Latest news with #Mencia
Yahoo
16-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Children to retell Gruffalo story in mix of four languages
The Community Language School at York St John University has been granted permission by the publishers of The Gruffalo to stage a multilingual reading of the well-known children's story. The book was originally written by Julia Donaldson and illustrated by Axel Scheffler, and was published by Macmillan's Children's Books, which has granted permission for the reading. Four children will retell the tale in a mix of English, Japanese, Italian, and Spanish. The Community Language School, which opened in 2022, offers free classes in multiple languages. Its team has now supported more than a hundred children with language learning, according to a spokesperson. The Community Language School aims to foster a love of languages and to keep heritage languages alive amongst younger generations. Dr Indu Meddegama, director and co-founder of the Community Language School, said: "Julia Donaldson is a masterful writer, and her stories have been translated into many languages, so we couldn't think of a better way to showcase language learning at the school. "With direction and guidance from our postgraduate student and performing arts practitioner, Emily Howarth, the children have brought this story to life in a truly multilingual and multicultural way. "My thanks to Macmillan Children's books for supporting this work, which promises to be a fantastic way to mark the end of a third year of the school. "I'm so proud of all our young people for taking part in such a memorable occasion." Mencia, Vega, and Emilia are three of the four children who will bring the exploits of the Gruffalo, mouse, fox, owl, and snake to life. Mencia, aged 13, said: "The best of it all is getting to perform with my Spanish, getting to mix two of my favourite things together, and I feel like it has helped me feel closer to the language." Vega, aged 10, said: "It's a fun way to develop my Spanish. "It's an interesting way to connect with other languages. "I'm really enjoying it and I am meeting lots of new friends." Emilia, aged 9, said: "I love learning Italian at the Community Language School, although sometimes it is a bit hard to go back to 'school!' "I especially like the play, The Gruffalo, and although I have a small role, I found out how much I like acting, so much so that I have been asking my mum to enrol me in a drama class." The Community Language School will present the multilingual reading of The Gruffalo on Saturday, May 31, at 3pm at the York St John Creative Centre. The audience will be composed of parents, carers, and Community Language School families. More information about the Community Language School is available at
Yahoo
07-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Equal opportunity jokester: Comedian Carlos Mencia comes to new comedy Hyena's Albuquerque
Feb. 7—Comedian Carlos Mencia is coming back to his roots of playing intimate comedy clubs. He will be the first comedian to perform at the Duke City's newest comedy club, Hyena's Albuquerque, located at Winrock Town Center. He will perform five shows Thursday, Feb. 13, through Saturday, Feb. 15. As much as Mencia enjoys performing big shows with thousands of people at casinos, there is something special about playing clubs where his shows do not have to be "bombastic and loud." "Through the club, you get to see the people," he said. "You can speed it up. You can slow it down. There's a rhythm of musicality to it that you can't get at a big theater. When you're doing good shows, there's a subtlety that you can do. Shows can run a little longer, people are drinking. I mean, it's just a completely different environment." He said being able to do multiple shows at one venue allows him to get a feel for the city it is located in and its people. "I get to kind of live in Albuquerque for a week to go to the restaurants, to go find the best taco place, to go find the best green chile, red chile place," he said. Mencia believes one of the most genius concepts to come out of New Mexico is "Christmas," that combines green and red chile on a dish, to offer the best of both worlds. Mencia does not know exactly how the creation came to be, but jokingly envisions it is a result of a married couple driving in a car trying to figure out what to eat. The banter goes back and forth after the husband asks his wife what she would like to eat, and her reply is "whatever." After the husband is shot down after suggesting a few restaurants, he then asks if his wife is in the mood for chile which piques some interest. Then the dilemma becomes whether she wants red or green chile and her craving for both. "'You know what, we're getting both, you're eating both' (her husband says)," Mencia said. "That would be the joke version of how red and green chile was born." Staying in a location for more than one night allows him to "connect with a city as a city," he said. "Aside from all the performance stuff, that creates a connection in my mind that helps me when it comes to performances, because the stuff that I talk about, you kind of have to trust me," Mencia explained. "I'm playing with kind of fire, so to speak." Mencia is an equal opportunity comedian that pokes fun at all races, cultures, sexual orientations. He doesn't feel that, as a Latino, he is limited to cracking jokes about Latinos or being Latino. Instead, he ignores social boundaries and makes fun of all walks of life. "The Civil Rights Movement wasn't so that we could be segregated," he explained. "It wasn't so that this group can go with their group. And you know these groups go with these groups. It wasn't like that. It was so that we can come together and share commonality, to share truths about life, to share truths about relationships, about children, about school, about life, about whatever it is. And so my show right now is about that." Mencia said he does not like the "hypocrisy" of comedians and how they do not write jokes about other cultures or sexual preferences. He also frowns upon audiences that limit themselves to only attending shows featuring comedians of the same ethnicity, cultural background or sexual orientation. "You can go to Carlos Mencia's show and be seen and heard and recognized," he explained. "And while you're laughing at that one joke about whoever it is or whatever it's about, everybody else around you is laughing too, which means we're all enjoying the same thing at the same time, having a beautiful moment all together, and at that moment, everybody realizes, 'Oh, wow, we are the same.' " He added, "It's not like Latino relationships are different than Asian relationships or anything. Human beings are human beings. And this is where it goes. And so I'm all about telling people to come to my shows. It's all about unifying. And the unification isn't just in the material, it's more in the fact that you're going to find yourself sitting next to a bunch of different people of all diverse backgrounds and ages, all laughing at the same thing, feeling and being in the same moment at the same time, that's the gift outside of just laughter that you get when you come see my shows."
