L`éCHO DU COLLÈGE - International School of Boston

L’écho du Collège
January–February 2013
The student run, student written ISB Middle School Newspaper
Editorial
Black History Month
As we all know, February is known as
“Black History Month.” It began in
1926 in the United States. Carter G.
Woodson and the Association for the
Study of Negro Life and History
declared the second week of February
“Negro History Week.” The reason
why this week was chosen was because
it was the birthday of Abraham Lincoln
and Frederick Douglas. In 1976, the
government expanded the week into a
month.
Here are some famous figures that
changed history for AfricanAmericans:
to Maryland to
rescue her family
members and led
other slaves to
freedom. When
the Fugitive
Slave Act of
1850 (which
allowed people to
try to recapture
their slaves) was passed, she led them to
the north to Canada, where slavery
wasn’t allowed. She died on March 10,
1913.
Malcolm X: Born
May 19, 1925, he
was a Muslim
minister and
human rights
activist. (continued
Harriet Tubman (also known as
Moses): Born a slave in 1820, she
rescued slaves by creating the
Underground Railroad. When Tubman
escaped to Philadelphia, she returned
on page 4)
L e Ly c é e
Ici, au Lycée
International de Boston,
tout le monde vient d’un
pays différent, parle
deux langues ou plus et
nous avons l’impression
que c’est normal puisque
c’est notre
environnement
quotidien. Cependant,
dans les écoles non
bilingues, tout le monde
fait
attention
aux élèves
qui
Volume 1I, Issue I1
viennent d’autres pays
parce que cela sort de
l’ordinaire. C’est peutêtre ce qui rend notre
école si super: le
multiculturalisme.
(continued on page 8 )
Hi everyone! We’re
sorry that we haven’t
had an edition of Echo
du Collège out for a
while. We’ve had several problems but now
we’re back and running.
The newspaper team
prepared a number of
articles for this issue
that are well written and
very interesting. We
have worked very hard
and dedicated lots of
time to this issue. We
enjoyed creating this
edition and really hope
you like it. Right now,
we’re working on getting another one out by
early spring and we are
looking forward to that
one too. We hope you
enjoy reading these articles written by your
classmates!
Markos et Lennart,
Éditeurs en chef
In this issue:
In the News
2
Science and Technology
5
Culture and Travel
7
Our School
8
Book & Movie Reviews
11
Fun
14
IN THE NEWS
Torre de David:The Largest Vertical Slum in the World
Caracas is the capital and largest city of Venezuela, a country in Latin America. In the 1950s, Caracas was a
booming city, making Venezuela a stable democracy, and a close oil trade ally of the United States. The city
was the ideal of modern life for the rest of Latin and South America and possessed a fantastic University,
grandiose museums, country clubs, fine hotels, wonderful beaches, and a strong middle class. Venezuela
would become a popular destination for numerous immigrants and visitors from Europe. It was during that
time that David Brillembourg became immensely rich in the oil business. It was he who would eventually order and pay for the construction of the Confinanzas Skyscraper Complex in the 1990s. The Complex was to
include two towers, one 18 stories, the other 45 stories high, and a parking garage. This, thought Brillembourg, would greatly enhance the image of Caracas and himself and the Complex would serve as Caracas’s
Wall Street. The tallest of the two towers was to be named after Brillembourg: “Torre de David” or “Tower of
David". The oil magnate died in 1993 and never saw the completion of his Complex, nor would anyone else.
Shortly after Brillembourg’s Death, Venezuela was swept into a huge banking crisis,
which consumed a third of the country’s capital. The once so prosperous city would start to
become poorer and poorer. Today, Caracas is
only a trace of what it used to be. The “Tower
of David” was 60% complete when the crisis
hit. After the event, construction was not resumed, due to a lack
of funds. If you approach Caracas today, though, you will find the
Tower of David without a problem. It peeks out far over the common
houses of the city’s center, even though it was never completed. From afar, you might even think that it was,
in fact, completed. The sun reflects on the glass panes that would have served as windows. Yet, approaching,
you would find uneven spots in the glass walls, for some panes are missing. If you circled the building you
would find that some of the sides are not
covered with glass at all. What you would
find, though, would be an occasional satellite dish, and small, badly constructed brick
houses in the empty spaces of the building.
You would be staring at a slum. A squalid
and overcrowded urban street or district
inhabited by very poor people, as the dictionary states. To understand why the unfinished Tower is inhabited, we will go
back in time a bit. After the city had tried
everything to resume the building process, and also tried to sell the building to privately owned corporations,
it finally abandoned the incomplete Wall Street.
(continued on page 4)
2
Felix Baumgartner: Jump from
the Sky
Hurricane Sandy
On October 29th, Hurricane Sandy hit the East Coast
as a Category 1 hurricane. Hurricane categories are
based on
wind
speeds.
Winds
from 7492 mph
would be
a Category 1.
Sandy started off in the Caribbean, hitting countries
like Jamaica, Cuba, Haiti, Dominican Republic, and
the Bahamas. It resulted in over 60 deaths in those
countries. Power was out, streets were flooded, trees
fell, and waves became very big because of the heavy
rain and the wind, which reached up to 110 mph (177
kph). Next, Sandy hit the U.S. It started in the South,
around
North
and
South
Carolina,
with
heavy
rain and
strong winds. People around the coasts were asked to
evacuate. New York City and coastal New Jersey were
particularly hit hard with heavy rain, destructive winds
and 12 foot waves. Houses were knocked over, power
was out for days and airports were shut down. The
death toll reached 110 . Areas in North Carolina and
West Virginia got up to 2 feet of snow instead of the
rain. Normally busy areas like Time Square and Grand
Central Station were completely deserted!
