Brainstorming News Issue no.2, November 2009 - ‘Anatol Ghermanschi’ School, Brasov
Welcome
Back to School
H
Traditional Activities with Rodica Vanca and Students from Grade 2A
ey everyone! How was your summer? Did
you have fun? I heard some of you did! Some of you went outside Romania, in Turkey or in Greece, great countries to enjoy the summer. You had great weather and all in Romania too. You went to the seaside with family or friends. Some of you visited or revisited some places in Transylvania. No matter where you went and what you did there is one sure thing – you had FUN! But now we’re all back to school, back to learning. We are excited about being back to school because we can see our old friends and we can enjoy new great moments with them. On the other hand we don’t like it because we have to learn to get good marks and then learn again. But that is OK, because we will do a great job, as usual.
So I, Ioana Vaduva, and my very good friends and also class-mates, Teodora Matei, Lavinia Nica, Cristina Batranu, Robert Cernea and Razvan Idomir, the same old team wants to introduce you to the latest number of Brainstorming News, which is a better one. We also want to welcome you back to school and wish you a very good year, full of success. Oh, and don’t forget, HAVE FUN! Brainstorming News Staff
Rodica Vanca and her students from Grade 2A in the School Library.
For this number of the magazine I chose to write about one of our teachers. Her name is Rodica Vanca and is the teacher of Grade 2D.
When I asked her the reason why she chose to do a “Going Back to the Rural Lifestyle” she answered that ‘It is an optional project, prefered by both children and parents, which offers them a way to encounter cultural inheritance’. I asked her what she likes about the project and she replied: ‘As a teacher, I know that through this activity I extol the richness and the beauties of the country, the oldness and the national unity, all men’s hard work and one nation’s aspirations.This project urges young generations through loving the Romanian traditions.’
Rodica Vanca sustained another project with students from our school in collaboration with others from some villages around Brasov, having as main objective ‘The Preservation and Promotion of Romanian customs and traditions’. The aim of the project was for the kids to understand the significance of the global folklore, to recognize folkloric information, to know and to be able to describe the folkloric local traditions and habits and to be able to work with an ethnographic map. Part of the project involved recognizing the traditional costumes and learning to dance traditional dances.
She did all of those things because ‘most of the kids don’t have grandparents in the country side anymore. Most of them have never been in a village and, therefore, they don’t know any kind of traditions’, she said. This teacher chose this project and that’s the reason she does all kind of folkloric activities, so that she can make the younger generation understand the importance of their past culture. All of the students from grade 2A and three other students from outside Brasov are taking part in this project. I believe that the teacher Rodica Vanca is a great person who loves and respects her country and its traditions and wants to maintain these feelings through all the activities she does with her students. by Ioana Vaduva
School Events
8th Grade: e Beginning of e End or A Fresh Start?
This year, I and my colleagues, the other 8th graders, are leaving for high-school. I took some time to ask some of them what they think about it, but mostly how they handle the fact that the bond between them, their friends and their teachers will be torn apart.
INTERVIEW with Raluca Maliţa from 8B
How do you feel about leaving school and going to high-school? Well ,it feels great....but I am sad because I'm going to miss my class-mates.
So, is your relationship with your class-mates tight? Yes, I can say that I have a very tight relationship with my class-mates, in just a few years I really got to love them.
How about your teachers? Will you miss them? I really got attached to some of my teachers, but not to all of them, so I guess I will miss most of them.
What high school do you plan to study at? I would like to go to the ‘Economic’ High-school or to ‘Antipa’, which was considered a sort of sanitary high school a few years ago. Do you think you’ll be able to make new friends in your future high school easily? Yes, because I'm a sociable person.
Do you know anyone in that high-school? Yes, I know some people who have been in School 27 with me, or other people who have been studying in other schools.
Okay, thank you, Raluca, and good luck at high school! Thank you. You too!
INTERVIEW with Razvan Idomir from 8D
How do you feel about leaving school and going to high-school? I don't know, it's like a two-edge blade. First, I'm gonna meet new colleagues who will eventually become my friends, but I'm leaving incredible buddies back in the school where I spent 8 years of my life. Maybe now, it seems better to go to high-school, it's like a new challenge, a change of ... everything. So, the relationship with your class-mates is tight, right? Not really, tight sounds really hard. We are friends, but that's kind of all. And of course, we had and we'll have in this year lots, lots of fun.
