The next topic I want to tell you about is my school life, because I'm spending my last year at my school.
My school is not very big. It's quite a modern three-storeyed building. It is a specialised school famous for its high-quality education and strict discipline. When the pupils come to school they leave their coats in the cloakroom on the ground floor. On the first floor there is a large assembly hall. We have our meetings there, and on some holidays parties are held there.
At the end of 9 form
The classrooms for junior pupils are on the first floor, and for the seniors, on the second floor. In every classroom there are two or three rows of desks with the teacher's table in front. There is a blackboard and a bookcase. There are some pictures and maps on the walls. The language laboratory is equipped with tape-recorders for listening to English texts on tapes, a TV set and a video-player to watch teaching programmes.
I go to school six days a week. Classes begin at half past eight in the morning, but I usually come to school ten minutes earlier. Each lesson lasts forty five minutes. After three or four lessons we have a twenty-minute break. During this break we go to the canteen to have lunch. Every day we have six lessons, and they are over at half past two in the afternoon.
I'm pretending listening to the teacher
My favourite subject is English. I like to learn new words, and to dramatise texts and dialogues. I like it when we discuss something interesting to us, when we were taught to debate, and when we have small-group discussions or set up a role-play.
I like my class. I always feel at home there. Everybody is so friendly and easy to get along with. I am on good terms with my classmates and we often spend our free time together.
The 2014 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XXII Olympic Winter Games, will be the next Winter Olympics celebrated from February 7 to February 23, 2014, in Sochi, Krasnodar Krai, Russia. The city was elected on July 4, 2007, during the 119th International Olympic Committee (IOC) Session in Guatemala City, Guatemala. This will be the first time that the Russian Federation will host the Winter Olympics; the Soviet Union hosted the 1980 Summer Games in Moscow.
The Games will be organized within two clusters, a coastal cluster in Sochi, and a mountain cluster in Krasnaya Polyana.
Venues
Sochi Olympic Park (Coastal Cluster)
The Sochi Olympic Park will be built by the Black Sea coast in the Imeretin Valley. All the venues listed below are new and need to be built. The venues will be clustered around a central water basin on which the Medals Plaza will be built. This will provide a great compactness of the concept with the Olympic Stadium and all indoor venues of the Olympics gathered within walking distance.
International broadcasting center and main press-room.
After the Olympics, it is planned to use the cluster area as part of Formula One street circuit. This deal was signed on 14 October 2010 though it could be delayed to the 2014 Games. The contract runs to 2020.
The next post comes to us from Artem, who will talk about the food and customs of Mexico.
Mexican cuisine is a style of food that originates in Mexico. It is known for its varied flavors, colourful decoration, and variety of spices and ingredients, many of which are native to the country. The cuisine of Mexico has evolved through the centuries.
The staples of Mexican cuisine are typically corn and beans. Corn, traditionally Mexico's staple grain, is eaten fresh, on the cob, and as a component of a number of dishes. Most corn, however, is used to make masa, a dough for tamales, tortillas, gorditas, and many other corn-based foods. Squash and peppers also play important roles in Mexican cuisine.
The most important and frequently used herbs and spices in Mexican cuisine are chile powder, oregano, cilantro, epazote, cinnamon, and cocoa. Chipotle, a smoke-dried jalapeño chili, is also common in Mexican cuisine. Many Mexican dishes also contain garlic and onions.
Next to corn, rice is the most common grain in Mexican cuisine. According to food writer Karen Hursh Graber, the initial introduction of rice to Spain from North Africa in the 4th century led to the Spanish introduction of rice into Mexico at the port of Veracruz in the 1520s. This, Graber says, created one of the earliest instances of the world's greatest fusion cuisines.
Mexican food varies by region, because of local climate and geography and ethnic differences among the indigenous inhabitants and because these different populations were influenced by the Spaniards in varying degrees. The north of Mexico is known for its beef, goat and ostrich production and meat dishes, in particular the well-known arrachera cut.
