International Women's Day, originally called International Working Women's Day, is marked on March 8 every year. In different regions the focus of the celebrations ranges from general celebration of respect, appreciation and love towards women to a celebration for women's economic, political and social achievements.

International Women's Day has been observed since in the early 1900's, a time of great expansion and turbulence in the industrialized world that saw booming population growth and the rise of radical ideologies. Let's have a look at some significant dates and facts:

1908
Women's oppression and inequality was spurring women to become more vocal and active in campaigning for change. Then in 1908, 15,000 women marched through New York City demanding shorter hours, better pay and voting rights.

1910
In 1910 a second International Conference of Working Women was held in Copenhagen. A woman named a Clara Zetkin (Leader of the 'Women's Office' for the Social Democratic Party in Germany) tabled the idea of an IWD to press for their demands.

1911
On 25 March, the tragic 'Triangle Fire' in New York City took the lives of more than 140 working women, most of them Italian and Jewish immigrants. This disastrous event drew significant attention to working conditions and labour legislation in the US that became a focus of subsequent IWD events.
 
1913-1914
On the eve of World War I campaigning for peace, Russian women observed their first IWD on the last Sunday in February 1913. In 1913 following discussions, IWD was transferred to 8 March and this day has remained the global date for IWD ever since.

1918 - 1999
Since its birth in the socialist movement, IWD has grown to become a global day of recognition and celebration across developed and developing countries alike. For many years the United Nations has held an annual IWD conference to coordinate international efforts for women's rights and participation in social, political and economic processes.

2000 and beyond
The new millennium has witnessed a significant change and attitudinal shift in both women's and society's thoughts about women's equality and emancipation. The unfortunate fact is that women are still not paid equally to that of their male counterparts, women still are not present in equal numbers in business or politics, and globally women's education, health and the violence against them is worse than that of men. However, great improvements have been made. We do have female astronauts and prime ministers, school girls are welcomed into university, women can work and have a family, women have real choices.
http://www.internationalwomensday.com/about.asp#.USfwZjfhe4c

CLASSROOM TASK

Our workshop this time is focused on creating a poster enhancing an outstanding women in the arts using Glogster. Register and create a poster. Once you have created it, save it and give it a title. Choose a discipline and a tag (not necessary). Then click on PUBLIC and then, FINISH SAVING. After that, click on VIEW THIS BLOG, and at the bottom of the poster you'll find the option to print your poster so that you can bring it to class on the 27th. Below the poster you'll also find a section called RATE IT! If you click on "Embed into your page" you get an HTML code. Send it to me if you want me to upload your poster on the blog.

Here you are my golgster as an example:

The one thing that can make or break a newspaper article is the headline. A good newspaper headline is concise, informative and, at times, entertaining. When you write a newspaper headline, your goal is to hook the reader into reading the article. Writing a headline for your article is easy, if you follow these steps.

Be Accurate
This is most important. A headline should entice readers but it shouldn't oversell or distort what the story is about. Always stay true to the spirit and meaning of the story.

Keep It Short
This seems obvious; headlines are by nature short. But when space limitations aren't a consideration (as on a blog, for instance) writers sometimes get verbose with their heds. Shorter is better.

Fill the Space
If you're writing a headline to fill a specific space in a newspaper, avoid leaving too much empty space (what editors call white space) at the end of the hed. Always fill the specified space as best you can.

Be Direct
Headlines aren't the place to be too obscure or subtle; a direct, straightforward headline gets your point across more effectively.

Use Active Voice
That's the best model for headlines. Start with your subject, write in the active voice, and your headline will convey more information using fewer words. If you used the passive voice, it refers to a past event.

Write in Present Tense
Even if most news stories are written in the past tense, headlines should almost always use present tense. Remember that using a past participle emphasizes that the story happened in the past. However, if you use the infinitive with to, you are referring to a future event.

Make Your Headline Appropriate to the Story
A humorous headline may work with a lighthearted story, but it most definitely wouldn't be appropriate for an article about someone being murdered. Make the tone of the headline match the tone of the story.

