Medard | Jazyková škola Pelican

Author: Medard

Hello everybody.

Let me introduce myself first. Iʼm a multilingual magazine called PELICAN. Iʼm not a creation of experienced professional editors and writers, Iʼm a studentsʼ magazine. Most of the articles I offer you have been written by students of the Language School PELIKAN, who, in September, embarked on the challenge of studying foreign languages and starting to use them actively.

I am bringing you articles written in two languages. On the left side you can see the text in the language students learn, which is English, German, Russian, French and Spanish. Students, coordinated by their teachers, are true authors of all the texts.

On the right side there is a Czech translation for you to understand better. You can also meet the person responsible for the sudden improvements of studentsʼ language skills: their teachers. Students created their short bios in Czech and English. Names and photos of all those who participated in composing their magazine contribution are published at the end of the magazine.

Furthermore, I contain articles by our international friends who I very much appreciate. The reason is they are intelligent, creative and extremely interesting people. You will also learn a little bit about the educational projects people from PELIKAN school work on. And whatʼs the best about me… Iʼm not an ordinary magazine.

Those of you who donʼt want to remain passive can learn many tricks from the world of ICT. Each studentʼs article contains an (INTER)ACTIVITY. By completing these activities you will learn how to operate modern Internet-based tools and use them in your daily life.

Believe me or not Iʼm a perfect magazine. Iʼm good-looking, bright and funny, just as people from my school.

Magazine PELICAN

Will be Czechs the nation of fools? There are many sayings connected to our nation, such as "Golden Czech hands" or "The Czech, the musician". Unfortunately, it seems like there won't be anything else to do, than make one's living by manual work or being busker. Now there's a law in the approval process, regarding the post-high school language studying. According to this law, students of language schools shouldn't have the right to use status of student. And, since the bell tolls for our free college education, are the impacts of the law obvious on the first sight. The only option for high-school graduate would be then to choose payed university or college. If the students won't choose the school, or if they will simply don't have the money for 3-year studies, the only way out would be the job center. The fact, that our politicians are pea-brained, is not a surprise for us anymore. The main priority for our politicians is just lobbing for friends and putting some money aside. But, how will the country look like, where money and the whole education system is blocking the way for studying? Should will be the nation of morons just because the biggest ones are in the lead?

Budou Češi národem hlupáků? S naším národem se vždycky spojovala různá úsloví jako „Zlatý český ručičky“ nebo „Co Čech, to muzikant“. Bohužel, jak to tak vypadá, v budoucnu nám asi ani nic jiného, než se živit manuální prací či pouličním zpěvem, nezbyde. Ve schvalovacím procesu se nyní ocitl zákon, který se týká pomaturitního studia cizích jazyků. Podle tohoto zákona by v budoucnu neměli mít studenti jazykových škol právo využívat status studenta. Vzhledem k tomu, že bezplatnému vysokoškolskému vzdělání u nás už také zvoní hrana, jsou dopady zákona jasné na první pohled. Jedinou možností pro maturanta bude vybrat si placenou vysokou nebo vyšší odbornou školu. Pokud si studenti školu nevyberou, nebo jednoduše nebudou mít na tříleté studium dostatečné finanční zázemí, bude pro ně jediným východiskem pracovní úřad. Fakt, že si naši politici sedí už delší dobu na vedení, v naší zemi už nikoho nepřekvapí. Hlavní prioritou našich politiků je lobovat pro kamarády a nějaký ten peníz bokem. Jak to s námi ale bude vypadat v zemi, kde lidem v cestě za vzděláním stojí peníze a celý školský systém? Má se z nás stát národ hlupáků jen proto, že nám ti největší vládnou? [polldaddy poll=6114241]

Jazyková škola PELIKÁN je organizátorem pomaturitního studia v Brně.

Práce na evropských vzdělávacích projektech vyžaduje tvůrčí aktivitu, mravenčí práci a především zdravý selský rozum.

Ať už to s evropskou unií vypadá jakkoliv, její podpora vzdělávacích projektů je v plné síle. Evropské projekty podporující moderní rozvoj učitelského řemesla jsou jednou z náplní naší práce. Naše škola se podílí na tvorbě několika vzdělávacích projektů. Všechny tyto projekty mají ve zkratce jedno společné poslání - za pomocí nejmodernějších postupů docílit toho, aby se vzdělávání stalo zábavou. V posledních letech jsme se do mezinárodní spolupráce na evropských projektech ponořili natolik, že bylo potřeba v naší instituci vytvořit speciální projektový tým. Tato jednotka, v plném nasazení, bojuje s jednotlivými úkoly, které jí byly v rámci mezinárodní spolupráce svěřeny. Kromě těchto úkolů, které jsou spíše administrativního a profesního zaměření, se občas objeví i nečekaný úkol akčního rázu. Tak jako to bylo v případě naší Evropské putující knihovny projektu EuroLib. Knihovna obsahovala 30 knih pro děti z cizích zemí. Tyto knihy jednotlivé týmy partnerských zemí dávaly měsíce dohromady. Po úspěšném sestavení knihovny byl naplánován meeting, na který se partneři projektu z šesti evropských zemí měli přiletět podívat na to, jak taková mezinárodní knihovna ve skutečnosti vypadá. Několik dní před meetingem jsme ovšem zjistili něco šíleného. Knihovna vážící několik desítek kilogramů byla z naší školy ukradena. Stačila chvilka nepozornosti a mezinárodní ostuda byla na světě.

