Ysern´s Parrot December, 2017.

LIBRARIES IN THE FUTURE

Libraries have been existing for a long time. Throughout the years, people would find these places calming and peaceful. They could spend hours there searching for books they found interesting and would increase their knowledge. But due to technological developments, will these magic places last for very long? We all agree books might be boring if you compare them to a computer, but they are essential for kids to learn and, sometimes, for adults too. Technology is not helping in this case because it does not promote reading at early ages. With the new inventions, people shop less for books and libraries are becoming an unknown place for young teenagers. Internet is the easy-to-go tool for them. So, in conclusion, I think technology will take over this habit someday: E-books are going to be the future of this generation. (Yáiza Sánchez-Paulete Rodríguez, 1°B)

Did you know?

El Retiro Biblioteca Pública Municipal Eugenio Trías

Address: Paseo Fernán Núñez, 24, Madrid

If you’ve spent even just a weekend in Madrid there’s a good chance you’ve walked around El Retiro, maybe enjoyed a nice boat ride or a picnic, but what you probably didn’t know is that the park is also home to a brand new library! Opened in 2013, the upper level of the facility houses a large book collection, as well as a variety of newspapers and magazine editions. The lower level has computer rooms, cubicles and study rooms that tend to be a hot spot for students, so my advice would be to get there early to ensure the best spot for your working habits. They’re open almost all day during the weeks, from 8:30-21:00, and Saturday 09:10 – 17:50/Sun 09:10 – 13:50. What better place to access free wi-fi, study for a bit, and head out for a stroll around the Palacio Cristal for a well-deserved study break? And with glass windows surrounding the building, you won’t fully lose a gorgeous sunny day to those dreaded papers and exams!

Navalcarnero.- The municipal library Jose María Bausá

lends e-books or digital books.

LET´S BE CREATIVE!!!!!

THE GREAT WAVE

This painting is called “The Great Wave” and was painted by Katsushika

Hokusai, a Japanese painter. It was released between 1830 and 1833.The

painting shows a giant wave sinking little boats.

The wave is sinking yellow boats with some men in them. The men have white

faces and blue clothes. The style is cartoonish but realistic. The atmosphere

is dark and gloomy.

When I look at this picture, I can feel despair coming from it. It’s a beautiful

painting but disturbing at the same time.

(Marcos Garcia González – 3º B)

LOOKING TROUGH A WINDOW. One of my favourite paintings is Muchacha en la ventana by Dalí (1904-1989). It

was painted in 1925 when the artist was still unknown and was thinking to pursue a career

as a painter. As a result, this painting is different from the ones that launched him to fame

as it does not belong to the artistic movement surrealism.

In this simple painting we can only see a woman and a window. The woman is

called Anna María, she is Dalí’s sister. She is looking through the window so we cannot see

her face. She has short and curly brown hair and is wearing a light blue and white dress up

to her knees and also a pair of white shoes. The window where the woman is leaning on is

open and has curtains with blue and white lines as the woman’s dress.

Through the window we can see an impressive scenery. There is the sea, the coast

covered by the green of lots of high and leafy trees and the yellow and brown of the sand

and rocks , a small boat sailing not far from land and some buildings. It is a very realistic

and beautiful painting.

I first saw Muchacha en la

ventana at the age of nine, when I was

doing a project about Dalí. I remember

looking at that painting and feeling

relaxed and calm. Its simplicity enchanted

me and after looking at the painting

during what seemed ages very carefully I

decided I loved it. Nowadays when I look

at that woman and her window I become

that small girl and feel really well.

CLARA FLECHA FUENTES -3ºB

DISCOVER A DIFFERENT FREE TIME! Nowadays, “going to Madrid” in our free time means going to pubs or

shopping. However, nobody thinks about other options such as visiting the

many museums that there are. One of them is the National Museum of Natural

Sciences. It is a Scientific Investigation Institute that has a lot of relevance in

Madrid, it has more than 70 specialised investigators in areas that go from

paleobiology to ecology. This institute is derived from the Superior Council of

Scientific Investigators (CSIC). There, you can visit temporary and permanent

exhibitions such as “The Stone´s Garden”

(El Jardín de Piedras) or “The Real

Cabinet of Natural History” (El Real

Gabinete de Historia Natural).

Since March 25th, 2017, everybody can visit a temporary exhibition that is

called “The Last Wild Territory”. It is based on footage from the documentary

“Oceans” which has been seen in 40 countries, and which presents the most

beautiful and spectacular images recorded. This masterpiece of documentary

films was 7 years in the making, with a team of 500 people and 75 expeditions

all over the planet. The exhibition takes us

on a journey down to the bottom of the

ocean, including replicas of marine animals,

stereoscopie 3D images, interactive screens

and an immersive projection shown on a

huge curved screen.

