The suit of the Emperor

Once upon a time, there was an emperor who was very vain; the only thing he was always thinking about was buying dresses. He had a large group of tailors that were constantly making him new clothes, because he wanted to be the best dressed emperor in all the kingdoms of the world.

Certain day two crafty boys came to the imperial palace, asking to be received for his majesty. They said that they were famous tailors who came from far away countries. The emperor, when knew the news, made them came in immediately.

- Majesty, we have brought a cloth that is a marvel – said one of the crafty.

- The ignoramuses can’t see it, but it really likes to the intelligent people - said the other man.

The emperor got amazed with the things they were saying and asked the false tailors to start making immediately a suit with that cloth, which would show to everybody.

The crooks asked for a big amount of money and valuable jewel to pay the expenses. They made believe that they were cutting and sewing the suit, when, in fact, they were not sewing anything. And those who saw it, in order to not being called ignoramuses, they said that it was a very original garment.

There came the day when the emperor tried on the famous garment. When he saw it, he became astonished. He didn’t see the suit! He didn’t want his subjects to thing he was not intelligent, so he decided to pretend.

All the people were waiting that the emperor came, because they had curiosity on how would the majestic apparel be. Then the emperor appeared. He was walking nude with the amazement everyone.

A great silence was done in the street, but anybody said anything in order to not be called ignoramus. Only a child, with his innocence, said:

- Look, look, the emperor is nude!

With this, everybody said the same, and the emperor felt embarrassed. It was a sad day for him, but he learnt a great lesson: THE IMPORTANT THING IN THIS LIFE ARE NOT THE GARMENTS, BUT TO BE SINCERE IN EVERYTHING WHAT YOU DO.

Imatges: la primera, em recorda a les il·lustracions de conte de "La Bella Durmiente" que em llegia mo mare. La segona és un petit homenatge a "Les Tres Bessones", gràcies a qui conec aquesta història i moltes altres.

Extretes de: 

http://kosmologia-vital.blogspot.com.es/2009/10/el-traje-del-emperador.html

http://cine.coveralia.com/caratulas/Las-Tres-Mellizas-El-Traje-Nuevo-Del-Emperador-Oliver-Twist-Caratula.php

Nata·

The Bremen's musicians

Here you have el conte dels músics de Bremen, en anglès:

Once upon a time, there was a man who had a donkey that, after years and years of hard work, was now old and unable to do the same than years ago. The man decided to get rid of the donkey. The donkey knew that, and decided to escape going to the city of Bremen.

When the donkey was arriving to Bremen, he knew a dog that was complaining on the floor. The donkey asked what was happening to him, and the dog said “As I am old and I can’t hunt, my owner has hit me, and I’ve escaped from his house”.

The donkey and the dog decided to start travelling together and set up a music band, and they followed the way to Bremen. They were walking by the path, when they found a cat. The donkey asked him what was happening, and the cat said that his owner didn’t want him because he was old and he didn’t hunt mice.

The cat joined them, and they continued walking about their band and what would they do in Bremen.

But suddenly... “KIKIRIKIIIIIIIIIII!!”. It was a cockerel that said “My owner wants to cook me and serve me tomorrow with sauce and potatoes to her guests!”

The donkey said “Join our music band, and come with us to Bremen”. The cockerel liked this idea, and the four animals went to Bremen.

The night came, and they decided to sleep in the forest. But the cockerel jumped to a tree, and he saw a little light that was shining not very far from where they were. “I see the light of a house”, said the cockerel.

So all the musician animals decided to go to that house, which was actually a hide-out of thieves.

When they arrived, the donkey watched trough the window and saw a table with a great source of food and drink, and three thieves that were sitting around that table.

The animals started to deliberate the way to make the thieves left the home, and they found it: first, the donkey would be next to the window. Then the dog would jump to the back of the donkey. After that, the cat would climb and go on the back of the dog, and finally the cockerel would fly to the cat’s head.

Having done this, all of them started to sing, making a lot of noise. When the thieves heart that, they felt frightened and ran away through the forest, because they thought that the noise was done by a ghost.

When the thieves had left the home, the four animals came in, and ate all the food from the table. After having dinner, the animals went to sleep because they were very tired.

At midnight, the thieves returned to the home to inspect it and see who had frightened them hours ago.

The thieves went to the kitchen. There, the cat scratched their faces. The thieves started to run, but they tripped over the dog, that bit their legs. Finally when they went across the patio, the donkey kicked them and the cockerel shouted his “song”: KIKIRIKIIIII!!!

Those men thought that inside the home there were a witch and a monster, and since then they didn’t go to the house nevermore. Meanwhile, the four Bremen’s musicians felt so comfortable in the house that they never left it. They were very famous in Bremen, and sang around the world in many concerts.

Imatges: la primera, m'ha fet un flash a la memòria, recordant-me que de petita vaig veure aquesta sèrie o pel·lícula a la TV. La segona, és la portada de la versió del conte que roda per ca nostra. I la tercera, és d'una escultura dels animals d'aquest conte.

