Koryfi Language Centre- Amynteo Kato kleines story No4

HAPPINESS- A STATE OF MIND

It was an ordinary day at Aminteo and we were about to start our lesson when suddenly Mr Chris came and infirmed us about a trip. We were supposed to visit the lake “Vegoritida” and have a picnic near the lake. Everyone was amazed and excited! We were all waiting for Saturday to come!

We took the bus and in a while we were there! The place was flawless, amazing and the weather was sunny and the sun so bright! The whole scenery was breathtaking and we were all staring at the lake, like we had never seen a lake before. We were walking down the road when we saw something strange. It was a dog and to be more specific it was a talking dog! Her name was “Hope” and she did not lose time! She saw us and she introduced hershelf straightforward. It was such a weird creature! “Nice to meet you”, she said. “Now, I am going to swim! See you later!”,she added happily.

Afterwards, instead of having our picnic, we were just staring at the dog wondering what was going on. Were we dreaming? Was it possible? Soon, Hope was at the beach. We wanted to talk with her. Who is she? Where does she come from? She just replied “I have never been in such a beautiful place before! But, there is so much rubbish that make me sad!”. We decided to take bus and pick all the rubbish so as to transform the place into a clean one. We did so! Then, we gathered all around and she told us the story of her life.

-So Hope, where do you come from?, we asked.

-I come from a city. My city is so beautiful and I love it. But do you realize how lucky you are living in such a unique place and so close to nature? If only I could stay here forever!, she said.

That was the moment we realized how important nature is. Hope was a dog, coming from a faraway place only to admire the picturesque and flawless scenery our area has to offer. And what about all of us living here? Have we ever thought that we should take care of the environment? Have we ever thought of volunteering in some group? We wake up every morning and we breath in fresh air, if it isn’t a miracle, then what? Hope’s words made us appreciate some gifts nature has offered to us which we are taking for granted! However, we shouldn’t! If we as individuals don’t take care of the place we line and act selfishly, who will protect it?

Then, we decided to show Hope around. The next day went at Vigla, we did skiing and snowboarding. We enjoyed ourselves and we were laughing loudly. We took many photos, Hope took many photos as well! She said she had never seen snow before and she really loved it! She suggested that we organize trips every week and we invite her! We have already talked with Mr Chris and he agreed! Hope made us appreciate so many simple things which we uses to take for granted!

Finally, the day had come. Hope had to leave Aminteo and continue her mission. She thanked us and she advised us to take care if the place, to take care of the environment as it is valuable! She took the next bus and she left. She said that she wants to travel all around Greece and meet as many people as she can! Her main purpose is to awaken people and make them feel full and happy with what they have! Money do not bring happiness, Happiness is a state of mind everybody can reach! We said goodbye and we really miss her now! “Good luck!”, we all whispered.

We are looking forward to hearing from you soon! Keep on following your dream! Make people laugh, make them dream, make them fell blissful!