This is one of the many exhibitions that we

can visit in Madrid nowadays, so you cannot

doubt whether you go or not.

HAVE FUN WITH THE CULTURE!

By Andrea Navarro Delgado

and Gloria Gutiérrez Díaz 2ºB

JABARI’S INTERVIEW

Hello Jabari, how are you?

Hello girls, fine.

Well, we are going to start with the interview.

Okay

Did you study Spanish before you come here?

No, I have never studied Spanish.

Have you ever been in Spain?

This is my first time in Spain and my second time in Europe. I studied at Oxford University

in England.

What did you do before you came here?

Before I came here I was an actor. While studying at university I did plays, short films and

videos.

Really? What short films?

Yes, it’s not famous. There are some small projects and I did some professional work.

What’s your opinion about the level of English in this high school?

I think it’s difficult to learn because a lot of people don’t speak English in Spain as a

hobby.

So, academically, it is much harder to learn English if you don’t hear it outside school. I

think, of course, it could be better. Also, English is important to learn as any new language.

What’s your favourite thing about Spain?

The thing that I like most about Spain is all things that are new for me- for example culture,

people, food… Also, I like studying Spanish.

Do you miss your house and your people?

I miss my family but it’s important that I do this by myself and I can develop without my

family. So I miss them but I’m happy here.

Do you think that you will live here for a long time?

Yes, I want to live here if it’s possible. To stay here for a long time I will have to get

married to a Spanish girl. (laughs)

What do you think is the best way to learn English?

The best way to learn English or any languages is to be invested in the place where every

person talks this language.

I didn’t know any Spanish before I came here and I learned some words I heard a lot of

people using.

I need to survive here and I have to communicate my problems. If you don’t have the

opportunity to learn in the country, the first thing that you need is to be interested, study at

home, …

Is reading important?

Yes, but it’s more important to practice and if you have English friends it’s more fun. So

everyone is different and everybody has different ways to learn English.

What is the difference between Spanish and American people?

The biggest difference for me it’s that in America when you are walking or waiting for the

train for example, the people talk to you without knowing you and are nicer. Spanish

people are more focus on what they have to do for their daily routine and talk to their

families and friends more than strangers.

How long have you been in Spain? Where do you live?

Two months and I lived in Alcala de Henares first. Now I live in Torrejón de Ardoz.

What do you do in your free time after school?

During the week, I learn Spanish and prepare for my classes. During the weekend I like to

play the guitar and go out with my friends.

(Zainab el Ouahabi, María Ortiz, Sara Ortiz, Ashley Mendoza – 2º

Bachillerato)

TIME IS MONEY

I didn`t know the meaning of this phrase until I started second of bachillerato. At the beginning, I believed that it would be as difficult as the previous school year but it isn`t similar at all. By the end of the month, I had just realised that the syllabus flies and this meant the exams were closer. The days pass quickly, the work build up and the only thing I have in mind is ending up with the university entrance exam. Take me back to summer right now!!!

Raquel Manzanero Rodríguez- 2º Bach.

AMER, A SYRIAN REFUGEE, TELLS US HIS STORY.

Hello everyone, my name is Amer I'm 15 years and I'm Syrian I was born in a big city called Damasco, the capital city, and now I'm living in Madrid as a refugee. I'm going to talk about my experience. I lived in Damasco with my parents and my brother and my little sister, we lived happily and I had a lot of friends at school. We used to play in a park near my house and every day around 5p.m my dad would come out and bring us a snack. My friends loved him a lot, as much as I do because he was so kind with everyone. In 2011, everything changed, my mom didn't let us go out because she told us it was dangerous and we stopped going to school and meeting our friends. My brothers and I didn't understand why. We kept asking my mom why, and she used to tell us that there were thieves outside. We were obedient so we stayed at home as my mom asked us to do. In 2012 things became worse and my mom told us the truth: we were living in a war. The worst year of my life, that horrible year that changed absolutely everything, even me, it changed me and I became a different person. The night of 25 of November, we were waiting near the fire for my dad to bring some water and bread as usual. My little sister was waiting for my dad near the door, and when he was near she ran to him. That was the last time I saw my sister and my dad... A bomb exploded in the neighbourhood, we were so afraid but I went to help my dad and sister but it was too late, they were underground and I couldn't do anything. My mom was broken and we cried a lot, and she was trying to calm us. Many things happened after that, but I don't want to mention them because those memories make me cry. We gave up, as many other Syrian families, so we decided to travel to Spain. In Madrid people received us and besides all the problems, we were happy because we found a house and my mom started working in a bakery. We always thank God for giving us chances to make a new life. (Nadia El Farssioui– 1º B-Bachillerato)

A short tale by Mohamed Naghar (1º - B)

THE SHADOW OF DEATH My mum lived on the Rif Mountains in the north of

Morocco with my grandparents. My mother was a child when she

had her life‘s worst experience. She was playing with her

straw toy one night. My grandfather was absent. My

grandmother was praying. My uncle, only a baby of eight

months was sleeping by my mother. Suddenly, a ghost appeared.