Know Where to Capitalize
Always capitalize the first word of the headline and any proper names. Don't capitalize every word unless that's the style of your particular publication.

Now it is your turn to put it into practice and be as creative as possible! Write a comment with a great headline!

We can mix conditionals to hypothesise about the past and its effects on the present:
         If + Past Perfect -> would + infinitive

Read about Sean. Make mixed conditional sentences about him.

The School Day of Non-violence and Peace (or DENIP, acronym from Catalan-Balearic: Dia Escolar de la No-violència i la Pau), is an observance founded by the Spanish poet Llorenç Vidal Vidal in Majorca in 1964 as a starting point and support for a pacifying and non-violent education of a permanent character. Different as the first proposed by the UNESCO "Armistice Day" in 1948, the "School Day of Non-violence and Peace" (DENIP) is observed on January 30 or thereabouts every year, on the anniversary of the death of Mahatma Gandhi, in schools all over the world. In countries with a Southern Hemisphere school calendar, it can be observed on 30 March. Its basic and permanent message is:

"Universal love, non-violence and peace. Universal love is better than egoism, non-violence is better than violence, and peace is better than war".

To commemorate such an important date, we have collected poems, lyrics and quotes from famous people to be hung on the school walls. Here you are the outcome!

If you feel like creating your own calligram like the one we did in class, visit Wordle. Just a few words and you can get your own "word-poster".

You can also try Tagxedo. A lot of options but... a piece of cake! You can upload your own picture and get something like this:

This has been a great classroom activity for us because it has given us a chance to be part of a creative writing experience; from writing your mini saga to the chance of seeing your work on screen. I am sure you found it inspiring and fun. It's time now to read and enjoy your mini sagas...

REVENGE IS SWEET
They hadn´t seen each other for two years. Last time, she had seen her best friend and her future husband walking in the park. Now, she was celebrating their forthcoming marriage and she had to smile and give them her gift: a home-made gift...Cakes with a "very special ingredient"...
                                                                                                                                                       Myriam Corral NA A

