Our geography lessons are cool

Each geography lesson starts with an agenda that my teacher writes on the board. The first thing there is the rule of 8XS, which means:

1. When Senior
2. Speaks
3. Students are
4. Silent
5. When a Student
6. Speaks (e.g answering or speeching)
7. the other Students are
8. Silent.
Then we talk about our homework. Our teacher asks us questions about our homework; if we do it right we get a + and if we get it wrong (which means we didn’t do our homework properly) and we get a -. A “plus” = 0,1 extra for on our next major test, a “minus” = we lose a +. We also get a – if we don’t concentrate in classroom. The third thing we have on our agenda is reading and answering a few questions in our book. Next on the agenda is that we watch something on the TV about geography in Dutch for 5 minutes and take notes in English. After our notes our teacher asks what is it about, and we have to explain that for a +. My geography teacher is fond of offering us criss cross puzzles (as a small quiz, we get a mark for). I like geography a lot and I also like my class. Bye, Alexandra

Carnival 2007 in Holland

This year I am going to join the carnival party in Noord-Brabant on 17, 18, 19 and 20 February . Unlike The Hague carnival is a big party over there with people who are dressed in fancy clothes. Many people will come to see this festival in the Southern (Roman Catholic) part of our country. There is always a Prince or Princess, not really a member of the Dutch Royal Family, but just everyday persons. They are chosen by the special community of carnival. The lord major will give them the ”key” of the city. How are they chosen? I don’t know... That is a pity. When the festival is starts many huge floats shows their beautiful decorations. The people of Noord-Brabant work very hard for the decorations on the vehicles. The owner of the vehicle takes place on his throne of the vehicle and scatters confetti over the crowd, who is acclaiming at the side. There is always much live music and it is certainly a big festival in the Roman Catholic provinces like Noord- Brabant and Limburg. You should really go there!! Like me, Revin van Alwijk

Rules for writers (reminder)

If you want your writing to be published in this site, these are the rules:

- 200 words maximum (in English)

- you must be a bilingual student of grade 1 or 2 of Hofstad Lyceum

- the subject must be related to geography, sociology, politics or economy (use newspapers and news sites); contributions about daily life (school life and private interests included) are also most welcome, as long as the information is interesting for students in other countries!

- write about your own neighbourhood, city, region or country. Or about European integration.

- always add your own opinion in a couple of words

- finish off your contribution by giving your name and age

- send your contributions to Hans Smit (editor): SMT@hofstadlyceum.nl (as an attachment to your email)

- one or two pictures may be added, but must be sent to me as a seperate (JPG)attachment!!!!!

My pet bird Jojo

I want to tell you something about my pet bird Jojo, because it is a very special bird! It is a mynah (in Dutch we call it a “beo”) Jojo can imitate sounds very well, like voices, telephone ring tones, whistles, slithering fences and much more. If you read this, you would probably think it is some sort of parrot, but it isn’t. Jojo and the other mynahs are family of the sparrow. They live in Asia (mostly Indonesia). They eat fruit & little bugs and live in the Tropical jungle. It is expensive to buy a mynah in Europe, but on the other hand, you will have a great friend… Before Jojo we already have one mynah, and my father two, they were called Benito and Calimero. A mynah has to fly at least once in two days (in the room), so does Jojo. Jojo has many, many adventures outside the cage… He is very curious so he likes to bite in every thing that looks exiting. Jojo is a real explorer and his favourite item is my money pocket. Very often he grabs twenty euro and escapes with it to! Then he shows it proudly to us. He is very naughty, but also the sweetest mynah ever! Do you have a nice pet like Jojo? Please tell me!!!!!!!!!! Greetz, Fina

All about soccer

Hello world!! I have chosen for this sport, because I play football myself. Let me explain about soccer. Football is one of the most popular ball sport of the world and so it is in Holland. The best people are playing for 90 minutes and there are 11 players in the field. From both clubs, of course. You need footballshoes, a shirt, a football short and long socks. You must play it with your head, body and your feet, but a goalkeeper can take the ball with his hands only in the sixteen meter area.If the keeper is in the five meter area and a player is going to made a duel than it’s a freekick for the goalkeeper.The modern game was codified in England following the formation of the Football Association, whose 1863 Laws of the game created the foundations for the way the sport is played today. Football is governed internationally by the Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA). A player can get yellow and red if you make a normal tackle but on the legs or something than it’s yellow and if you make a very hard tackle it’s red, but if you get 2 times yellow than it’s red. I like football very much, because I play it every week.
Greets from Alvin van Reeuwijk, Hofstad Lyceum, T1A

Our beautiful Waddenzee

The word wad comes from the Latin word vadum. The Waddensea (Shallow Waters) is the living area of many sea animals such as fish, seals and even birds that come to eat food. The Waddensea is found in the Netherlands, Germany and Denmark. The Waddensea is also a great recreation place where you can walk when the sea is at its lowest point. Because you’re not allowed to go wad walking(what this walking is called) by yourself you obviously have to go guide there is a special Centrum for walking in the Wadloopcentrum in Pieterburen. In some places you are not allowed to walk any more because they are protected. The mainly reason the Waddensea is protected is of the amount of the so called “blackspots” that cause the oxygen level to decrease and killing many animals. What is also very bad for the environment is the drilling on earth gas. Also important in de Waddensea are the mudflats(wetlands that form when mud is deposited by the tides or rivers, sea and oceans) where many animals live or are gathering food. However, because the rising of the sealevel it is changing the places for some specific animals to live in.
Our opinions of the Waddensea: we think that the government should look better after the environment including the Waddensea. If you start small maybe that is all you need to make the world a better place including animals and people.