Felix Baumgartner,
an Austrian skydiver,
pilot, parachutist and
daredevil set the
world record for
jumping an estimated
39 km jump from the
sky, on October 14,
2012. He reached an
estimated speed of
1342 km per hour,
and became the first
person to break the
sound barrier in a
freefall. This was 65 years after Chuck Yeager first
broke the sound barrier inside an experimental rocket
airplane.
Felix was sent up in the sky by a large and very thin
balloon. He was inside a small rocket attached to the
balloon. Jumping over the New Mexico desert, Felix
made a freefall
most of the way and
after four minutes,
20 seconds he
opened his parachute.
Baumgartner says
that he mainly decided to do this jump because he liked to see the world
from above. Ever since he was little he has enjoyed
climbing trees, and being up high. That’s why, at the
age of sixteen, he decided to become a skydiver.
During his fall, it was said that he started spinning and
then he decided to deploy his parachute. The entire trip
back to Earth lasted 9 minutes and 9 seconds. The giant leap was supported by Red Bull Stratos, after 5
years of preparing and training for this mission to improve scientific knowledge about how the human body
By Markos A.
3
Torre de David:The Largest
Vertical Slum in the World
Black History Month
He was known as a courageous advocate for the rights of
Then, one night in October of 2007, several hundred blacks. He was accused of preaching racism, and violence
in his early years. Many people say he was one of the
men, women and children, led by a group of exgreatest and most influential African-Americans in hisconvicts, came to the Tower and started settling in
tory. He died on February 21, 1965.
its
Martin Luther King, Jr.: Born January 15,
open
1929, he was a leader in
floors.
African-American Civil
For
Rights. He led the
many
Montgomery Bus Boyof
cott in 1955. He helped
those
organize the March on
poor
Washington in 1963,
people,
where he gave his “I
the Tower meant finally having something like a
roof over their heads and they were happy with their Have a Dream”
speech. He was in favor of non-violence. King organized a march from Selma
to Montgomery on March 7, 1965. The first attempt was
aborted because of the violence of police and mobs. It has
been known as “Bloody Sunday” ever since. He tried
again on March 9 but failed again. The march finally succeeded on March 25.
(continued from page 2)
new environment. It was the start of a series of unused building invasions in Caracas; many poor families started to live in abandoned apartment buildings
or office towers. The Torre de David and its surrounding complex now house an estimate of 3.000
people. Since the invasion, the Tower of David has
gained notoriety as the city’s center of murder and
crime. Yet it offers shelter to many homeless human
beings. In barely 60 years, Caracas has thus changed
He was assassinated on April 4, 1968.
from a booming ideal of modern life to a city with
The 3rd Monday of January is Martin Luther King, Jr
the greatest vertical slum in the world. This is an
Day.
extremely sad, yet quite fascinating story.
By Lennart N.
By Jihane J.
4
Science and Technology
Les élèves de la classe de Physique-Chimie en 4ème avec Mme. Heinz ont écrit des textes sur l’atmosphère et l’effet de serre. Ici un de ces projets écrit par Alice R. et Sophie R.
Diminution de la pression atmosphérique avec l’altitude : Le(s) mal(/maux)
des montagnes/de l’altitude
Nos deux aventurières échangent un regard inquiet. Décidément, de plus en plus de
personnes font face à des
problèmes de santé. Elles continuent leur trajet périlleux et
atteignent le point d'arrivée en deuxième position.
Elles sont épuisées par leur étape mais très fières. A
l’arrivée, le présentateur leur annonce l'état des autres
équipes. Apparemment, un de leur concurrents, Antony, a un oedème cérébral de haute altitude, son
cerveau a enflé. Il a donc été évacué. Le lendemain,
Albert, un des membres de l’équipe arrivée en preNous sommes au pied de la montagne dont on
mière place commence à avoir du mal à respirer,
vient de commencer l'ascension, les candidats sont
tousse et crachote un liquide mousseux. Trois jours
nerveux mais volontaires. Les équipes sont proches les
unes des autres et certains candidats ont commencé à ac- plus tard, on leur apprend qu’il était atteint d’un
oedème des poumons de haute altitude dû à une
célérer le pas. C’est une décision personnelle que les
deux soeurs ne se sont pas risquées à prendre. Une heure maladie chronique qu’il avait. Pour récupérer après
est maintenant passée et Lila s'arrête pour boire quelques avoir eu cette maladie, il faut seulement du temps, de
quatre à cinq jours, à une altitude plus basse ou norgorgées d’eau, elle passe la bouteille à Sarah. Les deux
male pour eux. On leur fait une présentation dans
jeunes femmes reprennent leur ascension difficile sans
laquelle il est expliqué que tous les problèmes de
broncher. Après trois heures, nous croisons une équipe
santé s'étant passés pendant la montée étaient dûs à
dont Joseph, un homme d’une quarantaine d’années, a
l’air mal en point. Il se tient la tête entre les mains et est l’altitude. Lorsqu’on monte en altitude, la pression
est plus basse et l’air est plus rare. C’est-à-dire que
assis en boule sur le sol rocailleux. Sarah s'arrête et devu qu’il y a moins d’atomes au-dessus de nos têtes,
mande à Simone, la femme et coéquipière de Joseph ce
qu’il lui arrive. “ Il a des maux de tête et il vient de vomir l’air est moins compressé et les molécules s’éparpillent un peu plus. Il y a donc moins de dioxygène par
dans le coin, là-bas.” Lila leur souhaite bon cou-rage et
mètre cube d’air et notre corps n’y est pas vraiment
nos amies reprennent leur chemin. Encore quelques
kilomètres plus loin, Lila aperçoit une équipe adverse et habitué, nos poumons ne sont pas assez grands pour
laisser passer une quantité suffisante d'oxygène dans
s'élance à leur rencontre. C'était l’une de celles qui
avaient pris un départ si rapide. Une fois que nous avons le corps ce qui l’affaiblit. C’est qu’il n’y a pas une
quantité suffisante d’O2 dans les tissus, c’est appelé
rejoint Lila, les deux plus jeunes candidats qui sont
l’hypoxie. Tous les participants de la course sont
jumeaux sont assis au sol. Les mains et le visage d’Antony ont doublé de taille. Camille se penche pour lui don- maintenant en bonne santé. Ils ont repris la course,
enfin, seulement pour les meilleurs… Par Alice R. et
ner une boisson vitaminée et lui retirer ses chaussures
Sophie
R.
