Halloween is a very ancient Celtic festival that now

takes place every year on 31st October. Originally,

the ancient Celts celebrated "Samain", a winter sol-

stice in late Autumn when they lit fires in their villag-

es to keep away evil spirits that they believed

walked the Earth on that day. This symbolism of

"Light against Dark" as "Good against Evil" was con-

tinued down the ages, and later the Catholic Church,

to help the transition to their faith, deliberately add-

ed the day of "All Hallows", or All Saints' Day, to the

calendar the day after the old Celtic festival of Sa-

main. This was to symbolise the evil pagan spirits

being vanquished by the victorious Christian

saints. It is thus that Samain was renamed All Hal-

lows' Eve, later contracted to Halloween.

In true Celtic style, but with the modern addition of

cakes, sweets and fizzy drinks, our 6èmes enjoyed a

fun Halloween party on Friday 18 October, just be-

fore the "Toussaint" holiday. Normally well-behaved,

studious pupils transformed into terrifying witches,

vampires, werewolves and worse... However, our

"little monsters" managed to stay sufficiently disci-

plined to take part in the proposed activities: making

Halloween cards and ghost lollipops with Mrs Guillet

and Mrs Leroy, insect "lucky dip" with Mrs Rablat,

and pumpkin carving with Mr Yates. All in all a very

good time was had by all - teachers and creatures

alike!"

SAINTE MARIE

Autumn 2013 Edition #13

International

Section Chronicle

For the final newslet-ter of the calendar year, we are treating you to some of the highlights of the aca-demic year so far along with Mrs Hart’s popular ‘Cambridge Corner’ and we meet a new teacher in the International Section.

With best wishes for a wonderful holiday and a successful year ahead from...

The International Section team.

Bienvenue...

A BIG French welcome to our visiting Irish stu-dents. We hope you have a won-derful time and make some new friends here at our school.

Halloween Party

A Jack O Lantern by Mr Yates

Halloween Monsters

Do you know this witch? Activities Galore.

Page 2 International Section Chronicle

Coventry University at Lycée Bossuet

Thanks to a special partnership with Coventry University UK,

Lycée Bossuet now offers an English bachelor degree (license,

Bac +3) in Global Business or Global Marketing. This year the

first class of Global Business graduates will receive their degrees

in London!

The new partnership with Coventry University London Cam-

pus’s Top-Up Programme allows students who have already

completed 2 years of post-bac study (for example a BTS, DUT,

LEA) to receive a valid English Bachelor Degree after just one-

year of additional study.

The Coventry programme is a real business experience that

prepares students for the world of international enterprise.

These are the two key components of the programme: its

emphasis on applied learning and developing work-place skills,

rather than exclusively memorization and academic exams, and

its international focus. Coventry adds a unique global vision to

the standard theories and practices of the typical business

school. All this is offered at Meaux at nearly half the price of

the program in London.

Introducing a new teacher…

Australian Flag Mr Glenn Allen

Mr Allen comes from Australia with a background of many

years as a teacher and administrator. He holds the following

degrees and diplomas: Bachelor of Arts, Diploma in Education, Master of Education specialising in teaching English to speakers

of other languages. In Australia, Mr Allen was nominated on

three occasions for his excellence in teaching at a national

level.

As a former IT manager for his high school in Australia, Mr

Allen likes to incorporate technology with his teaching and this

is proving popular with his classes. Civilisation students are

using the internet to bring their British studies to life. Others

are practising their grammar online.

In his spare time, Mr Allen likes popular music and plays key-

board. Pronunciation students are certainly enjoying learning

pop songs as part of their course. As well, he has vast expe-

rience with staging school musical productions and making

props.

As an animal lover, Mr Allen has brought two dogs with him

from England where he has lived for the past four years. He

also has not long acquired two black kittens who love to sleep

on his laptop while he is doing his school work at home.

Mr Allen has said he loves teaching here in France as his stu-

dents are all so highly motivated and well behaved. He looks

forward to his lessons each week with great enthusiasm.

His students have told the Chronicle that they really love his

classes and are learning so much.

Do say hello to Mr Allen if you pass him in the school and

extend a warm French welcome to him.

Outstanding Results

The BAC 100% of the International Section students who took the

BAC were successful. Congratulations to the 43/45 SI

students (95.5%) who obtained a ‘Mention Européenne’.

85% of the students also received a ‘Mention Traditio-

nelle’.

Cambridge Exams

83% of Lycée students taking KET were successful.

91% of Lycée students taking PET were successful.

68% of Lycée students taking FCE were successful.

Congratulations to the 25 Advanced and 5 Proficiency

students who passed their examinations which are

considered to be post-Bac level.

Penfriends with Alton Convent School by Mrs Rablat

(organizer)

For the fifth year, the '5ème' and '6ème' classes of

the International Section at St. Marie are partic-ipating in an exchange of letters with Alton Con-vent School (Hampshire, England). By putting pens to paper, students talk about all sorts of things: family, friends, pets, school life and subjects studied, activities in and outside school, occupa-tions and interests. The all-girl school in Alton is always very willing to participate; the girls have a real flair for presentation, sending beautifully de-signed cards with photos and drawings and even presents! These contacts have sometimes blossomed into real friendships and even exchanges on a personal level. Students told the Chronicle that they love having a penfriend.

