YOUR FRIENDS FROM THE BASQUE COUNTRY
Can you guess who’s who in the photos?
Hello! We
are Irati and Andrea and we are going to describe the photo. The first one is
Iker Pelaz, he is wearing a blue shirt, long blue pants and his hair is blond.
He is eating an apple. Next to Iker Pelaz is Oier. Oier is reading a book he is
in a grey shirt, in some long black pants and his hair is brown. Next to Oier is
Zuriñe, and she is chatting on her mobile phone. Zuriñe has got short black
hair and she wearing a yellow sweater and jeans. Next to Zuriñe are Naroa and
Ñusta. Naroa and Ñusta are talking to each other. Ñusta has got long black hair
and is dressed in a blue shirt and short black shorts. Naroa's hair is curly
and blond. She likes dressing in pink, today she is wearing a white
bullfighter’s jacket. In front of Naroa
and Ñusta Haritz and Ander are playing with a ball. Haritz has brown curly hair
and he is wearing grey shorts. Ander has smooth brown hair, and he is dressed
in a striped shirt and short jeans. Behind Haritz, Iker Aguirre and Iker
Arbaiza are playing “Double, double this, double that”. Iker Aguirre is wearing
a red t-shirt, some long blue jeans and his hair is light brown like Iker
Arbaiza’s. Finally, Iker Arbaiza likes wearing black t-shirts and shorts, as he
is doing today.
How about this one?
Naia and Ane are speaking and Amaiur and Lur are smiling at the
camera.
Naia has got a red jacket, blue trousers, purple trainers and a blue
school bag.
Ane is wearing a white jacket, white trousers and brown boots, she has
a black school bag and she holding a a notebook in her hands.
Amaiur, the one in glasses, is dressed in a grey T-shirt which has got
a tiger. She is wearing grey trousers, brown boots.
Lur, the one in a white T-shirt, blue short trousers and black trainers,
likes everything related to cars, maybe that’s why he is holding a
pneumatic-tyre in his hands.
We like
school and school subjects, we hate homework though; but spare time is what we
really enjoy! We do many things out of school. We like playing computers (Play
Station or Xbox 360, …), watching tv, … but we love going out with our friends, seeing films with them,
Some of us
like music and dancing in particular and that is why we have extra curriculum
lessons on learning to play the piano, the guitar and on Basque dance, …
Many of us
do sports regularly, twice, three or more times a week. We usually train on
school days and have matches on the weekend. Most of the boys in the class play
football, but there some who play basketball, Basque pilota that is played in a
jai-alai and can be played just with naked hands or with a wooden racket,
taekwondo or go swimming or do athletics.
OUR FAMILIES
Most of our
parents work in a factory as labours or computer technicians and some work at
home as housewives. But some others work as lorry drivers, cameramen, shop
assistants, nurses, bricklayers, salesmen and saleswomen, doctors, teachers, …
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| kitchen |
Many
of us live in flats. These are of different size but all of them have a hall,
three or four bedrooms some of them with a bathroom, one kitchen with or
without a dining-room, one bathroom with a shower, one toilet, one sitting-room
where we meet or watch TV. There are some students who live in detached houses
which usually have more than one floor and more rooms and bathrooms than a flat
and are surrounded by agarden
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| garden |
Some of these
have a swimming-pool too.
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| farm house |
But the typical house in the Basque Country is
the “baserria”,
a farmhouse,
which is a very big building made of wood and stones, where large families used
to live with the cattle.
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| living-room |
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| cellar |
The cattle occupied the ground floor, the family the
first floor and the second floor was used as a big cellar, where corn, wheat, potatoes, apples,
… were kept to make bread and have food during the winter time.
In our class we love animals. Many of us have a
dog as a pet. Some of them are called Gau (Night), Gezi (arrow), Zuri (White), Lur
(Earth), Bat (One) Bizkor (Fast), Hiru (Three), Pekas (Spots) and Laster
(Sudden). Only one of us has a hamster called “Little Ball”. There are two of
us who have got some tortoises; their names are “Water” and
Fast”. As you know those animals are omnivores and can live for over 15-20
years. Naroa has got two ducks in her garden; they are twin ducks, isn’t it funny? Two of us have
horses, “Scary”, “Who” and “Zar”, that
feed on grass in the fields nearby. One classmate has a peacock which was brought from Pakistan. It eats seeds, plants and insects.
Another classmate looks after a ninfa, which is yellow bird that feeds on pips,
fruit, … Unfortunately it lives in a cage in the living-room. Another of us has
a very talkative parrot. It sleeps in a cage at night but during the day it flies free in the
house. We also have fish, cats, hens, goats, sheep, … Our teacher of English likes donkeys. Actually he has got four of them; they live in
a big hut in the countryside.
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| ducks |
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| donkeys |
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| goats |
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| dog |
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| cock |
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| parrot |
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| horses |
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| tortoise |
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| peacock |
INTERVIEWING …
the Principal of our school
We asked the principal for an appointment to interview
him and get to know a bit more about his job and his concerns on school
management. He accepted it very kindly. He told us that
his job sometimes is difficult but he feels happy when doing it.
He also said that the hardest situations
happen when there are students who do not behave properly or have a rude
attitude towards classmates or teachers. He spends few hours at teaching but he
said that teaching is what he likes the best. Actually he has been teaching for
23 years. Perhaps next year he will be replaced by another teacher as principal
of the school. We also asked him about his youth, his likes and hobbies. He
said that before he became a teacher he worked at a sausages factory; and that basically
he has four hobbies: reading, seeing films, meeting friends and cooking.
and …
another one we interviewed is Unai Albizua, aged
24, an ex-student of our school who has become a footballer in the First
Division worldwide well-known football team Athletic Football Club of Bilbao.
He reminded of the school time, the best and the worst. He told us about his
teachers and school friends and that, from time to time, he was punished for
his bad behaviour. But he admitted that leaving school was one of the saddest
moments in his life. Although his dream was to become a footballer, he went on
studying and he got the degree on Physical Education. He has got a girlfriend
and he would not change anything in his life, he feels really happy.
