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Who are the tragic heroes in Shakespeare's Julius Caesar? Add your comments to this post. Please keep comments to no more than 5 sentences in length. Remember to justify your responses.

Ant came into some money and decided a new home was needed. Being an ant things got a bit mixed up and the carpet has already been bought and is 10cm squared. We came up with some great designs that were all the correct area and Ant was satisfied. 

Then he came back with a new request.

Ant decided that he wanted to live underwater and had enough money for a home that could hold 20cm cubed of air.

What would his house look like?

Remember you have to keep a 10cm squared floor plan.

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The Grade 10 IGCSE English Literature Class has begun their study of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar.

Timelines of Julius Caesar's life, death and the subsequent civil war have been made and are on display in the main building of the school. It is interesting to note that the play, Julius Caesar, is a tragedy play rather than a historical one. This is because Shakespeare focused on the characters: their motivations, strengths and flaws.

The students will soon begin a study of how Shakespeare used language to create complex characters and engage his audience.

Many students have never been to the museum before, so first of all, the class discussed their image of the museum and things we may see there.

Ideas were;

• "Maybe, we can see old things...?"  
• "Dinosaurs' bones!!"   
• "How about something about music?"  
• "No, I think we will see some chickens!"  
• "But animals live in the zoo or farm..."  

The class had great fun guessing and then off we went to the art museum! 

The art museum is a big building with three floors. The class walked around the museum in two groups, and took notes of their discoveries and questions. We not only found many rooms full of artwork, but also we saw a restaurant, a library, a shop, floor maps, shelves for leaflets and posters, and even a piano!

The class visited the rooms to see many paintings and artifacts, and students saw people sitting at the corner in each room. They interviewed the person and asked what they do in the room. We learned they are invigilators who help out the visitors and look after the works of art from damage or accidents.  At the museum, there were many rules to follow. We knew already that we need to walk very quietly in the building, but we also found many other rules such as: no eating, drinking, no pets  in the exhibition rooms, all umbrellas and big bags need to be kept at the locker while we looked around, taking photos is not allowed (but we can take photos of some artworks without flash), we need to write only with pencils when we take notes, etc.  Those rules are for keeping paintings and artifacts in a good condition. All the Foundation Class friends were being principled and enjoyed looking around with good manners. Each student picked three of their favorite artifacts and they shared their opinions with their classmates.

After visiting the museum, the class also visited the Shukkeien garden. The garden was made in 1620 (about 400 years ago!).  There was a big pond, many trees and bridges. The class enjoyed eating lunch and walking around.

This week, the class has been working on the project, "Making the Foundation Class Museum". Students have been enjoying discussing how the class museum should look and using their new knowledge about artifacts and museums.  I will continue to tell you about their projects, so please keep checking our blog!

G3/4 students have just finished their explorer poster.  This activity was to practice or apply their knowledge or English skills they learned in class during the previous unit.   They found it difficult to make links between class and ESL work and had to re-do some parts of the poster.  But they showed tolerance and commitment to finish it.  And I believe that they will be reflective and think how they should work on the next task.  Well done!

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