December 30th in Fort-de-France, Capital of Martinique

Les Boucans de la Baie

On December 30th, Fort de France regularly organizes a huge music and firework show called   « Les Boucans de la Baie » with its late shopping night,  museums, restaurants, entertainments,  and a boat show in the bay …. You are most welcome the day before the countdown to 2016. A link to an article with videos from our local TV : http://martinique.la1ere.fr/2015/12/31/le-public-apprecie-les-boucans-de-la-baie-318837.html

End of year celebrations in Martinique

In Martinique, we celebrate Christmas as in a lot of countries in the world. Christmas is a joyful family celebration happening at  the end of December and we celebrate  New Year too.

The month of December is  a very  busy month for the population in Martinique . There are a lot of events like baptism  or weddings . These events are very numerous in the current month of December, especially weddings . We think  that's the most wonderful period of the year. Baptisms are also celebrated because it's a  religious month with Christmas. Generally in Martinique, we are used to celebrating on Dec 24th and  25th.

Before Christmas and on that very day, we sing Christmas carols at home, in family gatherings or in parties with friends. You can click on the following link to read an article in French.

Tradition in Martinique 


The next video shows a 'biguine' (from the English verb 'begin'), one of our oldest traditional rhythms that was originally played in St-Pierre before the eruption of the Mount-Pelée volcano in 1902.

You will also have a look of some of our traditions.

At Christmas time, here is the food that we have longed for :

meat pies ( pork,cod fish,chicken);  families cook their own christmas smoked ham in the oven, some of them are very spicy. The favorite dish is composed of black or white pudding, pigeon peas (pois d'angole) with yellow yam  and pork stew; the dessert is a homemade coconut sherbet. For breakfast or tea on feast days, we usually have "Chocolat, pain au beurre " which is "brioche" and thickened hot cocoa flavored with vanilla and ground almonds.

Lindsay, Kelly,Mark, Yohan, Cyril, 1ère L Lva

Meat pies

Smoked ham cooked with pineapple and sugar on top

Pigeon peas, yam and stewed pork

Black pudding

Voyage Scolaire au Cambodge

Il y a trois semaines que je suis allée au Cambodge pour faire du bené volat. Selon moi, c’était une expérience qui vraiment ouvre les yeux. Les trois premiers jours se consiste en construire une maison avec du bambou et des feuilles de palmier pour une famille moins chanceuse, et en plus enseigner l’anglais dans une école. Auparavant, la famille qu’on avait construit la maison pour devoir rester éveillé toute la nuit car il est devenu trop submergé pour dormir, même manger était un problème. Donc après avoir construit la maison, la famille ne devra pas être mouillés ou faims pendant la nuit.

Le plus grand défi c’était, en fait, la construction de la maison car il faut qu’on y fasse dans le soleil de plomb avec rien d’ombrage. Par-dessus le marché, le dur labeur avait coûté cher à nos muscles.

On a fait beaucoup d’autres choses comme visiter des temples, faire un tour à vélo et on avait même le temps pour faire un peu du shopping au marché de la nuit ! Mais le moment le plus marquant c’était enseigné dans l’école du village car tous les enfants étaient si forts, si enthousiastes et ont eu une bonne volonté pour apprendre. Par contre à Hong Kong, cela est parfois rare.

Grâce à ce voyage, j’ai appris que je ne devrais pas tenir pour acquis. J’ai réalisé le réalité de la pauvreté pleinement et que les actions les plus simples pourra affecter la vie de quelqu'un.

   

Corée du Nord

Dans le semaine passée, tout les étudiants d'Island School ne vont pas à l'école. Ca c'est parce-que c'etait notre "Quest Week", une semaine de voyages differents. Les étudiants ont choisi une voyage, il y avait des voyages dans Hong Kong et des voyages à l'étranger. J'ai choisi le voyage à la Corée du Nord.

C'etait le premiere voyage à la Corée du Nord dans l'histoire d'Island School. Donc il y avait beacoup de curiosité mais aussi un peu de la peur. Pendant la durée de le voyage, le sécurité c'etait pas un problème. il n'y a pas de la criminalité dans la Corée du Nord. En plus, nous avons reçu la bonne hospitalité-les hôtels et la bouffe etait tres bien.

Mais, bien sûr, c'est pas un pays parfait. Il y avait partout grand statues des Kim Il Sung et Kim Jong Il et tous les gens portaient les vêtements tres conservateur et simple. En plus c'est un pays tres militaire; il y avait des soldats partout. La propagande c'etait partout aussi et parfois c'etait un peu énervant.

