April 2011 - St Dominics | Sixth Form College

Page 6St. Dominic’s NewsletterApril 2011 Page 7British LibraryBritish Library ConferenceWith 14 million books, 920,000 journal and newspaper titles, 58 million patents and 3 millionsound recordings, it is clear to see why The British Library, situated in the heart of London, isthe second largest library in the world. The AS English Language students set out on a coldand rainy January afternoon to visit this prestigious venue, primarily to see the current EnglishLanguage exhibition.The sheer variety of texts was astounding; it possesses everything from original pieces byShakespeare and Chaucer, to yesterday’s newspapers and train tickets. The Library’s collectionof the written word covers hundreds of years and this allowed us to observe the changes inlanguage over time and to work out where modern day words originated from. It soon becameclear to us all, that our own language resembles that of a ‘Hoover’. We have sucked up andstolen words from a variety of languages and now claim them as our own. The word ‘pyjamas’,for example was originally from India. We werealso given the rare opportunity to become partof the library’s living archive ourselves, by leavingour voice recordings for others to study nowand in the future.It was an interesting and worthwhile trip; afterall it isn’t everyday that you get to see booksworth more than mansions!Michaela O’Connell (NAM)Model United NationsThe team from St Dominic's did us proud at the Model United Nations conference in Birminghamover the weekend of 4 March. They all worked very hard and Ibrahim Gabr (AR) washighly commended for his persuasive speaking. Ronak Mohanlal (KJW) and Zainab Uddin(NP) received commendations for highly successful lobbying. They received certificates fromMartin Bell, who had decided to wear a white suit for the event. Thank you to everyone whohelped with this.Peter Taylor, Business Studies DepartmentGAP YEAR BURSARYThe Friends of St. Dominic’s Association is offering bursaries to students whoare taking a Gap Year to work on community-based or educationalprojects. Any 2nd Year student who would like to be considered for such anaward and who can demonstrate that they have shown commitment to theircourse and a contribution to the College, should obtain an application formfrom the Personnel Manager by the end of May. Students will need to showthat they have already been accepted on a placement or have plans inplace.I went with the mindset that I could be doing better things on aWednesday night than watching three poets speak. Howwrong I was. On Wednesday 26 January, we queued outsidethe British Library Conference Centre at 6:30 p.m. waiting eagerlyto see Michael Rosen presenting ‘Word Search’, featuringJackie Kay (a wee Scottish lass) and John Hegley.First up was Michael Rosen, former children’s laureate, with hispoems about his Jewish background. Half of what he said wasin Hebrew so the words were beyond my comprehension, butthey sounded humorous none the less so I giggled.Next up to perform was Jackie Kay. I had no idea what to expect, and boy was I surprised.Thankfully, the rating for this performance was 12 years and older, but I couldn’t help butwonder why this wasn’t raised to 16+ as one poem was pretty much all about sensitive bodyparts. I was confused, yet chuckling away at how she somehow managed to rhyme words withuterus.Last up, but definitely not least was John Hegley with his ukulele and his…poems? I’ll giveyou a taster. “Me, Me, Me…Me, Me, Me… Me, Me, Me, Me…Me… That’s enough about me” -it was definitely a ‘you had to be there’ moment. John also sang a poem called ‘Guillemot’, abird. We sat in our seats flapping every time he said Guillemot. However, Alison thought itwould be fitting to just carry on flapping. She got a telling off from Mr. Hegley which was niceto see!Overall, it was a very pleasant change from sitting at home on a Wednesday evening drinkingtea. For £5, you can’t go wrong, and it was well worth watching Michael Rosen, Jackie Kayand John Hegley perform, all of whom brought their poems to life for us. I would like to thankAlison Shaw and Elaine Effard for giving us the opportunity to experience a great piece ofEnglish in action.Matthew Szavay (KMR)AchievementIn January I participated in the all England Under 20 Combined Eventsat Sheffield, where I competed in the pentathlon and came first. In thiscompetition all the competitors were representing their counties. Havingwon this competition I also represented Great Britain in the internationalcompetition on 5 and 6 March, which were held in France. I havealso competed in the London Indoor Games where I also won the hurdles,with 8.52, which put me No. 1 in the country in my age group for hurdles.Over the summer I will be competing in order to qualify for both theEuropeans in July and also the Olympics in 2012.Marilyn-Leona Nwawulor (SMH)