Christmas card contest:

This year we have celebrated our tradicional Christmas card contest. The winners are:

• Picture: Francisco Mostazo (1 Bach A)
• English and French text: Carolina Arrebola y Paola Ortigosa (4º ESO A).

Congratulations to the participants!

2º ESO students have prepared, with the colaboration of the Artistic Area (Music and Visual Arts), an exhibition about the representation of human form through the History of Art. That exhibition is part of our Innovation Teaching Proyect about healthy habits. Our language assistant, Lauren, taught our students how to make the exhibition and the posters. After learning different periods of History of Art in English and Spanish, they organized the pictures. Each work of Art explains the canon and its evolution from Prehistoric to our days. Proportion and beauty involve not only our artistic works but our body’s perception as well. We hope you to enjoy the exhibition!

Halloween 2015

HALLOWEEN AT ALTA AXARQUIA SECONDARY SCHOOL

On Thursday 30^th October Halloween came once again to our school. That day the students and teachers who came through the main door into the entrance hall found themselves in a gloomy and horror atmosphere that really gave some of them the chills. First, they were welcomed by the school witch who didn’t fail to show up this year. This wicked witch of ours has been naughty lately. Word on the street is that she is the one to be blamed for casting the evil eye on those who fell down going down the stairs that lead onto the playground. So you’d better be nice to her so that you won’t become one of her victims and have no mishaps in your near future.

Then darkness pervaded the place. The walls had turned black and cobwebs hung everywhere. Pictures of haunted houses, bats, skulls, grinning black cats, ghosts, spiders, zombies, werewolves, and other frightening creatures covered the walls. In addition there was a dim light coming from the inside of hollow pumpkins on which sneering faces had been carved. Those were the jack-o’-lanterns who gave a menacing stare to the passers-by.

All of this creepy scene was made possible by the collaboration of our students who took part in the different contests organized by the English Department. As every year, the Department held three contests related to Halloween: the horror picture contest, the horror story contest and the jack-o’-lanterns contest. All the works presented were exhibited in the entrance hall for everyone to see and to be frightened of. On this occasion our students have proved again they can be really creative as some of their works really could scare you out of wits. Thus it has been a hard job for the members of the jury to choose the winners of the different contests.

Let us begin with the horror picture contest. Here Estela García of 1^st Year of Bachillerato came in first with a drawing of the number pi symbol surrounded by screaming ghosts. This girl showed us that Maths can be really scary as well as difficult. Ana Belén Leal of 3^rd Year of ESO came in second with a pencil drawing of a scared little girl surrounded by bats, skeletons and zombies. Then Elena Ruiz of 1^st Year of Bachillerato came in third with an original picture of a haunted house that looked like flying boat. Finally, an honourable mention was awarded to Marina Rodríguez of 4^th Year of ESO for her picture in which she proved she really knows how to use the colours.

Now let us continue with the jack-o’-lantern contest. Here Paula Ponce, Rocío González and Ana Belén Leal of 3^rd Year of ESO came in first with a pumpkin painted in black and decorated with silver sequins. This pumpkin might be the most stylish one that we haver even seen. José María Díaz of 2^nd Year of ESO came in second with a pumpkin that had become the Count Dracula himself and was ready to bite with his huge fangs. María Jesús Ortega of 3^rd Year of ESO came in third with a pumpkin that had become an evil clown. We would also like to mention other pumpkins that were really original and elaborate and, oh boy, they could give you the creeps: one of them was the hungry pumpkin that was devouring a puppet, it gave the gory touch that one. Another one was the typical Spanish pumpkin that resembled a sevillanas dancer with all her combs, big earrings and make-up.

Let us finish with the horror story contest. Here María Mateos of 2^nd Year of Bachillerato came in first. Then Ana Ester de Miguel of 1^st Year of ESO came in second proving that even the youngest students can write good stories. Finally Raquel Morales and Nuria López 2^nd Year of ESO came in third with a story written on a book shaped as a jack-o-lantern.

