Shrek the Musical is a Broadway musical that debuted on September 10, 2008, but it is also available to us now mainly due to modern technologies and the media. Shrek The Musical is written and directed by David Lindsay-Abaire, with music by Jeanine Tesori and lyrics by David Lindsay-Abaire. The musical is based on the DreamWorks animated feature from 2001.
The musical is based on a well-known narrative. Shrek, the sensitive but grumpy ogre, embarks on a journey with the assistance of a donkey to rescue the lovely princess Fiona from the castle of the fearsome dragon and bring her to her prince, who would return his swamp to him. But, in this well-thought-out scheme, love enters the picture, complicating everything even more.
The musical remained, in every way, absolutely consistent with the film that came before it. The screenplay, costumes, and scenery are generally identical to those shown in the film. The characters in the musical gained a deeper meaning as they conveyed their deepest sentiments via their songs (particularly Shrek and Fiona’s song about being abandoned as young kids), and so the performance became even stronger.
When I compare the musical to the film, I don’t notice any glaring flaws. Unlike in the film, the characters in the musical became three-dimensional, and everyone was given the opportunity to tell their tale. Every character has both qualities and flaws, exactly like in the real world. What I miss about the musical is definitely more vitality in the songs because, while they were extremely lovely and sung at a high level quality, they are not songs that I will remember the next day.
To summarize, I would suggest this musical to every Shrek fan. If you’re willing to set aside two hours of your time, it’s funny, engaging, instructive, and enjoyable for the entire family. It’s well worth it!
Children’s literature can be defined as a material written, made or produced in order to create amusement, entertainment or provide some valuable lessons and satisfy children’s need for reading. There are many types and genres of children’s literature including prose with fiction and nonfiction, poetry and play. Each of them can appear appealing to children while providing them with a variety of types, forms and genres which speak to them in various ways. It is very important for children to be introduced to reading from the very beginning because literature is a crucial component of teaching and learning a language. Reading extends knowledge and vocabulary while enriching children’s minds. Picturebooks are children’s first introduction to reading, therefore they represent the essential genre of children’s literature.
Due to children’s inability to read at a young age, people have created books with pictures in them – picturebooks. The story in picturebooks is told by two different narrators – illustrations and text which complement each other. There are lots of types of picturebooks, such as baby books, interactive books, toy books, alphabet books, counting books, concept books, pattern books, picture storybooks, easy- to-read books, graphic novels and transitional books. Picturebooks are colourful, joyful and simple, but underneath all the simplicity there are always some educational messages transferred through the book.
A great example of this is Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Thing Are. This picturebook is an important work of children’s literature because it represents a radical departure from the representative products of that age (Flegar 148). It deals with some topics that weren’t discussed in children’s literature that much. The book was published in 1963 and it is considered that it sparked the age of New Realism due to its themes: a child at odds with their parent, showing their temper and emotions. The book is associated with the emergence of New Realism and problem novels (Flegar 148). It is about a mischievous boy Max who misbehaved and then his mum got angry with him and called him a „wild thing“ (Sendak). He got angry with her and went to his room which turned into a forest. It caused Max to sail to a land where he met the wild things. This was Max’s psychological adventure, a fantasy, a vent for his frustration of the anger he was feeling towards his mother. When the wild rumpus with the wild things ended, his anger ended too. After that he felt sad and lonely and wanted to be “where someone loved him best of all“ (Sendak). Finally, Max decided to come back home “where he found his supper waiting for him and it was still hot“ (Sendak). This picturebook is crucial for children’s literature because it shows young readers that if they want, they sometimes can be wild things because their parents ensured them a home full of love and discipline where they can be whatever they want. In addition, Max’s adventures demonstrate that children’s imagination is a wonderful thing, taking them anywhere they want to go. This book is a great example of teaching children that it is okay to feel all sorts of emotions, including rage and anger.
Another example that shows the great importance of picturebooks is Beatrix Potter’s The Tale of Peter Rabbit, the first modern picturebook published in 1901. This was the first picturebook in which both pictures and text told a story. This picturebook is also about a mischievous boy – Peter, who misbehaved and got himself into a trouble. The story combines humour and adventure, “But Peter, who was very naughty, ran straight away to Mr. McGregor’s garden, and squeezed under the gate!“ (Potter) while also featuring a moral lesson, “I am sorry to say that Peter was not very well during the evening“ (Potter). While charming, The Tale of Peter Rabbit and Potter’s later works also introduce young readers to the very real dangers lurking in the adult world and the notion that actions often have consequences (Lowne). Potter herself encouraged the merchandising of the character, patenting her own Peter Rabbit doll and inventing a board game that featured him.