Naši kancelář zachvátila dočasná, ale zato velmi intenzivní panika. Naštěstí i v takovýchto situacích si umí správný projektový tým poradit. Zachovali jsme chladnou hlavu a začali uvažovat selským rozumem. Co by také mohl dělat chudáček český zlodějíček s taškou plnou knih v turečtině, finštině nebo italštině? Po pár dnech na telefonu i v terénu jsme knihy objevili v jedné brněnské zastavárně. Knihovna byla zachráněna a díky naší práci se dostala tam, kam měla – k dětem.

Working on European educational projects requires creative activity, a painstaking effort, and especially common sense.

No matter what the state of the European Union is, its support of educational projects is at full strength. One of the subjects of our work is European projects which support a modern development of teaching. Our school participates in creating of several educational projects. All of these have a mutual aim – to make education fun. In recent years we have immersed in the international cooperation very much so we had to create a special team for this purpose. This unit conscientiously fights with all the tasks that have been assigned to it in terms of the international cooperation. Besides these tasks which are mostly administrative, there always appear some of an action character, for example the one with our European travelling library of the EuroLib project. The library comprised 30 books for children from foreign countries. This collection was being put together by the individual teams of the partnership countries. After the library was finished, there was a meeting planned. Each of the project partners were supposed to come and see the complete library. Several days before the meeting, we discovered something crazy happened. The library weighing tens of kilograms had been stolen. One moment of inattention caused an international scandal.

Our office was overcome by a temporary but intensive panic. Fortunately, a good project team can manage even in such cases. We remained calm and used our common sense. What could a poor little Czech thief do with a bag full of Turkish, Finnish or Italian books? After a few days of searching, we found the books in a pawnshop in Brno. The library was saved. Thanks to our effort it got to those for whom it had been intended – to children.

V neděli ráno 18. prosince se se celé České republice a následně celému demokraticky smýšlejícímu světu na chvíli sevřelo srdce. Rádia, televize a internet zahltila smutná zpráva o smrti našeho prvního pana prezidenta Václava Havla. Václav Havel byl vyjímečnou, nejen politickou, osobností. Byl to člověk, který se stal symbolem Sametové revoluce a našeho nově vzniklého demokratického státu. Jeho smrt mnohé z nás zasáhla tak, jako by se nejednalo o smrt cizího člověka, ale o smrt někoho nám blízkého.

Tímto bychom mu chtěli poděkovat. Poděkovat za to, že stál v čele našeho státu. Poděkovat za to, že na něj můžeme být hrdí. Poděkovat za svobodu.

photo-by-andrea-c599c3adhovc3a11-623x415

Jak to tenkrát bylo praprapraprapraprapraotče? Každý rok když přichází zima, mám potřebu Vám něco napsat.

Ovšem hned se neradujte. To něco v každém případě není obdiv. Mám pár pochybností, které mi už dlouho nedají spát. Už třetí týden ležím znuděný v posteli a piji už šedesátý heřmánkový čaj. To proto, že začalo přituhovat a naše ochablé organismy se s tím nechtějí vypořádat. A potom mě napíše kamarád z Egypta, že se opaloval u vody s pivem v ruce. Samozřejmě tím nenaznačuji, že jste měl s celým národem jít pěšky až do Afriky, nebo snad přeplavat Středozemní moře. Ale v jedné písničce zaznělo, že kdybyste popošel o kousek dále, mohli jsme se teď v plavkách u vody válet. A to, že se to nestalo, pane Čechu, je sakra velká škoda.

Myslím, že některá Vaše rozhodnutí byla zbrklá a unáhlená. To, že s Vámi souhlasili všichni, je jen důkaz toho, že byli po úmorné cestě zcela vyčerpaní. Já být takto na dně a někdo by mi řekl, že z Řípu viděl spousty mléka a medu, taky bych se šel rozhodně podívat. Nikomu se ani nechtělo přemýšlet nad názvem naší nové vlasti a chtěli jít spát, tak odsouhlasili první návrh a to ten, že se má naše země jmenovat po Vás. Mimochodem podle vědeckých výzkumů se kolem roku 664n.l. nenacházely v okolí Řípu tak obrovské zásoby mléka a medu, které by běžný člověk spatřil z tak vysoké hory.

Bylo neohleduplné uvozovat nějaké závěry takto k večeru a upřímně Vám děkuji za rozhodnutí, které mě připravilo o dva týdny výuky!

So what´s the true story, fore-fore-forefather? Every year when winter comes I feel a need to write something to you.

Yet there´s no reason to rejoice. That ‘something’ is not admiration at all. I have a few doubts that won´t let me sleep for a long time. I´ve been lying in a bed for three weeks now, bored and drinking my sixtieth camomile tea. Simply because of the fact that it started to get freezing cold and our weakened organisms don´t want to cope with that. And then a friend of mine from Egypt writes to me that he is enjoying his beer on a beach while sunbathing. Of course I don´t infer that you should´ve walked the whole nation as far as Africa or, perhaps, swim over the Mediterranean sea. But in one song there were lyrics saying that if you had drawn forward a little bit more we could now be lounging somewhere around water in our swimsuits. And the fact it didn´t happen is a big pity, Mr Čech.

