Wednesday 30 November 2016

IN MEMORY OF PAUL WALKER





Three years have passed since the death of a famous actor, Paul Walker. He was an actor and a filmmaker and everybody knows him because he starred in the street racing action film Fast & Furious as Brian O'Conner. We've personally loved this actor since we saw the first film of the Fast And Furious series. Even though it is the most famous film he starred in, it isn't the only one he was in! For example, he was also in "Into the blue", "Hours", "Vehicle 19" and "Brick Mansions". To remember Paul Walker here's to you 9 curiosities about him:

Monday 28 November 2016

OUR TOP 10 TV SERIES

We like watching TV series. We watch them for fun or escapism but,  sometimes,  we also watch them in the original language with subtitles to improve our English.  Today we want to share with you our top ten favourite series. 
Are your best favourites in this list? 

10. How I met your mother

The series follows the main character, Ted Mosby, and his group of friends in Manhattan. As a framing device, Ted, in the year 2030, recounts to his son and daughter the events that led him to meeting their mother.


Saturday 26 November 2016

ALICE & MARTINA: 8 BOOKS, 8 GENRES

      ROMANCE -  “SEE ME”

It’s one of the latest books by Nicholas  Sparks. It has been published  in 2016. The novel, titled See Me, tells about Colin Hancock, who has a violent stormy past, who decides to go back to his previous life. Maria Sanchez is a student and a young model with a traumatic story behind. Their lives will cross and they will try to defend their love.




Thursday 24 November 2016

SUPER ... MOON !!!


A SUPERMOON is a coincidence of a full moon with closest approach the moon makes to the earth on its elliptical orbit resulting in the largest apparent size of the lunar disk as seen from earth.                                       
“Supermoon” isn’t actually an astronomic word but it makes the phenomenon visually clearer than thousands of words. When this happens … the moon becomes full at 14:52 but it can be found under the horizon. The moon rises at 17:18, when the sky is still dark.   

This video was made by NASA.



On 14 November 2016, the supermoon was 356,511 kilometres away from the centre of the earth. The next supermoon will be on 25 November 2034.

Tuesday 22 November 2016

HOW MUCH DO YOU KNOW ABOUT COLDPLAY? (PART ONE)



ARE COLDPLAY DIFFERENT FROM OTHER BANDS?

OF COURSE! Coldplay were a surprisingly new phenomenon when they started back in 1996. 20 years ago!!! Music journalists have written that the band doesn't quite fit in with the current popular-music landscape. Their soulful, haunting, intelligent songs have set them apart from bubblegum pop stars, aggressive rap artists. Also the lead singer, Chris, is far from the lifestyle of a stereotypical rock star: he doesn’tt take drugs, he doesn’t distaste alcohol, but he never had a bad lifestyle.
In an article in Maclean's magazine, Coldplay guitarist John Buckland said “ connecting to listeners on an emotional level is the most important thing in music for us. We're not really the cool, detached kind of people; we're really passionate about what we're doing." At Coldplay's official website, Chris Martin explained the band's choice: "We were trying to say that there is an alternative. That you can try to be catchy without being slick, poppy without being pop, and you can be uplifting without being pompous.... We wanted to be a reaction against soulless rubbish."
Here is a cool video featuring Chris Martin. Recently he has taken part in a funny show with James Corden which is very famous in the USA, the "Carpool Karaoke"!

Sunday 20 November 2016

LET'S SWIM! MICHAEL PHELPS vs GREGORIO PALTRINIERI


Micheal Phelps is one of the best swimmers in the world. He was born on June 30, 1985, in Baltimore, Maryland.


He competed in his first Olympic Games when he was 15, as part of the U.S. men’s swim team. He won a total of 28 medals (23 gold, 3 silver and 2 bronze) and setting the record for the most won medals by any Olympic athlete.

