Day of languages at our school

A new school year has just started and once more the European Day of Languages (Sept 26th), an initiative of the European Council, is to be celebrated by the plurilingual community of our instituto Francisco Ayala.

The European Day of Languages (EDL) is a day to encourage language learning across Europe. At the initiative of the Council of Europe, the European Day of Languages has been celebrated every year, on 26 September, since the European Year of Languages in 2001. The specific aims of the Day are to:
 alert the public to the importance of language learning in order to increase plurilingualism and intercultural understanding;
 promote the rich linguistic and cultural diversity of Europe;
 encourage lifelong language learning in and out of school.

 As in previous occasions, students and teachers are going to read poems or extracts of literary texts and sing songs to honour all the languages learnt and spoken in our school. 

Languages build up our identities, our thoughts; languages are bridges to connect people of different backgrounds, to communicate with others, to exchange information, to discuss ideas; above all, languages allow us, if properly taught, to express feelings of friendship, solidarity, love and peace.

Enjoy learning languages, your mind will thank you, try some of these games:
http://edl.ecml.at/LanguageFun/tabid/1516/Default.aspx

Below just a few links to enjoy language as art:

English
http://www.famouspoetsandpoems.com/country/England/English_poets.html
http://www.english-for-students.com/English-Poems.html


French
http://poesie.webnet.fr/home/index.html
http://www.poemas-del-alma.com/blog/especiales/poesia-francesa


Italian (Petrarch sonnets)
http://caminodemusica.com/horowitz/tres-sonetos-del-petrarca-de-liszt-pace-horowitz-y-berezovsky

Spanish 
http://educacion.practicopedia.lainformacion.com/lengua-y-literatura/como-son-los-10-mejores-poemas-para-celebrar-el-dia-de-la-poesia-16272
http://www.camagueycuba.org/cienpoesias/

Why to learn English?

We love languages, they help people to think, to identify themselves, to express their feelings and emotions, to communicate and share ideas. It's great to learn languages, even neurologists recommend it as it can help to prevent or delay some mental disorders. 

Why should you learn English then? Could you think about at least 3 good reasons to learn this language? I'm sure most of you could. Perhaps your reasons coincide with the ones that wikipedia offers in Significance of English language. Check it!

We could tell you we have been learning for years because we like it, we can communicate internationally, and we can enjoy in a deeper way with cultures in English, not one, but many as it is the language of the United Kingdom, Ireland, The United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Malta, some Caribbean countries as Jamaica. 

Having the opportunity to read Shakespeare, Washington or John Irving, Poe, Keats, Austen, Dickens, Whitman, Wilde, V. Woolf, McCullers, Fitzgerald, Heminguay, Steinbeck, Gordimer, Coetzee, Follet and many other great writers is a pleasure you could enjoy. 

And what to say about science and technology, just imagine it!