How about your teachers? Will you miss them? Uhmmmmm, they are teachers after all. Of course I'll miss them, but not too much. I'll miss them if I get "bad" teachers in high-school, a thing that will probably happen. What high-school do you plan to study at? Well, I going to go to the Grigore Moisil Informatics High School
Do you think you’ll be able to make new friends in your future high-school easily? It depends ... But, yeah I make friends pretty quickly.
Thank you for your time, Razvan. I wish you the best in high-school! Thank you too. Yeah, thanks I really hope I'll have fun, but you say that like there will be no fun this year. That's so ... not true! I got to the conclusion that people think a lot like me, that high-school will be a new, different and interesting experience. That’s good. It means that we are ready to go to the next level. by Lavinia Nica
Since the Wright Brother’s first flight, aviation hasn’t been only something special, new and sometimes funny, but also quite difficult. The Wright Brothers took their first flight on December 17 1903.Since that day a long history has been started.Now it seems that the biggest arline companies are Boeing and Airbus. They’ve been always arguing for the 1st place, but have never been friends. As you may know, the f-15 was made by Boeing company. I am going to present it a little bit, because I think it’s one of the best planes.
The McDonnell Douglas (now Boeing) F-15 Eagle is a twin-engine, all-weather tactical fighter designed to gain and maintain air superiority in aerial combat. Developed for the United States Air Force, it first flew in July 1972, and is now one of the most recognized modern fighters. The F-15 is expected to remain in service until 2025. Despite originally being envisaged as a pure air superiority aircraft, the design proved flexible enough so that company could create an all-weather strike derivative, the F-15E Strike Eagle,that was later developed, and entered service in 1989.
Flying with one wing; one of the recent stories of the F-15 is the tale of the man who flew with only one wing. It is a story about a mid-air collision between 2 planes, one of them being our F-15 Eagle .It seems that the pilot didn’t really realize that one of the plane’s wings was missing, until he touched the ground. He flew with only one wing for about half an hour, and yet he didn’t eject.
‘I was prepared to eject, but I managed to stabilize the plane, and land safely. Once one of my F-16 colleagues saw the plane with just one wing happily said he wanted to transfer to F-15’ series. It was unbelievable’, stated the pilot. He also declared that it was so fast that he didn’t even feel the one wing difference. (source: www.wikipedia.com)
As the picture below demonstrates, it seems that this kind of event can really happen! You can see clearly that the right wing is missing! This however is a picture taken after the “lucky” pilot landed the F-15.
INTERVIEW with Tohotan Sandra from Grade 8D
Do you like planes? Yeah I like planes, they are very interesting.
What do you think about the kids that want to risk they’re life with this job? About the children that want to risk their lives in aviation, I think that there are very brave and intelligent.
Are the planes really that dangerous? No, I don’t think so, in my opinion, all the tragedies happened because of the human errors, as people didn’t do their jobs properly. Are you against aviation? No, definetly! I can’t find a reason to be against it!
Did you ever fly? If yes, how was it? Yeah I flew twice to Turkey and back, and I loved seeing everything from up there. What are the advantages of planes in your opinion? Well, with a plane you can get faster to a destination, and it’s more comfortable. And sometimes you can save money.
Do you think that pilots are different from the other human beings? If so,why? No they’re not so different, they’re just some simple guys who do their job. Maybe, the job is a little more difficult than the other ones.
Did you know that these common people have to work hard and train very well, to do their daily routine? No,I didn’t ,but I supposed so. It will always be a though job!
Joke!
collected by Robert Cernea Ladies and gentlemen, if you wish to smoke, the smoking section on this airplane is on the wing and if you can light 'em, you can smoke 'em.
‘It’s an unbelievable plane. It’s magic. It’s...impossible!’
On landing, the stewardess said, "Please be sure to take all of your belongings. If you're going to leave anything, please make sure it's something we'd like to have.
