Mark your calendar /Fecha para marcar

There's a story teller coming to Sanse.
Children can hear the stories told in English and Spanish.
That's in Claudio Rodríguez library on Thursday 2nd December at 18h.

Viene un cuentacuentos a Sanse y los niños podrán escuchar los cuentos en inglés y español.
La cita es el jueves 2 diciembre a las 6h de la tarde en la biblioteca de Claudio Rodríguez.
Os va a gustar.

Sharing and caring/Compartimos y nos importa

Here is some hope for desperate parents looking for help:
You're not alone.
Fundación Antena 3 is addressing the problem of failure at school.
Experts such as María José Diaz-Aguado, José Antonio Marina, Jaume Carbonell, and José Antonio Luenga have collaborated with the Defensor del Menor to produce a book which has been published by Fundación Antena 3 called 'En Busca del Exito Educativo'.
If you are interested in reading this book, we have a copy in ASEDOW.
Naturally it is in Spanish. All of us who live in Spain know the reality of the difficulties children, teachers and parents face.
Here are the links:
http://www.fundacionantena3.com/
http://www.defensordelmenor.org/

Fundación Antena3 y El Defensor del Menor han trabajado juntos para publicar un libro muy interesante llamado 'En Busca del Exito Educativo' para combatir el fracaso escolar.
ASEDOW tiene una copia que podemos prestar si os interesa.

3rd Documentary Film Show in Sanse

The town council and cinemas of San Sebastián de los Reyes are giving us the opportunity to see three documentaries , one of which has been nominated for an Oscar, from Africa and developing countries.
They will be in the original soundtrack with subtitles.
This on the 9th,10th and 11th December.
Entrance is free.

PLAZA NORTE Abaco Cinebox
Jueves 9dic 19h

• THE VISITOR U.S.A.
• Viernes 10dic 19h LEZARE Etiopía
• IZULU LAMI Sudáfrica

Entrada gratuita

Sábado 11dic 19h

• DE DIOSES Y HOMBRES Candidata por Francia a los Oscars

Entrada gratuita

FNAC
Sábado 11 dic desde las11h

• Documentales de diferentes países y temáticas.

Entrada gratuita

Books

Not e. books but the real thing.
Well, ASEDOW has delivered the copy of the children's stories to Bookseller's and Bi lingual Readers with many many thanks for the prizes they kindly donated to ASEDOW's first story competition.


This association has also acquired its first books:

A beautiful signed edition of 'Gleanings' by the Irish poet John Liddy.

A set of short plays for children interested in DRAMA.

TEATRO
Much better to see a play than read it.
The Pinter plays were intriguingly obscure and thanks to the acting they were penetrable.
The Christmas pantomine, Cinderella , is coming up.

This weekend and next weekend...

.... are the only performances in Madrid so don't miss them. They had fabulous reviews last year and that is why Jonathan and Julie, with Jim, have formed their own theatre group and have been asked to repeat these plays by the Nobel Prize winner, Harold Pinter.

Contact us at our gmail address if you want more information.

HALLOWE'EN PARTY

ASEDOW, dentro de sus actividades, organiza una fiesta de Hallowe'en para niños de todas las edades.

Será el domingo 31 de 6,30 a 8,30 de la tarde en los locales de:

Ensayos Jendrix

C/ La Granja, 60

Alcobendas

Habrá juegos, cuentacuentos en inglés, baile y terrorífica diversión pero antes, algunas palabras que vaís a necesitar...

TERRIFYING..................................TERRORIFICO

SPOOKY/SCARY............................ DE MIEDO

HORROR ................. .......................TERROR

SLIMY.............................................BABOSO

PERO

TERRIFIC..................!!GENIAL!! ........JUST LIKE OUR PARTY..........!!IGUAL QUE NUESTRA FIESTA!!

COME IN COSTUME................. PLEASE DRESS UP..................VENID DISFRAZADOS

For Those Of You Who Are Interested In Poetry

The Irish poet, John Liddy, will be presenting his latest collection of poems 'Gleanings' at BOOKSELLERS Plaza de Olivade, Madrid.

This collection reached the bookstores in Ireland in the summer of 2010 and we have a chance to hear John on Friday 29th October at 20h.

If you want to come along, please do or contact us at our gmail address for more info.
That's tomorrow Plaza de Olivade (metro Iglesia) at 8h .

Los Miradores de los Poetas

Ahí van unas fotos y algún comentario (en castellano) sobre la ruta de Los Miradores, que hicimos el domingo 24.