Friday 18 November 2016

TIME FOR A STORY: OBERON AND THE DRAGON EGG

The story in Federica's handwriting + cute kitty
Once upon a time there was a boy called Oberon. He lived in a big Guild with other children. One day he decided to go out for a walk. He loved walking because, when he walked, he thought about his father, who had disappeared as if by magic. 
Oberon loved remembering the moments with him. 

While he was going towards the oak wood, he saw a big egg near a tree. He thought the egg was a dragon egg, but given that dragon eggs were very rare in the wizarding world too, he believed that was impossible. Oberon was a wizard but not an expert one.  

So he took the egg and brought it to his Guild. Oberon called a girl, one of his friends,  Titania. She was so intelligent, Oberon believed she might know how to look after that egg. 

Titania told Oberon that the egg needed a warm place but they couldn’t keep it in the Guild because the master wouldn't allow that. In fact according to the rules the children weren't allowed to have a pet nor in this specific instance  a pet egg. 

They settled it in a small cavern in the wood on a bed of leaves. They lay down on the ground near the egg,  keeping it wrapped  in their arms in a warm loving embrace. Would it work? Would it be enough to make it open?

Wednesday 16 November 2016

GIGIO THE YOUNG


Hi friends! I'm a great football fan, so today let me celebrate on our blog one of the myths of  the new generations. His name is Gianluigi, but if you believe that you have already understood, unfortunately you’re wrong! :-) In fact, I’m not referring to the current number one of our national soccer team, Gianluigi Buffon, but to Gianluigi Donnarumma, who not only shares his nickname “Gigi” or “Gigio” with his older colleague, but also seems to repeat his fantastic career on the soccer field.

 “Gigio the Young” was born in 1999 at Castellammare di Stabia, near Naples, where he grew up.  So he is only 17! He plays as a goalkeeper  like his brother Antonio: maybe there could be a matter of DNA behind this family tradition!
He’s still a teenager, but he has already shown himself as a leader and  is considered one of the most extraordinary talents in the world of soccer. 
It’s not by chance that some time ago he broke several records. For example becoming the youngest goalkeeper ever to debut in Serie A or to play for the national team of Italy. That’s the reason why all the experts think that very soon he will be the successor of  “Gigio” Buffon, who also is sure that “Gigio the Young” will achieve a fantastic career in his future and an extraordinary success. Just one defect: he currently plays for Milan (and I am a supporter of a different team) … what a pity! 

Andrea

Monday 14 November 2016

THE GOLDEN 80s & 90s

Hi guys, today we want to talk about the songs of a time gone by, but that we will never forget . We are talking about songs that have made the history of music, songs from the 80s & 90s. The music of the past is very different from today's music. Once you had to know how to play an instrument or have a great voice or at least to know how to tell a story in your lyrics but, nowadays,  very simply with a computer everybody can make and release a song, even your Maths/English/Science teacher 
Everybody knows that since many years the music that we hear is contaminated by money and business so it is a bit difficult to recognize a good song when you hear it. However not all contemporary music has to be thrown away , absolutely not!
Now let's not think about this and think more about the 80s/90s hits. Here we have the top songs chart by MTV.  We’ve chosen to see just the first five songs that in ascending order are :

Sunday 13 November 2016

HOW WE LEARN ENGLISH




Hi guys! We all know that English is the international language today, spoken all over the world. It’s essential to learn it and learn it properly. So, since we have to do that, let’s do it with cheerfulness and fun.  What do we do in our classes? For example, we  write posts and create video materials for our blog!
(Matteo, 3scB)

Benedetta
I often have a dictionary at hand, printed or online, to look up new vocabulary. Then, I started reading a great English magazine lately, Speak Up, which includes lots of audio materials. So reading + listening.
(Benedetta, 3scA)

How do I study English? I still don’t know! Joking :D When I started high school I wasn’t very good because I didn’t like listening. Then I discovered that if I really wanted to improve I had to listen to more English materials.
(Nicolò, 3scB)

If I had to choose between reading/writing or speaking/listening, I would probably choose the first. In my opinion, it is easier to remember rules and words when I write them.
(Denis, 3scA)

Personally, I love practising English with fun activities like watching movies in English with subtitles, listening to English songs and reading English books or comics. So, that’s what I do.
(Francesco, 3scB)

Friday 11 November 2016

WILL DONALD TRUMP KEEP HIS PROMISES?