The six regions of Mexico differ greatly in their cuisines. In the Yucatán, for instance, a unique, natural sweetness (instead of spiciness) exists in the widely used local produce along with an unusual love for achiote seasoning. In contrast, the Oaxacan region is known for its savory tamales, celebratory moles, and simple tlayudas while the mountainous regions of the West (Jalisco, etc.) are known for goat birCentral Mexico's cuisine is largely influenced by the rest of the country, but has unique and tasty dishes such as barbacoa, pozole, menudo and carnitas.
Southeastern Mexico, on the other hand, is known for its spicy vegetable and chicken-based dishes. The cuisine of Southeastern Mexico has a considerable Caribbean influence due to its location. Seafood is commonly prepared in states that border the Pacific Ocean or the Gulf of Mexico, the latter having a famous reputation for its fish dishes, à la veracruzana.
Honey is an important ingredient in many Mexican dishes, such as the rosca de miel, a bundt-like cake, and in beverages such as balché.
In Pueblos or villages, there are also more exotic dishes, cooked in the Aztec or Mayan style (known as comida prehispánica) with ingredients ranging from iguana to rattlesnake, deer, spider monkey, chapulines, ant eggs, and other kinds of insects.
Recently other cuisines of the world have acquired popularity in Mexico, thus adopting a Mexican fusion. For example, sushi in Mexico is often made with a variety of sauces based on mango or tamarind, and very often served with serrano-chili-blended soy sauce, or complimented with habanero and chipotle peppers.
Teacher's Note: The next post is by Lidia, who will discuss the famous breakfast restaurant chain, Dunkin' Donuts.
Dunkin' Donuts is an international doughnut and coffee retailer founded in Quincy, Massachusetts, a suburb of Boston, by William Rosenberg in 1950. He started out his business with one food cart that provided donuts and coffee to construction workers around the city of Boston. His cart was a success, and soon he bought another. Soon after that, he moved his business into a storefront in Quincy, Massachusetts. One store grew into two, and so on, until he had a successful business throughout the northeastern part of the United States. This soon expanded throuhgout the rest of America, and then the world. The company now has more than 9,700 restaurants in 31 countries worldwide, which includes more than 6,700 Dunkin’ Donuts locations throughout the United States.
Despite originally focusing on donuts and other baked goods, over half of Dunkin' Donuts business today is in coffee, making it more of a competitor to Starbucks as opposed to traditional competitors Krispy Kreme and Tim Horton's.
Advertising
There have been many slogans used by Dunkin' Donuts over the years. They include the following:
Only at Dunkin' Donuts (1950-1991)
The Place for Donuts and Coffee (1950–1964)
America's Favorite Donut and Coffee Shoppe (1964–1967)
America's Dunkin' (1973–1976)
It's Worth the Trip (1979–1990) (1997–1999)
You're Dunkin' (1980–1993)
Just the Thing (2000s)
America Runs on Dunkin' (since 2007)
In addition to slogans, Dunkin' Donuts was also known for its TV commercials in the 1970s and 1980s portraying a donut maker named Fred. His catchphrase, "Time to Make the Donuts" became famous throughout America.
Since the 1980s, Dunkin' Donuts has expanded its menu to include such additional items as muffins, bagels, sandwiches fruit smoothies, blended drinks and tea.
In April 2011, Dunkin' Donuts launched a new donut and special cake in honor of Prince William's royal wedding to Kate Middleton in England on April 29, 2011
This is a picture of the original Dunkin' Donuts store in Quincy, Massachusetts. It was taken at some during the early 1960s.
A box of different donuts that Dunkin' Donuts provides.
