WHY HAS PLATYPUS GOT A FLAT NOSE ?

A platipus who liked to hunt near the center of Australia to eat some lizards wanted one day to catch a lizard who was faster than all the others. Platypus wanted to eat him because it was a very big lizard. Suddenly, the lizard vanished, Platypus didn’t know where the lizard was, when he saw a little hole. He put his nose into the hole to see if the lizard was in the hole but he got stuck. The lizard left the hole by the other entrance and Platypus wanted to catch him again but when he left the hole, a big rock fell from the sky and compressed his nose. This rock is now called Uluru.
And this is why the platypus has got a flat nose.

Théo MEYER

OUR PARTNER SCHOOL IN ENGLAND : THE FERRERS SPECIALIST ARTS COLLEGE


Bonjour!
Nous sommes douze filles âgées de treize ou quatorze ans. Nous allons au « Ferrers Specialist Arts College « . Nous habitons près de Higham Ferrers ou Rushden.
Nous ëtudions le français depuis un an et demi. Nous avons toutes visité la France sauf Verity. Nous savons que vous êtes près de l’Allemagne mais c’est tout. Nous sommes très différentes. Nous aimons toutes apprendre les langues. Nous étudions le français depuis dix-huit mois et l’allemand depuis deux ans et demi. Laura et Hollie sont filles uniques mais nous autres, nous avons des frères et des sœurs. Nous espérons faire de nouveaux amis. Nous sommes membres de la section européenne parce que nous voulons améliorer notre français et nous voulons apprendre de la culture française et savoir parler le français. Nous sommes toutes très amicales.


Notre college
Higham Ferrers

WE ANSWER THEIR QUESTIONS :

On se connaît

By : Elodie, Camille, Sylvain, Athénaïs, Adeline, Marine.

Au college

Pourquoi est-ce que votre collége s’appelle Collége Bernstein ?

Because near the college there is a castle called Bernstein.

A quelle heure commence et finit votre collége ?
We start at 8 am and we finish at 4 :30pm

Vous avez combien de pauses par jour ?
We have 3 breaks. The morning at 10 am
(20 minutes) ; at lunch (1 hour half) ;
and the afternoon at 3 :30 (10 minutes).

Vous avez combien de cours par jour ?
We have 4 lessons in the morning, and 3 lessons in the afternoon.

Qu’est-ce que vous portez au collége ?
We don’t have a uniform.

Quelles matières aimez-vous ?
We like English, art, sport and music.

Comment sont vos profs ?
We have funny teachers, bad teachers
and SCARY teachers !!!
Mrs Stenger is a funny teacher !!!


Le Temps Libre

Que fais tu le week-end?
Some of us play basketball, football, handball and judo. Sometimes we go see friends, we go walk in the village or we go to the cinema.
The nearest town is called Sélestat.

Quel est le sport le plus populaire ?
In our class the popular soports are basketball and horse-riding.

Quelle est l’émission la plus populaire ?
The most popular programme is « Plus belle la vie » (but not everyone in the class likes it!) “Pblv” is a French series in Marseille. Koh Lanta is good too – it’s a competition on a desert island.

Quel est le magasin d’adolescents le plus populaire ?
The most pomular sops are clothes schops – Esprit, Alias, EDC, H&M and Jules too.

Il faut avoir quel âge pour pouvoir conduire ?
We must be 16 years to drive ! And 18 to have a licence.


La Région

Est-ce qu’il y a beaucoup de touristes qui visitent votre région ?
Yes, in the summer there are lots of tourists in Alsace. !

Quelles activités y a-t-il dans le quartier ?
Some people do sport, or go to friends after school or during the weekend.

Quel temps fait-il ?
In the summer it’s often hot, and in the winter it’s very cold.

Est-ce qu’il y a des magasins dans votre ville ?
No, there are no big shops ! If we want to go shopping, we must go to a city like Sélestat, Colmar or Strasbourg.

Est-ce que votre ville se trouve à la campagne ?
Yes, of course. Our town is in the countryside !

Comment sont vos maisons ?
Some houses have « colombages » (wood decoration), and some are normal. They are colourful.