Vista desde el Mirador de Vicente Aleixandre

La verdad es que fué un poco más dura de lo que habíamos pensado, porque al ir en tren, nos tocó hacer los 4 Km. aprox. que separan la estación, del aparcamiento de Majavilán, donde estaba el punto de partida de la ruta, y lo mismo a la vuelta, con lo que los 9,3 Km., se convirtieron en 17. Para la próxima, habrá que tenerlo en cuenta.

El reloj de Cela (la 1 y 20, hora solar)

En cualquier caso, no hubo problemas y aguantamos como campeones. Hizo un día estupendo: soleado y temperatura agradable, así que disfrutamos bastante subiendo hasta la Pradera de Navarrulaque (nos perdimos la escultura homenaje a los Primeros Caminantes de la Sierra de Guadarrama,

...
El Mirador de Vicente Aleixandre

porque estaba ocupada por un helicóptero rescatando a un acidentado), a continuación, el reloj de Cela y, un poco más adelante, el Mirador de Vicente Aleixandre,

...
Algunos versos grabados en las rocas

donde, después de disfrutar del paisaje, nos paramos a comer el bocata y reponer fuerzas rodeados de versos esculpidos en las rocas.

...
El Mirador de Luis Rosales

Después, el Mirador de Luis Rosales y bajando de nuevo para llegar a Casa Cirilo , donde después de reponer fuerzas, emprendimos de nuevo el camino hacia la estación para coger el tren que nos traería de vuelta.

Vista desde el Mirador de Luis Rosales

Cercedilla

It was a great walk, quite hard but worth the effort and the best way to share views, not just of nature which we really enjoyed but of life in general.I didn't have cramps yesterday from the walk but I do today. We walked about seventeen kilometres. We will share the pictures for those who couldn't make it on Sunday.

Sunday 24th october 2010

Meeting points:

VALDELASFUENTES (Alcobendas) 9:15 a.m.

CHAMARTIN TRAIN LEAVES AT 10:16 a.m.

CERCEDILLA TRAIN ARRIVES AT 11:20 a.m.

Fresh air and exercise. You'll love it. See you Sunday!

Para agregar a favoritos

'A thing of beauty is a joy forever' John Keats

http://www.ningures.net,

http://joyasymantequilla.blogspot.com, 

When you visit these websites just enjoy the pages and the exquisite jewellery. 

They really are an oasis of peace and harmony. 

Then if you want to contact the artist, go ahead. It's very easy. 

José was vice president of this association. 

A good website where you can check your level of English and listen to BBC Radio is

www.world-english.org.

I recommend Radio Ulster.

Ready Steady Go!

Someone told Cristiano Ronaldho that goals are like kethcup. You hit the bottom of the bottle and nothing comes out and then suddenly you get a big dollop.
It's the same with The Oscar Wilde.
We have a lot of activities lined up so watch out for the dates and don't miss them!
WATCH THISPAGE FOR MORE DETAILS

October 24th NATURE WALK in beautiful Cercedilla. See article below.
Think of those autumn colours and it will be worth climbing out of bed. An early start as we are doing a longer walk this year to Los Miradores de los Poetas. That's tomorrow week.

HALLOWE'EN PARTY FOR CHILDREN (Pending confirmation)
Lots of fun for children to get into the mood for Trick or Treat.

THEATRE OUTING
Another chance to enjoy the immense talents of Jonathan Mellor and Julie Davies. They have now formed their own theatre group and we hope to have tickets to see them in Teatro Liberarte Madrid.

Manifestación contra la Pobreza

Este domingo, 17 de octubre (día internacional de la lucha contra la Pobreza), hay una manifestación en Madrid bajo el lema "LA POBREZA NO ESTÁ EN CRISIS, AUMENTA".
Será las 12 h y el recorrido, de Cibeles a Sol.

Más información: http://www.pobrezacero.org

UN DÍA DE CAMPO

Bueno, ya estamos aquí de nuevo dispuestos a hacer algo tras superar el trauma posvacacional, así que os proponemos un paseo por el campo.

Al igual que la vez anterior, será en el Valle de la Fuenfría (Cercedilla) y la ruta, la de Los Miradores.

Esta ruta es un poco más larga que la anterior: 9,5 Km de recorrido circular, con un desnivel de unos 400 m. y duración aproximada de 3 horas (más otra que nos lleva desde la estación al punto de salida).

