Tales of Mystery and Horror Week

Here we are again. October has come and so has our special week devoted to Tales of Mystery and Horror .
Horror Literature is a genre which is intended to frighten or scare its readers by inducing certain feelings of horror and terror. Horror literature is usually linked to the supernatural. Often  the central menace of a work of horror fiction can be interpreted as a metaphor for the deep  fears of a society.

From  30th October to 3rd November teachers and students will be reading or listening to tales of horror in our wonderful library at school. And ... we will be doing it in different languages :  Spanish, German, French and .. of course .. ENGLISH.

The English Department will be showing perhaps one of the most popular tales , "The Monkey´s Paw", by WW.Jacobs. This story was first published in England in 1902. This is a story in which  we are not sure whether the supernatural forces are at work or not. If you feel confused and uncertain , you are not alone. This is how the characters themselves feel throughout the story.

Watch the video of the story here



You can read the story as well and answer some questions .

Ebola survivors speak out

The number of Ebola cases continues rising. But there is some hope for those who survive the disease. Recently, a conference for Ebola survivors was held for the first time in eastern Sierra Leone. The goal was to offer advice to survivors and look at ways they can increase people’s understanding of the disease.

That music is coming from a small church in Kenema, Sierra Leone. Inside the building, 36 Ebola survivors danced in celebration. All 36 have beaten the deadly virus for which there is no vaccine.

Sierra Leone’s Ministry of Health and Sanitation organized the conference of Ebola survivors. The ministry and non-governmental organizations want them to advise other Ebola patients and teach people more about the disease and its prevention.   

                                                                    

Matthew Dalling is chief of child protection with UNICEF, the United Nations Children’s Fund. He says survivors often face problems when they return to their communities.

“They go back into communities and they are ostracized, and are told to leave. One or two survivors I met are renting (home) in Kenema city because they can’t go back to their rural villages. So what we want to do is find a way that we can actually get them to go back into their communities to become helpers and to really make them become advocates and champions. We really see them as heroes.”

Fatama Feremusu Sesay is a nurse. She became sick with the disease while caring for an Ebola patient who threw up on her. She blames her infection on the light material she was wearing at the time. She says the vomit from the patient’s stomach touched her skin.                      

Today the health care worker is happy to be alive. She says she wants to become an activist in her community because some people still do not believe Ebola is real.

“There was a rumor that we the nurses, they (the government) have give us a huge amount of money and we are the ones who are killing the people, we inject the people … we (the) killers.”

It is claims like those that Ebola survivor Dauda Mohamed Fullah wants to stop. He works as a laboratory technician at the government hospital in Kenema. He also has faced rejection from people because he had Ebola. But for him, the hardest part is that other members of his family also got infected and did not survive.

“I think about them sometimes. I have nightmares. In my dreams, I do see them, playing with them. Even last night I had a dream. Yeah, I had a dream, I saw my father and, you know, I couldn’t bear it. I wanted to go to him, but he rejected me, said ‘No.’ So I started carrying in my dreams, so I woke up with tears in my eyes.”

Many survivors have similar experiences. Jamilah Jawara had two children. Both died from Ebola.

“It was June 17^th. I lost my two kids, they were in my hands. The first one died, the boy.”Her daughter died a short time later.                                                                 

These stories can have a huge emotional effect on survivors.

Margaret Harris of the World Health Organization says the idea of having survivors work with patients and in communities is good. But she adds that the survivors need to make sure they are ready and should not feel that they are required to help.                          

Dr. Harris says it is also important to take all necessary steps to stay healthy.

“For instance, people are talking about survivors going, being perfectly safe from ever being infected again. Well, we haven’t done antibody levels (on them). We know people have survived this thing, but we do not know they are 100 percent protected and we have to make sure they are medically safe.”

Sierra Leone’s Ministry of Health and Sanitation says the country had 634 Ebola survivors as of October 19^th. UNICEF officials say there will be similar conferences planned for survivors across the country.                                            

I’m Bob Doughty.

This report was based on a story from reporter Nina de Vries in Kenema, Sierra Leone. George Grow wrote it for Learning English. The editor was Ashley Thompson.

Halloween Vocabulary

Do you want to learn some new words to use this Halloween?

Where the hell is Matt Harding?

Matt Harding is a 38-year-old guy from Connecticut. He was a game designer : he used to make video games. And he loved it.

One day, in 2003 , he quit his job to travel around Southeast Asia. A few moths into his trip , a friend he was travelling with  said to him :"Hey, why don´t you stand over there and do your stupid dance?". Matt didi it- he thought it was funny and kept on doing it everywhere he went to.

That turned out to be a very good idea ... ( read more )

Halloween is coming ......

Wash Your Hands, please !

  15 October is the Global Handwashing Day. UNICEF celebrates the date to foster a culture of clean hands and to raise awareness about the benefits of washing our hands with soap.

Handwashing with soap plays an important role in child survival and health all over the world, especially in underdeveloped countries.

Hands are the most exposed parts of our body , that´s why we need to wash them often and do it well.

The good news is that it is something easy to do.

The bad news is that we don´t wash our hands often enough and even if we do so , we don´t usually do it well.

At our school we wanted to join the campaign .

Our students of 1st year ESO with the help of their English teachers talked about the importance of keeping germs away  to stay healthy.

Some  students talked to their mates about the topic

We also decorated a board in the corridor to remind everybody of the benefits of such an easy habit.

This is the PPoint our students produced.  Have a look at it and follow its instructions !!

Malala and Indian activist win Nobel Prize

     A child rights campaigner and a child education activist will share the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize.                          
     The Norwegian Nobel Committee announced the two winners on Friday. They are Malala Yousafzai of Pakistan and India’s Kailash Satyarthi.

    The Nobel committee said the prize was awarded for “their struggle against the suppression of children and young people, and for the right of all children to an education.”It added that the committee considers it important “for a Hindu and a Muslim, an Indian and a Pakistani, to join in a common struggle for education and against extremism.”

 Malala Yousafzai becomes the youngest winner of the Nobel Peace Prize. She is only 17 years old. She had been pushing for girls’ education in Pakistan for several years when Taliban gunmen shot her in the head in 2012.

Doctors in Pakistan, and later Britain, treated Malala. She has since recovered and continues to fight for women’s rights around the world.

Kailash Satyarthi has been leading a peaceful movement to end abuse of children for financial gain.

The Nobel Committee says he also has assisted in the development of important international agreements on children’s rights.The two winners will split the $1.1 million in prize money.

Nobel officials will present the award on December 10^th in Oslo, Norway.

I’m Caty Weaver.

This report was based on information from VOA’s News Division. George Grow wrote it for Learning English. Caty Weaver was the editor. 

EBOLA : FACTS

In 60 seconds : What is EBOLA ?

All about that bass

Meghan Trainor is an American singer-songwriter, musician and producer. She gained prominence with her 2014 song "All about that bass", which reached number one on the US Billboard Hot 100 and topped the charts in other countries such as Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the UK.

The song promotes body acceptance of boys and girls with sentences such as "Every inch of you is perfect from  the bottom to the top"

Are you worried about your size ?  Watch the video and forget about those extra kilos !!!! Feel beautiful - because you are worth it !!