Qu’est ce que vous aimez en particulier dans votre région ?
In Alsace we like the sun and the vines. We like eating “kouglopff” and drinking wine! It’s also a calm region, which is not like the others, and it’s alright ^^
OUR LETTER TO FERRERS : June,2008

Hello everybody !

Thank you for you letter, it made us happy!

In our European section class, we are eleven girls and eight boys! We are 13 or 14 years old. We live in (or around) Dambach-la-ville, which is a little town south of Strasbourg, in Alsace, near the Vosges Mountains.
In our region there are many vineyards. Our school is small and there are twenty-seven classrooms. We’ve got a canteen and a gym, a stadium. There are nearly four hundred pupils in the school.
In our European section class, just some people went to England; most of us learnt English for three years, and German too. We have all got brothers and sisters. During this year, we have study; The British Isles, America: the Indian life and Pochahantas, and Australia. Seven Australian pen friends are here at the moment.

Some little questions…

Ø Can you send us your photo?
Ø How long is the school day?
Ø Have you got a canteen or do you eat at home?
Ø How many holidays do you have in a year?
Ø Have you got lots of homework?
Ø What is the weather like in England?





Here is a photo of our group.

We hope your answer comes fast!
From the European Section class,
Constance, Anaïs and Marine.
SOME EMAILS FROM FERRER STUDENTS

Bonjour!
Je m’appelle Meghan et j’ai quatorze ans. Mon anniversaire est le 15 mai. J’ai une sœur cadette qui s’appelle Rebecca et elle a neuf ans. Ma mère s’appelle Mary et mon père s’appelle David. J’ai les yeux brun clair et les cheveux bruns, mi-longs et raides. Je suis de taille moyenne. Je suis très sportive, assez active et travailleuse. J’aime jouer au football, basket et golf. Je joue au golf quatre fois par semaine à Wellingborough Golf Club. Je fais partie d’un concours le week-end. Je voulais vous rencontrer, mais malheureusement je vais en Espagne pour jouer au golf.
Meghan.
Bonjour! Je m’appelle Vandan et je suis quatorze ans et je suis indien.

Mon anniversaire c’est le 18 février. Je suis fils unique.

Je suis assez grand avec les yeux marron et les cheveux noirs et courts.

Je ne suis pas très sportif mais je suis travailleux.

Ma mere s’appelle Usha et mon père s’appelle Bipin. Ils sont indiens.

Ma mère est de taille moyenne et mon père est très grand.

Je joue au cricket cinq fois par semaine depuis 5 ans.

Je voulais vous rencontrer, mais malheureusement je vais en Indien pour jouer au Cricket.

Merci pour lire ma lettre. Vandan
Bonjour!
Je m’appelle Ellie. J’ai 14 ans et j’adore le ballet et la musique. J’habite à Higham Ferrers ,près de Rebecca, avec mes parents et mes deux frères cadets, qui s’appellent Alasdair et Kieran. Nous nous entendons bien mais quelquefois nous nous disputons! J’aime jouer du piano et j’adore jouer de la clarinette. Aussi j’aime faire de la danse parce que c’est amusant. Le week-end, je préfère faire les magasins avec mes copines parce que c’est amusant également. J’attends notre rendez-vous en février avec impatience.
Bonjour,

Je m’appelle Rachael Chambers. J’ai quinze ans, mais j’aurai seize ans au mois de novembre. Mon anniversaire c’est le 5. novembre. Je suis assez grande avec les cheveux bruns et longs. J’ai les yeux verts. Je suis intelligente, sympa est rigolote. Ma matière préférée c’est l’histoire, parce que le prof est sympa. J’adore aussi la natation.

Voici mes amis et moi le jour de mon anniversaire.
Fiona, Sarah, Rachael et Alice

J’ai une soeur cadette, qui s’appelle Emma, et un frere cadet, qui s’appelle Matthew. Je n’ai ni frère aine ni soeur ainée. Je suis la plus âgée. Ma soeur, s’appelle Emma et elle a dix ans. Elle est bavarde et rigolote et très travailleuse. J’adore ca.

Voici ma souer cadette, Emma

Mon frere s’appelle Matthew et il a douze ans. Il est sportif et intelligent mais très ennuyeux.