maintenant trop serrées.
Les candidats de l’émission de télé réalité Pékin
Express ont pour mission de gravir le Mont Everest dans la
chaîne des Himalayas. C’est sans doute une des missions les
plus difficiles de la saison et les candidats sont fatigués par
les trois semaines de course. Les conditions seront dures et
la compétition l’est aussi. Aujourd’hui nous allons suivre la
progression de Lila et Sarah Dares, deux soeurs ayant sept
ans d’écart. A leur arrivée sur le site, les candidats se sont
accordé un jour de repos pour minimiser les risques de
santé. En plus de leur repos forcé, il leur est conseillé
d’avancer doucement, de ne pas se forcer au-delà du raisonnable et de faire attention à boire et à faire des pauses
régulières.
5
AT&T and T-Mobile Breakup
AT&T planned since last year to buy T-Mobile from the Dutch phone company Telekom. But the proposal of the merger met with many objections. The three main opponents were the U.S. Department of Justice,
the Federal Communications Commission, and also one of AT&T’s main competitors, Sprint. The opposition
has done almost everything possible to stop the merger. AT&T was willing to pay 39 billion dollars for the
phone company but the opposition said it was going to be really bad for customers. (continued on page 7)
Dauphins
Qu’est-ce qu’un dauphin? Certaines personnes vous répondront: c’est un membre
d’une équipe de natation (moi par exemple) mais la plupart diront que c’est un animal. Un animal? D’accord mais quel type d’animal? Un poisson, un mammifère, un
reptile? Maintenant, réfléchissons : un dauphin, ça vit sous l’eau donc... c’est un
poisson! Eh non! Le dauphin est un mammifère marin, comme la baleine. Mais
alors les requins aussi sont des mammifères? Eh bien... non. Les requins, eux, sont
des poissons. Maintenant, vous n’y comprenez plus rien du tout. Attendez, je vous
explique. La différence est que les petits des mammifères ne sortent pas du ventre de leur mère sous la forme
d’un oeuf, ils sont déjà comme leurs parents. Les poissons, eux, pondent leurs oeufs et leurs petits sortent après
un temps défini par le type du poisson. Aussi, les mammifères s’occupent de leurs petits après leur naissance
alors que les poissons les abandonnent.
Par Alice R.
Wind Turbines
We’ve all seen it, that wind turbine on the side of I-93 while going to or coming back from Boston. The
huge tower, about 300 feet off the ground, with its wings slowly
turning, is an amazing
piece of machinery. Most
people know that wind
turbines are used as an
alternative way of making
energy, but how do three
wings slowly being turned
by the wind create electricity?
Roscoe Wind Farm
The way wind turbines
work is actually not very complicated. When the wind turns the blades, it actually turns the shafts and gears inside the wind turbine, which are connected to a generator to create electricity. On average, in one year, a single
wind turbine generates around 5 million kilowatts, enough to run about 1,700 televisions or 500 homes! Other
fun facts about wind turbines:
 Roscoe Wind Farm in Texas is the world’s largest wind farm, with 627 turbines.
 The first windmills were created around 2000 BC in China and Persia.
 There are an estimated 20,000 wind turbines in the US; Texas is the state with the most.
By Markos A.
6
AT&T-Mobile Breakup
(continued from page 6)
AT&T planned to use T-Mobile’s 4g network and its customers to surpass Verizon (the largest phone company in the US). AT&T stated there would be no difference if they merged with T-Mobile, saying that they would keep all T-Mobile
stores. But the government thought that they would make phone service more
expensive and less innovative.
