We are reaching the end of summer, having welcomed students from all corners of the world, introducing them to the city we love and teaching them English along the way...
I Art therefore I Am
Can you think of a better spot to learn about shapes and colours than inside the latest Serpentine Gallery Summer Pavilion? The children were inspired and got deep into the London contemporary art scene by filling in their activity sheets whilst appreciating what is really and truly the largest colourful blob in London (and possibly the world). The site was also explored by Concetta during the adult London Conversations class and proved to be not only a great conversation starter but also a mean spot for grabbing a coffee!
Just over the Bridge, the teens visited the Sackler Gallery where they came face-to-face with Duane Hanson’s extremely realistic sculptures. There were initial gasps of surprise as they came to realise that those were indeed sculptures and not real people! As one of our students put it: ‘ They look like they were humans turned into stone’. Check out their reviews of the exhibition on our Alumni Page.
Firecrackers and Firestarters
The explosive trio, Riccardo, Leonardo and Leone were gasping when taken to the Flash, Bang, Wallop show. The lovely presenter went on to set everything on fire. Did you know that flour is highly flammable? She filled a shower head with flour and set it alight, making it rain fire!. We also watched the presenter make mini explosions inside paint tins. She stopped short of setting off fireworks in the room, thanks to intervention of the health and safety people at the venue who are clearly a lot more sensible than the kooky firestarter presenter.
Discovering Botanical Britain
What is Britain without its gardens and its leading role in Botanics and all things plant-y? Although we are regular visitors to Kew Gardens, it was somewhere in deep East london that we found out it was there that the first European banana tree was grown in a greenhouse. The historical gardens at the venue were a source of amazement and discovery. Who knew that herbs were such an integral part of our history and everyday lives? We learnt that they not only add an extra kick to margaritas but they are also used for medicines, for dying clothes and as disinfectants. There was overall surprise (even by the workshop leader) that sage and wormwood used to be used as breath fresheners.
As Nima pointed out, why not mint?! Whilst in the gardens, the class was upset by the sight of a hurt bird laying on a bush, which came spiraling down when it attempted to fly. Our workshop leader promised they would be calling the RSPCA and hopefully the bird has been rescued by now.
Cook, Eat, Learn
One of the most memorable experiences this summer has been the pizza-making workshop where the children got the chance to make (and of course eat) their own pizzas. Amongst the ingredients, there was a whole lot of cheese, mushrooms and pepperoni. As the teachers took care of the boring bits such as chopping vegetables and managing the oven, the children got involved with shaping and decorating their pizzas. There was Chanel’s girly heart shaped pizza and Ricardo’s square number. The teaching assistant gave the top prize to Bernardo’s creation for is juiciness and very deep crust.
The teens were inspired by the British masterchef Jamie Oliver and impressed the teachers with their extra cheesy pasta bake. Junka, who is already a pro at cooking Japanese food at the tender age of 15, was no stranger to onion chopping whilst Mateusz, Felix and Takhara were ideal sous chefs. The team couldn’t hold out and tucked into some mozzarella even before the food was served, and everyone was granted extra marks for their washing up skills. Felix commented: ‘ Cooking was interesting and the food was tasty. My parents often use Jamie Oliver recipes’.
Hi-London’s certainly Got Talent!
Our students always surprise us with their hidden talents: so, this time we decided to give them a stage and see what they can come up with. The children had merely an hour to rehearse and impress the teens who formed the not so tough judging panel. The acts were a mixture of showmanship and physicality: roley poley spetacular duo Marcantonio and Leonardo impressed the crowd with their wheelbarrow number whilst two magicians went head to head with their card tricks. But the winner was (drum roll!!!) Isabelle et al, who wowed the judges with their synchronized cartwheels to the soundtrack of Frozen. Teaching Assistant Jack who filmed the show commented: ‘Everyone put in a lot of effort and the result was a very amusing show’. Let them entertain us!