That was it. We would like to thank and congralute all the participants in the different contests as they present better works every year. We hope you enjoyed the works and had a happy halloween and we bet you were a bit scared by some of them. See you in a year and keep away from evil spirits and wicked witches.

 

EASTER EGGS

HALLOWEEN 2014. PUMPKIN CONTEST

Interview with Javier Caro. IES ALTA AXARQUÍA' s Arts Teacher

Interview with Javier from the art department on the Christmas Card Competition

1.    What factors did you consider when judging the competition?

 We want the students to be original – that the students make everything by themsleves. Since we only look at the pictures, we wanted to see a neutral message related to peace, family, and other good values.

2.    What would be your ideal Christmas card?

Something emotional and exciting, yet crafted with patience. It should demonstrate how hard they worked.

3.    What card won the competition?

The card was made by Ana Palomo Palma from 1º ESO.

4.    Can you describe the winning card for our readers?

The picture is formed by six hands that make doves. They also look like  Thanksgiving turkies. There also some snowflakes. It is also good because it occupies most of the space on the card and doesn't leave much white space. Finally, the drawing was made with highlighers.

5.    Was it difficult picking only one winning card?

Yes – so difficult! Because there are many nice pictures with lots of various techniques like colage, drawings, etc, the selection was extremely difficult. In fact, this year had the most variety out of all the years.

6.    What are your overall thoughts about this year's competion?

This year was great. My objective is not only the competition, but using the competition to motivate students to do their best work and want to do as well as they can.

7.    Is this year the first year of the competition?

No, and it's the second year that the art department collaborated with the Spanish and French departments. They also had to write a meaningful message for the card competition.

8.    Do you think this year's winner will win again next year?

It is possible...

9.    Any last thoughts or reflections?

This year has been the best year so far. There was so much creativity in all the cards. The students really paid attention to technique too. Also, it's interesting that every year it seems like the younger students win. Maybe because they have more time to work on the card, or maybe because they have bigger imaginations.

Finally, I want to let all the students know that they should keep on trying because they all did great! And I would like to congratulate and thank the English and French departments for their collaboration! 

Halloween celebration at IES Alta Axarquía

Halloween in Periana: Scary Stories Spook Students

Four students´ Horror Stories Gain Acclaim for Terrifying their Fellow Classemates

October 31, Periana – It was a dark and frightful day at IES Alta Axarquia. Cobwebs, spiders, bats, jack-o-lanterns, and even a witch filled the halls of the school with fear and horror. And while the decorations that adorned the walls were a sight to see, the horror stories gave goosebumps to everyone who had the good fortune (or horrible luck... X_X) to read them.

Just as shocking as the actual stories was the students´ use of such vivid English. According to Eric, the American auxiliar, the imagery in the stories describing monsters, death, haunted houses, and terror was so scary that the stories could be sold for millions of euros in the United States or England. Whether the stories took place in cemeteries, attics, or dark rooms, all of them raised the hairs of those who read them.

While all of the horror stories instilled fear, only four gave readers nightmares that lasted weeks. From 3º A, Ainohoa Murillo Ríos and Saray Olalla Aguilar came in fourth place with their terryifying tale. In third place, Hayley Talboys from 2º B delighted the judges with her British interpretation of Halloween. In second place, Elena Bazaga Campos from 3º A impressed judges with her frighteningly strong descriptions. But in the end, only one story recieved the most votes to be deemed the creepiest, spookiest, most horrifying story of them all. Manuel Molina Pareja from 3º A terrified the judges so much with his story that they were scared to come to school the next day – it was a shock nobody had a heart attack! He earned first place for his story that made readers tremble with terror.

All in all, it was a great, albeit terrifying day. There was lots of candy, a costume here and there, and even a little treat-or-treating. Thankfully nobody died – but who knows what will happen next year...