I think that some of your decisions were hot-headed and reckless. The fact that everybody agreed with you is just evidence that everybody was completely exhausted after such a plodding journey. If I had been this tired and told that there could be plenty of milk and honey seen from the Říp mountain, I would have gone and checked that myself too. Nobody even wanted to ponder over the name of our new homeland and they wanted to go to sleep so they agreed with the first proposal, which was naming our country after you. By the way, according to scientific research there were no huge supplies of milk and honey to be seen from Říp around 664 AD.

It was thoughtless to draw such conclusions towards the evening and I frankly thank you for the decision which cost me two weeks of school.

Jak troufalé a při tom pravdivé něco takového o sobě zpívat, Edith Giovanno Gassionová.

Boj, obdiv, pády, síla, nenávist, láska, nekonečné ztráty…to byl, bohužel, celý Váš život. Možná to byl osud, možná jste si to tak vybrala. Lidé Vás milovali i využívali. Byla jste sama svým popravčím, Vy hloupá! Když jsem poprvé slyšela Váš hlas, bylo to něco nepopsatelného. Dokonalost je slabé slovo. Chtěla jsem vědět víc, víc o Vás. Dokázala jste toho tolik! Narodila jste se na ulici, uprostřed chladné zimní Paříže. A co nevidět, jste zpívala v New Yourských vyhlášených kabaretech. Lidé kolem Vás neustále odcházeli, ničili Vás. Všechno byl jen hon za něčím lepším. Stačilo se jen na chvíli zastavit a užívat si těch krásných chvil, kdy jste byla milovaná Vašimi blízkými. Tvrdě jste pracovala, nejen na sobě. Změnila jste tolik osudů lidí kolem sebe a při tom si vytrpěla tolik bolesti. Máte u mě neskutečný obdiv. Byla jsem šokovaná, že sklízíte obdiv i u teenagerů 21. století. Kteří vědí, kdo jste Vy. Vy, Edith Piaf, která ničeho nelitovala. Non, je ne regrette rien.

How daring yet truthful to sing such thing about yourself, Edith Giovanna Gassion.

Struggle, admiration, falls, strength, hate, love, endless losses.. Your entire life could be described with these words. It may have been your destiny, or maybe it was your choice. People loved you and took advantage of you. You were your own executioner, you silly! I distinctly remember hearing your voice for the first time. I was so intrigued that I immediately wanted to learn more, more about you. You accomplished such a lot in your life! Born in the street, in cold, unfriendly Paris. And before long you were appearing in renowned music halls of New York. You were hopeless at maintaining relationships, in fact they were ruining your life. You were desperately longing for something beautiful and did not realise that you might have been happy if you had stopped for a while to enjoy the precious moments when you were surrounded by the people who loved you. You worked hard, not only on yourself. You changed so many people’s lives and yet suffered so much pain. I deeply respect you. I was astonished when I found out that young people in the 21st century know who you are and feel the same way as I do. About you, Edith Piaf, who regretted nothing. Non, je ne regrette rien.

Rouhání? Omlouvám se, ale nemohu jinak.

Občas se mi stane, že dostanu otázku: "Věříš v Boha?" "Mmm.. ne", odpovídám. Hned na to následuje: "Proč?". A má odpověď na to bývává stejná: "Dej mi důvod".

Nikdy jsem se Bohem moc nezabývala, ale téměř před dvěma lety jsem poznala jednu hudební skupinu, kterou jsem si ihned zamilovala. Jak to souvisí s vírou v Boha? Když byl zpěvák skupiny dítě, byl věřící, ale vzhledem k okolnostem víru ztratil. Chlapci, který nikdy nikomu neublížil, bylo ubližováno jen kvůli tomu jak vypadal, jen proto, že byl jiný než ostatní (pozn.: ale stejné rasy i národnosti). Kde byl v tu dobu Bůh? Nikdo se ho nikdy nezastal, nikdo mu ani v nejtěžších chvílích nepomohl, Bůh taky ne! Trpěl kvůli tomu, kým byl, a denně se modlil k Bohu a prosil ho, aby mu pomohl. K jeho smůle se nikdy nic nestalo.

Jenže to není vše. Denně umírají nevinní lidé, kteří si to nezaslouží. Proč? A nejsou to jen lidé.. ale i zvířata, kolik tisíců zvířat trpí a umírá, a nemyslím tím zvířata určená na porážku. Všude ve světě je tolik zla - vraždy, krádeže, ubližování, pomluvy, smrtelné nemoci.. . Máte odpověď na to, kde ten milující a laskavý Bůh je? Prý je strůjcem všeho zla Lucifer – padlý anděl. Proč mu Bůh dovolí, aby se tohle dělo? V tohoto Boha věřit nechci a ujišťuji Vás, pane papeži, že věta "Bůh to tak chce" mi rozhodně nestačí.