Because the merger was blocked, AT&T was ordered to pay 4 billion
as a fee to Telekom. This deal mostly affects T-Mobile , as its parent company
(Telekom) has already said it doesn’t want to cover expenses for a company in the US, meaning that other companies can buy T-Mobile or part of it, or it can even become its own company. While other companies are getting bigger, T-Mobile is losing business. T-Mobile is the 4th largest phone company in the U.S. but hasn’t been
able to acquire high end phones like the Apple iPhone. Some regional companies are able to get exclusive highend phones, which is hurting T-Mobile. So AT&T won’t be that hurt by losing the merger, but for T-Mobile this
could cost lots of money.
By Olivier B.
Culture & Travel
Vocaloid: Japanese Pop Stars
Voyage à Lourdes
There are a lot of things to appreciate from Japan:
anime, fashion, and music. But when it comes to my
favorite, it would have to be in the music category.
Vocaloid is made by Crypton Future Media. It’s a
Japanese/Korean/English computer synthesizer software and the name is a mix between vocal and android. The main star is Hatsune Miku. With her long
blue pigtails and amazing high-pitched voice, she is
the most loved Vocaloid in Japan. The Vocaloid characters are not human beings, but are projections which
have “robotic” voices. They take regular singing and
somehow make it sound a little “auto tuned”, as you
might call it. There are different types of voices in
different pitches and they all have characters who represent them: Len and Rin Kagamine (twins), Meiko
Sakine, Kaito, Neru Akita, and Haku Yowane.
One of my favorite songs is “World is Mine”
by Hatsune Miku. There are other popular songs like
Levan Polka, Po Pi Po (vegetable juice), Honey, Butterfly on Your Right Shoulder and many more.
Situation géographique :
Lourdes se trouve au sudouest de la France, dans la
chaîne de montagnes appelée “les Pyrénées”.
Beaucoup de personnes du
monde entier y vont en
pèlerinage pour demander
des guérisons parce que la Vierge Marie y serait apparue en 1858 et plusieurs miracles y auraient eu lieu.
Le Pont d’Espagne
Comme son nom
l’indique, ce site se
trouve à proximité
de l’Espagne.
On y admire de
multiples cascades
et un grand nombre de ponts qui les franchissent.
Il y a de la neige même en mai.
(continued on page 8)
(continued on page 8)
7
Vocaloid: Japanese Pop Star
(continued from page 7)
It’s the same
Vocaloids also have concerts. The way as the regular
they work is since they’re not real people, they have
computer softprojections of the characters on a big screen. Here Is
ware but...
Miku performing “World is Mine” in concert. Her con- just on an Apcerts take place in America and Japan. On March 9th,
ple device.
2010, she went on tour to promote the new video game Unfortunately,
Hatsune Miku: Project Diva.
it’s only in
They made a second program. MMD
Japanese.
(MikuMikuDance).
Vocaloid: One of the most amazing creations ever
from Japan !
By Jihane J.
You can make a 3D animation movie or make them
dance by moving their body.
Voyage à Lourdes
For any iDevice users out there that are interested, they
(continued from page 7)
can download an album, wallpaper, or app(s) of Vocaloid. iMiku/iVocaloid is one of the apps for iPhone
Le cirque de Gavarnie
and iPad.
Cirque : bassin de montagnes disposé circulairement.
Le cirque de Gavarnie
est un très beau lieu
avec des rivières et des sommets enneigés.
On peut faire une balade à pied, à dos d’âne ou à cheval et aussi apercevoir des avalanches de neige dans
les montagnes.
Par Pierre B.
Our School
Le Lycée International de Boston
(continued from page 1)
Imagine qu’il n’y ait que deux ou trois nationalités représentées dans notre école. Ça changerait tout! En effet
42 nationalités sont représentées! C’est quelque chose dont nous devons être fiers!
Dans notre école, ce n’est pas si surprenant si quelqu’un vient du Japon ou d’Espagne, d’Egypte ou de France...
et ce qui est si bien dans tout ça, c’est qu’on s’imprègne en même temps de plein de cultures différentes. Je ne
suis jamais allée à Vienne mais c’est comme si j’y étais allée tellement mon ami m’en parle! Je n’ai pas non
plus été au Japon mais, en quelque sorte, c’est comme si j’y étais allée tellement j’en entends parler! Ma conclusion est que tous les jours il faut qu’on se réveille contents car on a cette opportunité que peu de gens ont : être
dans une école avec tant de cultures. “Merci LIB!”
Par Paloma D.
8
4 Restaurants Gastronomiques en salle 318...
Un projet gourmand mais bon pour la santé...
Dans la classe de Madame Tsotsis, professeur de physique-chimie, les élèves s’étaient donné trois semaines
pour mener un projet gastronomique : créer un restaurant! Ils devaient composer des menus qui incluent les cinq
groupes d’aliments: des légumes, des fruits, des protéines, des produits laitiers et des amidons. Leurs menus
devaient aussi donner des informations sur le nombre de vitamines, minéraux et calories de chaque plat. Mais le
plus important était que chaque restaurant devait être unique et révéler la créativité de ses cuisiniers car ces plats
préparés à la maison devaient être dégustés en classe. Les enfants avaient tous travaillé très dur.
Alors ouvrons la porte et voyons ce qu’ils ont préparé...
Quels dons extraordinaires !!!
La classe de Madame Tsotsis était divisée en quatre groupes, chacun avait créé un restaurant d’une nationalité différente : italienne, française, africaine, et perse. Notre rôle était de juger la qualité des plats et le travail que les élèves avaient fait.
