"9/11"

On September 11, 2001, 19 militants associated with the Islamic extremist group al-Qaeda hijacked four airliners and carried out suicide attacks against targets in the United States. Two of the planes were flown into the towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, a third plane hit the Pentagon just outside Washington, D.C., and the fourth plane crashed in a field in Pennsylvania. Often referred to as 9/11, the attacks resulted in extensive death and destruction, triggering major U.S. initiatives to combat terrorism and defining the presidency of George W. Bush. Over 3,000 people were killed during the attacks in New York City and Washington, D.C., including more than 400 police officers and firefighters.

I Believe - A 9/11 Tribute

A decade passed by

These last days you've heard a lot about this terrorist attack on the media. Ten years passed by, but I believe that no one has ever forgotten the pictures shown on TV that 11th of September 2001. I still remember that I was driving to school with my friend Elisabete Carvalho, when we heard on the radio that there was a huge fire on the Twin Towers, in New York. When we arrived at school we headed to the teacher's room and we saw in direct the second plane crashing on the second tower. It seemed like a kid playing with towers made of Lego and small airplanes, and crashing them. It didn't seem real! How come? How could it be possible to crash on purpose a plane towards a building? It seemed like a very imaginative film...a kind of science-fiction one: two towers being hit by planes, people falling down the windows and finally the towers crashing down!!!

SUMMER HOLIDAYS! HURRAY!!!

   The school year is coming to an end, which means that the well-deserved holidays are about to start.

   Before our blog also has a summer break I, as the coordinator of the English Club, would like to present my sincere thanks to all the excellent teachers of the English Department for their commitment to this project, which implied dedicating many long hours of their private life to it, in order to garantee the success of all the activities planned at the beginning of the year.

   Hadn't they embraced this project with so much enthusiasm, very little would have been accomplished ; the English Club, it goes without saying, did make a difference in the life of our School.

   So, once again, thank you my dear colleagues for having so willingly accepted to participate in this journey!

   I would also like to thank the students who have collaborated with the English Club, either as members of the staff, organising the different activities, or as contributors to the blog, producing texts, videos , roleplays and interviews. You were fundamental to the growth of our blog, which, having started on 16th October 2010, has already had more than 20 000 visits!!!

   

  Summer holidays mean a break from work. They also mean sunshine, beaches, summer sports and lots of outside fun! 

   So, before "Shake your English!" also goes on holiday, the English Club Team would like to challenge you with some puzzles and quizzes for those days when  the weather is not so warm and sunny and you feel like staying at home. 

HAVE FUN AND SEE YOU IN SEPTEMBER!

Adelaide Sá

 

in BusyTeacher.org

in BusyTeacher.org 

in  activity village.co.uk

Today is Adelaide's birthday

CONGRATULATIONS, ADELAIDE!

Today marks the day someone special was born. That special person is our beloved colleague and friend Adelaide Sá whose hard work, knowledge, wisdom, determination and creativity have greatly contributed to the success of the English Club in our school and to the growing importance of this blog in particular.

Adelaide’s professionalism and commitment to her job as a teacher of English and as the English Club Coordinator have been vital to the remarkable success of so many different activities that have been accomplished this school year.

Adelaide has also managed to keep a contagious sense of doing well in our English Department and English Club even during difficult times and periods of intense work. We all admire her for that.

Adelaide, we want you to know that we deeply appreciate your commitment to setting and trying to achieve high standards for all the activities that we organize for our students. It’s a pleasure to work with you and have you as a Coordinator of the English Club, always pushing us up to be great!

Dear colleague and friend, congratulations on your birthday. May this day bring you all that you wish for!

Big hugs and lots of love

from your workmates,

Alice, Aurélia, Branca, Clarisse, Conceição, Eduarda, Graça, Helena, Isabel, Margarida, Maria José, Natália,Teresa.

Karaoke final contest

             Here's a remake of the film about the karaoke final 

  contest, now with more photos and the voices of our Stars.

             It portrays what happened before, during and after  

  the contest as well as everyone that made it possible.

             I hope you'll enjoy it.

