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Country: Spain, Catalunya |
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for Choice: Re-telling There they will have a great time and play loads of games. They will watch fireworks, they will dance with gegants and capgrossos , and they will go to the circus and the amusement park. Enjoy and share this Catalan festival with them. Translation: When they walk into the garden, a young man gives them a letter. He is the postman. • Look! It's for us. The envelope is addressed to Pau and Laia Pujol. • Who could it be from? • Let's open the letter and we'll find out. Oh! It is from Jordi and Judit, our cousins. (p. 5) Sant Julià de Mar Dear cousins: We would like to invite you to the town festival. It takes place in a month, on the 3 rd of June . If you come with us, we will have a great time and play loads of games! We hope you can come for a visit. A big hug, Judit and Jordi (p. 6) They run up the stairs. They hang their jackets in the cloakroom and go to the dining room. (p. 7) - Judit and Jordi have sent us a letter. We have already read it. They are inviting us to go to the town festival. - Can we go, please? - Well, now let's have lunch, the food is ready. We'll talk later on. (p. 9) Laia and Pau have eaten a big plate of haricot beans and botifarra, a delicious Catalan sausage. They don't like beans, but they have eaten them anyways! Now they are eating dessert: a banana and an orange. When they finish eating, they will clear the table. (p. 11) When they finish cleaning up, they ask again: • Can we go to the town festival, please? • Ok, we have decided you can go –their parents answer-. Since your baby brother was born, you have been very helpful around the house. You can take the bus there on your own, and we will come and pick you up on the last day of the festival. Laia and Pau are very happy. (p. 12) A few days before their trip, they start getting everything ready. They go shopping with their Mum to buy the clothes they will wear on the first day of the festival. Then they go to the toy shop by themselves. (p. 13) - Good afternoon! Could you help us, please? We would like to buy some presents for our cousins. - Judit likes reading, so let's buy her this book: The Conceited Giraffe . - For Jordi we should get “The Farm” game. And then, a magic box of tricks for both of them. (p. 15) May has flown by. Thursday morning, the last day of the month, Laia does not feel well. She has a temperature. But she is so excited about their trip, she doesn't want to be sick. While she is getting dressed, her mum walks into her bedroom. • What are you doing, my dear? Take your socks off and put your pyjama back on. You must stay in bed. I'm calling the doctor right away. (p.16 ) • Laia, you have a sore throat. But you will be better soon as long as you stay in bed and take your medicine. • But, for how long? • For a couple of days. (p.17) The day of the festival, Laia feels better and she is able to take the bus.
When they arrive, Jordi and Judit are already waiting for them. • Hello, did you have a good journey? • Yes, thank you. We didn't get car sick at all. (p.18) After taking a shower, Laia and Pau put on their new clothes. They look very smart. Jordi and Judit admire their new presents and they put them on the shelves. They really like them! (p.19) The main avenue is crowded. The musicians are playing their instruments. The gegants , giant figures, are dancing. Around them the capgrossos , smaller figures with huge heads, are jumping and turning around non-stop. (p.20) The capgrossos are ugly, but funny. A hunchback one kneels down and grabs Laia's hands. She wants to run away, she is a bit scared. (p.21) But before she has time to realize what is happening, the capgros is already spinning her around in the middle of the main avenue. “Oh, what a dizzy feeling!”, she thinks. “But it is so much fun!” (p.22) In the afternoon, they all go to the beach. Pau and Laia want to swim in the sea. It is so hot, it seems like July. They find lots of sea shells. (p.23) After eating their ham and cheese sandwiches, they buy an ice cream. They stay on the beach until sunset. (p. 24) They go to the ball in the evening. A band is playing loudly. Some children are dancing and holding hands. They join them and have a wonderful time. (p. 25) They feel very tired when they leave the ball. Their legs and knees hurt from so much dancing, but they still don't want to go to bed. They wait until midnight to watch the fireworks. (p. 26) Fireworks explode in the sky. Their lights mix with the bright light from the stars. It is very beautiful! When the fireworks finish, the clock strikes twelve. It's time to go to bed now. (p. 27) Sunday morning they go to the circus. They love the clowns. Their pockets are ripped and they are covered with patches . One of them plays Little Red Riding Hood and the other the Big Bad Wolf. They are very funny. (p.28) After lunch, they go to the amusement park. It is so crowded! Laia is determined to ride the bumper cars. • Be careful! Don't go! • Are you crazy? You are too tiny! But no one is able to stop her, not her brother, nor her cousins, not even the people stepping on her feet. (p. 29) She jumps into a car, but she cannot get it started. She has no token. Everybody bumps into her car and Laia starts screaming: • Please, let me out! Help me! Fortunately, the attendant realises Laia is in trouble and helps her out: • Please, don't scold me. I will never do it again. I swear!