Science
About Aviation by Robert Cernea
Travel
Finding the Unknown by Teodora Matei
I was thinking about the last trip I went on and I thought that if I share this with you, you could find out about the best way to have fun with your colleagues and your teachers too. Every time I went on a trip I had a really great time and I enjoyed every second of it. Even if the weather wasn’t so nice or when something was in our way, we still had an amazing time as long as we were together. And I’m not the only one who can say these things about the trips that have been organized. So, as I first said I want to tell you about the trip which was planned by our Math and Romanian teachers, Mrs Mariana Bajan and Mrs Baiesiu Cecilia. We went to Maramures but on our way we visited some cities and various other places. We visited some monasteries too and we had a tour in the center of Cluj, which I enjoyed so much. Our teachers wanted us to find out more about the people and the way they live, so that’s why they chose this itinerary. Despite the fact that not everything was perfect we really had a great time. Students from different classes came on this trip. Most of them were from my class,8D, but there were also some other students from Grades 6 and 7 and also three students from high school. However, I took some interviews from two students in different classes, because I wanted to know their opinion too. I asked them the same questions and I noticed that they had similar answers.
Szakal Anita/12 years old/ 6C
Name/age/class
Vaduva Ioana /14 years old/8D
Questions Was this trip up to your “Yes I liked it very much. It was “The trip was ok, but not really what I expectation? Was it better? Was it better than I expected it to be.” expected. We came back home very tired worse? so it wasn’t so great.”
What did you do in the evening? Did you sleep or you stay awake and talked with your friends all night long?
“I stayed in my room and I talked with my best friend. After that we watched TV and then we fell asleep around 1 o’clock.”
Did you make new friends?
“Yes, but not so many. The friends that “I made some new friends from the 7th I made are very nice and funny” grade, they are pretty cool”
“In the first night we stayed and had fun while saying jokes and taking photos until 3am.Then, the second night, because we were tired we stayed up till 2am but the teacher caught us so we went to bed”
Did you like the hotels where you “I liked the first hotel more than the “The first hotel was ok, but the second were checked in? What about the second one. The food was very good. I one wasn’t the best and you know what I mean. The food was good. We didn’t food? really liked it” eat caviar or any other specialties, but it was fine.”
Did you enjoy the sight-seeing? What “Yes I really enjoyed the sight-seeing .I “We visited a lot of monasteries. They did you like more? think the Barsana Monastery was the were very enjoyable. I really liked ‘Cimitirul Vesel’. This was a great trip” most beautiful.” Thank you for your time. I hope you enjoyed answering to my questions. “Thank you too. It was fun”
“Thank you too. Yes, I enjoyed answering your questions about this trip”
In my opinion this trip was really good and I enjoyed it. To tell you the truth, I don’t think that it matters where, why and with whom you go because in the end it’s all about finding out that you can manage by yourself and you can socialize with other people. Finally, if you have an opportunity to go anywhere and do something you enjoy, do it because sometimes these experiences are unique.
e Passion for e Ball - the coach of sports
Interview with Madalina Apostol
Hello! What’s your name and how old are you? Hey! My name is Madalina Apostol and I am 14 years old.
How did you discover your passion for handball ? My mother played handball and she taught me at first. Later on,when I was in the 5th grade, my sports teacher took me to Dinamo club. I liked it there and I continued to play this sport.
me to go to a sports club and then the results came. What made you love sport? The pleasure to move.
I heard you practiced fencing. Why fencing? Fencing was the first sport I practiced. I saw it on TV and I liked it
What kind of abilities does the fencing develop? Attention, reaction speed and anticipate enemy movements. “The fencing is the sport of hitting without being hit”.
Do you consider that the team sports make the personality stronger? Yes, team sports forms team character.
Has your passion for sports remained the same over the years? Yes, but I have also found other news passions. Performing a certain sport is not a priority now.
Interview with Mihai Pol
Hey! What’s your name? Hello! My name is Mihai Pol and I’m 14 years old.
How did you discovered the passion for swimming? In the 3-rd grade our teacher told us about swimming. Then, I went swimming and I liked it.
How long have you been plaing handball for? I’ve been playing it for 3 years
What is you position in the game? I am a goal keeper. You need a lot of courage to not be afraid to be hit by the ball. It is risky.