Voici mon frère cadet, Matthew avec un chien, qui s’appelle Barney

J’habite dans une assez grande maison avec cinq chambres.

Mon père et ma mère sont profs. Ils travaillent dans un collège a Rushden.

Au revoir.

Rachael x
Bonjour,
Je m’appelle Lauren. J’ai quinze ans. Mon anniversaire est le vingt – neuf octobre.
J’habite à Higham.
J’ai une sœur cadette qui s’appelle Steph. Ma sœur a douze ans.
Ma mère s’appelle Tracey et mon père s’appelle Ashley.
J’ai un grand chien noir s’appelle Bruno. Il a onze ans.
J’aime jouer au basket. J’y joue deux fois par semaine au collège.
J’attends notre rendez – vous en février avec impatience.
Lauren.
Why the Tasmian devil is called so?

A long long time ago in the dreamtime ,Tasmania was a big forest with lots of animals.In it there was an animal,it was black ,small ,sometimes fat and looked like a little strange bear.Everybody loved him!He was so cute ,nice and fun!

One day he went for a walk in the forest,but in the middle of the forest he saw...Blood,blood everywhere!
There was a dead cat.At this moment the chief of the animal kingdom came; it was a big,light coloured cat.He saw the horrible scene ,and cried “Heeeelp!”. All the animals of the forest came and saw the dead cat. Everybody said that the strange little bear killed the cat,but it wasn’t true,but no-one believed him. They called him “The Tasmanian devil”. This annoyed the poor bear and he became aggresive.

Now all the strange little bears are still aggresive and are called “Tasmian devils”.

BY CAMILLE M. AND ATHENAIS R.

Ferrers Arts College

The Ferrers Specialist Arts college :

In the middle of England ,near Northampton,there is a small town called Higham Ferrers and in this town there is the Ferrers Specialist Arts college.This school specialises in arts, the pupils do a lot of arts! They can do singing,drama,dancing and painting or sports like football, baseball, cricket and football.
The principal is Dr R.Litauski, in the school, there are 1091 pupils and they study German, French, Spanish, Russian and Chinese.
They have a blue and white uniform.
Then in February we will go to London to see them, and visit London!

By Athénaïs.
Why are there Pinnacles in Australia ?

A long time ago in the dreamtime, when there was nothing on earth, the sun was suddenly hotter than other days.
A star, which was next to the sun, began to warm up.
When the temperature came to 19 million degrees, the star began to crack.
When the temperature was approximately 1oo million degrees the star exploded and the parts fell like spears onto the earth and into the sea.
That is why today, there are lots of rocks in Australia which look like big posts. They are called the Pinnacles.

Adeline & Sylvain .
Why is a platypus half duck half beaver?

A long time ago, during the dreamtime, in the forest, not all the animals were friends. An example is the beaver and the duck. The beaver hated the duck and the duck hated the beavers. One day, the other animals were fed up with their war and tried to find a witch.
They wanted to turn the beaver into an animal which is half beaver half duck. To do this, the witch needed a hair of the two animals to bewitch them.
Two days later, there was a strange animal with a flat tail like a beaver and a beak like a duck in the forest.
This animal still exists today and is called the platypus.

By Frédérique and Marine
THE KING OF THE SEA WHO HAD BLUE BLOOD


A very long time ago in the dreamtime, the sea was transparent. The king of the sea was the biggest whale.
This whale was as big as Uluru and his blood was blue. He was a good whale so, all the fish liked him!!!
One day, he wanted to see the Aborigines. He came near the beach but the Aborigines didn’t know what this blue mountain was. They were scared and they decided to attack the whale! The poor whale bled into the sea. The king whale decided to return to the middle of the sea and his blood colured all the oceans and all the seas blue.
That’s why today fish are scared of humans and that's why the sea is blue!

END

By Suzon and Elodie

Our Dreamtime stories

Why the echidna has spikes

A long time ago, in the dream time, there was an incredible animal. It was very small and looked like a mole. It lived in caves in the night and in the day it travelled everywhere. But one night, this incredible animal came to a cave but it didn’t know that there was a volcano above this cave. In the middle of the night, the volcano erupted. On the ceiling, there were stalactites, and when the floor stared to move, all stalactites falls on the poor animal and it was covered with spikes.
And now this strange animal with spikes is called the echidna.