Adaptations are just confirming the popularity of picturebooks. For many decades, well-regarded literary picturebooks in English have been reproduced as animated. Perhaps the best and longest known are those produced by Weston Woods in the USA. Books such as Rosie’s Walk soon appeared as an animated movie, as did Maurice Sendak’s classic picturebook Where the Wild Things Are (Unsworth 29). Other classic literary picturebooks, such as Beatrix Potter’s The Tale of Peter Rabbit have been made into animated television series (Unsworth 30). More recent years have seen the frequent appearance of movie versions of established literary picturebooks that are highly celebrated within broad popular culture — as was the case with the movie version of Where the Wild Things Are directed by Spike Jonze (Unsworth 30).
To conclude, children’s first experiences with books must be enjoyable or they will soon not want to be involved with books. Negative experiences could mean that they may never learn to read or to enjoy reading. A selection of picturebooks becomes a matter of achieving a good balance between what children naturally enjoy and what you want to lead them to enjoy (Lynch-Brown and Tomlinson 76). Because of that, picturebooks are the greatest children’s genre.
Works Cited
Carol Lynch-Brown, Carl M. Tomlinson. Essentials of children’s literature. Allyn and Bacon, 1993.
Flegar, Željka. Convergence and the Beast: A Canonical Crossover Affair. English Literature. Faculty of Education. University of Osijek, 2020.
Lowne, Cathy. The Tale of Peter Rabbit. Encyclopædia Britannica, inc., 2018. (https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-Tale-of-Peter-Rabbit)
Tunnell, Michael O., James S. Jacobs. Children’s Literature, Briefly. Allyn and Bacon, 2008.
Unsworth, Len. Point of view in picture books and animated movie adaptations. 2013. Scan.
Today, Thanksgiving in the United States has more to do with cranberry sauce and the Macy’s Day Parade than anything related to the “first Thanksgiving” in 1621, and most people would agree that it’s all for the better. How people celebrate Thanksgiving is no exception to the diversity of the United States. The food, traditions, and meaning of Thanksgiving differ from family to family, and sometimes even within one family! And yet, there are still some classic elements that make Thanksgiving an iconic holiday in the States, including the importance of being thankful for what we have.
My family rarely celebrates Thanksgiving the same way twice: one year in Amsterdam, another in Dublin, just close family at home, at my grandparents’ home, with college friends, or in a hotel hallway while I finished my travel quarantine.
And yet, the holiday is also a consistent way families have handed down traditions and recipes from generation to generation. The image of a family at the table with a turkey next to bread rolls made from great-great-great grandma’s recipe and a football game on the TV is still commonly found in the States.
educators, community and digital leaders, and the public have begun talking about the holiday with a more honest and complete view of its history. The story of religious Pilgrims arriving in Massachusetts and struggling to survive until the help of Native American Indians allowed them to produce a successful harvest which they celebrated by having a meal together, is not entirely incorrect. However, it is incomplete.
The story is incomplete because it lacks a full account of what happened before and after the “first Thanksgiving.” Without more details, this story creates an image of perfect peace between the colonist and Native American Indians, when in fact, this relationship was much more strained. Conflict between the Pilgrims and Native Americans happened both before and after the first Thanksgiving and led to a genocide of nearly all Native American Indian tribes. Some honor Thanksgiving Day as a day of mourning for the Native Americans that died after European colonists arrived, the theft of Native American land, and the culture that has since been lost. Even within the many Native American Tribes that still exist today — which include the Wampanoags, who originally inhabited the land the Pilgrims landed on in 1620 — how Thanksgiving Day is honored can look very different.
Above all, the day is meant for reflection, gratitude, family, and friend. And, of course, why not have a fantastic meal on the same day?
Thanksgiving is an annual holiday celebrated in the United States of America. This year it is celebrated on 24th of November.
