Extracurricular activities 20.04.2015 - 26.04.2015

A DIY mug decorating workshop, a dramatized tour of the city... This week we have a whole host of activities available. Enjoy!

Monday 20, 4:00 pm: Dramatized tour – Come learn the history and legends behind some of Salamanca's most important monuments in a different and fun way.

Approximate duration: 2h.

Tuesday 21, 7:00 pm: Huerto de Calixto y Melibea – Discover the romantic story behind this beautiful garden.

Approximate duration: 40min.

Wednesday 22, 7:00 pm: 'Decorate your mug' workshop – Teacher Alicia will show us how to decorate mugs with a design of your choosing.

Approximate duration: 1h.

Thursday 23, Holiday* – We are celebrating Castile and Leon Community Day. *For your convenience, we are having classes today and moving the holiday to Friday 24th. This way you will enjoy a long weekend. May we suggest you go on a trip? Check the destinations available below. 
April 23rd is also World Book Day. Tip: visit the book fair at Plaza Mayor.
 

Friday 24, 12:00 pm: Film– Although there will be no classes today, if you are staying in Salamanca you may want to come watch a Spanish film with us.

Saturday 25: Excursions – This long weekend is the perfect opportunity to go on a trip and discover other spots in Spain and Portugal. Oporto, Aveiro, Valle del Jerte, Sevilla, Segovia and Ávila. Plenty of options. Need advice? Come to the reception desk and we will gladly help you choose. Sign up by Wednesday 22nd.

Please don't forget that you need to sign up for each activity at the reception desk (in order to reserve your place). The minimum number of participants required for each activity is usually three. Unless otherwise stated, the meeting point is Tía Tula school. If no price is mentioned in the above description, the activity is free of charge.

Try to participate in as many activities as you can; they are designed not just for you to have fun, but also to improve your knowledge of Salamanca and Spanish culture, and to put into practice the Spanish you have learnt in class.

World Book Day

The 23rd of April we celebrated the World Book Day.

 

 

We celebrate this day because on the same day in 1616 Cervantes, Shakespeare and Inca Garcilaso de la Vega passed away. There were also lots of other excellent writers just like Maurice Druon, K. Laxness, Vladimir Nabokov, Josep Pla and Manuel Mejía Vallejo, who were born or died on the 23^rd of April. That’s also the reason that this date, which has a symbolic signification for literature, was chosen by the General Conference of the UNESCO for honoring books and their writers and for encouraging everyone, especially the youngsters, to discover the pleasure of reading. The idea of this celebration was born in Cataluña (Spain), where on this day they traditionally give a rose to the buyer of a book.

 

There are also some other events on that day, that have actually nothing to do with books:

 

The day of the Community in Castilla León, because on the 23^rd of April in 1521 the Battle of Villalar in the countryside of Valladolid was set free. They confronted the members of the Castilian community, which was a little army that was mostly made up by farmers, with the imperial forces of the new king Carlos I. Carlos I entered a little while before from Flandes with barely knowing a word of Castilian and was the most powerful European king of the moment. The comuneros were massacred and the battle, of which they knew it would be a bloodbath, for the freedom and for the rejection imposed from the outside, was recorded in the history forever.

 

Another event that took place on April 23 of the year 303 was the one on where San Jorge, leader of Aragón and Cataluña (and other countries and territories, just like England), was tortured and executed for defending his religious liberty and for not giving up his Christianity when his ceasar, Diocleciano, told him to follow and to seek after the Christians of the empire. After that the legend of San Jorge and the Dragon came up. The legend tells that San Jorge went to a dragon, who demanded human sacrifices in exchange for water of a well, and killed it. He actually confronted the dragon after he heard that the next sacrifice would be a princess. With this legend a new kind of literature was introduced: the one of swords, dragons and witchery. In Cataluña they remember San Jorge (San Jordi there) giving a red rose, which is the symbol of love and passion, with the book that is always accompanying it to the loved ones.