Je crois que la Corée du Nord dans le realite c'est pas exactement comme la Corée du Nord dans la media, mais c'est un pays tres isolé et un peu inquiétant. Pour les touristes comme nous, ca c'est pas un grand probleme, mais pour les gens qui vivent dans cette pays, je pense que leur situation est completemment different.

Our last celebration

All saint’s day, in Martinique is a day to commemorate, wash tombs and light candles.

On All Saints’ Day, the people that celebrate this day go to the family tomb to wash it to have a very nice tomb in the cemetery.  Then they bring flowers and candle and meditates on November 1st.

As for me, I went to another town in Martinique named Diamant. It’s one of the nicest town in Martinique. It is famous in all the Caribbean thanks to its big rock in the middle of the sea.

Mark-André M, Yohan A, Franck T, 1ère L

Poet Aimé Césaire's grave in Fort-de-France

Wall painting outside the cemetery in Lamentin 

For All Saints' Day , usually people go to church to pray.

 They go to the cemetery, they bring flowers and candles on the tomb of their relatives.

 All the families meet there to spend some time together.

 Personally I didn't do anything for the day because for some people, All saint's day is  a day like the other days, for me too.

  For All Saints Day, first of all, I went to church , then I went to the cemetery and my family and I went home to spend the rest of the day together.

     My holiday was very quiet. I spent my time on my computer, listened to some music and I also tried to improve my English with different websites.

     I spent some time with my family, shared good moments. I also celebrated my birthday with them, it was amazing .

Lindsay D, Kélydiane V, Anne-Sophie, 1ère L

St-Anne cemetery in the South of the island

We have a few days off to celebrate ALL SAINTS' DAY

Next week, we will post articles and photos about what we usually do to prepare that celebration.

Concert

Dans la semaine passée je suis allé à un concert avec un ami. C'etait un concert de musique électronique (mon genre favori). J'étais très excité avant de le concert parce-que c'etait mon premier concert et il y avait DJs qui j'aime ecouter. Au debut j'etait un peu anxieux que le concert c'est pas comme je l'avais prévu parce-que il n'y avait pas beacoup de gens et le premier DJ c'etait pas tres bien. Main quand les DJs célèbres sont arrivés, le concert est amélioré beacoup. Nous nous sommes beaucoup amusés et si il y a un autre concert de musique électronique je l'irai certainement!

Et vous? Quel genre de musique aimez-vous? Merci!

Obama Chinois

Article
Aujourd'hui j'ai trouvé un article que est très drôle. L'article parle de un homme chinois qui ressemble President Obama. Je trouve ca bizarre et fantastique! En plus, c'est drôle parce-que la stéréotype de la Chine c'est un pays de copieurs. Qu'est-ce que c'est votre opinions de la Chine et Hong Kong dans Martinique?

 

We were absent last Friday

Hello !
My name is Morane.
I was born on July 17, 1999.
We are 3 in my family, I'm an only child but I have 2 step-brothers and 2 step-sisters.
 I play Handball in a club called Sporting Club Lamentinois.
Now I play in the senior team.
My favorite song of the moment  is Often by The Weeknd.
My favorite book is The Fault In Our Stars by John Green, this book changed my mind in so many ways. I love reading manga too.

My name is  Franck. I am 17 years old.

I was born in Martinique. I am a student of Acajou 1.

I like my high school because it is a small high school .I like to play ps4 with my friends.

I am happy to chat with you.

Salut !

Bonjour ! Je m'appelle Shayna et je gère cette blog avec Justin. Moi aussi, j’ai seize ans et j’étudie à Island School, Hong Kong. Je viens du Canada (pas Québec, mais Toronto, en Ontario !!) par contre, j’ai déménagé à Hong Kong en 2010. En fait, j’habitais en Singapour pour un an et demi auparavant de déménager à Hong Kong.

Au lycée j’aime les matières comme l’Anglais, la musique et le théâtre. En ce moment, j’étudie le film au niveau supérieur. Pour être honnête, je ne suis pas vraiment théorique ! Plutôt que la science ou les maths, je préfère les choses crêatives. J’aime l’écriture créative par exemple, et j’adore la musique. Je peux jouer du piano et de la guitare assez bien et j’aime chanter aussi.

D'accord, je crois que c'est assez à propos de moi. J'ai hâte d'apprendre à vous connaître!!

Who are we?

Today we are six , we are in 1ere L and we are going to introduce ourselves .

My name is Linsay Dupuy , I'm fifteen years old . I come from  Martinique. I don't have any brothers or sisters . I would like to work in law sector.

About my tastes , well , I don't have a favourite music , i like different types of music. I really like watching movies with my familly , for example I love the movie "Pitch Perfect" . One of my biggest hobbies is to read books all the time .

