Improve Your Communication Skills
Do You Hate School Uniform? – Written By You
My name is Daisy, I’m eleven years old and although I am English, I have lived in Germany nearly all my life! I speak German and English and can read and write both too. I enjoy writing and listening to music and am the middle child of three. My mother is an author.
Does your school have a school uniform? Having to wear those scratchy skirts? Tight stockings? With our normal clothes, you can show what kind of person you are! You can send a message out to the world with how you dress, what makeup you were and how you have your hair done!
School uniforms are stopping all this. Not being allowed to choose what to wear seems so unfair! Wouldn’t it be fair if we could choose if we wanted uniforms or not? People are debating on school uniforms and deciding if they should stay!
Gentry or Servant? Which Would You Choose To Be? – Written By You
You will all know what a ‘servant’ is, I am sure – Perhaps your Mum says that sometimes when you ask her to do too much for you ‘Do you think I am your servant?’ 🙂
Do you know we mean when we say ‘the gentry’? According to this website
The gentry were the people who were knights, squires, gentlemen and gentlewoman whose fortunes were great that they did not have to work with their hands for a living. Their numbers grew rapidly and became the most important class during Elizabethan time. They could start as a knight and through generations and marriages, they could gradually build a wealth and title. Most of the important people of this time came from this class.
Back in Tudor times (between 1485 and 1603), a person couldn’t choose to be born into the gentry. Today groups of people all over the world get together to reenact various periods of history, including the Tudor period.
Alison has been on both sides of the gentry/servant divide and tells us all about reenactments, making your own clothes and living like a Tudor girl, at least for a weekend.
Water and Engineering – Water, Wonderful Life
Dr Lesley Beeton is a scientist, who studies what the DNA code tells us about human life and health. She has always loved science, and believes that science doesn’t just happen in laboratories. It happens all around us. Science keeps aeroplanes flying, electricity flowing, and the internet speedy.
Dr Beeton grew up in South Africa. Some of you may have traveled there for your holidays, to see the game reserves or Table Mountain. But even if you haven’t been there, we can all still learn something from the experiences of southern Africa.
Explaining History – And Firing a Steam Train
Have you ever watched someone at work and wondered how they got there, or why they do what they do all day long?
Laura works as an explainer at the UK’s biggest train museum – the National Railway Museum in York. It may seem that steam trains and young women do not go together, but Laura loves it. She spoke to Joanne to explain how she became an explainer, and what she does all day.
What is the Mexican Day of the Dead (Día de los Muertos)?
On 1st and 2nd of November, Mexico celebrates its Day of the Dead (Día de los Muertos). This is a festival that begins on 28th October and ends on a public holiday on 2nd November. During this time, Mexicans believe that the deceased have permission from God to visit friends and relatives on earth, and once again enjoy the pleasures of life. It isn’t seen as a time of sadness and mourning but as a celebration of life.
Where Does the Tradition Come From?
The Aztecs believed that death was just a part of the circle of life and offered gifts to the goddess Mictecacihuatl (“Lady of the Dead”) for deceased children and adults. This tradition was incorporated into the Catholic celebration of All Saint’s Day and All Soul’s Day when the Spanish conquered the country. You might know All Saint’s Day by its other name – Halloween!