our school experience in Oxford

In the last two days we have practised dramas and sketches wearing customs. The play is going to be performed on friday morning at 11:30 am in the theatre near the Eckersley school. These dramas are called "Graduation day","Robert of Normandy" and the sketches are called "Graduation day", "Robby Mc". We are very excitied and a bit worried. We hope the audience will like it. This is the last day in this school and we are very unhappy for this. In these three weeks we have learned a lot of things at school and in our families, and our English has improved. We've got to know their habits and ways of life that are very different from ours. We are very happy for this experience and because we've met very friendly people here in Oxford.

18th April 2007

H E L L O ! ! !

Today we tried again the four short pieces around the theme of medicine in the student's room. Two of the pieces are set in Salerno in medieval times, and the other two are translations of these stories into a modern context. Initially we had some discussion about the moviment and the clothes. A problem it was when we had laugh while we stay on stage. Another problem it was when someone of us didn't remember well the scripts. At the end, the drama, we have done well.
We tried every day and Friday we'll show it in the teathre for public. We hope that it will go very well.

See you tomorrow...

B Y E ! ! !

Our last monday in Oxford!!!

In the morning we wrote the blogs about Friday. After that we played new pronunciation game like Dominoes.We enjoyed our self with this game because we never played before.

After lunch we practised our dramas to remember well our script.
When finished the lessons there was the tea party because today were arrives another group from Contursi.They are 6 boys and 8 girls.It's a big group with friendly people.

Maybe this evening we going to the pub "Goose" behind the school all togheter.

Life in Oxford!!!!!!!

H E L LO ! ! !

This is the last week that we stay in Oxford... Now we talk about impression of life in here... Oxford is a nice town and very quite. There isn't traffic in the centre of Oxford because many people prefer travel by bus or by bicycle. Here transport is very efficient and very punctual in comparison with Italy. In the street there is also the place for the people that walk, the place for bicycle, the place for bus and taxi and place for car. The people are very quiet and the families are very friendly. The food is good enough, there are varius pub like McDonald's, Burger King, ecc where we eat the hamburger, chips, ice-cream, coke, ecc. In Oxford the people eat also the pigeon and this shock us. But we Italians prefer Italian food because it's more delicious and more genuine. The Oxford's speciality is the "fish and chips" that we tasted in the pub "The Eagle and Child" on april 7. Here pubs are very popular and strict because the under 18 can't enter because the body guards ask for I.D. cards...



In Oxford there is a beautiful bridge like the "Sigh bridge" of Venice.



Oxford is famous for its colleges. In fact in a Oxford's college which is "Christ Churc College" where is filming "Harry Potter" film. There are other colleges such as "Worcester College". Every college has big parks where the people relaxing and enjoying. We enjoy the differences from Salerno.

B Y E ! ! !

On saturday was sunny and warm. We went to London and we had a very nice day.
After a nice walk along the Thames, we visited the Globe theatre, it is very beautiful and we saw a group of people that made a practice of their play. This theatre is open air; the stage is in three parts: earth, gods and fame.
Then we went on the boat on the Thames and we saw the Tower Bridge, London Bridge, Big Ben and Saint Paul Cathedral.
After that we went on the London Eye and we saw a beautiful view.
When we went down we had an ice-cream and we met Rebecca with her friends.
Then we went shopping at Lilly Withes in Piccadilly Circus.
We came back at about 9 o'clock and we went to Pizza Express for a pizza.
It was a beautiful day, we had a lot of fun.
On Sunday we spent all day in the Christ Church park, we had a pic-nic, played football and volleyball.
It was a very hot day.

Our Second Day In London

Saturday 14th, we went another time to London...........
It was a very beautiful day..... the sky was blue, it was a very hot and crowded day!!! We started from Oxford at 8:00 a.m. after a good coffee. We arrived in London at 10:15 a.m. . Immediately we started to walk to get to "Globe Theatre" near the Thames. This theatre wasn't like we imagined because is very little and simple. We thought that was imposing and big. It is a Shakespeare theatre. After that, we took a river boat and we crossed the Thames. We passed under the Tower Bridge... is a strong emotion to describe... is very beautiful!!! When we finished the navigation we got on the "London Eye".We had fear to altitude, but was very excited because we can saw almost all London!! We didn't see everything because there was a little bit of mist. After that we went to Piccadilly Circus and we spent a lot of money in "Lilly Whites" :-) .... is very cheap shop for girls and boys, old and young. We started to London by bus at 7:00 p.m. and arrived in Oxford at 9:00 p.m., after the travell we went all together to ate a pizza at "Pizza Express"..... we were very disappointed because the pizza wasn't good... it was little and hard... it seemed dept freeze pizza!!! We were very tired but we were very happy for the beautiful day passed all together!!!

