Christmas sharing

It’s not at all easy to plan a good lesson just before Christmas break; in the week of densely scheduled events, shopping madness and tension regular teaching and learning simply isn’t happening. What to do then? Fill those 60 or 90 minutes with Jingle Bells again, or, worse, some more recent musical pulp? Do a related reading? Discuss shopper’s dilemmas? How boring!

This December sees a revival of Christmas Teas at GV – a string pre-Christmas get-togethers which, to put it simply, turn the classroom into … a tea room, where an enhanced version of the beverage is collectively planned, brewed, and enjoyed to the sound of seasonal music. Last night we saw how little it takes to make it an even bigger event. Marzena, Kate, Agnieszka, Grzegorz and Michał spontaneously staged a 20-minute carol singing act with about 30 other people, which was all sharing at its purest form.

This is one of the pieces we sang while Marzena was strumming the chords. English translation, courtesy of Jolanta Kozak.

Word Turned Flesh

The Gospel

Pasolini’s ‘The Gospel According to St Matthew’ is one of the most intriguing attempts to put the story of Christ on screen, a heartfelt and humble little masterpiece, faithful to the Gospel story and a longtime critical favourite. The film emerges from the Italian neo-realist tradition, featuring non-professional actors, improvised action, minimalist design, and a documentary-style: in all, a rough-hewn treatment fit for a king – that is, fit uniquely for a king who was born in a weatherworn stable.

Scenes are shot in a mixture of wide, static shots, which capture the beauty of the spectacular Italian landscape, and shaky, hand-held shots. The miracles are presented with minimal dramatic flourish. This clarity of approach combined with the superb soundtrack – a mixture of Bach, Mozart and Billie Holiday – make this an engrossing drama.

Pasolini’s Gospel features a Marxist’s fevered concern for the struggle of common people against the Powers, a poet’s faith and love of image and detail, and an outcast’s inexorable attraction to the Man of Sorrows. Those accustomed to Biblical epics with Hollywood production values will be either put off or won over and moved deeply by the film’s relentlessly unassuming style.

‘The Gospel According to St Matthew’ is available for rental at GV.

An appetite for cake

At times, it’s more than that. It could be a desire, a craving, an urge, a compulsion. In December, when daylight slips unnoticed into evening and we don’t start our working day before 4pm, a good chunk of cake can save your life. At GV, we’ve always taken patisserie seriously – adorned birthdays, namedays and numerous other occasions with cakes, baked our own pastries, exchanged recipes, sampled goodies abroad and brought inspiration back home.

Regretably, a few years ago two such shops closed one after another in the streets neighbouring GV, and other businesses started to mushroom in the area. So far, hairdressers, beauticians and shoe shops have been dominating the converted ground floor flats. It was a bit of a shock to see one day ‘ciastkarnia’ named Kryszeń moving into one of them. All of a sudden, the art of patisserie gained more recognition and erased bleak memories of the 90s.

What makes them absolutely different from other such places in Białystok is this essential combination of two shops: a patisserie and coffee shop. The place is large enough to accommodate five tables, and although the seatings are a bit tacky and coffee (on the watery side) is served in paper cups, they’ve made their first step. Let’s hope that a success will bring more refinement to the place. A success is already in the air since all goodies they sell give away mastery of the craft behind. They surely live up to GV’s high standards. Thumbs up from us, Kryszeń!

Why blog at all?

Here are just a few general reflections at the advent of gv_blog.

What use our students, teachers and fans will make of it is entirely up to them, but we owe them a few words of explanation as to what underlying usage scenario we had in mind.

• gv_blog is a collective blog and as such requires a collective effort.
• Individual members can post entries which other members can then freely comment on. This way entries from students belonging to a certain language group reflect a small collective of minds. Currenty, all entries on idioms posted by step_up group form a perfect example of such spontaneous interaction.
• A question to you, learners: Have you ever developed a sense that you are not learning, not achieving much, not participating? A question to you, teachers: Have you ever felt that you are not really teaching, not being helpful, that your students are slipping into apathy?
• Well, gv_blog was designed to reduce such doubts and open up a new perspective. It’s a democratic tool. It respects your freedom and independence while making you a creator and participant.
• When you create among others, you regard yourself as a participant.
• As soon as you create your part, you want to show it to others and expect them to collaborate.
• You can only gain a sense of authorship if you are part of a commumity.
• Within your group (school) community you create an interaction by saying things to others who then give you recognition.
• It is this interaction which is so appealing about a collective blog.

pMachine is on

At long last, it’s here! Much anticipated gv_blog enters cyberspace. Just at the beginning of the festive season, we are happy to give this powerful tool as a gift to our students, teachers and fans to use and enjoy it.

Many thanks to Nassim for his taming pMachine, and Kosa for being in control.