Cambridge Day

When one says “Cambridge Day” it can be easily assumed that it will be a day celebrating the historic and marvelous city of Cambridge in Great Britain. After all it is a city worth visiting. It is a university city in the town of Cambridgeshire, United Kingdom with a population of about 125 000 inhabitants. Cambridge is most widely known as the home of the University of Cambridge, founded in 1209 and consistently ranked one of the top five universities in the world. The university includes the renowned Cavendish Laboratory, King’s College Chapel and the Cambridge University Library.

However, at our school Cambridge Day is not filled with free food, English costumes, festival-like music. Rather it is filled with a bit of stress and competing among our most brave students. The day is packed with a practice test for First Certificate of English (FCE) exams.

Cambridge English: First, also known as First Certificate in English (FCE), is an upper-intermediate level qualification. It proves you can use everyday written and spoken English for work or study purposes. Every year, thousands of people who want to use English to improve their work and study prospects take the FCE exam. 

This year, for the first time, our school organized internal competition. A large group of students from all 4 years of gymnasium participated in the 5 hour tests. They listened, read, wrote and even answered grammar questions in the Use of English part of the test.

Among those that passed the tests, it is important to say that three students excelled in all four categories. Zdenek David, Radovan Opocensky and Tomas Reichtig all scored above 95%. Several additional students passed with Honors. 

Certainly, our Cambridge Day is going to become a yearly school tradition. 

Scotland at its best!

At the beginning of the month, our students took part in a week long expedition to Scotland, UK. A group of young and active teenagers and I took the chance to visit a new country and learn a bit about their history, culture and attempt to understand their local accent (which without a doubt was a challenge). 
                                                  
Upon arrival in Edinburgh, we quickly got on a double decker bus (the students immediately found comfortable seats on the top floor near the front- and yes, Wi-Fi was working there!) The simple yet comfortable hostel WEST END provided us accommodation for the first two nights while the students wandered around the city. The Edinburgh Castle was a hit. We spend 5 hours there! Unbelievable! Without a doubt the cherry of Edinburgh was climbing the Holyrod Park.






  
After two days, we were brave enough to take the local bus and travel 5 hours up north to a lovely little city Inverness. Inverness welcomed us with cold winds and a bit of drizzle here and there. This time we took the spirit of expedition all the way and camped at the BOUGHT camp and caravan park. 

It took us a while to get all the tents up especially since some of the students have never camped before but even those “newcomers” managed just fine.                                       The next four days we walked and walked and walked…. We managed to say “hi” to Nessie at the Loch Ness after a 30 km hike. We visited the Culloden Battle field and battle with old Jacobite swards and knives.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      

 We managed to visit the old ruin of the Urquhart Castle.                                                         Most importantly, the student on their own had the eager to explore the country side by renting bikes and exploring the seaside by visiting the dolphins. A small barbeque here and there, lots of games of Jenga and Chess in the tent- nothing but pure fun.

And in the end there was only one question we needed to answer: “where to go next?”

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     

Benvido á Escocia ! Welcome to Scotland!

Within a day or so a group of our young students will have a chance to further expand their knowledge of foreign languages. In addition to practicing their English while travelling around Scotland, UK, and the students will notice something that most people don’t know even exists – the Scottish Gaelic.

Scottish Gaelic, sometimes also referred to as Gaelic, is a Celtic langugae native to Scotland.

The  2011 census of Scotland showed that a total of 57,375 people (1.1% of the Scottish population aged over three years old) in Scotland could speak Gaelic at that time, The census results indicate a decline of 1,275 Gaelic speakers from 2001. A total of 87,056 people in 2011 reported having some facility with Gaelic compared to 93,282 people in 2001, a decline of 6,226. Despite this decline, revival efforts exist and the number of speakers of the language under age 20 has increased.

Scottish Gaelic is not an official language of the European Union or the United Kingdom. However, it is classed as an Indigenous language under the European Charter of Regional or Minority Languages, which the British government has ratified, and the Gaelic Languages (Scotland) Act 2005 established a language development body, Bòrd na Gàidhlig, "with a view to securing the status of the Gaelic language as an official language of Scotland.

Outside Scotland, a dialect known as Canadian Caelic is spoken in parts of Eastern Canada. In 2011, there were approximately 1,500 Gaelic-speakers in Canada with the vast majority in the province of Nova Scotia. About 350 Canadians in 2011 claimed Gaelic as their "mother tongue".