Survey about the English Club activity and its blog

   The school year is coming to an end together with 9 months of work of the English Club and eight months of life of our blog "Shake your English!".
   In order to be able to meet the expectations of the whole school community about the role the English Club should play as well as to improve the quality of the blog in the coming year,  we decided to ask some students and teachers about their opinion concerning the English Club activity and the blog.
  Here is what they said:

                                Reporter: José Cardoso (8th grade student)

Reporters: Mariana, Mafalda and Priscila 

                                        (11th grade students)

  Reporter: João Veloso (8th grade student)

                 Reporters: Viviana  Szczurek and Rita Terroso 

(11th grade students) 

Interviewing Daniel ( 9th grade student) and 

Joaquim (7th grade student)

  Reporter:Filipa (7th grade student)

 

Reporters:Yamine and André 

(11th grade students)

Students from 8th B express their opinions on the blog: 

The blog is interesting, complete and the games are well done.

By Afonso Pinheiro

"I like the whole blogue a lot. There are good news, videos and games. I specially liked the videos about our school. I would like to see a video of a contest where students played Gear. I think the blogue is interesting. Through the games and the quizzes I learnt new words and so I improved my English. " 

By Miguel Ângelo Pinto

"We like the blogue, specially the games: the interactive quizzes and the quiz shows. We enjoyed to learn more about general culture in English. The blogue itself is very well-organised. We will visit it more often." 

By Nuno Silva and Pedro Leite

" We loved the mob dance Gotta Keep Reading. It was an unusual and very interesting activity. We hope it will happen again in our school." 

By Ana Sofia Silva and Francisca Moura

" We are not alone in this school, we can get together in one place, in a single location and that is a good meeting point." 

By Daniela Moreira and Filipa Magalhães

" The games are really cool and interesting!"

By Maria Miguel Ribeiro and Teresa Aguiar

English Refresher Course

"Refresh your knowledge of the English language!" 
This was a challenge some teachers of Maia Secondary School decided to meet. And, how well they did that! After a five month course here they are receiving the diploma that certifies their success. Congratulations to them all and to their teacher as well. Well done!

Karaoke - final contest

Yes, the karaoke final contest took place last Friday and it was a success! Before you listen to the performances of the singers , take a look at this short film to get a glimpse of what happened during the show.

And the winner of the contest is .......
Mariana Domingues!!!
 Listen to her!

... and here's another excellent voice of our school. 

It's Ana Raquel Sousa's!

and now our invited guest, Inês Matias!

Would you like to listen to the other contestants?

On the right side of this page, under PAGES, click on:
" karaoke contest - final (more performances)" and you'll be able to listen to them.

Love Letter to my class

"Biodiversity plays a major role in the balance of our planet. What about diversity among people?

One of our classmates decided to use such a shallow festivity as Valentine's Day to pay us all a compliment as a class. Now, after all these months, we use this tribute as a "see you soon".

The 12 J  English class

Sing It For Japan, a new song by My Chemical Romance

A beautiful song by My Chemical Romance spreading hope for Japan and for the world...

Applying for a job - roleplays

Some eleventh form classes have been challenged to imagine a situation, related with the topic - the world of work, and roleplay it.  Here is what the creativity and commitment of two groups of students of classes 11thA and 11thB have accomplished. Watch and enjoy the plays!

 performed by Eunice, Mariana and Priscila

performed by Brenda Lima, Helena Branco and Inês Matias

It's the final countdown!

H
O
L
I
D
A
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Yes, we 're going on summer holidays!
This schoolar year was just great! We loved being here writing and publishing interesting posts for YOU. We are sure you liked them. Thank you for commenting and participating in our/your activities!

Don't forget to visit us! There will be some more surprises coming up the next days!

Yes, the Karaoke Final is approaching and it will take place on the 17th June, at about 11.30 a.m. in Polivalente.

Join us and enjoy the performances of the seven finalists!

June 1st, INTERNATIONAL CHILDREN'S DAY

To celebrate this day here's a small video you'll certainly enjoy, 'cause whether you're a child or not, we're all children somehow.

British English Versus American English - Quiz

How much do you know about this topic? 

Test your knowledge! 
You can also solve the quiz online in the following site: http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/quizzes/quiznet/quiz120.shtml

                         Check your answers in the site :
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/quizzes/quiznet/quiz120.shtml

May 31st 1859 - BIG BEN struck for the very first time!

Aren't they eccentric?

Yeah! British most eccentric traditions!