Xinta Language Centre- Skidra story No3

A dash of Hope in the plastic soup

Elated that her mission had been accomplished, Hope decided to indulge in some kind of restful recession. She thought that life couldn’t have been so disappointing and bleak, and that the harrowing scenes of war should be replaced at once with fond images and people thriving.
She had heard that London was the perfect destination for someone who wanted to let off steam and taste the experience of a multi-cultural society. A bustling city, teeming with shops, eateries, glamorous theatres, striking landmarks, lush parks, and entertainment facilities that cater to all tastes.
As soon as she landed, she set about strolling along Thames, the Royal River which flows through the city. There it stood, Thames reigned noble and posh, with its bridges and floating vessels dashing up and down the river. While she was walking she heard a muffled sound. She stepped closer and she saw a bird which looked like a seagull. It was covered with a plastic bag and it could barely breathe. Hope decisively pulled the bag off its body and rubbed its wings so that it would get warmer. After taking care of it for two consecutive days in the biting cold, the bird finally regained its consciousness. It then went on to explain to Hope how inconsiderate people had been and how factories and industries had tipping their contents into the rivers, not to mention the floating means of transport which had been producing noxious gases at the expense of residents and marine creatures. Fortunately, over the last two decades, thanks to the joint effort of both the residents and the government, pollution had been deterred.
“Would you care for a flying tour?” the gull asked. In the meantime, hundreds of other birds had gathered and were listening to the gull’s gripping account. Hope nodded and they all decided to take her to a faraway place, where she would see up close a rare sight. In a matter of a few hours they were flying over the pacific coast.
-“Wow!” hope exclaimed. “This is like a floating toy factory! Let’s go and explore it! There are so many colourful objects up above!”
-“Don’t jump to conclusions cutie!” the gull said. “Wait until we get closer. Welcome to the pacific garbage patch!”
-“Oh my God! What is all this? This is so massive! So inconceivable! And it seems to be endless.” Hope muttered.
-“It is, and guess what? All this plastic soup contains bottles and any type of plastic trash you can imagine! It is a floating marine debris which is stationary and is getting bigger and bigger every day.” The gull replied.
Hope could hardly believe what the gull was describing to her and could not get over the extent of the damage. She was now aware that so many marine animals die, since these long-lasting plastics end up in their stomachs. And to make matters worse, this ecological disaster was bound to stay there as human greediness would always be something that prevailed this planet.
-“But there must be something we can do.” Hope cried. “I have got an idea! What if each one of you picked one piece of plastic and carried it in one place so that we can help people gather all the plastic patches? Quickly my friends! We have to let the other birds know! It is never too late and we can do it all together! There are millions of you up there! I can be your captain. Let’s go and polish off this horrendous sight!”
The birds were thrilled at Hope’s idea. Soon enough, thousands of birds were soaring above the pacific coast and were carrying in their beaks bits of plastic.
-“Mission accomplished” said Hope. “At least one part of the problem was addressed. Now humans must take charge! I have to dash off and let them know.”

Mitsiou Language Centre-Veria story No2

Be Hope-ful

It was a snowy Christmas Eve and all the kids at Mitsiou school of English were happily making pinwheels. They were having fun but suddenly someone knocked at the door. A little dog entered the classroom and all the kids turned to look at the puppy.      

-“Hi kids. My name is Hope!” she introduced herself popping her tongue out happily.  The kids stared at her in confusion since they had never seen a talking dog before.         

 -“Don’t be afraid of me. I want to be your friend” she said as she was walking into the colorful classroom. The students introduced themselves and then Hope said               

-“I’m glad that you’re here. But it’s Christmas Eve, why are you at school?”                  -

“This Christmas Eve is different because we gathered together to offer our help to the children in need.”

Hope looked around the place. How excited she felt looking at all these bright colors around her.                                                                               -”What are you doing?” she asked.                                                           

 -”We are making pinwheels to donate money to the Syrian children.

 Will you help us?”, the children said.                                                                                -”But why do you have to do this? What happened to them?”                             Her face dropped a little at the thought of little kids getting hurt in every possible way.

Suddenly a loud noise was heard and the hot air balloon, which was drawn on the wall, came into life. The kids got shocked but Hope was calm.                                    -”Let’s get into it, we have to find out what’s happening”.                               She jumped in it, nodding to the students to follow her. The children couldn’t understand what was happening but the hot-air- balloon was hiding a secret…           And suddenly…

Children: “Where are we?”                                                                         Hope: “I’m afraid this is Syria”

What they saw was shocking. They expected the hot-air-balloon to stop in the middle of a clear, blue sky but there was the complete opposite. The sky was dark, grey, hiding the sun that gives life to people. There were dead bodies lying lifeless on the ground. People were shooting everyone around them, making the scenery even more dreadful for the kids at the hot-air-balloon. Buildings, houses, stores everything was destroyed and covered by the shooting sound of the guns and the bombs.                                                                                       Hope:”Oh, no that’s terrible! We must do something!”.                                       Child 1:“But what can we do? We’re just children.”                                           Suddenly the children felt something strange and a bright light covered Hope.

Child 2: “I wish the war was over!”

Child 3: “I wish the plane stopped throwing bombs!”

Child 4: “If only they threw balloons!!!”

Child : “…and confetti.”

The bright light covered everything and then colorful balloons started falling on the ground instead of bombs and the guns became pinwheels throwing confetti not bullets. The clouds disappeared and a colorful rainbow appeared in the sky.

Syria wasn’t the same any longer. It was like a fun-fair and people there, were in heaven. Everybody started laughing merrily.  Love and peace were all around Syria. Children couldn’t believe their eyes.