Durante el recorrido, además de disfrutar de la vegetación (tejos, acebos, brezos, robles), podremos ver el monumento a los primeros caminantes, un curioso reloj de sol dedicado a Camilo José Cela, una encina dedicada a Giner de los Ríos y, más adelante, los Miradores de los Poetas... en fin, que si el weather no lo impide, podremos pasar un día agradable.

En principio, nos vemos en la estación de Valdelasfuentes el día 24 de octubre a las 9 de la mañana, o en la de Cercedilla a las 10, pero esto lo confirmaremos en unos días.

TRAVEL TALES FROM CAMBODIA

Below you have an account of a working holiday in Cambodia


Still coming up....nature walk and jokes evening.

Gaelic football All Ireland Finals Sunday19th 16.30pm

UP DOWN!!!!

Pour un Sourire d’Enfant from Patricia Muñoz King

Many years ago, in 1992 while working in Cambodia, Christian des Pallières was curious to know more about the young child who begged for scraps in the street. Some time later a child showed him where he lived with his family. He was led to the city dump outside Phnom Penh. There he was shocked to see so many families living on the dump in huts in terrible conditions with their children scavenging in the waste.

By talking to the children he learnt that what they really needed... what they really wanted was one meal a day. He started there by bringing cooked food to the dump.
Another dream was to rest, as the children were sent to work all day and all night in the dump to eke out a living for their families. Another wish was to learn to read and write.

Over time these dreams and wishes have come true for many children of Cambodia. The schools he has built are testimony to how we can make a difference.

The work of des Pallières is a real story of perseverence.


Firsthand experience
I have spent 5 weeks in Cambodia, helping run the summer camp of the schools created by the NGO For the Smile of a Child (PSE). This summer camp is just a small part of the work that is done during the school year.

It was such an amazing experience! There are several schools of PSE around the country of Cambodia, next to the dumpsites usually, to facilitate the access of the children working there. I was helping out in the school of Phnom Penh, but during the weekends visited other schools.

We went to see the old dumpsite in Phnom Penh, there is no rubbish brought into it anymore, there is a new dump site that has been fenced to avoid “voyeurs”. The people that live next to the old dumpsite now have to spend part of their meager salary to travel to the new dump.

We also visited the dumpsite in Sieam Rep, the smell was unbearable, yet the people have built their houses on the rubbish itself!
The worst part is not the housing setting; the worst part is that many kids are forced to work day and night in terrible conditions, under the 40 degree sun, with hardly anything to take to their mouths, to earn 20 cents to bring back home.

During the week we would stay in the Phnom Penh school, teachers are on holiday in August, so volunteers are requested to help out in running a summer camp, preparing lessons, games and activities for those same kids (music, baseball, journal, water games...)
1300 children per day! We were not expecting so many! But managed to send them all to shower, give them breakfast, make them laugh, learn and enjoy the activities, give them lunch (and a snack between the classes) and send them to siesta.

Of course we had the help of Khmer instructors that were translating and running the activities with us. These instructors, my age, had also been kids of the dumpsite, now they are studying bachelor degrees; gardening, secretarial school, mechanics, and even medicine or law, and have a summer job as instructors.

Every day we were getting better and better in our classes, but the heat, the food, the fatigue and the mosquitoes were making us tired at the same time. However the smiles of those kids made worth the effort. Waking up at 6 in the morning was hard, but when you see the smiles in the kids face when they arrive to school you find energy again.

Some children that have had a specially troubled life (mistreated, abused by their parents) are taken intern in the school, they live there. We would have dinner with them and keep them company in the evening and during their prayer. The prayer was the most relaxing part of the day. Buddhist and Christian children requested to be able to pray together, their thoughts were, "if we live together, study together, why do we have to pray separately? We are a family". So now you can sit and listen to Buddhist songs and Christian prayers in the same ceremony. Dosen’t that teach the world something?

There is a relatively new class adapted for handicapped children in the school, if conditions are harsh for children you can imagine how it is for handicapped kids, with parents with little resources.

When we walk around the city the children wave their hands at us and ask us in a very lyrical English “Hello, what is your name?” “Hello, what is your name?” everyday we hear it hurndreds of times. People smile very easily. They don´t have much but they enjoy what they have.
They love when we speak our broken Khmer when we walk through the market. And many say "Spain, world champions", and are curious to know more about our lives in Europe.
It has been amazing to be able to be close to those people, the Kmher instructors specially as they were our door to communication and the example for their parents and younger brothers, they managed to catch up in school thanks to the teaching methods of the NGO where they have the possibility to do 2 grades per year. Some of the instructors were telling us how they didn´t know how to write or read 6 years ago, and now they not only write and read Kmher but English or French too.