The baby was crying. My mother looked at the stranger

strangling the baby, covered her eyes with her hands, and

then cried. The monster’s face was half black half white,

with wide-open eyes. My grandmother hurried to save her

children. The ghost ascended leaving the baby dead. My mother

could see the tree outside through the wall. The next

morning, when my grandfather came back home, the baby had

already been buried. He cried bitterly. My mother often told

me about ghosts, but this story was the only one I have never

forgotten. Imagine what power could annul the wall presence

to let the child see a tree she used to go out to see.

SOME NON-CHRISTMAS THINGS TO DO ON CHRISTMAS

DAY

Opening presents and sitting under the tree aren´t the only things to

do on Christmas. Here´s a list of some fun things to do on the big

day.

Hit the ice.- Do you like skating? Christmas is the perfect time to

lace up your skates and try out your fanciest skater moves.

Hiking.- Why not enjoy the great outdoors this holiday season?

Throw on those hiking boots or sneakers and hit the trails to

experience the beauty of nature this Christmas Day. What´s a better

gift than relaxing in the great outdoors?

The closest and easiest option out of Madrid are the Guadarrama

Mountains, outside of a small town called Cercedilla. Simply catch

the Cercanias train from the Atocha Renfe metro station, and you’re

there! A side note, however, the trains only come every hour and

leave on the dot. So, if you happen to miss the train by 1 minute…

Window shop.- Take a stroll and enjoy the

stunning holiday window displays. Big city

stores are known for their fabulous

Christmas displays and smaller centres

often have fun displays, too.

Lend a hand.- Volunteer at a local place on

Christmas Day to help bring some holiday

cheer to those less fortunate. Bringing

smiles and joy to those who really need it is

truly embodying the spirit of the holiday

season.

Play tourist.- Live in or near a major city but never see the sites?

Christmas Day is the perfect time to hit the mostly empty streets and

see what the tourists see. You can walk around enjoying the beauty

of those twinkling lights during the holiday season.

MUSIC AWARDS by Clara González Lameiro and Clara Navarro Martín 3ºB

Shawn Peter Raul Mendes was born the 8th August 1998, in Toronto, Canada. His mother´s name is Karen and his father´s Manuel. He has a younger sister called Aaliyah. She sings ,too. His first album is Handwritten, and the second and last is Illuminate. His most famous songs are Stitches, Treat you Better and There´s Nothing Holding Me Back. With only nineteen years old, Shawn Mendes is the new king of pop. He won , on 12th November, the two most important categories in the EMTV awards, The Best Artist and The Best Song, with There´s Nothing Holding Me Back. We knew him in the social networking Vine in the year 2013, when he posted videos of himself singing and playing the guitar. Thanks to Vine, Shawn became famous and he made his debut in top 25 in the list Billboard. In the EMTV, he led big artists like Taylor Swift, Ed Sheeran, Ariana Grande and Katy Perry. Nowadays, the young singer is one of the most famous singers of pop music, and he counts with 60k followers on Twitter and 26,5M on Instagram. On 19th November, he participated in the American Music Awards.

Shawn in Vine, when he 16 Shawn with his two prices in EMTV.