A HOLIDAY ROMANCE
My jaw dropped at the sight of the cutest guy ever sitting beside me. With a foolish grin, I started flirting with him. Suddenly, he picked something up from the floor. The glasses I'd dropped unnoticedly. I put them on and froze. I'd been making puppy eyes at my boss.
                                                                                                                                                        Raquel Rivero NA A
REVENGE IS SWEET
A perfect family; parents in love, children studying a lot, a big house, a loyal dog…Every night an argument. Luckily they can always solve it. However, every night they die…when my mother close the book. I´ll remember it when she will be a old woman. I´ll avenge me!
                                                                                                                                                          Manoli Vivar NA A
THE LIE
We had decided to go to Prague for holidays.Although, I wasn't entirely convinced I accepted.It was just what we could afford.So there we were, at the airport to take a plane which took off in twenty minutes!!."Don't worry" he said, showing me two tickets to Paris.
                                                                                                                                                        Marta Gallego NA A
REVENGE IS SWEET
We were dancing very lively when I pushed that girl and made her spilt her drink on her dress. She got extremely angry. After a while, a really delicious chocolate drink was rolling down my face. While licking my lips I said: “Now I know why people say revenge is sweet”.
                                                                                                                                                 Encarni Justicia NA CAL
NEVER AGAIN
I met a young man at a party who started to talk to me. One hour later he asked me if we could go for a walk. Suddenly I said, 'I can´t! I have a boyfriend!' Unfortunately I was wrong. When he said 'we' he was thinking about our friends...
                                                                                                                                                         Gloria Pradas NA A
REVENGE IS SWEET
A man who was unfaithful to his wife. One night, he got home earlier than usual.His wife was in bed. The husband went to bed and noticed six feet.
-Maybe you've drunk a little my darling.
-I'm tired of  telling you. Stand up, and recount. Four.  Sorry! You're right!
                                                                                                                                                 Adela Mendoza NA CAL
NEVER AGAIN
She managed me to get on that attraction, made so people couldn’t see inside. In darkness, a sudden acceleration pulled us; our face skin was backward stretched too. She screamed "Dad, I’m afraid!”. Then, I shouted, that’s what you wanted, isn’t it? So, yell, daughter, close your eyes and yeeeeeeeell!
                                                                                                                                       Juan Manuel Martínez NA CAL
THE LIE
My life is wonderful. I have a lot of free time so I can spend a lot of time with my children and my wife. My job is near my house and many days I can work at home. Incredibly, I know that nobody has noticed this is not true.
                                                                                                                                                   Pedro J. Soler NA CAL
A HOLIDAY ROMANCE
She always goes to  Punta Cana (Mexico) on holidays. This year she couldn't, and went to Benidorm.There, she met an old partner.They went to the beach together everyday. At night they enjoyed themselves. When her holidays finished, and she returned, she was still thinking about the old partner.
                                                                                                                                           Miguel Ángel Lagunas NA A
AN UNUSUAL EXPERIENCE WHEN TRAVELLING BY PLANE
This happened to me when I was travelling around Argentina. I had to catch six or seven domestic flights without any problem, so I thought that I was lucky. However, I was a bit tired because I don’t usually travel. In the end, in the final international flight to Madrid, when I was in the biggest plane I have ever seen, the plane suddenly was completely turned off when it was about to take off. I spent the worse nine hours in my life. Today I still think how lucky I was, what would have happened if the blackout had occurred in the air?
                                                                                                                                                     José Mª Ruiz NA CAL
NEVER AGAIN
The workday was ending and she was very tired, so she went to her chair. 'I´m going to close my eyes only for five minutes.' Suddenly she woke up, the office was dark, the door was closed and she didn't have the keys. Unluckily, she had to stay all the night there.
                                                                                                                                                       Manoli Polo NA CAL
A SURPRISE BIRTHDAY
“Let's go see Silvia" said my boyfriend when we returned from shopping. I thought she was at rest because she had sprained
her left ankle. When Silvia opened the door, took me to the living-room and .... my friends were waiting for me!!! It was a
surprise birthday party with balloons, food and drinks.
                                                                                                                                                         Julia Vidal NA CAL
A HOLIDAY ROMANCE
On my last holidays, I went to Africa, especifically Tanzania. In one of the trips I met a very handsome guy, we started talking and lost the group. Suddenly, we were surrounded by hungry lions. Oh, my God! The lions were going to eat us. Then, the director says: CUT!
                                                                                                                                           Mª Ángeles Gómez NA CAL
REVENGE IS SWEET
In that kitchen, sugar and salt are always confused, and now, it's son's turn for cooking. When his mother tried it, she started shouting: "oh my God! It's extremely sweet! How could you confuse salt and sugar?" "Don't you like it?", he asked, "because, for sixteen years, neither do I".
                                                                                                                                                        Rubén Jurado NA A
FALSE HOPES
Málaga, five years ago, I was in a family's trip. One night, my sister and me were going out when suddenly I met an extremely good-looking boy and we were chatting up all night. I felt in love with him but that was a trouble because I would never see him again.
                                                                                                                                                         Paula Rusillo NA A
NEVER AGAIN
I travelled around Fuerteventura with my boyfriend by van last year. We spent all days swimming, diving... At sun set we were extremely dirty and we didn't have a shower. Suddenly, my boyfriend said "there's a hotel nearby, we could slip into it..." Five minutes later I was inside..having a hot shower...
                                                                                                                                                            Laura Ruiz NA A

"Worldwide, women and girls continue to suffer violence inside and  outside of their homes, often at the hands of intimate partners or  persons of trust. Gender-based violence, particularly sexual violence,  has also become a  troubling and persistent feature in situations of  armed conflict. Stopping violations of women’s human rights is a moral  imperative and one which we must  come together to combat."

Message from Under-Secretary-General and UN Women Executive  Director Michelle Bachelet on the occasion of the International Day for  the Elimination of Violence against Women.

Here you are some photographs of our school project!