-“Oh, what an adventure!” Hope said amused.                                              They made it. They believed that anything can change if we try hard enough and they made it. All the kids were laughing and singing merrily.                                     -”Where is Hope?” they asked being unable to see her anymore.                         The only thing they found was a note..                                                                         ”Nothing is impossible if you believe it” was written on the note.”Be Hope-ful!”

The balloon slid on the rainbow and…                                                         They lived happily ever after…

                     Mitsiou Κέντρο Ξένων Γλωσσών

                        Κονίτσης 18 – ΒΕΡΟΙΑ

                             Τ.Κ 59131

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tzaikou Language centre Thessaloniki story No1

Last week, we organized a school trip with our language class in the centre of Thessaloniki.  As we were walking in a small alley, we heard the desperate cries of a puppy which was abandoned in a cardboard box  near a huge rubbish container.

After approaching, we saw a cute, tiny creature which was injured. It was limping because its limbs seemed broken.... We felt sorry for her because she was hungry  and thirsty and after some serious consideration, we decided to adopt her and keep her in our school.

At the beginning, she was scared and slept all day long because she was tired, but day after day she became friendlier and her condition was getting better and better. We were astonished to find out that she could understand English and we allowed her to attend our English classes.

One day, our course was devoted to "positive thinking" and we were watching a film about it. The main idea was that our dreams can come true if we really believe in them and persist. In the follow-up discussion we talked about our dreams and ambitions and the dog told us that her dream was to travel around Greece and why not Europe... While watching the film we decided to name our little friend "HOPE" . She was excited.

-Oh, positive thinking! Yes, that's exactly what I had in mind when you guys found me, said Hope.

Then, she went on to tell us her story. She explained that a man had bought her from a pet-shop as a gift for his spoilt son. The boy was thrilled at the beginning but then he got bored of grooming the dog and he neglected her.

One day, her tummy was hurt and she was ill. She was crying and the boy couldn't sleep. So, he beat her badly and took her out in the cold. She spent an entire afternoon outside and then we found her and took her to safety. She was hoping that someone would come to her rescue. She never stopped believing for once!  Then we actually saved her life!

Being overly happy and grateful she told us that she wished to help others and more specifically children.We all agreed to set up a charity project to help kids. We came up with an amazing idea of a caravan project that would enable Hope to live her dream at the same time. So we arranged her destinations and scheduled her visiting weeks. She was looking forward to attending more English classes and learning interesting facts about different places, social issues and local traditions and customs.

Then we organized a farewell party, packed her luggage with love and sent her  to her first host-family!

Tzaikou Language Centre-Egnatia 100 Thessaloniki P.O BOX 54623

 

The main idea behind the project

Hope travels around Greece and gets wiser and happier!

Hope is a ‘stray’ cuddly dog that we found in a cardboard box near our school in Thessaloniki.

At the beginning, she was really scared and seemed so sad…

Then we fed her, patted her and she started being more sociable.

She even told us that she loves kids and that she would like to travel around Greece and why not, to other countries too. 

She speaks English and loves it when kids tell her stories! She wags her tail and licks your hand when you narrate a very interesting story to her.

She loves learning about contemporary issues such as environmental issues, unemployment, immigrants, local community issues, interesting topics such as what makes people happy, relationships and any other topic you can think of… She’s actually really interested in seeing what young kids think about all these issues and getting their perspective of things.

She also loves ‘selfies’ with friends at important landmarks around Greece and she carries a very heavy book with her, full of stories that creative kids wrote for her along with their talented teachers. After some time, when she has collected all the stories from various parts of our country and maybe other countries, she will get back to us in Thessaloniki, wiser and richer in experiences and knowledge. She has promised to give her precious book to a charity and co-operate with a publishing house in order to publish the stories and raise money for a worthy cause (we welcome suggestions as to the cause). She will carry a legal document with her that we will all sign guaranteeing that the money raised will go to charity and make some less fortunate kids happy.

She will come with instructions as to how many days each school can put her up for, where she has to travel next, what to feed her (she mainly eats love-this costs nothing), where to upload pictures (did I tell you that she will have a blog too?), how to write in her precious book etc. 

Can you help Hope make her dream come true? Will you narrate a story to her and take some cool pictures in your hometown?

LOVE IS THE ANSWER 

heart emoticon

 

Thank you in advance