Reading of the Month -Dracula

Here is one of the most well-known myths ever created by literature. The nightmare that an Irish author had one night after a heavy dinner, turned into one of the best works in English literature, that has gone beyond the mere horror genre.

Dracula was written by Bram Stocker and published in 1897. It deals with the famous story of a group of pure and white souls facing the dark presence of devil, dressed here in the myth of the vampire. Stoker didn’t invent this myth, but he was responsible for the spread of this creature in almost all artistic fields, including theatre and cinema.

If you think you know everything about the old Count because you’ve seen lots and lots of film and TV adaptations, you are wrong. The novel is not only quite different from most adaptations, but it is also beautifully written, it creates an eery atmosphere that has not been exceeded in the horror genre, and it shows the true face of Dracula, so often distorted by cinema adaptations.

If I had to recommend one of this adaptations I would choose «Bram Stroker’s Dracula». I don’t know if it is the best version ever done, probably not, buy it shocked a whole generation (my generation), perhaps because we hadn’t never seen this story told in such a powerful, colourful and frightful way.

My only objection to the movie: the love story between Mina and Dracula, which of course, doesn’t come from the novel.

DICKENS’ SHOP WINDOW

En la asignatura Animación del Punto de Venta, que imparte nuestra profesora Conchi Ruíz,  aprendemos, entre otras cosas, a realizar escaparates. Con motivo de Día de Libro hemos homenajeado la figura de Charles Dickens en su bicentenario. Como podéis ver, en el escaparate hemos incluido un busto de Charles Dickens, uno de sus libros sobre un atril en el centro y a ambos lados portadas de sus obras más conocidas.Gracias a esta actividad no solo hemos aprendido a realizar un escaparate temático, si no que hemos conocido mejor la figura de uno de los mejores escritores del mundo.Esperamos que no sólo os guste, sino que, por supuesto, os animéis a comprar libros de Dickens.

In this subject (Animación del Punto de Venta) we learn, among other things, to decorate shop windows. On the Book  Day, this shop window has been about Charles Dickens’ 200th birthday. As you can see, in the shop window there are the following elements: Dickens’ head, a book in the centre and on both sides the portraits of his most important books. Thanks to this activity we have learnt not only how to decorate a thematic shop window but also we have known the figure of one the best writers in the world. We hope you buy Charles Dickens’ books!

 

Abigail, MªDolores, Aziz, Youssef, Natalia, Jesús, Casandra, Isabel y Mounir.

 

Reading of the month-R.L. Stevenson

In 1883 R.L. Stevenson published one of the most important adventure novels in history: «Treasure Island».

This is the well-known story of  young Jim, the pirate John Long Silver and the finding of  buried gold. You might have seen lots of film adaptations of this famous work. It has been a success since the moment it was published and it still traps millions of readers every year, specially among young readers all over the world. Stevenson was responsible for the creation of the iconoclastic pirate with wooden leg and parrot that has spread all over adventure literature and cinema.

Curiously enough, Stevenson is also the author of one of he most popular horror tales in the Victorian period: «Stange case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde» (1886). Here you won’t find exotic travels and islands, but a dark and urban gothic tale about the good and evil that coexist in man and the hidden sins of a whole time. This famous story has been adapted for the cinema almost as many times as «Treaure Island». In fact, the 1931 version won an Academy award for best actor (the first time it was won by an actor playing a «monster»).

These two are clear examples of Stevenson’s genius and classic books. Give a chance to any of them and you will get an idea why they are so popular more than 100 years afterwards.

Becas MEC

En caso de que estés interesado en alguna de las becas para estudiar en el extranjero que oferta el MEC, puedes consultar en las siguientes direcciones:

www.becas-mec.info y www.infobeca.com

Best American/British novels (2)

Another list of some classics that your library and your mind shouldn’t be missing!

1. WUTHERING HEIGHTS (1847) by Emily Brontë

2.THE STRANGE CASE OF DR JEKYLL AND MR HYDE (1886) by R.L. Stevenson

3.THE PORTRAIT OF DORIAN GRAY  (1890) by Oscar Wilde

4. HEART OF DARKNESS (1899)by Joseph Conrad

5. THE GREAT GATSBY(1925) by F.S. Fitzgerald

6. A BRAVE NEW WORLD (1932) by Aldous Huxley

7. THE CATCHER IN THE RYE (1951) by J.D. Salinger

8. THE MAGUS (1965)  by John Fowles

9. THE REMAINS OF THE DAY(1989) Kazuo Ishiguro

10. FIGHT CLUB (1996) by Chuck Palahniuk

Dickens project

Hi everyone!

