Comenius 2009

Hi ! I’m Anna and I have got a lot of hobbies, I love playing handball and speaking English, it’s fantastic. And I like swimming, going out with my friends and watching TV. I also like singing, dancing, reading the books. I love playing the piano, playing the violin, playing with the computer….

Hello, my name is Dani and my favourite hobby is cycling. I like cycling because it’s fun, you can run very fast and it’s not difficult. Cycling is good for health because it is an sport. The best of the bike is when you take a downward slope and take a lot of speed. If you have a good glide you will have great speed and suddenly brake. If you have got a BMX bike and the opportunity to obtain a good jump, do it!

Hello, my name is Inés. My hobby is swimming and tennis. I go swimming to an indoor pool (the club Xúquer). Every Friday I go to the tennis court and some Saturdays I practice it. Here in Algemesí there is a tennis club where I go on Fridays and some Saturdays. I like sport because it is good for health.

My name is Joan and my hobbies are playing chess and football, my favourite footballer is David Villa. I also practice other hobbies, like painting warhammer (plastic miniatures for role-playing games) .

I’m Jordi and I am 12 years old. I will explain how to play handball: you can’t take more than three steps, you can not enter or walk on the line that rounds the goals, the goalkeeper can’t jump the balland he has to pass out of the net .

I’m Salut, I’m from Algemesí and I am twelve years old. My hobby is music, I love music; I play the piano, the violin and the clarinet. But I like piano the most. For the majority of people it can seem hard because they are looking at two hands, “one in bass clef (fa) and the other in treble clef.(sol)”

The trip to the snow was a success. We had a really good time. We skied and we went snowboarding. It rained and it was very cold, but the ski slopes were in very good condition. Besides we wore warm clothes, such as special glasses, scarves, hats, etc. At noon we had lunch and we rested for a while. We went back to the ski slopes in the afternoon. Physical Education teachers went with us. It was a memorable experience!

In our secondary school teachers organise different activities at Christmas, for example, the Christmas Tree, a Charity Breakfast and activities in the gym. All students in the school take part in them. This year 4th ESO students have made the Christmas Tree, with the “nd ESO students’ help. It was made with cardboard and plastic and painted glasses. It was placed at the hall of the centre. The Charity Breakfast takes place at the secondary school door. Our families and teachers take part in it making cakes and biscuits that afterwards we sell. Al the money we get goes to “Manos Unidas”, a Spanish charity organisation  Besides we play games in the gym. Everybody can take part in them. There are ability games, football matches and a funny game that I like very much. It consists in busting balloons. As a prize we get a ticket that later we cash for sweeties.

1953 was an important year for this educational centre. The building of the centre started in that year. The centre would  give all levels of studies for industrial working and it was called “Instituto Laboral Industrial” (Vocational and Industry Studies High School). The first teachers working in it were Maria Cruz Villar, Arturo Monleón and Gregorio F. Jiménez who, on the 21st of Novembre, 1953, started his task with an exam which 32 students passed.  The 30th of November, 1953 was a very important date for this school, as 2 women teachers, 6 men teachers, an administrative officer and a caretaker started the first academic year. To become known in the town and the surroundings, radio programmes were made, offering the facilities of the centre to all the people interested and people were invited to visit the place. There were also lectures, seminars, film previews. That propaganda campaign reached the results expected: the people enrolling the studies increased every year and the High School “Sant Vicent Ferrer” became a major educational centre for Algemesi and many villages of La Ribera

In 1959-69 the school started a male-female education and the centre had to overcome the works to adapt the centre to have separate places where both sexes could be taught in the same school but in different areas in order not to allow co-education. The 1967-68 year the studies were transformed into the Bachillerato Unificado (Secondary Education). The Bachillerato entailed  4 years and “Revalida” (the final examination). These 4 years consisted of an elementary year, two years more and “Revalida”. Later ther was a Superior year. In 1975 the Bachillerato was transformed into B.U.P. (Bachillerato Unificado Polivalente), which lasted for 3 years, and 1 year of C.O.U. (Curso de Orientación Universitaria). For Primary Education it was established the E.G.B. (Basic General Education) and some of the ancient years remained in this system. In 1989-90  the Teaching in Valencian Branch started and in 1997, the last reform arrived: the E.S.O. : two groups of two years each and two years more for Bachillerato.

The gradual creation of new educational centres in the villages nearby and the establishment of the secondary education in private schools made the number of students decrease. Nowadays, the number of students is of about 570 students. The first students used to have their own school uniform, their own anthem and a choral group. At about that time a new  magazine for students was born, “Marjal” (marsh, as the town has a part of its territory which is so), where for 24 years , since 1954 to 1978 the life of the centre and the most remarkable events of our town were reflected.It is also important to remember that in sports, this high school was a pioneer in Algemesi in practising athletics and other sports like volleyball, basketball  and especially handball. Important to highlight  that many theatre groups have been created since then. Since that year 1953-54, when an educational path started in our town, where university students didn’t reach 20 people, there has been a huge cultural transformation and more than 50 years have passed by.  More than 11.000 students have studied in our classrooms and hundreds of teachers have left their work and stamp in this centre and our students. According to this we can surely state that “Sant Vicent Ferrer” has had a great importance in and for our town.

