Poets at El Fontanal

During the sessions before our Book Week the students in this group were working on a project that integrated the areas of Social Studies, Spanish Language and Literature, English and French. The main theme of the project was the figure of Federico García Lorca, who died 75 years ago. The students learned about his stay in New York, his literary piece Poet in New York and the economic crash of that period. You can click here to get a detailed view of the didactic guide for the project.

The end product was a marvellous book of poems in three languages (Spanish, English and French), which was displayed during the aforementioned Book Week. The students, who did an awesome work, also made the visit to the library more enjoyable by reading in front of the visitors their poems.

Here you can enjoy a great poem by José Alejandro, who was chosen by his classmates the best poet in English. Congratulations!

St. Patrick's Day

Saint Patrick’s Day is celebrated each year on March 17th. In Ireland, Saint Patrick’s Day is both a holy day and a national holiday. Saint Patrick is the patron saint of Ireland because he brought Christianity to the Irish. 

According to legend, Saint Patrick used a shamrock (a type of clover) to explain about God. The shamrock has three leaves on each stem. Saint Patrick told the people that the shamrock was like the idea of the Trinity – that in the one God there are three divine beings: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Although it began in Ireland, Saint Patrick’s Day is celebrated in countries around the world. People with Irish heritage remind themselves of the beautiful green countryside of Ireland by wearing green and taking part in the festivities.

Saint Patrick’s Day is usually celebrated with a parade. The one in Dublin, the capital of Ireland, is very famous. But the one in New York City is one of the biggest. It lasts for hours.

One tale about Patrick is that he drove the snakes from Ireland. This is a metaphor for his bringing Christianity to Ireland and driving out the pagan religions. It’s true that Ireland has no snakes, but this has to do with the fact that Ireland is an island and being separated from the rest of the continent the snakes couldn’t get there.

Play a game here and have good luck! You can also read poems and listen to songs for this special day here.