By Gérald and Loïc.
Why some black mice have wings and hang from trees?

A long time ago, in the dreamtime, in the tropical forest, a strange black mouse was very sad because he had two ridiculous wings. He had no friends and felt so alone. But this day, a little white mouse cried under his tree. The back mouse heard her and consoled her. They fell in love and they were happy again. The black mouse looked at her all the morning and all the afternoon. But, when the night came, he was sad because he couldn’t see his loved one. So at night, he decided to sleep upside down with his head, hanging from the tree so he could see his loves one all the time. They were lovers forever and they had lots of black mice with wings who slept head upside down hanging from the tree. To this day you can see this strange animal in Australia, they are call flying foxes.

By BLOCH Margot
And DONATH Marion
Why does the sun go to sleep?

In the Dreamtime, the sun shone on only part of the north.
Animals were sad because it’s was dark all day long.
Then the kangaroo jumped and pushed the sun very hard and the sun fell down.
The sun went to the other side of the earth.
So the animals of the south were happy! After that the animals of the south asked the sun to alternate between the South and the North part of the earth.
Since then, the sun agreed to alternate and the two parts of the earth are now sunny.
By Constance and Anaïs.

The 2008 Olympics

The Olympic Games

The olympic Games were founded by the Greek in 776 BC but they stopped. The Olympic Games were reinvented again by a Frenchman, Pierre de Coubertin. The goal of the Olympic movement is to contribute to building a peaceful and better world.

In 2008 the Olympic Games were in Bejiing (China). The winners were the Chinese with 51 gold medals, 21 silver medals and 28 bronze medals (a total of 100 medals). They were good in gymnastics. The second was the USA with 36 gold medals and a total of 110 medals. They won lots of medals in swimming. Third was the Russians with 72 medals and the fourth was Great-Britain (47 medals). In these Olympic Games there were 204 countries.

The next Olympic Games will be held in London in 2012 – see you there!

Loïc HERMANN

http://results.beijing2008.cn/WRM/ENG/INF/GL/95A/GL0000000.shtml

http://www.olympic.org/uk/passion/studies/index_uk.asp

The European Parliament

The European Parliament http://www.parlementeuropeen.net/

The European Parliament is the building in Strasbourg where the European deputies (they are 785) work. There are 27 member states classified by alphabetical order. The parliament president is elected by the deputies and the deputies are elected by the citizens.
In the parliament there is a language problem because the deputies wanted to have only one language but they didn’t know which language to choose. Finally they chose to speak 23 languages for everybody to understand, and they decided to have an interpreter for all the languages.
In November of 2007, Sarkozy was in the parliament for a visit.
In the semicircular auditorium, there are for 800 deputies places and for 600 spectators.

By Basil

Exchange Website

For the last two years the organising teachers have had the very professional help from Mr. Christian Bachmann who has set up this fantastic website on our exchange visits. Please visit it at the link below - you'll love it !!!

http://echange.australie.free.fr/index_fr.htm

Depuis 2 ans les professeurs organisateurs ont bénéficié de l'aide très professionelle de M. Christian Bachmann qui a conçu ce site web sur nos échanges. Visitez-le à l'aide du lien ci-dessus - vous allez l'adorer !!!