Le jour en lui-même avait une ambiance très décontractée et relaxe parce que c'était ‘La Journée Pyjamas’. Tout le monde s'amusait en se régalant et parlait avec ses amis. Une élève a même dit : ‘Il est 9 heures du
matin, on est en pyjamas et on mange du jambon de parme. C’est super!’
Après la dégustation, les enfants ont présenté des publicités pour chacun de leurs établissements. Ces
présentations consistaient à nous lire leurs menus et à nous montrer pourquoi leur restaurant était spécial et
unique. Par exemple, un groupe avait une soupe du jour qui changeait à chaque heure, un
autre avait combiné de la cuisine de trois nationalités différentes et le dernier avait même
fait toute une recherche sur l’origine de certains plats. Être entouré de toute cette créativité
était une sensation formidable!
Un nouveau défi pour le mercredi 13 février
La plupart des groupes avaient préparé des plats à la maison et les avaient apportés. Il y
avait des biscuits, du pain et de la viande. La nourriture de chaque groupe était extrêmement bonne. Mais nous,
les juges, nous étions un peu déçus de ne pas pouvoir goûter tous les menus car certains groupes n’avaient rien
amené ...
Cependant, ils avaient tous travaillé très dur et chaque restaurant était extraordinaire. Les menus étaient
tous remplis de détails et d’informations sur le contenu de chaque plat. C’était très impressionnant. Et quand les
groupes nous ont présenté leurs publicités, il était clair qu’ils avaient beaucoup travaillé sur le projet.
Le groupe nommé La Trattoria des 4 filles avait amené presque tous les plats de son menu: du fromage
avec du basilic entouré de tomates savoureuses, des tas de sortes de viandes, du salami, du lard, et même du
chocolat. Un autre groupe appelé Turk Ickumu Baharat n’avait pas autant préparé de mets mais les étudiants
avaient apporté des biscuits délicieux.
Les groupes qui n’ont rien amené vont avoir une deuxième chance le 13 février. On a hâte de les retrouver pour
se régaler... A vos fourneaux!
Par Sejin G. et Sepehr S.
9
Interview with Dr. Blumenthal
On January 29th we interviewed Dr. Blumenthal. We talked about his job and his opinions about ISB. Here is our interview:
Q: When did you decide that you wanted to be a school director?
Dr. Blumenthal: It was back in the 1980’s, a long time ago. Before I was a director
though, I was a school teacher for 15 years and became a headmaster in 1991 at a school
in New York.
Q: What made you choose ISB amongst all the other schools?
Dr. Blumenthal: When I heard about the job, it appealed to me for several reasons. First, I was a French
teacher earlier and I loved the idea of continuing French. Second, my wife and I lived in Boston for several
years and then moved away but we always hoped to come back. Third, we lived in California and our only child
lived in Europe so it was too far away for us.
Q: When you got here, what surprised you the most (in a positive way)?
Dr. Blumenthal: I liked everything (culture, atmosphere, etc...), but nothing really surprised me because I expected all of this.
Q: What comparisons can you make to other schools you’ve worked at?
Dr. Blumenthal: A comparison is to a school I worked at in Hong Kong. It was bilingual but I didn’t speak
Mandarin,. Here I speak both French and English. More importantly I liked the diversity of the community here:
the students and the parents. There’s also a very diverse faculty.
Q: What do you think are some of the biggest challenges this school faces?
Dr. Blumenthal: I think the biggest challenge for this school has been improving the facilities because we
don’t have things that other schools have, although the school has much improved since I got here. When I first
came the 4th floor was only storage, but there are still things to work on like: a bigger gym, a bigger music
room, and a few more things too, but it’s been a huge improvement.
Q: Why are you building a bigger library?
Dr. Blumenthal: I think that if you were to walk into our current library you would understand why. There
have also been thoughts of having an auditorium so this way it is like a two in one. Also, on the 4th floor there
was a giant empty space, so now we’re using it.
Q: Do you think you interact enough with the students or would you like to interact with them more?
Dr. Blumenthal: I think I would like to interact with them more. For the last two years I have been teaching
an advanced English class at this school, but I am not doing it this year. I plan on teaching one next year
though.
Q: A lot of the classes like art, music, IT, and theater are not part of the curriculum in other schools (they are
optional classes). Do you think it is a good idea to have them in the curriculum at ISB?
Dr. Blumenthal: Some of the classes are part of the French curriculum so they are required but others are useful for the children. Others like theater build character and the students really enjoy them.
Q: Our last question is : do you enjoy working at ISB and do you plan on staying here?
Dr. Blumenthal: Yes definitely, I like it very much.
Q: Thank you very much!
Interview by Paloma D. and Michelle E.
10
SEP Presentation
© Nicole Hanover
There were very interesting SEP presentations at the end of the first semester, which I hope everybody enjoyed! Meteorology had picture
slides, Japanese Culture had movies and a slide show, Cooking had a
competition, Architecture showed their buildings, Philosophy/Cinema
had their pictures, Robotics had robots, Stop Motion Animation showed
their animation movie and finally there were great snacks that most of
the people brought. In the beginning of the presentation the teachers of
the SEP classes gave out awards for the person that was the best leader
The Winners of the awards. Congratulations!
of the class. (As the teachers said, everybody was a pretty good leader
but they had to chose only 1 or 2 winners in each class.) This SEP presentation was to get middle school students excited for their next SEP class, and to show them what projects SEP classes had done. I can’t wait to see
what next semester’s SEP is going to be like!