Our teacher allowed everyone to write everything what we want as a free topic. There are too many interesting things in our wonderful world we can talk about. I would like to talk about my hobby. I enjoy martial arts and I will share it with everybody. I hope everybody will like it. :)
Martial arts(literally meaning arts of war but usually referred as fighting arts) are extensive systems of codified practices and traditions of combat. Martial arts all have similar objectives: to physically defeat other persons or defend oneself or others from physical threat. Some martial arts are also linked to beliefs systems such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Daoism, Confucianism or Shinto while others follow a secular code of honor. Martial arts are considered as both an art and a science. Many arts are also practiced competitively, most commonly as combat sports, but competitions may also take the form of "forms competition." Overview:
The term martial arts refers to the art of warfare (derived from Mars the Roman god of war) and comes from a 15th-century European term referring to what are now known as historical European martial arts specifically to what is today known as Historical Fencing, but is now most commonly associated with Asian fighting styles, especially the combat systems that originated in East Asia. The term both in its literal meaning however, and in its subsequent usage may be taken to refer to any codified combat system, regardless of origin, a practitioner of martial arts is referred to as a martial artist. Martial arts have originated and evolved in various cultures at various times. In the Americas, Native Americans have traditions of open-handed martial arts such as wrestling, while Hawaiians have historically practiced arts featuring small and large-joint manipulation. A mix of origins is found in the athletic movements of Capoeira, which African slaves developed in Brazil based on skills they had brought from Africa.
While each style has unique facets that differentiate it from other martial arts, a common characteristic is the systematization of fighting techniques. Methods of training vary and may include sparring (simulated combat) or formal sets or routines of techniques known as forms or kata. Forms are especially common in the Asian and Asian-derived martial arts.
And now there are some descriptions about some kinds of martial arts:
TAEKWONDO:
Taekwondo is a Korean martial art and the national sport of South Korea. In Korean, tae means ''to strike or break with foot'', kwon means ''to strike or break with fist'', and do means ''way'',''method'' or ''art''. Thus taekwondo may be loosely translated as "the art of the foot and fist" or "the art of kicking and punching."
BOXING:
Boxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists for competition. Boxing is typically supervised by a referee engaged in during a series of one- to three-minute intervals called rounds, and boxers generally of similar weight. There are four ways to win; if the opponent is knocked out and unable to get up before the referee counts to ten seconds (a knockout, or KO) or if the opponent is deemed too injured to continue (a Technical Knockout or TKO), if an opponent is disqualified for breaking a rule, or if there is no stoppage of the fight before an agreed number of rounds, a winner is determined either by the referee's decision or by judges' scorecards.
SUMO:
Sumo is a competitive full-contact sport where a wrestler attempts to force another wrestler out of a circular ring or to touch the ground with anything other than the soles of the feet. The sport originated in Japan, the only country where it is practiced professionally. It is generally considered to be a gendai budō (a modern Japanese martial art), though this definition is incorrect as the sport has a history spanning many centuries. Many ancient traditions have been preserved in sumo, and even today the sport includes many ritual elements, such as the use of salt purification, from the days when sumo was used in the Shinto religion. Life as a rikishi is highly regimented, with rules laid down by the Sumo Association. Most sumo wrestlers are required to live in communal "sumo training stables" known in Japanese as heya where all aspects of their daily lives—from meals to their manner of dress—are dictated by strict tradition.
CAPOEIRA:
Capoeira is a Brazilian art form that combines elements of martial arts, sports, and music. It was created in Brazil mainly by descendants of African slaves with Brazilian native influences, probably beginning in the 17th century. It is known by quick and complex moves, using mainly power kicks and quick leg sweeps, with some ground and aerial acrobatics, knee strikes, take-downs, elbow strikes, punches and headbutts. The word capoeira comes from Tupi, referring to the areas of low vegetation in the Brazilian interior.
And finally my favourite martial art:
WING CHUN:
Wing Chun, also romanized as Ving Tsun or ''Wing Tsun'' (and sometimes substituted with the characters ''eternal springtime'') is a concept-basedChinese martial art and form of self-defense utilizing both striking and grappling while specializing in close-range combat.
The difference between Wing Chun and other martial arts is softness. Softness and performing techniques in a relaxed manner, is fundamental to Wing Chun.
