days.