It is believed to be based on a feast that originally occurred in 1621. A ship called the Mayflower left Plymouth England in 1620 carrying 102 people. 66 days later it arrived at Cape Cod, and a month later they passed Massachusetts Bay and arrived at Plymouth, a settlement which was built by previous pilgrims. Most of the colonists stayed on the ship during the winter and passed away due to malnutrition and illness. Barely half of them survived and in March they moved ashore. Assured they were greeted by member of the Abenaki tribe speaking English. Later he brought to them Squanto a member of the Pawtuxet tribe. Squanto was a Native American who was sold by an English captain in slavery. After he escaped London, he came back to North America and taught his people how to cultivate corn, extract maple sap, catch fish and avoid poisonous plants. Squanto also helped the settlers forge an alliance with the Wampanoag tribe.
In November 1621 the first harvest occurred. William Bradford an English general ordered a celebratory feast which would later be dubbed the first Thanksgiving.
We do not know a lot about the first Thanksgiving feast, but what we do know we have learned from Pilgrim chronicler Edward Winslow who wrote:
“Our harvest being gotten in, our governor sent four men and falling, that so we might after a special manner rejoice together, after we had gathered the fruits of our labors; the four in one day killed as much fowl, as with a little help beside, served the Company almost a week, at which time amongst other Recreations, we exercise our arms, many of the Indians coming amongst us, and amongst the rest their greatest king muscle side, with some 90 men, whom for three days we entertained and feasted, and they went out and killed 5 deer, which they brought to the plantation at bestowed on our governor, and upon the captain and others. And although it be not always so plentiful, that's come up yet by the goodness of God, we are so far from want, that we often wish you for takers are plenty.”[1]
A few years later, a drought befell the settlers and William Bradford ordered a fast for her to drive which was followed by Thanksgiving. After that the fast and Thanksgiving that follows were celebrated annually.
During the revolution the Continental Congress ordered one or more days of things and in 1789 George Washington issued the first Thanksgiving proclamation. 1817 was the first year many states accepted Thanksgiving as an annual holiday. More and more states accepted it later on, but they all celebrated it on different dates and in the South, they didn’t celebrate it all.
One woman is tightly linked to the celebration of Thanksgiving as we know it today. Sarah Josepha Hale, or as she is more popularly known the Mother of Thanksgiving, was an author mostly known for her nursery rhyme Mary had a little lamb. She launched a campaign to establish Thanksgiving as a national holiday. Hale, for 36 years, published numerous editorials and send scores of letters to governors, senators, presidents, and other politicians. In 1863 Abraham Lincoln was the first to heed her letters.
Sarah Josepha Hale ( https://www.history.com/topics/thanksgiving/history-of-thanksgiving )
President Lincoln proclaimed the last Thursday in November to be Thanksgiving Day. It was a plea to all Americans to ask God to “commend to his tender care all those who have become windows, orphans, mourners, or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife, and to heal the wounds of the nation.” [2]
During the Great Depression, in the year 1939, President Franklin D. Roosevelt moved the celebration of Thanksgiving for a week. Mockingly the American citizens began calling it Franksgiving. In 1941 the president proclaimed Thanksgiving to be the 4th Thursday in November and has been celebrated as such ever since.
When it comes to food everyone is familiar with the very specific “traditional” Thanksgiving dinner. It includes a turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, and pumpkin pie. However, historians cannot with 100% certainty say that’s what the first Thanksgiving dinner contained. When it comes to the first Thanksgiving dinner, it is likely that it contained turkey and mashed potatoes. However, they were not prepared like we would prepare them today, rather they were prepared using traditional Native American methods and spices. As for the pumpkin pie, or any kind of pie for that matter it almost certainly was not present during the first Thanksgiving dinner due to the lack of ovens and sugar.
Traditional Thanksgiving day feast (credit: fortyforks, https://www.istockphoto.com/photo/thanksgiving-traditional-festive-food-background-gm1282324936-380088926 )
Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets ofDumbledore is an adventure fantasy directed by David Yates in 2022. The screenplay for the movie is written by J. K. Rowling and Steve Kloves. It is the third instalment in the Fantastic Beasts spinoff movie franchise. The film involves some star actors and actresses, including Eddie Redmayne, Jude Law, Ezra Miller, Dan Fogler, Alison Sudol, Callum Turner, Jessica Williams, Katherine Waterston, and Mads Mikkelsen.[1] According to BoxOfficeMojo[2], Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore has grossed $86 million domestic, $287 thousand in Croatia, for a worldwide total of $363.7 million against a budget of $200 million, becoming the 6th highest-grossing film in 2022 so far[3].