Friday filmed the sketch and Bicester village

Last Friday we filmed a sketch.It spoke about a graduation day nowadays.Daniela B. was the candidate,Nadia was Daniela's best friend,Michela,Veronica and Daniela G. were the professor,Valentina was Daniela's mother and Martina and Carmen were Daniela's sisters.
There were three scenes.In the first scene Daniela was tired and worried about her final examination.Nadia took a comomille tea to Daniela.She spilt it on her lap-top.She was very upset.In the second scene the professors asked questions to Daniela and she passed her final examination.She swore the Hippocratic Oath.In the last scene her mother and her sisters huged and kissed Daniela.To film the sketch we took three hours because Daniela and Nadia laughed sometimes.Also Rodney needed to film from every angle.It was a fantastic experience because we recited in front of the camera for the first time.Therefore we were very excited.


In the afternoon we went to Bicester village because we wanted do shopping.But we didn't buy anything because it was very expensive.
Bicester village is lovely place because there is a beautiful park.At eight o'clock we came back home and we had a dinner.
After that we went to bed.
Bye bye

Sunday in Oxford

Hi!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Yesterday we woke up very late, because on Saturday we went to London and we were very tired.
We stayed in Oxford. We met all together at 12:00 in front of Borders,the bookshops, but really we met at 13:00 because on Sunday the bus passed every 20 minutes. After that, we went to Christ Church Meadow. We ate and we played football all together. We enjoyed very much because we relaxed after our busy day in London. We felt very calm in that big park in a big and busy city like Oxford.
It was a very beautifull day: the best of all our week in Oxford the temperature was very warm , about 28 degrees and it was the first day that we relaxed completely.
Then we went to Alice's Shop but the things were very expensive and anyone bought nothing.
After that we went with our teachers to walked on canal...we wanted to go on the punts but we were too many. Maybe we go today. We would like to go because it's a typical experience of Oxford. For consolation that we didn't go on the punts , we ate all together ice-cream...it was very good!!!

At home we ate pizza, bruschette and crumble a tipically cake of England, made of apple. the family they were very nice, bacause had cooked this food especially for us.
In the evening we met at 21:00 in front of Borders and we went to Goose, a pub near the school. it was wonderfull pub, and the food is cheap. Unfortunately the pub closed at 23:00 because yesterday was Sunday and they weren't many people.

When we came back to home we saw a fight... We wanted saw that but our friends stopped us. This it was the subject of our discussion before came back home. In Italy is very different because the people when go out stay in the street without to getting drunk.In our opinion in England there are many rules about young people bacause they don't have self control.

thrusday 12-04-2007

Just after we arrived we went to search for suitable costumes for our sketch.
The protagonist MC has got sun glasses, brown fur coat, big gold chain and belt, hip hop jeans; his girlfriend CB has got a grey fur coat, hand bag and pearls; doctor has got a white and long jacket.
After lunch we stayed in student's room and after more practise we filmed with Rodney's help.
In this sketch we had all a part:
the protagonist is a famous man and he is interpreted by Emanuele; MC's girlfriend she is interpreted by Daniela; the doctor she is interpreted by Elvira; the reporter was Irene and the fans were interpreted by Cristiana, Raffaella, Ida, Claudia.

Interview with Frankie at Holland and Barrett

HELLO!!!

Today we intervied Frankie, an assistant at "Holland & Barrett" health food shop. We asked him some questions about his shop. Rodney took a video and we asked the quetions:
The questions were:
1. What kind of products do you have in your shop?
2. Why do people use these kinds of products?
3. In your shops are there natural products?
4. Which product is the most popular?
5. Do you use these products yourself?
6. Do you give advice to your customers?
7. Which age group buys the most health products?
8. Which is the busiest season?
9. what type of shop is this?
10. Why does it have this name?
11. When did it start?
12. Do you have different manufacturers?