Extretes de les següents webs:

http://parachiquitines.com/cuentos/los-musicos-de-bremen-autores-los-hermanos-grimm/

http://uncaballodecartonblogspotcom.blogspot.com.es/2011/03/los-musicos-de-bremen_28.html

http://www.tinerguia.com/2008/12/09/musicos-de-bremen-teatro-guimera.html

Nata·

Democratic schools

Democratic schools are those where pupils and teachers have the same rights and can participate and decide equally about all matters of the school. Their main idea is “TO MAKE THE SCHOOL FIT THE CHILD”, so the teachers have to accommodate their method to the students’ needs.

            An example of Democratic School is Summerhill, a modern school that was started by Alexander Sutherland Neill in England, on 1921.

In the Summerhill’s teaching approach there are two issues: the first one is that children have to live their own life. Because of that, pupils can decide if they want to go to class. Te second issue are the assemblies, meetings where staff and students participate in equal amounts to decide items such as the school rules.

            The teachers’ and student’s roles in Summerhill are active. On the one side, pupils and staff have to decide in a democratic way (on assembly) the subjects that are going to be taught and studied. On the other side, teachers have to be welling to teach the subjects that students have decided, and not only the subjects that staff thinks are the bests.

In this school, love is more important than subjects like maths or science (even though the last ones are also important). And why is it so? Well, because love breeds love, and children respond better to love and freedom than to strict authority.

            In my opinion this kind of schools are possible. People think that they are not, because this teaching approach is associated with anarchism. But this idea is wrong. This method is not anarchist, is democratic. So, one of the rules is respect, a bidirectional respect: teachers respect children’s interests and children have to answer to this liberty to act being responsible. It’s like a “gentleman’s agreement” where both parts undertake to carry out their responsibilities.

            With this method, students will learn the same that those who learn in an authoritarian school. It’s really easy: first of all teachers mustn’t be hidden behind the sentence “I can’t do it”, and they must say “I’ll do my best, and I’m going to change my methods because I want the students to be a little happier”.

If we let children to choose which subjects do they want to learn, they will be interested in going to school, and they will be happy to go there. And the most important thing: they will not say “I hate school”.

            How to teach them? Well, once the subject to learn is chosen, the teacher has to make educational every situation. By this way, if children have decided that they want to learn cooking, the teacher can teach them reading or writing using the recipes, and they can also learn maths with this (200g of flour, 100ml of milk, etc.).

            Of course it’s easier for us, the teachers, using books and telling the students to learn a unit and make after an exam! But it won’t be easy and funny to our pupils.

Because of that, I think that we don’t have to be selfish and think what will be better for children, although it would mean for us making a great effort.

Pictures: the appearance of Summerhill's school now a days, and the "creator": Alexander Sutherland Neill. Both have been taken from:

http://www.madrimasd.org/blogs/pensamiento_pedagogico_radical/2008/05/17/92058

Nata·

Remake del conte "Caputxeta vermella"

Recordau la història que havíem de fer l'altre dia a classe d'anglès? Aquella que havíem de passar als nostres companys de grup perquè l'anessin continuant? Idò he seguit amb la història que vaig començar, sense emprar la part que van fer les meves companyes perquè sigui realment un "Copyright Natalia V.R. 2011".

Esper que us agradi i que xaleu tant llegint-la com jo ho he fet escrivint-la.

Once upon a time, there was a very beautiful teenager who lived in not a far city with her parents. Her name was Samantha, she was 16 years old and she liked going out every weekend.

Although all the boys of the city were crazy for her, she had no boyfriend. As she said, “I’m allergic to the word boyfriend; I only have good friends”.

By that time, she was preparing her carnival disguise: she had made a red cap and she had bought a mini skirt and a tight shirt.

Her dad didn’t like that disguise, and he wanted Samantha to stay at home, but she thought “Oh, dear daddy, I’m not gonna be a good girl”.

So when carnival arrived, Samantha went out wearing her “sexy” disguise. She went out to the disco, and everybody looked at her. When she started dancing, a boy with a wolf disguise came near her. He was a mysterious guy, and Samantha liked it. They both looked at her eyes. She realised that the boy with wolf disguise had really wonderful green eyes.

Suddenly, the boy disappeared between the people.

Samantha looked for the boy all around the disco, but she couldn’t found him. She was obsessed about finding “her wolf”. Some people said hello to her, but she didn’t say anything, because she hadn’t heart that people. It was like if she had been bewitched for the wolf-guy, and Samantha only wanted to find him.

She stopped looking for the boy with green eyes because she thought it was impossible to find him. Then, she felt somebody touching her back: it was the guy with the wolf disguise.

To be continued..

...in a moment of inspiration.


Imatge treta de:
http://www.mascotas-conectadas.com/group/boutiqueguau

Nata·