Day Trip to Oxford, pictures by Rayan Alfawzan

On the 19th of January we spent the Saturday in Oxford - the whole school came along! Thank you to Rayan for emailing us these photos. Here he is standing in the quad of one of the most famous colleges in Oxford: Christ Church.



As you can see from the pictures, it wasn't a very sunny day, but we all enjoyed ourselves. We even met up with Shin, who is now studying in Oxford, after eight months at our school in Bristol. He said it was hard to find his way around Oxford because, "All the colleges look like churches, the churches look like museums, the museums look like colleges, libraries and theatres!"

Here's another view of Christ Church, if you are very rich and/or very clever, you can live and study here.



Here's Abdulaziz, acting like he owned the place.



You may recognise this dining hall from the Harry Potter films.

On the walls are portraits of famous graduates of Christ Church, including Charles Dodgson (Lewis Carroll), the author of Alice in Wonderland and Alice Through the Looking-Glass.



On the far wall you can see portraits of King Henry VIII and Queen Elizabeth I.



We went to the University Church and climbed the tower so we could see the magnificent views of the famous buildings of Oxford.

This is a view of the High Street.





All Souls College



We saw the Bodleian Library, and this is the Radcliffe Camera, one of the most famous parts, also used in Harry Potter.




We popped into the History of Science Museum...




And during our lunch-break, we were lucky to be entertained by this excellent piper.




This is the whole group, and behind us is the famous Bridge of Sighs. From left to right: Yu-Jin, Marta, Marina, Abdulaziz, Yulia, Ancor, Vivianne, Rayan, Pierre, Hannah and Ahmad. Shigehiro was taking the photo.

My Host Family, by Jung Yu-Jin

I live in Southville with my host family. The first time I saw our house, I was surprised because it looks like one house but there are two houses. Our house has three floors. It has narrow stairs. Actually, I think everything is narrow in England. Narrow roads, narrow stairs, narrow bridges, etc. But I really like that. The house I live in has two bathrooms and many rooms. One of the rooms is mine and the other room isn’t used by anybody.
In my house, there are seven people. One of them is my host mother, Nora Clark and her business partner Hans. They are very kind to me. Hans has a huge body. He is German. He has big hands and he is a humorous person. Nora has a small face and big eyes. She has a good sense of humour and she is a very funny person. I like to talk with Nora. Also Ben, Andy and Chris live in the house. They have jobs so I can’t meet them much. Another two people are me and Vivianne.
I really like my host family. Everyone helps my English studies and they are very nice to me. Every dinner which Nora makes is always fantastic. After dinner, I always eat dessert, something like chocolate cake, yoghurts, fruit. We always talk about something during dinner time. That’s really helped my English. I enjoy that. Sometimes, my host family tell me [things like] where the shopping mall is and how I can get there.
When I go back my to country, I’ll try to keep in touch with my host family.

‘E-mail’, by Maetani Shigehiro

It is often said that e-mail has had a huge impact on professional and social communication. Actually we can get important information for our work earlier than by letter, and when you have a computer or a mobile phone without a Fax, you can get the information anywhere, for example, in a car, an airplane and even the bathroom. We have also been easy to make relationships with them.
Although we have got lots of benefits from e-mail, e-mail has given us unexpected effects at the same time.
In the case of business, we send each other confidential information about the company’s policy every day for convenience and exchanging it rapidly. However, with e-mail, there is a risk that someone could steal our information. Generally speaking, if we make a program to protect it form them, they find a weak point in the program some day. Also, criminals send computer viruses by e-mail, and then they cause serious loss to the company.
In another case, people send too many e-mails. It means that they use mobile phones all the time to send e-mails. For example, drivers use mobile phones while driving. As a result, terrible accidents happen because they do not pay attentions to their driving. Neither are children exceptions. Some students press keys of mobile phones under their desks to send e-mail to their friends who are sitting on near them. Therefore, they can not concentrate on their lessons.
Eventually, we have had advantages and disadvantages of using e-mail. However, we can not imagine our lives without e-mail and it is impossible not to use e-mail in today’s society. In my opinion, the advantages outweigh the disadvantages. Therefore, we will not quit using e-mail, and we believe we can find the solutions to the problems which e-mail cause.

The main goal of education, by Pierre Havard

It is often assumed that the main purpose of the educational system is to prepare people for joining the labour market later rather than to help them develop into independent-thinking individuals.

However, I think that it is obviously not the true aim of education. To my mind, the faculty of thinking by itself is much more important for human beings than to be formatted to work for particular types of jobs. I think that a person needs to think for himself all his life whereas a job cannot last as long as the independent- thinking faculty.