Some days in class I would act mute, I would use only gestures to communicate, it made the classes very peaceful and the kids very interested. Other times I would sing and shout then they would laugh and play with a lot of energy. You discover therefore other ways of communication. One of the things I learned is to listen, even when you don´t understand, because eventually, one way or another you will :)

I would like to thank PSE for welcoming us and looking after us, and thank them for the impressive work they are doing.

I´d like to thank all of you that helped me bring my bag full of toys and medicines to Cambodia (Esther Muñoz, Janice Richardson, Paul Gerhard, Alexa Joyce, Maria & Leticia Pérez, Teresa Bertamino, Marie Le Boniec, Stephane Chaudrone and many more)

And thank Biddy for this space and for her positive energy.

Lastly I encourage everyone to take a look at the website of the organisation, because I can guarantee that not a penny is misused. It´s all used for the smile of a child :)

..............

Pour un Sourire d'Enfant

NEWSROUND

Hello and welcome!!!

Firstly, we have, at last, accessed our account and will soon be in contact with all members of the association to formalize their inscription.
Many many thanks for joining this initiative!

Secondly, as there is very little activity on the blog this hot hot summer Patricia will be sending us letters from Cambodia to tell us about her working holiday there. She is working with her friend Patri Lo for a French NGO that has schools for children who otherwise would spend their days looking for food in the rubbish dumps
In summer other volunteers from Spain and other countries take care of the children so that they don't drift back to a life of scavenging for food.

And of course the next activity we are all looking forward to will be a nature walk in September where we will walk and talk about anything we like.
Also we still hope to have a jokes evening. Another simple experiment. All we need is a venue and for everyone to come and tell us a joke in English. Hee hee hee!

Important Notice!

You can download and read the children’s stories by clicking on the right of this page

Juegos de patio

On Saturday 19th June la Asociación Educativa Oscar Wilde (ASEDOW) and la Asociación de madres y padres (AMPA) del CP Antonio Buero Vallejo invited children between the ages of 9 and 12 to a Sports day and Prize giving event in the school playground.

....

This was the itinerary:

11.00h: --- Welcome speech and some warm up exercises

....

11.30h: --- Playground games circuit: Skipping rope games , Lifeboats, Queenio, 12.3 Red Lights, Dodge the ball.

....

BREAK

12.30h: --- Fun Races: Egg and spoon race , three legged race, cheese rolling race

....

13.30h: --- Prize giving and farewells

....

This was also an occasion to hand out the prizes for the

Story Writing Competition.

....

How did it go?

The children really enjoyed this informal contact with our traditional Sports Day.

This was only possible thanks to the help and goodwill of all the people involved

-- La AMPA del Colegio Público Buero Vallejo San Sebastián de los Reyes for the use of the playground, distribution of information and refreshments.
-- All the monitors and helpers: Jane, Patri, Manu, Jesús, Victor, Eva and Nicole.
-- Booksellers and Bilingual readers who donated the prizes for the Story Competition.
-- The seventeen children who participated this year.

ASEDOW will continue to organize fun activities each month to bring you close to the English speaking world.

We can only do so if we increase our membership. See details on the right.

And the winners are...

STORY WRITING COMPETITION

First of all a great big thank you to Bilingual Readers and Booksellers for the wonderful books the winners of the story competition received.
The children loved them. These are the prizewinners.

Junior Category
First prize
Ainoa Quirce (prize donated by BILINGUAL READERS)

Second prize (Tie/Empate)

Mario Vila (prize donated by ASEDOW)
Clara, Carolina, Itziar and Cristina (prize donated by BOOKSELLERS)

Senior Category
First Prize
Gonzalo Troncoso (prize donated byBOOKSELLERS)

Second prize (Tie/Empate)
Cristina González (prize donated by BOOKSELLERS)
Daniel Esteban (prize donated by BOOKSELLERS)

The booklet with all the stories is a reward for all the participants.
It is a very special souvenir that all the participants should treasure.
The stories contain the keys to happiness from a child’s point of view.

In ASEDOW we will guard ours very carefully.

A few more pics

___

______ !CHAOS! _______________ THE FLYERS

___

__Better luck next time. ______________ All over

May Pub Quiz

Here are some photos of the pub quiz and the very lucky winners of a hamper from Food Hall.
People are asking, ‘Where did you get those wonderful cookies?’ The address of Food Hall is C/Isla de la Alegranza 6 Nave 38 San Sebastián de los Reyes

Delicious chocolate bars for second prize winners...The Flyers...the next time we will keep them in a cool box.