And one more thing. This is a WOODEN DUMMY. I love to practise with this very much. It makes my arms and my hands stronger. :)
<===== It's me.
My martial art teacher decided to take some photos before we started our martial art lessons :).
Our next entry comes from Nastia, who is writing about one of her favorite subjects, ballroom dancing.
"Dance is music made visible."
~ George Balanchine
In my description in the first post it's said that if I'm not lucky enough to marry some prince, I'd marry a ballroom dancer. I hope you'll understand why after reading this.
As this is happens to be a subject which I'm really passionate about, get ready for a long post with a lot of pictures :)
"Let us read and let us dance - two amusements that will never do any harm to the world."
~ Voltaire (French Enlightenment writer, historian and philosopher)
A little bit of history...
The term 'ballroom dancing' is derived from the Latin word “ballare” which means “to dance”
In times past, ballroom dancing was social dancing for the privileged, leaving folk dancing for the lower classes. However it should be noted even in times long gone, many ballroom dances were really elevated folk dances. The definition of ballroom dance also depends on the era: balls have featured popular dances of the day such as the Minuet, Quadrille, Polonaise, Polka, Mazurka, and others, which are now considered to be historical dances. At that time ballroom dance was just leisure, one of the ways to spend spare time, something which is now considered to be social dancing. It was also an art, exhibition dancing, like, for example, ballet.
In the end of the 19th century it became available for people from lower classes, who started to attend public dances or “social assemblies”. Later, in 1920th ballroom dance competitions were started to develop. They were unofficial and not very strict, because there wasn’t specific criteria how to evaluate dancers. That’s why in England in 1924 Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing (ISTD) started to create standards in music, steps and technique of dancing.
Therefore, people found out how to do every movement right or wrong. It meant that ballroom dance stopped being only leisure for people, it started to be competitive. Definition of ballroom dance in that time became equal to todays and it’s assumed that its homeland is England.
"The body says what words cannot."
~ Martha Graham (American dance choreographer regarded as one of the foremost pioneers of modern dance)
International Styles of Competitive Ballroom
For competitions from all ballroom dances which existed up until that time ISTD chose the most interesting and emotional dances, which can be transformed into sensual and artistic forms. I would like to give a little description and historical review of each dance.
There are 3 international styles of competitive ballroom:
- Standard
- Latin American
- 10 Dances
Both Standard and Latin American styles consist of 5 dances. Dancers can choose between Standard and Latin American styles or dance all of them, which means that they choose 10 dances. Standard and Latin American dances are very different from each other: they have different roots, dress code and even the shoes for these styles are different.
In Standard physical contact between man and woman is closer and permanent during the whole duration of dance. There's always a dress code for the Standard: long dresses for the ladies and bow tie and tail coats for the men.
In Latin American dances physical contact is more loose and often made only by hands. Sometimes partners are not touching at all, dancing their own part, and sometimes it's made much tighter, especially in Rumba. The dress code is also simpler: the women are often dressed in short-skirted open Latin outfits while the men are outfitted in tight-fitting shirts and pants. The goal is to emphasize the dancers' leg action and body movements.
Dances
Standard consists of 5 dances; I'll represent them in the order which they are danced during a competition:
Slow Waltz (English Waltz)
It should be mentioned that the roots of this Waltz aren't in England as you might think from its name, but in Boston, USA in 1800s. The name of the forerunner of our competition Waltz was The Boston. After the 1st World War The Boston came to England but the English changed it. During 1910-1914 many people went to the Boston club in the Savoy Hotel, Central London, where they created their own new style of waltz which had slower and more smooth choreography and was given the name Slow or English Waltz. And now it's the slowest dance in Standard.
Tango
In the beginning of the 20th Century the Tango was danced in small theaters for the High Society from Brazil. Until 1907 the Tango was not accepted in London, the dance was too passionate and, to European mind, wasn't decent to dance. After some stylistic changes the Tango was accepted by The English. From the original dance they saved only sharp-cut choreography with head and shoulder movements that suddenly switched over to stillness. But still the Tango is the dance of passion.