What do you gain from this sport? Reflexes, attention, speed the ability to anticipate the adversary’s moves.
What other sport would you chose besides handball ? Football because I had many occasions to play and I liked it. At fisrt, I started playing mixed football last year.
Interview with Mrs. Camelia Niculcea, the Sports Teacher
Hello! What’s your name ands your job in this school? Hello! My name is Niculcea Camelia and I’m a sports teacher.
How did you discover the passion for sports in general? I was 10 years old when a coach came to our class to tell us a lot of interesting things about sports in general. He told
What attracted you to swimming? I wanted to become a swimmer, to win medals, to become a tall guy with strong muscles.
Why did you give up swimming? In the last 2 years it became very difficult and I didn’t get to the results I wanted. How long have you been swimming? I’ve been swimming since I was 5 years old.
So as you can see, sport is very important in our daily lives. There are many kinds of sportive activities that range from simply running to fencing and team sports. Therefore there is surely one sport that you and I can enjoy and practice.
‘Keep yourself healthy!’
by Cristina Batranui
Sports
Sport is an activity that is governed by a set of rules or customs and often engaged in competitively. I like sports very much, especially the ones which involve the play in a team. I love dance as a sport because I enjoy moving on the beat of music. I also enjoy chess as I think it is the king of all sports. I took some interviews with my colleagues and to my sports teacher about their passion for this subject. Let’s see what the results were.
Movie review
Effects magically done
by Razvan Idomir
The movie review for this issue is for ‘Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince’, the last movie I saw. I won’t spoil your fun, so don’t worry. I watched the DVD version, the one I waited for since this summer, because I thought that the special effects woudn’t be at their best in the cinema. And goodness, it’s been a long wait for me, an old Harry Potter fan. In the beginning of the movie, Harry and Dumbledore (the Headmaster of Hogwarts) are searching for a new Potions teacher, who knows a secret about the Dark Wizard, Voldemort. They convince Proffesor Slughorn (the new teacher) to get a job at Hogwarts. From now on, Harry has the mission to discover what secret the new Potions teacher has. Professor Snape(the ex-Potions teacher) becomes the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. Being forced to take the Potions class, Harry discovers an old book that belonged to the “Half-Blooded Prince”, where he finds information about potions and learns new dangerous spells. Eventually, you will discover who is “the Prince”. For the skeptical people out there, I must say that this movie is not only based on the “magical” stuff. Multiple sub-plots like the Ron-Hermione and Harry-Ginny relationships are in this movie.
WRITING Contest Do you love to write? Are you a lover of rural Romanian culture? Do you want to see your name in print? If you’ve answered yes to any of the above, The Village magazine is looking for you! Let your creative juices flow and write us an English article of 300 to 400 words about Romanian rural life - culture and traditions. Your article should also contain your name, age and grade. The two best articles will be published in Issue No 4 of The Village magazine.
I want to point out the special effects in this movie, which are truly great. I was expecting them to be good, but not so good. I guess that technology is evolving way too fast, don’t you think?
Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince is a great movie and I recommend it, especially if you like magic or you are a Harry Potter fan. I don’t know if it’s the best movie in the series, I always tend to think that the first creations in any series are the best, but it’s just a misconception of mine. This movie gets an 8 from me. Besides the effects, this movie doesn’t stand out for me but it’s a really good movie for the fans. I am looking forward for the next two movies (the last book is split in two movies) and I hope that you would consider watching it.
Interview with Andy (from 8D)
OK,what good movie comes to your mind now? Definitely ‘Step Up 2’. Can you give readers a part of the plot? (no majors spoilers please) In this movie the main character is a girl named Andie who is part of a break-dance group named 410, but she misses their training in order to attend school. Then, she is expelled. She tries to form her own dancing group, which seems really promising. The rest you should see for yourself... Are there any good/very popular actors in this movie? There are no very known actors in this movie, but there are some great dancers. Did you enjoy it? What did you find special about it? Yeah, I really enjoyed it and I find it special because is full of feelings and break-dance, which I really like. How would you rate it? 11 out of 10.
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