Teď mi nezbývá nic jiného, než doufat, že mě žádný silně věřící za můj názor neukamenuje. V co věřím nebo nevěřím, je moje věc, navíc žijeme v 21. století..

Se vší úctou vážený pane papeži, Miss Atheist.

Blasphemy? I beg you pardon but I cannot feel otherwise…

Sometimes I happen to be asked the following question:bDo you believe in God? Mmm .. no," is the answer. Why? The answer use to be like this: Give me a reason.

I have never given much thought to God, but almost two years ago I met a band which I immediately fell in love with. How does this relate to the faith in God? When the lead singer was a child, he believed in God, but due to certain circumstances he lost his faith. The boy, who never hurt anyone, was being hurt by others because he looked and behaved differently (although he was the same race and nationality as his peers). Where was God at that time? No one ever stood by him, no one helped him even in the toughest times, and neither God did! He suffered from being the way he was, and prayed daily begging God for help. Unfortunatelly, nothing ever happened...

But that's not all. Every day innocent people die and do not deserve it. The reason? And it's not just people . Also animals, thousands of animals suffer and die, apart from animals intended for slaughter. Everywhere in the world there is so much evil - murder, theft, harm, calumny, fatal diseases … Can you tell us where the loving and gracious God is? It is said that Satan - the fallen angel - is the initiator of all evil. Why do God allow him to make this happen? I am not going to believe in this God and I assure you, Your Holiness, that saying „It´s God´s will“ is not enough for me.

Now I can do nothing else but hope that any convinced believer will think of scratching my eyes out. My beliefs and opinions are, after all, only my own business. And what´s more, we live in the 21st century.

With all due respects to Your Holiness, Miss Atheist.

Vážený pane Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, co vás vedlo k napsaní Malého prince?

Vaše kniha byla pro mě již od mala velkou inspirací a myslím, že doposud vede čtenáře k zamyšlení se nad sebou samým. Bylo mi 8 let, když jsem propadla kouzlu hroznýše polykajícího slona či beránka v krabici. Velké množství dospělých již zapomnělo, jaké je to býti nespoutaným, veselým dítětem, čekajícím na zoubkovou vílu se zubem pod polštářem. Být dítětem, které se řídí sny, má neuvěřitelnou představivost, je otevřené a zcela upřímné. Myslím, že každý z dospělých by si zasloužil mít jednoho Malého prince, stejně jako jste ho měl Vy. Aby si i ostatní připomněli veškerou prostotu, lásku, čistotu, nevinnost. Odhodili každodenní strasti a starosti, ponořili se alespoň na chvíli do klidu a v nitru vlastní duše a mysli si vytvořili pomyslnou malou planetku- jako měl Malý princ. Z Vaší knihy přímo srší poslání- ukázat světu, jací lidé doopravdy jsou, že ne vždy umějí jednat správně, život není pouze o zábavě, moci a penězích, ale že život je něco, čeho bychom si měli cenit, že bychom ho neměli promarnit a měli bychom se řídit svými sny, pocity a srdcem, protože oči jsou mnohdy slepé. Pokud si něco přejeme, měli bychom si za tím jít a nevzdávat se. Jistě jsem Vám jako dítě odpustila, že jste svou knihu jak v úvodu zmiňujete, věnoval dospělému a věřím, že Vám to odpustilo i mnoho jiných dětí. Pevně doufám, že Vaše kniha přinese spoustu dobrého dalším a dalším generacím, stejně tak jako přinesla mně.

Mějte se v oblacích krásně! Denisa

Dear Mr. Antione de Saint-Exupery, what lead you to writing the Small Prince?

Your book has been an inspiration to me since the childhood and I think it has been a source for the readers to start thinking of themselves up to this day. I was eight when I succumbed to the magic of a rattlesnake swallowing an elephant or a lamb in the box. A vast majority of adults have now forgotten what it feels to be an unleashed, cheerful child, waiting for the Tooth fairy with a tooth under the pillow. To be a child led by its dreams, having an unbelieveable imagination, being open and entirely honest I think that every adult person should deserve one Little prince, as well as you had one. Let the rest remember all the chastity, love, serenity or innocence. Let them throw away their everyday worries and sink at least for a while in peace. Let the very core of their souls create a notional little planet, just like the Little prince did. There is a message sparkling out of your book – to show the world the real nature of the people, that they cannot always act right; the life is not only about fun, power and money, it is something we should appreciate, not waste away and we should follow our dreams, feelings and our heart because the eyes are often blind. If we wish something, we should follow it and never give it up. Of course I pardoned you as a child for dedicating the book to a grown-up person and I firmly believe that many children have done so as well. I dearly hope that your book will bring a plenty of good to the generations to come as well as it did to me.