The story takes place several years after the events of its predecessor, continuing the everlasting altercation between Albus Dumbledore (Jude Law) and Gellert Grindelwald (Mads Mikkelsen), the dark wizard wanting to seize control over the wizarding world and eradicate the non-wizarding one. Due to a blood troth, Dumbledore is unable to counteract Grindelwald, which causes him to entrust the Magizoologist Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne) to lead a courageous team of wizards, witches and the intrepid Muggle baker on a treacherous mission of confronting Grindelwald’s proponents, as well as encountering some fantastic beasts.[4]
In comparison to the previous two instalments, this movie is superior to the Crimes of Grindelwald, but inferior to the Fantastic Beast and Where to Find Them. The movie abounds with characters who, unfortunately, remain undeveloped. It also lacks magical creatures and magic itself. However, we do see the ever-resourceful Pickett, as well as the hilarious Teddy who always contributes to the comedic elements of the movie. The scorpion-like creatures’ and Newt’s dance sequence is one of the funniest scenes in the movie. When it comes to the visuals, they are well done, but aren’t as breath-taking as in the Fantastic Beast and Where to Find Them where we are astonished by the beauty of Scamander’s suitcase world and the spectacular beasts. However, I really like the setting where the battle plan is elaborated, i.e. the train, as well as Bhutan, the place where the election is held. The sound effects mainly contribute to the overall suspense. I especially like the piece of Hedwig’s Theme as the game of Quidditch is played.
In conclusion, this movie is good! I might have had big expectations, but it is not a disappointment at all and is certainly worth watching. The film manages to answer some of the questions, such as Credence’s origin, Dumbledore’s and Grindelwald’s connection, but also has potential for further plot and character development. Grindelwald’s character has been played by three different actors – Colin Farrell (disguised as Graves), Johnny Depp and finally Mads Mikkelsen, which all have shown great success and talent. Although Depp is a brilliant artist, Mikkelsen is rather convincing in his performance. All in all, I am looking forward to new releases, Mikkelsen’s performances, and, of course, some new fantastic beasts!
Four years ago, G. and I were having a bitter-sweet coffee at a local café. It was unimaginable this would be the last time we would see each other. Losing a loved one is perceived as a tragic happening, but it does not necessarily have to be so devastating and painful. At first, one might feel distraught and saddened, might ponder the question why it occurred, but ultimately, not all people are meant to stay until the end of the journey – our life.
At that point, our friendship had lasted for 15 years straight. Our sisters were close friends and had us introduced. From the first day, G. and I got along splendidly – a special bond was immediately created between us. As a child, I was very sensitive, shy, introverted and was thrilled to have a friend like her – extroverted, outspoken, and dare I say, a little rude. During our childhood, she was the one in charge, while I would solely play along. What could a pure, naive child possibly know?
As we grew older, we learned to balance each other well. Our friendship became full of sincerity and regard. Over time, we became equal characters in our friendship. Living in different towns, and attending different schools was not an obstacle in seeing pretty often. We shared fears, secrets, problems, crushes, and dreams. All of our leisure time was spent together, idling, and having fun. The idyllic friendship ended when I found a boyfriend.
We were madly in love and wanted to spend plenty of time together, which eventually contributed to G. and I spending less time together. At first, she acted oddly – ignoring my calls with the ridiculous excuse of being pretty occupied. Three weeks of not seeing each other made everything crystal clear – something transpired. I called and proposed our regular appointment. I hoped the issues would be addressed, but she acted like everything was fine. Such cognition made me both happy and concerned. That night might have been one of our best ever – we laughed like we knew it was the last one together. A few days later, I received a very detailed text – G. said that she was unhappy and dissatisfied with our friendship and it should be ended. This stunned me and made me think about what had gone wrong. After some time of contemplating, I resolved to write to her no more.
When I reflect on our friendship, she made an enormous impact on my life – she helped me increase my sense of belonging, helped me cope with problems, improved my self-confidence and self-worth, but most importantly, she taught me how to be a truly good friend. We have both grown up and changed, but unfortunately not in the same direction. We had to accept that we grew apart, that one path became two different ones, and that our journey came to an end. I believe that we should all be thankful for the people who were, are, and will be a part of our lives. They are present to enrich our lives, teach us valuable lessons, and change us and our perspective!