He answered In avery friendly way to the questions and he said very interesting answers.

The answers were:
1. Natural, products, alternative medicine and organic products.
2. People dont' like traditional medicine prefer natural medicine.
3. Fish oil (for joints, eyes, heart).
4. Fish oil (for immunity system circulation).
5. Frankie uses echinacea (herb) because it protected him from coughs and colds and flu.
6. Yes we do. We go on courses to learn about the products.
7. People aged fifty plus (specially products for joints).
8. Winter (joint problems coughs/colds).
9. It's a health food shop.
10. Don't know. possibly people who started the shop.
11. In the 70's.
12. Yes, but mainly our own products.

The interview was very interesting because we learned many things about these products for health and was interesting also to know how works a health food shop. In particular we were surprised that fish oil is the product which is sold the most. People buy it for joints, concentration and the heart. Personally Daniela and I would take these products for example echinacea because it is a natural product and we think that they are more efficient. A lot of natural medicine comes from the past.

See you tomorrow...........

BYE!!!!

boots interview

This morning we dedicated to our blogs,we saw the comments that we received and we changed them.Then we worked for the sketches and we researched the dress for them.After the break,we saw the answers for the pharmacist of Boots that we wrote yesterday.At 2.15 about we went to do the interview.We entered in the shop and we waited for the pharmacist who gave us the answers for our questions.The pharmacist was very kind and clear on the answers.

Questions for boots:

a:Do you think that medicine has improved now, compared to the past? (Ida)
b:I think that the medicine with science go on and it improves continually.

a:Was medicine more natural in the past? (Irene)
b:Yes.

a:How is the natural medicine nowadays? (Veronica)
b:There are a lots of people that use natural medicines because they are good for the skin.

a:How was homeopathic medicine developed? (Michela)
She told us the story of a man that cured his horse with a natural medicine and it was how homeopathic medicine was born.

a:How long ago did Boots start? (Nadia)
b: 1oo years ago about.

a:How has Boots changed during this time? (Daniela)
b:It changes a lot because in the past we used to have just pharmacy while now we have beauty products too.

a:What do you think about the new methods of cure, for example homeopathic? (Nadia)
b:I think it isn't actually useful.Depends from the personal conditions of people.

a:Have chemical medicines more effect than natural ones? (Ida)
b:It's a difficult answer because some medicine come from natural sources.

a:Are there more medicines today than in the past? (Irene)
b:Yes absolutely, there are thousands of medicines now.

a:Do you think that homeopathic medicine is enough to treat disease? (Michela)
b:Some people think it but Ithink that it isn't enough to treat disease.

a:What is more popular between natural medicines and chemical medicines? (Veronica)
b:A lots of people like natural medicines but I think that chemical medicines are more popular because they give more effects,if you go to the doctor he will give you chemical medicines because has more effects compared natural medicines.

We think that boots is an important franchise of pharmacy and it's the biggest pharmacy that i have ever seen. There are a lot of products for all ages,women, men,children and old people.

Drama Workshop

Yesterday two good actors came at school and we did some plays for the concentration,they were very funny and we have never done games like these . After this we tried our two scenes and the actors saw us: they said that we have a good pronunciation and that they are beautiful stories. It was a wonderful day and we did a new experience.In afternoon we performed with Dorothy and Rebecca and they helped us for the pronunciation.

Interview with Alice

Thusday we intervied Alice, the dother of our theacer. She is a student of medicine, she is nineteen years old. We ask she some questions about studing medicine. One of us take a video, and another all girl ask a questions.
The questions was:
-What university do you study at?
-How long do medical students study medicine nowadays?
-Why did you choose this subject?
-Will you specialise?
-How many hours a day do you study?
-Do you need to use latin?
-How was medicine changed?
-If you could you back, would you choose medicine again?
-What kind of exams are there nowadays?
She answered very friendly at the questions, and she said very interesting things as: she go to Cambridge University, she must study for 5 years, she study every day for 6 hours. she don't study latin and if she coul back she choose medicine again.
The interview was very interesting and it help us for know the difference between the medicine of the past ( because we speak about the medieval medicin in our project) and medicine of today.