Should you be radical as a vegan or vegetarian? Nowadays, veganism is a lifestyle for a lot of people. Vegans don’t usually eat meat and any other products from an animal. Vegans defend animal rights and are against animal punishment. It’s too simple to become a vegan, but there are other reasons why people decide to be a “grass grazer”, but let’s talk about the veganism origin. The Vegan Society may have been established 70 years ago but veganism has been around much longer. Evidence of people choosing to avoid animal products can be traced back over 2,000 years. As early as 500 BC, Greek philosopher and mathematician Pythagoras promoted benevolence among all species and followed what could be described as a vegetarian diet. Around the same time, Siddhārtha Gautama (better known as the Buddha) was discussing vegetarian diets with his followers. In November 1944, Donald Watson called a meeting with five other non-dairy vegetarians, including to discuss non-dairy vegetarian diets and lifestyles. Though many held similar views at the time, these six pioneers were the first who actively found a new movement - despite opposition. The group felt a new word was required to describe them; something more concise than ‘non-dairy vegetarians’. They settled on ‘vegan’, containing the first three and last two letters of ‘vegetarian’. In the words of Donald Watson, it marked “the beginning and end of vegetarian”. Mainly, these are the most known types of vegans: Vegans for health reasons: it is known that food has a lot of stabilisers, trans fats and other additives. And it has been discovered that meat is the main reason for the diabetes mellitus. People who eat too much amount of meat do not allow their liver to metabolize the entire cholesterol, which is added to the arterial walls. That’s the reason why athletic people who abuse from lots of meat die young. Religion: People accept veganism when they’re introducing on a new faith, like Buddhism or Hinduism. Animal and human equality: Some people defend that we’re. All in all, animals and humans are brothers. In our days, this lifestyle has been radicalised, banning meat forever. In my opinion, if you’re a vegan or vegetarian, and you have decided to follow this style of life, please don’t think that you’re compromising your values if for any reason you have to eat or use any product of animal origin. Don’t judge yourself if you ever encounter yourself in this type of situation due to an emergency or any other exceptional reason. Your values and thoughts will remain intact in any case. The real danger is found on radical thoughts which don’t allow exceptions when are really needed. Everybody is free to have their own choice. (Juan Manuel Rodríguez -2ºA)

YOUTH AND ……(by Alejandro García, Nut Cerbera and María Redondo-2º Bach.)

YOUTH & ART: FILMS Art has experienced a complete change in comparison to twenty or thirty years ago. It has become more accessible and easy to make than ever. How has this change exactly made youth of today grow closer to filmmaking? Let’s do a little experiment. We’re going to search “short films” in Youtube. Once we’ve done this, we’ll get thousands and thousands of videos that we can watch for free.

Some of them probably come from young people, full of fresh ideas. The first result, “In A Heartbeat” is actually a thesis film by two graduates from the Ringling College of Art & Design. Would they have got the same buzz ten years ago, with no Youtube or social media to be promoted in? What about Colleen Ballinger and her Miranda Sings videos? She didn’t have a lot of equipment, but her videos got famous thanks to her own creativity and talent. Leaving the instrument apart, it is often said that old directors are more experienced and suited for directing a film. That’s totally right. But these directors were young aspiring filmmakers once. Maybe they didn’t have the chance to make a film but still had great ideas. We’ve got hundreds of examples: Sean Durkin’s Martha Marcy May Marlene, Richard Kelly’s Donnie Darko and even

Orson Welles’ Citizen Kane. What’s the message here? Make stuff! If you get a nice story on your head, film it. It doesn’t matter what you film it with. It has a value. A very important one. And maybe, one day, you get recognition for what you’ve got.

YOUNG PEOPLE AND PHOTOGRAPHY What is Photography? If you look up this word on a dictionary, you will find: “art of taking photos”. A photo is eternal, can immortalize a recollection forever when the memory forgets it. In addition, they transmit sensations, love, amusement, tenderness, and enclosed hatred. Nevertheless, we all can take photos, but not all of us can take a photo that is art. Usually, when we think about a photographer, we imagine an adult person. However, young people nowadays are very interested in this art. The rebelliousness of the youth is an advantage, it reflects the modern art, that seeks to break the schemes and to innovate. There are plenty of talented young photographers, one of them is: Pablo Alzaga (23 years old): “ I am in opposition to the dehumanization that exists in some productions, to the point of taking it as a personal failure if I do not manage to connect with the model”.

YOUTH AND THEATRE

In this high school we have been doing theatre for a long time. It was developed by Jesús Reyes (history teacher),and it was supported by other teachers and head teachers. At this moment, the theatre company is led by Cristina Romero (literature teacher) and she has had the support of Fátima (theatre director) since 2008. The group of theatre performs one play every year. This play is represented at the Móstoles contest. Our high school has taken part in this contest since 2008. “Los Pelópidas” has been the most successful play until now. We had the chance to talk to an important theatre actor of this high school, Enrique Llorente. Interviewer: Why did you start to do this activity? Enrique: Because I have enjoyed it since I was little, and I had the opportunity to do it when I was eight years old in my old school “Carlos Ruiz”. In the evenings, you could sign up for some lessons and they explained you some things about theatre. Interviewer: What is what you like at the time of performing a play? Enrique: I like a lot of things, but if I have to highlight one, it’s the teamwork. Interviewer: What plays have you performed? Enrique: A lot of plays, but my favourite plays are from this high school. Interviewer: How do you connect with your characters? Enrique: Curiously, all of my characters had lived one moment of their lives like I had lived it. So I suppose that you have to look at yourself and compare your experiences with the experiences that are living your character. Interviewer: Would you like to work as a theatre actor? Enrique: Yes, although if one day I could work as a director, it wouldn’t matter.