Enjoy your heavenly eternity Denisa

Monopol, fenomén, hitmaker, multitalentovaný umělec, rapper, zpěvák. Jedním slovem Rytmus. Takhle si necháváš říkat, takhle vystupuješ, tohle jsi. Patřím mezi tvé fanoušky a sleduji tvou dráhu již od undergroundových začátků až po dnešní mainstream hudbu, kterou produkuješ. Je neuvěřitelné pozorovat vývoj tvé osobnosti a tvé hudby. Od obyčejného kluka ze slovenských Piešťan až po člověka, který má na Youtube klip s více než 5 000 000 views, vyprodává koncerty, vystupuje v televizi, jezdí v BMW a má na kontě miliony. Mnoho lidí tě také nenávidí. Buď za to, že tvé songy obsahují vulgární výrazy. Pro někoho jsou moc primitivní. Další potrava pro haters je tvé vzdělání, které jak říkáš, je pouze základní. Další si tě zaškatulkují jako cikána. A takhle by s výčty tvých vlastností nebo úspěchů šlo pokračovat hodně dlouho. Osobně si myslím, že máš velkou zásluhu na zničení hip hopové kultury na Slovensku i v Česku. Začínající rapeři vidí úspěch, kterého jsi dosáhl a tak se po tobě opičí. Rapují o podobných tématech jako ty, používají podobný slovník a snaží se být jako ty. Tohle má za následek totální úpadek inteligentních textů na scéně. Stoupej dál ke hvězdám.

Fanoušek, Ondřej

A monopoly, a phenomenon, a hitmaker, a multitalented artist, a rapper, a singer. Or Rytmus, in short. That's how you ask the others to call you, that´s how you present yourself, that is what you are. I am one of your fans, and I have been watching your career since your underground beginnings to your today's mainstream music production. It´s been amazing to observe the development of your personality and music. Starting as an normal Slovak boy from Piestany you became a man whose clip on Youtube exceeds 5,000,000 views, sold out concert halls, appears on TV, drives a BMW, and owns a million bank account. Many people hate you, too. Either because your songs contain rude and vulgar expression. There are those who consider you a primitive. Also your education, which is as you say only elementary, is a juicy bit for haters. Others reckon you are a gipsy. The list of your characteristics is far from being exhaustive. Personally, I think you have great credits for destruction of Czech and Slovak hip-hop culture. Beggining rappers see your success and try to copy you. They raps on similar topics, use similar vocabulary and try to be like you. This supposed the total decline and decadence of intelligent lyrics on musical stage. Never stop raising to the stars.

Your fan, Ondřej

Manolo, ty zhýralče!

Proklínám tebe i každou botu, kterou jsi navrhl, vytvořil a dal jí vůli být nošena. Že netušíš proč?

Manolo, představ si dívku. Mladou, nevinnou, nespoutanou módními trendy. Jednou však naše hrdinka bezmyšlenkovitě brouzdá po internetu. Na nohou má ošklivé, staré, papuče, ale je jí to jedno. V tom jí v rohu webové stránky vyskočí nenápadný reklamní banner. Dívka netušící velikost pokušení, tento banner rozklikne.

Co se nestane? Její monitor se roztančí barvami, elegantními a extravagantními křivkami, vysokými podpatky a exotickými materiály. Ano, Manolo, přesně tak! Naše hrdinka odhalila tvůj kouzelný svět bot a nedokázala mu odolat, a proto kliká, co jí touchpad stačí, na ty kouzelné botičky, střevíčky a lodičky a objednává jeden pár bot za druhým.

Ach, Manolo, od té doby co jsem si obula tvůj první střevíček, jiný už nechci nosit. Lidem se již nedívám přímo do očí, ale nejprve posuzuji jejich boty. Ustavičně se mračím na vietnamské prodejce obuvi a Baťa je pro mě jen výrobce dřeváků.

Od té doby, Manolo, patří moje peněženka i srdce jen tobě!

Shniješ v pekle, Manolo Blahniku! Ale ještě před tím navrhni, prosím, nějakou geniální botičku, už jsem si žádnou dlouho nekoupila.

Tvoje Martina Janíková

Manolo, you libertine!

Curse you and every shoe which you have designed, sewed, and confered it the might to be worn. You say you don´t deserved it?

Manolo, imagine a girl. Young, innocent, unfettered by fashion trends. Yet, one day our heroine is mindlessly browsing the internet. She is wearing an old, nasty slippers, but she does not care. Then, in the corner of her web page, pops up an unobtrusive banner. The girl, unaware of the enornous temptation, clicks on that banner.

And what happens? The screen goes off with radiant colours, elegant and extravagant curves, high heels and exotic materials. Yes, Manolo, that is! Our heroine has just revealed your magical world of shoes and seems unable to resist it. She keeps clicking hard on the touchpad to look at more and more magical sandals, high-heeled shoes, court shoes and orders one pair of shoes after another.

Oh, Manolo, since I have set my eyes on the first pair of shoes, I do not want to wear any other. I have even stopped looking into people´s eyes, I focus directly on their shoes! I frown on Vietnamese footwear retailers and Bata is for me synonym of a clogs´ manufacturer.

Since then, Manolo, my hear and wallet belong solely to you!

You´ll rot in hell for that, Manolo Blahnik! But please, before doing so, design for me a marvelous pair of shoes. It's been a long time since I bought some.

Your Martina Janikova

Slavná Coco Chanel, bývala jste nejbohatší módní návrhářka Francie minulého století, co inspirovala nejen svět v módním průmyslu a osvobodila ženy od korzetů, ale co inspirovala svou osobností také mě.

Posunula jste hranice módy o kus dopředu. Tím jste byla inspirací pro mnohé návrháře, co přišli po Vás i pro veleúspěšné značky, které jste v dřívější době zastínila.