The spot prize question:

The kick off match for the World cup will be between South Africa and which other team?

A box of tea for María for guessing correctly...Mexico.

Four teams participated and we will welcome any feedback, criticism etc.

The Flyers
¡CHAOS!
Who knows?
Gerton

And the winners were ¡CHAOS! proving that a combined English/ Spanish team have the best chance of winning!


Many thanks to NUBA and FOOD HALL for their support.

First Story Competition

We have winners!
They will be contacted and with their permission the fantastic winning stories will be published on the blog. We hope you enjoy them. Congratulations.

And the prizes will be typical sweets from England and a good book for the runners up.(Second prize)

For the winners, typical sweets from England, a good book and a pen and pencil set to keep on writing good stories. (First prize)

Also we hope to give all participants a booklet with all the stories so that they can proudly remember their contribution to
ASEDOW’S FIRST STORY COMPETITION

Believe it

Yummy prizes, a bit of crack and all for free.
And why you may wonder.
For the fun of it. Broaden your horizons and challenge your wits. Leave your worries behind about your English, about the questions. Sit up and listen or sit back let others rise to the challenge.
You can think about it before you join this association.
You can pay the yearly 15 Euro fee if you think it is worth your while.

Update

There is a pub quiz (May), a jokes evening and a country walk coming up (June/July).
For the children we hope to organise a Games Day in June.
The results of the Story Competition should come through soon but we know that the jury enjoyed reading the stories and the prizes will be very nice. When the final decision is made the winning stories will be published on the blog.

What about a visit to the theatre?
There is a play Friday 21st and 28th Saturday 22nd and 29th in La Madrilera C/ Don Felipe 9 at 21.30h Metro Tribunal, about an English teacher's experiences in Madrid. This could be interesting .

SPRING PUB QUIZ

An important football final is on the 19th May so we have to change the day of the pub quiz to the 26th May.

EndulzaTE con DANZA

Here is something interesting for all of us.

Una asociación amiga Raksaché is inviting us to the fiestas of San Isidro in Alcobendas. On the 16th May at 6 o'clock in the evening you can come to La Esfera (Avda. Olímpica, 14), in El Arroyo de la Vega and enjoy different performances by their dancers. The exotic belly dancing accompanied by a wonderful percussion player will blend very nicely with the other two activities which are:

Tea Tasting and A Dessert Competition.

The prizes are very interesting too so if you want to compete we have all the information you need. .
Come and join in the fun.

Story Competition

All entries have been received. Well done everyone. You'll hear the results soon.

There is a change in dates for the story competition. See below.
New deadline....09th May
Nueva fecha tope....09mayo
We hope you continue to send in your entries.
The prizes have not been decided yet but you will hear about them soon.
Good luck!

Concurso literario ...

STORY WRITING COMPETITION OPEN TO ALL CHILDREN

( I EDITION ) WRITE A STORY AND WIN A PRIZE!!!!

Write a story ending with the words

.................the happiest child in the world.

The story must be in English
The story is more important than the English so we will correct it for you.
Send your entry with your name, age and telephone number to asedow@gmail.com

JUNIORS.........................................8 to 12 year olds
SENIORS.......................................13 to 16 year olds

BASES

• The competition is open to all children
• The entries must be original
• The competition closes at midnight on the 30th April
• Prizes will be given to the winners and runners up in each category
• Results will be published on the asedow website as soon as possible after the close of the competiton.

Prize winners will be notified via their telephones.


¡ESCRIBE UN CUENTO Y GANA UN PREMIO!

CATEGORIAS:
JUNIOR…………….8 a 12 años
SENIOR…………….13 a 16 años

Escribe un cuento que termina con las palabras

……………………………el niño/la niña más feliz del mundo

El cuento tiene que ser escrito en inglés.
El cuento es lo importante así que os corregiremos los errores de inglés.
Envíalo con tu nombre, edad y teléfono a asedow@gmail.com

Asociación Educativa Oscar Wilde

Based in San Sebastián de los Reyes this new initiative is open to English speakers and English learners of all nationalities.

Past events:
Oct 2009 Halloween Party for children
November 2009 Nature Walk
December 2009 Pub Quiz
February 2010 Live Literary Performance
March 2010 Art walk and coffee talk


Coming up ....

Story competition for children April
Pub Quiz May 26th 20.30p.m. Bar NUBA
Jokes evening.
Summer walk in the country

Who is Wyndham Lewis?