Newspaper article : Dernières Nouvelles d'Alsace 08/07/08

Échanges avec l'Australie






En Australie, il y a encore des écoles où l’enseignement de la langue française prend une place très importante dans l’emploi du temps. C’est le cas de Benowa State High School près de Brisbane sur la Gold Coast. Une centaine d’élèves font la moitié de leurs études en français et un des points forts de ce programme bilingue, c’est le voyage linguistique en Alsace.
Le professeur pilote de ce projet en Australie est Nicole Davies, originaire d’Erstein. Il y a cinq ans, elle a contacté des collèges du Centre Alsace pour organiser des échanges avec ses élèves. Le collège Romain-Rolland à Erstein, le collège du Bernstein à Dambach-la-Ville, le collège de Gerstheim et Saint-Joseph à Matzenheim participent activement depuis quatre ans.
Une trentaine d’élèves australiens sont accueillis chaque année par des familles des différents établissements en Alsace pendant trois semaines. En retour, les élèves français ont la possibilité de faire le voyage en Australie l’année suivante.
En avril dernier deux professeurs, Anne Stenger et Anne Keller, ont accompagné 28 élèves aux antipodes. La première semaine s’est déroulée à l’école, où les Français ont découvert le système éducatif à l’anglaise avec le port de l’uniforme et le traditionnel assembly du matin. Les cours de cuisine et de théâtre ont été particulièrement appréciés.
La deuxième semaine correspondait aux vacances de Pâques et les élèves ont goûté aux plaisirs et loisirs typiquement australiens : mer, barbecues sur la plage, sorties en forêt tropicale et camping. En fin de séjour, tout le groupe a passé trois jours à Sydney avant de rentrer en Europe avec des souvenirs inoubliables et la ferme intention d’y retourner un jour.
Actuellement Nicole Davies est en Alsace avec des nouveaux correspondants. Son enthousiasme, ainsi que celle des collègues français et tous les élèves concernés, font de ce projet une aventure passionnante qui va certainement se prolonger.



Article paru dans les Dernières Nouvelles d'Alsace du Mardi 8 juillet 2008.

OUR AUSTRALIAN PENFRIENDS

June 2008





Ashleigh is my Australian billet *. She’s very nice and friendly.
She likes vegemite and monkeys! Ashleigh likes Bob the Sponge and her friends!
She loves her family and the colour yellow.
She was born 20 days before me (5th August).
She likes being scared, and she would like to do bungee jumping.
Ashleigh is the best billet in the world!

By Suzon


Photo of Suzon and Ashleigh in full Alsatian costume !

* a billet is a penfriend you accomodate in your home.

The Zoological Museum

The zoological Museum

On Wednesday the 28 May we went to Strasbourg with the European section. First we went to the zoological Museum. We saw lots of stuffed animals from the entire world, for example, from Antarctica there were polar bears and penguins…From the forest there was wolf and snake… From Australia there was a dingo, a koala and a platypus…From American there was a gorilla was a buffalo…And from Africa there was my favourite animal, the parrot. After this very interesting visit, we went to the Botanical garden to eat lunch. After that we went to the European parliament. Finally we went back home by bus.


SYLVAIN DRESCH 4*3

Presenting Kyle

Hello! My name is Gérald. Kyle is my australian billet, she's very shy, intelligent and friendly. My billet has got one little brother and one little sister. She was born on the 7th of septembre. Kyle likes to sing and dance but she hates vegetables, smoke and spiders.


Sara by Marion

Sara is a perfect penfriend. She’s a very funny and brainy girl and she speaks french very well. During her holidays in France, she tasted all French meals, Sara loves camembert, munster, tarte flambée etc... She loves all cheeses of France. With her, we went to the mountain of the Monkey, to Kayseberg, to Riquewihr, to Europa Park... She was very inrested in the French culture and language. With Suzon, Ashleigh, Sara( Margot’s penfriend) Margot, Sara and me we had lots of afternoons together. With Sara, we went shopping in Colmar and Strasbourg, and I bought for her, lots of presents. We made a Pavlova, (see photo) the traditonal cake of Australia and New-Zealand. I was very sad when she went back to Australia but now I’m very excited because in seven months I go to Australia and I meet her family and see Sara again!
Marion.

Videoconference with Ferrers

Just before the holidays, we made a videoconference with our teacher : Mrs Stenger.
Some people of the class were here but not all. We were on the computer and we etablished contact with an English class. It was very difficult to do because once we saw them but we didn't hear them. At the and , finally, we asked them different questions and they did the same thing? It was interesting and fun too !
Camille.

Australians in Alsace! June / July 2008

Here are a few snapshots of our students hosting their new Australian friends:

This is at Erstein station when they came back from Paris.
A fun day out to Europapark




























After Europapark we all went back to Erstein for a "tarte flambée" at the restaurant:


Josh conducted the choir and they sang us Aussie songs (Waltzing Matilda, We are Australian...)



The Australian teachers received some fun thank you presents.





Bye bye everybody, it was lovely having you.

Rendez vous on the Gold Coast next April!