10 April 2007

HELLO!!! This morning we had a lesson with Dorothy and we spoke about our trip to London for the blog. After we spoke about "Holland & Barrett" the health shop. At 10:50 we had a break and then we had a drama work shop with Alex and Will (two actors). It was very fun and interesting because we learned about concentration, focus and movement in the theatre. They did some exercises and games with us for concentration, focus and movement. Then we tryed the drama sketch for Will and Alex, and Alex gave us some advice for the drama on stage, as new movement for actors, more concentration, look other actors in the eyes and we don't move a lot while we stay on stage. After lunch we tried again the drama sketch with Dorothy and Rebecca. We had a lot of discussion about it because we didn't agree on some movements, but it was very great because we fixed all. The Alex's and Will's advices were used very much. Now the lessons are finisched and see you tomorrow. BYE!!!

The day in London

Hello...

Today for us it was a very important day, because we saw London for the first time. The difference of the italy and england,there are many green spaces and many monuments.there are many tall monuments and the people who work in the museums are very smart.We went to the Bukingham Palace, the thing that we surprise more was the changing of the Guard,because in our country we have never seen this spectacle.It gave me a special feeling because I couldn't believe I was watching this spectacle.In this country there is a more elegance. After we went to Big Ben ,which is the big clock above the Houses of Parliament. we went to Trafalgar Square, it was very crowded,there are many international people(lots of italian!).We ate the food that we takeaway of McDonald. If you go to the Trafalgar Square you can see Nelson's Column.We took a photo of students in the lion's mounth. Finally we went to Piccadilly Circus and we saw the statue of Eros.The next saturday we will see more of Picadilly Circus,because the time is finished.Stay in England it's a dream for me,I still don't believe it!

Easter In England..

This is the first time that we spent the Easter without our family..... Some people were happy, the others very sad because we need a family.... but however they had a good time!!
On Sunday we went to the residence of Winston Churchill " Blenheim Palace ". The first thing we saw the inside of palace.... it was very big and rich. Unfortunately we didn't see the rooms of the second floor. But the things surprising were the big lakes and garden with very high trees... Beautiful!!!!!!!!!!!!!
On Monday we went to Windsor Palace... the other residence of the queen..... We think that those places are very, very EXPENSIVE... very different from Italy!!!

Easter weekend

In this Easter weekend we visited a lot of things. Friday we went to London, where we saw Buckingham Palace, the Queen's residence; Big Ben, the famous English clock; Trafalgar Square, a beautiful square where there is a statue of Napoleon; Piccadily Circus, Westminster, the House of Parliament, where the Prime Minister lives, and a lot of other things. Saturday we stayed in Oxford and we went to visit the most important colleges in here. We went to visit Christ Church, where Harry Potter was played, and Sheldonian. We went on a tower and we saw the beautiful view of all Oxford. That Colleges are so beautiful and it's fantastic knowing that people still study into these colleges, because they are so ancient and so big!!! In the evening we went to Eagle + Child to eat some fish and chips. Sunday morning we went to church to listen at Easter Mass. After that we went to Blenheim and we visited the beautiful palace, that was Churchill's residence in the past. Monday we went to Windsor and we visited the famous royal castle and also Queen's dolls collection. We know that if there is a different flag on top of the castle from UK one, the Queen is in the castle; if there is UK flag the Queen isn't there, and that day when we went there the Queen was there because the flag on the top of the castle was different from UK one!!! But we didn't see the Queen... :-( In the evening we went to McDonald's and we had mcflurry.
We felt so excited to go around English cities, it was a tired weekend but we are happy of doing all of this things.

The fourth day

The fourth day we saw the sketches from another Italian students drama.
They played a drama about the outside and inside beauty. They played the story of "The beauty and the beast". They were good actors.
After that we wrote a sketch about a rapper and his girlfriend, that is the modern story of "Robert Normandy". Robby MC and his girlfriend CB are leaving a concert from the back door and there are a lot of people waiting for him.Outside the door there are a lot of paparazzi taking photos. A man in a car shoots Robby but CB sees him and is injured while she tries to protect Robby. She is taken to hospital and Robby has to
In the afternoon we met Dorothy's daughter; she is a medical student, and we asked her some questions about medicine, such as "how long does it take to become a doctor?" , "are you going to work after university?".
She said that she has to study for 7 years to became a doctor.
In Italy it's almost the same.
We think that this life is difficult but nice because you can help other people.