Come and find out.
By happy coincidence there is a brilliant exhibition of his work in Fundación Juan March
C/ Castelló 77 which links in very well with our T.S. Eliot poetry reading.
And it's free. Don't miss it. We'll be meeting at the door at eleven a.m.
Sunday morning art walk and coffee talk.
28th March.
Contact us at asedow@gmail.com if you're leaving from San Sebastian de los Reyes.

ASEDOW

There is a meeting today at 19h. The venue is C/ Rubén Darío 6, San Sebastián de los Reyes.
Please come along and share your suggestions and ideas with us.

Chavela and the Chieftains

The Chieftains have a great cd coming out . . . called San Patricio about the Irish men who changed sides during the Mexican-American war. They're still honored in Mexico. The great Chavela Vargas , Lila Downs, Carlos Nuñez and more artists join Paddy Maloney and the Chieftains to bring us a real celebration for this year's St Patrick's Day, 17th March.
The cd comes out on Tuesday.

T.S. Eliot in Alcobendas

On Sunday evening a group of us got together and listened to a beautiful reading of T.S. Eliot's poetry.

Julie Davies and Jonathan Mellor have worked together to bring to the stage Harold Pinter plays.

Having them interpret The Wasteland, The Love Song of J. Prufrock, The Hollow Men was a privilege.

Eliot proved to be an excellent choice and suited the mood of these grey days we are living in right now.

We also had fun listening to some light hearted poems which were written by T.S. Eliot and inspired the musical Cats

Julie and Jonathan enjoyed the perfomance immensely, as did Nacho and Federico of El indio Mocaqua and we look forward to organizing more events of this nature.

So far in the association we've had Halloween party for children, a nature walk, a pub quiz and a poetry reading of the highest standard. I'm sure more good things will come of it.

Por tu amor me duele el aire...

¡Ay, qué trabajo
me cuesta quererte como te quiero!

Por tu amor me duele el aire,
el corazón
y el sombrero.


Que bonito...Lo siento, pero tenía que decirlo.
Estaba oyendo la radio mientras miraba que había de nuevo por aquí y oí a una mujer (no tengo ni idea de quién era) que cantaba estos versos y me gustaron. Tecleé en Google "me duele el aire" y me salió la canción completa, que resultó ser de Federico García Lorca.
Alguien dirá: Bueno, ¿y ésto que tiene que ver con el inglés?. La respuesta es NADA, pero es que no hay una belleza en inglés y otra en castellano, sino simplemente BELLEZA.

Delicious Quotes from Collected Works by Oscar Wilde/Citas

The state is to make what is useful.
The individual is to make what is beautiful.
El estado ha de hacer lo que es útil.
El individuo ha de hacer lo que es hermoso.

People are good if left alone.
La gente es buena si se les deja en paz.

All authority is quite degrading.
Toda autoridad es bastante degradante.

It is only in voluntary association that man is free.
Es sólo en la asociación voluntaria que el hombre es libre.

The only thing that one really knows about human nature is that it changes,
La única cosa que se sabe realmente sobre la naturaleza humana es que cambia.

Selfishness is not living as one wishes to live, it is asking others to live as one wishes to live.
El egoísmo no es vivir como uno quiere,es pedir a los demás que vivan como uno quiere vivir.

The emotions of man are stirred more quickly than man's intelligence.
Las emociones del hombre se mueven más fácilmente que su inteligencia.

A true artist takes no notice whatever of the public.The public to him are non existent.
Un verdadero artista no hace ningún caso del público. El público para él no existe.

A work of art is a unique result of a unique temprament.
Una obra de arte es el resultado insólito de un temperamento insólito.

La sociedad a menudo perdona al criminal, nunca perdona al soñador.

It is not selfish to think for oneself. A man who does not think for himself does not think at all.
No es egoísmo pensar por uno mismo. Un hombre que no piensa por sí mismo, no piensa en absoluto,

When man is happy he is in harmony with himself and his environment.
Cuando un hombre es feliz, está en armonía consigo mismo y su entorno.

Personal experience is a most vicious and limited circle.
La experiencia personal es un circulo de lo más vicioso y limitado.

To look at a thing is very different from seeing a thing. One does not see anything until one sees its beauty.
Then and only then, does it come into existence.

Mirar una cosa es muy diferente de ver una cosa. Uno no ve nada hasta ver su belleza. Es entonces y sólo entonces cuando cobra existencia.

Where the cultured catch the effect, the uncultured catch cold.
Cuando los cultos pillan el efecto, los incultos pillan un catarro.