Frédérique and Alyssia


Hello! My name is Frédérique. I have an Australien billet whose name is Alyssia.

She hates mushrooms, spiders and other insects. She detests poeple who smoke. She loves animals and frangipani flowers. She likes to play all types of sports.

She has a dog whose name is Gigi, a little sister and a little brother.

She lives on the Gold Coast in Queensland.

Réunion Bilan 2008 à D.L.V.

Après chaque voyage en Australie nous organisons une réunion "BILAN". A cet occasion les élèves des 4 établissements se retrouvent et présentent un aspect du séjour aux parents.


Les professeurs australiens étant en France avec leur groupe d'échange 2008-2009 profitent pour y assister aussi.

June / July 2008: Our Australian friends come to Alsace

Here is their busy itinerary!
Exchange Program - Benowa - France
16 June 2008 - 12 July 2008
Monday
16 June
Meet at Benowa SHS at 10:30am - Mediterranean Drive
Bus to Brisbane International Airport departs at 10:45am
Flight SQ 236 [Singapore Airline] leaves at 14:45
Arrives at Singapore at 20:45
Flight SQ 26 [Singapore Airlines] leaves Singapore at 23:50
Tuesday
17 June
Flight arrives Frankfurt Airport 06:30
Bus transfer from Frankfurt airport to different High Schools
South of Strasbourg
Arrival at schools between 10:30 and 11:30
Families pick up students from schools
Wed 18 June School with billet
Th 19 June School with billet
Fri 20 June Excursion to Strasbourg
Bus will pick up students from Dambach la Ville at 8:00am
Gerstheim 8:20am, Erstein 8:30am and go to Strasbourg
Visit Cathedral, Bateau-mouche on river
and Visit of La petite France
Return to DLV 4:15pm, Gerstheim 4:45pm
and Erstein 5:00pm
Sat 21 June With Family
Sun 22 June With Family
Mon 23 June School with billet
Tue 24 June Excursion to Paris
Meet Erstein Train Station 7:15am -
Depart Strasbourg Train Station 8:16am
Return to Strasbourg 8
:43pm - Erstein Train Station 9:18pm
Detailed itinerary in Paris
attached
Wed 25 June
Thur 26 June
Fri 27 June School with billet
Sat 28 June With Family
Sun 29 June With Family
Mon 30 June School with billet
Tue 1 July Excursion to Haut-Koenigsbourg/ Medieval Castle
Visit & lunch in Riquewihr -
Visit the Mines in Sainte Marie aux Mines
Depart 8:00 am College Erstein + Gerst + DLV -
Return DLV + Gerst + Erstein [6:30pm]
Wed 2 July School with billet
Thur 3 July School with billet
Fri 4 July With Family
Sat 5 July With Family
Sun 6 July With Family
Mon 7 July Excursion to Europa Park [ Germany] - With billets -
9:00am - 1 Bus departs DLV + Gerstheim
1 Bus departs Erstein
Return 7:00pm Auberge du Ried - place de l'Hotel de Ville - Erstein
Evening dinner with billets & teachers
Presentation of Australian icons / speeches.
Families to pick up students 10:00pm from Restaurant
Tue 8 July With Family
Wed 9 July With Family
Thu 10 July With Family
Fri 11 July All students meet at Erstein High School 6:00am -
Bus departs 6:15am
Bus transfer to Frankfurt Airport [Germany]
Flight SQ 25 Singapore Airline at 12:35 pm
Sat 12 July Arrival at Singapore at 06:30am
Flight SQ 245 Singapore Airline leaving 09:55am
Arrival Brisbane International Airport 7:25pm
Parents to pick up students from Brisbane airport

Sortie avec L.C.R. (May 2008)

On Wednesday 28 may we went to Strasbourg with the European section and the LCR (langue et culture regional ) . First we went to the zoological museum .
It was founded by Jean Hermann in the XVIII century. It’s a very big museum in the city centre of Strasbourg . There are 1 500 000 animals but we could only see 5% of them. There are a buffalo, 18 000 birds, fish , a collection of 1 000 000 insects , a crocodile, lots of monkeys, 9000 skeletons …
We stays two hours, and after that we went to the botanical gardens, there are 6000 different trees.
By Loïc.