Furthermore, France’s education system, for instance, tries to prepare young people for joining the labour market instead of being a “good thinker”. I agree that people have to be prepared for work but thinking is more important than anything. And yet, the French system doesn’t manage very well in its main goal e.g. to prepare youngsters for joining specific work. That is why I advocate that education systems urge young people to develop their thinking faculty.

What makes a man feels like a man is his thinking. Didn’t Descartes say: “I think therefore I am”?

‘Borsch’, by Yulia Vasilyeva

Pour 3 litres of water into the saucepan. Then put into the water some meat for about 1 hour and a half it should be simmered, if it is beef, or 1 hour if it is pork.

After that the meat should be taken out. Then add cut pieces of 2 potatoes. it is better if it is cut into little squares and put it into stock. Then wait a time, when the potatoes boiled.

While waiting, take carrot, 1 beet, 1 or a half of an onion. The carrot and beet is grated, whereas an onion is diced. All these ingredients are put into the frying-pan, which also has olive oil in it, and heated. It should be fried till it becomes a bit golden.

In addition, into these ingredients are put 1.5 spoons of ketchup. The potatoes have been prepared, put everything which is in the frying pan into the stock. All this should be boiled 2 min. You should add salt to taste.

Then put a sliced cabbage the size of it might be 1/8 of the whole, if it is big. Then you put into this all the meat and all should be boiled until tender.

Have a good appetite!

I think you will enjoy it!!!

Advantages and disadvantages of opening a restaurant in Spain, by Ancor Ramirez Cabrer

To have your own business is the best way to make a big profit, but is a restaurant the best business that you can have in Spain?

Spain is a country where tourism is the most important part of the economy. So, it’s natural to think that opening a restaurant could be a good idea, but there are a lot of people who think the same. However, there are not many people who find a good idea for their restaurants.

In Spain there are thousands of restaurants around the country. You can find them in the important cities and in the small villages. And in the big cities it’s natural to find all kinds of restaurants. So, if you open a normal restaurant you will have to compete with too many locals. However, if you can distinguish your restaurant from the rest, your restaurant will have a long a prosperous life.

So, if you find a good idea for your restaurant, then you ‘just’ need … to have enough money to open the local, to find a good local, to find and prepare the personal, to know how to cook very well and to be prepared to spend half of the rest of your life with this business. So, if you have all these things it’s a good idea to open a restaurant in Spain … maybe!

The latest cycling fashion trends @ Bristol

We forgive you...

Social programme activity to Hollywood Bowling Centre

Strike Out!!! The competition was very fierce...

Trip to Stonehenge

A bit cold, but this is a very important place to see!

VIDEO - Bristol Airport 2005 ITV Program - Air Traffic Control

In a fascinating program, Julian Andrews at air traffic control (ATC) at Bristol Airport talks about how balloons are integrated into ATC patterns at Bristol Airport at the Bristol Balloon Fiesta.

Click HERE to watch.

Good friendship at our school in Bristol - memories of 2007

Enjoying tea and coffee during morning break in our unique 100-year old kitchen.
Some relaxation on our weekend social program trip to Cardiff.

Everyone arrives at our school with some anxiety about being away from home and not knowing anybody at the school, but everyone goes home with lots of new friends and memories of their time at the school. We had a truly global 2007, with students in this one photograph coming from the continents of Africa, North and South America, Asia and Europe!

Trip to Cardiff Castle.

Students from Italy, France and Switzerland, obviously studying very hard in our self-access centre!

Congratulations to our foundry workers with impressive scores in their TOEIC test!

Students from France, Turkey (congratulations on your IELTS scores!), and the Ivory Coast with their teacher Anna.

The fashionable color to wear in autumn 2007 was...BROWN!!

Our much-loved duo: Shin and Ahmad - Ahmad wearing Shin's hat, I think?!!?

Summer Bristol Boat Trip

Summer seems a long way away, but we would like to remind you how Bristol looks when the sun shines... These are pictures from the summer/autumn of 2007 - all pictures again thanks to Mr Goval.The boat trip ended with a traditional English tea at a lovely garden.

Canal barges were a popular form of transport before the development of roads and railways.

Many canals in the UK have been restored and are now used for recreational purposes.

Along the route, you can see many interesting buildings around Bristol harbour.

The Bristol Ferry is now part of the transport network in Bristol.

The harbour is popular for rowing and sailing.

New harbour development displays cutting edge design for contemporary urban living.