Christmas in Spain

By Salva, Edu, Marc and Sergio.

This blog is to show Matthew how Christmas is in Spain. This will be his first Christmas here.

Merry Christmas - Feliz Navidad

We wish you the best Christmas ever... soon after the 6th of January we will be back to School and have new interesting post for you!!

You can also see our class blog.

Christmas in UK

By Luis, Paco, Ana & Marta

Hello! This is our presentation of Christmas in UK
 

Matthew’s student life

By Eduard and Marc

Matthew studies at the University of Nottingham, England.His course is called Hispanic studies. For four years Matthew studies at the university, currently he is in the third year in Spain. 

The course involves the study of the history of Spain and latin america as well as the literature and culture.

Every week a students have 15/20 hours of class. how ever, a student life goes on after class because there are lots of new things to do,for example the university offers lots of differents sports-Matthew plays football. The university offers other societies such as drama, film and music.

The university has campuses  in UK (Nottingham) ,China (Ningbo) and Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur).

There you have some links of the university~~~>

University of nottingham in China

Google Maps UN China

University of Nottingham

Google Maps Matthew's University

Google Maps UN Malaysia

University of nottingham in Malaysia

Matthew's City

By Luis and Paco!!
This year at IES JMP we have a language assistant from England. We interviewed him to talk about his home town. Here is what happened…

Matthew’s city is called Salisbury, it is in the South West of England, in the county of Wiltshire. Salisbury is a touristic city because there are a number of historical monuments in the surrounding area.

-Salisbury’s Cathedral

Perhaps Salisbury Cathedral is the most famous monument in the city. Formally known as the Cathedral Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary, is an Anglican cathedral in Salisbury, England, and one of the leading examples of Early English architecture. The main body of the cathedral was completed in only 38 years, from 1220 to 1258.

The cathedral has the tallest church spire in the United Kingdom (123m). Visitors can take the "Tower Tour" where the interior of the hollow spire, with its ancient wood scaffolding, can be viewed, but Matthew hasn’t done this yet. The cathedral also has the largest cloister and the largest cathedral close in Britain. It contains the world's oldest working clock (from AD 1386) and has the best surviving of the four original copies of Magna Carta (all four original copies are in England). In 2008, the cathedral celebrated the 750th anniversary of its consecration.

In Matthew’s free time he likes to spend time with this friends in the Cathedral’s close, because is a nice area to relax and chill out.

-Stonehenge:

Stonehenge is a prehistoric monument in Wiltshire, England,8 miles north of Salisbury. Stonehenge's ring of standing stones are set within earthworks in the middle of the most dense complex of Neolithic and Bronze Age monuments in England, including several hundred burial mounds.

Archaeologists believe it was constructed from 3000 BC to 2000 BC. The surrounding circular earth bank and ditch, which constitute the earliest phase of the monument, have been dated to about 3100 BC. Radiocarbon dating suggests that the first bluestones were raised between 2400 and 2200 BC, although they may have been at the site as early as 3000 BC.

One of the most famous landmarks in the UK, Stonehenge is regarded as a British cultural icon. It has been a legally protected Scheduled Ancient Monument since 1882 when legislation to protect historic monuments was first successfully introduced in Britain. The site and its surroundings were added to UNESCO's list of World Heritage Sites in 1986. Stonehenge is owned by the Crown and managed by English Heritage; the surrounding land is owned by the National Trust.

Stonehenge could have been a burial ground from its earliest beginnings. Deposits containing human bone date from as early as 3000 BC, when the ditch and bank were first dug, and continued for at least another five hundred years.

In the summer, Matthew works at Stonehenge in the gift shop, because is very close to his house and every summer is so busy and it need a lot of workers.