My favourite one is a very interesting and captivating  book with which I spent a good time . Music has a big importance for me ; it allows me to relax and sometimes to escape from the bad things which can happen.

Sometimes I love to make sport for being in good health and little bit for sliming. I think that my qualities are to be a rather honest and understanding person and also to be patient .

Hello everyone !

I'm Kély, today I will tell you  about a part of my life .

I'm 17years   old , I study in acajou 1.  I really appreciate English , it's  like a passion for me also,  I love Korea:  one day,  I would go to  this country...

I love listening to music and reading.

Occasionally, I watch "Drama " , the series from korea ;

Let's speak about Martinique , I've lived here  since my primary school and I love here. The temperature  is hot, we have a lot of  beautiful beaches and  good places to visit,   you can  come here and I really appreciate meeting you .
See you later, my friends.

Diamond Rock in the South of Martinique

Hello,

My name is Yohan, my friends call me Hulk because I'm quite strong. I study in Acajou 1 high school in Lamentin, I am 17 years old. I'm in eleventh grade literature and I learn French, Literature, English, Spanish, Science, History and Geography. After school, I practise bodybuilding and spearfishing; they are my passion. In, Martinique it's hot, I sweat all time.

I have one brother he's 26 years old and he lives in France. I like techno and R&b music. I hope that I write correctly.

See you soon!

Yohan has just taken this photo of our  High School 'Acajou 1'
Friday Sept 25th, 2015 (10:00 AM)

Hi,

My name is Cyril,I'm 17 years old  and live in Four-A-Chaux Lamentin. I study in Acajou High School. I Like videogames and football . I have a PlayStation 4 and I play PES with my favourite team  FC Barcelona . I also like manga like Naruto, One Piece , Death Note , Fairy Tail and Dragon Ball and I watch those in episodes every Thurdays. I love reading books but when it’s interesting. I also love watching wrestling because it's entertaining ! Randy Orton and John Cena are my favourite. It was short but it’s all I can say.

  Hi,

My name is Anne-Sophie. I'm 16 years old and I'm from Martinique. I study in  high school Acajou 1.

My leisure activities are reading and sport. My favorite subjects are Spanish, English and French. I have particularly no favorite book but there is a book which pleased a lot of me.

Its name is After, it's a saga. My favorite song is " Earned It " by The Weeknd. My favorite movie it is " Think like a Man ". 

A coconut-tree

A rock located in the South of Martinique called
'La Table du Diable'

Hello

My name is Mark-andré M, I'm 17 years , I live in Lamentin . I study in high school Acajou 1

I study English , French , Spanish , Literature and History . I practise football with the team to my town ,

I am a milddefender . I do also bodybuilding not as Hulk my friend but I practise .

I am very happy to speak with you , good luck for the reading .

Bye 

Présentation

Salut!
Je m'appelle Justin et j'étudie à Island School Hong Kong. Je suis un nouvel étudiant ici mais je l'aime déjà ici. J'ai seize ans et j'ai étudié français dans Hong Kong pendant trois ans. Dans Hong Kong tout le monde étudient Chinois et Anglais. Je préfère Francais au Chinois parceque Chinois c'est un peu difficile. J'étudie aussi le math, la physique, l'histoire et l'économie. J'aime bien l'économie et je veux l'étudie dans l'avenir. J'aime aussi ecouter la musique électronique et jour les jeux videos.
Ciao!

Ne laissons pas mourir notre blog!

     Nous vous souhaitons une excellente année scolaire.

***

Pendant les vacances, nous avons visité le Jardin Botanique de la Martinique.

Le Jardin de Balata vous invite à un voyage fascinant  de découvertes dans le monde de la biodiversité.

  Un parcours d'au moins 1h30 / 2h00 avec une ballade à la cîme des arbres vous est proposé puis une  magnifique maison traditionnelle entièrement décorée de meubles et d'objets d'époque vous attend.

A crocodile in Martinique

A myth has come true.

Some years ago rumors about the presence of a crocodile spread in Martinique and yesterday, in the helicopter, my team and I have seen it next to the river Lézarde in Lamentin and we took a photo. We saw the crocodile walking in the grass. We took measures and it is three meters long. We don't know if it is the only one or if there are others but I think it can be a threat to the population of Martinique. The inhabitants must be cautious in the zone. According to me it must be caught and it would probably be sent to the zoo of Carbet for the security of the inhabitants.

Journalist Lindelle C., 2nd2

Seconde students visiting Somme, North of France

      We left Martinique, Fort-deFrance Airport Aimé Césaire, yesterday at 8:30 pm, for The town of Friville-Escarbotin, in Picardie. We got there the following day at 7:30 pm. 