By Nathan M.
Book and Movie Reviews
The Amulet of Samarkand
“And there was the Amulet of Samarkand. It sat in a small case all
of its own, protected by the glass and its own reputation. (...) I had the distinct impression that something was stirring. Not here, but close by. I had
better be quick.”
Nathaniel, a young wizard’s apprentice, has, without the consent of
his beloved master, gone into very dangerous and advanced magic, in order
to get revenge on a very powerful and feared wizard named Simon Lovelace,
who had humiliated Nathaniel in public. The boy uses one of the oldest and
strongest spells in wizard history to summon a djinn, a demon from the past
called Bartimaeus, to steal Lovelace’s most powerful and best kept treasure,
the Amulet of Samarkand. But as Bartimaeus brings back the Amulet, together they discover Lovelace’s actual plan: To overthrow the government
of London, the city that Nathaniel calls his home.
The Amulet of Samarkand tells an exciting and vivid story of magic,
murder, trust, and power in government. Stroud’s writing and his style made his characters, the setting, and the
plot come to life before my eyes. I could see Bartimaeus steal the Amulet from Lovelace and actually felt incredibly nervous. Stroud makes a simple book live and makes a story breathe.
The Amulet of Samarkand is a real page-turner, a gripping, exciting, adventurous, and funny story. I
would recommend this book to anyone who loves fantasy, but is bored by the usual elf-dwarf story type and
seeks something new. I give this novel a 9 out of 10, for an excellent story, told from two different points of
view that I was not able to put down.
Review by Lennart N.
11
The Unwanteds
Two twins, Alex and Aaron, are separated and
may never see each other again. Alex tries hard to accept
that he is an unwanted.
When he arrives at the death
farm all the thirteen year olds
discover a secret
place called Artime. In Artime
every kid who was an unwanted
is taught to be
creative and learn how to use his
or her creativity magically. Alex
misses his
11 Birthdays
brother very much and tries to
find him but accidentally shows the existence of
Leo and Amanda have spent all of their birthdays toArtime and creates an ultimate magic battle. I think The
gether since they’ve been one, but when they turned
Unwanteds is a very good book because it is very similar
ten, everything changed. They learned that there are
to Harry Potter and The Hunger Games. The book has
some words you can never take back. So here they are
adventure, magic, and fantasy.
on their 11th birthday, their first birthday that they’re
celebrating separately, and Amanda can’t wait to get it
Review by Olivia M.
over with and for the next day to come. The only
problem is that the next day it is her birthday all over
again, and she’s the only one that realizes this, or at
The Apothecary
least she thinks she’s the only
one.
A fourteen year old girl named Janie
Amanda quickly learns that
moves from Los Angeles to London.
her ex-best friend Leo is living
She meets an apothecary and his
through this nightmare just
son, Benjamin Burrows. Benjamin
like her, so they set off to find
has always dreamed of becoming a
the answer to their problem.
spy and when his father is kidnapped
Join them along the journey as
he tries to become that. Benjamin
you discover the first book of
and Janie become great friends and
an extremely well written series, but mostly join them try to find his father with the his saon a journey you and they will never forget.
cred book, The Pharmacopoeia. Benjamin and Janie
come across many obstacles and danger. The ApotheI recommend this book to anybody who likes suscary is great if you like mysteries, fantasy, historical ficpense, LOTS of humor, but mostly to those who are
tion, and adventure books. I think this book is very good
fans of Wendy Mass (the author of this book). Happy and I would definitely recommend it. It is very interestreading!
Review by Paloma D. ing, entertaining, and magical! Review by Olivia M.
Every year in the land of Quill all of the thirteen-year-old boys and girls
are split
into categories: the wanteds
and the unwanteds. The
wanteds are the strong and
intelligent kids that go to
the university. The unwanteds are the creative kids
that go to the death farm to die.
12
Critique du Film: La Boum
Resumé:
La Boum, c’est un film de 1980 réalisé par Claude Pinoteau. Ce film raconte l’histoire d’une fille de treize ans
appelée Vic Beretton (Sophie Marceau) et ses premières amours au lycée. Sa meilleure amie est Pénélope
(Sheila O’Connor) et elles parlent ensemble
des garçons de leur classe. La première
boum arrive et Vic se dispute avec ses parents parce qu’elle veut y aller. Malgré leur
refus, elle participe à cette soirée. Vic tombe
tout de suite amoureuse de Mathieu
(Alexandre Sterling). Elle danse avec lui et
elle est très heureuse. Son arrière grandmère, Poupette (Denise Grey), est toujours là
pour donner des conseils et aider Vic dans
tous ses problèmes quotidiens. C’est une
femme très sage, qui croit beaucoup dans
l’amour, et c’est pour cela qu’elle peut aider
Vic. En même temps, les parents de Vic se
fâchent car sa mère (Brigitte Fossey) est jalouse de l’ancienne amie de son père
(Claude Brasseur) et elle tombe amoureuse
du professeur d’allemand, Eric (Bernard
Giraudeau). À la fin, les parents de Vic se
réconcilient. Vic quitte Mathieu puis retourne avec lui.
Mais lors d’une dernière boum, elle tombe
amoureuse d’un autre garçon...
À suivre dans La Boum 2 !