Ingredients:
* 500 gr. sugar.
* 500 gr. crushed almond.
* 125 gr. water.
* 100 gr. boiled sweet potatoes, drained and chopped, or dried and crushed biscuits (one or the other is used to retain excess moisture).
* Cinnamon stick.
* Scraping lemon.
* Wafers.

Prepare the filling:

In the Thermomix

* Grind the almonds and set aside.
* Grind the scraping of lemon and reserve.
* Chop the sweet potatoes and set aside.
* Set in the glass and sugar water temp 10 minutes. 100 º C speed 4 (and get a syrup).
* Once temp connect 30 minutes. 100 º C spoon and we will be adding the jar of chopped almonds, chopped sweet potato, the scraping of lemon and cinnamon (if you have the 31 you can put the left turn from non-cinnamon).
* After this time see if the dough begins to get sticky.
* Now allow to cool.

Traditionally

* Heat water and sugar on low heat to get a light syrup (stir continuously).
* Add the almonds, stirring previously, then add the mashed sweet potatoes, the scraping of lemon and the cinnamon stick.
* Stir continuously.

Production of biscuits:

* Once the mixture is cold it has to be quite compact (if we take mixture with a spoon and turn the spoon upside down, it gets stuck to the spoon).
* Put a wafer on a wet cloth in order to moisten and better manipulate at the time of bending.
* Pun a fair amount of mixture on the wafer and bend the wafer with the wet cloth to cover the misture.

Ingredients:
•    1 yellow onion, diced
•    2 medium tomatoes, diced
•    1 whole chicken or 8 chicken drumsticks
•    1 1/2 lbs pork loin (fat trimmed), cut into ¾ inch pieces
•    1/2 lb calamar (squid) cleaned and sliced into rings
•    Medium grain or “pearl” rice *
•    4-6 cups chicken broth
•    1 large pinch Saffron
•    1 1/2 lbs raw mussels in shell (frozen or fresh)
•    1 lb small clams (frozen or fresh)
•    1 1/2 lbs raw shrimp, medium or large – shell on
•    1 red pepper seeded and sliced
•    1 10 oz. pkg frozen peas
•    Olive Oil, Salt to Taste

Preparation:
* The exact quantity of rice will depend on the size of the pan, so have at least 1 lb of rice on hand. This seafood paella recipe makes approximately 12 servings. Before you start preparing paella, it’s best to check you have all ingredients and gather the equipment that you’ll need.
•    17 inch (144cm) paella pan
•    Round charcoal BBQ
•    Medium sauce pan
•    Sharp knife for chopping meat and vegetables
•    Meat cleaver (if you use a whole chicken)
•    Aluminum Foil or Large Tea Towel to Cover Paella

Cut the Chicken and Pork into Serving-Size Pieces – You’ll need one whole chicken, cut into serving-size pieces or 8 chicken drumsticks. If you use a whole chicken, use a meat cleaver to cut the chicken into pieces small enough to easily mix while sautéing. With a sharp knife, cut the pork into 3/4″ pieces. Clean the squid and remove the tentacles. Make sure to remove the innards and the “spine” and discard. Then, cut the squid into rings.  Tip: Try to buy fresh squid whenever possible. If fresh squid is not available, look for packages of squid in the frozen food section. The squid should NOT have batter or coating on them, since that type is used for frying. Slice red pepper and chop onions and tomatoes, set aside. Now that you have the ingredients cleaned and chopped, it’s time to start the BBQ and begin cooking. When the coals on the BBQ are covered in white ash, cooking can begin. Assemble all the ingredients on a table near the BBQ, so that you can stay in the area and monitor the cooking. Place the paella pan on the grate and add enough olive oil to coat the bottom and allow the pan to heat up. When hot enough, sauté the onions and tomatoes in the olive oil. Add olive oil as needed to prevent sticking. Once the onions are translucent, add the chicken and cook, stirring constantly – about 15 minutes. Add pork and squid and cook, stirring often. Add the rice, sprinkling in the form of a large cross on the pan. (Have approximately 1 lb of rice on hand for this.) Stir for 2-3 minutes to thoroughly coat the rice with oil and mix with the other ingredients. Add saffron threads to the chicken broth and stir. Slowly pour broth into pan until pan contents are covered. Spread ingredients evenly over bottom of pan. Arrange mussels around outside edge of pan, pointing up. Place clams and shrimp in pan, distributing them evenly around the pan. Add slices of pepper on top. Allow to simmer, cooking rice. Add more broth if necessary. (If fire becomes too hot, raise the pan up, away from the heat.) When rice is almost cooked, sprinkle peas over the pan. When rice is cooked, remove from heat and cover with aluminum foil or large tea towel, allowing paella to “rest” for 5 to 10 minutes before serving. Slice lemons into wedges and serve.