Viennese Waltz
It's the oldest dance out of Standard. This Waltz was created in 12-13 century in South German Alps Area and was called “German” at first. The Viennese waltz is different from other waltzes because of its fast rhythm and absence of much choreography: it has only nine figures.
Slow Foxtrot
Slow fox is the dance which was born in 20th century in USA and was called so in honor of American musical and vaudeville dancer Harry Fox. The Foxtrot was introduced in Europe just before World War 1, and it was a passion dance with slow and quick movements. The European dance teachers were not enthusiastic about the "wild" character of the Foxtrot and started to polish it more. Since then, Slow Foxtrot has been a very charming and gallant dance.
Quickstep
The Quickstep is a quicker version of Foxtrot. This dance was created in the New York’s suburbs during the 1st World War and was danced by Afro-Americans at first. It’s the quickest dance of Standard which has a lot of choreography that was taken from another one American dance – Charleston. The Quickstep is a joyful and cheerful dance.
Latin American group also consists of 5 dances:
Samba
The roots of the Samba are in Africa, but most of the development is done in Brazil: you will recognize the Samba from the Carnival Parties. In 1925 the Samba was imported into Europe. This dance includes active hip movements and bouncing. It creates the atmosphere of a Brazilian carnival.
Cha Cha
Exciting Latin American dance appeared in the 1950th in Cuba. Cha-Cha-Cha is developed from the Mambo and this name was created because of a sound imitation of "shoes" from dancing Cuban women. According to its roots the Cha Cha Cha music should be played using staccato and maracas, allowing dancers to create happy, careless and a bit of a cheeky atmosphere.
Rumba
They estimate that the Rumba was brought to America by the African slaves. After World War II The rumba was further developed into the "Cuban Rumba». This dance is the slowest of Latin American dances which represents feelings between man and woman. It includes long and sensual jesters full of love.
Paso Doble
The Paso Doble is the only Latin Dance that doesn’t come from the Afro-American culture; the roots of the Paso Doble are in Spain. It’s a dance of Spanish gypsies. It has features of Corrida and Flamenco where the man is playing the role of matador and the women – his cloak. It’s a dance full of passion.
Jive
Jive is a rhythmic and swinging dance which was influenced by Rock&Roll, Boogie and African/American Swing. It was created in New York, USA in the 1940th. It's the fastest dance in Latin American program and always danced in the end to show that tiredness can't stop dancers from dancing.
Competitions commonly include events that group dancers by age, experience, or both.
Me as a kid :)
juvenile (less 12yrs)
junior (12-16yrs)
youth (16-19yrs)
adult
senior I (Over 35yrs)
senior II (Over 45yrs)
senior III (Over 50yrs)
Each group has its own specific rules connected with costumes, dances and number of elements. For example, juveniles don’t dance rumba, paso doble and slow foxtrot which are difficult for such young dancers because of showing emotions, characterizing these dances, and complicated choreography. Juveniles are allowed to dance only in one costume for both Standart and Latin American and it mustn’t be much opened.
From juniors to seniors dancers may dance all dances. Juniors also have some restrictions in costumes: boys aren't allowed to wear tailcoats and girls must dances in dresses without stones. Since youth dancers follow the full dress code.
Of course, to understand what ballroom dancing is it's not enough to describe it in words. So I prepared videos! I chose my two favorite dances in each style - Rumba and Slow Foxtrot and found them performed by my favorite couple. They are juniors, but they have already been called "dancing wonders". Multiple World Champions in both styles among juniors and I'm so proud that they are Russian! Meet these two incredible persons: Sergey Rozhkov and Marina Zaharova.
"Dance is the mother of the arts. Music and poetry exist in time; painting and architecture in space. But the dance lives at once in time and space." ~ Curt Sachs (A German-born but American-domiciled musicologist. He was one of the founders of modern organology (the study of musical instruments)