Stala jste se průkopnicí sportovního oděvu, který se stal podstatou moderní a svobodné ženy.

Pro mě jste inspirací především Vaším postojem k životu. Kypěla z Vás odvaha, rozhodnost a smysl pro okamžité ukončení potíží. O tom svědčí Váš výrok: „Není ošklivých žen; jsou jen ženy, které se neumějí udělat krásnými.“

Celkem odvaha prosazovat ostrá slova počátkem dvacátého století, v meziválečném období. Naproti tomu jste dále pokuřovala cigaretu ve špičce a pronášela věty typu: „ Mě nezajímá kritika ani podlézavost. Jednoduše dělám umění, které je praktické, stylové a vím, že ho všichni budou milovat!“

Prostořeká, ambiciózní „dáma v rajtkách“ promluvila a mluví svým jménem dodnes. Jestli patříte do nebe nebo do pekla? Nevím. Hodné holky se dostanou do nebe, zlobivé kam chtějí.

Vaše obdivovatelka Sandra

Dear famous Coco Chanel, You used to be the richest French fashion designer of the last century, you inspired the whole world of fashion industry, you freed women from corsets, and also inspired me as a great personality.

You pushed the limits of fashion and inspired many designers who came after you and overshadowed blockbuster brands of your times. You became a pioneer in sportswear which turned to be an substantial part of the picture of a modern and independent woman.

I found in you a model to follow particularly in terms of attitude towards life. You had courage, decisiveness and sense of smooth trouble solving to spare. Otherwise, you couldn´t say your famouse „There are no ugly women in the world, just lazy ones.“

It required considerable courage to pronnounce sharp words in the interwar period of the twentieth century. Even then you were smoking a cigarette from a holder and saying quotes like „ I don´t car about criticism and servitiliy. I just do art which is practical, stylish and I know everybody will love it.“

Outspoken, ambitious „lady in jodhpurs“ made her mark and continues to influence world even today. If you went to hell or heaven I don´t know. Good girls go to heaven and naughtly girls everywhere they want.

Yours fan, Sandra.

Welcome to the first battle of our LOTH series which will be a regular monthly issue here at PELICANMAG. In this, we’ll be looking for the most hilarious group of people. As you may know, many young people tend to reflect the music they listen to in their look or their behaviour. When they are very, very young, like 13-15, they are easily influenced by their idols or by older people who have the same image. „So they buy a lot of stylish clothes and accessories, while their hair is shaped in the way it’s supposed to be – or their parents buy the clothes and they sport the look, anyway.“ This article is full of links spread throughout the text, trying to show what I mean.

THE EMOs ’The way it is supposed to be’ is often their alibi or excuse when they start looking too hilarious for an ordinary person. But there can´t be any excuse for a 13-year-old EMOboy with his fringe shading his eyes so that he can´t see the beauty of the world and is thus doomed to be sad and depressed. So on that note: let´s start with the EMOs!!!

What the hell is EMO? Not an easy question, it could be a genre of music arising in the late 80s and coming from post-hardcore, which accentuated the emotional side of music or life. The music was often very screamy and violently wild with deep, meaningful, and heavily symbolic lyrics. Nothing for the kids, really. So why on earth have there been so many young EMOkids over the last 10 years? It´s very easy to answer. Tokio Hotel in Europe and My Chemical Romance in the USA and the UK are bands which took the EMO image, polished it, and sold it out to the mainstream. And so it came that millions of EMOkids arose around the world, even in the sleepy Czech Republic, which is always behind in the trends. But how could you spot an Emo kid? Generally we can say their looks are halfway between a Punk and a Metalhead; always black with a lot of details in white, red or pink, which are the EMOs favourite colours. The pants are very tight so almost all the EMOs look very underweight, fragile and you feel sorry for them. Well, the EMO outfit doesn´t really look nice on ‘bigger’ people, just see for yourself! The details are often stripes, stars or hearts, which fits nice on the girls but boys lose their masculine features in a dramatic manner. And when those ’boys’ start to use make-up, which is a must for true EMOs, you can´t tell whether it´s he or she. You can often see them wearing metal accessories like spiked wristbands. Those over 18 are often covered with large, colourful tattoos, getting their whole chest coated with some ’very deep, symbolic‘ composition. Another popular part of the body covered by tattoos are the arms, which are used as a canvas and are often fully tattooed without a single spot of the original skin. But what if you are under 18 or penniless? The solution is very simple: buy a fake tattoo sleeve or two, and then you too can look like a complete dumbass. Maybe you´ll hit on some drunk EMOgirl in the dark.