Critique:
J’ai bien aimé ce film pour plusieurs raisons. Tout d’abord, j’aimais voir les différences entre les années 80 et
notre époque : par exemple le style de vêtements, le fait que tous les enfants travaillaient à l’école, le changement des modèles de voitures, la musique etc... Ensuite, j’ai aimé le personnage de Poupette qui était un peu
comme la meilleure amie de Vic. Elle lui donnait des conseils, elles riaient et bavardaient ensemble. Aussi,
c’était intéressant de voir que les enfants de cet âge (12 ans) se comportent différemment de ceux de 14-15 ans
dans le film : par exemple, aller à plusieurs boums, les relations entre garçons et filles. Pour finir, à mon avis,
c’était très bien filmé car les façons de tourner une scène étaient différentes ainsi que les prises de vue.
Assurément, je recommande ce film!
Critique par Olivia S.-S.
13
Fun
Story
This is the follow up of the prologue that you could read in the last issue. This time, Clara M. and Emma C. in 8th grade, have shared the first part of
the first chapter of their book with us. Enjoy!
Olive was stuck on question number twenty-five, page two. She closed her eyes and tried to concentrate.
Nothing came. She tapped her pen on her desk anxiously, waiting for the answer to pop into her mind.
Still nothing.
She looked at the ceiling and watched a spider build its web in the corner of the classroom ceiling. The
test was almost over. She had all the answers... Except for the question that would cause her to lose 20%, the
question the whole test chapter was based on.
Olive was a serious student, and she couldn't accept a 80% on this quiz - it would ruin her record, and
her hope of winning the school prize. If she didn’t keep getting straight A’s, the offer would disappear. Her
school had told the students that if they got all A’s, they would earn a trip to anywhere they wanted to go for a
whole week next year in 3242. They could choose two friends from their class to go with them. Olive desperately wanted to see Greece again; she hadn’t been there since her mother died and she had been sent to this
boarding school, Hawthorn’s Greek Academy for Female Orphans of Bulgaria, or for readers who only speak
Greek, Ελληνική Ακαδημία Hawthorn για Γυναίκα Ορφανών της Βουλγαρίας.
Catching herself daydreaming, she went back to question twenty-five. “When did the Crash occur?”
Olive decided to start from the beginning of this history chapter and see if her brain might wake up. The Continental drift was when all of the continents finally crashed together. So many years ago, this had been caused by
a small meteorite that had crashed down on Earth in just the wrong place, at just the wrong time.
It was at night, and it landed in the center of the Antarctic ice sheet, which was miles and miles deep. It
was the last night it would ever be that thick. At thirty thousand miles an hour, during the coldest winter Antarctica had ever known, the meteorite came crashing down.
At thirty thousand degrees Kelvin, it smashed down through the ice sheet at a point situated above a
freezing lake, right over a huge tectonic plate. This gave it even more miles to destroy, but it continued right
through without slowing. The meteorite caused an explosion equal to that of more than millions of atomic
bombs.
Antarctica would be subject to unusual weather for decades to come, but this was certainly not the worst
of it. About one thousand people’s lives were lost that night.
The aftermath was devastating, but compared to the main onslaught, it was like a paper-cut.
Several earthquakes followed the catastrophe, the first immediately after the initial impact. The meteorite had been a huge one, powerful enough to accelerate the movement of the continents by millions of orders of
magnitude. The earthquakes were the first signs to confirm this information, though scientists only discovered
the convenience of the disaster years later.
At first, researchers couldn't even be sure that anything had actually happened at all. But after years of observation, experiments and testing proved their hypothesis correct: the continents were moving closer and closer together-- and at a much faster pace than believed possible. The Continental Drift was happening billions of times
faster than it would have been if not for the meteorite.
They did some closer research around the area of the catastrophe, the Antarctic Ice Sheet and the path of the
tectonic plate, and they came to a conclusion. The continents would collide in a matter of twenty-four years.
And they did.
Twenty-four years! Olive jerked herself out of her thoughts and went back to focusing on the paper in front of
her. That was the number of years between the Disaster, also the beginning of the Drift, which resulted in the
Crash, of course, when all the continents had collided. After the Disaster, a bunch of other horrible natural disasters occurred at the same moment all around the now glued together landforms.
(continued on page 15)
14
(continued from page 14)
After the disaster, many of the previous world leaders, like President Harrison Manshacht from the
United States came together and had a big argument. That had happened sixteen years ago, and was still going.
The former leaders decided that the world was to be formed into two kingdoms: The Easterners, as they called
themselves, and the Confederation of International Peace was founded, and we all lived happily ever after.
Right.
Both sides of the world were consistently having a heated argument over the land at the borders, laws,
freedom... At least there wasn’t war. Not yet.
The Eastern World, the side of the world where Olive lived, was, at the moment, having an argument in
itself. People were fighting over the throne like old times, and it wasn’t safe in Russia, where the current palace
was. Olive shuddered. Just to think of what it would be like... She was actually glad, in part, that she was at this
boarding school.
In Russia and some other countries, there were people massacring cities and even small neighborhoods
in the hope that it would give them power, and they would find a pathway leading to the throne. People could be
incredibly dangerous when greed came over them. That was partly why she had been transferred from Greece
four years ago.
