Cervantes, Shakespeare and St. George : 23rd of April

Shakespeare ,  Cervantes and Saint George all have one thing in common : April 23rd.
 
On the 23rd April we celebrate St. George´s Day . It is also agreed that April 23rd 1616 is the date when both Miguel de Cervantes and William Shakespeare died.

Saint George is the patront Saint of several cities , regions, states ..... Actually , Saint George is the patront Saint of England.  Here in Spain  Saint George is the patron Saint of both Aragon and Catalonia, as well as of cities such as Cáceres or Alcoy.

In Catalonia, the 23rd April is one of the most important festivities, and it is traditional to give a present for the loved one : red roses for women and books for men in return. In Aragon it is a public holiday, celebrated as the 'Day of Aragon'. It is also a public holiday in Castile and Leon , where the day commemorates the defeat at the Revolt of the Comuneros.

Although 23 April is often stated as the anniversary of the deaths of both Shakespeare and Cervantes, this is not strictly correct. Cervantes died on 23 April according the Gregorian calendar; however, at this time England still used the Julian calendar. While Shakespeare died on 23 April by the Julian calendar in use in his own country at the time, in actual fact he died ten days after Cervantes, because of the discrepancy between the two date systems. The apparent correspondence of the two dates was a fortunate coincidence for UNESCO.

The anniversary of the deaths, in 1616, of Cervantes and Shakespeare, has led UNESCO to declare April 23 World Book and Copyright Day.

SHAKESPEARE AND SOME OF HIS PLAYS 

Here you have some wonderful video material produced by the BBC about some of the most important plays by William Shakespeare. 

Do you want to learn about them ?

Have a look. You won´t regret it !!

Macbeth ( plot ):  click  HERE

Romeo and Juliet ( characters ) : click  HERE 

Hamlet ( plot ) : click  HERE 



To finish with , have a look at this mindmap about the life of William Shakespeare. Hope you find it useful

( to see the image in a larger size click here )

 

The Pompeii of the North

Thousands of Roman artefacts have been unearthed in an archaeological dig hailed as 'the most important excavation ever held in London'.

The site is just yards from the River Thames and alongside a huge building project for new offices on Queen Victoria Street in the heart of London's financial district.

Archaeologists have found coins, pottery, shoes, lucky charms and also uncovered wooden structures from the 40s AD around 40ft beneath the ground.

It has offered experts an unprecedented glimpse into life in the bustling centre of Roman Londinium.

Read more here

School exchange with RGS Worcester (2)

Well , everything went ever so well .....

With Mr Rattue, the headmaster of RGS

 We are so happy with how things turned out ....

The host families were exceptional - our children really felt at home. We have to say that all of them behaved extremely well.

The only thing that was not so good was the weather . We had lots of snow during the weekend !

In the language lab at school

We also have to thank the headmaster of the school and especially all the teachers from the Spanish Department , who made our stay very pleasant.



 Have a look at the pictures and see what a great time our students had.

At the school canteen

There was a little bit of everything , as you can see: the students attended some lessons at school and experienced how a day in a British school is ( even  the canteen meals !! )

Near Buckingham Palace

Also there was lots of sightseeing !!



We visited London - the capital of the country .

The London Eye

There we  saw the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace , climbed up the lions in Trafalgar Square , went shopping in Covent Garden , went mad at the M&Ms shop in Leicester Square , took a look through the gate of Downing Street , took loads of pictures of the Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament and finally went up The London Eye .


It was great , although it was absolutely freezing cold !!! Well , at least it did not rain.

  

Sealife Centre, Birmingham

 In Birmingham we paid a visit to the Sealife Centre , a wonderful aquarium in one of the nicest areas of the city centre.

 Then all of us enjoyed shopping in Birmingham famous Bullring , much more than a mall ! Glorious !!!!

At Christ Church in Oxford

And we also visited the lovely city of Oxford , where we had an exceptional guide. Our school , IES Goya, has a student at Oxford University right now : Uxue Rambla .

She showed us around and told our students all the funny little stories about the life of university students : college parties , lessons, exams and all kind of university rituals. 

Thanks a lot Uxue - it was lovely to see you !!

With Uxue in Oxford

Soon I´ll be publishing some slides with the whole lot of pictures we took during the trip to England .



You have to wait a little bit , though. I have more than 300 pics !!

Off we go !