Happy Valentine's Day!

The third year students' last school day

Last Friday was just like every Friday in FES -except for one thing... it was the last normal school day for us,for the third year students! In theory this means we "only" have some exams or other extra lessons, and preliminary exams this and next week, and then of course the school leaving party and the matriculation examinations, and finally the graduation ceremony. However, we don't have schedules anymore -except maybe at home, when we have to plan our reading.

Since it was the "last" day of school for us, we decided it was worth being a princess or a prince (or a king /a gueen), and you could choose which one you were. Our theme was based on our school leaving party theme, which is called "Abimation" (vs. "animation") this year. I think this made our day at least a little more easy-going than it normally is. When it comes to people´s feelings, it seemed many were relieved when they could say goodbye to their homework (even though it's far from over, since we have to study hard at home), or at least to their long days at classrooms. However, this also means we won't see each other that often anymore, and so it also felt quite melancholic. Luckily we have more fun coming ahead, since on 14th February we'll have our school leaving party, and the very next day most of us are going to a cruise with a ship full of other third year students from elsewhere Finland.

Now I can only wish us all the best of luck, and thank all of our teachers already for their good job! Hopefully all this hard working will turn out rewarding later this spring.

 

           Most of the girls were princesses, and some of us even had dresses on.

 

You could also find princes, or kings, but unfortunately without the white horse... 

Written by Janette 3B

"My fatherland" -project

On December 11th 2012 our group of drama studies (course 3) and the music group from the eight grade performed at the war invalids´ home Honkala in Hämeenkyrö. Our show consisted of music and some short scenes where we acted people at different ages who told their thoughts about Finland, and what it means to them. The acting part was based on Raili Malmberg's poem "Confession of love to the fatherland" ("rakkaudentunnustus isänmaalle"),and so we called our show "My fatherland". The music was performed acoustically, and all in all it was a very beautiful and touching moment. There was also a reporter from our local newspaper to make an article about our visit, and two of our teachers. Before Honkala we visited the local old people's home Kurjenmäki, and we also performed at our schools´ Independence day ceremonies on the 5th and 6th of December. We made this show to honour our 95-year-old, independent Finland, and it was this year's project of our drama study group. 

       Many elder people had some memories about the history of Finland during our performance,    and so it seemed to be quite a touching moment for them.

 Music made our story complete, and it sounded very beautiful both acoustically and with more proper musical instruments. 

Written by Janette 3B 

Merry Christmas

A day among elves

On the very last school day of this autumn, 20th December, we had a theme day in our high school. Since Christmas was already close, we high school students dressed as christmassy characters. Naturally we had lots and lots of elves and of course Santa Claus himself! There were also Christmas trees, reindeer and even a cute pink pig. The ambiance was warm and cheery – we listened to Christmas carols during the classes which we had only in the morning.

The rest of the day ticked by playing the ham bingo, in which the winner got a big ham for the Christmas table, and watching a Christmassy movie at our auditorium.  It seemed to be surprisingly hard for some people to write down numbers from one to forty-nine, it really took a while! Anyway, the game has been favoured for many years now. The specialty of this year was that the ham was domestic and the quality had been invested in.

The students and the teachers were all in the Christmas mood and everybody were at least wearing a brownie’s cap. It was a very pleasant day!

Happy New Year to everyone!

Maiju 3A

 

                                         The winners of the best costume competition.

Class 2B had a special reason to feel good as they got a big packet full of candy from the US where their former class mates Elli and Laura are spending their exchange year.  They also Skyped one more former class mate, Annamari,  in Australia.  Finally Enrique, our exchange student from Mexico, showed them how Christmas is celebrated in his home country, so it was a very international lesson!

Happy holidays to everyone!  And very special greetings to Elli, Laura and Annamari to the other sides of the world!   

Graduation day and Independence day

On the 5th of December we celebrated both the Eve of the Finnish Independence Day and the graduation of Iida Viitaniemi. 

                                                             Iida gets the white cap.


                 

  

In the afternoon the whole school celebrated the Finnish Independence Day with different kinds of performances. Our celebration was a kind of dress rehearsal of the big event on the 6th of December when all the people in Hämeenkyrö were invited to come to our school to attend the festivities.

                                              Third year students bring the Finnish flags to the hall.

                                     Third year student Mikko J. giving the welcoming speech.

                          "The boys of the forest".  One of the best known Finnish poems by Aleksis Kivi                                      interpreted by the senior high school boys accompanied by Black Sabbath´s Paranoid.

 

                                        Finnish flute music by second year student Johanna U.

      Pro Patria War Memorial 1939-1945 was revealed on the 6th of December.  It includes the names of all the men from Hämeenkyrö who died in the WWII.  It is situated in the entrance hall of our school so that all young people of our town will see the names.