But the most infamous part of the EMO culture are their hairstyles. Long ironed fringes, coloured hair, artistic shapes you can´t touch or you´ll break their entire world. I can´t say the hairstyles always look bad. Girls wearing the EMO or SCENE (which is a POP branch of EMO) haircuts often look great but when a guy tries to look as girlish as it gets, it´s not that nice a look. Their faces are ever so sad, when they smile, it looks forced. The biggest EMO hit of all time is called ’I´m not OKAY’, so you can imagine it yourself. The funniest part is that many of them come from wealthy families where they actually couldn´t come across a real problem. And if you ask them: ’What´s the problem, dude?’, they reply that the problem is YOU! How funny. Once I wanted to know what a real EMO party looks like so I bought a ticket for one gig where the line-up looked very promising, containing acts from the USA, Italy and many others. The venue was full of kids under 18, the oldest EMOs were the band members and the overall atmosphere was…just hilariously bland. One poser after another, bragging with their hair, showing the American T-Shirts that their parents paid for, etc. At the parties you often see people having fun, being loud and having a great time, drinking alcohol, smoking weed or being overly active, showing all the signs of some stimulating drug use. None of this was present there, it felt like some high school party with teachers hiding in the shadows and watching their students in case they go too far. Me and my company had to leave quite quickly to avoid dying of boredom. There are no videos on YouTube witnessing this misery because they are instantly deleted by law. So after this experience it dawned on me why they are so depressed, so soulless without any views of happy future; why they allegedly cut their hands or legs with razors; why they don´t want to see. If they spend every weekend like that among the same people, the result is clear. You will never see an adult EMO making money for their own living except for the EMO musicians. Nobody is that stupid after growing up. In conclusion I can say that I am happy for this fashion to be over in our country. The whole generation of Emo kids grew into FASHIONCORE or PUNKROCK youth, which aren´t that hilarious or bland. Nobody knows what happened to TOKIO HOTEL and such bands. When MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE appear at a rock festival now, they are booed and people throw bottles at them. Was it worth the money?

Next week we‘ll take a look at a much more persistent group who will never really disappear from the streets – more recently they’ve actually been growing in numbers: the almighty METALHEADs, masters of the darkness. In the comments you will be able to vote for the winner between these two. Looking forward? I bet you are!

How we managed to get on with the first work package plus some terminology about the European projects in a nutshell.

In the latest version of our Pelican magazine we’re including some brief news about how our project is going – from strength to strength, we hope 🙂 – and what has been so far prepared for teachers who prefer to create functional, professionally-oriented groups on social networks for uploading and sharing pictures of new earrings (nothing against it at all and cool for friends, but professionally does not really raise your profile much) alongside the first lesson on terminology for our European Union projects. It’s been almost a year since the approval of our proposal (which is an extremely tricky and rather large document that explained our plan of action and the reasons behind it) of the transversal programme aPLaNet. The project’s target group (a particular group of people intended as recipients of the project team’s attention, love and efforts) – language teachers – and its main mission (what is to be done, why, when and how) – are already well known. The point is to show how social networks and ICT can help a teacher’s lifelong professional development.

What we might not have said is how the project actually looks "inside". As each project, aPLaNet is composed of several work packages (a portion of work to be done) that are distributed among project team members (team of highly committed and motivated people). The first is the management whose leader (the institution in charge of their piece of project) is our coordinator (the BOSS) from the Turkish Association of schools ISTEK Schools, Burcu Akyol. Our institution, Language School with the State Language Exams Rights PELIKÁN, Ltd. is responsible for the bulky work package no. 2. Each package consists of individual deliverables (the material results that make up a work package), for example, methodological materials, videos, templates, guides, etc.

Our first deliverable – identifying ICT tools – is already finished. Together with our associate partner Shelley Terrell and other partners we have found 25 great tools for teachers and their personal development. The tools should help facilitate navigation and selection and we have divided them into ten groups according to the required focus, such as Web conferencing tools, blogging platforms, tools aimed at recording of audio messages, etc. By the way, the term "associate partner" does not sound very friendly (at least for me), but behind this term hides a colleague who gets involved in the project because of his genuine interest in it. He does not receive any funding or volunteers to carry out certain tasks and may not be responsible for core activities of the project. He’s a real sweetie, then 🙂 But back to the point. To understand what each tool is good for we should look at descriptions of individual ICT tools. This section contains a detailed description of what a tool is used for, what are its main features and functions, what is needed to operate the program, and if they are available free of charge or what costs there may be involved. The Guide also offers a few tips for implementing the tools and one complete example lesson plan that will hopefully be a welcome inspiration for your own magic tricks with ICT. Descriptions of the tools constitute a part of the next outcome, the Teachers Guide (usually a methodological guide explaining how to make project ideas work.) In here you’ll find a theoretical background on social networking which should aid the professional development of educators by facilitating a broader understanding of this phenomenon within education. The Teacher’s Guide is getting a bit thick, which is a good thing, as it contains everything that a teacher willing to start using social networking and educational tools on the Internet needs to know! In fact, the primary outcome of the project should be to encourage contact between the mentor (who is someone more experienced in the matter than you or, if a dictionary definition required, a wise and trusted counsellor) and the mentee (who is the subject of the mentor´s attention and efforts), where the more experienced colleague makes the curious newcomer see the world of ICT tools and then helps them implement them in his or her professional activities.