They walk around the entire amusement park. Each one of them wins a toy at the tombola. They even ride on the “Merry-go-round”, the “Crazy Train” and the Big Wheel. They have a fantastic time. It has been a wonderful festival.
We have programmed the following activities, covering the different learning skills, for second key-stage students. Each one of the activities is thought not only to provide insight into the different cultural references, mentioned throughout the story, but also to expand their knowledge about other cultures. We have also tried to prepare activities which do not require many resources in order to make it easier for teachers to carry them out. Activity one: Dressing-up in traditional clothing Aim of the activity: Introduce vocabulary related to the traditional Catalonian clothing and compare it to other traditional clothing. Material: Poster Development : The teacher will show the poster to the students. There will be many drawings of clothing items from different places around the world. - Kilt (Scottish skirt ) - Ethnic clothes ( others…) - Mexican hat - Jeans - Kimono - beret Mixed together with all these items there will also be drawings of typical pieces of clothes from Catalonia : Barretina, faixa, espardenyes. The children will have to remember and recognize them from the illustrations in the book. Once they have pointed at the correct drawings, the teacher can introduce them: Barretina: a traditional red hat from Catalonia used by sailors many years ago. It has become one of the most representative symbols of the Catalonian culture. Espardenyes: traditional footwear that peasant farmers used to wear for work. Now they are used by people who dance Sardanes , a typical Catalan dance. Faixa: a piece of cloth used as an accessory. It is worn around the waist and it's used to protect your back. The people who make human castles ( castellers ) wear it. After having explained to the students the origin of the different clothes, the teacher will then encourage them to find typical clothes from their own country. Once they have found the information (pictures, drawings and descriptions), they will make a poster, in groups of four, and present them to the rest of the class. Activity two: A fantastic festival day! Aim of the activity: To understand what a Town Festival is and asses their comprehension through a composition focused on the festivities that they celebrate in their hometowns. Development: The teacher will explain what a town festival consists of. The teacher will then ask the students if they remember some of the activities that are mentioned in the story. ( Ball, fireworks castle, circus, amusement park ) As a project, the teacher will ask them to plan a full day activities program for an imaginary Town Festival. These activities will be organized according to the taste of their community. Activity three: The Capgros dictation Aim: To make sure they have acquired the vocabulary
related to the Capgros figure. This is also the perfect excuse
to review vocabulary related to parts of the body and the adjectives that
correspond to them. The teacher will describe a Capgros and the students will have to draw it following his/her instructions. For example: “My favourite Capgros has a very big head. It has a crooked nose. It has a large mouth and small eyes. It has huge ears. It has a short neck but very long arms......” (Please note that that images of gegants (giants) and capgrossos (big heads) are available on the CD which accompanies these activities).
Activity four: Imagine that you are Catalan Material: PC + webpage: www.youtube.com Aim of the activity: To get to know other Catalonian traditions through new technologies. The teacher mentioned Sardanes and Castellers when she defined the Catalonian clothing in activity one. In order to extend children's knowledge and create a more real idea of Catalonian culture, teacher will search videos on Youtube and children will watch them. This activity can be done in the classroom if they have a pc and a screen projector. If not, children could go to the pc room and find the videos on Youtube by themselves. The more videos they find, the more material they can share with the rest of the class. After that, they talk about these cultural references and they can also try to imitate Sardanes dancing and have some fun. Note : Proper supervision of videos and internet access is important.
Castells de foc: The word “castells” in Catalan refers to the word “castles” because when the fireworks explode they are transformed into various shapes.
NB Further literature and language-based
activities can be found in |
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The NCRCL website is hosted by Roehampton University ncrcl January 2005 |
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