Donald Trump has won victory in the presidential race, but no one is quite sure what he  will actually do in office. We usually hope presidents keep the promises they made as candidates once they get started. Unfortuantely, we are not actually sure we want that to happen this time! 

Here, we look back at 7 of Trump’s professed beliefs from an article from BBC News:

1. The US should use waterboarding

This and other methods of "strong interrogation" should be deployed in its fight against the Islamic State group. These methods, Mr Trump said, are "peanuts" compared to the tactics used by the militants, such as beheadings

Thursday 10 November 2016

THE REGION WE LIVE IN. DO WE REALLY KNOW IT?



Hi everyone! We are Francesco and Nicolò. Today, in this article we would like to talk about the biodiversity of our geographic area, namely flora and fauna. Moreover, we will introduce some interesting curiosities . 

First of all, we live in Subiaco, a small town not far from Rome where there are a lot of wonderful and suggesting landscapes.

Our area is partly placed in the Regional Park of the Simbruini  Mountains in which there is a remarkable biodiversity formed by many species of animals and plants .

Tuesday 8 November 2016

SINGING ED SHEERAN AT SCHOOL


We like Ed Sheeran because with his scruffy hair and hoodies he looks more like the boy next door than a pop star. But the singer who has written songs since the age of 13 is actually a global star! His latest album "X" has been number one in 65 countries and he has just finished a hugely successful 
tour all over the world. 
Everybody loves Ed among us at Let's Blog, even our teacher! So we decided to stay on at school after lessons and sing her favourite song for her: Photograph.  She enjoyed it and we hope you'll enjoy it too! Here we are in a video (thanks Alex P.!) 


(In the video Denis on the guitar with Giovanni Benito, Camilla, Ludovica, Lisa, Karina, Federica, Angela, Rosita, Giada, Elisa, Ludovica, Francesca, Chiara, Sofia e Benedetta) 

Sunday 6 November 2016

WE LOVE FOOTBALL

We are Alex T. and Luca and we love football!!! 

Football is the most popular sport in the world and it is a team sport. The target is to kick a ball with one of the feet to score a goal. It was invented by the English during the nineteenth century.



In our opinion football, in addition to being a beautiful sport,  allows you to meet new people and make new friends.
As a matter of fact,  we two met on a football field, during our training sessions, when we were children.

Friday 4 November 2016

BOOK REVIEW - THE NOTEBOOK


The Notebook is a novel by Nicholas Sparks published in the U.S.A. in 1996.  
                                                                            
The plot


North Carolina, 1946. Young Noah comes back to his birthplace after WWII to realise his dream of living in the big house near the River.                                                                     
He really misses  Allie, a beautiful girl he met seven years before and really loved in their short happy time together.  They haven’t seen each other since then.                      
Destiny has decided to write a perfect love story for Noah and Allie. The most beautiful one can imagine. However, their relationship was not a fairy-tale …                                                                     
  “They didn’t agree on much. Infact they didn’t agree on anything. They fought all the time and challenged each other ever day. But despite their differences, they had one important thing in common. They were crazy about each other”. 
The author

Spark was born in Nebraska in 1965 and studied at the University of Notre Dame. He lives with his wife and five children in North Carolina and is commonly called “Love Poet”.

Wednesday 2 November 2016

MOST OUTRAGEOUS DONALD TRUMP QUOTES

The new US President is going to be elected  in a few days.  In this post we are going to list the most outrageous statements of one of the two candidates: Mr Donald Trump.