As you may know, if you study here I’m sure you do, we are celebrating Dickens’ 200 birthday.

For this reason, our students have made a great amount of posters which include information

about Dickens: his works, his characters, his ghosts, his house, his

themes, his adaptations…

We want to thank them for their effort, and to show you some of their works. We hope this project has been useful to know alittle bit about one of the greatest English authors.

Reading of the month-Agatha Christie

Agatha Christie, better known as the Dame of Crime, was born 15 September 1890 and died 12 January 1976. She is one of the most popular British writer and she is the best-selling novelist of all time.
She was famous for his murder stories and her two detectives: Hercule Poirot, an eccentric Belgian detective and the old spinster Mrs. Marple.Like Conan Doyle, Christie didn’t seem to like her great detective very much. «Curtain», last Poirot’s novel,was written in the early 40s, although it was published in 1975.
«Murder in the Orient Express» and «The Murder of Roger Ackroyd» are perhaps the best black novels written by Christie. In them, she deconstructs some of the conventions of the genre, as she used to do in most of her works.
Christie also wrote one of the most successful plays in London: «The Mousetrap» where a group of people get trapped in the only company of a murderer.
Christie’s works are highly-enjoyable: they are full of plot twists, shocking deaths, red herrings and, at the end, of course, the meeting with all the suspects, gathered by the detective to deliver the final explanation and solution to the case.
If you like her novels, you can also watch the BBC series starring David Suchet as Poirot.

Eefke visited us

We want to thank here on behalf of our High School and English Department the visit of our Dutch colleague Eefke, from the Adelbert College in Wassenaar. She visited our centre as part of the project we are developing together through twinspace. We also discussed about a possible exchange for next year.

She talked to the three classes involved in the project (1º Bilingüe, 2ºA and 2º Bilingüe).She told us about her school, about their activities and about their town. Our students were fascinated about everything she told us and they are excited about the possibility of knowing from first hand so many interesting things she talked about.

We showed her our centre too, and we took her to some beautiful places like the beach, the coast and the harbour. Unfortunately, they were cold and rainy days!

We hope she liked our town and we are looking forward to seeing her again soon.

Reading of the mohth-Charles Dickens

Charles Dickens was born in Portsmouth, England, 7th February1812, that is, exactly two hundred years ago.
Next 21st February our High School will begin the so called «Semana Cultural». The English Department will organize for this reason a showing based on the best Victorian author. Our students will desing some posters which must include biographical data, famous works or famous cinema and TV adaptations. The best poster will be exposed in this site.
It’s not the first time we talk about Dickens in this blog. Remember «A Christmas Carol»?
Well, that’s not the only famour works by Dickens: you may have heard about «Oliver Twist». «David Copperfield» or «A Tale Of Two Cities». Dickens was well-known by his portray of the working classes in the Victorian period. His characters were at first too simple but his works were growing in depth until he became one of the most critical and serious writers in the English literarature. Nevertheless, his books were always highly enjoyable and full of exciting incidents.
We hope this showing will be useful to get closer to this big author and to his work.

Sherlock

It’s been around 120 years since the first Sherlock Holmes story published by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. He has always been a very famous character not only in literature but also in cinema and TV. It became so popular that, in fact, his creator Sir Arthur killed him. He was so tired of his character’s fame that he murdered Sherlock in the story «The Final Problem».

However, due to the popular demand wanting him back to life, the author was forced to resurrect him.

This is only an example of how important and popular Sherlock Holmes became. During the 20th century he was portrayed in a lot of movies and TV series.

Now, BBC ( the English channel) offers us one of the best series of the decade: Sherlock. So far they have made two seasons, with three episodes each one. Here you will find great performances, brilliant scripts and all the things which made Homes such an important character in the 19th century but living in our 21th century. He uses his mobile, his website and his amazing powers of observation to recreate some of the most famous cases written by Doyle.

If you get the chance, read first his complete stories and then watch the series. You will enjoy much more.