The small and secretive government that Greece held had founded Hawthorn’s Academy, and the people were glad for it. What with terrorists raging through the countries, it would be extremely dangerous for children, especially orphans, to be strewn about with no place to eat, no place to go. So Olive had been transferred
to a quiet corner of Bulgaria nestled between many tall mountains.
The school was completely safe from outsiders, and was almost completely unheard of. It was guarded day and
night by a few sentries just in case, and there was a large airship constantly ready for a quick escape. Along with
fire drills, and avalanche warnings, the students of Hawthorn’s Greek Academy for Female Orphans of Bulgaria
practiced government escapes at least once every two months. They hadn’t had to carry out one yet.
By Clara M. and Emma C.
(To be continued)
Wintery Wordsearch!
By Iris G.
D
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Baking
R
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Cookies
Q
W
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Carol
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December
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Words:
Candy
Gift
Chocolate
Lighting
Decoration
Winter
Celebrate
15
Poetry
The Beach
The sun beat down,
on the ice cream cones,
the beach balls,
the starfish and shells.
As the waves crashed,
on the white sand,
and the boys played
in the surf
The women babbled,
like the low tide
and the sun burned,
as the beach sang.
By Valentine F.
Photo du moment
This wonderful picture was taken by Ramsey H. in 8th grade.
16
L’Écho du college
The student run, student written
ISB Middle School newspaper
Éditeurs en chef: Markos A. et Lennart N.
L’équipe de journalistes: Jihane J., Paloma D., Lennart N., Markos A., Olivia S.-S., Alice R., Sophie
R., Olivier B., Pierre B., Sejin G., Sepher S., Nathan M., Olivia M., Clara M., Emma C., Iris G., Valentine
F., Ramsey H.,
Les relectrices et conseillères: Mary Hamilton, Florence Manoukian
Un grand merci à Marti Lemp, Alex Baez, Nicole Hanover, Martha Mayne et Fred Bolzan pour leur soutien
Sources:
http://www.jonathanstroud.com/bart_amulet.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vocaloid
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hatsune_Miku
http://3d-hologram.blogspot.com/
http://www.crypton.co.jp/miku_eng
http://data.un.org/CountryProfile.aspx?crName=ISRAEL
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Israel#Israel.27s_War_of_Independence.2C_or_First_Arab.E2.80.93Israeli_War_.281948.E2.80.9349.29
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intifada
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/17/world/middleeast/israel-sticks-to-tough-approach-in-conflict-with-hamas.html?_r=0
http://my.opera.com/Mathilda/albums/slideshow/?album=102533&picture=1388074
http://www.archives.gov/federal-register/electoral-college/about.html
http://the-reaction.blogspot.com/2012/08/romney-ryan-ticket-for-rich-disaster.html
http://freedomswingspolitics.com/category/election-2012/
http://www.jackandjillpolitics.com/2008/08/obamabiden-media-alert/
http://news.cnet.com/8301-30686_3-57345380-266/at-t-ditches-t-mobile-merger-so-whats-it-mean-for-you/
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http://www.cellphonedoc.com/tmobile-androids/
http://blog.d30.me/catherinem/2012/04/10/11-birthdays/
http://www.outblush.com/women/life/books-magazines/the-apothecary/
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9917879-the-unwanteds
http://www.randonnee-passion.com/gavarnie.htm
http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lourdes
http://www.map-france.com/region-Midi-Pyrenees/
"Maladies Mal des Montagnes." Canoë santé. MediResource. <http://sante.canoe.ca/condition_info_details.asp?channel_id=0&relation_id=0&disease_id=6&page_no=1>.
http://sante.canoe.ca/condition_info_details.asp?channel_id=0&relation_id=0&disease_id=6&page_no=1
1996 - 2012 MediResource à portée de la main de millions de Canadiennes et de Canadiens
http://sophiel3fle.wordpress.com/tag/nous-ne-sommes-pas-les-heritiers-de-la-terre-de-nos-ancetres-mais-les-locataires-de-la-terre-de-nos-enfants/
http://www.isbos.org/index.cfm
http://www.solarrochester.com/Wind%20Turbine%20information.asp
http://www.windenergyfoundation.org/interesting-wind-energy-facts
http://www.power-technology.com/projects/roscoe-wind-farm/roscoe-wind-farm1.html
http://www1.eere.energy.gov/wind/wind_how.html
Anderson, Jon Lee. "Slumlord." The New Yorker 28 Jan. 2013: 1-82. Web.
http://thefunambulist.net/2011/07/28/architectures-without-architects-the-torre-de-david-in-caracas-as-a-appropriation-of-capitalisms-structure/
http://www.detail-online.com/architecture/news/tall-structures-with-high-aims-020194.html
http://www.el-nacional.com/escenas/Bienal-Venecia-premio-anarqui-tectura_0_62993723.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jul/20/worlds-tallest-squat-caracas-venezuela
http://thefunambulist.net/2011/07/28/architectures-without-architects-the-torre-de-david-in-caracas-as-a-appropriation-of-capitalisms-structure/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Harriet_Tubman_by_Squyer,_NPG,_c1885.jpg
http://www.walkingbutterfly.com/2011/12/20/malcolm-x-i-for-one-will-join-with-anyone/
http://investorplace.com/2013/01/whats-open-closed-on-martin-luther-king-day/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_history_month
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloody_Sunday_(1965)#First_March:_.22Bloody_Sunday.22
17