Art creates an incomparable and unique effect and having done so, passes on to other things.
El arte crea un efecto único e incomparable, y al haberlo  hecho, pasa a otras cosas.

If we mean to understand a nation by its art, let us look at its architecture or its music.
Si pretendemos comprender a una nación a través de su arte, miremos a su arquitectura o su música.

In literature we require distinction, charm, beauty and imaginative power.
En la literatura requerimos distinción, encanto, belleza y poder imaginativa. 

It´s the spectator, and not life, that art mirrors.
Es al espectador y no a la vida que el arte refleja.

Anybody can sympathize with the suffering of a friend, but it requires a very fine nature, it requires, in fact, that nature of a true individualist,to sympathize with a friend´s success.
Cualquier persona puede simpatizar con el sufrimiento de un amigo, pero se requiere un carácter muy noble, se requiere el carácter de un verdadero individualista, simpatizar con el éxito de un amigo.

The best way to make children good is to make them happy.
La mejor manera para hacer que los niños sean buenos es hacer que sean felices

Every saint has a past and every sinner has a future.
Cada santo tiene tiene un pasado y cada pecador tiene un futuro

.She lacks the indefinable charm of weakness.
A ella le falta el encanto indefinible de la debilidad.

Ordinary riches can be stolen, real riches cannot. In your soul are infinitely precious things that cannot be taken from you.
La riqueza normal puede ser robada, la riqueza de verdad no.En tu alma hay las cosas infinitamente preciosas que no se te pueden arrebatar.

There are only two tragedies in life: one is not getting what one wants, and the other is getting it.
Sólo hay dos tragedias en esta vida. Una es no conseguir lo que quieres, y la otra es conseguirlo.

Some cause happiness wherever they go; others whenever they go.
Algunas personas crean felicidad adonde van; otras cuando se van.

A man can be happy with any woman, as long as he does not love her.
Un hombre puede ser feliz con cualquier mujer, siempre que no la quiera.

To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.
Vivir es la cosa menos común del mundo. La mayoría de la gente se limita a existir.

If one cannot enjoy reading a book over and over again, there is no use in reading it at all.
Si uno no  disfruta leyendo un libro una y otra vez, no merece la pena leerlo.

For one moment our lives met, our souls touched.
Por un instante nuestras vidas cruzaron, nuestros almas tocaron.

 After all, there is nothing like nature, is there?
Después de todo, no hay nada como la naturaleza, ¿verdad?

Una invitación...

Aquí dejo el póster que diseñó Melanie para el evento del domingo 21, así como una invitación para todo el que quiera asistir. Por supuesto que la asistencia es libre y gratuita.

Estatutos

Para todo el que quiera conocer más detalles sobre de la asociación, aquí dejo un enlace desde donde se pueden descargar los estatutos en formato PDF.

T.S. Eliot

Some of Eliot's most famous lines from The Hollow Men:

This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
Not with a bang but a whimper.

T.S. Eliot (1888-1965) was born in Missouri U.S.A. He went to Harvard University and La Sorbonne. He moved to Oxford in 1914 and acquired British nationality in 1927.His poems articulated the disillusionment of a younger post war generation.
The Wasteland (Tierra Yerma) is considered to be one of the most influential poetic works of the twentieth century in the English language.
A leading poet of the avant -garde, he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1948.

To edify and fortify you through these winter days

Come and enjoy the poetry of T.S. Eliot, read to you by Julie Davies.
This will be on Sunday February 21st at six thirty in the evening.
The venue will be El indio Mocaqua Av Madrid.

Some background information

Near where I live there’s a lovely little state school with a big playground which  is lying unused, in a state of abandon. When I pass by I always remember Oscar Wilde’s story of The Selfish Giant who would not  let the local children play in his big beautiful garden, even though they had nowhere else to play.

I thought, ‘If the local authorities don’t know what to do with this place I’ll give them an idea.’

Teachers of English in the schools here in Spain are doing a wonderful job and the idea was to offer evening classes to help schoolchildren consolidate their learning and to extend teaching of the English language to reach a greater number of people by offering classes to adults in the morning and late evening.
The teachers would come from any of the many English speaking countries in the world.

The idea was to create a warm learning environment with attractive activities and teaching methods. The beauty of the language class is that it brings children from different schools, different backgrounds together and they are all equal. They could have playground games in English in that wonderful playground.
Families of low income and people who are long term unemployed would be able to bring their children too and come themselves to improve their chances of finding good employment.
To quote a former pupil in a debate about the right of parents to choose and pay for the best education for their children,

‘All children have the right to the best education.’