Actually, that is the reason why our Ning has been set up. It is supposed to be the post-modern agora where those interested but inexperienced in the world of social networking can find mentors that will guide them through the options that social networking offers to educators and teachers of language. It also includes practical presentation on useful teaching tools that mentees can use both in the classroom and to help them grow as professionals. Before the actual mentoring there will be a questionnaire focused on current attitudes of educators towards social networks and their use for professional purposes which we will compile together. After the mentoring has been done, the time will come for the second part - the post evaluation questionnaire. If you happen to get your hands on the questionnaire, do not hesitate a second and make sure you fill it in (it is online and will only take, say, 10 minutes max.) We hope that the interim report (a report on what is currently being done and what is planned for the future) will go well and that Brussels will be satisfied with the results. The project is concluded with the final report (which details what has been done), after which any language teachers who have let themselves be inspired with aPLaNet activities should not face any problems using Facebook and Twitter a little bit differently than their friends next-door.

Best summer holiday wishes.

Lenka and all aPLaNetars from the Language schools PELIKÁN in Brno, Czech Republic PD.: More details on the individual outputs of our package coming in the next post.

THE PELICAN MULTILINGUAL MAGAZINE

The PELICAN magazine is a unique innovation in teaching languages to young adult students.

Students and teachers of the Language School PELICAN collaborated together in creating a highly personal and stylish magazine full of their opinions, interests and, especially, their newly acquired language skills. A motivating and engaging project and typical of the innovative ideas that make Language School PELICAN a unique and productive learning institution.

Have fun, teach and learn!

You can download the magazine in PDF for Adobe Digital Editions, Adobe Reader or any PDF compatible mobile device. We hope you'll enjoy it.

Our creation is trying to peep into the future. Maybe the role of people and animals will be reversed and people will be crawling at cats’ and dogs’ paws. Or of other animals. Or there will be another kind of people. It is still not known…

The magazine which you are holding in your hands is the result of a very successful experiment. As a language school, we work hard to identify and apply the right teaching method which would help our students to really learn a foreign language. And because we all know that there is no miracle technique how to learn a foreign language fast, we tried to apply the most basic and at the same time the most effective teaching method – project learning. In our case, the technique involves all participants of the teaching process: students, teachers and the school.

It should be said that all the components mentioned above are equally important in language education and the result will never be optimal without their active interaction and mutual cooperation. Sure, a student has to be active and be involved in study with a certain level of enthusiasm and determination. For that, however, he/she needs a teacher who would encourage the student’s activity with appropriate motivation. In order for a teacher to be able to do that, he/she needs support from a school and room for creative work and enjoyment of work. That is why we came with the idea to give our teachers and post-secondary school students an opportunity to try to create together something which would not only prove their language skills, but also would become an effective language tool for other students and teachers, as well as be amusing reading for the general public. And because our school will celebrate a 10-year anniversary next year, we feel we have become something of specialists in our field. Even though we anticipated a certain level of passivity from our students and teachers, we were pleasantly surprised by their attitude. All the students got down to work writing the articles in a foreign language with unusual zeal and joy. The articles handed over to us by teachers were of splendid quality. All that was packaged in a sophisticated design and the result... see for yourselves! We will be pleased if you send us your opinion – we are planning to issue another (an improved?) issue next year. I would like to disprove the notion that young students are often passive or lazy and teachers too little creative. I think (or rather, I am sure) that the mistake lies in attitude. In whose attitude? That is the topic for our next editorial. I wish you good fun with our new magazine and hope that it will bring you some kind of inspiration in the area of attitude to language study.

4 EDITORIAL

A kick-off word The motivation and determination to learn languages and strategies of dealing with the latent creativity of teaching staff and students, commented on by the founder of the school.

6 Topic

Clothes make the man An article in German about fashion in general, fashion icons and related matters.

8 Travelling around

Bonjour en France! Travelling around sweet France. Where to get a delicious glass or two of wine and have a tasty bit of cheese when you’re strolling across France.

12 Interview

Interview with Scion Priest, a US rapper living in the Czech Republic A lovely chat with the US rapper and English teacher about the city of Kraslice, the teacher's pets, music and segregation.

14 Cultural intermezzo

Temptation of Lorelei A poem by the German author Heinrich Heine doesn't lose its spark for contemporary young adult book-loving population.

16 Music and the world

Czech music in the world Talk with the singer of the music band FINAL FICTION, discussing whether people in the Czech Republic listen only to music fair to be consumed with a cold beer and salty peanuts, and what it is that music brings to people.

18 What's eating us

Two very angry letters Two expressions of epistolary nonconformity.

20 Mini-sized literature

V. V. Mayakovsky in poems and a word hunt game Strikingly about the disillusioned master of Russian Futurism. Note: contains poems about giraffes and the Mississippi.

22 VIP interview

Interview with the guru of EU funded educational projects Joel Josephson and the magic of social networks, who are the nicest people he knows, about idols and favourites and what the main plague on this world is.

24 Join in! PELIKAN project work

Don't Give Up! Never let your motivation abandon you Active learning strategies to avoid drop-outs Don’t Give Up! on-line teacher trainings On-line active training EuroLib Introducing the iconic book the Mole to EU educators and schoolchildren aPLaNet Building a virtual staff room

26 Comics

Future dawn Spanish comics about solitude and alienation in an unspecified French city where everything seems to indicate that people in the uncertain future will be crawling at cats’ and dogs’ paws.

29 Postface

Thank you and adié

31 Answer key

Page 1 2 3 4 5 6