Cooking Favourites for Christmas: Mince Pies

Page 3 International Section Chronicle

Ingredients:

12 oz/350g all purpose/plain flour

Pinch of salt

8oz/225g butter, cubed or an equal mix of butter and

lard

1 beaten egg + cold water as needed

1 jar of mincemeat, shop bought or home made

2 table spoons icing sugar

Preparation:

Heat the oven to 400°F/205°C/Gas 6

Make the Pastry

Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean bowl.

Rub the butter into the flour with your fingertips until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs, working as

quickly as possible to prevent the dough becoming warm.

Add the egg to the mixture and using a cold knife stir, add cold water a teaspoon at a time until the mixture

binds but don't make it too wet that it is sticky.

Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and chill for a minimum of 15 minutes, up to 30 minutes.

The dough can also be made in a food processor by mixing the flour, butter and salt in the bowl of the processor

on a pulse setting. When the mixture resembles breadcrumbs, add the egg slowly, through the funnel, then add

water a teaspoon at a time until the dough comes together in a ball. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill as above.

Assemble the Pies

Choose a muffin or bun tin for the size of the pie you want. Choose from a standard 12-cup muffin tin down

to small canapé size. The number of pies will depend on the size of cup you choose.

Dust a work surface lightly with a little flour and roll out two-thirds of the pastry to 1/8"/3mm thick. Cut cir-

cles to line the cups of your tin, don't worry if the pastry doesn't come to the top.

Fill the pastry lined tins 2/3 full with mincemeat.

Roll out the remaining pastry to the same thickness and cut smaller circles to fit as lids on the tarts or to be

decorative, cut stars or other fancy shapes.

Dampen the edges of the tart bases with a little cold water and press the lids on. Make a small hole in the

surface of each pie with a small sharp knife to allow the steam to escape (you can omit this if using star-shaped

lids).

Bake in the preheated oven for 20 mins (15 mins if

making canape size) or until golden brown.

Remove from the oven and sprinkle with the icing

sugar. Mince pies are delicious served hot or cold

on their own or with Brandy Butter. They will

keep well if placed in an airtight tin - up to seven

days. Sometimes they benefit from a gentle

warming in the oven before serving.

Enjoy

Cambridge Corner with Mrs Hart: Answering the question

One of the biggest problems in the Cambridge Exams is that students do not answer the ques-

tion properly. Students must remember to fully answer the question asked, otherwise they will

lose marks.

An example: “What do you think the difference is between watching TV and going to the cine-

ma?

The answer should be exactly what they have asked you! It does not mean, “Which do you

prefer…?”

Many students make this mistake and give their preference and don’t compare the two. Also

note that the examiner is giving you the opportunity to demonstrate your comparative language

in this case so make sure you use at least some of the following expressions:

“Compared to TV, cinema is a more exciting activity because…”

“TV is much cheaper than the cinema because…”

“While TV and cinema have many similarities, they are also different in many important ways, such

as…”

“Watching a film at the cinema is not nearly as flexible an activity as watching something on

TV. By this I mean that…”

It is absolutely essential that you understand and answer the question asked. You could easily

fail your writing paper if you do not. More advice in the next issue.

Page 4 International Section Chronicle

IDIOMS: 1. To rack your brain.

2. To take a leaf out of someone's book.

3. Laughter is the best medicine.

4. To see the elephant.

5. The devil finds work for idle hands.

6. To get the show on the road. 7. To be the icing on the cake.

8. To hold out an olive branch.

9. To be off the beaten track.

10. To have bats in the belfry.

Idioms: answers from the last newsletter… and more! Some Christmas idioms...

MEANINGS: 1. To think hard.

2. To copy someone else.

3. Laughter helps things to go better.

4. You see more than you wish to.

5. Spare time can lead to trouble.

6. To get things moving.

7. To make something special. 8. To make peace.

9. Somewhere not many people go.

10. To be mad or stupid.

Christmas only comes but once a year.

Like Turkeys voting for an early Christmas.

To cancel someone’s Christmas.

It was like Christmas coming early

Meet me under the mistletoe

Bah! Humbug.

Deck the Halls.

Snowing him/her.

The Irish Visit In the next newsletter, you will read all about the visit from

the Irish students from Grosvenor Grammar School who

arrived on Friday, 6th December from Belfast. Already the Irish Head of the Department of Foreign

Languages has said how impressed he is with the standard

of English and the knowledge of the Terminale students dur-

ing a History and Geography lesson for the ‘Mention

Européenne’.

International Primary School of Montry Once again this year, Mrs Hakim is at-

tending the Montry Christmas Party. She

will be congratulating the students of

Montry who have passed their Young

Learners’ exams and received their diplo-

ma during the festivities. The International

Sections is always delighted to welcome

Montry students for their exam session.