-Salisbury local market:

Salisbury holds a Charter market on Tuesdays and Saturdays and has held markets regularly since 1227. In the 15th century the Market Place had four crosses. The Poultry Cross whose name describes its market. The cheese and milk cross indicated that market which was in the triangle between the HSBC bank and the Salisbury Library. There was a third cross near the site of the present war memorial and this marked a woollen and yarn market. A fourth cross called Barnwell or Barnards Cross was situated around the Culver Street, Barnard Street area, this marked a cattle and livestock market. Today only the Poultry Cross remains, to which flying buttresses were added in 1852.

In 1226, King Henry III granted the Bishop of Salisbury a charter to hold a fair lasting 8 days from the Feast of the Assumption of Mary (15 August). Over the centuries the dates for the fair have moved around, but in its modern guise, a funfair is now held in the Market Place for three days from the third Monday in October. However, there is still an ancient law stating that the fair can be held in the Cathedral Close.

Matthew’s mother works on the salisbury market every Saturday with her friend together they run an olive stall.

Nowadays, one can find a variety of local products such as local meat, Wiltshire honey and lots of different alcohols. Every december there is a Christmas market where there are a lot of festive presents and a really nice atmosphere.

-Poultry Cross:

The Poultry Cross is a market cross in Salisbury, Wiltshire, England, marking the site of former markets. Constructed in the 14th century and modified in the 18th century it stands at the junction of Silver Street and Minster Street. It has been designated by English Heritage as a Grade I listed structure.

The Poultry Cross is the only one remaining of four market crosses that once stood in Salisbury. The others were the Cheese Cross in the present Cheesemarket area, Barnard's Cross (livestock) at the junction of Barnard Street and Culver Street and another which designated a market for wool and yarn at the east end of the present Market Place near the War Memorial.

The presence of a market cross on the Poultry Cross site dates to 1307 and the name to about a century later. The present stone structure was built in the late 15th century. The original flying buttresses were removed in 1711, as can be seen in the painting of 1800 by JMW Turner; the present buttresses date from 1852–4, when the upper parts of the cross were rebuilt to the designs of the architect Owen Browne Carter.

The present day site is used as part of Salisbury Market on Tuesdays and Saturdays.

Matthew hobbies

By: Marta & Ana

 

Matthew plays and follows football.His favourite team is Arsenal who play in London. When he is playing football, his position is centre midfield, he played it at school when he was younger. 

He loves to travel, he stay in a lot of different countries. Two years ago he went Interrailing (this is when you buy one train ticket which gives you unlimited train travel for two/three weeks) so he visited Amsterdam, Berlin and other european cities, but not Spain. In the future, he would like to travel more and go to Asia and the far east. 

His biggest passion is music, his favorite genre is rock, his favorite band is often an english band, such as the Arctic Monkeys.

 One of his favorite hobbies is to go to gigs and concerts, every year there is a festival in Hyde Park in London, he likes to go there to see his favorite bands.

He likes to watch differents series on t.v. for example: Homeland, which is an american spy drama.

 And that's all. We hope you like it.

Thanks Matthew for your help!!❤😋

Matthew’s life in Valencia

By Sergio V. Salva C.

-When Matthew isn’t in IES Jose Maria Parra, he live in Valencia. Every working days Matthew take the train and go to Alzira to learn and teach with the student.

- He lives in the centre of the city, close to train station, which he  goes to in order to come to alzira.

- In his free time he has the opportunity  to travel, for example the first days in spain he visited Barcelona with a friends from university of  Valencia.

- Matt enjoys walking through the 'El Carmen' streets.

- One of his favourite activities in Valencia is cycling from his flat to the

beach because is a very beautiful journey through to the ‘Rio Turia’ and  the ‘Ciudad  de las Artes’

 
 

- In october matthew’s family visited him, they went to the old town  of ‘Xàtiva’ and they visited the castle at  the top of the hill, and he thinks it is really cool.

-In the future he hopes to visit the Albufera and the surrounding area, because it is very naturally beautiful. 

- In the future he wants to visit some valencian museums.

- We recommend  matthew to visit  the Polytechnic University.

His street is: Street Martínez Cubells, 46529