      Our trip project is a Comenius one called 'L'Europe se jette à l'eau'. Mrs De Chavigny is the teacher in charge. She teaches history and geography. The other countries concerned by the project are Poland, Rumania, Spain (Canaries), Greece. 

 One of us will regularly report about the visit and activities of the day.

Béatrice, the leader of this Comenius project, in Amiens

DAY 1 report by Guy M., 2nd 3

I woke up at 7 in the morning. The teachers, the other pupils and I went to have breakfast, which was very good.
After breakfast, we took the bus with students from various countries associated with the project: Greece, Roumania, Poland, Canary islands in Spain. 

We went to Vimeu high school in Friville-Escarbotin, a town in the department of Somme, North of France. We visited the different parts of the school, then we paid a visit to the premisses of the DELABIE Company which is a manufacture of taps selling to schools, hospitals, airports all over the world including Dubaï or Hong-kong. 

There was a presentation of the company by the managing Director, followed up by a very good visit with his son as a guide.
Then we went back to the high school to have lunch. At three o'clock in the afternoon, we  had to practice special activities of integration in groups. 

Finally, we took the bus at 6:30 pm to return to the hotel.

The French-style garden of the tap factory showroom.

DAY 2 report by Anaïs B., 1ère ES

Hello everybody!

Today, we have spent a very nice day and discovered a lot of things never seen in Martinique.

We went rowing on the River Somme in canoes with students from Greece. During this day-trip, we had seen seals and  a wave called 'breaker' coming just before the high tide.

We had lunch in a restaurant on the river bank, then we went to participate in a rally in the old town with groups composed of the students of each country.

The teachers from all over Europe.

At high tide, the water reaches the top steps.

DAY 3 by Yann E., 2nde 1

We visited the 'Château d'Eu': it's beautifully decorated and in the garden 'à la française', there are a lot of different rose-trees I liked.Then we visited a gothic cathedral from the 13th century just opposite the castle of Eu. At 12:00 am, we took the funicular cabin to get to the restaurant at the top of the white cliffs in the town called Le Tréport. We made a lot of photos. I didn't like the meal : shrimps then spaghetti Bolognese. 

In the afternoon, we had a swim at the pool with a great champion from Abbeville, a town next to Friville-Escarbotin : Jérémy Stravius who was a pupil at Vimeu high School. We were impressed to see how fast he could swim.

Later, we went back to his school where the teachers who received the Comenius project had organised the inauguration of a new Lecture Hall named after this great champion. 

The 27-year-old mayor of the town of Friville was present the whole afternoon. He was elected when he was 20.We gave him a bottle of old rum brought from Martinique and we received a tourist guide of Picardie which will soon be attached to the region of Nord-Pas de Calais. 

After several speeches and exchange of gifts, we had a drink and toasts, then we went to change in the hotel in order to have dinner and go dancing at the Casino in Cayeux-Sur-Mer.

Chateau d'Eu and its gardens

Olympic Champion Jeremy Stravius

DAY 4 by Elodie T.,2nd 1

We visited The SNSN (Société National de Sauvetage en Mer) of Le Crotoy. A CROSS* rescuer of Gris-nez, spoke about his job which is a water job. Subsequently, we discovered the reproduction of the sailboat : Benoit Champy and a little museum of the sea. 

At noon, we ate in a small restaurant in the city and we took the train to meet a shrimper who explained us his job and the way to catch shrimps in a special net. 

To finish, divided in 4 teams, we had to make a drawing referring to water in the sand. We were allowed to take everything around us except plants.
And so, we're had the power to represent our country in the drawing. 

This experiment was very interesting !

*CROSS : Centre  Régional d'Opérations de Surveillance et de Sauvetage.

Listening with attention at SNSM in Le Crotoy

Day 5 has never been forwarded by its responsible.

So you'll see the photos only.

We spent a day visiting and shopping in the town of Amiens.

 A lovely large park in Amiens where we had a picnic

Back to the High school, in Friville

In the lecture room for a gift exchange the last day

 

A sculpture

Day 6 by Sanaelle B., 2nd 4

Saturday, April 25th 2015

The trip is over. 
We traveled all day to go back home. We had to go to Paris to return to Martinique.
We had taken the train in Amiens to Paris, then the subway in Gare du Nord for The Place Of Italy (Place d'Italie) and from there to Villejuif.
Finally, we took the tramway to arrive at our hotel.

From this hotel at night we went to a great mall. We were excited because we went to the shopping center at 8:00 pm, then we went back to the hotel to sleep.