Stephanie and Jacqueline

Super storm slashes Holland!

There was a big storm yesterday. It lashed Europe including Holland. It was such a bad storm that schools had to be closed. It killed 28 people in Europe. And 8 of them in Holland. It was a long time that we did not see such a storm. Windows got broken, trees were falling down. Dozens of trucks capsized on the roads, causing enormous traffic jams. All trains had to be taken out of service and the Red Cross had to find sleeping places for thousands of travellers, who could not get home. This kind of wind (11 Beaufort with blasts up to 130 km/h!!)) is very dangerous for our society. My personal opinion about this is that we have to look out. Stay at home for your own safety, do not let small children go outside. Trucks should be forbidden to drive in such a hurricane. In my neighbourhood an old tree fell down. Luckily nothing happened. I wrote this paper to let people know about the storm. A lot of people did not understand that it was a real hazard until they saw the consequences on TV!Bejna Top, T2A

The inundations of 1953

1953, almost 54 years ago…….During the night of January 31th till the morning of February 1st 175.000 hectares of land changed into 175.000 hectares of sea. A super storm, combined with extreme high tide put big parts of Zuid-Holland, Zeeland, West-Vlaanderen and Noord-Brabant under water. Two villages totally vanished: Capelle on Schouwen-Duiveland and Schuring on Hoeksche Waard. Also on the island of Texel there were casualties, 6 in total which one was killed when he tried to warn the local farmers. All together more than 1600 people died as well as thousands of animals. It was the biggest disaster in The Netherlands after the Second World War. Though I didn’t live in the time of the flood disaster I am a bit afraid for this to happen again because I live next to the coast where in 1953 this inundation happened. But fortunately nowadays we have modern techniques to protect ourselves from floods and we have very strong dikes. Every year we have a memorial day where we remind the people who died in 1953 in that horrible night of January 31. By Nor el Saouaf, T2A

New temperature record

During our geography lesson, we talked about the temperature record of January in our country. Peter went outside to measure the temperature with a thermometer and registrated some 14 degrees Celsius, which is abnormally warm fro this time of the year. Jip went to the Media-centre to research more information about the hottest day of January, but she couldn’t find anything that’s why we are doing it instead of her. We couldn’t really find an exact reason for the warm temperature but we think it’s because of the greenhouse effect that affects the climate. The first temperature measuring was in 1901 in De Bilt (near Utrecht). With an average of 8.8 degrees 2007 takes the lead of the temperature record. The last record was in 1921 with an average temperature of 8.2 degrees. Our opinion about this warm temperature is: people are ruining the environment; they must be more concerned about it, because if we don’t change, terrible things will happen in this world.

Joshua Susanto & Sahir Kassem, T2a

Three Wise Men Present for Asturian Friends

During our geography lessons our teacher, Mr. Smit , used a miniature house to teach us about scale. This little house was in fact a florist shop in Dicken's style, nicely illuminated and supplied with a musical box. As flowers are typical for Holland and Dickens could be associated with our bilingual lessons, we decided to send the house to our bilingual friends from IES Cuenca del Nalón. Fortunately our teacher went together with his wife to Asturias during the Christmas break, so he could hand it over to one of their teachers, Ms. Pilar Cuello Alonso. We realize that Spanish kids, unlike us, get their presents on January 5th, celebrating the arrival of the Three Wise Men, so this present with all our names on it will hopefully be on time or just a little bit late. We really thanks the students of our Spanish partnerschool for their contributions to our site and we look forward to meeting you many times again!! And if you would like to come over to Holland, we will arrange a homestay for you! As well as an interesting programme, among others to many more miniature buildings in Madurodam! !Hasta luego! Anna van Dijk (I made the pictures)

Happy New Year!!

The Hofstadgeographers and their editor Geo Stork wish our visitors all over the world a sound, prosperous and peaceful 2007! We hope to meeting you frequently in this blogsite! Keep us informed about your life and the things you are interested in. Please react on our contributions. Why not start a blogsite with your class so as we can react on your issues?! It is very, very easy and gives a lot of fun!! Greetings from The Hague, Holland.

Are you a game addict?

Then there is a gaming clinic now, opened by Keith Baker!Mr. Baker has opened a clinic in Amsterdam which helps addicts who have been under drugs or other things and he also helps game addicts from now on. When you come in you see a dog with just one eye (who has been tortured in youth) and then Keith Baker himself comes in and he draws a circle on a blackboard with arms and legs. He divides it in school, entertainment and family/friends. And he asks you what you do most at the moment. If you’re a true addict you’ll see that the whole circle is entertainment (gaming). Now the treatment will be things like paintball and going to the pub asking girls out on a date. He does so because he says that all the fun stuff you didn’t do in real life you must do here. Now the treatment isn’t cheap; it costs 500 euros a day! And since it’s not government funded you’ll have to pay yourself and as the treatment will last about 6 months that is a lot of cash. But when it’s done you can’t play any games at all which I think is pretty weird. But he says that people who can’t resist alcohol shouldn’t drink either.
Personally I think it’s a bit hard pushed to stop gaming
Jille Niang (13) T1B