A BRITISH ICON:

BUCKINGHAM PALACE AND CHANGING OF GUARD

Buckingham Palace is the place where the Royal British family works and lives. This palace is the Queen Elizabeth II´s residence. Buckingham Palace is also used for celebrating official ceremonies such as feasts for presidents who visit the country or the city of London. 

About three hundred people work in the palace, including civil servants from the Royal House and domestic staff. Beside, more than fifty people working as the palace staff live inside.

Queen Victoria was the first member of the royal British family who has lived in this palace. The front of the building is contemporary (1913) and, through its windows, there are wonderful sights to The Mall. It is a Royal family tradition to wave at their nation from one of its balconies, facing The Mall.

Official Halls open to the public during summer. And it is also in summer when the changing of the guard is made more regularly. In addition, they do it in a colourful and musical ceremony and parade.  

Buckingham Palace guards keep on wandering the gardens and the facilities, although the Queen´s role is a symbolic one. The amazing Changing of the Guard ceremony, with their sparkling uniforms and military music, consists on the change of the guards at the front garden of the palace. The guard is formed by three officers and forty soldiers when the Queen is in the palace. The Royal flag is raised when the Queen is inside Buckingham Palace.

A POEM

"HAPPINESS"

Happiness in living my life

Happiness in sharing my belongings

Happiness in helping other people

Happiness in having friends

Happiness in caring my closest friends

Happiness in being as I want to

Happiness in reaching my goals

Happiness in loving 

Happiness in smiling and laughing

Happiness in being a dreamer

Happiness in traveling far away

Happiness in honesty

Happiness in enjoying my moments

Happiness in making my mother happy

Happiness in not being lucky

Happiness in reading and learning as much as I can

Happiness in knowing how to forgive

Happiness in being happy.

Happiness is not the goal, but the way.

A POEM

"FEAR"

Fear of falling down

Fear of climbing too much

Fear of height

Fear of flying too high

Fear of reaching the sky

Fear of dreaming

Fear of having nightmares

Fear of sleeping in an empty room

Fear of feeling alone

Fear of forgetting my memories

Fear of reminding

Fear of bad news

Fear of phone calls

Fear of visiting my family at hospital

Fear of crying

Fear of listening to loud voices

Fear of the sound of a door shutting down

Fear of people who drink alcohol

Fear of the 16th of June

Fear this day will end without seeing you

Fear of waking up to find that you are not here with us

Fear of not loving and fear of loving too much

Fear that what I feel will hurt my family

Fear of not being able to remind you with a smiling face

Fear of hurting people

Fear of not being able to help.

I´ve said that.

PRAISE TO THE TEACHER´S PROFESSION

Today´s post is dedicated to all these people whose vocation is teaching.

Becoming a teacher is not that difficult. Almost everybody is able to be sat down in front of a book and memorize it by heart. Then, they will pass their tests and obtain their qualifications. 

However, not everybody can face a lesson, deal with their students and with the differences between them, be a constant support to his/her pupils…

Becoming a teacher means having vocation and being continuously modifying our teaching way in order to, also, improve the teaching and learning experience.

Becoming a teacher is being devoted to a profession and to a little human beings who will remind you as one of the most important person in their learning processes and, perhaps, in their lives.

Becoming a teacher means treating every child in a different way, taking into account their individual needs.

Being a teacher is more than a profession, it is a way of life.

WHAT IS THE BEST WAY TO BRAINSTORM? WHY?

In my opinion, the best way to brainstorm is "making a list", using the same term as we did in the last lesson.

I strongly believe that brainstorming is a necessary and really useful task to start the process of writing. Before starting writing, you need to have all your ideas available in order to classify them into paragraphs in the right way, using the most suitable connectors.

There are different types of brainstorming, however "making a list" is the one that I find more appropriate because you do not need to think about anything, you just have to write everything that comes to your mind. It does not matter the order, the connection between the ideas  or the accuracy of your thoughts; because these tasks will be held later in the process. 

I reckon that, during your brainstorming, you ONLY have to concentrate in PRODUCING AND CREATING IDEAS, forgetting about secondary tasks. Therefore, it could be useful to make a "second brainstorming" , called "mapping", so you can link your first ideas and, maybe, reject silly ones. 

WELCOME!

This blog´s title refers to an English idiom or saying ("to be a bookworm") which is used when someone reads a lot.

It is an invitation not only for reading but also for writing.

Enjoy it!