You know when students come back from Erasmus full of impressions and acknowledge it was the best experience of their life? Well, we’ve only been on mobility for less than two months and we can agree that coming here is definitely one of our best decisions ever.
As for the university, the building itself does not reveal much from the outside, but the facilities it has are really diverse. For example, music courses are offered at the music faculty, which is new and contains very high-quality and modern equipment, just as art courses are taught in the atelier. Thus, students do not have to finance the materials needed for the lesson themselves. As was the case in Osijek until recently, the Faculty of Kinesiology is in the same building as basic education, which means that it has a large gym adequately equipped for various activities such as rollerblading, climbing, volleyball, basketball, tennis, cycling… and when the weather is good, as part of the lessons, we go skiing, hiking or surfing.
In class, notebooks and whiteboards are a thing of the past, work is done exclusively on laptops, tablets, or iPads, with a BYOD (bring your own device) policy.
The following are a few culture shocks we experienced, related to the university. The first and most impressive shock is definitely the “Praxe” culture. These are the students who dress in a different color every year, and in the last one (when they celebrate the end of college) they wear black, cover themselves with a blanket hey use as a cloak, and wear high-heeled shoes. What makes them different are the daily rituals they perform, so you can often see them lying down, yelling, doing squats, or smearing their faces with flour on the streets of Portugal. Sometimes these rituals are really extreme and cause fear in passers-by! Another cultural shock is the extraordinarily friendly relationship between students and professors – sometimes they kiss when entering the classrooms, they have lunch together in the canteen, during lectures both students and professors sometimes use bad words and it’s completely normal! Due to their maximal carefree behavior, we experienced that the professor did not show up for the exam without a single word of apology. Their mentality is such that they do not judge or pay attention to the clothes that the students or professors wear, nor is there any kind of dress code. Sometimes the college corridors are like a real fashion show. What disappointed us is that many young people do not understand a single word of English. In the beginning, it was really difficult for us because no one at the college could understand us or help us, not even the school staff. If the professors speak English during class, the other Portuguese students don’t understand what they are talking about, so a problem arises. Another disappointment is the food in the canteen – we realized that Slavonian meat is the best in the world, there is no such thing as good coffee in Portugal, cappuccino is milk with chocolate crumbs, no spice can beat Vegeta + we never want to eat rice again. Maybe the Portuguese people are so good-looking because they eat a lot of fish and olive oil, or maybe because they have P.E. twice a week for 2 and a half hours. Anyway, we’re enjoying it here, traveling, hanging out with people from all over the world and drinking really cheap booze! We are already afraid of the very thought of returning home and everything that awaits us.
P.S. the best thing of all is that we can miss English classes 10 times! 🙂
Written by: Petra Mandić and Tihana Ristić, Module C, year 4
A relaxed professor in classEnjoying the best coffee in Porto at the canteen (taste is equal to the worst Croatian coffee)PraxeFaculty building (FOOZOS building is honestly better)There is no break from cycling, even when it rainsThe queue for the canteen goes to infinity and beyond
Recently I applied and participated in my first Erasmus+ project. It was an international training course called “WHAT THE… SOLIDARITY?” which took place in the small town of Tuchola in Poland. I went there with my best friend and sister. It was a week full of fun experiences, gaining knowledge and unforgettable adventures. I met really interesting people from other countries: Spain, Portugal, Italy, Latvia, Greece, Denmark, Turkey and Poland. The English language was our way of connection. The main goal of the project was to familiarize the participants with Erasmus+ opportunities in the implementation of youth projects related to the promotion of solidarity and the building of international relations.
In the course of the project we learned about the values of EU solidarity, but we also worked on creating our own projects. Besides that, we played simulation games and shared experiences with other participants. In addition, we created small “families”– support groups in which we did small tasks to promote solidarity and shared reflection of what we experienced. We also visited a local school, met the students and thus actively learned about solidarity and its importance in society. When the project finished, my sister, friend and me had the opportunity to explore some other cities in Poland for 2 days so we visited Gdansk and Poznan.
This project has helped me to broaden my knowledge, gain valuable experience and become more motivated to continue working with young people. I’m looking forward to some new projects and I encourage you all to also apply because you won’t regret it. For me, next time will probably be some youth exchange.
Written by: Josipa Kuterevac, 4th-year student of teacher studies, module C