                            

A Trip to France

Our French group had a pleasant continuation to our autumn holiday: a five-day trip to France! This time the group was really small, 8 students from the 1st, 2nd and 3rd grades, and our teachers Leena Klemets and Taina Salonen. However, a small group like this guaranteed a very good team spirit and the easiness of staying together.

The feelings before the trip were quite expectant, and for some of us it was hard to realize even during the trip that we actually were in France.

- I didn't feel especially nervous in Finland, but when we landed in Paris, I was a little unsure about what would be ahead of us, thought 1st grade student Janne Suominen.

The preconceptions were unnecessary, because already the climate was a pleasant surprise: while in Finland it had started to snow, in France we had about +20 degrees during the warmest days. However, at the end of the week jackets really were needed.

We spent our nights in local families (one pair in one family) in the small city of Bretigny. This way we could be especially near to the French culture and language: in some families you couldn't get any help of the English language. At the very beginning, using and undestanding French felt really hard, but luckily at the end of the trip a lot of development could be noticed.

- It was really hard to try to speak and understand French on the first day. I felt that I forgot even the easiest and the most familiar words, not to mention the hard ones. Little by little I started to remember more and every day it was easier to understand French and to pronounce it and form sentences, said 1st grade student Suvi-Tuuli Mäkikauppila. In the very end it was more about your courage to use French than your actual ability to speak it. Via effort and mistakes agreement was always found.

We had only the mornings and the evenings to spend with the families because most days were full of interesting and versatile program: on three mornings we went to the local upper secondary school, Lycée Jean-Pierre Timbaut, where we had lessons for three hours in French. After the lessons we went to the centre of Paris by metros and local trains led by our top-quide. On the first day we visited Notre-Dame cathedral, the shopping avenue of Saint Michel, the Eiffel Tower, the shopping avenue Champs-Elysées and the Triumphal arch (Arc de Triomphe). The sights were just as gorgeous as we were expecting, and the large views from the Eiffel Tower vantage point were breathtaking.

Other sights were for example the Castle of Versailles and Louvre art museum, where we could see the gorgeous glass pyramid and the original Mona Lisa-painting.   On the last day we had a tour in Montmarte, where we saw for example the church of Sacré Coeur, the square of artists and two cabarees, Lapin Agile and the more famous Moulin Rouge. We also visited the huge shopping mall, Lafayette, and some of us The Hard Rock cafe, too. Our versatile programme included something for everyone, and I think our expectations were fulfilled positively.

        Versailles’ rooms were really gorgeous and full of luxury!

            One part of the gorgeous garden of Versailles.

       In front of the glassy pyramid entrance of the Louvre art museum.

-  My favorite sight was the Eiffel Tower, I think. My expectations we fulfilled quite well, although I didn't expect Versailles and Louvre to be so enormous, says 1st grade student Annika Kaasalainen.

All in all our trip was a real success and full of unforgettable experiences. In addition of testing our language skills, our trip was a dive into the French culture, and French people received us in a really friendly way.

 

One evening we had an opportunity to test ordering our meal in French, and everyone managed great. 

          

- My feelings after the trip were magnificent. I feel our French group has become more united, thought 2nd grade student Juuso Kosola.

Even though we had five amazing days behind us, the trip was also quite heavy in places, so it was really rewarding to get back to Finland, especially after the problems with the airplane and the taxi. We came back home exteremly tired but happy.

- We had a great time in France, but it's always nice to return to Finland, says Suominen at the very end.

                  A bakery in Bretigny.

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In front of the “L’arc de Triomphe”.

                                                    The very famous “La tour Eiffel”!

Breathtaking views from the second floor of the Eiffel tower.  

 

The gorgeous and big Notre-Dame cathedral.  

                                               From our tour in Montmarte.

            There it was, the very famous Moulin Rouge! Unfortunately we couldn’t see it in the evening.

 

 The church of Sacré Coeur.

We also visited some shopping malls, like this gorgeous one called “Lafayette”.  

Written by Janette 3A

Sports day boosted with Halloween

Today we had a sports day.  Every grade was dressed in their own color: the first grade in green, the second in red and the seniors in blue. 

                                                    The first year winning team.

                                                             The third year team.

We started with a game called elephant ball, which is like playing soccer but instead of a football there is a huge gymnastic training ball on the pitch. The grades contended against each other and since the winner of the whole battle was the seniors, they had another match against our high school teachers, which the seniors naturally won.

Next we had a Halloween theme lunch; the ghosts’ fishsoup and the licorice foam of the dark night for dessert. Thanks to the cooks for the lovely and spooky lunch!

After the lunch break our day continued with floorball matches. The freshmen turned out to have the toughest team so they became the champions in floorball. 

Because it was also Halloween, we decided to combine these two events. Most students (and even teachers) were wearing different kinds of Halloween costumes; we had witches, vampires, wizards, zombies, ghosts, a troll and even two smurfs! 

 

Overall today was a great, fun Friday in FES!

Written by Maiju Aalto 3A