Osnovna škola Ivana Gorana Kovačića Vrbovsko

The Week of the Uk

March 7th, 2016 - March 14th, 2016

On Monday, March 7th two 6th class pupils, Vanja Vučinić and Mirjam Golik opened the Week of the UK in both English and Croatian language. Why in both languages? Because the pupils from the lower classes don't understand that much of English. As well as some teachers. So they did the opening speech bilingually and everyone could understand everything.

With the last words of the opening speech the national anthem God Save the Queen started. The guided tour was led by a 6th class pupil Roberta Vučinić dresses like  Juliet , a famous Shakespare’s character which was appropriate  considering that 2016 celebrates the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death.

Not to get lost on the way...they just needed to follow the best known wizard in the world – Harry Potter, the one who survived.

At the school entrance there was a desk decorated with the Welcome sign and William Shakespeare’s figure next to it. There was also a red rose since this flower represents England as well as a bulldog as the official animal of the country.

The next in line to represent the UK was one of the best UK actors, the star of harry Potter films, the one and only – late Alan Rickman. Rest in peace, Professor Snape!

At the very beginning of the tour she took them on a journey through geography of the UK and they got to know which countries make the UK and which are their capitals. They heard of Ben Nevis and Loch Ness as well as the Channel Tunnel connecting the UK and France. They learnt the difference between the EIRE and the northern Ireland as well.

They moved through history represented by the famous queens such as Elizabeth I, Mary,Queen of Scots, then Queen Victoria and and finally, the current ruler, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. They also "met" King Henry VIII and his six wives. They found out many facts about the royal family of Windsor and its members including the latest member, Her Royal Highness Princess Charlotte Elizabeth Diana of Cambridge. They learnt something about the UK governement and the famous PMs such as Sir Winston Churchill, Lady Margaret Thatcher, Tony Blair and the current PM David CameronThere was a poster about two very prestigious universities - Oxford and Cambridge and the Boat race in which they traditionally participate.

They revised many well-known landmarks thanks to the poster containing infomation about them. But there were also many paper model of those landmarks such as the Buckingham Palace, Saint Paul's Cathedral, London Eye, the Tower of London, the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben, and many more.

The pupils got to see paper models of three different types of Jaguar.

They enjoyed learning about the film and music industry including names such as Daniel Radcliffe, Orlando Bloom, Kate Winslet, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Sir Anthony Hopkins, the Beatles, Adele, Sir Elton John, Amy Winehouse, and many more.

They heard of Monty Python's Flying Circus, The Darling Buds of May, Only Fools and Horses and their favourite one - Mr Bean...and of course, his Teddy.

Literature was represented by two great writers - William Shakespeare and Charles Dickens.

As far as literature is concerned there was a corner dedicated to Pygmalion since it deals with a London flower girl who speaks cockey so the pupils got the chance to learn what cockney is. The very book was made into the film My Fair Lady and we exhibited a replica of Audrey Hepburn or Eliza Doolittle, the main character from the book.

There was also a J. K. Rowling's corner witk all seven Harry Potter books, Gryffindor cloak, scarf and a magic wand. It seems we are genuine fans!

The last poster in line presented a festival of their choice - Saint Patrick's Day which was all coloured in green. Some of them heard of shamrock for the first time.

Since we all love to eat, we had to mention some traditional dishes such as fish and chips, Irish stew, haggis, cottage pie and Yorkshire pudding. And very important tradition of drinking the 5 o'clock tea.

Pupils had a chance to read three stories around the school library - Scottish Tomlin, IrishThe Pot of Gold and English The Gingerbread Boy. There was a desk with many books written in English that they can borrow from the school library.

Pupils had several workshops. One was The Gingerbread Boy. First we read the book, then discussed it and finally made oue own gingerberad boys out of clay.

On March 10th, 2016 our school was visited by a special guest, a born Londoner, a true Englishman – Mr Peter Hopwood who took a tour together with our Juliet and the 6th class pupils. Pupils from Dr Branimir Marković Primary school from Ravna Gora were also our guests on that day. Mr Hopwood enjoyed the tour after which he gave an excellent presentation on the British culture. He enjoyed, pupils enjoyed, questions were asked and answered, photos were taken. All in all, it was great!

After the presentation we had a bit fun, just mingling and laughing. Mr Hopwood had the honour of cutting the UK cake which was delicious!

You have...

...a beautiful homeland everyone should visit at least once in a lifetime

...an amazing cultural heritage

...the education system you should be proud of

...the writers everyone should read