We cannot underestimate the importance of the ability to communicate in the 'lingua franca' of global research  and the need for young Spanish learners to master English in the contemporary world of increasing internationalization.This school would aim to have high quality teaching open to all because a key E.U. policy is that access to knowledge is a right for everyone and it must be promoted.

Together with my friend and neighbour, Ascen, I approached the local authorities with this proposal. We were told that the school was being used for offices by the local government in Madrid and that before they could do anything with the idea we would have to prove that our interest was not for personal gain but for the community.

Thankfully, my neighbours José and Ascen had the courage and goodwill to join me and form this non profit making association.Together we could get it moving and time will tell if is a good idea and a viable one. Right now we are taking it step by step.

At this stage we are connecting people who are interested in any aspect of the English language. This is a very broad definition but it covers those who have always wanted to learn the language and those who, like myself, have it and want to use it in a social context. We have had shared readings of Oscar Wilde's wonderful plays and stories at the local library already.

We have introduced into the association the idea of bringing together those English speakers who live in the area and would really enjoy a space where they could exchange books, meet people and pursue common interests and those English learners who have invested a lot of time and money in classes but have no opportunity to practise outside the classroom context. A lot of people just need someone to organize the activities for them and that is what we propose to do in ASEDOW. I’m sure our paths can meet.

The lovely thing about this project is that it is not top down.
People are pushing it up.
We are going about this in a happy way. Please don’t come worried about your level of English. Leave your worries at home.
Relax and enjoy the activities that are coming up.

Hopefully these activities will lead us back eventually to the original idea of
 la escuela de inglés de  Oscar Wilde.

Asociación Educativa Oscar Wilde

By naming the association after Oscar Wilde we raise our hats to this gentle giant because - how many of us who have read his works would like to have been the stranger who did just that, the one man among the crowd of people who raised his hat, as Wilde was being escorted to court from the prison cell handcuffed between two policemen, his head bowed?

From De Profundis:
‘I store it in the treasure house of my heart. I keep it there as a secret debt that I can never possibly repay. That lovely little silent act of love.’

Oscar Wilde’s writing is beautiful, sensitive and deeply Christian. It would be a wonderful destination for all lovers of the English language.

There is another reason why the name of Oscar Wilde is perfect.The name crosses the barriers of race, righteousness and religion. He was born in Dublin. He went to school in Northern Ireland. He was an Irish Protestant from an upperclass and highly respected family.From his mother he learnt to be proud of his Irish heritage and the social impact of literature. He went from fame to infamy and suffered the humiliation of imprisonment in England for his homosexuality. He was a master of the English language and to see, act and perform his plays may seem an impossible task for second language learners but it has been done.




Our first three events:
A children’s Halloween Party
A beautiful walk in Cercedilla
A pub quiz in San Sebastian de los Reyes

They give a taste of things to come and reflect the spirit of the association, also reflected in our logo.
Lifelong learning in a relaxed environment.

Helpful hints for a .....

Happy New Year!! Peace and Prosperity to you!!

HANDBOOK for 2010
Health:
1. Drink plenty of water.
2. Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a beggar.
3. Eat more foods that grow on trees and plants and eat less food that is manufactured in plants.
4. Live with the 3 E's -- Energy, Enthusiasm and Empathy
5. Make time to enjoy yourself
6. Play more games
7. Read more books than you did in 2009.
8. Sit in silence for at least 10 minutes each day
9. Sleep for 7 hours.
10. Take a 10-30 minutes walk daily. And while you walk, smile.

Personality:
11. Don't compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
12. Don't have negative thoughts of things you cannot control. Instead invest your energy in the positive present moment.
13. Don't over do. Keep to your limits.
14. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
15. Don't waste your precious energy on gossip.
16. Dream more while you are awake
17. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.
18. Forget issues of the past. Don't remind your partner of his/her mistakes of the past. That will ruin your present happiness.
19. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone. Don't hate others.
20. Make peace with your past so it won't spoil the present.
21. No one is in charge of your happiness except you.
22. Realize that life is a school and you are here to learn. Problems are simply part of the curriculum that appear and fade away like algebra class but the lessons you learn will last a lifetime.
23. Smile and laugh more.
24. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.

Society:
25. Call your family often.
26. Each day give something good to others.
27. Forgive everyone for everything..
28. Spend time with people over the age of 70 & under the age of 6.
29. Try to make at least three people smile each day.
30. What other people think of you is none of your business.
31. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends will. Stay in touch.