The second day

On the second day first we tried our two scenes called " Robert Normandy" and " Graduation Day".
We think about this experience that is interesting and exciting because we haven't never played in english.
In the afternoon we spoke about "operation coat hanger"999. We saw a dvd with Dorothy's class about an accident on the strett of a girl called Paola. She had a punctured lung. Then she toke the plane and she fell very bad.So two doctors operated . This video was very interesting because thanks this coat hanger she could live.
After the school we came back at home and we had dinner with our family. Our families are very nice and friendly.
Later we went to irish pub with the other group of salerno and we had funny. Oxford is different from Italy because here minors mustn't enter in pubs while in Italy they can enter.

3rd day

Yesterday we had a nice day. The weather was sunny and warm. We learned a lot of thing, and we made a discussion about hospital tv series.We thinks that these programs are realistic in part.
After that we went out and we interviewed a lot of people and we asked them what kind of hospital drama they prefer and why.The questions that we asked at the people are these:

1. Do you like hospital dramas?

2. Why do you/don’t you like them?

3. What is your favourite hospital drama?

4. Can we learn anything from hospital dramas?

5. Are the realistic?

The answers were much similar because many persons think it in the same way.

The answers are:

1. Yes, i' m not a big fan but i watch them.

2. Because they' re very interesting.

3.ER.

4.I think we can learn something.

5.They can be, but sometimes they are unrealistic.

This experience it was very important for our, because we able to speak with people.
In Italy we have also a lot of hospital dramas, and their have a lot of succes too.
After the school the boys went to the "University Park" with Luke and Rebecca to play a football match, and the girls went to West Gate for shopping.
In the night we made a party for Daniela's eighteenth birthday. We bought some present for her and she was very happy.

The 3th day in oxford: medical dramas

Hello....
Today is Daniela's birthday... In the morning we did the lesson all together, we spoke about health. After the break we did a questions about medical dramas and in the afternoon we went on the street and we did a questions to the people. It was very difficult interview the people because they were in a hurry. We interview the people from different country wich us German, French and any more. The thing that struck me most was that these programmes are international ; the French boys watched Grey's Anathomy, the German girls watched Grey's Anathomy and E.R., the England people watched Scrubs and Grey's Anathomy. So in conclusion everybody likes medical dramas .

Why is this?

They watch the medical drama because is very human, interesting and emotional.
In the evening we went to a pub all together ..
See you soon....

2nd Day

Today we went to school and we studied past simple and present perfect.Then we had a break all together in the students room. At the time of lunch we went to "burger king". Then we returned at school and we saw the video " 999 Operation Coat Hanger ".A story of a woman that don't feel well on the plane.She had punctured her lung in an accident but she didn't know.She was very lucky because there were two doctors on the plane.The most interesting part of the story is that the operation is made with a coat hanger.They saved her life.It's a strange story.When we saw the operation we closed our eyes because we were afraid.

When we came back home we had a shower and ate always food with onions.In all kind of food there are a lot of onions. In the evening we went to an " Irish pub " with other italian students from Salerno and we took a lot of photos all together.The pub was very nice bacuse the atmosphere was very friendly.We had a nice day. We returned home at midnight.
See you soon.

Day 1 in Oxford

After a long journey from Salerno to Oxford, we passed our first day in the Eckersley school. It was very strange, interesting and tiring. We all got up at 7 o'clock and after having breackfast we went to school for our first lesson.We met our new English teacher, called Rebecca. We visited the most beautiful places in Oxford. We saw churches, colleges, paks, gardens and shops. Everything was beautiful. We saw the typical English buses. At lunchtime we met some boys from Salerno. They attend a school near us- they're nice. We think that the food is very very bad.This experience is mostely positive. I like so much this places and culture, but I LOVE MY COUNTRY and my culture because there are more differents from italy, for example, in italy shops close very late and there are more amusement for young peaple.

From this experience i've learned to appreciate what i have.

Our first day in Oxford

In the morning we had a big breakfast. At Eckersley school we had a lesson with our teacher, Dorothy. Then we toured the school. We had a break and met other students from Italy and we played the ping pong. Rodney took photos and Cat gave us a welcome talk. After that we visited the city. We saw the college where the film of Harry Potter was made. Finally we went to the market and we were very surprised when we saw pigeons in the butcher's shop.
See you tomorrow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!